Cossacks and the Georgians in their struggles against the Bolsheviks
and there was developed a long chain of anti-Bolshevik states and
organizations along the entire shore of the Black Sea. This year also
saw the emergence of General Denikin at the head of a White Russian
Army, with the backing of England, France and the United States in an
attempt to restore a united Russia.
The confused situation was brought to an abrupt end by the defeat of
Germany on the Western Front. The Kaiser abdicated on November 9 and
already Austria-Hungary had broken up into a number of independent
states. Turkey left the war on October 30 and this at once opened the
Dardanelles, so that military supplies could be sent into the area
north of the Black Sea. Under such conditions, the only course open
to the German armies was to retreat. Even this was not easy in the
complicated circumstances of the day, for a large part of the German
troops had come under Bolshevik influences and were not particularly
interested in fighting or in doing anything except getting home, if
they could. Under such circumstances Skoropadsky saw that his days were
numbered. On December 14, he laid down his power, slipped out of Kiev
and made his way to Berlin.
In the meanwhile, with the approaching downfall of Germany, the
Ukrainians again aspired to independence. Volodymyr Vynnychenko tried
to rally the forces of the Rada by appointing a Direktoria composed
of members of the various Ukrainian Socialist parties. He wanted to
continue the general policy of the government as it had been before
the time of Skoropadsky. More important for the Ukrainian cause was,
however, the work of Simon Petlyura, for at the first sign of the
weakening of the forces of Skoropadsky, he went to Bila Tserkva and won
over one of the crack regiments of Skoropadsky’s forces, the Rifles of
the Zaporozhian Sich. With this as a nucleus, he started a revolt which
ultimately carried him and the Direktoria into Kiev as Skoropadsky left
for exile.
Petlyura was to be for the next years the dominant figure in the
Ukrainian movement. A man of simple origin, he had secured an education
and was making his living as a bookkeeper and writer when the Russian
Revolution started. He had some military training and developed a
considerable talent for leadership. Unlike most of the other leaders,
he was more a man of action than a thinker and in the troublous times
ahead, it was these qualities rather than thought and logic that were
needed most for the new state.
Petlyura and Vynnychenko differed violently on many subjects, and
with each week the struggle became more intense. Petlyura felt that
Vynnychenko’s policies, while Ukrainian in essence, were blurring the
line between Ukrainian nationalism and Bolshevism. He was suspicious
of too radical reforms and sought support rather from those elements
of the state that laid the main stress on independence. Furthermore
he believed that it was necessary to secure as much of the German
military equipment as possible from the retreating German armies, and
he won the good will of the peasants who had been angered by the German
requisitioning of supplies by encouraging them to attack the retreating
forces. Thus the actions of his troops seriously upset the plans of
the more or less Bolshevized German armies and became a real menace to
the hopes of the Bolsheviks for the taking over of the country on the
German retreat.
The victorious Allies now had the opportunity to intervene effectively
in the general situation. They were able to send troops into Ukraine
and South Russia through Romania. They were also able to land them
at the Black Sea ports. For the first time since 1914, the southern
gate of Russia and Ukraine was opened to the democratic nations. The
future rested on their ability to formulate a program, make their own
conditions, and see that they were carried out.
They were as ineffective in this as they had been in 1917, for there
came again a flood of diplomatic missions, promising everything and
doing nothing. English and French representatives appeared at Kiev to
expedite the German departure. At the same time, as if Skoropadsky
had been a legitimate ruler, they ordered the Germans strictly not
to surrender their arms to any of the Ukrainian rebels or to turn
Kiev over to them. It is still not clear whether this was done by
orders from the home governments or at the advice of the Russians
around Skoropadsky. The result was the same. The Ukrainian forces were
unwilling to remain quiet and see the Germans depart with rich booty
and copious military supplies. The Allies sent no troops to back up
their representatives and the Bolsheviks paid no attention to any one
and continued their work of spreading propaganda among the Germans.
Under such conditions, the forces of Petlyura increased rapidly and it
soon became evident to the Germans that they would have to come to an
understanding with him. This was done at Kasatin on December 11, when
the Germans consented to turn over Kiev to the Direktoria and three
days later Colonel Konovalets at the head of a Ukrainian detachment
entered Kiev. Petlyura and the Direktoria arrived on December 19. The
Germans had insisted that the Russian officers and men in the Hetman’s
army should be allowed to leave with them. On the whole this was
carried out, although there were some arrests and some murders, but by
the end of December the bulk had been disposed of and were in Germany.
The Ukrainian Republic had been once more established. It had a last
chance to solve its problems and to emerge as a strong and respected
government but it was not an optimistic picture. The country was still
more disorganized than the year before. There were still the same
factions in the state. There was still the same lack of harmony among
the Allied military missions and above all the people of the Allied
countries were sure that the war was over and that there was nothing
left to be done, for the new period of human history had started at the
hour of the Armistice, 11 A. M., November 11, 1918.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
_THE REPUBLIC OF WESTERN UKRAINE_
The successful Russian occupation of Lviv within a month after the
beginning of the War threw into sharp relief the military weakness of
Austria-Hungary and the following events showed that the Dual Monarchy,
despite all its pretensions and claims, was hardly fitted to stand the
rigors of modern warfare. The various national groups included within
its borders were restive. Regiments of Czechs had gone over in mass
formation to the Russians. Discontent was rife in other sections and it
was easy to see that whatever the outcome of the war, bad times were in
store for the country.
On January 8, 1918, Woodrow Wilson laid down the Fourteen Points
for a final settlement. These included phrases that called for
self-determination of the various nations. It is immaterial how far
he had intended to press this policy, for in Europe his words were
taken in their full meaning and each and every group, large or small,
prepared to take advantage of them. From this time on there could be
no doubt that Austria-Hungary was going to disintegrate. The only
questions were when and how and what would be the fate of the territory.
It was almost the same day that the Ukrainian delegates to the Brest
Litovsk Conference passed through Lviv, to establish contact with the
Ukrainian leaders there and to tell them of the intention of Ukraine
to declare its full independence of Russia. This act alone served to
increase tension in the Ukrainian lands in the Dual Monarchy and to
arouse more energetic work during the summer, so that the Ukrainians
in Western Ukraine would be ready when the moment for action arrived.
They were not alone in this, for the Poles also were planning to revive
their state. The Polish National Committee working with the Allied
nations elaborated plans for recovering the territory which they had
held in 1772 at the time of the First Partition of the country. The
Council of the Regency and the various groups around Joseph Pilsudski,
which were more bitterly anti-Russian, looked for the establishment of
some form of independent Poland in case of a German victory. The events
of 1917 brought both groups together and there was a general agreement
among Poles of all factions and trains of thought that there must
emerge from the war a great Poland. In Galicia, they made ready to take
over the country as soon as the Austrian grip showed signs of weakening.
In the same way the various Ukrainian groups determined not to be
outdone through inaction. They organized a Ukrainian Council with
members in Eastern Galicia, in Carpatho-Ukraine and in Bukovina and
then on October 18, as the hour of decision was approaching, they held
a large conference in Lviv and made plans to declare their independence
when the time came. So weak and disintegrated was Austria-Hungary
already that it was possible to hold such a meeting without too great
danger to the participants.
It was already clearly realized that the dangers confronting Western
Ukraine came not from the dying Empire but from the claims of the
Poles and of the other succession states, each of which put forward
demands to take over the same territory. Again Allied diplomacy was
destined to be ineffective and the disagreements among the victorious
nations prepared the way for a series of wars and disturbances that
were to leave new causes of bitterness behind them. The disintegration
of Austria-Hungary was not to be brought about under the control
of the victorious powers but under the conflicting demands of local
populations and improvised military forces.
On November 1, during the night, the Ukrainians judged that it was
time to act and the Council took over the control of the city of Lviv
with the tacit permission of the Austrian Governor of Galicia. The
blue and yellow flag of Ukraine was hoisted over the city hall and the
Republic of Western Ukraine was formally proclaimed. At the same time,
in Western Galicia, the Poles raised their standard over the city of
Krakow. The old regime was ended.
Soon the Ukrainians in other cities of Western Ukraine followed suit
and the new Republic commenced the difficult and painful task of
setting up an administration. Its resources were indeed scanty. There
was no money and no trained corps of administrators, for the old
government had kept most of the more responsible posts in Galicia in
the hands of the Poles.
More important than that, the forces available to maintain order were
equally non-existent or unsatisfactory. There were the remains of the
Ukrainian legions in the Austrian army, the Riflemen of the Sich, and
there were some disorganized reserve units in the neighborhood of
the city, which were largely composed of Ukrainians, since officers
and men from other sections of the Empire had left them to return
home. There was a marked lack of officers, since the unfavorable
conditions of Galicia had prevented many Ukrainians from rising in the
Austro-Hungarian service. It was with this scanty support that the new
government under Dr. Evhen Petrushevich set to work.
Any hopes of a peaceable period for organization were soon ended.
As soon as the Poles realized that Lviv had been taken over by the
Ukrainians, there began a revolt of the Polish population of the city.
Many of the participants were mere schoolboys, but they seized the main
post office and the Ukrainians were unable to dislodge them. Civil
war broke out, but it was a civil war in which artillery and heavy
weapons were absent from both sides. For three weeks the battle went on
in the city as both sides tried to bring up what reinforcements were
available. The Poles finally succeeded in moving from Krakow into the
city by train a force of 140 officers and 1200 men. Even such a small
body of more or less trained soldiers was enough to turn the scales in
the favor of the Poles and two days after they arrived, the Ukrainian
government left the city and retired to Stanislaviv and later to
Ternopil.
This did not mean that the Republic had given up the struggle. It
still held the largest part of Eastern Galicia, with the exception of
the railroad line from Peremyshl to Lviv, which the Poles succeeded
in keeping open. At the same time there was a practical siege of Lviv
during the entire winter. The Poles, however, were able to gather
forces elsewhere in the country and steadily new and better armed
detachments pushed their way into Eastern Galicia.
As regards Bukovina, the Ukrainians occupied the capital Chernivtsy on
November 3, but the Romanians with the nucleus of an army refused to
concede this. Their troops on Armistice Day pressed into the city and
overthrew the Ukrainian Regional Committee under Omelyan Popovich. Then
they formally annexed the province.
In Carpatho-Ukraine, there was the same general confusion. Various
adherents of the Republic of Western Ukraine held gatherings in
Preshiv, Uzhorod and Hust and they failed to come to a definite
agreement as to the future of the country. The Czechs claimed it on
the basis of an understanding with the American Ruska Nationalna Rada
at a meeting in Scranton, Pennsylvania. There was, however, more delay
in taking the land over from Hungary than there was from some of the
other sections and there was not the complete change that had occurred
elsewhere. Nevertheless on January 21, 1919, a Council in Hust voted
to join Ukraine; but conditions kept changing and finally on May 5 the
various groups in the country voted to become autonomous within the
Czechoslovak state.
It can be seen from all this that the Ukrainians of Eastern Galicia
were the heart and the determining factor of the Republic of Western
Ukraine. The loss of Lviv, the most important city in the area, proved
a tremendous handicap to the new state, which looked forward very
definitely to an ultimate union with the Ukrainian Republic set up at
Kiev.
The Allied military missions in Warsaw and in Lviv endeavored to make
peace between the various factions and to throw the whole problem of
Eastern Galicia into the hands of the Peace Conference which was to
meet a few months later in Paris. They were completely helpless, for
the Poles claimed control of the entire province on the ground that it
had been under the Polish crown and formed part of the Polish Republic
since the fourteenth century and the Polish leaders, both of the right
and left, refused to listen to any pleas that would leave the territory
even temporarily under Ukrainian control. At the same time, they were
steadily increasing their armed forces and later they received several
well-trained divisions which had fought under General Haller along with
the French on the Western Front. Under such conditions the armies of
Western Ukraine were steadily forced to retreat to the east in the hope
of joining the forces of Eastern Ukraine, which were in little better
condition.
There is little need to go into the various efforts that were made at
the time to make peace between the Poles and Western Ukrainians. All of
them failed. During the entire Peace Conference, there was continuous
talk of the future fate of Galicia but nothing definite was decided,
for the Poles, with French backing, refused to concede anything and
the changing political situation in the East made decisions useless,
often before they were announced.
In one sense the casual observer may see in the brief interlude of
the Republic of Western Ukraine one of those numerous and transient
organizations that appeared spontaneously everywhere in Europe during
the troubled months of November and December, 1918, but it was more
than that, for despite the speedy passing of the Republic, the
population was left. The ill feelings generated long remained to fester
in Poland and added abundant fuel to the fires that were waiting for
1939. The retreat to Stanislaviv and then to Ternopil did not end the
movement, although it lessened its immediate importance in a world that
was still at war, despite its efforts to prove that peace had come.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
_THE FALL OF UKRAINE_
Petlyura returned to Kiev with the Direktoria on December 19, 1918 and
he at once set about to rebuild the shattered structure of the state.
Conditions were more unfavorable than they had been the year before,
for the interlude with Skoropadsky had hindered the stabilization of
Ukraine, even while it had allowed a development of the Bolshevik
regime and the formation of a strong White Russian movement under
Denikin. When we add to this the outbreak of the war between the newly
formed Republic of Western Ukraine and Poland, we can appreciate the
task that faced the new leader.
The first constructive step was the formal union of the Republic of
Western Ukraine with the rest of the country. On January 3, 1919, the
Direktoria voted to accept the Western Ukraine into the state and on
January 22, just one year after the formal independence of Ukraine had
been declared by the Council, the representatives of Western Ukraine
arrived to take their places in the government of the joint state. Dr.
Longin E. Cehelsky of Western Ukraine read the formal decree of the
Western Ukrainian Council and the decree of the Ukrainian Council was
read by Prof. Shvets. It was then declared that, “From to-day until
the end of time there will be One, Undivided, Independent Ukrainian
People’s Republic.”
In one sense the measure was inopportune, for the Western Ukrainian
Republic was already being driven from much of its territory by the
Poles. As a result it added to the enemies of the state, for Ukraine
with its almost shadowy armies was now confronting in arms Poland,
the Soviets and the White forces of Denikin. It was an overpowering
combination, even though each of the three enemies was fighting the
other two.
Within two weeks after the declaration of national unity, the
Bolsheviks compelled Petlyura to evacuate Kiev. They cut the
connections between his army and a large part of the troops of Western
Ukraine and forced the latter to retreat into Romania where they were
disarmed and interned. Then Petlyura retired to Kaminets Podolsky
and there, with a small nucleus of troops drawn from all sections of
the country, he waited for some months while he was preparing a new
offensive.
Again the Peace Conference and the military missions showed themselves
at their worst. They were entirely unable to discover whom to fight or
whom to support. At the moment there were really no organized armies
in the field. There were merely bands larger or smaller, owing vague
allegiance to some cause and led by commissars, generals or atamans,
largely self-appointed and often in absolute disagreement with other
bands fighting on the same side. Frequently military missions of the
same countries were present at the front or behind the lines of groups
that were fighting one another. They were giving contrary directives
and interfering, doling out supplies and unable to control their use.
Under such conditions Ukraine reverted in large part to a condition
similar to that in the days of the Ruin of the seventeenth century. The
country was filled with independent atamans like Makhno, who refused
to acknowledge any superior command but supported and attacked almost
every one in turn. These leaders set up their control over small areas
and proved unable to work out a plan of cooperation in conjunction with
or in defiance of the Direktoria, but in large part their chaos in the
beginning was no worse than the condition of their rivals.
In the meanwhile, in the south of Ukraine the international confusion
was reaching a new high. On December 18, 1918, a French army of some
12,000 men had landed in Odesa to maintain order and assist the
“healthy” portions of the population to obtain control. Their first
action was to expel the Ukrainian forces from the city and appoint a
White Russian as the governor. Then, with a miscellaneous force of all
nationalities, the French endeavored to clear the neighborhood and
finally invoked the aid of a German division which had been unable
to leave because the followers of Petlyura were in control of the
surrounding country. The farce and the tragedy continued until Ataman
Gregoryev, who had formerly served with Petlyura, went over to the
Bolsheviks and maintained himself in the neighborhood as a nuisance.
Incidentally, he later broke again with them and fought as a Ukrainian.
Disorders broke out in the French forces and they withdrew April 6,
1919. Odesa was entered by a Bolshevik army of less than 2,000 men and
the large quantity of military stores there fell into their hands. Soon
after, the other Black Sea ports were taken by the Bolsheviks with as
small or smaller forces.
During the course of 1919, the situation continued confused. The army
of Admiral Kolchak, advancing into European Russia from Siberia, had
been broken but General Denikin was attempting to cut his way north
and west from the Donets basin. The Allies by this time had convinced
themselves that the one way of defeating Bolshevism was to arm and
equip the White Russian armies, which stood for the absolute unity of
Russia and the denial of all the accomplishments of the Revolution.
Everywhere that Denikin and his men went, they restored the old
system, banned the Ukrainian language, closed Ukrainian newspapers and
bookstores and reverted to the Russian policy of the years before the
War. The foreign missions had now given up any idea of utilizing the
peasant opposition to Bolshevism and the national movements against
Russia. They had fully accepted the thesis of a monolithic Russia in
Ukraine. Instead of trying to coordinate the popular movements for
independence and strengthen them, they turned a deaf ear to all the
petitions that were presented to them and made it fully evident that
they were not interested in the attempts of Ukraine and various other
sections of the old Empire to secure independence.
During this period the Peace Conference was in session in Paris and to
the annoyance of the delegates, there appeared there representatives of
the Direktoria to plead for recognition as the government of Ukraine
along with representatives of many other states. The Allied position
was singularly unrealistic and even unclear not only to the petitioners
but to the official delegates themselves.
No one could decide what was to be the position taken toward Russia.
The high hopes which had been placed upon the Russian Revolution and
the Provisional Government had been dissipated. The delegates at Paris
were well aware that this had failed and had fallen definitely before
the Bolsheviks. They were well aware also that every section of the
old Empire which was not inhabited by Great Russians was in a state of
more or less open revolt. All around the borders of the country there
had been set up governments running from Finland in the north to the
Turkic tribes of Central Asia, which had been subjugated by Russian
arms scarcely half a century before. All this rendered it a practical
policy to accept the disintegration of Russia as they had that of
Austria-Hungary and create a new federation or a series of independent
and allied states.
On the other hand, the victorious Allies could not forget the
sacrifices that had been made by the Russian Empire during the early
years of the War and they persisted in believing that once Bolshevism
was overthrown, all of these new nations would be only too willing to
join in a new, free, and democratic Russia. They hated to do anything
that would create a permanent situation. They were equally opposed to
the efforts of the White Russian armies to form a definite conservative
government which might be denounced as reactionary and aiming to
restore the old Russian monarchy. Thus the policy of the Allies toward
Russia remained in a dangerous position which could only in the long
run strengthen the power of the Bolsheviks, the only group which was
not affected by the desires of the Allies and which understood the
general weakness of the entire Allied policy.