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I. The Kyivan Rus' State and its Ukrainian Principalities
II. Volodymyr the Great and the Christianization of Rus'-Ukraine
III. The Medieval Principality of Galicia-Volhynia
IV. Bohdan Khmelnytsky, the Ukrainian-Polish War, and the Pereislav Treaty of 1654
V. Hetman Ivan Mazepa, Tsar Peter I, and the Battle of Poltava (1709)
VI. The Ukrainian National Republic and the Struggle for Independence, 1917-20
VII. A Battle for Ukraine: The Ukrainian-Soviet War, 1917-21
VIII. The Western Ukrainian National Republic and the War in Galicia, 1918-19
IX. The Ukrainian Insurgent Army: The World War II Combatants in Ukraine
In the 9th century the Varangians from Scandinavia conquered the proto-Slavic tribes on the territory of today's Ukraine, Belarus, and western Russia and laid the groundwork for the Kyivan Rus’ state. Kyiv became the centre and capital of the new realm. The first period of Kyivan Rus’ history can be characterized as the era of expansion, which saw Kyiv extend its authority over all of the east-Slavic tribes. The second period, associated primarily with the reigns of Volodymyr the Great and Yaroslav the Wise, was the era of internal consolidation as a result of which Kyivan Rus’ became one of the pre-eminent states of Europe. The internecine wars between Rus' princes, which began after the death of Yaroslav the Wise, led to the political fragmentation of the state into a number of principalities. In the Ukrainian lands, the Kyiv principality, Turiv-Pynsk principality, Volodymyr-Volynskyi principality, Halych principality, Chernihiv principality, and Pereiaslav principality emerged as independent and separate entities, with their own political and economic peculiarities. The quarreling between the princes left Rus’ vulnerable to foreign attacks, and the invasion of the Mongols in 1236–40 finally destroyed the state... Learn more about the Kyivan Rus' state and its Ukrainian principalities by visiting the following entries:
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KYIVAN RUS'. The first state to arise among the Eastern Slavs. It took its name from the city of Kyiv, the seat of the grand prince from about 880 until the beginning of the 13th century. At its zenith, it covered a territory stretching from the Carpathian Mountains to the Volga River, and from the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea. The state's rapid rise and development was based on its advantageous location at the intersection of major north-south and east-west land and water trade routes with access to two major seas, and favorable local conditions for the development of agriculture. In the end, however, the state's great size led to the development of centrifugal tendencies and local interests that limited its political and social cohesion. This, and its proximity to the Asian steppes, which left it vulnerable to invasions of nomadic hordes, eventually contributed to the decline of Kyivan Rus’... |
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KYIV PRINCIPALITY. The central principality in Kyivan Rus’. It was formed in the mid-9th century and existed as an independent entity until the mid-12th century, when it became an appanage principality. Its basic territory consisted of the area of Right-Bank Ukraine inhabited by the tribes of Polianians and Derevlianians. The Prypiat River usually formed the northern boundary, the Dnieper River the eastern, and the Sluch River and Horyn River the western. The southern boundary was the most dynamic; at times it was as far south as the southern Boh River and Ros River, while at other times (end of the 11th century) it stopped at the Stuhna River. Kyiv, the capital of the principality, lay on the crossroads of the trade routes from north to south and east to west that joined Asia to Europe. This favorable location fostered the development of trade and the principality's prosperity. The oldest cities were Kyiv, Vyshhorod, Ovruch, and Bilhorod... |
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CHERNIHIV PRINCIPALITY. One of the largest and mightiest political entities of Kyivan Rus’ in the 11th-13th century. The principality was formed in the 10th century and retained some of its distinctiveness until the 16th century. Its basic territory consisted of the basins of the Desna River and Seim River in Left-Bank Ukraine, which were settled by the Siverianians and partly by the Polianians in the south. Eventually the principality expanded to encompass the territory of the Radimichians and some of the lands settled by the Viatichians and Drehovichians. Chernihiv was the capital of the principality, which included a number of towns and cities, such as Novhorod-Siverskyi, Starodub, Briansk, Putyvl, Kursk, Liubech, Hlukhiv, Chechersk, Kozelsk, Homel, and Vyr. Until the 12th century the domain and influence of the principality expanded far into the northeast (the Murom-Riazan land) and into the southeast (Tmutorokan principality)... |
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PEREIASLAV PRINCIPALITY. In his will Prince Yaroslav the Wise designated an appanage principality with its capital in Pereiaslav and bequeathed it to his son, Vsevolod Yaroslavych, who ruled it from 1054. When Vsevolod ascended the Kyivan throne in 1078, he continued ruling Pereiaslav principality as well. While it was independent, the principality bordered on Kyiv principality along the Dnieper River and the Desna River to the west, and was separated from Chernihiv principality to the north and northeast by the Oster River, the inaccessible marshes of the Smolynka River, and the Romen River and the Sula River. Until the first half of the 12th century the principality also controlled the Seim region as far east as Kursk. Its southern and eastern borders reached at times as far as the Sosna River, a right tributary of the Don River, but fluctuated because of constant incursions of the Pechenegs, Torks, and Cumans... |
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VOLODYMYR-VOLYNSKYI PRINCIPALITY. A principality of medieval Kyivan Rus’, covering the upper and middle reaches of the Buh River and the tributaries of the Prypiat River. It was formed in the 10th century out of territories inhabited by the Volhynians. Vsevolod, the son of Volodymyr the Great, was its first ruler. The Liubech congress of princes in 1097 awarded the principality to Davyd Ihorovych, and the Vytychiv congress of princes in 1100 overturned that decision in favor of Sviatopolk II Iziaslavych. Volodymyr Monomakh seized the territory and placed it under his son, Andrii. Then it was ruled by Iziaslav Mstyslavych for two decades. After his death the principality was divided among his sons, and became independent of Kyiv. Volodymyr-Volynskyi principality reached its apex under Roman Mstyslavych (1170-1205), who merged the principality with Halych principality in 1199, thereby creating the Principality of Galicia-Volhynia... |
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HALYCH PRINCIPALITY. A principality of medieval Kyivan Rus’ that emerged in the mid 12th century. Prince Volodymyrko Volodarovych, who inherited the Zvenyhorod principality in 1124, the Peremyshl principality in 1129, and the Terebovlia principality and Halych land in 1141, established his capital in princely Halych in 1144. Volodymyrko's son, Yaroslav Osmomysl, the pre-eminent prince of the Rostyslavych house, enlarged Halych principality during his reign (1153-87) to encompass all the lands between the Carpathian Mountains and the Dniester River as far south as the lower Danube River. Trade and salt mining stimulated the rise of a powerful boyar estate in Galicia. When Volodymyr Yaroslavych, the last prince of the Rostyslavych house, died in 1199, the boyars invited Prince Roman Mstyslavych of Volhynia to take the throne. Roman Mstyslavych united Galicia with Volhynia and thus created the Principality of Galicia-Volhynia... |
II. VOLODYMYR THE GREAT AND THE CHRISTIANIZATION OF RUS'-UKRAINE
Over the 35 years of his rule, Grand Prince Volodymyr of Kyiv expanded the borders of Kyivan Rus' and turned it into one of the most powerful states in Eastern Europe. He conquered and united the East Slavic tribes, divided his realm into lands, and installed his sons or viceroys to govern them. Initially he attributed his victories to the support he received from pagan deities. Later he became convinced that a monotheistic religion would consolidate his power, as Christianity and Islam had done for neighboring rulers. His choice was determined after the Byzantine emperor Basil II turned to him for help in defeating his rival. Volodymyr offered military aid only if he was allowed to marry Basil's sister, and Basil agreed to the marriage only after Volodymyr promised to convert himself and his subjects to Christianity. Volodymyr and his family were baptized in December 987. The mass baptism of the citizens of Kyiv took place on 1 August 988, and the remaining population of Rus' was slowly converted, sometimes by force. The adoption of Christianity as the official religion facilitated the unification of the Rus' tribes and the establishment of foreign dynastic, political, cultural, religious, and commercial relations, particularly with the Byzantine Empire, Bulgaria, and Germany... Learn more about Volodymyr the Great and the Christianization of Ukraine by visiting the following entries:
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VOLODYMYR THE GREAT (Valdamar, Volodimer, Vladimir), b ca 956, d 15 July 1015 in Vyshhorod, near Kyiv. Grand prince of Kyiv from 980; son of Sviatoslav I Ihorovych and Malusha; half-brother of Yaropolk I Sviatoslavych and Oleh Sviatoslavych; and father of 11 princes by five wives, including Sviatopolk I, Yaroslav the Wise, Mstyslav Volodymyrovych, and Saints Borys and Hlib. In 969 Grand Prince Sviatoslav I named Volodymyr the prince of Novgorod, where the latter ruled under the guidance of his uncle, Dobrynia. In 977 a struggle for power broke out among Sviatoslav's sons. Yaropolk seized the Derevlianian land and Novgorod, thereby forcing Volodymyr to flee to Scandinavia. In 980 Volodymyr returned to Rus' with a Varangian force, expelled Yaropolk's governors from Novgorod and took Polatsk. Later that year he captured Kyiv and had Yaropolk murdered, thereby becoming the grand prince... |
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CHRISTIANIZATION OF UKRAINE. Christianity was known on the present territory of Ukraine as early as the first century AD. At first Christianity won converts among the Greek colonists who settled the northern coasts of the Black Sea. The Primary Chronicle mentions Saint Andrew's mission on the Black Sea coast at Synope and his blessing of present-day Kyiv. According to traditional belief the popes Saint Clement I (90-100) and Saint Martin (649-55) were exiled to the Crimea. The proximity of the Slav-settled lands to the Greek colonies on the Black Sea must have been an important factor in the spread of Christianity among the Slavic tribes. More concrete data on the presence of Christianity on Ukrainian territories extend back to the 3rd century, when the Goths invaded these territories from the north. At first the Goths destroyed the Christian colonies and then conducted forays into Asia Minor, bringing back slaves from as far away as Cappadocia. These slaves acquainted the Goths with Christianity... |
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PRINCESS OLHA (Olga), b ca 890, d 11 July 969 in Kyiv. Kyivan Rus' princess and Orthodox saint; wife of Prince Ihor and mother of Sviatoslav I Ihorovych. Olha was Sviatoslav's regent during his minority (945-57) and his later military campaigns. After Ihor's death she subdued the rebellious Derevlianians and avenged his slaying. She expanded and strengthened the central power of Kyiv. In foreign affairs she was mainly concerned with political relations with Constantinople. Olha was the first Kyivan Rus' ruler to become a Christian. Olha urged Sviatoslav to become a Christian, but he remained a pagan. He allowed a Christian community to develop in Kyiv, however, thereby paving the way for the Christianization of Ukraine by his son and Olha's grandson, Volodymyr the Great.... |
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BYZANTINE EMPIRE. Byzantium was originally a Greek colony, founded ca 660 BC on the European side of the Bosporus. In 326 Constantinople was built on the site of Byzantium, and in 330 the city became the capital of the Byzantine or Eastern Roman Empire, which endured until 1453 and played an important role in the history of Eastern Europe and the Near East. Byzantine chronicles mention Rus' attacks in about 842 and a Rus' siege of Constantinople in 860. In the 10th century relations between Rus' and Byzantium intensified. The Christianization of Ukraine was facilitated by the trade between Rus' and Byzantium, conducted along the Varangian route, and by the Byzantine colonies on the northern coast of the Black Sea. With Volodymyr the Great's adoption of Christianity in 988-9 Ukraine came under Byzantine religious influence. Like other southeastern European nations it inherited from Byzantium not only the Christian faith but also its culture... |
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CHURCH OF THE TITHES (Desiatynna tserkva). The first and largest stone church in Kyiv and the burial place of the Kyivan princes. Dedicated to the Dormition, it was built by Byzantine and Rus' artisans between 989 and 996 amid the palaces of Grand Prince Volodymyr the Great, who set aside a tithe of his income for its construction and maintenance (hence the name). The church was besieged and ruined in 1240 by Batu Khan's Mongol horde. Excavations of the foundations indicate that it was a three-nave structure with six pillars and wide, covered galleries on the sides. It occupied an area of approx 1,700 sq m. Its numerous cupolas in cruciform arrangement distinguished it from Byzantine prototypes and made it a model in the further development of Ukrainian architecture... |
After the death of Grand Prince Yaroslav the Wise of Kyiv in 1054, Kyivan Rus' disintegrated into 5 and then 13 separate principalities, including Halych principality and Volodymyr-Volynskyi principality. Prince Roman Mstyslavych of Volhynia took Halych in 1199 and in 1202 he occupied Kyiv with its domains, thereby creating a powerful state in western Rus'. Following a period of boyar rebellions in the first decades of the 13th century, his son, Danylo Romanovych, consolidated his control of Galicia and Volhynia in the 1240s. He also took the Rus' territories occupied by Lithuania in the north and extended his rule beyond Kyiv in the east. After the enormous destruction wreaked by the Mongol invasion of Rus' in 1239-41, Danylo Romanovych was forced to pledge allegiance to Batu Khan of the Golden Horde. Nonetheless, his Principality of Galicia-Volhynia retained a considerable degree of independence even after the destruction of other Rus' principalities on Ukrainian territories. His policies were continued by his son Lev Danylovych and other members of the Romanovych dynasty. The death of the last Ukrainian prince of Galicia, Yurii II Boleslav, in 1340 marks the end of the Princely era in the history of Ukraine... Learn more about the history of medieval Galicia-Volhynia by visiting the following entries:
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PRINCIPALITY OF GALICIA-VOLHYNIA. A state founded in 1199 by Roman Mstyslavych, the prince of Volhynia from 1170, who united Galicia and Volhynia under his rule. The Romanovych dynasty ruled the state until its demise in 1340. Because of the close alliance between his two sons, Danylo Romanovych, who ruled Halych, and Vasylko Romanovych, who ruled Volodymyr-Volynskyi, the Galician-Volhynian state attained the apex of its power during Danylo's reign. Following teh Mongol ivasion of Rus' in 1239-41, Danylo strove to rid his realm of the Mongol yoke by attempting, unsuccessfully, to establish military alliances with other European rulers. His son and successor, Lev Danylovych (1264-1301), accepted Mongol suzerainty. Lev made Lviv the new capital in 1272 and took part of Transcarpathia, including Mukachiv, from the Hungarians in 1280 and the Lublin land from the Poles ca 1292. The last prince of Galicia, Yurii II Boleslav, was poisoned by Galician boyars who offered the throne to the Lithuanian prince Liubartas.... |
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DANYLO ROMANOVYCH, 1201-64. Prince of Volhynia and Galicia of the Romanovych dynasty, king of Rus' (from 1253). After the death of his father, Prince Roman Mstyslavych, in 1205, unrest among the boyars forced Danylo to take refuge at the Hungarian court, and later, with his mother and brother, Vasylko Romanovych, in small principalities in Volhynia. Following a long struggle with neighboring princes and Galician boyars (1219-27) Danylo unified Volhynia. He failed in several attempts to gain control of Halych, but finally succeeded in 1238, with the support of the burghers. The next year he took Kyiv, which had entered his sphere of influence earlier, and placed Voivode Dmytro in charge of the principality. However, the Mongol invasion of 1239-41, during which Kyiv, Volodymyr-Volynskyi, and Halych were destroyed, interfered with Danylo's plans for the unification of all Ukrainian territories.... |
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LEV DANYLOVYCH, b ca 1228, d ca 1301. Prince of Galicia from 1264; son of King Danylo Romanovych, brother of Mstyslav Danylovych and Shvarno Danylovych, and father of Yurii Lvovych. He had dynastic ties with Hungary through his marriage to Konstancia, the daughter of Bela IV. Lev inherited the Halych land, the Peremyshl land, and the Belz land from his father in 1264. In 1268 he murdered Vaisvilkas after Vaisvilkas abdicated and gave the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to his son-in-law, Shvarno, instead of to Lev. Lev inherited the Kholm land and Dorohychyn land after Shvarno's death ca 1269. He made Lviv (which was named after Lev) his capital in 1272. A vassal of the Tatars from the early 1270s, he had their support during his campaigns against Lithuania (1275, 1277), Poland (1280, 1283, 1286-8), and Hungary (1285)... |
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PRINCELY HALYCH. City located at the site of present-day Krylos, dating back to the turn of the 9th century. An important trade and cultural center of medieval Rus', it reached the height of its power in the second half of the 12th century. The suburbs or lower town, the location of the city's river port, is now the site of modern Halych; monasteries, churches, and small fortified settlements were also located on the city's outskirts. From 1144 it was the capital of Yaroslav Osmomysl's Halych principality, and from 1199 the capital of Roman Mstyslavych's Principality of Galicia-Volhynia. In 1238 Danylo Romanovych established his residence at Halych. Three years later the city was razed by the Mongols. Archeological excavations uncovered the remains of the Dormition Cathedral (built in 1157), the city walls, castle moats, and many stone buildings of the lower town as well as Yaroslav Osmomysl's sarcophagus and skeleton... |
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VOLODYMYR-VOLYNSKYI. A city (2001 pop 38,300) on the Luha River and a raion center in Volhynia oblast. One of Ukraine's oldest cities, it is first mentioned in the chronicles under the year 988, as the fortified trading town of Volodymyr and the seat of the Volodymyr eparchy. In the 12th century it was the center of Volodymyr-Volynskyi principality, and in 1199 it became part of the Principality of Galicia-Volhynia. Frequent Tatar attacks (1240, 1260, 1491, and 1500) brought about its decline. In the late 14th century it came under Lithuanian rule, and in 1431 it obtained the rights of Magdeburg law. From 1569 the town belonged to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Prince Kostiantyn Ostrozky set up a school there in 1577, and a Basilian college operated there in the 18th century. In 1795 the town was annexed by the Russian Empire and served as a county center in Volhynia gubernia.... |
IV. BOHDAN KHMELNYTSKY, THE COSSACK-POLISH WAR, AND THE PEREIASLAV TREATY OF 1654
Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky is one of the most celebrated and at the same time most controversial political figures in Ukraine's early-modern history. A brilliant military leader, his greatest achievement in the process of national revolution was the formation of the Cossack Hetman state of the Zaporozhian Host (1648-1782). His statesmanship was demonstrated in all areas of state-building--in the military, administration, finance, economics, and culture. At the same time, at the height of the Cossack-Polish War (1648-57), Khmelnytsky concluded the fateful Pereiaslav Treaty of 1654 with Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich of Muscovy, as a result of which Ukraine became a protectorate of the tsar and was placed in the Muscovite sphere of influence. Some of the most prominent Ukrainian intellectuals, such as Taras Shevchenko, criticized Khmelnytsky for this strategic error which resulted in the centuries of Muscovite/Russian domination over Ukraine. Learn more about Bohdan Khmelnytsky, the Cossack-Polish War, and the Pereiaslav Treaty of 1654 and its consequences for Ukraine's historical fate by visiting the following entries:
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KHMELNYTSKY, BOHDAN, b ca 1595-6, d 6 August 1657 in Chyhyryn. Hetman of the Zaporozhian Host from 1648 to 1657, founder of the Hetman state (1648-1782). By birth he belonged to the Ukrainian lesser nobility and bore the Massalski, and later the Abdank, coat of arms. His father, Mykhailo, served as an officer under the Polish crown hetman Stanislaw Zolkiewski. Bohdan received his elementary schooling in Ukrainian, and his secondary and higher education in Polish at a Jesuit college, possibly in Jaroslaw, but more probably in Lviv. At school he acquired a broad knowledge of world history and fluency in Polish and Latin. Later he acquired a knowledge of Turkish, Tatar, and French. The Battle of Cecora (1620), in which he lost his father and was captured by the Turks, was his first military action. After spending two years in Istanbul, he was ransomed by his mother and returned to Ukraine... |
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COSSACK-POLISH WAR (1648-57). The conflict began in 1648 as a typical Cossack uprising but quickly turned into a war of the Ukrainian populace, particularly the Cossacks and peasants, against the Polish Commonwealth. Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky assumed leadership of the Ukrainian forces. The war can be divided into six phases. January-November 1648. In this period a series of brilliant Cossack victories aroused the whole Ukrainian people and won wide support for Bohdan Khmelnytsky. What was strictly a Cossack rebellion became transformed into a mass movement against the Polish nobility. On 21 January 1648 Khmelnytsky led a small unit of registered Cossacks and Zaporozhian Cossacks in an attack on the Polish garrison on Bazavluk Lake (on the Dnieper River) and overpowered it. This freed the Zaporozhian Sich from Polish control and won the Zaporozhian Cossacks over to Khmelnytsky's side. He was elected hetman... |
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JAN II CASIMIR VASA, b 22 March 1609 in Cracow, d 16 December 1672 in Nevers, France. King of Poland and grand duke of Lithuania in 1648-68; the son of Sigismund III Vasa. The last ruler of the Vasa dynasty to occupy the Polish and Lithuanian thrones, Jan was elected king after the death of his brother Wladyslaw IV Vasa. During his reign the Polish magnates pressed him to expend Poland's resources on winning the Cossack-Polish War of 1648-57. In 1649 and 1651, he personally directed military campaigns against Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky and the Cossacks in Ukraine... |
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VYHOVSKY, IVAN, b ?, d 19 March 1664 in Olkhivka, near Korsun. Hetman of Ukraine in 1657-9 and close confederate of Bohdan Khmelnytsky. He studied at the Kyivan Mohyla Academy, worked in the Kyiv civic court, and joined the Lutske Brotherhood of the Elevation of the Cross. Before the Cossack-Polish War he was secretary to a Polish starosta in Lutske, and in 1648 served in a crown force under the command of Stanislaw Rewera Potocki. He was captured by the Tatars at the Battle of Zhovti Vody. His release was arranged by Khmelnytsky, who admired his learning and experience. Vyhovsky then joined forces with the hetman. He became the military chancellor and then general chancellor; he participated in diplomatic negotiations and drafted some of the more important treaties of the time. After Khmelnytsky's death he became the guardian of and second-in-command to Yurii Khmelnytsky... |
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PEREIASLAV TREATY OF 1654. A fateful alliance the Hetman state under Bohdan Khmelnytsky concluded with Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich during the Cossack-Polish War. After the Crimean Tatar army betrayed the Cossacks for the third time during the siege of Zhvanets in 1653, and Khmelnytsky realized he could no longer rely on Ottoman support against Poland, the hetman was forced to turn to Muscovy for help. Moscow responded favorably to an alliance with Ukraine because it would prevent closer Ukrainian-Turkish ties. Negotiations began in January 1654 in Pereiaslav between Khmelnytsky and his General Military Council on one side and Muscovite envoys led by Vasilii Buturlin on the other. They were concluded in April in Moscow by the Ukrainians Samiilo Bohdanovych-Zarudny and Pavlo Teteria and by A. Trubetskoi, V. Buturlin, and other Muscovite boyars... |
V. HETMAN IVAN MAZEPA, TSAR PETER I, AND THE BATTLE OF POLTAVA (1709)
Hetman Ivan Mazepa was one of the most enigmatic and inspiring Ukrainian leaders. Although there have been controversial assessments of his reign, he has remained a symbol of Ukrainian independence. His main goal as hetman of Ukraine was to unite all Ukrainian territories in a unitary state that would be modeled on existing European states but would retain the features of the traditional Cossack order. Initially Mazepa believed that Ukraine could coexist with Russia on the basis of the Pereiaslav Treaty of 1654. However, when Tsar Peter I embarked on a policy of annihilating Ukrainian autonomy and abolishing the Cossack order, Mazepa began secret negotiations with the king of Poland and with Charles XII of Sweden, and forged with them an anti-Russian coalition in 1708. Mazepa's efforts at organizing a broad anti-Russian front in Eastern Europe proved unsuccessful, and his and Charles XII's defeat at the Battle of Poltava on 8 July 1709 sealed Ukraine's fate. Having condemned Mazepa as a traitor, Peter I ordered the Russian and Ukrainian churches to anathematize him. Thereafter, imperial, both Russian and Soviet, propagandists and historians did their utmost to vilify this Ukrainian patriot and statesman... Learn more about Ivan Mazepa and other actors of the fateful Battle of Poltava (1709) by visiting the following entries:
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MAZEPA, IVAN, b 20 March 1639 in Mazepyntsi, near Bila Tserkva, d 2 October 1709 in Bendery, Bessarabia. Hetman of Ukraine in 1687?1709; son of Stepan-Adam Mazepa and Maryna Mazepa. He studied at the Kyivan Mohyla College and at the Jesuit college in Warsaw. While a page at the court of Jan II Casimir Vasa in Warsaw, he was sent by the king to study in Holland. In 1656-9 he learned gunnery in Deventer and visited Germany, Italy, France, and the Low Countries. After his return to Warsaw Mazepa continued his service as a royal courtier, and in 1659-63 he was sent on various diplomatic missions to Ukraine. The legend of his affair with Madame Falbowska and his subsequent punishment by being tied to the back of a wild horse was first popularized by the Polish memorialist J. C. Pasek... |
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POLTAVA, BATTLE OF. The turning point in the Great Northern War (1700-21) between Sweden and Russia. When Hetman Ivan Mazepa learned that Tsar Peter I intended to abolish the autonomy of the Hetman state, he began secret negotiations with Charles XII of Sweden to ensure that Ukraine would not be annexed by Poland in the event of a Swedish victory. After the main Swedish army entered Ukraine, Mazepa openly sided with Charles against Peter.... |
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PETER I, b 9 June 1672 in Moscow, d 8 February 1725 in Saint Petersburg. Russian tsar from 1682 and first Russian emperor from 1721; son of Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich. In 1696, after deposing the Muscovite regent, his half-sister, Sofiia Alekseevna, Peter conducted an aggressive, expansionist foreign policy that affected the Hetman state, Slobidska Ukraine, and the Zaporizhia throughout his reign. He exploited Ukraine economically and militarily as part of Russia's participation in the Holy League against the Ottoman Empire; the expansionist Russo-Turkish wars of 1695-6 and 1710-13; the Northern War with Sweden (1700-21), by which Russia gained a foothold on the Baltic Sea coast; and the war with Persia (1722-3), which fortified Russia's hold in Transcaucasia and the Caspian Sea littoral. Those wars exacted a heavy human and economic toll in Ukraine... |
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CHARLES XII, b 17 June 1682 in Stockholm, d 30 November 1718 in Fredrikshald, Norway. King of Sweden from 1697. In the Great Northern War (1700-21) against the coalition of Russia, Denmark, and Saxony (headed by the Polish king Frederick Augustus II), Charles conquered Denmark, occupied Poland, and forced Augustus to abdicate. In the course of the war with Russia Charles entered into negotiations with Hetman Ivan Mazepa, which were soon formalized in a Ukrainian-Swedish alliance. In the fall of 1708 Charles advanced into Ukraine, where in 1709 he suffered defeat by Russia in the decisive Battle of Poltava... |
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SKOROPADSKY, IVAN, b 1646 in Uman, d 14 July 1722 in Hlukhiv. Cossack leader and hetman of Ukraine (1708-22). After the Turks leveled Uman in 1674, he moved to Left-Bank Ukraine, where he served under Hetman Ivan Samoilovych. In 1706 Mazepa appointed him colonel of Starodub regiment. Skoropadsky was elected hetman at the Council of Officers in Hlukhiv on 6 November 1708. Peter I never fully trusted him, however; he refused to ratify the Reshetylivka Articles of 1709 drawn up by Skoropadsky for a new agreement between Ukraine and Russia, and he held up the official documents confirming Skoropadsky as hetman until 1710. Skoropadsky, with the troops of Cossacks loyal to him, nevertheless fought alongside Russian troops in the Battle of Poltava... |
VI. THE UKRAINIAN NATIONAL REPUBLIC AND THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE, 1917-20
At the final stages of the First World War, a powerful struggle for an independent Ukrainian state developed in the central Ukrainian territories, which, until 1917, were part of the Russian Empire. The newly established Ukrainian government, the Central Rada, headed by Mykhailo Hrushevsky, issued four universals, the Fourth of which, dated 22 January 1918, declared the independence and sovereignty of the Ukrainian National Republic (UNR) on 25 January 1918. The session of the Central Rada on 29 April 1918 ratified the Constitution of the UNR and elected Hrushevsky president. That same day, however, a coup d'etat was staged with the support of the Germans by conservative circles. Gen Pavlo Skoropadsky was proclaimed hetman of the Ukrainian State, which replaced the UNR. The Ukrainian political formations that opposed the hetman formed the Ukrainian National Union and, later, the Directory of the Ukrainian National Republic, headed by Volodymyr Vynnychenko. Following Pavlo Skoropadsky's 14 November 1918 proclamation of the federation of Ukraine with Russia, the Directory began an anti-hetman uprising that culminated on 14 December in the restoration of the republican rule of the UNR... Learn more about the revolutionary events of 1917-20 by visiting the following entries:
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STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE (1917-20). The term used to describe the political, military, and diplomatic activities to achieve Ukrainian statehood in all Ukrainian territories. At first this struggle concerned the central Ukrainian territories. On 17 March the Central Rada was created in Kyiv and on 25 January 1918 it declared the independence and sovereignty of the Ukrainian National Republic. Mykhailo Hrushevsky was elected president. However, a coup d'etat was staged with the support of the Germans by Gen Pavlo Skoropadsky created the Ukrainian State, which replaced the UNR. The anti-hetman uprising that culminated on 14 December restored the republican rule of the UNR and the Directory of the Ukrainian National Republic introduced the labor principle of rule with the Labor Congress as the highest legislative body and with the Council of National Ministers as the executive organ. In the western Ukrainian lands that formed part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ukrainian National Rada (UNRada) was formed in Lviv on 18?19 October 1918 and proclaimed a Ukrainian state on the territory of Galicia, northern Bukovyna, and Transcarpathia... |
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CENTRAL RADA. At first, an all-Ukrainian center that united political, community, cultural, and professional organizations; later, after the All-Ukrainian National Congress (17-21 April 1917), the revolutionary parliament of Ukraine that directed the Ukrainian national movement and by the four Universals of the Central Rada led Ukraine from autonomy to independence. The Central Rada was founded in Kyiv on 17 March 1917 on the initiative of the Society of Ukrainian Progressives with the participation of other political parties. Mykhailo Hrushevsky was chosen in absentia as the chairman of the Rada. After the All-Ukrainian National Congress the Rada was composed of 150 members, elected from Ukrainian political parties, professional and cultural organizations, and delegates from the gubernias. At the congress a new presidium of the Rada was elected, with Hrushevsky as president and Serhii Yefremov and Volodymyr Vynnychenko as vice-presidents... |
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HETMAN GOVERNMENT. The antisocialist Ukrainian government formed after the coup d'etat of Gen Pavlo Skoropadsky in Kyiv on 29 April 1918. This coup was backed by the generals of the German and Austrian armies that occupied Ukraine after the Peace Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and by former tsarist officers. On the day of the coup Skoropadsky issued two edicts that together constituted a provisional constitution for the new regime. The Central Rada and the Council of National Ministers of the Ukrainian National Republic and their laws and land reforms were abolished, and the right of private land ownership was reinstated. All legislative and executive powers were transferred to the hetman, who at the same time was proclaimed commander in chief of the military. Although its social and economic policies were a failure, the Hetman government did achieve certain successes in diplomacy in establishing a consular service and, particularly, in education and culture... |
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HRUSHEVSKY, MYKHAILO, b 29 September 1866 in Kholm, d 25 November 1934 in Kislovodsk, North Caucasus krai, RSFSR. The most distinguished Ukrainian historian; principal organizer of Ukrainian scholarship, prominent civic and political leader, publicist, and writer; member of the Shevchenko Scientific Society from 1894, the All-Ukrainian Academy of Sciences from 1923, and the USSR Academy of Sciences from 1929. Hrushevsky's father, Serhii, was a Slavist and pedagogue. In 1869 the family moved to Caucasia where Hrushevsky graduated from the classical gymnasium in Tiflis (now Tbilisi) (1886). While still a gymnasium student he began to write belles-lettres in Ukrainian; his first publication was a story that appeared in the newspaper Dilo in 1885. Hrushevsky graduated in 1890 from the Historical-Philological Faculty at Kyiv University where he was a student of Volodymyr Antonovych... |
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SKOROPADSKY, PAVLO, b 15 May 1873 in Wiesbaden, Germany, d 26 April 1945 in Metten, Bavaria. Ukrainian noble, general, and statesman; scion of the Skoropadsky family. After the February Revolution of 1917 Skoropadsky oversaw the Ukrainization of the 34th Corps as the 1st Ukrainian Corps. He was elected honorary otaman of the Ukrainian Free Cossacks in October 1917. In October-November of that year the disciplined 60,000-man First Corps and the Free Cossacks under his command controlled the Vapniarka-Zhmerynka-Koziatyn-Shepetivka railway corridor. It disarmed and demobilized pro-Bolshevik military units returning from the fronts and thereby prevented them from attacking Kyiv and plundering Ukraine. As an opponent of the Central Rada's socialist policies Skoropadsky initiated a right-wing conspiracy known as the Ukrainian People's Hromada, consisting of his fellow noble landowners and loyal officers... |
VII. A BATTLE FOR UKRAINE: THE UKRAINIAN-SOVIET WAR, 1917-21
Shortly after the October Revolution of 1917, a military struggle for control of Ukraine began and was waged intermittently until 1921 by Ukrainian independentist forces and pro-Bolshevik elements seeking to establish Soviet rule. Notwithstanding the creation of the Ukrainian National Republic (UNR) on 20 November 1917, the Bolsheviks planned to seize power in Ukraine with the aid of Russian or Russified urban elements, Russian garrisons, and army units stationed near the front. Their armed uprising in Kyiv on 11 December 1917 was unsuccessful, however, and the Bolshevized army units were deported from Ukraine in stages. A pro-Bolshevik force under Yevheniia Bosh moving in on Kyiv was also disarmed by Ukrainian troops under Pavlo Skoropadsky and then sent off to Russia. However, in December 1917 a 30,000-strong Red Guards army from Russia set off for Ukraine starting the war that would eventually lead to the establishment of Soviet rule in all of central and eastern Ukraine... Learn more about the history of the fateful Ukrainian-Soviet War by visiting the following entries:
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UKRAINIAN-SOVIET WAR, 1917-21. The invasion of Ukraine by pro-Soviet forces in early 1918 was accompanied by uprisings initiated by local Bolshevik agitators in cities throughout Left-Bank Ukraine. The Central Rada prepared for the defense of Kyiv by sending advance forces of volunteers to Poltava and Bakhmach. One of those, the Student Battalion, was annihilated by a vastly larger Bolshevik force at the Battle of Kruty on 29 January. On 9 February Soviet troops under Mikhail Muravev's command entered Kyiv and then carried out brutal reprisals against the Ukrainian civilian population. After taking Kyiv the Bolsheviks launched an offensive in Right-Bank Ukraine, but the tide changed following Ukraine's signature of the Peace Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and the entry of German and Austrian troops into the conflict in late February as allies of the Central Rada... |
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ARMY OF THE UKRAINIAN NATIONAL REPUBLIC. Unlike the Ukrainian Galician Army, the regular armed forces of the Western Ukrainian National Republic, the Army of the Ukrainian National Republic was never a regular, well-structured organization, but was made up of various armed volunteer units. The formation of Ukrainian units in the Russian army was part of the process of general disintegration of the multinational Russian army along national lines that had begun at the front and in the rear immediately after the February Revolution of 1917. Instances of spontaneous Ukrainianization on the front became widespread. In units that were nationally mixed, the Ukrainian soldiers formed their own subunits, in which both discipline and fighting ability were superior and resistance to the Bolshevik appeals for demobilization was stronger than in other subunits... |
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PETLIURA, SYMON, b 10 May 1879 in Poltava, d 25 May 1926 in Paris. Statesman and publicist; supreme commander of the Army of the Ukrainian National Republic and president of the Directory of the Ukrainian National Republic. He entered the Poltava Theological Seminary in 1895 but was expelled in 1901 for belonging to a clandestine Ukrainian hromada. From 1900 he was also active in a political cell in Poltava that became the nucleus of the Revolutionary Ukrainian party. In 1909 he moved to Moscow and worked there as a bookkeeper until 1912, when he became coeditor, with Oleksander Salikovsky, of the Russian-language monthly Ukrainskaia zhizn' (1912-17). In 1916 and until the beginning of 1917 he was deputy plenipotentiary of the All-Russian Union of Zemstvos aid committee on the Russian western front. In June 1917 he was appointed general secretary of military affairs in the first General Secretariat of the Central Rada... |
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PARTISAN MOVEMENT IN UKRAINE, 1918-22. As government and public order in the Russian Empire dissolved after the February Revolution of 1917, a host of partisan groups sprang up in Ukraine. Differing in size and political orientation, they never formed a unified force behind a single leader or program and often switched their support from one to another of the major contenders for control of Ukraine. Formed mostly from among the Ukrainian peasantry, the movement defended the broad social and political goals of the revolution and sided increasingly with the national aspirations of the Ukrainian people. After the defeat of the UNR Army, the partisan movement became the chief opponent of Bolshevik power in Ukraine. The first partisan groups were formed in 1917 in the Kyiv region to defend the local population from roving bands of soldiers returning from the front. The peasant brigades then took part in resisting the Bolshevik offensive on Kyiv in January-February 1918... |
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WINTER CAMPAIGNS. Offensives of the Army of the Ukrainian National Republic behind the lines of the Volunteer Army and Red Army in 1919?20 and 1921. The First Winter Campaign lasted from 6 December 1919 to 6 May 1920. As conventional military action in the Ukrainian-Soviet War became impossible, the UNR government decided to demobilize those units unfit for battle and to send its battle-ready troops behind enemy lines to conduct partisan warfare until it could set up a regular front. The Second Winter Campaign took place in November 1921, while the UNR government and its disarmed army were in Poland, and the partisan movement was still active in Ukraine. The goal of the raid behind the Bolshevik lines was quite bold: to unify the partisan operations and to sweep the Soviet regime from Ukraine... |
VIII. THE WESTERN UKRAINIAN NATIONAL REPUBLIC AND THE WAR IN GALICIA, 1918-19
After the independent Ukrainian National Republic (UNR) was established in January 1918 on the central Ukrainian territories, in the western Ukrainian lands that formed part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ukrainian National Rada was formed in Lviv in October 1918 and proclaimed a Ukrainian state on the territory of Galicia, northern Bukovyna, and Transcarpathia. It assumed power in Galicia on 1 November 1918 and in the Ukrainian part of Bukovyna on 6 November. On 9 November the UNRada announced the establishment of the Western Ukrainian National Republic (ZUNR) and formed a government. The Polish rejection of Ukrainian efforts to take control of eastern Galicia lead to an armed conflict between the Ukrainian Galician Army and the Polish troops. On 22 January 1919 the union of the ZUNR with the UNR was solemnly proclaimed in Kyiv; following this event, the ZUNR officially became the Western Province of the Ukrainian National Republic... Learn more about the history of ZUNR and the Ukrainian-Polish War in Galicia, 1918-19, by visiting the following entries:
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WESTERN UKRAINIAN NATIONAL REPUBLIC (ZUNR). A nation-state established on the Ukrainian ethnic territory of former Austria-Hungary on 19 October 1918 by the Ukrainian National Rada in Lviv. The Constitution of 13 November 1918 determined its name and defined the territory of the ZUNR as that which encompassed the Ukrainian regions of the Austrian crown lands of Galicia and Bukovyna and the Transcarpathian Szepes komitat, Sros komitat, Zemplen komitat, Ung komitat, Bereg komitat, Ugocsa komitat, and Maramaros komitat. A Ukrainian government took power on 1 November 1918 in Galicia, on 6 November in Bukovyna, and on 19 November in Transcarpathia. The governments in the last two territories were short-lived. In spite of the Ukrainian-Polish War in Galicia, the government of the ZUNR held out longest in eastern Galicia... |
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UKRAINIAN-POLISH WAR IN GALICIA, 1918-19. The Ukrainian-Polish War broke out in late 1918 as a result of the Polish rejection of Ukrainian efforts to establish an independent state?the Western Ukrainian National Republic?in the wake of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The major issue of dispute in the conflict was control over eastern Galicia, a predominantly Ukrainian ethnic territory regarded by the Poles as an integral part of the historical Polish realm. As the boundaries of the new Polish state had not yet been established, and the ZUNR had not been granted international diplomatic recognition, the matter was ultimately reduced to a question of control by military force. The outbreak of hostilities can be dated to 1 November, when Poles in Lviv organized resistance to Ukrainian efforts to take control of the city... |
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NOVEMBER UPRISING IN LVIV, 1918. The first stage of armed conflict in the Ukrainian-Polish War in Galicia, 1918-19. The proclamation of the Ukrainian National Rada on 18 October 1918 concerning the founding of an independent Ukrainian state initiated preparations on the part of Ukrainians for taking power in eastern Galicia. The Rada originally hoped to establish a Ukrainian administration with the support of the Austrian authorities, but when those hopes were only partially fulfilled, it decided to act unilaterally. The seizure of Lviv was planned originally for 3 November 1918. It was to be carried out by the Ukrainian soldiers who constituted the majority of the Austrian troops garrisoned in the city as well as by a brigade of the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen garrisoned in Bukovyna. The creation in Cracow of the Polish Liquidation Commission compelled the Ukrainian politicians to move up the date of the operation... |
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UKRAINIAN GALICIAN ARMY (UHA). The regular army of the Western Ukrainian National Republic. It was formed around a nucleus consisting of the Legion of Ukrainian Sich Riflemen and other Ukrainian detachments of the Austro-Hungarian army, which recognized the authority of the Ukrainian National Rada and took part in the November Uprising in Lviv, 1918. The UHA was a well-organized and disciplined force. It was established as a regular army of the ZUNR by the law of 13 November 1918 on compulsory military service, which empowered the State Secretariat for Military Affairs to divide the country into military districts, to define an organizational structure for the army, and to call up Ukrainian males between the ages of 18 and 35 for military duty... |
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PETRUSHEVYCH, YEVHEN, b 3 June 1863 in Buzke, Galicia, d 29 August 1940 in Berlin. Lawyer, political leader, and president of the Western Ukrainian National Republic. An executive member of the National Democratic party, he was elected to the Austrian parliament and to the Galician Diet and served as vice-chairman of the Ukrainian Parliamentary Representation in Vienna (1910-16) and the Ukrainian caucus in the Diet (1910-14). At the end of 1916 he was elected chairman of the Ukrainian Parliamentary Representation in the Austrian parliament and was recognized as the leading Ukrainian politician of his day. With a number of other Slavic leaders he proposed to transform Austria-Hungary into a federation of national states, including a Ukrainian one composed of eastern Galicia, northern Bukovyna, and Transcarpathia... |
IX. THE UKRAINIAN INSURGENT ARMY: THE WORLD WAR II COMBATANTS IN UKRAINE
Although they have not yet been recognized by the Ukrainian state as war veterans who deserve official government pensions, the former soldiers of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) can justly be considered the unsung heros of World War II in Ukraine. In its struggle against the German and Soviet occupational regimes, the UPA's ultimate goal was an independent and unified Ukrainian state. At the height of the UPA's power, its units were composed not only of ethnic Ukrainians, but also of Azerbaidzhani, Uzbek, Georgian, and Tatar soldiers, and the UPA organized the Conference of the Oppressed Nations of Eastern Europe and Asia in order to support liberation struggles of other nations. After the Soviet 'Great Blockade' in the Carpathian Mountains in 1946, denied food and shelter, and forced to fight on the march at extremely low temperatures, the UPA (with the exception of the units operating in Ukrainian ethnic territories annexed by Poland after 1944) was forced to demobilize most combat troops. The UPA's underground armed struggle continued until 1954. Learn more about the struggle for Ukrainian independence during World War II by visiting the following entries:
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UKRAINIAN INSURGENT ARMY (Ukrainska povstanska armiia). A Ukrainian military formation which fought from 1942 to 1949, mostly in Western Ukraine, against the German and Soviet occupational regimes. Its immediate purpose was to protect the Ukrainian population from German and Soviet repression and exploitation; its ultimate goal was an independent and unified Ukrainian state... |
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POLISIAN SICH. A Ukrainian insurgent formation, organized in June 1941 by Taras Borovets under the aegis of the Government-in-exile of the Ukrainian National Republic. Its earliest anti-Soviet activities in Sarny county consisted of attacking NKVD jails and Soviet Army mobilization centers and capturing arms and ammunition. In July 1941 the Sich was recognized by the German authorities as a local militia, whose primary mission was to clear Polisia of the remnants of the Soviet Army. With the elimination of the Soviet partisan threat, the Germans forced the Polisian Sich to demobilize (15 November 1941). In March 1942 Borovets reactivated it, this time as an anti-Nazi insurgent force, and renamed it the Ukrainian Insurgent Army... |
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SHUKHEVYCH, ROMAN (noms de guerre: Dzvin, Shchuka, Tur, Taras Chuprynka, R. Lozovsky), b 17 July 1907 in Krakovets, Yavoriv county, Galicia, d 5 March 1950 in Bilohorshcha, near Lviv. Supreme Commander of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), Head of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists Home Leadership, chairman of the General Secretariat of the Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council (UHVR), and its general secretary for Military Affairs... |
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UKRAINIAN SUPREME LIBERATION COUNCIL (Ukrainska holovna vyzvolna rada, or UHVR). A body formed toward the end of the Second World War by members of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) to provide political leadership for Ukrainian independentist forces. It proclaimed itself the ?supreme organ of the Ukrainian people in its war of revolutionary liberation.' The council's organizers hoped to establish a broader political and social base for armed resistance to both the German and the Bolshevik occupational forces and sought to attract support from outside the OUN, although the OUN would continue to serve as the UHVR's ideological and organizational foundation... |
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