Historian William Jay Risch looks back at Euromaidan and Ukraine’s road from ‘revolutionary euphoria to the madness of war’

As the full-scale invasion of Ukraine nears its four-year anniversary, The Naked Pravda looks back even further to the origins of the conflict that began nearly 12 years ago. This episode features a deep dive into the 2013–14 Euromaidan Revolution and its counter-movement, the Antimaidan. William Jay Risch, a professor of Russian and Eastern European history at Georgia College, joins the podcast to discuss his forthcoming book, Ukraine’s Euromaidan: From Revolutionary Euphoria to the Madness of War. 

In this interview, Risch challenges prevailing Western narratives by examining the marginalization of leftist voices during the revolution and the missed opportunities for broader political mobilization. He also discusses the agency behind the “Russian Spring” counter-protests, explaining how escalating revolutionary violence and Russian intervention weakened Ukrainian unity and contributed to where the country finds itself today. 

Time stamps for this episode:

• (3:22) Euromaidan’s evolution
• (12:27) The role of identity and class politics
• (19:20) The impact of Russian intervention
• (25:09) The aftermath and current state of Ukraine

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