Ukrainian–Soviet War

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Ukrainian–Soviet War
Part of the
Kiev
DateFirst: 8 November 1917 – 12 June 1918
Second: 2 January 1919 – November 1921
Location
Ukraine
Result First: Ukraine and Central Powers victory
Second: Soviet victory
Territorial
changes
Belligerents

Ukrainian People's Republic

 Poland (1920–1921)		 Makhnovshchina
Commanders and leaders
  • Nikolay Shchors †
  • Pavlo Skoropadsky
Part of a series on the
History of Ukraine
Ukraine - land of the Cossacks. Map "Ukraine or Cossack land with neighboring provinces of Wallachia, Moldavia, and Little Tartary" by Johann Baptist Homann, Nuremberg, 1716
Early history
Middle Ages
Early Modern period
Modern history
Contemporary Ukraine
Topics
Reference

The Ukrainian–Soviet War[1] (Ukrainian: українсько-радянська війна, romanized: ukrainsko-radianska viina) is the term commonly used in post-Soviet Ukraine for the events taking place between 1917 and 1921, 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. Early 1920 – late 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

See also: Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and Kiev Bolshevik Uprising

After the

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

In November 1917, the

Colonel General Dmitry Shcherbachev
.

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 (Bryansk–Belgorod
), 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

See also: First All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets (Kharkiv) and Group of forces in battle with the counterrevolution in the South of Russia

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 Governorate 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

Kiev. On January 27, the Bolshevik army groups converged in Bakhmach and then set off under the command of Muravyov to take Kiev.[1]

Kiev
in January 1918.

As the Bolsheviks marched towards Kiev, 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 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 1,500 pro-Soviet workers and soldiers were killed during the struggle.[10]
On February 8, the Ukrainian People's Republic evacuated Kiev in order to avoid destruction by opposing Soviet troops, which then entered Kiev under Mikhail Muravyov's on February 9.

Once the Bolsheviks took Kiev, they began an offensive in

better source needed] These setbacks forced the Bolsheviks to sign a preliminary peace treaty
with the Ukrainian People's Republic on June 12.

Post-Hetmanate intervention

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

During November 1918, troops from the

Bolsheviks. German forces led by the Soldatenrat kept their neutrality during the two-week-long civil war as they were withdrawing from the country, due to the defeat of the German Empire in World War I. The Directorate reestablished the Ukrainian People's Republic. On January 22, 1919, the neighboring Ukrainian republics united under the Unification Act
.

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 peace 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

Main article: 1919 Soviet invasion of Ukraine

During the Red Army's

Kharkov
.

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

Ukrainian SSR. Yet his government continued to stay in Kursk until January 24. On January 4 the Bolsheviks Army Group Ukrainian Front was reformed into the unified Ukrainian front under the command of Antonov-Ovsiyenko with his deputies Kotsiubynsky and Schadenko. On the several inquiries about the purpose of the Russian Army in Ukraine that the Directory was sending to Moscow, Chicherin
finally responded on January 6:

...there is no army of the Russian Socialist Soviet Republic in Ukraine. At this time the military action that takes place on the territory of Ukraine is between the armies of Directorate and the Ukrainian Soviet Government which is completely independent.

On January 12, the troops under the command of

Left-Bank Ukraine, and then marched on to Kiev. On February 2 they forced the Directorate to move to Vinnytsia
while troops of Schors and Bozhenko occupied Kiev 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.[15]

December 1919–November 1920

Main articles: First Winter Campaign and Polish–Soviet War

Lenin feared that a Polish offensive was incoming, and offered to accept the current frontline as a permanent border between Poland and Russia, which would include nearly all of Byelorussia going to Poland.[13] However, Józef Piłsudski had greater ambitions, and he also made an agreement with Symon Petliura in Ukraine to exchange Galicia in return for a promise to force out communists in right-bank Ukraine.[13]

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

Zbruch River and past Zamość toward Warsaw, but a counter-offensive pushed 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".

Galicia. There they were disarmed and placed in internment camps.[1]

November 1921

Main article: Second Winter Campaign

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 after refusing to defect to the Red Army, and 84 were passed on to Soviet security forces.[18]

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,[19] and in response, the Red Army terrorized the countryside.[20]

Rebellion states

Local supporters of

better source needed
]

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.[24]

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 due to the project known as prometheism; however, they were not successful. The last active Ukrainian movements would be mostly eradicated during the Holodomor.[25] 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. ISBN 0-8133-3792-5
    .
  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. ISBN 0-8020-8390-0
    .
  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. ^ a b c Pipes 1997, p. 153.
  14. ^
    ISBN 0-8020-0830-5
  15. ISBN 978-0-8157-2744-6
    .
  16. ISBN 0-7126-0694-7. (First edition: New York, St. Martin's Press
    , inc., 1972.)
  17. ^ Mykhailo Hrushevsky, edited by O. J. Frederiksen. A History of Ukraine. New Haven: Yale University Press: 1941.
  18. ^ Winter Campaigns at the Encyclopedia of Ukraine
  19. ^ Partisan movement in Ukraine, 1918–22 at the Encyclopedia of Ukraine
  20. WED Allen. The Ukraine. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
    , 1941.
  21. ^ "Медвинська республіка: спротив російсько-більшовицьким окупантам". www.ukrinform.ua (in Ukrainian). 10 October 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  22. ^ Коваль, Роман. "Начерк до історії Холодноярської організації 1917-1922 років". Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  23. Espresso TV
    (9 February 2020)
  24. ^ Ukrainian National Republic at the Encyclopedia of Ukraine
  25. ^ 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

Bibliography


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