1.
Ukrainian War of Independence
–
Also involved were the Allied forces of Romania and France. The struggle lasted from February 1917 to November 1921 and resulted in the division of Ukraine between the Bolshevik Ukrainian SSR, Poland, Romania, and Czechoslovakia. The conflict is viewed within the framework of the Russian Civil War as well as the closing stage of the Eastern Front of the First World War. During the First World War Ukraine was in the front lines of the combatants, the Entente-allied Russian Empire and Romania. By the start of 1917 – after the Brusilov Offensive – the Imperial Russian Army held a front line which partially reclaimed Volhynia, the February Revolution of 1917 encouraged many ethnic groups in the Russian Empire to demand greater autonomy and various degrees of self-determination. The weak and ineffective Provisional Government in Petrograd continued its loyalty to the entente and this Offensive was a complete disaster for the Imperial Russian Army. All this led to the October Revolution in Petrograd, which spread all over the empire. The Kiev Uprising in November 1917 led to the defeat of Russian imperial forces in the capital, hostilities against the Central Rada government in Kiev began immediately. Under these circumstances, the Rada declared Ukrainian independence on January 22,1918, the Rada had limited armed force at its disposal and was hard-pressed by the Kharkov government which received men and resources from the Russian SFSR. As a result, the Bolsheviks quickly overran Poltava, Aleksandrovsk, aided by the earlier Kiev Arsenal Uprising, the Red Guards entered the capital on February 9,1918. This forced the Central Rada to evacuate to Zhytomyr, in the meantime, the Romanians took over Bessarabia. Most remaining Russian Army units either allied with the Bolsheviks or joined the Ukrainian Peoples Army, a notable exception was Colonel Mikhail Drozdovsky, who marched his White Volunteer Army unit across the whole of Novorossiya to the River Don, defeating Makhnos forces in the process. The German and Austro-Hungarian armies then drove the Bolsheviks out of Ukraine, two days later, the Bolsheviks signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which formally ended hostilities on the Eastern Front of World War I and left Ukraine in a German sphere of influence. Former Imperial Russian Army General Pavlo Skoropadsky led a successful German-backed coup against the Rada on April 29 and he proclaimed the conservative Ukrainian State, and reversed many of the socialist policies of the former government. Skoropadsky left Kiev with the Germans, and the Hetmanate was in turn overthrown by the socialist Directorate, simultaneously, the collapse of the Central Powers affected the former Austrian province of Galicia, which was populated by Ukrainians and Poles. Both sides became increasingly hostile with each other, on January 22,1919, the Western Ukrainian Peoples Republic and the Ukrainian Peoples Republic signed an Act of Union in Kiev. Strong anti-foreigner feelings among Ukrainians convinced French officers that intervention in this climate of hostility was doomed without massive support, a new, swift Bolshevik offensive overran most of Eastern and central Ukraine in early 1919. During the spring and summer of 1919, Anton Denikins Volunteer Army and Don Army overran all of central and Eastern Ukraine, 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
Ukrainian War of Independence
–
A pro-
Ukrainian People's Republic demonstration in
Kiev 's
Sofia Square, 1917.
Ukrainian War of Independence
–
Ukrainian People's Republic poster by B. Shippikh, Kiev, 1917
Ukrainian War of Independence
–
Eastern Front of World War I in 1917
Ukrainian War of Independence
–
Europe in 1919 after the treaties of Brest Litovsk
2.
Russian Civil War
–
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war in the former Russian Empire immediately after the Russian Revolutions of 1917, as many factions vied to determine Russias political future. In addition, rival militant socialists and nonideological Green armies fought against both the Bolsheviks and the Whites, eight foreign nations intervened against the Red Army, notably the Allied Forces and the pro-German armies. The Red Army defeated the White Armed Forces of South Russia in Ukraine, the remains of the White forces commanded by Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel were beaten in Crimea and evacuated in late 1920. Lesser battles of the war continued on the periphery for two years, and minor skirmishes with the remnants of the White forces in the Far East continued well into 1923. Armed national resistance in Central Asia was not completely crushed until 1934, there were an estimated 7,000, 000–12,000,000 casualties during the war, mostly civilians. The Russian Civil War has been described by some as the greatest national catastrophe that Europe had yet seen, many pro-independence movements emerged after the break-up of the Russian Empire and fought in the war. Several parts of the former Russian Empire—Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the rest of the former Russian Empire was consolidated into the Soviet Union shortly afterwards. After the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, the Russian Provisional Government was established during the February Revolution of 1917, Political commissars were appointed to each unit of the army to maintain morale and ensure loyalty. In June 1918, when it became apparent that an army composed solely of workers would be far too small. Former Tsarist officers were utilized as military specialists, sometimes their families were taken hostage in order to ensure their loyalty, at the start of the war three-quarters of the Red Army officer corps was composed of former Tsarist officers. By its end, 83% of all Red Army divisional and corps commanders were ex-Tsarist soldiers, a Ukrainian nationalist movement was active in Ukraine during the war. More significant was the emergence of an anarchist political and military movement known as the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine or the Anarchist Black Army led by Nestor Makhno, some of the military forces were set up on the basis of clandestine officers organizations in the cities. The Czechoslovak Legions had been part of the Russian army and numbered around 30,000 troops by October 1917 and they had an agreement with the new Bolshevik government to be evacuated from the Eastern Front via the port of Vladivostok to France. The transport from the Eastern Front to Vladivostok slowed down in the chaos, under pressure from the Central Powers, Trotsky ordered the disarming and arrest of the legionaries, which created tensions with the Bolsheviks. The Western Allies armed and supported opponents of the Bolsheviks, hence, many of these countries expressed their support for the Whites, including the provision of troops and supplies. Winston Churchill declared that Bolshevism must be strangled in its cradle, the British and French had supported Russia during World War I on a massive scale with war materials. After the treaty, it looked like much of material would fall into the hands of the Germans. Under this pretext began allied intervention in the Russian Civil War with the United Kingdom, there were violent clashes with troops loyal to the Bolsheviks
Russian Civil War
–
Clockwise from top: Soldiers of the
Don Army in 1919; a White
infantry division in March 1920; soldiers of the
1st Cavalry Army;
Leon Trotsky in 1918; hanging of workers in
Yekaterinoslav by the
Austro-Hungarian Army, April 1918.
Russian Civil War
–
Anti-Bolshevik
Volunteer Army in South Russia, January 1918
Russian Civil War
–
Russian soldiers of the anti-Bolshevik
Siberian Army in 1919
Russian Civil War
–
American troops in Vladivostok during the
Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War (August 1918)
3.
UNR Army
–
The army for a long period lacked a certain degree of uniformity, adequate leadership to keep discipline and morale. Unlike the Ukrainian Galician Army, the Ukrainian Peoples Army did not manage to evolve a solid organizational structure, when the Tsentralna Rada came to power in Ukraine in spring of 1917, it was forced to promptly put together an army to defend Ukraine against the Bolsheviks. Nearly all units of the newly created army were detached from the Imperial Russian Army, on March 29,1917 the first organization of military forum the Ukrainian Military Club was organized at the Kiev Military District on the initiative of Mykola Mikhnovsky. Also during 1917 there were three All-Ukrainian Military Congresses that elected their representatives to the Central Rada, after the first such congress that took place on May 18–21,1917 in Kiev there was created the Ukrainian General Military Committee. The committee was placed in charge for creation and restructuring of the army, the head of the committee was elected the future first General Secretary of Military Affairs, Symon Petlyura. The next congress in spite of a ban placed by the Russian Provisional Government took place on June 18–23,1917 in Kiev, at the congress was read the 1st Universal of the Central Rada and the first elections to that institution took place. The last congress took place on November 2–12,1917 and also in Kiev, the main requests of the congress were proclamation of the Ukrainian Democratic Republic, full Ukrainization of army and navy, and an immediate peace treaty. At the time, the Central Rada did not see the need for a standing army, instead, a Free Cossack concept was introduced and ratified in November 1917. Only when the Bolsheviks invaded the Ukrainian Peoples Republic, in December 1917, was the need for a standing army appreciated. The new organization was to include, eight infantry corps and four cavalry divisions, but these plans were never realized, as the Rada was overthrown in a coup led by Pavlo Skoropadsky, who brought the Hetmanate to power in Ukraine. A temporary peace treaty with the Bolsheviks was also signed on 12 June 1918, after taking power, the Hetmanate government established its own plans for a standing army. These were to consist of 310,000 military personnel divided into eight territorial corps, however, this army did not develop beyond the organizational stage, due to many dissident movements and gross unpopularity of the Hetmanate amongst peasants and civilians. In November 1918, the Directorate came to power in Ukraine, during this time, most units simply crossed from the Hetmanate to the Directorate with little organizational change occurring. The Bolsheviks first invaded the Ukrainian Peoples Republic in January 1918, after several weeks of battle, the Red Army overwhelmed the fairly small Ukrainian force, and took Kiev on February 9. This forced the Central Rada to seek help from the Central powers of World War I, after signing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, the Ukrainian Army was to receive assistance in fighting the Red Army. A German-Austrian offensive removed the Bolsheviks from Kiev in early March, in April, the Red Army was forced to completely retreat from Ukraine, and a peace treaty was signed. In December 1918, after the Directorates coming to power, the army reached its peak at an estimated 100,000 recruits and these armed forces proved to be neither battleworthy nor well-organized. At the time most of Pavlo Skoropadskyis Ukrainian State forces changed sides, in January 1919, Ukraine declared war on Soviet Russia, after the latter established a provisional government in Kharkiv, proclaiming the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic
UNR Army
–
The Head of the Ukrainian Central Rada,
Mykhailo Hrushevskyi, at a
military parade in
Kiev in 1917.
UNR Army
–
Ukrainian soldiers in Kiev in 1917.
UNR Army
–
The 1st Ukrainian Division was formed in the spring of 1918 by Ukrainian POWs in German camps. Since they wore blue coats they were generally called Sinyozhupanna.
UNR Army
–
Newly enlisted volunteers swearing an oath of allegiance.
4.
Ukraine
–
Ukraine is currently in territorial dispute with Russia over the Crimean Peninsula which Russia annexed in 2014 but which Ukraine and most of the international community recognise as Ukrainian. Including Crimea, Ukraine has an area of 603,628 km2, making it the largest country entirely within Europe and it has a population of about 42.5 million, making it the 32nd most populous country in the world. The territory of modern Ukraine has been inhabited since 32,000 BC, during the Middle Ages, the area was a key centre of East Slavic culture, with the powerful state of Kievan Rus forming the basis of Ukrainian identity. Following its fragmentation in the 13th century, the territory was contested, ruled and divided by a variety of powers, including Lithuania, Poland, the Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary, and Russia. A Cossack republic emerged and prospered during the 17th and 18th centuries, two brief periods of independence occurred during the 20th century, once near the end of World War I and another during World War II. Before its independence, Ukraine was typically referred to in English as The Ukraine, following independence, Ukraine declared itself a neutral state. Nonetheless it formed a limited partnership with the Russian Federation and other CIS countries. In the 2000s, the government began leaning towards NATO, and it was later agreed that the question of joining NATO should be answered by a national referendum at some point in the future. Former President Viktor Yanukovych considered the current level of co-operation between Ukraine and NATO sufficient, and was against Ukraine joining NATO and these events formed the background for the annexation of Crimea by Russia in March 2014, and the War in Donbass in April 2014. On 1 January 2016, Ukraine applied the economic part of the Deep, Ukraine has long been a global breadbasket because of its extensive, fertile farmlands and is one of the worlds largest grain exporters. The diversified economy of Ukraine includes a heavy industry sector, particularly in aerospace. Ukraine is a republic under a semi-presidential system with separate powers, legislative, executive. Its capital and largest city is Kiev, taking into account reserves and paramilitary personnel, Ukraine maintains the second-largest military in Europe after that of Russia. Ukrainian is the language and its alphabet is Cyrillic. The dominant religion in the country is Eastern Orthodoxy, which has strongly influenced Ukrainian architecture, literature, there are different hypotheses as to the etymology of the name Ukraine. According to the older and most widespread hypothesis, it means borderland, while more recently some studies claim a different meaning, homeland or region. The Ukraine now implies disregard for the sovereignty, according to U. S. ambassador William Taylor. Neanderthal settlement in Ukraine is seen in the Molodova archaeological sites include a mammoth bone dwelling
Ukraine
–
Gold
Scythian pectoral, or neckpiece, from a royal
kurgan in
Ordzhonikidze, dated to the 4th century BC
Ukraine
–
Flag
Ukraine
–
Principalities of
Kievan Rus', 1054-1132
Ukraine
–
The baptism of the Grand Prince Vladimir led to the adoption of Christianity in
Kievan Rus'.
5.
Bolshevik
–
The RSDLP was a revolutionary socialist political party formed in 1898 in Minsk in Belarus to unite the various revolutionary organisations of the Russian Empire into one party. In the Second Party Congress vote, the Bolsheviks won on the majority of important issues and they ultimately became the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The Bolsheviks or Reds came to power in Russia during the October Revolution phase of the Russian Revolution of 1917, with the Reds defeating the Whites, and others during the Russian Civil War of 1917–1922, the RSFSR became the chief constituent of the Soviet Union in December 1922. Their beliefs and practices were often referred to as Bolshevism, in the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, held in Brussels and London during August 1903, Lenin and Julius Martov disagreed over the membership rules. Lenin wanted members who recognise the Party Programme and support it by material means, Julius Martov suggested by regular personal assistance under the direction of one of the partys organisations. Lenin advocated limiting party membership to a core of active members. A main source of the factions could be attributed to Lenin’s steadfast opinion. It was obvious at early stages in Lenin’s revolutionary practices that he would not be willing to concede on any party policy that conflicted with his own predetermined ideas and it was the loyalty that he had to his own self-envisioned utopia that caused the party split. He was seen even by fellow party members as being so narrow minded that he believed there were only two types of people, Friend and enemy—those who followed him, and all the rest. Leon Trotsky, one of Lenins fellow revolutionaries, compared Lenin in 1904 to the French revolutionary Robespierre, Lenins view of politics as verbal and ideological warfare and his inability to accept criticism even if it came from his own dedicated followers was the reason behind this accusation. The root of the split was a book titled What is to be Done. that Lenin wrote while serving a sentence of exile, in Germany, the book was published in 1902, in Russia, strict censorship outlawed its publication and distribution. One of the points of Lenin’s writing was that a revolution can only be achieved by the strong leadership of one person over the masses. After the proposed revolution had overthrown the government, this individual leader must release power. Lenin also wrote that revolutionary leaders must dedicate their lives to the cause in order for it to be successful. Lenins view of a socialist intelligentsia showed that he was not a supporter of Marxist theory. For example, Lenin agreed with the Marxist idea of eliminating social classes, most party members considered unequal treatment of workers immoral, and were loyal to the idea of a completely classless society, so Lenin’s variations caused the party internal dissonance. Although the party split of Bolsheviks and Mensheviks would not become official until 1903, as discussed in What is to be Done. Lenin firmly believed that a political structure was needed to effectively initiate a formal revolution
Bolshevik
–
Bolshevik Party meeting. Sitting (from left):
Avel Enukidze,
Mikhail Kalinin,
Nikolai Bukharin,
Mikhail Tomsky,
Mikhail Lashevich,
Lev Kamenev,
Yevgeni Preobrazhensky,
Leonid Serebryakov,
Vladimir Lenin and
Alexei Rykov.
Bolshevik
–
Boris Kustodiev ’s 1920 painting " Bolshevik "
Bolshevik
–
Left to right:
Leon Trotsky,
Vladimir Lenin, and
Lev Kamenev
Bolshevik
–
"Down with Bolshevism. Bolshevism brings war and destruction, hunger and death", anti-Bolshevik propaganda, Germany, 1919.
6.
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic
–
The Ukrainian SSR was a founding member of the United Nations, although it was legally represented by the All-Union state in its affairs with countries outside of the Soviet Union. From the start, the city of Kharkiv served as the republics capital. However, in 1934, the seat of government was moved to the city of Kyiv. Geographically, the Ukrainian SSR was situated in Eastern Europe to the north of the Black Sea, bordered by the Soviet republics of Moldavia, Byelorussia, the Ukrainian SSRs border with Czechoslovakia formed the Soviet Unions western-most border point. According to the Soviet Census of 1989 the republic had a population of 51,706,746 inhabitants, the name Ukraine, derived from the Slavic word kraj, meaning land or border. It was first used to part of the territory of Kievan Rus in the 12th century. The name has been used in a variety of ways since the twelfth century, after the abdication of the tsar and the start of the process of the destruction of the Russian Empire many people in Ukraine wished to establish a Ukrainian Republic. During a period of war from 1917-23 many factions claiming themselves governments of the newly born republic were formed, each with supporters. The two most prominent of them were the government in Kyiv and the government in Kharkiv, the former being the Ukrainian Peoples Republic and the latter the Ukrainian Soviet Republic. This government of the Soviet Ukrainian Republic was founded on 24–25 December 1917, in its publications it names itself either the Republic of Soviets of Workers, Soldiers, and Peasants Deputies or the Ukrainian Peoples Republic of Soviets. The last session of the government took place in the city of Taganrog, in July 1918 the former members of the government formed the Communist Party of Ukraine, the constituent assembly of which took place in Moscow. On 10 March 1919, according to the 3rd Congress of Soviets in Ukraine the name of the state was changed to the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic. After the ratification of the 1936 Soviet Constitution, the names of all Soviet republics were changed, transposing the second, during its existence, the Ukrainian SSR was commonly referred to as Ukraine or the Ukraine. On 24 August 1991, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic declared independence, since the adoption of the Constitution of Ukraine in June 1996, the country became known simply as Ukraine, which is the name used to this day. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, several factions sought to create an independent Ukrainian state, the most popular faction was initially the local Socialist Revolutionary Party that composed the local government together with Federalists and Mensheviks. The Bolsheviks boycotted any government initiatives most of the time, instigating several armed riots in order to establish the Soviet power without any intent for consensus, immediately after the October Revolution in Petrograd, Bolsheviks instigated the Kiev Bolshevik Uprising to support the Revolution and secure Kyiv. Due to a lack of support from the local population and anti-revolutionary Central Rada, however. Most moved to Kharkiv and received the support of the eastern Ukrainian cities, later, this move was regarded as a mistake by some of the Peoples Commissars
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic
–
Territories claimed by the
Ukrainian People's Republic (1917–1920).
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic
–
Flag
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic
–
Soviet soldiers preparing rafts to cross the
Dnieper during the
Battle of the Dnieper (1943). The sign reads "To Kiev!".
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic
–
"Eternally Together": a Soviet poster made for the 300th anniversary of the
Treaty of Pereyaslav in 1954.
7.
Second Polish Republic
–
The Second Polish Republic, also known as the Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland, refers to the country of Poland between the First and Second World Wars. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland and it had access to the Baltic Sea via a short strip of coastline either side of the city of Gdynia. Between March and August 1939, Poland also shared a border with the then-Hungarian governorate of Subcarpathia, the Second Republic was significantly different in territory to the current Polish state. It included substantially more territory in the east and less in the west, the Second Republics land area was 388,634 km2, making it, in October 1938, the sixth largest country in Europe. After the annexation of Zaolzie, this grew to 389,720 km2, according to the 1921 census, the number of inhabitants was 27.2 million. By 1939, just before the outbreak of World War II, almost a third of population came from minority groups,13. 9% Ukrainians, 10% Jews,3. 1% Belarusians,2. 3% Germans and 3. 4% Czechs, Lithuanians and Russians. At the same time, a significant number of ethnic Poles lived outside the country borders, Poland maintained a slow but steady level of economic development. By 1939, the Republic had become one of Europes major powers, the victorious Allies of World War I confirmed the rebirth of Poland in the Treaty of Versailles of June 1919. It was one of the stories of the 1919 Paris Peace Conference. Poland solidified its independence in a series of wars fought by the newly formed Polish Army from 1918 to 1921. The extent of the half of the interwar territory of Poland was settled diplomatically in 1922. In the course of World War I, Germany gradually gained overall dominance on the Eastern Front as the Imperial Russian Army fell back, German and Austro-Hungarian armies seized the Russian-ruled part of what became Poland. In a failed attempt to resolve the Polish question as quickly as possible, Berlin set up a German puppet state on 5 November 1916, with a governing Provisional Council of State, the Council administered the country under German auspices, pending the election of a king. A month before Germany surrendered on 11 November 1918 and the war ended, the Regency Council had dissolved the Council of State, with the notable exception of the Marxist-oriented Social Democratic Party of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania, most Polish political parties supported this move. On 23 October the Regency Council appointed a new government under Józef Świeżyński, in 1918–1919, over 100 workers councils sprang up on Polish territories, on 5 November 1918, in Lublin, the first Soviet of Delegates was established. On 6 November socialists proclaimed the Republic of Tarnobrzeg at Tarnobrzeg in Austrian Galicia, the same day the Socialist, Ignacy Daszyński, set up a Provisional Peoples Government of the Republic of Poland in Lublin. On Sunday,10 November at 7 a. m, Józef Piłsudski, newly freed from 16 months in a German prison in Magdeburg, returned by train to Warsaw. Piłsudski, together with Colonel Kazimierz Sosnkowski, was greeted at Warsaws railway station by Regent Zdzisław Lubomirski, next day, due to his popularity and support from most political parties, the Regency Council appointed Piłsudski as Commander in Chief of the Polish Armed Forces
Second Polish Republic
–
Physical map of the Second Polish Republic (1939)
Second Polish Republic
–
Flag
Second Polish Republic
–
Józef Piłsudski,
Chief of State (Naczelnik Państwa) between November 1918 and December 1922
Second Polish Republic
–
Edward Rydz-Śmigły receiving a
Marshal 's
buława from then-
President of Poland Ignacy Mościcki, Warsaw, 10 November 1936
8.
Peace of Riga
–
The Peace of Riga, also known as the Treaty of Riga, Polish, Traktat Ryski was signed in Riga on 18 March 1921, between Poland, Soviet Russia and Soviet Ukraine. The treaty ended the Polish–Soviet War, the Soviet-Polish borders established by the treaty remained in force until the Second World War. They were later redrawn during the Yalta Conference and Potsdam Conference, World War I removed former imperial borders across Europe. The Polish-Soviet War ensued, culminating in the Polish victory in the Battle of Warsaw, Peace talks began in Minsk on 17 August 1920, but as the Polish counter-offensive drew near, the talks were moved to Riga, and resumed on 21 September. The Soviets proposed two solutions, the first on 21 September and the second on the 28th, the Polish delegation made a counter-offer on 2 October. Three days later the Soviets offered amendments to the Polish offer, an armistice was signed on 12 October and went into effect on 18 October 1920. The chief negotiators were Jan Dąbski for Poland and Adolph Joffe for the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, the Soviet side insisted, successfully, on excluding non-communist Ukrainian representatives from the negotiations. Due to their military setbacks, the Soviet delegation offered Poland substantial territorial concessions in the border areas. However, to observers, it looked like the Polish side was conducting the Riga talks as if Poland had lost the war. The Polish delegation was dominated by members of the National Democrat movement and this decision was also motivated by political objectives. The National Democrats base of support was among Poles in central. In the east of the country and in the disputed borderlands, so a border too far to the east was not just against the National Democrats ideological objective of minimising the minority population of Poland, but would also be an electoral disadvantage to them. War-weary public opinion in Poland also favoured an end to the negotiations, pressured by the National Democrat ideologue, Stanisław Grabski, the 100 km of extra territory was rejected, a victory for the nationalist doctrine and a stark defeat for Piłsudskis federalism. Regardless, the negotiations dragged on for months due to Soviet reluctance to sign. As a result of this situation, Lenin ordered the Soviet plenipotentiaries to finalise the treaty with Poland. The Peace of Riga was signed on 18 March 1921, partitioning the disputed territories in Belarus, the Treaty consisted of 26 articles. Poland was to receive compensation for its economic input into the Russian Empire during the Partitions of Poland. Under Article 14 Poland was also to receive railway materials with a value of 29 million gold roubles, Russia was to surrender works of art and other Polish national treasures acquired from Polish territories after 1772
Peace of Riga
–
Second page of the treaty, Polish version
Peace of Riga
–
Central and Eastern Europe after the Treaty of Riga
9.
Ukrainian Galician Army
–
Ukrainian Galician Army, was the Ukrainian military of the West Ukrainian National Republic during and after the Polish-Ukrainian War. However, the centers of Austrias military industry lay far from Galicia, the government of the West Ukrainian Peoples Republic was well organized and was able to mobilize over 100,000 people by spring 1919,40,000 of whom were battle-ready. Due to the Ukrainians generally poor socioeconomic status, the army had a low ratio of officers to other ranks. In the Austro-Hungarian Army, ethnic Ukrainians had accounted for two out of 1,000 officers. It also staffed many positions with unemployed Austrian and German officers, for this reason, the German language was the easiest way for officers to communicate with each other and was the dominant language among the staff. Despite these measures, only approximately 2. 4% of the army consisted of officers, the Ukrainian Galician Army reached its greatest strength in June 1919, where it had 70,000 to 75,000 men, including reserves. It had very limited cavalry but artillery, consisting of pieces, was a strength. The UHA had 2-3 armored cars and two armored trains, the UHAs air force, organized by Petro Franko, fielded 40 airplanes, and until April 1919 enjoyed air superiority over the Poles. A former unit of the Austro-Hungarian Army, the 1st Brigade of Sich RiflemenTemplate and it was formed in 1914 by former members of youth and paramilitary organizations and fought in Galicia and Ukraine against the Russian Empire throughout the first world war. At its peak this brigade had 8,600 men, not all of whom fought in Galicia, the Ukrainian Galician Army fielded a Jewish battalion recruited from Jewish university and high school students in Ternopil and led by Lieutenant Solomon Leimberg. Formed in June,1919, it attained a strength of 1,200 men and participated in combat against the Poles in July 1919 and subsequently against the Bolsheviks. The battalion was decimated by an epidemic in late 1919. The Army consisted of military formations which later were organized into four Corps. The Corps were farther divided into brigades composed of regular military units. Later he was a member of Western Ukrainian delegation to the Paris Peace Conference in May 1919 Polish-Ukrainian war Subtelny, a web site including information about the Ukrainian Galician army
Ukrainian Galician Army
–
Airplane of the Ukrainian Galician Army
Ukrainian Galician Army
–
"
Dmytro Vitovsky, first commander of the Ukrainian Galician Army, flanked by two officers, 1918
Ukrainian Galician Army
–
The Supreme Command of the Ukrainian Galician Army. Sitting, 5th through 7th from left, Gen
Mykhailo Omelianovych-Pavlenko, Col Viktor Kurmanovych, and Otaman Alfred Schamanek.
10.
German Empire
–
The German Empire was the historical German nation state that existed from the unification of Germany in 1871 to the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1918, when Germany became a federal republic. The German Empire consisted of 26 constituent territories, with most being ruled by royal families and this included four kingdoms, six grand duchies, five duchies, seven principalities, three free Hanseatic cities, and one imperial territory. Although Prussia became one of kingdoms in the new realm, it contained most of its population and territory. Its influence also helped define modern German culture, after 1850, the states of Germany had rapidly become industrialized, with particular strengths in coal, iron, chemicals, and railways. In 1871, it had a population of 41 million people, and by 1913, a heavily rural collection of states in 1815, now united Germany became predominantly urban. During its 47 years of existence, the German Empire operated as an industrial, technological, Germany became a great power, boasting a rapidly growing rail network, the worlds strongest army, and a fast-growing industrial base. In less than a decade, its navy became second only to Britains Royal Navy, after the removal of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck by Wilhelm II, the Empire embarked on a bellicose new course that ultimately led to World War I. When the great crisis of 1914 arrived, the German Empire had two allies, Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy, however, left the once the First World War started in August 1914. In the First World War, German plans to capture Paris quickly in autumn 1914 failed, the Allied naval blockade caused severe shortages of food. Germany was repeatedly forced to send troops to bolster Austria and Turkey on other fronts, however, Germany had great success on the Eastern Front, it occupied large Eastern territories following the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. German declaration of unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 was designed to strangle the British, it failed, but the declaration—along with the Zimmermann Telegram—did bring the United States into the war. Meanwhile, German civilians and soldiers had become war-weary and radicalised by the Russian Revolution and this failed, and by October the armies were in retreat, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire had collapsed, Bulgaria had surrendered and the German people had lost faith in their political system. After at first attempting to control, causing massive uprisings. This left a republic to manage a devastated and unsatisfied populace, the German Confederation had been created by an act of the Congress of Vienna on 8 June 1815 as a result of the Napoleonic Wars, after being alluded to in Article 6 of the 1814 Treaty of Paris. German nationalism rapidly shifted from its liberal and democratic character in 1848, called Pan-Germanism and he envisioned a conservative, Prussian-dominated Germany. The war resulted in the Confederation being partially replaced by a North German Confederation in 1867, the new constitution and the title Emperor came into effect on 1 January 1871. During the Siege of Paris on 18 January 1871, William accepted to be proclaimed Emperor in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles. The second German Constitution was adopted by the Reichstag on 14 April 1871 and proclaimed by the Emperor on 16 April, the political system remained the same
German Empire
German Empire
–
Flag
German Empire
–
Otto von Bismarck
German Empire
–
A postage stamp from the
Carolines
11.
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
–
The Republic comprised sixteen autonomous republics, five autonomous oblasts, ten autonomous okrugs, six krais, and forty oblasts. Russians formed the largest ethnic group, the capital of the Russian SFSR was Moscow and the other major urban centers included Leningrad, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod and Samara. The Russian Soviet Republic was proclaimed on November 7,1917 as a sovereign state, the first Constitution was adopted in 1918. In 1922 the Russian SFSR signed the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR, the economy of Russia became heavily industrialized, accounting for about two-thirds of the electricity produced in the USSR. It was, by 1961, the third largest producer of petroleum due to new discoveries in the Volga-Urals region and Siberia, trailing only the United States and Saudi Arabia. In 1974, there were 475 institutes of education in the republic providing education in 47 languages to some 23,941,000 students. A network of territorially organized public-health services provided health care, the effects of market policies led to the failure of many enterprises and total instability by 1990. On June 12,1990, the Congress of Peoples Deputies adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty, on June 12,1991, Boris Yeltsin was elected the first President. On December 8,1991, heads of Russia, Ukraine, the agreement declared dissolution of the USSR by its founder states and established the Commonwealth of Independent States. On December 12, the agreement was ratified by the Russian Parliament, therefore Russian SFSR denounced the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR and de facto declared Russias independence from the USSR. On December 25,1991, following the resignation of Mikhail Gorbachev as president of the Soviet Union, on December 26,1991, the USSR was self-dissolved by the Soviet of Nationalities, which by that time was the only functioning house of the Supreme Soviet. After dissolution of the USSR, Russia declared that it assumed the rights and obligations of the dissolved central Soviet government, the new Russian constitution, adopted on December 12,1993 after a constitutional crisis, abolished the Soviet system of government in its entirety. Initially, the state did not have a name and wasnt recognized by neighboring countries for five months. Meanwhile, anti-Bolsheviks coined the mocking label Sovdepia for the nascent state of the Soviets of Workers, on January 25,1918 the third meeting of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets renamed the unrecognized state the Soviet Russian Republic. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed on March 3,1918, on July 10,1918, the Russian Constitution of 1918 renamed the country the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic. By 1918, during the Russian Civil War, several states within the former Russian Empire seceded, internationally, in 1920, the RSFSR was recognized as an independent state only by Estonia, Finland, Latvia and Lithuania in the Treaty of Tartu and by the short-lived Irish Republic. On December 30,1922, with the creation of the Soviet Union, the final Soviet name for the republic, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, was adopted in the Soviet Constitution of 1936. By that time, Soviet Russia had gained roughly the same borders of the old Tsardom of Russia before the Great Northern War of 1700
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
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Flag (1954–1991)
12.
Symon Petliura
–
Petliura has been a controversial figure connected with pogroms of Jews in the Russian Empire. On May 25,1926 he was killed in the center of Paris by the Russian anarchist of Jewish origin Sholom Schwartzbard. Petliura was born on May 22,1879, in a suburb of Poltava, Ukraine and his father Vasyl Pavlovych was the Poltava city resident and had own transportation business. Petliuras mother was a daughter of hieromonk, Petliuras initial education was obtained in parochial schools, and he planned to become an Orthodox priest. During his years 1895 –1901 in the Russian Orthodox Seminary in Poltava, when his membership in Hromada was discovered in 1901, he was expelled from the seminary. In 1900 Petliura joined the Revolutionary Ukrainian Party, in December 1903, he was arrested for organizing a RUP branch in Yekaterinodar and for publishing inflammatory anti-tsarist articles in the Ukrainian press outside of Imperial Russia. He was released on bail in March 1904, moving briefly to Kiev and he contributed numerous articles to the Ukrainian language press in Galicia. After Russian censors closed this magazine in July 1905, he moved back to Kiev where he worked for the magazine Rada, in 1907–09 he became the editor of the literary magazine Slovo and co-editor of Ukrayina. Because of the closure of these publications by the Russian Imperial authorities, Petliura was forced to again move from Kiev to Moscow in 1909. There, he married Olha Bilska, with whom he had a daughter, from 1912 he was a co-editor of the influential Russian-language journal Ukrainskaya zhizn’ until May 1917. As the editor of journals and newspapers, Petliura published over 15000 critical articles, reviews, stories. His prolific work in both the Russian and Ukrainian languages helped shape the mindset of the Ukrainian population in the leading up to the Revolution in both Eastern and Western Ukraine. His prolific correspondence was of benefit when the Revolution broke out in 1917. As the Ukrainian language had been outlawed in the Russian Empire by the Ems Ukaz of 1876, there, he published the magazine Vilna Ukrayina until July 1905. Tsarist censors, however, closed this magazine, and Petliura moved back to Kiev, in Kiev, Petliura first worked for Rada. In 1907 he became editor of the literary magazine Slovo, also, he co-edited the magazine Ukrayina. In 1909, these publications were closed by Russian imperial police, there, he was co-editor of the Russian language magazine Ukrayinskaya Zhizn to familiarize the local population with news and culture of what was known as Malorossia. He was chief editor with this publication from 1912 to 1914, in Moscow he married his wife Olha Bilska in 1915
Symon Petliura
–
Chief Otaman Symon Petliura
Symon Petliura
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Józef Piłsudski and Symon Petliura
Kiev, May 1920
Symon Petliura
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Ukrainian
President Victor Yushchenko and
his wife laying flowers at Symon Petliura's grave in Paris, 2005
Symon Petliura
–
A bust of Petliura in
Rivne
13.
Mykhailo Pavlenko
–
Mykhailo Omelianovych-Pavlenko was the Supreme Commander of the Ukrainian Galician Army and of the Army of the Ukrainian National Republic. Later, he served as Defence Minister for the Government-in-exile of the Ukrainian National Republic, mykhaylo Omelianovych-Pavlenko was born in Tiflis. His father, Volodymyr, was an officer in the Russian Imperial Army and his mother was of a Georgian aristocratic family. Omelianovych-Pavlenko attended the academy in Petersburg, graduating in 1900. He had a younger brother Ivan who later was fighting along with him, Pavlenko participated in the Russo-Japanese war as a company commander. Later, in 1910, he graduated from the General Staff School, during World War I, Pavlenko served as commander of many units - including a Ukrainian brigade in Yekaterinoslav. In the spring of 1917, Omelianovych-Pavlenko became a supporter of Ukrainian independence. He also initiated Ukrainian military academies in Zhytomyr and Kamyanets-Podilsky, on December 10,1918, Pavlenko assumed command of the Ukrainian Halitska Army, which he led until June 1919. After the union of the UHA and the army of the Ukrainian National Republic and he served as special attache to Symon Petlura. Omelianovych-Pavlenko commanded the army of the UNR during the First Winter Campaign, Pavlenko moved to Prague, where he headed the Alliance of Ukrainian Veterans Organizations. During the Second World War, after Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union, Pavlenko headed a Ukrainian nationalist militia, the Ukrainian Liberation Army, that allied itself with the Axis Powers. At its peak it had 80,000 members, but was accused of committing war crimes, antisemitic and otherwise, in collaboration with the Wehrmacht. After World War II, Pavlenko moved to France, and became the Defence minister of the Government in exile of the Ukrainian National Republic from 1945 to 1948, Pavlenko was promoted to rank of Lieutenant General. Pavlenko authored four books, The Ukrainian-Polish War of 1918–19, The Winter Campaign, and two books of memoirs
Mykhailo Pavlenko
–
Mykhailo Omelianovych-Pavlenko
Mykhailo Pavlenko
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Grave in
Père Lachaise Cemetery.
14.
Oleksandr Udovychenko
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Oleksandr Ivanovych Udovychenko, was a General of the Army of the Ukrainian National Republic and a military administrator. Later, he served as the Vice-President for the Government-in-exile of the Ukrainian National Republic, oleksandr was born to a peasant family of Udovidchenko from Cherkassy volost, Liven uyezd of Orel Governorate that moved Kharkiv. His father served in the Russian Imperial Army earning a rank of colonel and his brother, Mykola Udovychenko, was a captain of the Russian Imperial Army and a khorunzhy general of the Ukrainian Peoples Army. Udovychenko was raised in the shelter of Prince Oldenburg. In 1908 he finished the Military-Topographic college in the rank of starshina, with the break of the World War I Udovychenko was transferred to the 129th Bessarabia Regiment with which participated in military operations and was eventually wounded. In 1916 he finished the First Accelerated course Nikolai Military Academy in Saint Petersburg, in November 1917 Udovychenko was commissioned as a senior staff adjutant for the 21st Infantry Division and the 3rd Caucasus Corps at the rank of staff captain. He was awarded with the honorary Georges weapon by the order of the 7th Army #1888 of 21 November 1917, Udovychenko participated in the 1st and the 2nd All-Ukrainian Military Congresses. Since 16 December 1917 Udovychenko was an assistant to the chief of a department of the Ukrainian General Staff. For a brief stint from 12 March 12 to 1 April 1918 Udovychenko headed the 3rd Haidamaka Regiment, during the times of the Ukrainian State he was appointed an assistant to the chief of intelligence of operation department headed by Vasyl Tyutyunyk. On 31 October 1918 Udovychenko was appointed the head of the department in formation of a Special Army of Main Directorate of Ukrainian State General Staff, with the fall of the Skoropadskys regime Udovychenko was recruited by the Directorate of Ukrainian Peoples Republic. Just after the Christmas,26 December 1918, he was appointed a Quartermaster General of the Kholm-Halych Front, in March 1919 - a chief of staff of the Hutsul Kosh. On 6 June 1919 Udovychenko was commissioned as the chief of the 16th Infantry Brigade of the Ukrainian Galician Army, about a week and a half later the unit was reformed into the 3rd Special Riflemen Division. The unit distinguished itself in battles against the Red Army units led by Iona Yakir near Vapniarka in Podolia, in October 1919 Udovychenko became sick with typhus which was part of widespread epidemic disease in the region. He eventually was taken as a prisoner by the Denikins army, Udovychenko managed to escape his captivity and in January 1920 with a group of military officers reached Mohyliv-Podilsky where he headed the formation of the 5th Ukrainian Brigade. The unit later was united with the 4th Brigade to form the 2nd Riflemen Division, Udovychenko eventually was appointed the commander of the division which on 29 May 1920 was renamed into the 3rd Iron Division. He stayed in the command of the unit until November 1920 when the Ukrainian Army was forced to cross Zbruch, on 5 October 1920 Udovychenko was promoted to the Khorunzhy General. In December 1920 he was appointed the Inspector General of the Army, during the conflict between the Chief Otaman with the members of the Ukrainian General Staff Udovychenko sided with Symon Petlyura. In Spring of 1921 he became a member of the Supreme Military Council, in emigration Udovychenko worked as a miner in France since 1924 and upon the conclusion of his work contract year later continued to live there
Oleksandr Udovychenko
–
Oleksandr Udovychenko
15.
Pavlo Skoropadsky
–
Pavlo Petrovych Skoropadskyi was a Ukrainian aristocrat, military and state leader, decorated Imperial Russian Army and Ukrainian Army general of Cossack heritage. Skoropadsky became a leader in Ukraine following the Russian Revolution of 1917. The father of Pavlo Petro Ivanovych Skoropadsky was a Cavalry Guard Colonel, afterwards he served as a speaker for the Starodub County Council until his death. Pavlos aunt Countess Yelyzaveta Myloradovych was a Ukrainian public activist and she was one of the main sponsors for foundation first Ukrainian scientific institution Shevchenko Scientific Society in Lviv. Her husband was Count Lev Myloradovych whose mother was from the Kochubey family, the grandfather Ivan also served as a speaker for the Pryluky County and Poltava Governorate councils. He also was known for building the Trostyanets Arboretum, Pavlos father Petro Ivanovych was also a descendant of the Tarnovsky family, while Pavlos mother was a descendant of Miklashewsky and Olsufiev families. Pavlo grew up at his fathers estate in Trostianets, Pryluky County and he attended a gymnasium in Starodub and later graduated from the Page Corps cadet school in Saint Petersburg. In 1893 Skoropadsky graduated from the Page Corps and was assigned as a cornet to the Chevalier Guard regiment where he was put in charge of a squadron, after two years he was assigned a duty of the Regimental adjutant in the same regiment. In December 1897 he was promoted to Poruchik, in 1897 Skoropadsky also married Aleksandra Petrovna Durnovo, a daughter of Pyotr Pavlovich Durnovo, the General Governor of Moscow. Skoropadskys first major assignment was a commander in the 2nd Chita Cossack Regiment of the Trans-Baikal Cossack Host in Chita during the Russo-Japanese War. Later he became an adjutant to the commander of the Russian forces on the Far East General Nikolay Linevich, during the war Skoropadsky was awarded the Georges Weapon and several orders. In December 1905 Tsar Nikolai II made him a Fliegel-Adjutant in a rank of Colonel, on September 4,1910 Colonel Skoropadsky was commissioned as the commander of the 20th Finnish Dragoon Regiment still continuing to be a Fliegel-Adjutant of the H. I. M. Retinue. On April 15,1911 he was reassigned to the Leib-Guard Cavalry Regiment, leib-Guards were the elite Russian military forces assigned for a personal protection of the emperor. On December 6,1912 Skoropadsky was promoted to the Major General of the H. I. M. Retinue. At the start of World War I Skoropadsky was put in charge of the reorganized 1st Brigade of the 1st Cavalry Guard Division as part of the 1st Army commanded by General Paul von Rennenkampf. Skoropadsky already worked for von Rennenkampf during the Russo-Japanese War when the last was commanding Trans-Baikal Cossack Host, on August 6,1914 his regiment distinguished itself in battles near Kraupishken as part of the Russian invasion of East Prussia. Later he was appointed as a commander of the United Cavalry Guard Division which distinguished near Kaushen, General Skoropadsky also commanded the 5th Cavalry Division. On April 2,1916 he was promoted to Lieutenant General and was commissioned the 1st Cavalry Guard Division, from January 22 to July 2,1917 he is in charge of the 34th Army Corps
Pavlo Skoropadsky
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Pavlo Skoropadskyi Павло Петрович Скоропадський
Pavlo Skoropadsky
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Cathedral of the Holy Wisdom, Kiev.
Pavlo Skoropadsky
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Pavlo Skoropadsky (right center)
Pavlo Skoropadsky
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Oleksandra Durnovo [Skoropadska]
16.
Russia
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Russia, also officially the Russian Federation, is a country in Eurasia. The European western part of the country is more populated and urbanised than the eastern. Russias capital Moscow is one of the largest cities in the world, other urban centers include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod. Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a range of environments. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, the East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, in 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus ultimately disintegrated into a number of states, most of the Rus lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion. The Soviet Union played a role in the Allied victory in World War II. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the worlds first human-made satellite and the launching of the first humans in space. By the end of 1990, the Soviet Union had the second largest economy, largest standing military in the world. It is governed as a federal semi-presidential republic, the Russian economy ranks as the twelfth largest by nominal GDP and sixth largest by purchasing power parity in 2015. Russias extensive mineral and energy resources are the largest such reserves in the world, making it one of the producers of oil. The country is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, Russia is a great power as well as a regional power and has been characterised as a potential superpower. The name Russia is derived from Rus, a state populated mostly by the East Slavs. However, this name became more prominent in the later history, and the country typically was called by its inhabitants Русская Земля. In order to distinguish this state from other states derived from it, it is denoted as Kievan Rus by modern historiography, an old Latin version of the name Rus was Ruthenia, mostly applied to the western and southern regions of Rus that were adjacent to Catholic Europe. The current name of the country, Россия, comes from the Byzantine Greek designation of the Kievan Rus, the standard way to refer to citizens of Russia is Russians in English and rossiyane in Russian. There are two Russian words which are translated into English as Russians
Russia
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Kievan Rus' in the 11th century
Russia
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Flag
Russia
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The
Baptism of Kievans, by
Klavdy Lebedev
Russia
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Sergius of Radonezh blessing
Dmitry Donskoy in
Trinity Sergius Lavra, before the
Battle of Kulikovo, depicted in a painting by
Ernst Lissner
17.
Anton Denikin
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Anton Ivanovich Denikin was a Lieutenant General in the Imperial Russian Army and afterwards a leading general of the White movement in the Russian Civil War. Denikin was born in Szpetal Dolny village, now part of the Polish city Włocławek in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship and his father, Ivan Efimovich Denikin, had been born a serf in the province of Saratov. Sent as a recruit to do 25 years of military service and he retired from the army in 1869 with the rank of major. In 1869 Ivan Denikin married Polish seamstress Elżbieta Wrzesińska as his second wife, Anton Denikin, the couples only child, spoke both Russian and Polish growing up. His fathers Russian patriotism and devotion to the Russian Orthodox religion led Anton Denikin to the Russian army, the Denikins lived very close to poverty, with the retired majors small pension as their only source of income, and their finances worsened after Ivans death in 1885. Anton Denikin at this time began tutoring younger schoolmates to support the family, in 1890 Denikin enrolled at the Kiev Junker School, a military college from which he graduated in 1892. The twenty-year-old Denikin joined a brigade, in which he served for three years. In 1895 he was first accepted into the General Staff Academy, after this disappointment, Denikin attempted to attain acceptance again. On his next attempt he did better and finished fourteenth in his class, however, to his misfortune, the Academy decided to introduce a new system of calculating grades and as a result Denikin was not offered a staff appointment after the final exams. He protested the decision to the highest authority, after being offered a settlement according to which he would rescind his complaint in order to attain acceptance into the General Staff school again, Denikin declined, insulted. Denikin first saw service during the 1905 Russo-Japanese War. In 1905 he won promotion to the rank of colonel, in 1910 he became commander of the 17th infantry regiment. A few weeks before the outbreak of the First World War, by the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 Denikin was a Chief of staff of the Kiev Military District. He was initially appointed Quartermaster of General Brusilovs 8th Army, not one for staff service, Denikin petitioned for an appointment to a fighting front. He was transferred to the 4th Rifle Brigade and his brigade was transformed into a division in 1915. It was with this brigade Denikin would accomplish his greatest feats as a General, in 1916 he was appointed to command the Russian VIII Corps and lead troops in Romania during the last successful Russian campaign of the war, the Brusilov Offensive. Following the February Revolution and the overthrow of Tsar Nicholas II, he became Chief of Staff to Mikhail Alekseev, then Aleksei Brusilov, Denikin supported the attempted coup of his commander, the Kornilov Affair, in September 1917 and was arrested and imprisoned with him. After this Alekseev would be reappointed commander-in-Chief, Kornilov was killed in April 1918 near Ekaterinodar and the Volunteer Army came under Denikins command
Anton Denikin
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Denikin in 1919.
Anton Denikin
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Anton Denikin in 1918
Anton Denikin
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Denikin's coffin in St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Cathedral, New-York.
18.
Pyotr Wrangel
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After his side lost the civil war in 1920, he left Russia and became one of the most prominent exiled White émigrés. Wrangel was born in Mukuliai, Kovno Governorate in the Russian Empire, the Wrangel family was of the local Baltic German nobility, but Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel was only distantly related to the famed Arctic explorer Ferdinand von Wrangel. He soon resigned his commission, and travelled to Irkutsk, where he was assigned to missions by the Governor-General. At the start of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, he reenlisted and was assigned to the 2nd Regiment of the Transbaikal Cossack Corps, in December 1904, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant. After the war ended, he was reassigned to the 55th Finland Dragoon Regiment, in 1907, he returned to the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment. In 1908 he married Olga Mikhaylovna Ivanenko in St. Petersburg, Wrangel graduated from the Nicholas Imperial General Staff Academy in 1910 and the Cavalry Officers School in 1911. With the start of World War I, Wrangel was promoted to captain, on October 13,1914 he became one of the first Russian officers to be awarded the Order of St. George in the war, the highest military decoration of the Russian Empire. In December 1914, he was promoted to the rank of colonel, in October 1915 Wrangel was transferred to the Southwestern Front and was appointed commander of the 1st Regiment of the Transbaikal Cossacks. This unit was active in Galicia against the Austrians. He was further decorated with the George Cross for his defense of the Zbruch River in the summer of 1917, following the end of Russias participation in the war, Wrangel resigned his commission and went to live at his dacha at Yalta in the Crimea. Arrested by the Bolsheviks at the end of 1917, he was released and escaped to Kiev, after the Second Kuban Campaign in late 1918, he was promoted to lieutenant general, and his Division was raised to that of a corps. An aggressive commander, he won a number of victories in the north Caucasus, from January 1919, his military force was renamed the Caucasus Volunteer Army. Wrangel soon clashed politically with Armed Forces of South Russia leader Anton Denikin, Wrangel gained a reputation as a skilled and just administrator, who, in contrast to some other White Army generals, did not tolerate lawlessness or looting by his troops. Continuing disagreement with Denikin led to his removal from command, and he assumed the post on April 4,1920 and put forth a coalition government which attempted to institute sweeping reforms. He also recognized and established relations with the new anti-Bolshevik independent republics of Ukraine and Georgia, however, by this stage in the Russian Civil War, such measures were too late, and the White movement was rapidly losing support both domestically and overseas. After defeats in which he lost half his army, and facing defeat in Northern Tavria. Wrangel gave every officer, soldier, and civilian a free choice, evacuate and go with him into the unknown, or remain in Russia, Wrangel evacuated the White forces from the Crimea in 1920 in remnants of the Russian Imperial Navy that became known as Wrangels fleet. The last military and civilian personnel left Russia with Wrangel on board the General Kornilov on November 14,1920, initially, Wrangel lived on his yacht Lucullus at Constantinople, which was rammed and sunk by the Italian steamer Adria, which had sailed from Soviet-held Batum
Pyotr Wrangel
–
Pyotr Wrangel, c.1920
Pyotr Wrangel
–
At a prayer vigil upon accepting command.
Pyotr Wrangel
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Statue of Wrangel in Sremski Karlovci
19.
Poland
–
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe, situated between the Baltic Sea in the north and two mountain ranges in the south. Bordered by Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, the total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres, making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. With a population of over 38.5 million people, Poland is the 34th most populous country in the world, the 8th most populous country in Europe, Poland is a unitary state divided into 16 administrative subdivisions, and its capital and largest city is Warsaw. Other metropolises include Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk and Szczecin, the establishment of a Polish state can be traced back to 966, when Mieszko I, ruler of a territory roughly coextensive with that of present-day Poland, converted to Christianity. The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented a political association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. This union formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th and 17th century Europe, Poland regained its independence in 1918 at the end of World War I, reconstituting much of its historical territory as the Second Polish Republic. In September 1939, World War II started with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, followed thereafter by invasion by the Soviet Union. More than six million Polish citizens died in the war, after the war, Polands borders were shifted westwards under the terms of the Potsdam Conference. With the backing of the Soviet Union, a communist puppet government was formed, and after a referendum in 1946. During the Revolutions of 1989 Polands Communist government was overthrown and Poland adopted a new constitution establishing itself as a democracy, informally called the Third Polish Republic. Since the early 1990s, when the transition to a primarily market-based economy began, Poland has achieved a high ranking on the Human Development Index. Poland is a country, which was categorised by the World Bank as having a high-income economy. Furthermore, it is visited by approximately 16 million tourists every year, Poland is the eighth largest economy in the European Union and was the 6th fastest growing economy on the continent between 2010 and 2015. According to the Global Peace Index for 2014, Poland is ranked 19th in the list of the safest countries in the world to live in. The origin of the name Poland derives from a West Slavic tribe of Polans that inhabited the Warta River basin of the historic Greater Poland region in the 8th century, the origin of the name Polanie itself derives from the western Slavic word pole. In some foreign languages such as Hungarian, Lithuanian, Persian and Turkish the exonym for Poland is Lechites, historians have postulated that throughout Late Antiquity, many distinct ethnic groups populated the regions of what is now Poland. The most famous archaeological find from the prehistory and protohistory of Poland is the Biskupin fortified settlement, dating from the Lusatian culture of the early Iron Age, the Slavic groups who would form Poland migrated to these areas in the second half of the 5th century AD. With the Baptism of Poland the Polish rulers accepted Christianity and the authority of the Roman Church
Poland
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Reconstruction of a
Bronze Age,
Lusatian culture settlement in
Biskupin, c. 700 BC
Poland
–
Flag
Poland
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Earliest known contemporary depiction of a Polish ruler; King
Mieszko II Lambert of Poland being presented with a
Liturgical book by
Matilda of Swabia, 1025–1031
Poland
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Drawing of the
Battle of Grunwald, which was fought against the
German Order of Teutonic Knights, 15 July 1410
20.
Georgiy Pyatakov
–
Georgy Leonidovich Pyatakov was a Bolshevik revolutionary leader during the Russian Revolution, and member of the Left Opposition. Pyatakov was born August 6,1890 in the settlement of the Mariinsky sugar factory which was owned by his father and he started political activity as an anarchist while he was in secondary school, but joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in 1910. In 1912 he joined the Bolshevik faction and he was arrested and exiled to Siberia in 1912 with his partner, Evgenia Bosh, but they soon escaped and made their way to Switzerland where they joined the émigré revolutionary community. Pyatakov and Bosh remained together until she committed suicide in 1925 due to poor health. His opinion on some points of the theory and tactics of the revolutionary struggle contradicted that of the party Central Committee, Pyatakov lived in Ukraine from March 1917, heading the Kiev Committee of the RSDLP. He was repeatedly elected a member of the Central Committee, but he opposed the Ukrainian nationalists and stood for the transfer of power to the Soviets of Worker’s, Peasant’s and Soldier’s Deputies in Ukraine. He also headed the Kiev Military-Revolutionary Committee and he declared that the party had to throw out the idea of self-identification of every nation. He stood on the anti-chauvinistic international principles, in 1918 Pyatakov was a leader of a group of Left Communists in Ukraine. He was one of the initiators of Communist Party of Ukraine formation, at the First Congress of CPU in Moscow, Pyatokov was elected the Central Committee secretary, and headed the unsuccessful anti-Hetman rebellion in August 1918. In March 1919 he attended the 8th Congress of the Russian Communist Party and he collaborated with Nikolai Bukharin by co-authoring the chapter on The Economic Categories of Capitalism in the Transition Period in The Economics of the Transformation Period, published in 1920. The likeness of Pyatakov’s Left-Communist views and Trotsky’s ideas led to his participation in all the opposition trends then designated as Trotskyist. He was expelled from the party for belonging to the Trotskyite-Zinovievite bloc, but was reinstated in 1928 after he renounced Trotskyism and he was appointed Chairman of the Board of the USSR State Bank in 1929 holding the position for a year. In 1936 he was accused of anti-party and anti-Soviet activity. At his trial, he was accused of conspiring with Trotsky in connection with the case of the so-called Parallel anti-Soviet Party Centre, to overthrow the Soviet Government. He was accused of entering into a conspiracy with the Nazis with the intent of seizing power in the Soviet Union, the prosecution presented evidence that he had secretly met with Trotsky in Norway for these purposes. However, it emerged that the Oslo airdrome reported that no foreign planes had arrived at the time of Pyatakovs supposed visit to Trotsky. On January 30,1937, he was sentenced to death, Pyatakov was rehabilitated posthumously in 1988, that is not until Gorbachevs time. Biography Mentioning of Leonid Pyatakov Biography of his brother Leonid
Georgiy Pyatakov
–
Yuriy Pyatakov Юрій П'ятаков
21.
Volodymyr Zatonsky
–
Volodymyr Zatonsky was a Soviet politician, Communist Party activist, and member of the Ukrainian SSR Academy of Sciences. Zatonsky was born in the village of Lysets in of Ushitsy Uyezd, Podolia Governorate and he joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party party as a Menshevik in 1905. In March 1917 he joined the Bolsheviks as the member of the Kiev Committee and he was one of few who initiated the organization of the Congress of the Workers-Peasants and Soldiers deputies as well as the military coup in Kiev. Zatonsky participated in the fight against the Central Rada, when the Red Army took over Kiev in 1918 after the January Uprising, Zatonsky recalled that he only narrowly escaped execution as a counterrevolutionary when only Lenins mandate saved his life. At the beginning of 1918 he was the Head of the Ukrainian delegation from the Soviet Ukrainian Peoples Republic for the Brest-Litovsk Peace Conference, from March 19 to April 18,1918, he was Chairman of All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee. In July 1918 he was a commissar of a force against the Left Socialist-Revolutionary rebellion in Moscow. Beginning in November 1918 he was the Narkom of Peoples Education, while in that post he did everything in his power to shut down the Kamyanets-Podilsky State University as the concentration of the counter-revolutionary forces of Symon Petliura. He personally was offered a position by Lenin as a representative of the Soviet Ukrainian Peoples Republic in the Russian SFSR, in 1920 he was chairman of Galrevkom. In 1921 he received the Order of the Red Banner for the suppression of the Kronshtadt mutiny, afterwards he held various government and Party positions in the Ukrainian SSR. In 1922 he was one of the persons who signed for the establishment of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics as the representative of the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic, in September 1933 Zatonsky was appointed as chief editor of the Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopedia. On November 3,1937, he was arrested in a theater while he was with his family. Later the authorities conducted a search of his apartment searching for a proof of him being a spy for bourgeois Poland. After several days his wife was arrested as well and he was charged with being a member of an anti-Soviet Ukrainian nationalist center. On July 29,1938, he was convicted after a 20-minute-long trial, during the Great Purge this was a euphemism for a death sentence, and the same day he was executed by firing squad. In 1956 Zatonsky, along many others, was posthumously rehabilitated
Volodymyr Zatonsky
–
Volodymyr Zatonsky Володи́мир Петрович Зато́нський
22.
Nikolay Shchors
–
In 1918–1919 he fought against the new established Ukrainian government in Kyiv. Later he commanded the Bohunsky regiment, brigade, 1st Soviet Ukrainian division and 44th rifle division against Symon Petlura, nikolay Shchors was born in the village of Snovsk of Gorodnya uyezd into a family of kulaks. Nikolay Shchors was the oldest child amongst his siblings, Konstantin, Akulina, Yekaterina. In 1905 Nikolai enrolled into a church school. In 1906 giving a birth to another child Nikolais mother, Aleksandra Mikhailovna Tabelchuk, about six months after the death of his wife, Nikolais father remarried, this time to Maria Konstantinovna Podbelo. Aleksandr and Maria had five children, Grigori, Zinaida, Boris, Raisa. In 1909 Nikolai Shchors graduated from his church school, in 1910 he enrolled into a military medical college in Kiev, which was established in 1833 and was considered one of the best. The school was attended by the children of retired soldiers. Among some of the graduates were Ivan Ohienko, Ostap Vyshnya, Mykhailo Donets, the state scholarship allowed a free enrollment which had to be repaid by volunteer service in the army. Nikolai graduated from the school in 1914 and upon receiving the rank of a physician assistant was transferred to the Vilna Military District. In September 1914 when the Russian Empire was drawn into World War I, during one of the battles, he was wounded and evacuated from the area to recover. Upon recovery in 1916, the 21-year-old Shchors enrolled into the accelerated program at Vilensky military college that had been evacuated to Poltava in 1915. The school was preparing unter-officers and praporshchiks who specialized in tactics, navigation, for his courage and tactical knowledge, Shchors soon was promoted to a rank of junior lieutenant. However, the trench warfare left a mark on his health when he was diagnosed with tuberculosis, in less than three weeks, the Red Guards occupied most of the Left-bank Ukraine. Right before the elections to the Ukrainian Constituent Assembly, the Red Army of Mikhail Muravyov sacked Kiev, the government of Ukraine was appealing to world powers to provide some military assistance and finally finding it in the Central Powers that were eager to cooperate. Sometime after the arrival to his land, he became acquainted with the chairman of a local Cheka Fruma Rostova whom he married in the fall of 1918. Fruma in her early 20s was conducting so-called cleaning in the region, simultaneously around that time, Shchors also was enrolled into the Russian Communist Party. In March–April,1918 he commanded a joint detachment of Novozybkovsky district that fought against the Ukrainian Army, in September 1918 he formed the 1st Bohun Regiment and lead it against German forces and Hetmans army
Nikolay Shchors
–
Mykola Shchors
Nikolay Shchors
–
Grave memorial monument in Samara.
23.
Battle of Kruty
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The small unit consisted mainly of the Student Battalion of Sich Riflemen, a unit of the Khmelnytsky Cadet School, and a Free Cossacks company. Just before the assault Tymchenko was replaced by D. Nosenko, nonetheless on January 30,1918 the regiment sided with the Soviet regime, the news of which forced the Ukrainian garrison of Kruty hastily to withdraw. Over half of the 400 men were killed during the battle, in the Soviet historiography the battle is mistakenly dated on January 29,1918 and confused with the Plysky rail station skirmish. Eleven of the students were re-buried at Askolds Grave in the centre of Kiev after the return of the Tsentralna Rada to the capital in March 1918. At the funeral the then President of the Ukrainian Peoples Republic, Mykhailo Hrushevsky, called one of the 400 students who fought in the battle. In addition, poet Pavlo Tychyna wrote about the death of the students. After the fall of the Ukrainian Peoples Republic the bodies of the students were moved to the Lukyanivske Cemetery in Kiev, the true story of the battle was hidden by the Soviet Government. Only recently, a monument was set up to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Kruty at Askolds Grave, in 2006, the Kruty Heroes Monument was erected on the site of the historic battle and is remembered each year on or around January 29. The Battle of Kruty Montage about the Battle of Kruty Kruty, Kruty, an attempt of the historic interpretation in Zerkalo Nedeli, January 28 - February 3,2006. Available in Russian and Ukrainian The president opened a memorial to the Heroes of Kruty, sketch of the history of Ukraine. Як склалася доля учасників січневого бою www. kruty. org. ua/ Чому «вороженьки» бояться пам’яті героїв Крут, the Battle of Kruty, the free worlds first resistance to communism
Battle of Kruty
–
Scheme of the Battle of Kruty.
Battle of Kruty
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Burial of the student fighters of the battle, 1918
Battle of Kruty
–
A
hryvnia coin commemorating the Battle of Kruty
24.
Kiev Arsenal January Uprising
–
This is an article about the 20th-century Ukrainian uprising. For the 19th-century Polish uprising, see January Uprising, the goal of the uprising was to sabotage the ongoing elections to the Ukrainian Constituent Assembly and to support the advancing Red Army. According to the Third declaration the Constituent Assembly was planned to meet on January 22, on January 22 another peace demonstration in Moscow was dispersed by gunfire as well. Preceding revolutionary events The Kievan Bolsheviks decided not to any more time and were planning for a revolt to support the invading Soviet forces in the Ukrainian-Soviet military campaign. They decided to initiate it once the Soviet forces started to approach the city and that was a certain maneuver to draw away some of the Ukrainian military forces from the front lines and help the Red Army to advance. Other cities at that time were occupied in the way, such as Katerynoslav, Odessa, Mykolaiv. The center of the riot was chosen to be the Kiev Arsenal factory, to prevent any riots on January 18 a few platoons of the Free Cossacks confiscated a great amount of weaponry from the factory and arrested several Communist activists. The Kievan Bolsheviks propaganda newspaper, Golos Sotsial-Demokrata, was shut down, later it was decided to confiscate the coal ore to completely shut the factory. Organisation of the revolt On January 28, the Bolsheviks instigated a protest, with the help of some of the soldiers from the Shevchenko Regiment that were guarding the warehouse of the earlier confiscated weapons they managed to retrieve it back to the factory. After a brief gathering it was decided to start the revolt immediately, the leaders of the revolutionaries became Syla Mishchenko, Oleksandr Horwits, Mykola Kostyuk, Ipolit Fialek. The citys Bolsheviks Jan Hamarnyk, Andriy Ivanov, Isaac Kreisberg, and others planning for the uprising until the Red Army would come closer to Kiev, had no other choice, the headquarters of the revolt was established at 47 Velyka Vasylkivska Street. The same night on January 28 several factories together with some of soldiers from the Bohdaniv Regiment, Shevchenko Regiment, the goal of the uprising was to encircle the building of the Central Rada and then force the members of the Rada to resign. Along the way they were joined by other Red Guards of Podil and Shulyavka led by Arkadiy Dzedzievski with Makola Patlakh, in return the Rada requested immediate capitulation of the revolutionaries and by evening the city was engulfed in a series of skirmishes. The main forces of the mutineers were concentrated around the factory, although a few separate centers existed in Shuliavka neighborhood, Demiivka, the revolutionaries managed to overtake the railroad freight station Kiev-Tovarniy and were moving towards the center of the city through Khreschatyk. The most dangerous were activities in Podil when the mutineers managed to take the Starokiev police precinct and the hotel Prague, the next day, on January 30, the whole city was paralyzed and went on strike, stopping utility services and citys transportation. The Rada had no influence over most of the military units, the Ukrainian government was only supported by the separate platoons of the Bohdaniv Regiment, Polubotko Regiment, Bohun Regiment, a kurin of Sich Riflemen, and the Free Cossacks. On February 1, the Rada announced that it had control of the city and asked the workers to end the strike. It promised to come up with several reforms in the immediate future
Kiev Arsenal January Uprising
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Participants of the January Uprising in
Kiev
Kiev Arsenal January Uprising
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A monument to the Arsenal uprising in front of
Arsenal metro station
25.
Odessa Bolshevik Uprising
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Odessa Bolshevik Uprising was a Bolsheviks led uprising of workers and sailors with approaching Red Guards forces of the Soviet Russia. In December 1917 the 2nd Congress of Rumcherod elected Bolshevik Executive Committee, the next day in Odessa took place a conference of representatives of 49 enterprises, soldiers and sailors which expressed for establishing of the Soviet regime. The uprising started on January 27,1918 and involved formations of local Red Guards, Okhtyrka Hussars Regiment, 40th and 49th reserve regiments, the insurgents were supported by battleships Sinop, Rhostislav and cruiser Almaz where was located headquarters of the uprising and military tribunal. The Black Sea Fleet ships along with the armored train Zaamurets were part of the expeditionary force of Muravyov which joined the uprising later. On the first day Red Guards secured headquarters of the Odessa Military District, rail station, post office, banks, Odessa Soviet Republic In fight for October. Collection of documents and materials about participation of the Odessa workers in fight for establishment of Soviet power, Odessa 1957 From history of the Odessa party organization. Odessa 1964 Victory of the Great October Socialist Revolution in Ukraine, kiev 1967 Odessa January Armed Uprising 1918
Odessa Bolshevik Uprising
–
Funeral of victims of clashes of february 1918 in
Odessa
26.
History of Ukraine
–
The territory of Ukraine was inhabited by Neanderthals for at least 44,000 years. After a 1648 rebellion against dominantly Polish Catholic rule, an assembly of the agreed to the Treaty of Pereyaslav in January 1654. Soon, the portion of the Polish-Lithuanian empire east of the Dnieper River came under Russian rule. After the Partitions of Poland and conquest of Crimean Khanate, Ukraine was divided between the Tsardom of Russia and Habsburg Austria, a chaotic period of warfare ensued after the Russian Revolution. The internationally recognised Ukrainian Peoples Republic emerged from its own civil war, the Ukrainian–Soviet War followed, in which the bolsheviks Red Army established control in late 1919. Initial Soviet policy on Ukrainian language and Ukrainian culture made Ukrainian the official language of administration, policy in the 1930s turned to russification. In 1932 and 1933, millions of people, mostly peasants, in Ukraine starved to death in a devastating famine and it is estimated that 6 to 8 million people died from hunger in the Soviet Union during this period, of whom 4 to 5 million were Ukrainians. Nikita Khrushchev was appointed the head of the Ukrainian Communist Party in 1938, after the 1939 invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany and Soviet Union, the Ukrainian SSRs territory was enlarged westward. Ukraine was occupied by Nazi Germany from 1941 to 1944, during World War II the Ukrainian Insurgent Army fought for Ukrainian independence against both Germany and the Soviet Union. In 1945, the Ukrainian SSR became one of the members of the United Nations. After Stalins death, as head of the Communist Party of Soviet Union, nevertheless, there were further political repressions against poets, historians and other intellectuals, like in all other parts of the USSR. In 1954, the republic expanded to the south with the transfer of the Crimea, Ukraine became independent again when the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. This started a period of transition to an economy, in which Ukraine suffered an eight-year recession. Since then, however, the economy has experienced an increase in GDP growth. Ukraine was caught up in the economic crisis in 2008. GDP fell 20% from spring 2008 to spring 2009, then leveled off, the prolonged Ukrainian crisis began on 21 November 2013, when then-president Viktor Yanukovych suspended preparations for the implementation of an association agreement with the European Union. This decision resulted in protests by its supporters, known as the Euromaidan. After months of protests, Yanukovych was ousted by the protesters on 22 February 2014
History of Ukraine
–
Overseas Guests by
Nicholas Roerich, 1899
History of Ukraine
–
Archaeological cultures associated with
proto-Slavs and
early Slavs:
Chernoles culture (before 500 BC),
Zarubintsy culture (300 BC to AD 100),
Przeworsk culture (300 BC to AD 400),
Prague-Korchak horizon (6th to 7th century, Slavic expansion)
History of Ukraine
–
The baptism of
Princess Olga in
Constantinople. A miniature from the
Radzivill Chronicle.
History of Ukraine
–
The Galician–Volhynian Kingdom in the 13th–14th centuries
27.
Prehistorical Ukraine
–
The territory of Ukraine was inhabited by Neanderthals for at least 44,000 years. After a 1648 rebellion against dominantly Polish Catholic rule, an assembly of the agreed to the Treaty of Pereyaslav in January 1654. Soon, the portion of the Polish-Lithuanian empire east of the Dnieper River came under Russian rule. After the Partitions of Poland and conquest of Crimean Khanate, Ukraine was divided between the Tsardom of Russia and Habsburg Austria, a chaotic period of warfare ensued after the Russian Revolution. The internationally recognised Ukrainian Peoples Republic emerged from its own civil war, the Ukrainian–Soviet War followed, in which the bolsheviks Red Army established control in late 1919. Initial Soviet policy on Ukrainian language and Ukrainian culture made Ukrainian the official language of administration, policy in the 1930s turned to russification. In 1932 and 1933, millions of people, mostly peasants, in Ukraine starved to death in a devastating famine and it is estimated that 6 to 8 million people died from hunger in the Soviet Union during this period, of whom 4 to 5 million were Ukrainians. Nikita Khrushchev was appointed the head of the Ukrainian Communist Party in 1938, after the 1939 invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany and Soviet Union, the Ukrainian SSRs territory was enlarged westward. Ukraine was occupied by Nazi Germany from 1941 to 1944, during World War II the Ukrainian Insurgent Army fought for Ukrainian independence against both Germany and the Soviet Union. In 1945, the Ukrainian SSR became one of the members of the United Nations. After Stalins death, as head of the Communist Party of Soviet Union, nevertheless, there were further political repressions against poets, historians and other intellectuals, like in all other parts of the USSR. In 1954, the republic expanded to the south with the transfer of the Crimea, Ukraine became independent again when the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. This started a period of transition to an economy, in which Ukraine suffered an eight-year recession. Since then, however, the economy has experienced an increase in GDP growth. Ukraine was caught up in the economic crisis in 2008. GDP fell 20% from spring 2008 to spring 2009, then leveled off, the prolonged Ukrainian crisis began on 21 November 2013, when then-president Viktor Yanukovych suspended preparations for the implementation of an association agreement with the European Union. This decision resulted in protests by its supporters, known as the Euromaidan. After months of protests, Yanukovych was ousted by the protesters on 22 February 2014
Prehistorical Ukraine
–
Overseas Guests by
Nicholas Roerich, 1899
Prehistorical Ukraine
–
The baptism of
Princess Olga in
Constantinople. A miniature from the
Radzivill Chronicle.
Prehistorical Ukraine
–
The Galician–Volhynian Kingdom in the 13th–14th centuries
28.
Cucuteni-Trypillian culture
–
The Cucuteni-Trypillian culture, is a Neolithic–Eneolithic archaeological culture in Eastern Europe. The majority of Cucuteni-Trypillian settlements consisted of high-density, small settlements, concentrated mainly in the Siret, Prut, one of the most notable aspects of this culture was the periodic destruction of settlements, with each single-habitation site having a lifetime of roughly 60 to 80 years. One particular location, the Poduri site in Romania, revealed thirteen habitation levels that were constructed on top of each other many years. The culture was named after the village of Cucuteni in Iași County. In 1884, Teodor T. Burada and other scholars from Iași, including the poet Nicolae Beldiceanu and archeologists Grigore Butureanu, butculescu and George Diamandy, subsequently began the first excavations at Cucuteni in the spring of 1885. At the same time, the first Ukrainian sites ascribed to the culture were discovered by Vincent Chvojka, the year of his discoveries has been variously claimed as 1893,1896 and 1887. Subsequently, Chvojka presented his findings at the 11th Congress of Archaeologists in 1897, in the same year, similar artifacts were excavated in the village of Trypillia, in Kiev Oblast, Ukraine. As a result, this culture became identified in Ukrainian publications, as the Tripolie, today, the finds from both Romania and Ukraine, as well as those from Moldova, are recognized as belonging to the same cultural complex. It is generally called the Cucuteni culture in Romania and the Trypillian culture in Ukraine, the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture flourished in the territory of what is now Moldova, northeastern Romania and parts of Western, Central and Southern Ukraine. The culture thus extended northeast from the Danube river basin around the Iron Gates to the Black Sea and it encompassed the central Carpathian Mountains as well as the plains, steppe and forest steppe on either side of the range. Its historical core lay around the middle to upper Dniester, as of 2003, about 3000 cultural sites have been identified, ranging from small villages to vast settlements consisting of hundreds of dwellings surrounded by multiple ditches. Traditionally separate schemes of periodization have been used for the Ukrainian Trypillian and Romanian Cucuteni variants of the culture, the Cucuteni scheme, proposed by the German archeologist Hubert Schmidt in 1932, distinguished three cultures, Pre-Cucuteni, Cucuteni and Horodiştea-Folteşti, which were further divided into phases. The Ukrainian scheme was first developed by Tatiana Sergeyevna Passek in 1949, initially based on informal ceramic seriation, both schemes have been extended and revised since first proposed, incorporating new data and formalised mathematical techniques for artifact seriation. The Cucuteni-Trypillian culture is divided into an Early, Middle, Late period, with varying smaller sub-divisions marked by changes in settlement. A key point of contention lies in how these phases correspond to radiocarbon data, during the early period of its existence, the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture was also influenced by the Linear Pottery culture from the north, and by the Boian-Giulesti culture from the south. Through colonization and acculturation from these cultures, the formative Pre-Cucuteni/Trypillia A culture was established. Settlements also developed in the stretches of the Carpathian Mountains. Most of the settlements were located close to rivers, with settlements located on the plateaus
Cucuteni-Trypillian culture
–
Characteristic example of Cucuteni-Trypillian pottery
Cucuteni-Trypillian culture
–
Anthropomorphic Cucuteni-Trypillian clay figure
Cucuteni-Trypillian culture
–
Dniester landscape in
Ternopil Oblast,
Western Ukraine.
29.
Yamna culture
–
The Yamna culture, was a late Copper Age to early Bronze Age culture of the region between the Southern Bug, Dniester and Ural rivers, dating to 3500–2300 BC. The Yamna culture is identified with the late Proto-Indo-Europeans, and is the strongest candidate for the Urheimat of the Proto-Indo-European language, Yamna and Yamnaya are borrowed from Ukrainian, Ямна культура and Russian, Ямная культура respectively, and both mean pit-grave. The root in both cases is яма meaning pit, in these groups, there are present several aspects of the Yamna culture. Studies have also established that these populations derived large parts of their ancestry from the steppes, the Yamna culture originated in the Don-Volga area, and is dated 3300–2500 BC. It was preceded by the middle Volga-based Khvalynsk culture and the Don-based Repin culture, the early Yamnaya horizon spread quickly across the Pontic-Caspian steppes between ca.3400 and 3200 BC. According to Anthony, the spread of the Yamnaya horizon was the expression of the spread of late Proto-Indo-European across the Pontic-Caspian steppes. In its western range, it was succeeded by the Catacomb culture, in the east and these two cultures were followed by the Srubna culture. According to Jones et al. and Haak et al, each of those two populations contributed about half the Yamnaya DNA. Remains of the Eastern European hunter-gatherers have been found in Mesolithic or early Neolithic sites in Karelia and Samara Oblast, Russia, three such hunter-gathering individuals of the male sex have had their DNA results published. Each was found to belong to a different Y-DNA haplogroup, R1a, R1b, the Near East population were most likely hunter-gatherers from the Caucasus c. q. Iran Chalcolithic related people with a CHG-component, who descended from the early neolithic Zagros Farmers. Jones et al. analyzed genomes from males from western Georgia, in the Caucasus, from the Late Upper Palaeolithic and these two males carried Y-DNA haplogroup, J* and J2a. Their genomes showed that a mixture of the Caucasians with Middle Eastern took place up to 25,000 years ago. A population related to the people of the Iran Chalcolithic contributed ~43% of the ancestry of early Bronze Age populations of the steppe. According to Lazaridis et al. these Iranian Chalcolithic people were a mixture of the Neolithic people of western Iran, the Levant, the Yamna culture is identified with the late Proto-Indo-Europeans in the Kurgan hypothesis of Marija Gimbutas. Significantly, animal grave offerings were made, an associated with Proto-Indo-Europeans. The culture was nomadic, with some agriculture practiced near rivers. Characteristic for the culture are the inhumations in pit graves under kurgans, the dead bodies were placed in a supine position with bent knees and covered in ochre
Yamna culture
Yamna culture
–
Yamna culture
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Poland
Russian SFSR
Ukrainian SSR
Symon Petliura
Pavlo Skoropadsky
Anton Denikin
.jpg)
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