Happy Independence Day Ukraine.
Every year on August 24, Ukraine celebrates its Independence Day to commemorate the Declaration of Independence in 1991. This declaration established the democratic and sovereign state of Ukraine. Ukraine’s struggle for independence was not the archetypal freedom movement against a foreign colonial power. Instead, it was a struggle for secession from the former Soviet Union or USSR. By the early 19th century Ukraine was part of the Russian and the Austro-Hungarian Empires. While most of Ukraine was under Russian control, the extreme west, - Lviv and neighboring areas - was occupied by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. By the 1840s, the seeds of nationalism started to take shape in the Ukrainian society. Following World War I and the Russian Civil War (1917-1922), Ukraine made several attempts to proclaim freedom. The Ukrainian People's Republic was formed in 1919 and united both Russian and Austro-Hungarian Ukraine but was short-lived and could not withstand Pol...