Contrary to the prevailing opinion, the idea of Ukrainian independence did not emerge at the end of the nineteenth-century. In Brothers and Enemies, Johannes Remy reveals that the roots of Ukrainian independence were planted fifty years earlier.

Remy contextualizes the Ukrainian national movement against the backdrop of the Russian Empire and its policy of oppression in the mid-nineteenth-century. Remy utilizes a wide range of unpublished archival sources to shed light on topics that are absent from current discourse including: Ilarion Vasilchikov’s alliance with Ukrainian activists in 1861, the forged revolutionary proclamation used to deport Pavlo Chubynsky (who is known today as the author of the Ukrainian national anthem), and the 1864 negotiations between Kyiv activists and the Polish National Government. Brothers and Enemies is the first systematic study of imperial censorship policies during the period and will be of interest to those who seek a better understanding of the current Ukrainian-Russian conflict.

Johannes Remy is a postdoctoral research fellow at the College of Europe Natolin (Warsaw).

Johannes Remy's profile page

• Winner, 2018 Ivan Franko International Prize

"Johannes Remy is one of the most assiduous and productive researchers working on the development of Ukranian national identity in the Russian empire during the second half of the nineteenth century…[R]esearchers working on the Ukranian movement in Russia will find this volume a valuable resource."

Canadian Slavonic Papers, June 28 (Online)

‘I found this book well-written and clarifying history of a less documented era in Ukrainian history.’

The Russian Review vol 76:04:2017

"Remy’s book Brothers or Enemies should become indispensable for all historians of nineteenth-century Ukraine. It should also be of great use to historians specializing in Ukranian-Russian relations."

East/West: Journal of Ukranian Studies, vol VI, 1

‘This is a rare study of a unique period in the history of the antagonistic relations between the Ukrainian national movement and the Russian imperial government.’

Slavonic and East European Review vol 95:03:2017

"Remy’s in-depth exploration of the Russian and Ukrainian archives, as well as many other half-forgotten and unpublished historical sources, is probably the most important and laudable aspect of his monograph. He pays attention even to minor details, for which scholars will be grateful."

<em>Kritika</em>

"Brothers or Enemies is a welcome addition to the small but growing body of new scholarship on nineteenth century Russian borderlands, and, specifically, on Ukraine."

Slavic Review Vol 77:01:2020