Karl Hapsburg: "If you don't know where you came from, you don't know where you're going because you don't know where you are."
This simple wisdom applies not only to geography, but to history and not least to our value system. At a time when we are increasingly concerned with "Central Europe" and the future of our continent, it is of the utmost importance to develop an understanding of our past. Last but not least, so that we can navigate through all the misinformation and fake news we are constantly bombarded with.
Ukraine was unfairly a white spot on our maps in the past. Many of us did not know about its diverse, rich and independent history, about its enormous natural and human resources, about its defining role in the formation of the European continent.
I am very grateful to Ihor Smeshko for his essays, which paint an important picture of Ukraine and the surrounding countries, and thus contribute immensely to a better understanding of today's events, of the terrible war. He drew not only on the deep knowledge of a historian, but also on his own practical experience as a soldier and diplomat. General Smeshko puts Ukraine in its place - from an eastern border state of the European Union, to the well-deserved central role for the future of our continent.
The book "Essays on the History of Ukraine" was officially presented in the Marble Foyer of the National Assembly, and the author himself was introduced by Lyuben Dilov. General Ihor Smeshko is a Ukrainian officer, scientist and statesman, colonel-general of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and in his book you will find many interesting, forgotten and unknown facts from the history not only of this unique country, but also of Europe as a whole.
The book is printed in a limited edition, and you will find exclusive copies of it at Elephant Bookstore.