Even before the weapons of war are weakened, and the signs of development that the Russian and Ukrainian sides have endured become clear, the conflict in Ukraine has become part of the Russian curriculum for the 11th grade (the last grade in Russia).

Never before has a country been so quick to include chapters in textbooks about an event that is still raging and whose final results and long-term repercussions have not yet been revealed.

But the Russian haste, which is coupled with the assurance that Moscow will conduct a “victory investigation” later and introduce additional amendments to the book, has been associated with the elements of the Russian decision-maker’s work during the recent period.

The first one represents the necessity of mustering broad support internally for the war and justifying the necessity of making a decisive decision regarding it.

This matter was brought up on the most important occasion, during the presentation of the new chapters in the book of history. The second one stems from the Kremlin’s conviction that historical events should be rewritten in a way that confronts Western propaganda, criticizes it, and highlights the alternative Russian interpretation of it.

It was worth noting that the changes in the curriculum were not limited to the addition of a chapter to the history book entitled “Al-Amliya al-Militariyah Al-Ahzay”, but led to the introduction of radical changes in all the developments of historical events from the beginning of the last century to the first decade of the twenty-first century, according to the modern reading. 

The curriculum will be compulsory for all eleventh-grade students in Russian schools, and it will begin teaching in the new academic year, which is the beginning of the next month, before it becomes an important part of the curriculum for fifth-grade students by September 1, 2024. to grade 9.

The new book of history talks about Ukraine not only as a country and a historical partner of Russia for centuries but as an “extremist national state” that constitutes a spearhead for weakening Russia and its expansion.

It is mentioned in the introduction of the new chapter to the support of the absolute majority of the Russians for the special operation that was necessary to protect Russia’s strategic interests and to launch a preventive strike before the danger from around it.

The book accused Kiev of provoking war by openly declaring its desire to possess nuclear weapons and “join NATO.” He believed that “this would have led to a military conflict in the Crimean Peninsula and Donbass, in which Western countries would be attracted to get involved. This would have been the end of human civilization, so Russia found no way but to initiate a military operation to protect its interests and protect international security.

The book also provides a review of Russia’s relationship with the West in general and finds that the conflict worsened after the arrival of US President Joe Biden in 2020 and the change in Ukraine’s leadership.

Through this textbook, Russian 11th graders learn that the Ukrainian military has adopted the tactic of using civilians as human shields. The authors declare that such a method of conducting hostilities has not been used by any army in the world.

This is not the first time that history books have been revised in Russia. It is a habit inherited from the Soviet era.