Polish-Ukrainian War
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The Polish-Ukrainian War of 1918 and 1919 was a conflict between the forces of Poland and Western-Ukrainian People's Republic for the control over Eastern Galicia after the dissolution of Austria-Hungary.
Background
The origins of the conflict are rooted in the complex national relations in Galicia at the turn of the century. Due to its relative leniency toward national minorities, the Habsburg monarchy was the perfect ground for the development of both Polish and Ukrainian national movements. The more mature Polish politicians were set as an example for the Ukrainians. The first incident happened in 1897, when the Polish administration opposed the Ukrainians in parliamentary elections. Another conflict developed in the years 1901-1908 around the University of Lwów, where Ukrainian students demanded a separate Ukrainian university, while Polish students and faculty attempted to suppress the movement. The turning point, however, came in 1903, when both Poles and Ukrainians held their separate conferences in Lwów (Poles in May and Ukrainians in August). Since then the two national movements developed with contradicting goals in opposite directions, towards the later inevitable clash.
The ethnic composition of Galicia underlied the conflict between the Poles and Ukrainians there. The Austrian province of Galicia consisted of territory seized from Poland during the second partition of Poland in 1793. This land, which included Polish historical territory including the ancient capital of Kraków, had a majority Polish population although the eastern part of Galicia included the heartland of the historic territory of Halych-Volhynia and had a Ukrainian majority . Throughout the 19th century and early 20th centuries the local Ukrainians attempted to have the Austrians split Galicia into Western (Polish) and Eastern (Ukrainian) provinces. These efforts were resisted and thwarted by the local Poles who feared losing control of East Galicia. Although the latter territory was populated by approximately 60% Ukrainian population, its major city, Lviv, was less than 20% Ukrainian and was considered one of Poland's cultural capitals. For many Poles, including Lviv's Polish population, it was unthinkable that their city should not be under Polish control. The Austrians eventually agreed in principle to divide the province of Galicia but the onset of the World War I prevented them from implementing this major change; in October 1916 the Kaiser Karl I promised to do so once the war had ended .
The war
As the Austro-Hungarian government collapsed at the end of October 1918, the Ukrainian National Council (Rada), consisting of Ukrainian members of the Austrian parliament and regional Galician and Bukovynan diets as well as leaders of Ukrainian political parties, demanded that the last Austrian governor of Galicia officially transfers authority over eastern Galicia to the Ukrainians. He did so on the night of October 31, 1918 . During this time Ukrainian militias under Dmytro Vitovskyi entered Lviv in order to insure that it was under Ukrainian control. The Western-Ukrainian People's Republic was proclaimed on November 1 1918 with Lviv as its capital. The proclamation of the Republic, which claimed sovereignty over Eastern Galicia, including the Carpathians up to the city of Nowy Sącz in the West, as well as Volhynia, Carpathian Ruthenia and Bukovina was a complete surprise for the Poles. Although the majority of the population of the Western-Ukrainian People's Republic were Ukrainians, large parts of the claimed territory were considered Polish by the Poles and Lviv's Polish inhabitants were shocked to find thmselves in a proclaimed Ukrainian state.
Upon entering Lviv (Polish: ), the Ukrainian forces were successfully opposed by local self-defence units formed mostly of WWI veterans, students and children. After two weeks of heavy fighting within the city, an armed unit under the command of Lt. Colonel Michał Karaszewicz-Tokarzewski of the renascent Polish Army broke through the Ukrainian siege and arrived in the city. On November 21 the siege was broken and the Ukrainians were repelled. However, the Ukrainian forces continued to control most of eastern Galicia and were a threat to Lviv itself until May of 1919. Immediately after recapturing the city, in the end of November, Poles interned a number of Ukrainian activists in detention camps.[#endnote_Gruenberg-260]
In December 1918 fighting started in Volhynia. As Polish units were tried to seize control of the region, the forces of the Ukrainian People's Republic under Semen Petlura tried to expand their territory westwards, towards the city of Chełm. After two months of heavy fighting the conflict was resolved in March of 1919 by fresh and well-equipped Polish units under General Edward Rydz-Śmigły.
The Polish general offensive in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia bagan on May 14, 1919. It was carried out by units of the Polish Army aided by the newly-arrived Blue Army of General Józef Haller de Hallenburg. This army was well equipped by the Western allies and partially staffed with experienced French officers specifically in order to fight the Bolsheviks and not the forces of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic. Despite this, the Poles dispatched Haller's army against the Ukrainians in order to break the stalemate in eastern Galicia. The allies sent several telegrams ordering the Poles to halt their offensive, but these were ignored . The Ukrainian lines were broken, mostly due to the withdrawal of the elite Sich Rifles. On May 27 the Polish forces reached the Złota Lipa-Brzeżany-Jezierna-Radziwiłłów line. Following the demands of the Entente, the Polish offensive was halted and the troops of General Haller adopted defensive positions. On June 8, 1919, the Ukrainian forces under the new command of Oleksander Hrekov, a former general in the Russian army, started a counter-offensive, and after three weeks advanced to Gniła Lipa and the upper Styr river; their successful offensive halted primarily because of a lack of arms - there were only 8-10 bullets for each Ukrainian soldier . The West Ukrainian government controlled the Drohobych oil fields with which it planned to purchase arms for the struggle, but for political and diplomatic reasons weapons and ammunition could only be sent to Ukraine through Czechoslovakia. Although the Ukrainian forces managed to push the Poles back approximately 120 km, they failed to secure a route to Czechoslovakia. This meant that they were unable to replenish their supply of arms and ammunition, and the resulting lack of supplies forced Hrekov to end his campaign.
Józef Piłsudski assumed the command of the Polish forces on June 27 and started yet another offensive. Short of ammunition and outnumbered, the Ukrainians were pushed back to the line of the river Zbrucz.
Aftermath
In contrast to the brutality typical of the struggles occurring in former parts of the Russian empire, the Polish-Ukrainian war was conducted by disciplined and professional forces on both sides, resulting in relatively minimal civilian deaths and destruction. Approximately 10,000 Poles and 15,000 Ukrainians, mostly soldiers, died during this war.
On July 17 a ceasefire was signed. Ukrainian POWs were kept in ex-Austrian POW camps in Dąbie, Łańcut, Pikulice, Strzałków, and Wadowice. On November 21, 1919, the Highest Council of the Paris Peace Conference granted Eastern Galicia to Poland for a period of 25 years, after which a plebiscite was to be held there. On April 21, 1920, Józef Piłsudski and Semen Petlura signed a Polish-Ukrainian alliance, in which Poland promised the Ukrainian People's Republic the military help in the Kiev Offensive against the Red Army in exchange for the acceptance of Polish-Ukrainian border on the river Zbrucz.
See also
Notes
↑ Grünberg, Sprengel, p. 260
External links
References
- :Inline:
- :General:
- () Marek Figura, Konflikt polsko-ukraiński w prasie Polski Zachodniej w latach 1918-1923, Poznań 2001, ISBN 8371770138
- () Karol Grünberg, Bolesław Sprengel, "Trudne sąsiedztwo. Stosunki polsko-ukraińskie w X-XX wieku", Książka i Wiedza, Warszawa 2005, ISBN 8305133710
- () Witold Hupert, Zajęcie Małopolski Wschodniej i Wołynia w roku 1919, Książnica Atlas, Lwów - Warszawa 1928
- () Władysław Pobóg-Malinowski, Najnowsza Historia Polityczna Polski, Tom 2, 1919-1939, London 1956, ISBN 8303031643
- Paul Robert Magocsi, A History of Ukraine, University of Toronto Press: Toronto 1996, ISBN 0802008305
- () Władysław A. Serczyk, Historia Ukrainy, 3rd ed., Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich, Wrocław 2001, ISBN 8304045303
- Leonid Zaszkilniak, The origins of the Polish-Ukrainian conflict in 1918-1919, Lviv
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