Historian Timothy Snyder notes of his famed course at Yale University, “Often the most important historical experiences are difficult to see. Ukraine tends to exemplify the major trends in European and world history, but sometimes in forms so intense or radical that they escape notice and classification. Ukraine provides an early example of European state formation and an early example of anti-colonial rebellion.” In this talk, presented in cooperation with the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaft, Snyder begins with the origins of Kyiv and Ukraine and their relationship to early Greek and Babylonian civilization, then offers a tour de force of recent world history, with Ukraine at the center.