Historical Dictionary of the Russian Civil Wars, 1916-1926

Ukrainian People’s Republic of Soviets. This Soviet polity (sometimes termed the Ukrainian People’s Socialist Republic) existed on Ukrainian territory from 12 December 1917 to 25 March 1918. It was led by an executive organ, the People’s Secretariat, and was regarded as being in a federal relationship with Soviet Russia. Its existence was announced at the 1st All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets of Workers’, Soldiers’ and Peasants’ Deputies at Kharkov of 11–12 December 1917 (pro-Soviet forces having earlier been driven out of Kiev by forces loyal to the Ukrainian Central Rada). The People’s Secretariat (a uniformly Bolshevik body) was recognized as the supreme law-making authority in Ukraine by Sovnarkom on 19 December 1917, although the commander of Soviet forces in Ukraine, V. A. Antonov-Ovseenko, regarded himself as answerable only to Sovnarkom, and the efforts of the People’s Secretariat to relocate to Kiev were thwarted by the Ukrainian Army, aided by the Central Powers in the wake of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk of 27 February 1918. It was subsequently forced to retreat to Poltava and Ekaterinoslav in March 1918, finally ceasing to operate at Taganrog in April 1918, as the Austro-German intervention swept across Ukraine.

Members of the People’s Secretariat of the Ukrainian People’s Republic of Soviets included E. B. Bosh (secretary for internal affairs and chair); Mykola Skrypnyk (secretary for labor and subsequently chair); F. A. Artem (secretary for trade and industry); V. P. Zatonskii (secretary for education); and Vasyl′ Shakhrai (secretary for military affairs).

UKRAINIAN–POLISH WAR. This conflict between the Western Ukrainian People’s Republic (WUPR) and the Second Polish Republic over the control of Eastern Galicia (Western Ukraine) erupted as a consequence of the November Uprising of the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen and the formation of the Ukrainian National Rada at Lemberg (L′viv/Lwów) on 31 October–1 November 1918. In response to the Ukrainians’ claims to sovereignty over what, until the first partition of Poland in 1772, had once been Polish territory, Polish revolts broke out at Lemberg and in other towns. Although, on 13 November 1918, the Rada announced the formation of its own Ukrainian Galician Army, the more urbanized Poles had driven its forces out of the region’s towns by the end of that month. The Rada then retreated to Ternopil′ (Ternopol′) and then to Stanyslaviv in December 1918. By February 1919, however, the forces of the WUPR were in a position to launch a successful offensive to gain control of the Przemysl–Lemberg railway (the key conduit of Polish reinforcements to the front), but operations were halted on 25 February 1919, when the Allies intervened to negotiate a truce.

An Allied military-diplomatic mission, under General Joseph Berthélemy, subsequently demanded that the Ukrainians accept Polish control of Lemberg and the nearby Drohobych oil fields—terms that the Ukrainian National Republic (UNR), with which the Western Ukrainian People’s Republic had merged on 22 January 1919 (in the Act of Zluka), was willing to accept, but that the Western Ukrainians were not. Poland then brought in further reinforcements and inflicted a crushing defeat on the Ukrainian Galician Army on 19 March 1919, recapturing the line to Przemysl. In May 1919, a second Allied mission (under General Louis Botha) offered Lemberg to the Poles and the oil fields to the Ukrainians. This time the Rada accepted the offer, but the Poles refused and began making use of their huge advantage in manpower and supplies (especially the Blue Army, which had been trained and equipped in France) to drive the Ukrainians back. By late May 1919, the Ukrainian Galician Army was penned into a small corner of Galicia between the Zbruch and Dnestr Rivers. One more offensive was attempted by the Ukrainian forces, in May–June, but on 16–17 July 1919 their army was forced to retreat across the Zbruch and subsequently merged with the Ukrainian Army of the UNR. Polish possession of Eastern Galicia was subsequently confirmed by the Ukrainian leader S. V. Petliura at the Treaty of Warsaw (21–24 April 1920) and by the Allies’ Conference of Ambassadors (14 March 1923), on condition that Poland preserved the region’s autonomous status.