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 with the Ukrainian troops who refused to let the Red forces (three regiments and an artillery division) pass. The Central Rada did not accept the accusations and stated its conditions: recognition of the Ukrainian People's Republic, non-interference in its internal affairs and affairs of the newly organized the Ukrainian Front, permission on transferring of Ukrainized troops to Ukraine, division of the former imperial finances, participation of the Ukrainian People's Republic in the general peace negotiations. The same day the All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets in Kyiv, after the Bolshevik delegation left, recognized the authority of the Ukrainian government and denounced the ultimatum of the Russian government. The Kyiv Bolsheviks in their turn denounced that congress and scheduled another one in Kharkiv. Next day, Sovnarkom in Moscow decided for war. Vladimir Antonov-Ovseyenko was appointed the commander-in-chief of expeditionary force against Kaledin and the South Russia, while near the borders with
Ukraine (Bryansk – Belgorod) Red troops began to gather.

The Kyivan Bolsheviks who fled to Kharkiv joined the regional Congress of Soviets of the Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic. They then declared this meeting the First All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets that announced the creation of the Ukrainian People's Republic of Soviets. It called the Central Rada of Ukraine an enemy of the people declaring war against it on January 2. The Rada then broke all ties with Petrograd on January 22, 1918, and declared independence, thereby commencing the Ukrainian War of Independence. It was around this point that Bolshevik troops began invading Ukraine from Russia.Orest Subtelny. ''Ukraine: A History''. University of Toronto Press, 1988. Russian military units from Kharkiv, Minsk and the Baltic Fleet invaded Ukraine.

Combat history

War

December 1917–April 1918

The Bolsheviks, numbering around 30,000 and composed of Russian army regulars stationed at the front, a number of garrisoned units, and Red Guard detachments composed of laborers from Kharkov gubernia and the Donbass, began by advancing from the northeast led by Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko and Mikhail Muravyov.Nicholas Chirovsky. ''An introduction to Ukrainian History Volume III 19th and 20th Century Ukraine.'' New York, Philosophical Library, 1986 The Ukrainian forces at the time of the invasion consisted of about 15,000 made up from volunteer detachments and several battalions of the Free Cossacks and the Sich Riflemen.

The invasion of pro-Soviet forces from Russia was accompanied by uprisings initiated in Ukraine by the local Bolsheviks in the developed cities throughout the territory of Left-bank Ukraine as well as Right-bank Ukraine. The Bolsheviks led by Yevgenia Bosch conducted a successful uprising in Vinnytsia sometime in December 1917. They took charge of the 2nd Guard Corps and moved towards Kyiv to help the Bolsheviks in the city. Pavlo Skoropadsky with a regiment of the Free Cossacks managed to stop them near Zhmerynka, disarm them, and deport them to Russia. The other Bolshevik forces captured Kharkiv (January 9), Aleksandrovsk (January 15), and Poltava (January 20) on their way to Kyiv. On January 27, the Bolshevik army groups converged in Bakhmach and then set off under the command of Muravyov to take Kyiv.Ukrainian-Soviet War, 1917–21
at the ''Encyclopedia of Ukraine''

As the Bolsheviks marched towards Kyiv, a small Ukrainian National Republic unit of less than 500 schoolboys (some sources give a figure of 300), commanded by Captain Ahapiy Honcharenko, was hastily organized and sent to the front on January 29, 1918 to take part in the Battle of Kruty. The small unit consisted mainly of the Student Battalion (Kurin) of Sich Riflemen, a unit of the Khmelnytsky Cadet School, and a Haidamaka detachment. About half of the 500 men were killed during the battle.

On January 29, 1918, the Kiev Arsenal January Uprising, a Bolshevik-organized armed revolt, began at the Kiev Arsenal factory. The workers of the plant were joined by the soldiers of the Ponton Battalion, the 3rd Aviation Regiment and the Sagaydachny regiment. Sensing defeat, the "Central Rada" and Petlyurist forces stormed the city on February 3. After six days of battle and running low on food and ammunition, the uprising was suppressed by counter-revolutionary forces, in which 300 Bolshevik workers died. According to Soviet era sources, more than 1500 pro-Soviet workers and soldiers were killed during the struggle. On February 8 the Ukrainian government evacuated Kyiv in order to avoid destruction by opposing Soviet troops, which then entered Kyiv under Mikhail Muravyov's on February 9.

Once the Bolsheviks took Kyiv, they began an offensive in Right-Bank Ukraine. However, on February 9 the UNR signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and thus received aid from German and Austro-Hungarian troops in late February, over 450,000 troops. In exchange for military aid, the Ukrainians were to deliver foodstuffs to the Central Powers. Under the command of Symon Petlura, the combined forces pushed the Bolsheviks out of Right Bank Ukraine and retook Kyiv on March 1. Because of the socialist policies of the Rada, mainly the policy of land nationalization which affected food exports to the Central Powers, on April 28 the German forces disbanded the Central Rada and installed the Hetman government in its place. Ukrainian, German, and Austro-Hungarian armies continued making gains, taking back Left Bank Ukraine, Crimea and the Donets Basin. These setbacks forced the Bolsheviks to sign a peace treaty with the Ukrainian government on June 12.

Post-Hetmanate intervention

During November 1918, troops from the Directorate of Ukraine overthrew the Hetmanate with some help from the Bolsheviks. German forces led by the ''Soldatenrat'' kept their neutrality during the two-week-long civil war as they were withdrawing from the country, due to the defeat of the German Empire in World War I. The Directorate reestablished the Ukrainian People's Republic. On January 22, 1919 the neighboring Ukrainian Republics united under the Act Zluky.

The Central Military- Revolutionary Committee in Kursk on October 22, 1918 issued the order to form two divisions under the Army Group the '' Ukrainian Front'' or the Group of the Kursk Direction. The group was assigned the ''Worker's Division of Moscow'', the 9th Soviet Division, 2nd Orlov Brigade, and two armored trains. According to Antonov-Ovsiyenko the Army accounted for some 6,000 soldiers, 170 artillery guns, 427 machine guns, 15 military planes, and 6 armored trains. On December 15, 1918 the meeting of the Ukrainian chief of staff was called in Kyiv headed by Otaman Osetsky and including the Chief Otaman Petliura, Colonel Bolbachan, Colonel Shapoval, Sotnik Oskilko. They were discussing the border security and formed a plan in case of threat from all sides.

To stop the coming war with the Bolsheviks, the government of Chekhivsky sent a delegation to Moscow led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Semen Mazurenko. The delegation succeeded in signing a preliminary peaceful agreement yet it did not stop the aggression from the Russian side due to poor communication between the delegation in Moscow and the government of the Ukrainian People's Republic. On December 28, 1918 the Central Committee of the Left UPSR officially declared the mobilization of forces in the support of the Soviet government by an armed staging. From the beginning of January 1919 the Bolshevik bands consistently were crossing the eastern and north-eastern borders to raid.

= January 1919–June 1919

=

On January 7, 1919 the Bolsheviks invaded Ukraine in full forcePaul Robert Magocsi''A History of Ukraine''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. with an army led by Vladimir Antonov-Ovseyenko, Joseph Stalin, and Volodymyr Zatonsky. The Directorate declared war once again against Russia on January 16 after several preliminary ultimatums to the Russian SFSR sovnarkom to withdraw their troops. The two main directions of the Bolshevik's forces were onto Kyiv and Kharkiv

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