The Perpetual Strategic Value of Crimea
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26821/IJSRC.12.6.2024.120606Abstract
Ukraine is in Eastern Europe on the northern shores of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. The country borders Belarus in the north, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary in the west, Moldova and Romania in the south-west, and Russia in the east. Its topography is relatively flat as most of the peninsula consists of semiarid steppe or prairie lands. The Crimean Mountains are along its southeast coast. The climate of Crimea is temperate continental in its interior and summers are hot, while winters are cold. The Crimean port of Chersonesos (Sevastopol) was a major harbor designed to control shipping on the Black Sea. Due to its strategic location and the navigability of the city’s ports, Chersonesos has been an important po naval base throughout history. The Western Roman Empire referred to Crimea as Taurica, and the Eastern Roman Empire named it Cherson. Control over Crimea is an important step to dominance of the Black Sea and its littorals. The Black Sea was a key part of the Silk Road in antiquity. It linked the Roman Empire to Asia. The sea was also a route for the Byzantine Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and it has been an avenue of trade, migration, and war. It is also a key front line for transatlantic security.
References
The Revolution of Dignity, also known as the Maidan Revolution or the Ukrainian Revolution, took place in Ukraine in February 2014 when deadly clashes between protesters and state forces in the capital Kyiv culminated in the ousting of elected President Viktor Yanukovych and a return to the Constitution of 2004. It also led to the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian War.
He was the grandson of Marcus Licinius Crassus (115-53), a member of the First Triumvirate (60 BCE), with Gnaeus Pompey (106-48 BCE), and Gaius Julius Caesar (100-44 BCE).
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Troesmis was a Roman legionary fortress on the Danube.
Liburnae were small, light craft. They measured 109 ft (33 m) long and 5 m (16 ft) wide with a 1 m (3 ft 3 in) draft. Two rows of oarsmen pulled 18 oars per side. The ship could make up to 14 knots under sail and more than 7 under oars.
Herodotus wrote: “When a Scythian has slain his first man, he drinks some of his blood.” Herodotus, 2004. Trans. G.C. Macaulay. New York: Barnes & Noble: 4.64.
Pantikapaion was an ancient, Greek city on the eastern shore of Crimea.
King of the Bosporan Kingdom, a client state of Rome.
Analysis of leather preserved at 14 sites near the Black Sea indicates that the Scythians made leather for quivers from human skin. Jarrett A. Lobell Editor, “Ukraine.” Archaeology. Vol. 77, no. 2, March/April 2024: 21.
dux could refer to anyone who commanded troops
A theme was a body of troops and the area in which they were recruited.
The Empire of Trebizond, or Trapezuntine Empire, founded in 1204, was a monarchy and one of three successor rump states of the Byzantine Empire that flourished during the 13th through to the 15th century alongside the Despot ate of the Morea and the Principality of Theodoro.
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Copyright (c) 2024 Valentine J. Belfiglio
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
