14_A New Nation

This is the fourteenth #generalhistory note, following 13_Prelude to Chaos.

Disclaimer: This is not a comprehensive overview of the First World War. While it will reference broader developments within the war, its primary focus is on how the conflict affected Ukraine and its people. As such, some general statements—such as "In the early years of the war, the ruling dynasties and imperial power appeared to be gaining support."—are presented in a simplified and declarative manner to serve as context for analyzing Ukrainian-specific developments.

The Great War

Start of the War

On June 28, 1914, in Sarajevo, Gavrilo Princip assassinated Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Habsburg throne.
This event triggered what would later become known as World War I. While other deeper tensions contributed to the outbreak, the assassination highlighted Europe's central struggle at the time:
- Princip, a Serbian nationalist, symbolized the growing wave of nationalist movements across Europe that sought liberation from imperial control.
- Franz Ferdinand represented the embattled multi-ethnic empires—particularly Austria-Hungary—struggling to maintain dominance over their diverse populations.
In the early years of the war, imperial governments experienced a resurgence of support. In the Russian Empire, this meant a crackdown on Ukrainian activism:
- Ukrainian organizations were labeled Mazepists—a slur referencing Ivan Mazepa, who had sided with Sweden against Russia in 1709—and were accused of harboring Habsburg sympathies.
- Even moderate Ukrainian liberals could not prevent the closing of organizations like the Prosvita societies.
- In protest, Ukrainian liberal leaders declared neutrality in the war, while leftist radicals aligned themselves more closely with Austria.
The Russian army initially won key victories, capturing Lviv in early September 1914. In the newly occupied Galician and Transcarpathian lands, they:
- Proclaimed the “re-unification” of the pan-Russian nation
- Persecuted Habsburg-aligned Ukrainian activists
- Imposed Russian as the language of instruction in schools
- Installed previously marginal Russophiles into positions of power
- Renamed Lviv to Lvov
Before the Russian occupation, however, Austro-Hungarian authorities had cracked down on Russophiles within Galicia:
- On September 4, 1914, the first Russophile activists were arrested and sent to Thalerhof camp near Graz.
- During the war, some 20,000 were imprisoned there; around 3,000 died from cold, hunger, or disease.
- The main charge against them was failing to declare loyalty to the monarchy.
In contrast, the Ukrainian movement pledged full loyalty. It formed the Supreme Ukrainian Council (a deliberate echo of the 1848 Supreme Ruthenian Council) and organized the first Ukrainian military unit within the Austro-Hungarian army, which attracted around 10,000 volunteers.
The Ukrainian political leadership pursued two key goals:
- The partition of Galicia and autonomy for the Ukrainian part
- The creation of an independent Ukrainian state from the Russian-ruled territories
To achieve the second goal, they:
- Supported the Austro-Hungarian war effort
- Created the Union for the Liberation of Ukraine, led by émigrés from Dnieper Ukraine—including Dmytro Dontsov (who would later become the father of radical Ukrainian nationalism)—to convert captured Little Russian POWs into conscious Ukrainians.
In late summer 1915, German-Austrian forces recaptured most of Galicia and Bukovyna. As they advanced, most Russophiles fled alongside the retreating Russian army:

"They went in whole households, led by their village heads, followed by their horses, cows and the treasures they had managed to snatch up" – Kievskaya mysl', The Gates of Europe_A History of Ukraine, p. 204

One year later, in the summer of 1916, the Russian army launched the Brusilov Offensive, recapturing Volhynia, Bukovyna, and parts of Galicia.

The February Revolution and Independence

In early March 1917, the Romanov dynasty came to an end. Tsar Nicholas II abdicated and his brother refused the throne.
- This came after severe food shortages in Petrograd (St. Petersburg) sparked strikes and military mutinies.
- The Duma leadership seized the moment and persuaded the Tsar to hand over authority to them.
A Provisional Government was formed to organize elections for a constitutional assembly.
The February Revolution, as it later came to be called, caught Ukrainian leaders off guard—Mykhailo Hrushevsky was in Moscow at the time.
In March 1917, Ukrainian political and civic leaders convened and formed a new coordinating body: the Central Rada, with Hrushevsky elected as its head.
The Ukrainian movement was internally divided:
- Older activists, who had lived through the 1905 Revolution, were cautious. They preferred negotiating cultural and educational reforms in exchange for loyalty.
- Younger activists, supported by Hrushevsky, demanded political autonomy within a democratic Russia.
The younger camp prevailed. A General Secretariat—the de facto government of autonomous Ukraine—was established under the leadership of Volodymyr Vynnychenko, a prominent modernist writer.
- The Secretariat claimed jurisdiction over Kyiv, Podolia, Volhynia, Chernihiv, and Poltava gubernias.
- By July 1917, the Provisional Government in Petrograd officially recognized the Secretariat as Ukraine’s regional authority.
Several factors contributed to the success of the Ukrainian autonomy movement:
- In the revolutionary climate, a blend of liberal nationalism and socialism appealed strongly to the politically active public.
- Ukrainian autonomy was seen as the only viable path to addressing immediate problems like land reform and ending the war.
- The Central Rada emerged as the only institution seen as capable of delivering on two core popular demands: land and peace.
- Soldiers—many of whom were peasants—rallied behind the Rada, which promised to withdraw from the war, unlike the Provisional Government that insisted on continuing it.
- Peasants, who formed a majority of the population and the army, were promised redistribution of land owned by the nobility.
Over the summer of 1917, the Central Rada transformed from a coalition of Ukrainophile organizations into a proto-parliament.
- Congresses of peasants, workers, and soldiers began sending delegates.
- National minorities—including Jews, Poles, and Russians—also joined.
Hrushevsky made a clear appeal to minorities:
- He urged his supporters to avoid repeating the pogroms of 1905.
- He promised cultural autonomy for Jews, Poles, and Russians within a federated Ukraine.
- As a result, Jewish socialist parties and other leftist groups joined the Rada.
The Rada’s membership quickly exceeded 800. Its leaders formed the Little Rada to coordinate legislative work.
Many prominent Ukrainian émigrés returned to Kyiv during this time, including Heorhiy Narbut, who helped shape the visual identity of the new Ukrainian state:
- The blue and yellow flag (sky and wheat) reflected Galicia-Volhynia heritage.
- The Tryzub (trident), a symbol associated with Volodymyr the Great, was chosen as the national emblem.
However, the Rada government faced serious structural problems:
- The intellectuals and writers running the state had no administrative experience.
- They failed to build a functioning bureaucracy or maintain a loyal, disciplined army.
- Key promises—like land reform and peace—remained unfulfilled.
- Popular support in urban areas collapsed, with approval ratings between 9% and 13%.

Bolshevik Takeover

The Bolshevik coup in Petrograd in late 1917 marked a turning point. In response, the Central Rada proclaimed the Ukrainian People's Republic, asserting full statehood (while maintaining they were in a federation with Russia) and expanding its claims to include territories inhabited by ethnic Ukrainians.
This declaration ended any lingering cooperation between the Rada and the Bolsheviks.
The Bolsheviks attempted to replicate their Russian strategy in Ukraine by gaining control of the Soviets (councils).
- They called for a Ukrainian Congress of Soviets in Kyiv in December 1917, hoping to gain majority support.
- However, most delegates turned out to be peasants aligned with the Rada, and the Bolshevik takeover attempt failed.
The Bolsheviks then regrouped in Kharkiv, where eastern Soviet delegates gathered and, on December 25, 1917, proclaimed a rival state: the Ukrainian People's Republic of Soviets.
In early January 1918, Bolshevik troops crossed into Ukraine, advancing toward Kyiv under the banner of the new Kharkiv-based regime.
- On their way, they seized control of major industrial cities, where worker detachments organized by local Soviets supported them.
The Central Rada was effectively powerless in urban industrial centers, where it lacked worker backing.
- It also had no substantial army, as most troops remained deployed at the front lines.
On January 22, 1918, the Rada issued its Fourth Universal(decree), declaring Ukraine’s full independence:

"The Ukrainian People's Republic hereby becomes an independent, free and sovereign state of the Ukrainian people, subject to no one." — The Gates of Europe_A History of Ukraine, p. 208

Mykhailo Hrushevsky emphasized two immediate goals for independence:
1. To sign a peace treaty with Germany and Austria (which only a sovereign state could do)
2. To protect Ukraine from Bolshevik invasion and the rising Red Guard insurgency
This marked the first break from Russia since Ivan Mazepa in the early 18th century.
But the reality quickly caught up with the proclamation.
- The Central Rada’s call for mobilization was ineffective: Bolshevik promises (e.g. land, peace) were more appealing to many.
- Ukraine's only line of defense was a small force of ~400 students and cadets, who confronted Bolshevik forces at Kruuty railway station.
  - 27 were captured and executed after the battle.
On February 9, 1918, the Central Rada abandoned Kyiv and retreated westward.

Austro-German "Liberation"

On February 9, 1918, the Central Rada signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk(not to be confused with the later peace treaty of Brest-Litovsk) with the Central Powers.
- In exchange for grain shipments, Austria-Hungary and Germany agreed to military intervention in Ukraine to drive out the Bolsheviks.
By March 2, German and Austrian troops had expelled the Bolsheviks from Kyiv, allowing the Central Rada to reestablish control.
The Bolsheviks, unable to halt the advance, shifted strategy by declaring new Soviet republics in eastern territories.
Meanwhile, the German/Austrian forces advanced as far as Crimea (though it remained outside of the Ukrainian People's Republic).
Facing military defeat, Bolshevik Russia sued for peace and, in doing so, officially recognized Ukraine’s independence.
However, the new Ukrainian state was now entirely dependent on its foreign backers.
- When the Central Rada appeared unable to fulfill grain quotas (1 million tons), Germany and Austria staged a coup.
- They installed General Pavlo Skoropadsky, who proclaimed himself Hetman and ruled as a pro-German autocrat.
Despite being imposed by a foreign power, Skoropadsky’s regime was institutionally effective:
- Created a Ukrainian banking and financial system
- Recruited imperial officials to staff ministries, local offices, and the military
- Established major cultural and scientific institutions:
  - Ukrainian Academy of Sciences
  - National Library
  - National Archives
  - Three universities
Yet his authoritarian rule alienated large parts of the population:
- Socialist leaders, ousted by the coup, plotted his removal
- Peasant support collapsed due to harsh grain requisitions
- By late summer 1918, the country was in turmoil:
  - Workers’ strikes erupted in major cities
  - Peasant insurgencies gained momentum
  - German punitive raids only deepened resentment
  - His overtures to federalism with a non-Bolshevik Russia—intended to win Entente support—provoked further backlash
The final blow came in November 1918 with Germany’s surrender in World War I.

Recap

World War I began with:
- Austria-Hungary trying to hold onto its Slavic populations
- Russia seeking to expand its pan-Russian identity into Austrian territory
Both empires lost, creating a power vacuum that allowed Ukrainian identity to assert itself as a state project.
- What seemed impossible a decade earlier now became a concrete goal—but also a target.
The realization of that goal brought with it new and more immediate threats, and the chaotic context of the time was brutal to Ukrainian statehood.

Fallout

Immediate consequences

On November 11, 1918, the armistice was signed near Paris. Soon after, German and Austrian troops left Ukraine. On November 14, the Directory, headed by Volodymyr Vynnychenko (former head of the Rada government), started an open revolt.
After allowing the foreign troops to leave, they took Kyiv on December 15, ending the Hetmanate and putting the Ukrainian People's Republic back on the world stage.
However, their situation was pretty dire:
- The Bolsheviks were amassing troops on the border to take back what they had lost to the Germans.
- In Galicia, the Western Ukrainian People's Republic was formed in anticipation of the dissolution of Austria-Hungary. The Ukrainian leaders claimed their ethnic territories in Galicia, Bukovyna, and Transcarpathia. These claims were not undisputed, as the Austrian collapse left many questions unanswered (for example, it didn't partition Galicia). Thus, the Poles also claimed the entirety of Galicia.
The situation on the western front was particularly heated as the Ukrainians took Lviv (a city surrounded by Ukrainian-populated regions but itself largely Polish and Jewish) on November 1, 1918—even before the armistice was signed.
This didn't sit well with the Poles, who took the city in 20 days, forcing the leadership of the WUPR to retreat eastward and effectively beginning the Ukrainian-Polish War.
On December 1, 1918, representatives of the two Ukrainian republics joined forces and created a single state.

Desperate Fight

By March 1919, the leadership of the now unified Ukrainian state shifted from Volodymyr Vynnychenko to Symon Petliura.
There were several reasons for his rise:
- Vynnychenko emigrated due to pro-Bolshevik sympathies.
- He had some experience with the military, which was crucial due to the threats Ukraine was facing.
- His prior positions—government secretary for military affairs and then commander-in-chief—put him into an advantageous position.
- The Bolsheviks had re-started their attacks on Ukraine.
Even before Vynnychenko had left, on February 2, 1919, the Directorate had been pushed out of Kyiv and relocated to Vinnytsia. There was no alternative to this retreat, as the Ukrainians had failed to establish a cohesive military and instead operated with the equivalent of insurgent groups.
- Most of their forces were led by otamans, independent warlords, with Petliura himself being called "chief otaman."
The most effective fighting force of the republic were Galician soldiers. In July 1919, 50,000 of them actually arrived to reinforce the eastern front.
However, Galicia was also under siege by the Polish army, which was actively advancing.
Despite the Western Ukrainians' ability to set up a functioning administrative system in the regions they controlled and the relative effectiveness of their fighting force, they were unable to hold back the new Polish forces led by Józef von Hallerburg and trained by the French.
This pushed them into reinforcing Petliura on the eastern front, where they pushed back the Bolsheviks. The cooperation between the two forces wasn't smooth though, due to several reasons:
- The political differences between the conservative Galician leaders and the leftist Directory government.
- The difference in discipline between the two fighting forces.
- Their different preferences for allies. This was compounded in the early summer of 1919, when Denikin's White Army started an offensive against the Bolsheviks in Ukraine, opening the door for disagreements over how to deal with the situation. While he was supported internationally, his policies aimed at a full restoration of the Russian Empire.
  - The Galicians saw no problem in allying with him against the Bolsheviks and the Poles.
  - The Dnieper Ukrainians perceived the Poles as potential allies against the Bolsheviks and the Whites.
  - Some otamans were not opposed to joining the Bolshevik forces.
In August, this culminated in the Galicians retreating from Kyiv as the White forces advanced, thus breaking ties with Petliura. In November, a typhus outbreak wiped out large portions of both armies, causing the remaining Galicians to fully join the White Army, while Petliura allied with the Poles.
With that, the possibility of Ukrainian statehood vanished from the battlefield.

Bolshevik Victory

With the departure of the Ukrainian armies, a three-way fight over Ukrainian territory began:
- The Polish armies, aiming to come as close to the pre-partition borders as possible.
- The White armies, backed by the Entente, seeking the reunification of imperial Russia.
- The Bolsheviks, aiming at military survival in the short term and world revolution in the long term. Neither goal could be achieved without control of Ukraine, as Lenin admitted.
The Bolsheviks were most adept at controlling Kyiv and large industrial cities. However, the countryside was in revolt against them. There were two main reasons for this:
- Ukrainian liberals and socialists were often open to Soviet rule in principle, but not if it meant harm to their nation-building program.
- The peasants, who had trusted the promises of land redistribution, were furious at the requisitioning of their crops at gunpoint.
These revolts were led by a number of warlords and contributed to the Bolshevik loss of Kyiv to the White Army.
After Denikin had been defeated in December 1919, and Kyiv recaptured, Bolshevik leadership made an effort not to repeat past mistakes.
According to Lenin himself, they had neglected the nationality question. Thus, their armies in Ukraine now carried the banner of the formally independent Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic and addressed locals in their native language.
Next, they opened up party membership to Ukrainian leftists, who became known as Borotbists and provided the party with a local administration and cultural elite. Peasants were also given the land they had been promised, as plans for collective farms were postponed.
In the course of 1920, the Bolsheviks were able to consolidate their control and defeat the last contender for the territory. The Polish army, supported by what was left of Petliura's forces, launched an offensive on Kyiv with the goal of establishing a Ukrainian buffer state between Poland and Soviet Russia.
While they initially succeeded in taking Kyiv, they were promptly pushed back out by the Soviets.
The Red Army's counterassault was effective and soon forced the Polish-Ukrainian forces to retreat back to Lviv. There they offered stiff resistance to the Soviet forces, prompting the political commissar Joseph Stalin to redirect troops intended to fight in Warsaw to Lviv, which contributed to the Warsaw offensive failing. By October, the two warring parties signed an armistice deal.

Partition and Recap

In March 1921, representatives of Soviet Russia, Soviet Ukraine, and Poland signed a peace treaty in Riga that established a new border between the countries.
Under the new treaty, Poland would control Galicia and Volhynia. Russia received much of the remaining territory, but not all.
Other parts of Ukraine were now controlled by Romania (which took Bukovyna) and Czechoslovakia (which took Transcarpathia).
There are many reasons why the Ukrainians didn't manage to gain statehood during and after the Great War:
- The immaturity of the Ukrainian national movement and the late arrival of the idea of independent statehood.
- Dnieper Ukraine was plagued by the division between proponents of Ukrainian and Little Russian identity.
- Regionalism was an obstacle both in Austrian Ukraine (where nation-building differed between Galicia, Bukovyna, and Transcarpathia) and in Dnieper Ukraine (where the Right Bank had greater support for Ukrainian statehood than the east and the south).
- Big cities, mostly populated by non-Ukrainians, also weren't keen on Ukrainian statehood.
With these limitations in mind, it is rather remarkable how far the national movement got in these years. While unsuccessful, it shaped the aspirations of future generations.

Continuation

Continues in 15_Interwar Years.

Sources

This information was gathered from The Gates of Europe_A History of Ukraine (Pages 201-227).