| Ukrainian War of Independence | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theEastern Front ofWorld War I, thePolish–Soviet War, and theSouthern Front of theRussian Civil War | ||||||||||
    (clockwise from top left): Members of the Yuzovka (Donetsk) FirstDistrict Executive Committee in 1917; Ukrainian People's Republic soldiers swearing an oath in 1919; AnarchistBlack Army command in Berdiansk in 1919; Polish troops inKyiv in 1920. | ||||||||||
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| Belligerents | ||||||||||
 Makhnovshchina | ||||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | ||||||||||
 H. von Eichhorn X | ||||||||||
| Strength | ||||||||||
|  Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine: 103,000 (peak) |
| ||||||||
TheUkrainian War of Independence, also referred to as theUkrainian–Soviet War in Ukraine, lasted from March 1917 to November 1921 and was part of the widerRussian Civil War. It saw the establishment and development of an independentUkrainian republic, most of which was absorbed into theUkrainian Soviet Socialist Republic between 1919 and 1920. The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was one of theconstituent republics of theSoviet Union between 1922 and 1991.
The war was fought between different governmental, political and military forces. Belligerents includedUkrainian nationalists,Ukrainian anarchists, theforces of Germany and Austria-Hungary, theWhite RussianVolunteer Army, andSecond Polish Republic forces. They struggled for control of Ukraine after theFebruary Revolution of 1917.
The war ensued soon after theOctober Revolution, when the Bolshevik leaderVladimir Lenin dispatched theAntonov'sexpeditionary group to Ukraine andSouthern Russia.
The war resulted in the absorption of Ukrainian populations into the newly created Soviet Union and the Second Polish Republic. Soviet historical tradition viewed the Bolshevik victory as the liberation of Ukraine from occupation by the armies of Western and Central Europe, including that of Poland. Modern Ukrainian historians consider it a failedwar of independence by the Ukrainian People's Republic against the Bolsheviks. The conflict can be viewed within the framework of theSouthern Front of theRussian Civil War of 1917–1922, as well as the closing stage of theEastern Front of World War I.
During the First World War, Ukraine was in the front lines of two of the main combatants,Imperial Russia andAustria-Hungary.[1]: 340 During the war,Ukrainian activists in Russia were treated asenemy agents, and newspapers and cultural organisations were shut down by the authorities. The Austrians in turn persecutedGalician Russophiles, arresting them and their families. The region was cleared of Russophiles when Austria recaptured Galicia from the Russians later in the war.[2]: 202–203 [clarification needed]
In response to theFebruary Revolution in March 1917, political and cultural organisations inKyiv created a council, theCentral Rada, and in April the 900 delegates electedMykhailo Hrushevsky as its leader. Hrushevsky believed that the time had come for greater Ukrainian autonomy within Russia.[2]: 205 [3]: 100 That month, 100,000 supporters went on the streets of Kyiv in support of the Central Rada.[3]: 99 The new government, which claimed jurisdiction over five Ukrainiangovernorates, was recognised as the government of Ukraine inPetrograd.[2][4]: 205 Ukrainians from Moscow and Petrograd returned to Kyiv to aid the work of the new government.[2]: 207
The Central Rada was supported by Ukrainian officers and their men. Those at thefront continued to fight for the Russians, but were keen to return home, following promises by the Central Rada thatland would be redistributed.[2]: 206 As it became clearer that such promises were never going to be fulfilled, many began to support theBolsheviks.[2]: 207 In the south of Ukraine,Nestor Makhno began hisanarchist activity, disarming deserting Russian soldiers and officers. In the easternDonets Basin there were frequent strikes by Bolshevik-infiltrated trade unions.[2]: 207–208
The Central Rada proclaimed fourUniversals, declaring Ukrainian autonomy on 23 June 1917 (stating that "Ukraine should have the right to order their own lives in their own land”),[4]: 99 [3] issuing recognition agreements between the Central Rada and the Provisional Government in Petrograd on 16 July, and announcing the creation of theUkrainian People's Republic (UPR) was created on 20 November.[4]
The Central Rada's authority didn't extend beyond the urban centres,[3]: 99 and following the proclamations, it was faced with external attacks and an internal workers' uprising. The Central Radalacked a disciplined standing army or state apparatus, and it had to appeal to the population to mobilise.[2]: 207, 209–210 In late December 1917 theCommunist Party of Ukraine set up the rivalDonetsk–Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic—initially also called the Ukrainian People's Republic—in the eastern city ofKharkiv, whereVladimir Antonov-Ovseenko had established his headquarters. Their intention was initially to cut offAlexey Kaledin's forces in theDon region from Ukraine. In January, the Bolsheviks moved through Ukraine, with the aim of taking Kyiv, and the Central Rada began to lose control of the urban centres as the workers' support for the Bolsheviks increased.[5]: 373–377 [2]: 207–208 TheOdessa Soviet Republic, which was created on 18 January, was one of a number of temporary bodies formed by the Bolsheviks.[6]: 76–77
Bolshevik forces led byMikhail Artemyevich Muravyov quickly tookPoltava, followed byYekaterinoslav on 10 January 1918,Zhmerynka andVinnitsa on 23 January,Odesa on 30 January, andNikolaev on 4 February. Slowed by theBattle of Kruty on 30 January — but aided by theKiev Arsenal January Uprising, a Bolshevik-organized workers' armed revolt that started on 29 January — Kyiv was captured by the Bolsheviks on 9 February, following their victory in theBattle of Kiev. The Rada ministers retreated toZhytomyr. Muravyov then engagedRomanians forces inBessarabia.[5]: 373–377
Most of the remainingRussian Army units either allied with the Bolsheviks or joined the army of the Ukrainian People's Republic. A notable exception was theWhite Movement military leaderMikhail Drozdovsky, who marched his troops acrossNovorossiya to the Don to join forces withMikhail Alekseev'sVolunteer Army.[7]: 155
Following Bolshevik negotiations with theCentral Powers atBrest-Litovsk on 3 December 1917, the Central Rada expressed its desire for peace, and on 28 December an armistice was signed.[2][8]: 209–210
On 12 January the Central Powers, recognized the UPR delegation. Independence of the UPR was proclaimed in the Fourth Universal on 25 January 1918. On 1 February the plenary session was attended by the Kharkiv ‘Soviet Ukrainian government.[8] Thefirst Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed on 9 February. In return for much needed food supplies and agricultural products, Germany and Austria promised to provide the UPR with military assistance against the Bolsheviks. The Allied Powers reacted against the treaty and suspended relations with the UPR.[2]: 209–210 [note 1][note 2]
The German and Austro-Hungarian armies then launchedOperation Faustschlag, which resulted in the Bolshevik forces being driven out of Ukraine. Kyiv was taken on 1 March by a force of 450,000 German troops.[9][2]: 210–211 Two days later the Bolsheviks signed theTreaty of Brest-Litovsk with the Central Powers, which formally ended hostilities on the Eastern Front. Russia agreed to recognize the previous UPR treaty, to sign a peace treaty with Ukraine, and to define the Russian/Ukrainian border.[8]
On 13 March, Ukrainian troops and the Austro-Hungarian Army secured Odesa.[9] The Ukrainian People's Army took control of the Donets Basin,[10] andCrimea was cleared of Bolshevik forces in April 1918.[9][11] Crimea, although occupied by the Germans, was not annexed by the UPR.[2]: 210–211 Despite these victories, civil disturbances continued throughout Ukraine, where local communists, peasant self-defence groups, and insurgents refused to submit to the Germans.[12]: 364
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On 28 April, the Central Rada was disbanded by the Germans,[3]: 100 and the following day, aGerman-backed coup against the UPR government was staged.[13] TheUkrainian State, withPavlo Skoropadsky as its self-appointedHetman of all Ukraine, then replaced the UPR. Skoropadsky annulled the previous legal status and all laws of the UPR.[4] Under his government, new banks, government departments and a standing army were all created, and the Ukrainian language was introduced into schools. The Central Rada politicians refused to cooperate with Skoropadsky, and he was unpopular with the workers, who felt suppressed by the actions of his regime.[2]: 210–211 A body known as theDirectorate of Ukraine was formed to overthrow Skoropadsky's regime.[2]: 212
After the defeat of Germany on the Western Front in November 1918, most of the German troops stationed Ukraine had no wish to remain there in support of the Hetmanate, Skoropadskyi, in an effort to appease the Allies, signed theFederal Charter [uk], which stipulated that Ukraine would be part of a future federal Russia.[14] Ananti-Hetman Uprising on 14 November, led by theUkrainian Social Democratic Labour Party, rose up against Skoropadsky,[2]: 212 followed by an uprising on 16 November 1918 by the Directorate.[15][16]
Skoropadskyi declared martial law, and mobilised his troops to quell the rebellion.[15] The Directorate army initially succeeded in securing most of Ukraine, but were then decisively defeated by remaining German forces.[17]TheSiege Corps of the Sich Riflemen [uk] captured Kyiv after a two-week siege.[15] Skoropadskyi chose to abdicate, fleeing to Germany,[3][18]: 101 and his government surrendered to the Directorate the next day.[19] On 14 December, the Directory's troops entered the city, taking over the institutions introduced by the Hetmanate.[2]: 212
In October 1918 Ukrainians announced the formation of theWestern Ukrainian People's Republic (WUPR) from the Austrian territories ofGalicia,Bukovina andTranscarpathia. As both the Ukrainians and the Poles claimed the region, thePolish–Ukrainian War started, when fighting broke out between Ukrainian forces and thePolish Military Organisation.[2]: 212 [3]: 102 On 1 November,Lviv fell to the West Ukrainians, but after it was retaken three weeks later by the Polish forces, the WUPR government moved toTernopil and soon afterwards toStanyslaviv. In January 1919, the two Ukrainian states decided to merge.[2]: 212
Simultaneously, the collapse of the Central Powers affected Galicia, which was populated by Ukrainians and Poles. The Ukrainians proclaimed aWestern Ukrainian People's Republic (WUNR) in Eastern Galicia, which wished to unite with the UPR; while the Poles of Eastern Galicia—who were mainly concentrated in Lviv—gave their allegiance to the newly formedSecond Polish Republic. Both sides became increasingly hostile with each other. On 22 January 1919, the Western Ukrainian People's Republic and the Ukrainian People's Republic signed anAct of Union in Kyiv. By October 1919, theUkrainian Galician Army of the WUNR was defeated by Polish forces in the Polish–Ukrainian War and Eastern Galicia was annexed to Poland; theParis Peace Conference of 1919 granted Eastern Galicia to Poland.[4]
Almost immediately after the defeat of Germany, Lenin's government annulled theTreaty of Brest-Litovsk—whichLeon Trotsky described as "no war no peace"—and invaded Ukraine and other countries of Eastern Europe that were formed underGerman protection.
The defeat of Germany had also opened theBlack Sea to theAllies, and in mid-December 1918 somemixed forces under French command were landed atOdesa andSevastopol, and months later atKherson and Nikolayev (Ukrainian:Mykolaiv). Yet, on 2 April,Louis Franchet d'Espèrey orderedPhilippe Henri Joseph d'Anselme to evacuate Odessa within 72 hours. Similarly, on 30 April, the French evacuated Sevastopol. According to Kenez, "The French withdrew not in order to avoid defeat, but in order to avoid fighting. They had no plans for evacuation. The French left behind enormous stores of military material. They embarked on an ambitious scheme without clear goals, without an understanding of the consequences and with insufficient forces."[20]: 180–202
A new, swift Bolshevik offensive overran most of Eastern and central Ukraine in early 1919. Kyiv—under the control ofSymon Petliura'sDirectorate—fell to theRed Army again on 5 February, and the exiled Soviet Ukrainian government was re-instated as theUkrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. TheUkrainian People's Republic (UPR) was forced to retreat into Eastern Galicia along the Polish border, fromVinnytsia toKamianets-Podilskyi, and finally toRivne. According to Chamberlin, April was the greatest Soviet military success in Ukraine, "The Soviet regime was now at least nominally installed all over Ukraina, with the exception of the portion of the Donetz Basin which was held by Denikin." Yet in May, the Soviets had to deal with themutiny of OtamanNykyfor Hryhoriv and the advance of Denikin's forces.[21]
On 25 June 1919,Denikin'sArmed Forces of South Russia capturedKharkov, followed byEkaterinoslav on 30 June. According toPeter Kenez, "Denikin's advance in the Ukraine was most spectacular. He tookPoltava on July 31,Odesa on August 23, andKyiv on August 31."[20]
By winter, the tide of war reversed decisively, and by 1920 all of Eastern and central Ukraine except Crimea was again in Bolshevik hands. The Bolsheviks also defeatedNestor Makhno.[citation needed]
Again facing imminent defeat, the UPR turned to its former adversary,Poland; and in April 1920,Józef Piłsudski andSymon Petliura signed amilitary agreement in Warsaw to fight the Red Army together. Just like the former alliance with Germany, this move partially sacrificed Ukrainian sovereignty: Petliura recognised thePolish annexation of Galicia and agreed to Ukraine's role in Piłsudski's dream of aPolish-led federation in Central and Eastern Europe.
Immediately after the alliance was signed, Polish forces joined theUkrainian army in theKyiv offensive to capture central and southern Ukraine from Bolshevik control. Initially successful, the offensive reached Kyiv on 7 May 1920. However, the Polish-Ukrainian campaign ended in total failure: in late May, theRed Army led byMikhail Tukhachevsky staged a large counter-offensive south ofZhytomyr which pushed the Polish army almost completely out of Ukraine, except forLviv in Galicia. In yet another reversal, in August 1920 the Red Army wasdefeated near Warsaw and forced to retreat. TheWhite forces, now underGeneral Wrangel, took advantage of the situation and started a new offensive in southern Ukraine. Under the combined circumstances of their military defeat in Poland, the renewed White offensive, and disastrous economic conditions throughout theRussian SFSR—these together forced the Bolsheviks to seek a truce with Poland.
Soon after the Battle of Warsaw the Bolsheviks sued for peace with the Poles. The Poles, exhausted and constantly pressured by the Western governments and theLeague of Nations, and with its army controlling the majority of the disputed territories, were willing to negotiate. The Soviets made two offers: one on 21 September and the other on 28 September. The Polish delegation made a counteroffer on 2 October. On the 5th, the Soviets offered amendments to the Polish offer, which Poland accepted. The Preliminary Treaty of Peace and Armistice Conditions between Poland on one side and Soviet Ukraine and Soviet Russia on the other was signed on 12 October, and the armistice went into effect on 18 October.[22][23] Ratifications were exchanged atLiepāja on 2 November 1920. Long negotiations of the final peace treaty ensued.
Meanwhile, Petliura's Ukrainian forces, which now numbered 23,000 soldiers and controlled territories immediately to the east of Poland, planned an offensive in Ukraine for 11 November but were attacked by the Bolsheviks on 10 November. By 21 November, after several battles, they were driven into Polish-controlled territory.[24]
On 18 March 1921,Poland signed theTreaty of Riga withSoviet Russia andSoviet Ukraine. This effectively ended Poland's alliance obligations withPetliura's Ukrainian People's Republic. According to this treaty, the Bolsheviks recognized Polish control over Galicia (Ukrainian:Halychyna) andwestern Volhynia—the western part of Ukraine—while Poland recognized the larger central parts of Ukrainian territory, as well as eastern and southern areas, as part of Soviet Ukraine.
Having secured peace on the Western front, the Bolsheviks immediately moved to crush the remnants of theWhite Movement. After a final offensive on theIsthmus of Perekop, theRed Army overran Crimea. Wrangel evacuated theVolunteer Army toConstantinople in November 1920. After its military and political defeat, theDirectorate continued to maintain control over some of its military forces; in October 1921, it launched a series of guerrilla raids into central Ukraine that reached as far east as the modernKyiv Oblast. On 4 November, the Directorate's guerrillas capturedKorosten and seized a cache of military supplies, but on 17 November 1921, this force was surrounded by Bolshevik cavalry and destroyed.
In the currentCherkasy Raion ofCherkasy Oblast (then in theKyiv Governorate), a local man namedVasyl Chuchupak led the "Kholodnyi Yar Republic" which strove for Ukrainian independence. It lasted from 1919 to 1922, making it the last territory held by armed supporters of an independent Ukrainian state before the incorporation of Ukraine into theSoviet Union as theUkrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.[25][26][27]
In 1922, the Russian Civil War was coming to an end in theFar East, and the Communists proclaimed theUnion of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) as a federation of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Transcaucasia. The Ukrainian Soviet government was nearly powerless in the face of a centralized monolithCommunist Party apparatus based inMoscow. In the new state,Ukrainians initially enjoyed a titular nation position during thenativization andUkrainization periods.[citation needed]
However, by 1928Joseph Stalin had consolidated power in the Soviet Union. Thus a campaign of cultural repression started, cresting in the 1930s when a massiveman-made famine afflicted the Soviet Union and claimed several million lives; the famine disproportionally affected Ukraine in what is known as theHolodomor.[28] The Polish-controlled part of Ukraine, there wasvery little autonomy, both politically and culturally, but it was not affected by famine. In the late 1930s the internal borders of the Ukrainian SSR were redrawn with no significant changes.[citation needed]
The political status of Ukraine remained unchanged until theMolotov–Ribbentrop Pact between the USSR and Nazi Germany in August 1939, in which the Red Army allied with Nazi Germany to invade Poland andincorporate Volhynia and Galicia into the Ukrainian SSR. In June 1941, Germany and its alliesinvaded the Soviet Union and conquered Ukraine completely within the first year of the conflict. Following the Soviet victory on theEastern Front ofWorld War II, to whichUkrainians greatly contributed, the region ofCarpathian Ruthenia—formerly a part ofHungary before 1919, ofCzechoslovakia from 1919 to 1939, ofHungary between 1939 and 1944, and again ofCzechoslovakia from 1944 to 1945—was incorporated into the Ukrainian SSR, as wereparts of interwar Poland. The final expansion of Ukraine took place in 1954, whenCrimea wastransferred to Ukraine from Russia with the approval ofSoviet leaderNikita Khrushchev.[citation needed]
The war was portrayed inMikhail Bulgakov's novelThe White Guard,[29] which was serialised in 1925.[30]
Songs such as "Oi u luzi chervona kalyna" ("Oh, the guilder rose in the meadow, bent down") and "Hei vydno selo pid horoyu" ("Look, a village at the foot of the mountain") that were adapted or written for theUkrainian Sich Riflemen, became widely popular in Ukraine at the time. Because of their patriotic content, they were banned by the Soviets during much of the 20th century.[31]
Der weit überproportionale Anteil an ukrainischen Opfern wirft die Frage auf, ob die sowjetische Führung mit der von ihr herbeigeführten Hungersnot nicht nur allgemein die Bauern, sondern spezifisch die ukrainischen Bauern und damit die Basis der ukrainischen Nation treffen wollte.[The vastly disproportionate number of Ukrainian victims raises the question whether the Soviet leadership was targeting not just the peasants in general with the famine it caused, but specifically the Ukrainian peasants and thereby the foundations of the Ukrainian nation.]
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