Aggressors may initiate the creation and mass dissemination of artificial historical concepts designed to substantiate their claim to foreign territories. Constructing a new historical canon, in which facts are distorted and the chronology of events is tailored to the interests of the metropole, allows the aggressor to retroactively legalize the occupation, convincing both its own population and the local one of the historical inevitability and legality of the absorption.
| ID | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| C0079 | Cultural Terror and the "Executed Renaissance" (1933–1938) |
Construction of a new Soviet-imperial historical canon to supplant the Ukrainian past and deny the independence of Ukraine's history[1]. |
| S0009 | Diplomacy |
Publication by V. Putin of the manifesto "On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians" (July 2021), which constructs a pseudo-historical myth that modern Ukraine was allegedly "created by Lenin," while historical Russia was artificially dismembered by the Bolsheviks[1]. |
| S0008 | Government |
The government of the Tsardom of Muscovy fabricated historical narratives to provide legal justification for the invasion of new territories: historian Michael Khodarkovsky points out that in diplomatic correspondence officials deliberately constructed fictitious claims that the Indigenous peoples of the Caucasus had allegedly, since ancient times, been Muscovite "subjects in the Riazan region, who then fled from Riazan and settled in the mountains"[2]. |
| S0008 | Government |
The government of the Russian Empire fabricated historical accounts to provide legal justification for invasion: historian Michael Khodarkovsky points out that in 1748 and in the 1770s officials deliberately constructed fictitious claims that the Indigenous peoples of the Caucasus had allegedly been Christians in the past, in order to contest the claims of other empires and "legitimize their efforts at their 're-Christianization'"[3]. |
| C0102 | Ideological Preparation for the Full-Scale Invasion (2020–2021) |
Publication by V. Putin of the manifesto "On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians" (July 2021), which constructs a pseudo-historical myth that modern Ukraine was allegedly "created by Lenin," while historical Russia was artificially dismembered by the Bolsheviks[1]. |
| C1105 | Imposition of an Image of Backwardness and the “Civilizing” Mission (1721–1800s) |
The government of the Russian Empire fabricated historical accounts to provide legal justification for invasion: historian Michael Khodarkovsky points out that in 1748 and in the 1770s officials deliberately constructed fictitious claims that the Indigenous peoples of the Caucasus had allegedly been Christians in the past, in order to contest the claims of other empires and "legitimize their efforts at their 're-Christianization'"[3]. |
| S0011 | Moscow Patriarchate |
To provide ideological justification for the seizure and dismemberment of the territories, the Muscovite authorities initiated the creation of a new historical canon designed to legitimize the occupation retroactively: "Synopsis, or a Brief Compilation from Various Chroniclers on the Origin of the Slavono-Russian People and the First Princes of the God-Saved City of Kyiv"[4]. |
| S0021 | Propaganda |
Construction of a new Soviet-imperial historical canon to supplant the Ukrainian past and deny the independence of Ukraine's history[1]. |
| S0021 | Propaganda |
A large-scale state campaign to construct the historical myth of "reunification" (instead of annexation) in order to provide historical justification for Moscow's colonial domination over Kyiv[1]. |
| C0006 | Publication of the "Synopsis" (1674) |
To provide ideological justification for the seizure and dismemberment of the territories, the Muscovite authorities initiated the creation of a new historical canon designed to legitimize the occupation retroactively: "Synopsis, or a Brief Compilation from Various Chroniclers on the Origin of the Slavono-Russian People and the First Princes of the God-Saved City of Kyiv"[4]. |
| C1104 | Religious Frontier and the Fabrication of Historical Right (1550–1721) |
The government of the Tsardom of Muscovy fabricated historical narratives to provide legal justification for the invasion of new territories: historian Michael Khodarkovsky points out that in diplomatic correspondence officials deliberately constructed fictitious claims that the Indigenous peoples of the Caucasus had allegedly, since ancient times, been Muscovite "subjects in the Riazan region, who then fled from Riazan and settled in the mountains"[2]. |
| G0009 | Russian Empire |
The government of the Russian Empire fabricated historical accounts to provide legal justification for invasion: historian Michael Khodarkovsky points out that in 1748 and in the 1770s officials deliberately constructed fictitious claims that the Indigenous peoples of the Caucasus had allegedly been Christians in the past, in order to contest the claims of other empires and "legitimize their efforts at their 're-Christianization'"[3]. |
| G0011 | Russian Federation |
Publication by V. Putin of the manifesto "On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians" (July 2021), which constructs a pseudo-historical myth that modern Ukraine was allegedly "created by Lenin," while historical Russia was artificially dismembered by the Bolsheviks[1]. |
| C0087 | The Ideological Campaign of the "300th Anniversary of Reunification" and the Transfer of Crimea (1954) |
A large-scale state campaign to construct the historical myth of "reunification" (instead of annexation) in order to provide historical justification for Moscow's colonial domination over Kyiv[1]. |
| G0008 | Tsardom of Muscovy |
To provide ideological justification for the seizure and dismemberment of the territories, the Muscovite authorities initiated the creation of a new historical canon designed to legitimize the occupation retroactively: "Synopsis, or a Brief Compilation from Various Chroniclers on the Origin of the Slavono-Russian People and the First Princes of the God-Saved City of Kyiv"[4]. |
| G0008 | Tsardom of Muscovy |
The government of the Tsardom of Muscovy fabricated historical narratives to provide legal justification for the invasion of new territories: historian Michael Khodarkovsky points out that in diplomatic correspondence officials deliberately constructed fictitious claims that the Indigenous peoples of the Caucasus had allegedly, since ancient times, been Muscovite "subjects in the Riazan region, who then fled from Riazan and settled in the mountains"[2]. |
| G0010 | USSR |
Construction of a new Soviet-imperial historical canon to supplant the Ukrainian past and deny the independence of Ukraine's history[1]. |
| G0010 | USSR |
A large-scale state campaign to construct the historical myth of "reunification" (instead of annexation) in order to provide historical justification for Moscow's colonial domination over Kyiv[1]. |