Ukraine’s revolution and wars

The Rada: from autonomy to independence

The Central Rada formed in Kyiv after the February Revolution of 1917 to claim Ukrainian political representation. Mykhailo Hrushevsky chaired it; Volodymyr Vynnychenko led its General Secretariat. Initially, many leaders sought autonomy within a democratic Russian federation. Conflict with the Provisional Government and the Bolshevik seizure of power narrowed that possibility.

The Rada proclaimed the Ukrainian People's Republic in November 1917 and independence in January 1918. A rival Soviet government emerged in Kharkiv, followed by military operations under Antonov-Ovseenko and Muravev. Soviet troops captured Kyiv in February. Representation was being determined by force and local support as well as constitutional declarations.

A capital restored by Germany, a Hetman sustained by Germany

The Rada signed a separate Brest treaty with the Central Powers on 9 February. German and Austro-Hungarian troops drove out Soviet forces, enabling its return, but relations with occupiers demanding food deliveries deteriorated. On 29 April Pavlo Skoropadskyi took power as Hetman, replacing the republic with the Ukrainian State. The international negotiations and occupation are discussed in Brest-Litovsk.

The Hetmanate developed administration, education, scholarly institutions and diplomacy. Yet restoration of property rights and grain extraction conflicted with the peasants' land revolution. Protection by foreign troops was not the same foundation as domestic consent. Germany's defeat in November exposed the difference.

The Directory regained Kyiv, then lost it again

In November 1918 Vynnychenko, Symon Petliura and their allies formed the Directory against the Hetmanate. Skoropadskyi fell in December and the republic was restored. The coalition could not easily turn regional insurgents into a disciplined national army. Otamans changed allegiance over land, food and local autonomy; leaders also disagreed over cooperation with the Entente.

The January 1919 declaration of union with the Western Ukrainian People's Republic did not immediately unite armies or administrations. Fighting Soviet forces in the east and Poland in the west produced different priorities. Following the February loss of Kyiv, Vynnychenko left the leadership and Petliura became increasingly dominant. Christian Rakovsky's Soviet government also faced resistance to requisitioning and central control.

Hryhoriv, Makhno and the peasants' war

Nykyfor Hryhoriv moved from the anti-Hetman uprising through the Directory to cooperation with the Reds. His troops pressured Allied forces in the south in spring 1919, then rebelled against Soviet authority in May. Their anti-Jewish pogroms were mass violence that cannot be concealed by calling the movement peasant resistance. Hryhoriv was killed in a confrontation with Makhno's side in July.

Based around Huliaipole, Nestor Makhno led an anarchist peasant army. Volin and the Nabat federation contributed to its political debates. The insurgents cooperated with the Reds against the Whites but resisted centralized party rule and forced requisitioning. They struck Denikin's rear in 1919 and allied with the Reds again against Wrangel in 1920. After victory in Crimea, the Bolsheviks moved to eliminate their former allies. Makhno fled abroad in 1921.

Jewish civilians suffered violence by troops associated with the republic, independent otamans, Whites and other forces, including Red units. The scale and command responsibility differed by army. Central prohibitions nevertheless did not erase atrocities or failures to punish them. Changing governments could mean repeated plunder, requisition, massacre and flight for civilians.

Denikin's occupation and the failure of unity

Denikin's Armed Forces of South Russia advanced into Ukraine in summer 1919. Republican and Galician troops entered Kyiv in late August, as did the Whites, but opposition to Bolshevism did not guarantee an alliance. Denikin's commitment to a united Russia rejected Ukrainian independence. Republican forces fought Whites as well as Reds, while typhus and collapsing supply devastated their armies.

Capturing cities did not secure White support in the countryside. Land policy, rejection of Ukrainian nationhood, pogroms and Makhno's attacks combined with military overextension. A Red counteroffensive returned Kyiv to Soviet control in December. The advance on Moscow and wider southern operations belong to the Russian Civil War.

The Polish alliance and defeat in 1921

With his independent military base eroded, Petliura made the Warsaw agreement with Piłsudski in April 1920. Polish recognition of the republic came at the cost of accepting Polish control in eastern Galicia and western Volhynia, provoking opposition among Ukrainians. Their joint offensive began on 25 April and reached Kyiv in May; a Soviet counteroffensive forced withdrawal in June. Warsaw and the peace negotiations are covered in the Polish-Soviet War.

After the Polish-Soviet armistice, republican troops continued fighting but retreated into Polish internment in November 1920. The republic was excluded from the March 1921 Treaty of Riga. A final expedition in November 1921 also failed. Soviet Ukraine controlled most central and eastern territories, while much of western Ukraine remained in Poland.

This outcome was neither the predetermined failure of one nation-state nor merely a provincial episode of Russia's civil war. Independence, land revolution, competing socialisms and foreign intervention collided. The tension between Soviet Ukraine's formal statehood and centralized party control continued into the debates over the formation of the USSR.