Crimea's place in Russian history

The possibility of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula re-joining Russia is – in many ways – a return to the past.

Russia's Soviet Empire once spanned all the way from the Kuril Islands – North of Japan – to Ukraine and Crimea in the West.  That empire was quickly dismantled at the end of the Cold War, splitting into fifteen independent states.

Despite the geo-political changes brought about by time and history, Crimea remains a region that looms large in both Eastern and Western Europe.  It's a place that has featured in literature, artwork, and national myth-making.

We look back at the Crimean peninsula's role in historic conflicts, and popular lore.