View source for Kiev Arsenal January Uprising

{{Short description|Bolshevik-organized workers revolt (1918)}}
{{redirect|January Rebellion|the 19th century Polish uprising|January Uprising}}
{{use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{more citations needed|date=January 2011}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict          = January Uprising
| partof            = the [[Ukrainian–Soviet War]]
| image             = January uprising.jpg
| image_size        = 300px
| caption           = Participants of the January Uprising in [[Kyiv|Kiev]]
| date              = {{OldStyleDateNY|29 January|16 January}} –<br />{{OldStyleDateNY|4 February|22 January}} 1918
| place             = [[Kyiv|Kiev]]
| casus             = [[Ukrainian Constituent Assembly]]
| result            = UPR victory 
*Bolshevik uprising suppressed
*Start of the [[Battle of Kiev (1918)|Battle of Kiev]]
| combatant1        = {{flagicon image|Flag of the Ukrainian State.svg}} [[Ukrainian People's Republic]]
----
* [[Polish Military Organisation]]<ref>[http://www.hai-nyzhnyk.in.ua/doc/176doc.php Position of the Polish Revolutionary Movement in the Dnieper Ukraine on matters of sovereignty of the Ukrainian People's Republic (1917–1918)]. [[Pavlo Hai-Nyzhnyk]] website.</ref>
| combatant2        = {{flagicon|Russian SFSR|1918}} [[Bolsheviks]] <br /> [[Red Guards (Russia)|Red Guards]]
| commander1        = Government forces:<br />
{{flagicon image|Flag of the Ukrainian State.svg}} [[Mykhailo Kovenko]]<br />
{{flagicon image|Flag of the Ukrainian State.svg}} [[Symon Petliura]] <br />
{{flagicon image|Flag of the Ukrainian State.svg}} [[Yevhen Konovalets]] <br />
{{flagicon image|Flag of the Ukrainian State.svg}} [[Vsevolod Petriv]]<br />
----
[[Polish Military Organisation|POW]]:<br />
{{flagicon|Second Polish Republic|1919}} [[Leopold Lis-Kula]]{{efn|Commander of the [[Polish Military Organisation|POW]] in Kiev.}}
| commander2        = Bolshevik [[Revkom]]:
* [[Syla Mishchenko]]
* [[Yan Gamarnik]]
* [[Mykola Kostyuk]]
* [[Oleksandr Horvits]]{{KIA}}
| casualties1       = 300 killed<br>600 wounded
| casualties2       = 400 killed<br>700 wounded
}}
{{Campaignbox Bolshevik Uprisings in Ukraine}}
{{History of Ukraine}}
[[File:Kiev Arsenal 3.jpg|thumb|right|A monument to the Arsenal uprising in front of [[Arsenalna (Kyiv Metro)|Arsenalna metro station]], before it was vandalized by activists in June 2019{{Citation needed|date=November 2020}}]]

The '''Kiev Arsenal January Uprising''' ({{langx|uk|Січневе повстання|Sichneve povstannya}}), sometimes simply called the '''January Uprising''' or the '''January Rebellion''', was a [[Bolsheviks|Bolshevik]]-organized [[working class|workers]]' armed revolt that started on {{OldStyleDateNY|29 January|16 January}} 1918, at the [[Arsenal Factory]] in [[Kyiv|Kiev]] during the [[Ukrainian–Soviet War]]. The goal of the uprising was to sabotage the ongoing elections to the [[Ukrainian Constituent Assembly]] and to support the advancing [[Red Army]]. The forces of the [[Ukrainian People's Republic]] (UPR) managed to quell the uprising by {{OldStyleDateNY|4 February|22 January}} 1918.

==The beginning==
{{see also|Ukrainian Constituent Assembly}}

===January events in Russia and Ukraine===
The long-anticipated 1918 [[Ukrainian Constituent Assembly]] election was to be held on 9 January 1918, where the [[Bolsheviks]] won only 10% of the total votes,{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}} but the elections were suspended due to the ongoing [[Ukrainian-Soviet War]] as practically all of [[left-bank Ukraine]] was occupied by the Soviet forces headed by [[Vladimir Antonov-Ovseyenko]]. According to the Third Declaration (Universal), the Constituent Assembly was planned to meet on 22 January, but this was postponed until the end of military conflict. On 19 January, the Soviet government dissolved the [[Russian Constituent Assembly]], while just a day prior, the government state security forces ([[Cheka]]) opened fire on a peace demonstration in support of the constituent assembly.{{Citation needed|date=July 2017}} On 22 January, another peace demonstration in [[Moscow]] was dispersed by gunfire as well.{{Citation needed|date=July 2017}}

===Preceding revolutionary events===
The Kievan Bolsheviks decided not to waste any more time and were planning for a revolt to support the invading Soviet forces in the [[Soviet–Ukrainian War]]. They decided to initiate it once the Soviet forces started to approach the city{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}} in order to draw away some of the Ukrainian military forces from the front lines and help the Red Army to advance. The Bolsheviks had used this tactic in other Ukrainian cities, such as [[Yekaterinoslav|Katerynoslav]] (current Dnipro), [[Odessa]], [[Mykolaiv]], and [[Kropyvnytskyi|Yelizavetgrad]] (current Kropyvnytskyi). The [[Arsenal Factory]] was chosen to be the center of the riot. To prevent any riots on 18 January, 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 down the factory.

===Organisation of the revolt===
On 28 January, the Bolsheviks instigated a protest and decided to resist further developments against the factory. With the help of some of the soldiers from the [[Shevchenko Regiment]] that were guarding the warehouse of weapons confiscated earlier, they managed to retrieve them back to the factory. After a brief gathering, it was decided to start the revolt immediately. The leaders of the revolutionaries were [[Syla Mishchenko]] (commandant), [[Oleksandr Horwits]], Mykola Kostyuk, and Ipolit Fialek. The city's Bolsheviks [[Jan Hamarnyk]], [[Andriy Ivanov]], [[Isaac Kreisberg]], and others, who had been planning to delay the uprising until the Red Army would come closer to Kiev, had no other choice but to follow it.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}} The headquarters of the revolt were established at 47 Velyka Vasylkivska Street. The same night on 28 January, several factories, together with some of soldiers from the [[Bohdaniv Regiment]], [[Shevchenko Regiment]], and [[Sahaydachny Regiment]], joined the Arsenal workers in the January Uprising. The goal of the uprising was to encircle the building of the [[Central Rada]] (today the Pedagogical museum) and then force the members of the Rada to resign. Along the way, they were joined by other [[Red Guards (Russia)|Red Guards]] of Podil and Shulyavka, led by Arkadiy Dzedzievski (Left SR) with Makola Patlakh (Bolshevik) and Vasyl Bozhenko at Demiivka.

==Participants==

===Bolsheviks===
* 1st battalion (kurin) of Sahaidachny Regiment (Syla Mishchenko)
* Several units of Bohdaniv battalion (kurin) (Kysel)
* Units of Shevchenko Regiment ([[praporshchik|warrant officer]] A. Port)
* [[Red Guards (Russia)|Red Guards]] units of Arsenal Factory
* [[Red Guards (Russia)|Red Guards]] units of Demiivka artillery factory (Vasyl Bozhenko)

===Central Rada===
* [[Sich Riflemen]] battalion (kurin) (Yevhen Konovalets)
** 2nd platoon (sotnia) – 200 soldiers
** Machine-gun platoon (sotnia) – 150 soldiers
** Reserve platoon (sotnia) – 100 soldiers
** Artillery battery – 12 guns 
* [[Free Cossacks]] units
* [[Sloboda Ukraine Kish (Haidamakas)|Haidamaka Brigade of Sloboda Ukraine]] (kish) (Symon Petlyura)
** Black Haidamaka Battalion (kurin)
** Red Haidamaka Battalion (kurin), also known as 3rd Haidamaka Regiment ([[Omelian Volokh]])
** 1st platoon (of Sich Riflemen battalion) – 200 soldiers
* [[Hordiyenko Regiment]] ([[Vsevolod Petriv]])
* Some armored trains

==Revolt==
[[File:Pic S I Sich Riflemen in Kyiv (1918).jpg|thumb|Photo of soldiers after the capture]]
On the morning of 29 January, the representative of the Kievan council of worker and soldier deputies handed over an ultimatum to the [[Tsentralna Rada]] to surrender. 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 the Shuliavka neighborhood (based on the recently liquidated [[Shuliavka Republic]]), Demiivka, and [[Podil]]. 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'' (today 36 Volodymyr Street), which were close to the building of the [[Tsentralna Rada]]. The next day on 30 January, the whole city was paralyzed and went on strike, stopping utility services and the city's transportation. The Rada had no influence over most of the military units, many of which decided not to intrude.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}} The Ukrainian government was supported only by the separate platoons of the [[Bohdaniv Regiment]], [[Polubotko Regiment]], [[Bohun Regiment]], a [[kurin]] of [[Sich Riflemen]], and the [[Free Cossacks]].

==Storming the Arsenal==
On 1 February, the Rada announced that it had full control of the city and asked the workers to end the strike, as it harmed the civil population. It promised to come up with several socioeconomic reforms in the immediate future. The next day, the [[Sloboda Ukraine Kish (Haidamaky)]] of [[Symon Petliura]] entered the city, withdrawing from the attacks of the Colonel [[Mikhail Artemyevich Muravyov|Muravyov]]. Also the [[Hordiyenko Regiment]] of [[Vsevolod Petrov]] was brought to the city from the north front. On 2 February, most of the revolt was extinguished except for its main center – the Arsenal Factory. On the morning of 4 February, the forces of [[Symon Petliura]] occupied the factory after a bloody assault that cost the lives of several kish soldiers and workers of Arsenal. Later, Soviets would claim that the Petliura forces killed 300 of the Arsenal's defenders in the yard of the factory.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

Afterwards, Petliura's resistance was weakened greatly against the besieging Bolsheviks, who entered the city on 4 February (occupying the Darnytsia neighborhood) and captured the town on 7 February (although sporadic fighting continued for several days afterwards).<ref>[http://uwf.edu/ruzwyshyn/dovzhenko/Arsenal.htm Arsenal (1929): Ukraine in Revolution] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110324065158/http://uwf.edu/ruzwyshyn/dovzhenko/Arsenal.htm |date=2011-03-24 }}</ref>

==Legacy==
This event is generally regarded as "[[social class|class]]-motivated" by historians,{{According to whom|date=April 2022}} similar to other workers' movements in the post-October Revolution period.

To commemorate the event, the historic defensive wall of the Arsenal Factory bearing the traces of shelling was preserved by [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] authorities on the city's Moscow Street (near the [[Arsenalna (Kyiv Metro)|Arsenalna metro station]]). The nearby street named for the event during [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] times carried the name "January Uprising Street" until 2007.

The uprising is the subject of ''[[Arsenal (1929 film)|Arsenal]]'' (1929), a Soviet war film by the [[Ukrainians|Ukrainian]] director [[Alexander Dovzhenko|Oleksandr Dovzhenko]].

==See also==
* [[Kiev Bolshevik Uprising]]

== Notes ==
{{noteslist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110324065158/http://uwf.edu/ruzwyshyn/dovzhenko/Arsenal.htm Arsenal (1929): Ukraine in Revolution]
*[http://vijsko.milua.org/Tinchenko-1UBV.htm ''Yaroslav Tynchenko''. First Ukrainian-Bolshevik War (December 1917&nbsp;— March 1918)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090511091953/http://vijsko.milua.org/Tinchenko-1UBV.htm |date=2009-05-11 }}&nbsp;— Kyiv-Lviv, 1996.
*Manchuk, A. ''[http://www.istpravda.com.ua/columns/2011/01/29/19400/ The January Uprising. The role of boys. (Січневе повстання. "Роля хлопчаків")] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180411175145/http://www.istpravda.com.ua/columns/2011/01/29/19400/ |date=2018-04-11 }}''. [[Ukrayinska Pravda]] (Istorychna Pravda). 29 January 2011.
*Derevyany, I. ''[http://www.istpravda.com.ua/articles/2012/04/6/80009/ Sich Riflemen during the January Uprising ("Січові стрільці під час Січневого повстання")]''. [[Ukrayinska Pravda]] (Istorychna Pravda). 6 April 2012.
*Zdorov, A. ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20141216215432/http://www.istpravda.com.ua/digest/2010/10/18/639/ Who raised the armed revolt in Kiev in January of 1918]''. [[Ukrayinska Pravda]] (Istorychna Pravda). 18 October 2010.
*[http://leksika.com.ua/17310524/ure/kiyivske_sichneve_zbroyne_povstannya_1918 Kiev January Armed Uprising in 1918] at the [[Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopedia]]

{{Ukrainian Bolshevik Revolution}}
{{Communism in Ukraine}}

{{coord missing|Ukraine}}

[[Category:1910s in Kyiv]]
[[Category:1918 in Ukraine]]
[[Category:Military operations of the Russian Civil War in 1918]]
[[Category:Bolshevik uprisings]]
[[Category:Communism in Ukraine]]
[[Category:Kiev in the Russian Civil War]]
[[Category:January 1918]]
[[Category:February 1918]]
[[Category:Battles involving the Ukrainian People's Republic]]