Various factions fought over
Ukrainian territory
after the collapse of the
Russian Empire
following the
Russian Revolution of 1917
and after the
First World War
ended in 1918, resulting in the collapse of
Austria-Hungary
, which had ruled
Ukrainian Galicia
. The crumbling of the empires had a great effect on
the Ukrainian nationalist movement
, and in a short period of four years
a number of Ukrainian governments sprang up
. This period was characterized by optimism and by
nation-building
, as well as by chaos and
civil war
. Matters stabilized somewhat in 1921 with the territory of modern-day
Ukraine
divided between
Soviet Ukraine
(which would become a constituent republic of the
Soviet Union
in 1922) and
Poland
, and with small
ethnic-Ukrainian
regions belonging to
Czechoslovakia
and to
Romania
.
Alliance and strife
[
edit
]
After the
abdication of Tsar Nicholas II
, Ukrainian community leaders were able finally to organize the
Central Rada
in Kyiv (
Tsentral’na rada
), headed by
Mykhailo Hrushevsky
. They sought an approval of the
Russian Provisional Government
in
Petrograd
(St Petersburg) to establish a regional government. The Central Rada consisted of various political parties such as Ukrainian Party of Socialist Revolutionary, Ukrainian Social Democratic Labour Party, Russian Social Democratic Labour Party,
General Jewish Labor Bund
, Polish national party, representatives of Army, peasantry, workers, and others. It quickly gained the support of elements of the Imperial Army in Ukraine. On June 23, 1917, the Central Rada issued its First Universal, declaring Ukrainian autonomy within a Russian federation, which was enthusiastically supported by the First All-Ukrainian Peasant Congress on June 28.
Shortly after the early-November
Bolshevik
coup in Petrograd and a
similar event
in
Kyiv
, the Central Rada issued the Third Universal on November 20, 1917, declaring a
Ukrainian People's Republic
(UNR) in
Kyiv
and condemning the Bolsheviks initiated disorder in Petrograd as politically illegal. Because the legal government in Petrograd was dissolved, the Central Rada had no other choice but to declare its autonomy with its own regional government that was previously approved by the
Russian Provisional Government
.
[a]
The UNR refused to recognize the newly installed Soviet government, which in turn caused a tension within the Central Rada. The Bolshevik government demanded an all-Russian union. The Bolsheviks faction convened an All-Ukrainian Congress of Workers', Soldiers', and Peasants' Soviets in Kyiv in December demanding recognition of
Sovnarkom
from the Central Rada. Finding themselves to be a small minority at the congress of 2,500 delegates, the 100 Bolsheviks and a few others left to join a congress of local deputies in
Kharkiv
which they renamed the All-Ukrainian Congress of Workers', Soldiers', and Peasants' Soviets. They declared the
Bolshevik government of Ukraine
(
Respublyka Rad Ukrayiny
) with
Christian Rakovksy
as its head on December 25, 1917 and claimed that the government of the Ukrainian People's Republic were outlaws.
Upon taking over the government in Petrograd, the Bolsheviks immediately sued for peace with the
Central Powers
.
[1]
After more than two months of negotiations, the Soviet delegation led by
Joffe
[b]
signed the
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
, a peace treaty between Russia and the
Central Powers
, on March 3, 1918.
[1]
[c]
[d]
This treaty granted Ukraine independence from Russian control.
[1]
An independent Ukraine was not a popular notion among Russians.
[1]
An independent Ukraine coupled with the 1918 Russian great hunger
[e]
greatly weakened the leadership of Lenin and the Bolsheviks in Russia.
[1]
Ukraine continued to gain territory after the treaty was signed because the armies of the Central Powers pushed deeper into
Russia
, thus freeing more Ukrainians from Russian control especially in the
Kuban
and in the lands of the
Don Cossacks
and the
Terek Cossacks
all of which contained very large Ukrainian populations.
[1]
[2]
[3]
By late spring 1918, Ukraine with support from the Central Powers had gained control of the lower Volga River and began to receive oil shipments from Baku through the Volga ports of
Tsaritsyn
and
Saratov
.
[4]
[f]
During May to October 1918,
peace negotiations
were held between Russia and Ukraine. The
Cossacks
fiercely abhorred
Bolshevism. After the July 6, 1918, assassination in Moscow of the German Ambassador to Russia
Count Mirbach
, many Bolsheviks who resented the terms of the peace treaty began
guerrilla warfare and terror
with support from
Felix Dzerzhinsky
, the head of the
Cheka
.
[1]
In late 1917 to early 1918, the UNR for couple of months
lost Kyiv to the Bolsheviks
, but the UNR with Central Powers support controlled of much of Ukraine, pushed the Bolsheviks out of Kyiv on March 1, 1918, and forced the Bolsheviks to convene their government in
Taganrog, Russia
, on the coast of the
Sea of Azov
. The Congress of Free Hubb'andmen on April 29, 1918 (with the great support of Austrian-German occupants), elected tsarist general
P.P.Skoropadsky
as
Hetman of Ukraine
. He proclaimed the overthrow of the Central Rada Government thus suspending the UNR and also outlawed the Communist Party in Ukraine. After the
socialist
Directorate of Ukraine
overthrew the Hetman's government
[g]
and then reestablished the UNR on November 13?14, 1918, the Bolsheviks forces with support from Moscow renewed their aggression claiming to be led by the government of Ukraine. Ukraine sent a note of protest requesting to cease the hostilities;
Sovnarkom
first ignored the request and later stated that it has nothing to do with the war in Ukraine. The Ukrainian government declared a war on January 16, 1919. The Bolsheviks amid fluid alliances with various anarchists would eventually
defeat the Ukrainian army
that was fighting on several fronts simultaneously.
Meanwhile, the
Western Ukrainian People's Republic
(ZUNR) was declared in
Lviv
on October 19, 1918. Within the ZUNR were the
largest oil reserves in Europe
. The ZUNR formally (and largely symbolically)
joined the UNR
in hope to gain some support in the war
against Poland
. A UNR delegation sent to Paris could not gain recognition at the
Treaty of Versailles
at the end of the World War. UNR forces fared poorly during
Polish-Soviet War
and
a late alliance
with Poland wasn't enough to secure the republic. After the Polish-Soviet
Peace of Riga
, Ukrainian territory found itself split among the
Ukrainian SSR
in the center, Poland in the west, and Crimea, Kuban, and the former Cossacks lands became
southern Russia
in the east.
Carpathian Ruthenia
found itself in Czechoslovakia, and
Bukovina
in Romania. Ukraine was a
rump state
of its former self.
In December 1922, with Bolsheviks secure in their power over its territory, Soviet Ukraine joined the
Russian
,
Byelorussian
, and
Transcaucasian
republics to form the
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
.
International involvements
[
edit
]
The chaotic conditions in Ukraine attracted attention from the major powers. Canadian scholar
Orest Subtelny
provides a context from the long span of European history:
- In 1919 total chaos engulfed Ukraine. Indeed, in the modern history of Europe no country experienced such complete anarchy, bitter civil strife, and total collapse of authority as did Ukraine at this time. Six different armies-? those of the Ukrainians, the Bolsheviks, the Whites, the Entente [French], the Poles and the anarchists ? operated on its territory. Kyiv changed hands five times in less than a year. Cities and regions were cut off from each other by the numerous fronts. Communications with the outside world broke down almost completely. The starving cities emptied as people moved into the countryside in their search for food.
[5]
Outside powers acted on entirely different visions for Ukraine. The British ridiculed the pretensions of the new nation.
[6]
White Russians, united only by their opposition to Bolshevism, wanted to restore Ukraine as a Russian province. Russian Bolsheviks did not believe in nationalism and twice invaded Ukraine and failed efforts to seize control and collectivize the farms; they succeeded the third time in 1920.
[7]
Americans were outraged at the large-scale massacres of Jews in 1919.
[8]
[
page needed
]
Germany supported Ukrainian nationalism as a foil to Russia, but its chief goal was to obtain urgently needed food supplies. Ukraine was too poorly organized to fulfill the promised food shipments.
[9]
Poland wanted Ukraine in order to build a population that could stand up against Germany. France wanted Poland as a strong anti-German ally and therefore supported Polish ambitions. Poland did seize Ukraine in 1919, but was driven out from all but western Ukraine in the
Polish?Soviet War in 1920
.
[10]
Ukrainian Nationalist governments (1917?1920)
[
edit
]
Ukrainian Soviet Governments
[
edit
]
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
In December 1917, the Central Rada issued
Ukrainian currency
.
- ^
Trotsky
,
People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs
, appointed Joffe, but Trotsky resigned his post prior to the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Joffe accompanied the signatory team under protest as a consultant.
Grigori Yakovlovich Sokolnikov
led the signatory team and signed for the Bolsheviks.
- ^
The Bolsheviks agreed to the terms of the treaty because if they didn't the German led armies of the Central Powers would push into Petrograd and Moscow and remove the Bolsheviks from power: the Bolsheviks only controlled Petrograd and Moscow at the signing of the peace treaty.
[1]
- ^
On March 7, 1918, the Bolsheviks proclaimed Moscow their capital. The
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
placed the independent Baltic countries under German
suzerainty
. The Bolsheviks were concerned that with the Baltics under German suzerainty, the Germans could easily move a German army into the
Winter Palace
and overthrow the Bolshevik government located in Petrograd. Lenin commented that if the Germans armies were to occupy both Petrograd and Moscow, the Bolsheviks could retreat to the substantial resources of the
Ural-Kuznets region
.
[1]
- ^
The Central Powers occupation of Ukraine in the spring of 1918 caused a reduction of available foodstuffs in Russia.
[1]
- ^
In the August 27 supplement to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Germany would grant financial credits to the Bolshevik government in Moscow in return for 25% of the oil from Baku. This oil was shipped across the Caspian and up the lower Volga to Ukraine.
[4]
- ^
With the end of World War I in November 1918 and the defeat of the Central Powers, the Austrian-German support of the Hetman's government evaporated.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
Felshtinsky, Yuri (October 26, 2010).
Lenin and His Comrades: The Bolsheviks Take Over Russia 1917-1924
. New York: Enigma Books.
ISBN
978-1-929631-95-7
.
- ^
Укра?нська Кубань
[Ukrainian Kuban] (in Ukrainian). haidamaka.org.ua
. Retrieved
March 31,
2017
.
- ^
Snyehyrov, Dmytro (February 16, 2012).
Самост?йна Кубань. 94 роки проголошення незалежност?
[Independent Kuban. 94 years of independence].
Ukrayinska Pravda
(in Ukrainian). Kyiv
. Retrieved
March 31,
2017
.
- ^
a
b
McMeekin, Sean (2010).
The Berlin-Baghdad Express: Ottoman Empire and Germany's bid for World Power
. Cambridge, Massachusetts:
Belknap Press of the Harvard University Press
.
ISBN
978-0-674-05739-5
.
- ^
Subtelny, Orest
(2000).
Ukraine: A History
. University of Toronto Press. p.
359
.
ISBN
978-0-8020-8390-6
. Retrieved
April 1,
2017
.
- ^
Yakovenko, Natalya
(December 2002). "Ukraine in British Strategies and Concepts of Foreign Policy, 1917-1922 and After".
East European Quarterly
.
36
(4): 465.
- ^
Tan, Graham (2000). "Transformation versus Tradition: Agrarian Policy and Government?Peasant Relations in Right-Bank Ukraine 1920?1923".
Europe-Asia Studies
.
52
(5). Informa UK Limited: 915?937.
doi
:
10.1080/713663096
.
S2CID
144308097
.
- ^
Tcherikower, Elias
(1965).
The Pogroms in the Ukraine in 1919
.
- ^
Wolfram Dornik and Peter Lieb. "Misconceived realpolitik in a failing state: the political and economical fiasco of the Central Powers in the Ukraine, 1918."
First World War Studies
4.1 (2013): 111-124.
- ^
Oleksandr Pavliuk, "Ukrainian-Polish relations in Galicia in 1918-1919."
Journal of Ukrainian Studies
23.1 (1998)
Sources
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Ukrainian national states
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Crimean national states
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Soviet states
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Other territories
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Parliaments
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Political parties
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- Ukrainian Socialist Parties
- Soviet of Peasants Deputies
- Ukrainian Peasant Society
- Soviet of Workers Deputies
- Soviet of Soldiers Deputies
- Jewish Socialist Parties
- Polish Socialist Parties
- Russian Socialist Parties
- Ukrainian National Democratic Alliance
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Major figures
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