Ukrainian State

The Ukrainian State (Template:Langx), sometimes also called the Second Hetmanate (Template:Langx), was an anti-Bolshevik government that existed on most of the modern territory of Ukraine (except for Western Ukraine) from 29 April to 14 December 1918.

It was installed by German military authorities after the socialist-leaning Central Council of the Ukrainian People's Republic was dispersed on 29th April 1918. The Ukrainian State was governed by Pavlo Skoropadskyi, the hetman of all Ukraine, who outlawed all socialist-oriented political parties, creating an anti-Bolshevik front with the Russian State. It collapsed in December 1918, when Skoropadskyi was deposed and the Ukrainian People's Republic returned to power in the form of the Directorate.

History

Background

As a result of the Bolshevik aggression, the government of the Ukrainian People's Republic that initially pursued anti-military policy sought military support after the capital Kyiv was sacked on 9 February 1918, by Mikhail Muravyov. On 9 February, Ukraine signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with the coalition of the Central Powers and by March all Bolshevik forces of the Russian SFSR were removed from the territory of Ukraine. The German Army Group Kyiv was created in order to protect Ukraine from further Bolshevik aggression and headed by the German field marshal Hermann von Eichhorn.

Hetman Coup

File:Skoropadsky - before 1917.jpg

Pavlo Skoropadskyi, Hetman of Ukraine

On 25 April, the administration of Army Group Kyiv suspected the government of Vsevolod Holubovych of kidnapping of Template:Ill, the chairman of the Foreign Trade Bank in Kyiv. Through that bank the German occupational forces were officially conducting all financial operations with the Reichsbank in Berlin. The next day, Eichhorn issued a decree according to which all criminal cases on the territory of Ukraine could selectively fall under the jurisdiction of the German field military court instead of the Ukrainian court system. At the next session of the Central Rada, Holubovych stated:

File:Грамота до всього українського народу, закони УД-2.webp

Manifesto to the All-Ukrainian Nation. Laws on the provisional state system of Ukraine.

On 29 April, a party congress of bread producers consisting of some 6,000 delegates from all eight governorates of Ukraine was taking place in the building of the Kyiv Circus. After receiving information about the situation at the Congress from his couriers, Pavlo Skoropadskyi later arrived in his car to the event where he was elected the Hetman of Ukraine. After that all participants moved to St. Sophia's Square, where Skoropadskyi was blessed by Nykodym, the Vicar of Kyiv and Galicia (Metropolitan Vladimir was executed by Bolsheviks). That night the Hetman supporters took over government building of military and internal affairs as well as the State Bank. The following day, the elite and most loyal formation of the Central Council, the Sich Riflemen, was disarmed.

Skoropadskyi issued his manifesto (hramota) "To the All-Ukrainian Nation" and the Law of the Provisional State System. Desiring stability, the Austro-Hungarian and German forces welcomed the coup; Skoropadskyi co-operated with them, making him unpopular among many Ukrainian peasants. The new state retained the tryzub (coat of arms) and the national flag but reversed the design to light blue over yellow. The Sich Riflemen opposed the coup and were disbanded along with the "Bluecoats", a Ukrainian division formed from POWs in Germany and Austria-Hungary named after their blue uniforms.

Internal opposition

Internal opposition was provoked by the requisitioning of food stocks and restoration of land to the wealthy landowners. Opponents of the Skoropadskyi regime committed acts of arson and sabotage and, in July 1918, assassinated Hermann von Eichhorn, the commander of German troops in Ukraine. In August 1918, the anti-Skoropadskyi coalition succeeded in forcing him to re-form the Sich Riflemen. By then it was becoming obvious that the Central Powers had lost the war and that Skoropadskyi could no longer rely on their support. He thus looked for support from conservative Russian elements in society and proposed joining a federation with Anton Denikin and the White movement. This further eroded his standing among Ukrainians.

In December 1918, Skoropadskyi was deposed and the Directorate was established as a form of the Ukrainian People's Republic.

Geography

File:Ukrainian State 1918 divisions.png

Administrative division of the Ukrainian State. The green line indicates the extent of the State's territorial claims.

The country lay in Eastern Europe along the middle and lower sections of the Dnieper on the coast of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. The Ukrainian State covered most of the territory of modern-day Ukraine—minus West Ukraine, Budjak and Crimea. Its territory however extended into today's Russia, Belarus, Moldova and Poland.

To its northeast Ukraine established a preliminary demarcation line with the Russian SFSR, on the east it had a border with the Don Republic, to its south were the Black and Azov Seas, while the Crimean peninsula—the Crimean Regional Government—came under the control of Sulkevych. To the southwest along the Dniester lay a border with the Kingdom of Romania, to the west Ukraine bordered the German Empire and Austria-Hungary. To the north were the German-occupied territories of Ober Ost and the Belarusian People's Republic.

Administrative divisions

Governorates, okruhas and claimed areas of the Ukrainian State

Unit	Central city	Starosta
Volhynian Governorate	Zhytomyr	Dmytro Andro
Katerynoslav Governorate	Katerynoslav	Ivan Chernikov
Kyiv Governorate	Kyiv	Ivan Chartoryzky
Podolia Governorate	Kamianets	Serhii Kyselov
Poltava Governorate	Poltava	Serhii Ivanenko
Kharkiv Governorate	Kharkiv	Petro Zalesky
Kherson Governorate	Kherson	Semen Pyshchevych
Kholm Governorate	Brest-Litovsk	Oleksandr Skoropys-Yoltukhovsky
Chernihiv Governorate	Chernihiv	Mykola Savytsky
Polissia Okruha	Mozyr
Tavria Okruha	Berdiansk
Crimean Regional Governmenta	Simferopol
Kuban People's Republica	Katerinodar

Anti-Hetman Uprising

File:Ukrainian State 1918.11-12.png

Ukraine in November and December 1918

  Uprisings

  Demarcation line with the Russian SFSR

 Dashed  Negotiations with Crimea and Kuban for joining the Ukrainian State
 Dashed  Neutral zone between Russia and Ukraine prescribed by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

File:Skoropadsky - 1918 (2).jpg

Skoropadskyi inspecting troops from the "Greycoat" division

Almost the entire commanding staff of the Ukrainian State armed forces consisted of officers of the former Imperial Russian Army. Most officers were not supportive of the Ukrainian cause and viewed it as a way to make it through tough times. At the same time, wide masses of the population did not have a developed sense of nationalism and mainly chose to follow socialist and communist principles.

Following the armistice ending World War I, Ukrainian socialists formed the Directorate of Ukraine (the "Directory"), whose forces were mainly composed of the Sich Riflemen and "Greycoats". Although German and Austrian troops had not yet withdrawn from Ukraine, they had no further interest in fighting. Most of Skoropadskyi's own forces changed sides and joined the Directory.

On 16 November 1918, starting in Bila Tserkva, fighting broke out in the Hetmanate. Skoropadskyi had to turn to the thousands of Russian White Guard officers who had escaped to Ukraine with the intention of joining Denikin's Volunteer Army in the region of the Don river further east. They were assembled into a "Special Corps" but proved unable to resist the Directory's forces led by Symon Petliura. Skoropadskyi abdicated his position as Hetman on 14 December, as the Ukrainian People's Army took Kyiv. He fled to Switzerland and then Germany under disguise.

Religion

Template:Wikisourcelang According to the "Laws on the Provisional State System of Ukraine", the leading position of the country was occupied by the Christian Orthodox faith. At the same time, citizens of Ukraine who belonged to other denominations had the right to profess their religion and rites.

The Russian Orthodox Church, and later the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, ruled in Central and Eastern Ukraine. However, in Western Ukraine there was friction between Orthodox, Greek Catholics, Roman Catholics and Jews. In the conflicts, the Ministry of Confessions of the Ukrainian State and the Council of Ministers morally and materially supported the Orthodox clergy.

On 25 June, the government allocated 3 million rubles to help priests who moved to Volhynia, Kholmshchyna, Grodno, Podolia, and Polesia, which were annexed to the Ukrainian State. On 2 July, 120,000 roubles were allocated for the maintenance of the Orthodox clergy in the lands of Kholmshchyna, Podlachia and Polesia.

External links

• The Ukrainian National Republic and the Struggle for Independence, 1917–1921 at the Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine