Spin-a-battle: how Ukraine invented the “Konotop Massacre”
Published: 11 July, 2009, 14:06
Edited: 30 July, 2010, 07:19
The famous battle of an unknown war. On July 11, Ukraine celebrates its victory in the Battle of Konotop.
I am not a historian but since I was born in Ukraine in the year 1933 my parrents told me what Russian (Moscow) rulers created in Ukraine that year. Artificial famine it was -- genocide. During 76 years of my life I learn a lot about Moscow black deeds.It is a center of evel empire that dominated our people, with constant hunger of expansion and bloodshed. Russian rulers from Moscow made us scatter all over the world seeking for protection of our lives and freedom. This is a fact and true contemporary history. Taras Shewchenko in his Kobsar also described his historical facts of that era. It appears that at this moment Moscow rulers still persistent in their goals. I think that good Russian people also disapprove what thair leaders are doing.
Another article cranked out by some pawn of the Muscovite Propaganda Machine. Haven't you Muscovite tyrants sabotaged our nation, destroyed/rewritten our history, banned our language, murdered our people, and occupied our lands enough? It is YOU who spin, spin, spin! I hope all that spinning gets you so dizzy you fall off your bar stool!
The battle actually did happen the causalities were only exaggerated, as often does happen with battles in history. This article and it's author are a joke.
The author has done what he accuses others of doing - he's picked a version of history he wants to believe as fact (probably really believes it is fact) and proceeds to propagate it.
I've studied a lot of history over a lot years and as far as facts go I've settled on 4 things:
1) Unless you were there you don't know what really happened;
2) The majority of people who were there didn't know what was really going on;
3) People either write from their point of view or to gain favour, even if they don't mean to; and
4) As far as evidence is concerned we don't know what we're looking at, only what we're told it is. Evidence, then as now, could have been re-written/replaced/altered etc to show what someone wants you to see.
I myself have seen several different so-called historically accurate versions of the 1654 Treaty of Pereyaslav/Council of Pereyaslav, but strangely the original copies of the treaty did not survive. Mmm...
Excellent piece, the advice at the end about reading all the national historians perspective is sound advice, people continually make the mistake of coming with their own historians views and offering it as legal fact. Also good advice on not taking historical events out of context, there is a lot of that going on on a continual basis in Europe. And a last comment, please let's see more historical articles like this one, it is a public service to write the information in a dispassionate, logical and complete manner.