Ukrainian Republic - 1918 - Brest-Litovsk
Impressed by the offensive of the Russian troops controlled by Sovnarcom, the Tsentralna Rada leaders quickly lost illusions of Russia's transformation into a democratic federal republic. The formal separation from Bolsheviks' dictature became a main task. On the night of January 12, 1918 M. Hrushevskyi issued the Universal VI of the Tsentralna Rada, which proclaimed the independence of the Ukrainian People's Republic [UPR].
The Ukrainian People's Republic sent a delegation to the second session of the Brest-Litovsk peace conference. The head of the delegation, M. Gobulovitch, read a formal declaration on 10 January 1918. Herr von Kühlmann, the German Foreign Secretary, extended the welcome of the Central Powers to the Ukrainian delegation. He added that hitherto the Petrograd delegation had been assumed to be acting for the whole of Russia; he therefore had to ask the Petrograd representatives what was their attitude on the subject. M. Trotzky replied that in view of his party's principles the Petrograd delegation saw no obstacle to the participation of the Ukrainian delegation in the peace negotiations.
On January 27, 1918, the first peace treaty of the world war was signed between the UPR and four states of the German block in Brest-Litovsk. A day before the signing of the agreement, the Soviet Army entered Kyiv and the Tsentralna Rada had to recognize that it needed immediate military help.
Then came the Brest Litovsk Treaties of Feb. 9 and 11 1918, between the Central Powers and the Ukrainian People's Republic, treaties which were interpreted by the Rada as a formal recognition of Ukrainian independence, but in effect meant annexation by the Germans. On February 18, German and Austro-Hungarian troops began to occupy Ukraine. According to the Peace Treaty, concluded on March 3 between Russia and the Central States, the Sovnarcom committed to recognize independence of the UPR and started peace negotiations.
In April 1918 a German coup d'etat overthrew the constitutional Government. Skoropadski was appointed nominally as Hetman but in reality Dictator, and, until the collapse of the Germans on the western front, spared no effort to destroy Ukrainian independence. The presence of the occupational army removed the revolutionary situation in Ukraine. Activity of those social classes which required to respect the private property and to liquidate chaos and anarchism increased. The former tsarist General P. Skoropadskyi used these moods and came to power, being proclaimed the Hetman of the "Ukrainian State", which replaced the UPR. Complete power was in his hands before calling in the parliament.
P. Skoropadskyi invited to his government authoritative figures who strove to work constructively. However, occupants permitted his activities only in the national-cultural sphere. Interested in removing maximum amounts of food and raw materials from Ukraine, the military administration of the central states continually meddled in the affairs of the state authorities. Peasants began the war with occupants who supported the return of landlords to their estates.
In securing a separate peace with the new Ukrainian National Republic, which represented one-sixth of the Russian population, covered 860,000 square miles of territory (about equal to that of Great Britain) and was conceded to be the granary of eastern Europe, the Central Empires had driven a wedge into Russia that they were resolved would not be easily extracted. It was regarded as a step in the complete disintegration of Russia preparatory to the extension of Teutonic domination over the vast territory of the old Slav empire.
As evidence of Teutonic determination with regard to the permanent isolation of Ukrainia, the ink was scarcely dry on this treaty with the Ukrainian Rada when termination of the armistice with the Bolshevik Government was announced and a renewal of military activities against Russia, to last, presumably, until Petrograd was occupied by German troops. This, however, did not mean necessarily that the Germans would immediately try to reach Petrograd, but that they would support the Ukraine in its contest with the Bolsheviki. What the Central Empires hoped to get from the new arrangement is obvious. They were dismembering Russia; they removed an enemy from a long section of their fighting front, releasing troops for service on the western front, and they hoped to secure food in quantity from the Ukraine country.
What the Ukrainians got was not so obvious. They got a treaty peace with Germany and Austria, but at the possible price of a long civil war with the rest of Russia. There was never such a bargain before, and the only explanation is that Ukrainia, or a part of it, has surrendered to the enemy on enemy terms.
The Hetman's regime could survive only under the occupation. On November 12, 1918 a truce was concluded between Germany and Entente countries, which meant the end of the World War. German and Austro-Hungarian armies lost their occupation functions. The next day there was a secret meeting of the heads of Ukrainian parties who decided to organize the Directory to guide the overthrow of the Hetman's regime and to restore the UPR. The Directory was headed by V. Vynnychenko and its armed forces were subject to S. Petliura. They mainly consisted of thousands of battle-hardened rebels. Some weeks later, the Directory took control of entire Ukraine.
The appearance of the Directory was unexpected for the neighbors of Ukraine. The Entente planned to fill the power vacuum in Ukraine by bringing in 12-15 of its divisions with the occupation of Kyiv and Kharkiv. In November, the armed forces of S. Petliura were opposed by the troops of Y. Pilsudskyi, who wanted to draw as far eastward as possible the undetermined boundary of the renewed Polish state. Red armies of L. Trotskyi were about to invade Ukraine from the north and east and the White Guard of A. Denikin from the south.
The defeat in the Great War lead to the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian empire and creation of independent states by its people. On October 18, 1918, the Ukrainian National Rada was constituted in Lviv. It proclaimed the intention to create a state on the ethno-Ukrainian lands within the empire. The reviving Poland also raised the claims for those lands. Therefore, the National Rada hastened to occupy Lviv and the whole territory of Western Halychyna with its armed forces. On November 13, they formed the West Ukrainian People's Republic (WUPR). The head of the National Rada, E. Petrushevych became the president of the WUPR, and K. Levytskyi headed the State Secretariat.
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