Ukrainian–Soviet War

The Ukrainian–Soviet War ( uk, радянсько-українська війна, translit=radiansko-ukrainska viina) was an armed conflict from 1917 to 1921 between the Ukrainian People's Republic and the Bolsheviks ( Soviet Ukraine and Soviet Russia). The war was part of the Russian Civil War and ensued soon after the October Revolution when Lenin dispatched Antonov's expeditionary group to Ukraine and Southern Russia. Ultimately, Ukraine's forces would suffer devastating losses due to the spread of typhus in October 1919, paving the way for the formation of the Soviet Union in 1922.

Soviet historiography viewed the Bolshevik victory as the salvation of Ukraine from the armies of Western and Central Europe (including that of Poland). Conversely, modern Ukrainian historians consider it a failed war of independence by the Ukrainian People's Republic against the Bolsheviks and former Russian Empire.

Historiography

In Soviet historiography and terminology, the armed conflict is depicted as part of the greater Russian Civil War: in Ukraine, this war was fought between the national government (led by Symon Petliura) and the Bolshevik government (led by Lenin).

The war may be divided into three phases:
# December 1917 – April 1918: Revolutionary days, Bolshevik uprisings, invasion of the Red Guards formations, signing of protectorate treaty, and liberation from bolsheviks.
# December 1918 – December 1919: Civil war in Ukraine, invasion of the Red Army, unification of Ukraine, anti-Soviet peasant uprisings, Denikin's Volunteer Army and the Allied intervention, loss of West Ukraine to Poland.
# Spring 1920 – Autumn 1921: Polish–Soviet War (Treaty of Warsaw), Russian Civil War (between Bolsheviks armies and the Armed Forces of South Russia), Ukrainian guerrilla operations (First and Second Winter Campaigns), government in exile.

Important documents

* Declarations of the Central Council of Ukraine (Universals)
* Ultimatum of Sovnarkom to the Central Council of Ukraine
* Treaty of Brest-Litovsk granting status of neutrality to Ukraine as a bufferzone for the Central Powers, as well as military protection, in negotiating peace with the Bolsheviks of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.
* Unification Act, unification of the western Ukraine
* Treaty of Warsaw, Polish-Ukrainian anti-Bolshevik pact
* Peace of Riga, splitting of Ukraine

Background

After the February Revolution of 1917 the nationalities within the tsarist empire (renamed the Russian Republic) demanded national autonomy from Petrograd. In summer of 1917 the Provisional government approved regional administration over some parts of former tsarist Ukraine.

In October 1917 the government of Ukraine denounced the Bolsheviks' armed revolt and declared it would decisively fight against any attempted coup in Ukraine. A special joint committee for preservation of revolution was organized to keep the situation under control. The Kiev Military District command tried to prevent a Bolshevik coup, leading to street fights and eventually surrendering of pro-Bolshevik troops in the city. On November 14, 1917 the Ukrainian Central Rada issued its "Appeal of the Central Council to the citizens of Ukraine" in which it sanctioned transfer of the state power in Ukraine to itself. On November 16 a joint session of the Rada and executive committee of the local workers and soldiers soviets recognized the Central Rada as the regional authority in Ukraine. On November 20, 1917 the Rada declared Ukraine the Ukrainian People's
Republic as an autonomous part of the Russian Republic and scheduled on January 9, 1918 elections to a Ukrainian Constituent Assembly. The Secretary of Military Affairs Symon Petliura expressed his intentions to unite both the Southwestern and Romanian fronts that were stretched across Ukraine into one Ukrainian Front under the command of Colonel General Dmitry Shcherbachev.

On December 17, 1917 the Bolsheviks planned an All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets and on December 11–12, 1917 they set off a number of uprisings across Ukraine in Kyiv, Odessa, Vinnytsia. They were successfully defeated by the Rada. On December 17, 1917 Sovnarkom, that initiated peace talks with Central Powers earlier that month, sent a 48-hour ultimatum to the Rada requesting it stop "counterrevolutionary actions" or prepare for war. Also on December 17, 1917 Reingold Berzins led his troops from Minsk towards Kharkiv