Ukrainian–Soviet War

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Ukrainian–Soviet War
Part of the
8 November 1917 – 17 November 1921
(4 years, 1 week and 2 days)
Location
Result

Bolshevik victory

Territorial
changes
Partition of Ukraine between the
Peace of Riga
)
Belligerents

 Ukrainian People's Republic


 Austria-Hungary
(1918)

 German Empire
(1918)
 Poland
(1920–21)

 Russian SFSR
 Ukrainian SSR

 Poland
(1918–19)
White movement
(1919–20)
 Ukrainian State
(1918)


Various independent rebels[vague]  Austria-Hungary
(1918)

 German Empire
(1918)
 Poland
(1920–21)  MakhnovshchinaCommanders and leaders
Mykhailo Pavlenko
Ukrainian People's Republic Oleksandr Udovychenko
Nikolay Shchors
Pavlo Skoropadsky
Makhnovshchina
Nestor Makhno
Makhnovshchina Semen Karetnyk Executed
Makhnovshchina Fedir Shchus 
Makhnovshchina Viktor Bilash

The Ukrainian–Soviet War[1] (Ukrainian: радянсько-українська війна, romanizedradiansko-ukrainska viina) is the term commonly used in post-Soviet Ukraine for the events taking place between 1917–21, nowadays regarded essentially as a war between the Ukrainian People's Republic and the Bolsheviks (Russian SFSR and Ukrainian SSR). The war ensued soon after the October Revolution when Lenin dispatched Antonov's expeditionary group to Ukraine and Southern Russia.

war of independence by the Ukrainian People's Republic against the Bolsheviks. The conflict was complicated by the involvement of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine, non-Bolshevik Russians of the White Army, and the armies of the Second Polish Republic, Austria-Hungary, and the German Empire
, among others.

Historiography

In Soviet historiography and terminology, the armed conflict is depicted as part of the greater Russian Civil War: in Ukraine, this war was fought between the national government (led by Symon Petliura) and the Russian Bolshevik government (led by Lenin).

The war may be divided into three phases:

  1. December 1917 – April 1918: Revolutionary days, attempted Bolshevik coups, invasion of Ukraine by the Red Army formations, signing of protectorate treaty, and liberation from the Bolsheviks.
  2. December 1918 – December 1919: Civil war in Ukraine, full-scale invasion by the Red Army,
    West Ukraine
    to Poland.
  3. Spring 1920 – Autumn 1921: Polish–Soviet War (Treaty of Warsaw), Russian Civil War (between Bolshevik armies and the Armed Forces of South Russia), Ukrainian guerrilla operations (First and Second Winter Campaigns), government in exile.

Important documents

Background

After the

Petrograd. In the summer of 1917, the Russian Provisional Government
approved regional administration over some parts of Ukraine.

In November 1917, the government of Ukraine denounced the Bolsheviks' armed coup against the Provisional Government, known as the

.

On December 17, 1917, the Russian Bolsheviks planned a rival

Vladimir Antonov-Ovseyenko was appointed by Vladimir Lenin the commander-in-chief of expeditionary force against Kaledin and the South Russia, while near the borders with Ukraine (BryanskBelgorod
) Red troops began to gather.

The Kievan Bolsheviks who fled to Kharkov joined the regional Congress of Soviets of the

Petrograd on January 22, 1918, and declared independence, thereby commencing the Ukrainian War of Independence.[2][3] It was around this point that Bolshevik troops began invading Ukraine from Russia.[4] Russian military units from Kharkov, Moscow, Minsk and the Baltic Fleet invaded Ukraine.[5]

War

December 1917–April 1918

The Bolsheviks, numbering around 30,000 and composed of Russian army regulars stationed at the front, a number of garrisoned units, and Red Guard detachments composed of laborers from Kharkov gubernia and the Donbass, began by advancing from the northeast led by Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko and Mikhail Muravyov.[6] The Ukrainian forces at the time of the invasion consisted of about 15,000 made up from volunteer detachments and several battalions of the Free Cossacks and the Sich Riflemen.

The invasion of pro-Soviet forces from Russia was accompanied by uprisings initiated in Ukraine by the local Bolsheviks in the developed cities throughout the territory of

Aleksandrovsk (January 15), and Poltava (January 20) on their way to Kyiv. On January 27, the Bolshevik army groups converged in Bakhmach and then set off under the command of Muravyov to take Kyiv.[1]

Kyiv
in January 1918.

As the Bolsheviks marched towards Kyiv, a small Ukrainian National Republic unit of less than 500 schoolboys (some sources give a figure of 300

Haidamaka
detachment. About half of the 500 men were killed during the battle.

On January 29, 1918, the

Kiev Arsenal factory. The workers of the plant were joined by the soldiers of the Ponton Battalion, the 3rd Aviation Regiment and the Sahaydachny regiment. Sensing defeat, the "Central Rada" and Petlyurist forces stormed the city on February 3.[8] After six days of battle and running low on food and ammunition, the uprising was suppressed by counter-revolutionary forces,[9] in which 300 Bolshevik workers died. According to Soviet era sources, more than 1500 pro-Soviet workers and soldiers were killed during the struggle.[10]
On February 8 the Ukrainian government evacuated Kyiv in order to avoid destruction by opposing Soviet troops, which then entered Kyiv under Mikhail Muravyov's on February 9.

Once the Bolsheviks took Kyiv, they began an offensive in

Symon Petlura, the combined forces pushed the Bolsheviks out of Right Bank Ukraine and retook Kyiv on March 1. Because of the socialist policies of the Rada, mainly the policy of land nationalization which affected food exports to the Central Powers, on April 28 the German forces disbanded the Central Rada and installed the Hetman government in its place. Ukrainian, German, and Austro-Hungarian armies continued making gains, taking back Left Bank Ukraine, Crimea and the Donets Basin.[11] These setbacks forced the Bolsheviks to sign a peace treaty
with the Ukrainian government on June 12.

Post-Hetmanate intervention

Polish–Ukrainian, Polish–Soviet and Ukraine–Soviet Wars in early 1919

During November 1918, troops from the

Act Zluky
.

The Central Military-

Otaman Petliura, Colonel Bolbachan, Colonel Shapoval, Sotnik
Oskilko. They were discussing the border security and formed a plan in case of threat from all sides.

To stop the coming war with the Bolsheviks, the government of

Chekhivsky sent a delegation to Moscow led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Semen Mazurenko. The delegation succeeded in signing a preliminary peaceful agreement yet it did not stop the aggression from the Russian side due to poor communication between the delegation in Moscow and the government of the Ukrainian People's Republic.[12] On December 28, 1918 the Central Committee of the Left UPSR officially declared the mobilization of forces in the support of the Soviet government by an armed staging. From the beginning of January 1919 the Bolshevik bands consistently were crossing the eastern and north-eastern borders to raid.[citation needed
]

January 1919–June 1919

On January 7, 1919 the Bolsheviks

Kyiv and Kharkiv
.

The Soviet forces were advanced across North-eastern Ukraine and occupied

Left-Bank Ukraine, and then marched on to Kyiv. On February 2 they forced the Directorate to move to Vinnytsia
while troops of Schors and Bozhenko occupied Kyiv three days later.

Then Chekhivsky resigned from office, right after Vynnychenko created in

Odessa which Hryhoryev entered three days later. In early June, Ukraine launched an offensive, retaking the Podolia region.[1]

July 1919–December 1919

The Red Army retaliated against the Ukrainian offensive, recapturing

Yurii Tiutiunnyk and his experienced troops. The Ukrainian army launched a counterattack, pushing the Red Army back to Horodok. Troops of the Ukrainian Galician Army who had crossed the Zbruch on 16-17 July joined the fight against the Bolsheviks. Their arrival resulted in Ukraine having a combined force of 85,000 Ukrainian army regulars, and 15,000 partisans.[1]

By October 1919, about 70% of the Directorate's troops and more than 90% of the allied Ukrainian Galician Army fell to typhus.[14]

December 1919–November 1920

From December 6, 1919 to May 6, 1920, the

Zbruch River and past Zamość toward Warsaw but counter-offensive the Soviets to Minsk. The Poles signed a armistice with the Soviets on October 12. By 1921, the Polish author of the Polish-Ukrainian alliance, Józef Piłsudski
, was no longer the Polish head of state, and only participated as an observer during the Riga negotiations, which he called an act of cowardice.

November 1921

The last action of the UNR against the Soviets was a raid behind the Red Army lines in November 1921 known as the

Yurii Tiutiunnyk
.

Two expeditionary forces were established, one from

Grigore Kotovski at Bazar and routed in battle near Mali Mynky on November 17. 443 soldiers were captured by the Soviets during the battle. 359 were shot on November 23 near the town of Bazar, and 84 were passed on to Soviet security forces.[17]

This was the last operation of the UNR army against the Soviets. The end of the Second Winter Campaign brought the Ukrainian-Soviet war to a definite end,[1] however partisan fighting against the Bolsheviks continued until mid-1922[18] and in response the Red Army terrorized the countryside.[19]

Rebellion states

Local supporters of Ukrainian People's Republic created anti-Russian and anti-Bolshevik rebellion states on occupied territories like Independent Medvyn Republic[20] or Kholodny Yar Republic.[21] They kept fighting with Russians and collaborators until 1923. [22]

Aftermath

Eastern Europe after the Treaty of Riga

The end of the war saw the incorporation of most of the territories of Ukraine into the

Symon Petlura, was forced into exile.[23]

For the next few years the Ukrainian nationalists would continue to try to wage a partisan guerrilla war on the Soviets. They were aided by Polish intelligence (see Prometheism); however, they were not successful. The last active Ukrainian movements would be mostly eradicated during the Holodomor.[24] Further, the relative lack of Polish support for the Ukrainian cause would cause a growing resentment on the part of the Ukrainian minority in Poland towards the Polish interwar state.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Ukrainian-Soviet War, 1917–21 at the Encyclopedia of Ukraine
  2. ^ J. Kim Munholland. "Ukraine.". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2007-11-08.
  3. .
  4. ^ a b c d Orest Subtelny. Ukraine: A History. University of Toronto Press, 1988.
  5. ^ Robert Sullivant. Soviet Politics and the Ukraine 1917–1957. New York: Columbia University Press, 1962.
  6. ^ a b Nicholas Chirovsky. An introduction to Ukrainian History Volume III 19th and 20th Century Ukraine. New York, Philosophical Library, 1986
  7. ^ "History of Ukraine" (in Ukrainian). Retrieved September 12, 2006.
  8. ^ Палач Петлюра — предтеча нынешних властей. Rabochaya Gazeta (in Russian). Retrieved 27 January 2012.
  9. .
  10. ^ Дмитрий Аггеевич Чугаев. "Коммунистическая партия: организатор Союза Советских Социалистических Республик". Мысль. 1972. p.176
  11. ^ (in Ukrainian) 100 years ago Bakhmut and the rest of Donbass liberated, Ukrayinska Pravda (18 April 2018)
  12. ^ "А. Скромницкий. Связи Украинской Народной Республики (УНР) и Советской России (November 1918 — April 1919 год)" (in Russian). Archived from the original on 17 July 2012.
  13. ^
  14. .
  15. ISBN 0-7126-0694-7. (First edition: New York, St. Martin's Press
    , inc., 1972.)
  16. ^ Mykhailo Hrushevsky, edited by O. J. Frederiksen. A History of Ukraine. New Haven: Yale University Press: 1941.
  17. ^ Winter Campaigns at the Encyclopedia of Ukraine
  18. ^ Partisan movement in Ukraine, 1918–22 at the Encyclopedia of Ukraine
  19. WED Allen. The Ukraine. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
    , 1941.
  20. ^ "Медвинська республіка: спротив російсько-більшовицьким окупантам". www.ukrinform.ua (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  21. ^ Коваль, Роман. "Начерк до історії Холодноярської організації 1917-1922 років". Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  22. Espresso TV
    (9 February 2020)
  23. ^ Ukrainian National Republic at the Encyclopedia of Ukraine
  24. ^ Timothy Snyder, Covert Polish Missions across the Soviet Ukrainian Border, 1928–1933, p. 71-78, in Cofini, Silvia Salvatici (a cura di), Rubbettino, 2005. Full text in PDF Archived 2008-02-27 at the Wayback Machine