Ukrainian People's Republic Explained

Conventional Long Name:Ukrainian People's Republic
Life Span:1917–1918; 1918–1921
Status:Autonomy
Empire:Russian Republic
P1:Russian Republic1917:
Russian Republic
Flag P1:Flag of Russia.svg
P2:Ukrainian Soviet Republic1918 April:
Ukrainian Soviet Republic
Flag P2:Flag RSFSR 1918.svg
P3:Ukrainian State1918 December:
Ukrainian State
Flag P3:Flag of Ukraine (1917–1921).svg
P4:West Ukrainian People's Republic1919:
West Ukrainian People's Republic
Flag P4:Flag of Ukraine (1917–1921).svg
S1:Ukrainian People's Republic of Soviets1917:
Ukrainian People's Republic of Soviets
Flag S1:Flag_of_Ukrainian_People's_Republic_of_the_Soviets.svg
S2:Odesa Soviet Republic1918:
Odesa Soviet Republic
Flag S2:Arms_of_Odessa,_1918.svg
S3:Donetsk–Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic
Flag S3:Socialist red flag.svg
S4:Ukrainian State
Flag S4:Flag of Ukraine (1917–1921).svg
S5:Second Polish RepublicSecond Polish Republic
Flag S5:Flag of Poland.svg
S6:General Command of the Armed Forces of South RussiaSouth Russia
Flag S6:Flag of Russia.svg
S7:Makhnovshchina
Flag S7:Махновское_знамя.svg
S8:Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic1919:
Ukrainian SSR
Flag S8:Flag_of_the_Ukrainian_SSR_(1919-1929).svg
S9:Government of the Ukrainian People's Republic in exile1921:
Ukrainian
govt.-in-exile
Flag S9:Flag of Ukraine (1917–1921).svg
S10:Post-Soviet transition in Ukraine1992:
Post-Soviet Ukraine
Flag S10:Flag of Ukraine (Soviet shades).svg
Flag Type:Flag
National Anthem:Ukrainian: Ще не вмерла України

"Ukraine has not yet perished"
Other Symbol:State seal:
Image Map Caption:The Ukrainian People's Republic (green) in 1918 superimposed on modern borders
Capital:Kiev

Common Languages:Official:
Ukrainian

Minority languages:
Russian, Yiddish, Polish, German, Belarusian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Greek, Urum, etc.
Government Type:Provisional parliamentary republic (1917–1918)
Provisional directorial parliamentary republic (1918–1920)
Leader1:Mykhailo Hrushevskyi
Year Leader1:1917–1918
Title Leader:President (Central Council)
Representative1:Volodymyr Vynnychenko
Representative2:Symon Petliura
Year Representative1:1918–1919
Year Representative2:1919–1920
Title Representative:President (Directorate)
Deputy1:Volodymyr Vynnychenko
Deputy2:Volodymyr Chekhivsky
Deputy3:Borys Martos
Deputy4:Isaak Mazepa
Deputy5:Vyacheslav Prokopovych
Year Deputy1:1917–1918
Year Deputy2:1918–1919
Year Deputy3:1919
Year Deputy4:1919–1920
Year Deputy5:1920–1921
Title Deputy:Prime minister
Area Km2:860,000
Era:World War I • Russian Civil War
Event Pre:Autonomy declared
Date Pre:23 June 1917
Date Start:20 November
Year Start:1917
Event1:De jure independence
Date Event1:22 January 1918
Event4:Unity Act signed
Date Event4:22 January 1919
Event3:Republic restored
Date Event3:14 December 1918
Event2:Directorate formed
Date Event2:13 November 1918
Event End:Peace of Riga
Date End:18 March
Year End:1921
Event Post:Authority handed over to post-Soviet Ukraine
Date Post:15 March 1992
Currency:Karbovanets
Hryvnia
Demonym:Ukrainian

The Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR) was a short-lived state in Eastern Europe. Prior to its proclamation, the Central Council of Ukraine was elected in March 1917 as a result of the February Revolution, and in June, it declared Ukrainian autonomy within Russia. Its autonomy was later recognized by the Russian Provisional Government. Following the October Revolution, the Central Council of Ukraine denounced the Bolshevik seizure of power and proclaimed the Ukrainian People's Republic with a territory including the area of approximately eight Russian imperial governorates (Kiev, Volhynia, Kharkov, Kherson, Yekaterinoslav, Poltava, Chernigov and Podolia). It formally declared its independence from Russia on 22 January 1918.

During its short existence, the republic went through several political transformations – from the socialist-leaning republic headed by the Central Council of Ukraine with its general secretariat, to the socialist republic led by the Directorate and by Symon Petliura. Between April and December 1918, the socialist authority of the Ukrainian People's Republic was suspended, having been overthrown by the pro-German Ukrainian State of Pavlo Skoropadskyi, who was elected as the Hetman of Ukraine by a congress of peasants.[1] After the collapse of the Ukrainian State, the Ukrainian People's Republic declared its unification with the West Ukrainian People's Republic in January 1919. After the Polish–Ukrainian War, it signed an alliance with the Second Polish Republic. On 10 November 1920, the state lost the remainder of its territory to the Bolsheviks. The Peace of Riga on 18 March 1921 between Poland, Soviet Russia (acting also on behalf of Soviet Belarus), and Soviet Ukraine sealed the fate of the Ukrainian People's Republic.

After the October Revolution, many governments formed in the territory of Ukraine, most notably the Ukrainian People's Republic of Soviets based in Kharkov, and its Soviet successors. This force, along with the Ukrainian People's Republic, the White movement, Poland, Green armies, and anarchists, fought constantly with each other, which resulted in many casualties among Ukrainians fighting in the Ukrainian War of Independence as part of the wider Russian Civil War of 1917–1923. Soviet Russia would extend its control over what would ultimately become the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, which became a founding member of the Soviet Union in 1922.

History

Revolutionary wave

See also: Central Council of Ukraine, General Secretariat of Ukraine, Odesa Soviet Republic and Ukraine after the Russian Revolution. On 10 June 1917, the Central Council of Ukraine declared its autonomy as part of the Russian Republic by its First Universal at the All-Ukrainian Military Congress. The highest governing body of the Ukrainian People's Republic became the General Secretariat headed by Volodymyr Vynnychenko. The Prime Minister of Russia Alexander Kerensky recognized the Secretariat, appointing it as the representative governing body of the Russian Provisional Government and limiting its powers to five governorates: Volyn, Kiev Governorate, Podolia, Chernigov, and Poltava. At first Vynnychenko protested and left his post as Secretariat leader, but eventually returned to reassemble the Secretariat after the Tsentralna Rada accepted the Kerensky Instruktsiya and issued the Second Universal.

After the October Revolution the Kievan faction of the Bolshevik Party instigated the uprising in Kiev on 8 November 1917 in order to establish Soviet power in the city. Kiev Military District forces attempted to stop it, but after the Tsentralna Rada threw its support behind the Bolsheviks, the Russian forces were eliminated from Kiev. After expelling the government forces, the Rada announced a wider autonomy for the Ukrainian Republic, still maintaining ties to Russia, on 22 November 1917. The territory of the republic was proclaimed by the Third Universal 20 November 1917 (7 November by Old Style)[2] of the Tsentralna Rada encompassing the governorates: Volyn, Kiev, Podolie, Chernigov, Poltava, Kharkov, Yekaterinoslav, Kherson, Taurida (not including Crimea). It also stated that the people of the governorates: Voronezh, Kholm, and Kursk were welcome to join the republic through a referendum. Further the Tsentralna Rada in its Universal stated that because there was no Government in the Russian Republic after the October Revolution it proclaimed itself the Supreme governing body of the territory of Ukraine until order in the Russian republic could be restored. The Central Council of Ukraine called all revolutionary activities such as the October Revolution a civil war and expressed its hopes for the resolution of the chaos.

After a brief truce, the Bolsheviks realized that the Rada had no intention of supporting the Bolshevik Revolution. They re-organized into an All-Ukrainian Council of Soviets in December 1917 in an attempt to seize power. When that failed due to the Bolsheviks' relative lack of popularity in Kiev, they moved to Kharkov. The Bolsheviks of Ukraine declared the government of the Ukrainian People's Republic outlawed and proclaimed the Ukrainian People's Republic of Soviets with capital in Kiev, claiming that the government of the People's Secretaries of Ukraine was the only government in the country. The Bolshevik Red Army entered Ukraine from the Russian SFSR in support of the local Soviet government. As the relationships between members within the Tsentralna Rada soured, a series of regional Soviet republics on the territory of Ukraine proclaimed their independence and allegiance to the Petrograd sovnarkom (Odesa Soviet Republic (southern Ukraine), Donetsk-Krivoi Rog Soviet Republic (eastern Ukraine)). The Donetsk-Kryvoi Rog Republic was created by a direct decree of Lenin as part of the Russian SFSR with its capital in Kharkov. That decree was successfully implemented by Fyodor Sergeyev who became the chairman of the local government as well as joining the Soviet government of Ukraine, simultaneously. Unlike Fyodor Sergeyev's Republic, the Odesa Republic was not recognized by any other Bolshevik governments and on its own initiative had entered a military conflict with Romania for control over the Moldavian Democratic Republic, whose territory it was contesting.

Timeline

The following information is based on the exposition of the Museum of Soviet occupation in Kiev (Memorial in Kiev).[3]

Spring 1917

Summer 1917

Autumn 1917

(Each deputy represents 100,000 of population, a right of vote have citizens of 20 years and older; established the Central Election Commission to the Ukrainian Constituent Assembly)

Winter 1917–18

Spring 1918

In April 1918 troops loyal to the Ukrainian People's Republic take control of several cities in the Donbas region.

Independence

Due to the aggression from Soviet Russia, on 22 January 1918, the Tsentralna Rada issued its Fourth Universal (dated 22 January 1918), breaking ties with Bolshevik Russia and proclaiming a sovereign Ukrainian state.[4] Less than a month later, on 9 February 1918, the Red Army seized Kiev.

Besieged by the Bolsheviks and having lost much territory, the Rada was forced to seek foreign aid, and signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on 9 February 1918 to obtain military help from the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires. Germany helped the Ukrainian Army force the Bolsheviks out of Ukraine. On 20 February 1918 the council of the Kuban People's Republic accepted the resolution for a federal union of Kuban with Ukraine as Bolshevik forces pushed towards Yekaterinodar. It was agreed to forward the resolution for ratification to the Ukrainian government.

After the treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Ukraine became a virtual protectorate of the German Empire which at that time seemed more favorable than being overrun by the Soviet forces that were spreading havoc in the country. Germany was anxious about losing the war and was trying to speed up the process of food extraction from Ukraine, so it decided to install its own administration in the person of Generalfeldmarschall von Eichhorn who replaced the Colonel General Alexander von Linsingen. On 6 April the commander of the Army group Kijew issued an order in which he explained his intentions to execute the conditions of the treaty. That, of course, conflicted with the laws of the Ukrainian government, which annulled his order. By April 1918 the German-Austrian Operation Faustschlag offensive had completely removed the Bolsheviks from Ukraine.[5] [6] [7] [8] The German/Austro-Hungarian victories in Ukraine were due to the apathy of the locals and the inferior fighting skills of Bolsheviks troops compared to their Austro-Hungarian and German counterparts.[8]

The Germans arrested and disbanded the Tsentralna Rada on 29 April 1918 to stop the social reforms that were taking place and restarted the process of food supply transfer to Germany and Austria-Hungary. The German authorities also arrested the Ukrainian Prime Minister, Vsevolod Holubovych, on terrorist charges, and thus disbanded the Council of People's Ministers. Prior to this, the Rada had approved the Constitution of the Ukrainian People's Republic. Concurrently with all these events and a few days prior to the change of powers in the country on 24 April 1918 the government of Belarus confirmed the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce in Kiev headed by Mitrofan Dovnar-Zapolsky on the initiative of the Belarusian secretary of finance Pyotr Krechevsky.[9]

Hetmanate

See main article: Ukrainian State.

After the coup, the Rada was replaced by the conservative government of Hetman Pavlo Skoropadsky, the Hetmanate, and the Ukrainian People's Republic by a "Ukrainian State" (Ukrainska derzhava). Skoropadsky, a former officer of the Russian Empire, established a regime favoring large landowners and concentrating power at the top. The government had little support from Ukrainian activists, but unlike the socialist Rada, it was able to establish an effective administrative organization, established diplomatic ties with many countries, and concluded a peace treaty with Soviet Russia. In a few months, the Hetmanate also printed millions of Ukrainian language textbooks, established many Ukrainian schools, two universities, and the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences.

The Hetmanate government also supported the confiscation of previously nationalized peasant lands by wealthy estate owners, often with the help of German troops. This led to unrest, the rise of a peasant partisan (guerrilla) movement, and a series of large-scale popular armed revolts. Negotiations were held to garner support from previous Rada members Petliura and Vynnychenko, but these activists worked to overthrow Skoropadsky. On 30 July, a Russian Left Socialist-Revolutionary, Boris Mikhailovich Donskoy, with help from the local USRP succeeded in assassinating von Eichhorn, blowing him up in downtown Kiev at a broadlight.

Due to the impending loss of World War I by Germany and Austria-Hungary, Skoropadsky's sponsors, the Hetman formed a new cabinet of Russian Monarchists and committed to federation with a possible future non-Bolshevik Russia. In response, the Ukrainian socialists announced a new revolutionary government, the Directorate, on 14 November 1918.

Timeline

Spring 1918

Summer 1918

Autumn 1918

Winter 1918

Directorate

See main article: Directorate of Ukraine. The Directorate gained massive popularity, and the support of some of Skoropadsky's military units including the Serdiuk Division. Their insurgent army encircled Kiev on 21 November. After a three-week-long stalemate Skoropadsky abdicated in favor of the Council of Ministers who surrendered to the Revolutionary forces. On 19 December 1918, the Directorate took control of Kiev.

The Bolsheviks invaded Ukraine from Kursk in late December 1918 where the new Ukrainian Soviet government was reestablished earlier in November of the same year. On 16 January 1919 Ukraine officially declared a war on Russia while the Russian Soviet government continued to deny all claims of invasion. On 22 January 1919, the Directorate was officially united with the West Ukrainian People's Republic, although the latter entity de facto maintained its own army and government. On 5 February, the Bolsheviks captured Kiev.

Throughout 1919, Ukraine experienced chaos as the armies of the Ukrainian Republic, the Bolsheviks, the Whites, the foreign powers of the Entente, and Poland, as well as anarchist forces such as that of Nestor Makhno tried to prevail. The subsequent Kiev offensive, staged by the Polish army and allied Ukrainian forces, was unable to change the situation. On 10 November 1920, the Directorate lost the remainder of its territory to the Bolsheviks in Volhynia as it crossed into Poland to accept internment. In March 1921, the Peace of Riga sealed a shared control of the territory by Poland, the Russian SFSR, and the Ukrainian SSR.

As the result, the lands of Galicia (Halychyna) as well as a large part of the Volhynian territory were incorporated into Poland, while the areas to the east and south became part of Soviet Ukraine.

After its military and political defeat, the Directorate continued to maintain control over some of its military forces. Preempting a planned invasion by its rival Archduke Wilhelm of Austria,[10] in October 1921 the Ukrainian National Republic's government-in-exile launched a series of guerrilla raids into central Ukraine that reached as far east as Kiev Oblast. On 4 November, the Directorate's guerrillas captured Korosten and seized much military supplies. But on 17 November 1921, this force was surrounded by Bolshevik cavalry and destroyed.

Timeline

Winter 1918–19

Spring 1919

Summer 1919

Anti-Bolshevik and other uprisings

The following is the list of numerous uprisings that took place during the formation of the Ukrainian People's Republic. Some of them were in opposition to the Petlyura's government (such as the Oskilko's Affair), some were against the establishment of the Soviet regime, some took place to eliminate the Entente forces. According to Cheka documentation, in Ukraine took place 268 uprisings from 1917 through 1932, where in over 100 raions the mutinied peasants were killing chekists, communists, and prodotryads that were requisitioning food by force which more resembled expropriation.[11]

Exile

See main article: Government of the Ukrainian People's Republic in exile. The government of Ukrainian People's Republic operated in Warsaw, Paris, Weimar, Kissingen, Munich, and Philadelphia.

After the beginning of the World War II Taras Bulba-Borovets, with the support of the President of the Ukrainian People's Republic in exile Andrii Livytskyi, crossed the German-Soviet border and started organizing UPA military units subordinate to the UPR Government.[14]

The 10th Emergency Session of the Ukrainian National Council recognized the state of Ukraine as the successor of the Ukrainian People's Republic in exile and agreed to transfer the powers and attributes of state power to the newly elected President of Ukraine in 1991.[15]

International recognition

See also: Treaty of Warsaw (1920) and Międzymorze.

The Ukrainian People's Republic was recognized de jure in February 1918 by the Central Powers of World War I (Austria-Hungary, Germany, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria)[16] and by Bolshevik Russia, the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), Georgia, Azerbaijan, Romania, Czechoslovakia, and the Holy See. De facto recognition was granted by Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, and Persia. Partial de facto recognition was received from the Belarusian Democratic Republic (see Belarus–Ukraine relations).

Later in 1918 Russia chose to withdraw its recognition of independent Ukraine, representing the protocols of the Versailles Treaty as justification for its action. In 1920 Symon Petliura and Józef Piłsudski signed the Warsaw Treaty in which both countries established their borders along the Zbruch River.[17] [18] [19] The states that previously recognized the Ukrainian People's Republic ceased any relationships with its Government-in-exile after they recognized the Soviet Government in Kiev.

Important diplomatic missions and results

Demographics

According to the latest census that was taken 1897, the republic was accounted for over 20 million population in seven former Russian guberniyas, plus three uyezds of the Taurida Governorate that were located on the mainland.

National composition (thousands)

Administrative division

See also: Administrative division of Ukraine (1918) and Administrative divisions of Ukraine (1918–25). On 4 March 1918 the Ukrainian government accepted the law about the administrative-territorial division of Ukraine. The law stated that Ukraine is divided into 32 zemlia (land) which are administered by their respective zemstvo. This law was not fully implemented as on 29 April 1918 there was the anti-socialist coup in Kiev, after which Hetman Pavlo Skoropadsky reverted the reform back to the guberniya-type administration.

Armed forces

See main article: Ukrainian People's Army. The headquarters of the republic's armed forces was called the General Bulawa and was considered to be located in Kiev. Of course, due to constant intervention from the Petrograd sovnarkom and the German Empire the physical location of it was changing (Kamyanets-Podilsky, Bila Tserkva, others).

Main military formations (UPR)

The following three Zaporizhian infantry regiments and the 3 Haidamaka Regiment of the biggest Ukrainian military formation, the Zaporizhian Corps, later were reorganized into the 1 Zaporizhian Division.

Main military formations (WUPR)

Money and banking

See also: Ukrainian karbovanets. In December 1918 a temporary law about the issue of state banknotes by the UPR was adopted. According to this law: "Bank-notes must be issued in karbovanets" (Ukrainian: Карбованець). Each karbovanets contains 17.424 parts of pure gold and is divided into two hrivnas (Ukrainian: Гривня) or 200 shahs (Ukrainian: Шаг).

There were numerous banks in the republic among the most popular ones were the Ukrainabank and the Soyuzbank that were created by Khrystofor Baranovsky, the leader of a cooperative movement.

Maps

The area claimed by the Ukrainian People's Republic in 1919 (red and pink), compared with Ukraine after it regained independence in 1991 (red and green for the territories not claimed in 1919).

See also

Sources

See also: Bibliography of the Soviet Union and Bibliography of Ukrainian history.

Further reading

See main article: Bibliography of Ukrainian history.

See also: List of Slavic studies journals.

External links

50.45°N 60°W

Notes and References

  1. Book: Europa Publications . Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States, 1999 . . 1999 . 849 . 978-1-85743-058-5.
  2. http://zakon1.rada.gov.ua/cgi-bin/laws/main.cgi?nreg=n0005300-17 The Third Universal in the archives of the Verkhovna Rada
  3. Web site: Official website of Kiev Memorial . 1 September 2012 . 14 March 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220314015533/http://memorial.kiev.ua/index.html . dead .
  4. [Serhy Yekelchyk]
  5. Encyclopedia: Ukraine – World War I and the struggle for independence . 2008-01-30 . Encyclopædia Britannica.
  6. 100 years ago Bakhmut and the rest of Donbas liberated, Ukrayinska Pravda (18 April 2018)
  7. https://iht-retrospective.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/29/1918-germany-takes-control-of-crimea/ Germany Takes Control of Crimea
  8. https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/11181181 War Without Fronts: Atamans and Commissars in Ukraine, 1917–1919
  9. http://naviny.by/rubrics/society/2009/3/24/ic_articles_116_161824/ Babushka with a red wagon
  10. Timothy Snyder (2008). Red Prince: the Secret Lives of a Habsburg Archduke. New York: Basic Books, pp. 138–148
  11. http://www.istpravda.com.ua/artefacts/4ce329aa2fcf4/ People's War (Ukrainian pravda, photos)
  12. http://www.istpravda.com.ua/articles/2011/02/28/28210/ Left-bank Uprisings (Ukrainian pravda)
  13. http://www.istpravda.com.ua/columns/2010/11/1/1847/ Festival in Lehedzyne (Ukrainian pravda)
  14. Бульба-Боровець Т. Армія без держави: слава і трагедія українського повстанського руху. Спогади. Вінніпег: Накладом Товариства «Волинь», (tr, "glory and tragedy of the Ukrainian insurgent movement. Memories. Winnipeg: Courtesy of the "Volyn" Society") 1981. С. 113–115.
  15. Плав'юк М. Державний центр УНР на еміграції (ДЦ УНР) (tr. "UKR State Center for Emigration (UKR State Center)")
  16. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/02/12/102668439.pdf Terms of Peace Treaty Made by Ukraine; New Republic Gets Increased Territory at Expense of Rest of Russia
  17. Book: Alison Fleig Frank. Oil Empire: Visions of Prosperity in Austrian Galicia. 2009. Harvard University Press. 978-0-674-03718-2. 228.
  18. Book: Richard K. Debo. Survival and Consolidation: The Foreign Policy of Soviet Russia, 1918–1921. 1992. McGill-Queen's Press – MQUP. 978-0-7735-6285-1. 210–211.
  19. Book: Ivan Katchanovski. Zenon E. Kohut. Bohdan Y. Nebesio. Myroslav Yurkevich. Historical Dictionary of Ukraine. 2013. Scarecrow Press. 978-0-8108-7847-1. 747–.

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