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19th Century - West Ukraine

The state of Ukrainians in the lands subject to the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the 19th century was not less complicated than of those in the territory of Eastern Ukraine. The population of Eastern Halychyna, Northern Bukovyna and Transcarpathia (mainly peasants) suffered from economic and social oppression, as well as from national restraints. The expansion of the force of centralized authorities to these territories provided for the stabilization of economic relations between them, and created conditions for their gradual evolution. By the mid-19th century, the Austro-Hungarian government, influenced by the revolutionary situation in Europe in 1848, began reforms directed at improving agrarian relations in the country. In particular, they liquidated juridical dependence of peasants on the landlords - the plots of lands were allotted to them. This created conditions for the successive transformation of the peasantry in active political force.

In April 1848, Austria acquired the status of constitutional monarchy. But the declared democratic liberties and national equality of people often remained on paper. Constitutional-parliamentary management was restored only in the 1860s. The adoption of the December 1867 constitution guaranteed (at least formally) the equality of nationalities and languages. Separate regions of the empire (e.g., Halychyna) received the right of limited authority. The measures taken by the Austrian government favored the intensification of economic life in West Ukrainian lands, and their incorporation into the world system of trade relations. The agrarian reform of 1848 opened the path for complete reorganization of the agricultural branch in the land. As a result of splitting up the peasants' farms, by the end of the 19th century, a market of hired manpower that favored the increase of profit in agricultural production, was created. Further development of the enterprise industry was observed in the West Ukrainian lands.

In the 19th century, there were certain changes in the socio-political life of the region. The activation of the enlighteners' ideas and the furthering of the ideology of romanticism, which was caused by the rise of the liberation movement on the European continent, favored the intense processes of national renaissance. The first cultural-educational circles appeared in Peremyshl and Lviv. Interests in the history of the land, language and folklore considerably increased at this time. However, the decisive part in the development of the national movement at that time belonged to the socio-cultural association "Ruska triitsia". The motives of the liberation of the region were seen on the pages of publicists' articles, almanacs, and school textbooks.

The revolutionary events of 1848-1849 had broad resonance in the West Ukrainian lands. The first Ukrainian political organization, the Chief Rus Council, appeared in Lviv in 1848. Its program documents were filled with ideas of autonomy, democracy, and reformation in different spheres of political and intellectual life of the region. Revolutionary events enlivened the Ukrainian national liberation movement in Northern Bukovyna (a rebellion headed by Lukian Kobylytsia) and in Transcarpathia (O. Dukhnovych and A. Dobrianskyi).

The national movement was not stopped after the revolution suppressed. Representatives of younger generations of intelligentsia founded youth organizations: communities in Lviv, Berezhany, Peremyshl, Sambir, Ternopil, Stanislav. The whole pleiad of outstanding political figures of Ukraine came from the milieu of these young people (e.g., Ivan Franko, Mykola Pavlyk, Ostap Terletskyi). Such political parties as the Rus-Ukrainian radical party, the Ukrainian Socio-Democratic Party, the Ukrainian National Democratic Party among others, appeared in the region late in the 19th century. The Greek-Catholic church, headed by Metropolitan Andrii Sheptytskyi, became an influential force.

The development of the national liberation movement in the Western Ukrainian lands was not isolated, but was in close relations with analogous processes in Eastern Ukraine. There occurred the intense exchange of opinions and ideas, of literature and periodicals. The people of Ukrainian territory, separated by boundaries, thought of themselves as one nation.