In 2004 Ukraine, formerly a USSR republic, had become a vibrant democracy to Russia’s south. But the legacy of the Russian rule could not be quite cast off – its outgoing president, Leonid Kuchma, was the director of the Soviet Union’s largest missile factory. Kuchma brought with him to the presidency of Ukraine the corrupting influences of his former life. Viktor Yuschenko, a former banker, became the face of the opposition. And when polls for the upcoming election showed he was trailing his underdog opponent, the country erupted in protests.

On this day, November 22, in 2004, an evening crowd gathered in the capital Kiev’s Independence Square to chant “Razom nas bahato! Nas ne podolaty!” (“Together we are many! We cannot be defeated!”), beginning the Orange Revolution that threw out Ukraine’s corrupt regime.

Orange-clad protesters reaching a million in number by some estimates gathered in protest until January, when Ukraine’s leadership gave in and held another set of elections – this time won by Yuschenko. Protesters bypassed the government-controlled media by organizing and sharing information online and by mobile phone. For the victorious Yuschenko, the election was a proud moment, but also one that took a serious health toll on him: not only in stress, but also with a near-fatal dioxin poisoning, widely considered to be the work of government loyalists, that disfigured his face.