Ukrainian War of Independence - Resumed Hostilities, 1919

Resumed Hostilities, 1919

See also: Polish-Ukrainian War and Ukrainian-Soviet War

Almost immediately after the defeat of Germany, Lenin's government annulled the Brest-Litovsk Treaty – which Leon Trotsky described as "no war no peace" – and invaded Ukraine and other countries of Eastern Europe that were formed under German protection. Simultaneously, the collapse of the Central Powers affected the former Austrian province of Galicia, which was populated by Ukrainians and Poles. The Ukrainians proclaimed a Western Ukrainian People's Republic in Eastern Galicia, which wished to unite with the Ukrainian People's Republic; while the Poles – who were mainly concentrated in Lwów (now Lviv) – gave their allegiance to the newly formed Second Polish Republic. Both sides became increasingly hostile with each other. On January 22, 1919, the Western Ukrainian People's Republic and the Ukrainian People's Republic signed an Act of Union in Kiev. By October 1919, the Western Ukrainian People's Republic was defeated by Polish forces in the Polish-Ukrainian War and Eastern Galicia was annexed to Poland; the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 granted Eastern Galicia to Poland for 25 years.

The defeat of Germany had also opened the Black Sea to the Allies, and in mid-December 1918 some mixed forces under French command were landed at Odessa and Sevastopol, and months later at Kherson and Nikolayev (now Mykolaiv). The cause and purpose of French intervention was not entirely clear; French military leaders quickly became disillusioned by internal quarrels within the anti-Bolshevik forces that prevented effective collaboration against Bolshevik pressures, and they particularly criticized the White Russian Volunteer Army for its arrogance towards the local population. Strong anti-foreigner feelings among Ukrainians convinced French officers that intervention in this climate of hostility was doomed without massive support. When the French government failed to supply enough equipment and manpower for extensive military operations, the French army faced defeat at the hands of pro-Bolshevik forces and French officers counseled Paris to withdraw the expedition from Odessa and Crimea.

A new, swift Bolshevik offensive overran most of Eastern and central Ukraine in early 1919. Kiev – under the control of Symon Petliura's Directorate – fell to the Red Army again on February 5, and the exiled Soviet Ukrainian government was re-instated as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic moved to Kiev on March 15. The Ukrainian People's Republic (UNR) faced imminent defeat against the Bolsheviks – it was reduced to a strip of land along the Polish border with its capital moving from Vinnytsia to Proskurov (now Khmelnytskyi), then to Kamianets-Podilskyi, and finally to Rivne. But the UNR was saved when the Bolshevik armies had to regroup against a renewed White Russian offensive in South Russia and the Urals, which threatened the very existence of Bolshevism – and so required more urgent attention. During the spring and summer of 1919, Anton Denikin's Volunteer Army and Don Army overran all of central and Eastern Ukraine and made significant gains on other fronts. Yet by winter the tide of war reversed decisively, and by 1920 all of Eastern and central Ukraine except Crimea was again in Bolshevik hands. The Bolsheviks also defeated Nestor Makhno, their former ally against Denikin.