Prof. Dr. Martin Schulze Wessel

Ukraine, Poland and the wrong path in Russian history


Russia's imperial past is key to understanding Putin's invasion of Ukraine and his anti-Western obsessions. The war takes place in the long context of Russian expansion westward. The expansion into Ukraine and the divisions of Poland since the 18th century created a wrong path in Russian history that continues to have an impact today as the "curse of the empire." This created a fatal world of ideas that still haunts the minds of the Moscow leadership in the 21st century. A few days before the second anniversary of the brutal attack by Russian troops on Ukraine, the renowned Eastern European historian is presenting his book. At the same time, it provides important background information for understanding the current conflict, which, whatever the outcome, will decisively shift the political balance in Europe.



Martin Schulze Wessel was born in Münster in 1962 and studied modern and Eastern European history and Slavic studies at the universities of Munich, Moscow and Berlin. After completing his doctorate and habilitation, he has held the chair for Eastern and Southeast European History at the LMU since 2003 and has been a member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences since 2008. Numerous offices and honorary positions in the academic world, including chairman of the German Historians' Association from 2012 to 2016 and spokesman for the German section of the German-Ukrainian Historical Commission from 2014 to 2022. His book “Curse of the Empire” was nominated for the German Non-Fiction Prize 2023.



Martin Schulze Wessel, The Curse of the Empire, Verlag C.H.Beck, Munich 2023, €28.00



Photo Stefan Obermeier