100 years ago, in January 1919, the restoration of Soviet power in Ukraine began. On January 3, the Red Army liberated Kharkov, on February 5 - Kiev, on March 10, 1919 - the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was established with the capital in Kharkov. By May, Soviet troops controlled almost the entire territory of Little Russia within the former Russian Empire.
The relatively easy and quick success of the Soviet regime was due to the fact that the Central Powers were defeated. And "independent" Kiev rested only on Austro-German bayonets. Ukrainian nationalists did not have the support of the people (the overwhelming part of the population of Little Russia was Russian, Little Russians were the southwestern part of the Russian super-ethnic group), and could only hold on to power with the help of external forces. Germany and Austria-Hungary supported the nationalists, since with their help they could use the resources of Little Russia (Rus), especially agricultural ones.
By the fall of 1918, it became obvious that the German Empire was losing the war. Moscow begins to prepare troops for the restoration of Soviet power in Ukraine. For this, in the neutral zone (it was created between the German occupation zone in Ukraine and Soviet Russia), on the basis of partisan detachments, the 1st and 2nd Ukrainian rebel divisions are formed, united into the Group of Forces of the Kursk direction. On November 30, 1918, on the basis of the divisions, the Ukrainian Soviet Army was created under the command of V. Antonov-Ovseenko. At the end of 1918, the Ukrainian Soviet army numbered more than 15 thousand bayonets and sabers (not counting the unarmed reserve), in May 1919 - more than 180 thousand people.
As soon as Germany and Austria-Hungary surrendered, the Soviet government, which initially expected such a scenario, decided to restore its power in Little Russia-Ukraine. Already on November 11, 1918, the head of the Soviet government, Lenin, instructed the Revolutionary Military Council (RVS) of the republic to prepare an offensive against Ukraine. On November 17, the Revolutionary Military Council of Ukraine was created under the leadership of Joseph Stalin. On November 28, the Provisional Workers 'and Peasants' Government of Ukraine, headed by G. Pyatakov, was created in Kursk. In November, battles began on the border of Soviet Russia and occupied Ukraine with the Haidamaks (Ukrainian nationalists) and retreating German units. The Red Army launched an offensive against Kharkov and Chernigov.
In December 1918, our troops occupied Novgorod-Seversky, Belgorod (the Ukrainian government moved here from Kursk), Volchansk, Kupyansk and other cities and villages. On January 1, 1919, the Bolshevik underground revolted in Kharkov. The German soldiers remaining in the city supported the uprising and demanded that the Directory withdraw its troops from the city. On January 3, 1919, the troops of the Ukrainian Soviet Army entered Kharkov. The Provisional Soviet Government of Ukraine moves to Kharkov. On January 4, the RVS, on the basis of the troops of the Ukrainian Soviet Army, creates the Ukrainian Front. On January 7, the Red Army begins an offensive in two main directions: 1) westward - to Kiev; 2) southern - Poltava, Lozovaya and further Odessa. On January 16, 1919, the UPR Directory declared war on Soviet Russia. However, the troops of the Directory under the command of S. Petliura were unable to provide effective resistance. The people are tired of anarchy, violence and robbery by the Austro-German occupiers, units of Ukrainian nationalists and ordinary gangs, so insurgent and partisan detachments, local self-defense units massively go over to the side of the Red Army. It is not surprising that on February 5, 1919, the Reds occupied Kiev, the Ukrainian Directory flees to Vinnitsa.
The special purpose armored division of the Council of People's Commissars of Ukraine with a captured French Renault FT-17 tank captured by the French army near Odessa in late March - early April 1919. Kharkov, April 22, 1919. Alexei Selyavkin looks out from the hatch of the Renault tank. Photo source:
Background. General situation in Ukraine
In March - April 1918, Austro-German troops occupied Lesser Russia. On April 29-30, the Germans overthrew the Ukrainian Central Rada, which had invited them. The German command decided to replace the Central Rada, which did not actually control the country, with a more effective government. In addition, Berlin did not like the socialist color of the Central Rada. They needed to siphon resources from Ukraine and not tolerate left-wing nationalist demagoguery. And this required a firm government in the center and large landowners in the countryside. On the other hand, the Second Reich did not see a "union state" in Ukraine, but a raw material colony. Ukraine was given a hetman - General Pavel Skoropadsky. The influence of the Central Rada is perfectly evidenced by the fact that the German guard dispersed it without firing a single shot. Not a single person in Little Russia came to her defense.
The era of the hetman, the "Ukrainian state", began with the semi-monarchical authoritarian rule of the hetman. On May 3, a cabinet of ministers was formed, headed by Prime Minister Fyodor Lizogub, a large landowner. The social support of the new regime was minimal: the bourgeoisie, landowners, bureaucrats and officers.
In reality, the hetman's power was nominal - it was supported only by German troops. At the same time, the Austro-German troops, under the cover of the hetman regime, put things in order in their own way: all socialist transformations were canceled, land and property were returned to landowners, enterprises - to owners, punitive detachments carried out mass executions. The Germans organized an orderly plunder of Ukraine, they were especially interested in food supplies. The Skoropadsky government tried to create its own army; in the summer of 1918, a law of universal conscription was introduced. In total, it was planned to form 8 infantry corps according to the territorial principle; in peacetime, the army was supposed to number about 300 thousand people. But by November 1918, only about 60 thousand people were recruited. These were mainly infantry and cavalry regiments of the former Russian imperial army, which had previously been "Ukrainized", led by the former commanders. Its combat effectiveness was low, due to lack of motivation. In addition, in Ukraine, primarily in Kiev and other large cities, with the permission of the authorities, Russian volunteer organizations (white) were actively formed and operated. Kiev became the center of attraction for all anti-Bolshevik, anti-revolutionary forces that fled from Moscow, Petrograd and other parts of the former empire.
It is clear that the actions of the Austro-German occupiers and the new Ukrainian authorities, as well as the landlord's reaction, did not calm down, but even more embittered the people. Under the hetman, the activity of various gangs increased even more, compared with the period of the Central Rada. Also, political forces, which previously constituted the Central Rada, spoke out against the hetman's power. In particular, the uprisings were raised by the Ukrainian Socialist-Revolutionaries, who enjoyed great influence among the peasantry. In the summer of 1918, a large-scale peasant war began, landowners were killed and expelled, land and property were divided. On July 30, the Left SRs were able to assassinate the commander of the German occupation forces, Eigorn. In the summer only in the Kiev region, there were up to 40 thousand rebels - nationalists and various socialists (including the Bolsheviks). In August, the Bolsheviks prepared a large-scale uprising led by N. Krapiviansky in Chernihiv and Poltava regions. In September, Makhno began his operations. He emphasized that he was fighting the landlords and the kulaks. Therefore, soon the successful chieftain received massive support from the peasantry.
The German occupation and hetman authorities responded with punitive campaigns and mass killings of the rebels. German courts martial made the arrests. The peasants, in response, switched to guerrilla warfare, making sudden raids on landlord estates, government units, government officials and the occupiers. Part of the partisan detachments, escaping the attacks of the German troops, went into a neutral zone on the border with Soviet Russia. There they began to prepare for new hostilities in Ukraine. Some bandit formations turned into real armies that controlled large territories. Thus, the detachments of Batko Makhno operated from Lozovaya to Berdyansk, Mariupol and Taganrog, from Lugansk and Grishin to Yekaterinoslav, Aleksandrovsk and Melitopol. As a result, Little Russia turned into a “wild field”, where various chieftains had power in the countryside, occupants and the authorities controlled mainly communications and large settlements.
It is worth noting that the large-scale partisan struggle in Little Russia did not allow the Germans to get as much food and other resources as they wanted. In addition, the fight against partisans fettered significant forces of the Austro-Hungarian and German empires, undermined them. Berlin and Vienna had to keep 200 thousand people in Ukraine. grouping, although these troops were needed on the Western Front, where the last big battles were raging and the outcome of the war was being decided. Thus, Russia again unwittingly supported the Entente powers and helped them defeat Germany.
Only the Cadets, who were part of the All-Russian Constitutional Democratic Party, supported the Skoropadsky regime. To do this, they had to violate their own principles: to support the head of the Ukrainian state (the principle of "one and indivisible Russia"), who was the protégé of Germany, the enemy of the Entente. But the "sacred" principle of private property (the Cadets were the party of the big and middle bourgeoisie) turned out to be more important for the Cadets than patriotic considerations. In May 1918, the cadets entered the hetman government. At the same time, the cadets also nurtured the idea of an alliance with the Germans for a campaign against Bolshevik Moscow.
Pavel Skoropadsky (foreground right) and the Germans
The collapse of the hetmanate and the emergence of the Directory
In the meantime, the opposition to the hetmanate grew stronger. In May 1918, the Ukrainian-National-State Union was created, uniting nationalists and social democrats. In August, left-wing socialists joined it and renamed it the Ukrainian National Union (UNS), which took a radical position in relation to the Skoropadsky regime. In September, the union was headed by V. Vinnichenko, who was previously the head of the government of the Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR), liquidated by the Germans. He began to establish contacts with the rebel chieftains and tried to negotiate with Moscow. The National Union begins to prepare an uprising against the Skoropadsky regime.
In September, the hetman visited Berlin, where he received instructions to Ukrainize the government and stop flirting with Russian leaders who wanted to organize a campaign against red Moscow with the help of the forces of Little Russia. The problem was that the Ukrainian nationalists and socialists were not going to negotiate with Skoropadsky, they needed all the power. In October, the cadets left the hetman government, who did not wait for the support of the idea of a common struggle against the Bolsheviks. The government includes Ukrainian right-wing figures (UNS). However, they also left the government on November 7, protesting against the ban on holding the Ukrainian National Congress.
The November Revolution in Germany ("How the Second Reich Perished") destroyed Skoropadsky's regime. In fact, his power was only on the German bayonets. The hetman, in search of a way to salvation, decided to radically change the course of the government and on November 14 signed the "Letter". In this manifesto, Skoropadsky said that Ukraine "should be the first to act in the formation of the All-Russian Federation, its ultimate goal will be the restoration of Great Russia." However, it was too late.
On November 11, 1918, Germany signed the Compiegne armistice, and the evacuation of Austro-German troops from Little Russia began. On November 13, Soviet Russia tore apart the Brest-Litovsk Peace, which meant the imminent appearance of the Red Army. On November 14-15, at a meeting of the UNS, the Directory of the Ukrainian People's Republic was created, headed by V. Vinnichenko (chairman) and S. Petlyura (commander-in-chief). Directory revolted against the hetman government. The Directory promised to return all the gains of the revolution and to convene a Constituent Assembly. Vinnichenko proposed to intercept the slogan of Soviet power from the Bolsheviks and form democratic councils. But most of the directors did not support this idea, since the Entente would not like it and did not guarantee the support of Soviet Russia. In addition, according to Petliura, various chieftains and field commanders were against the Soviet government (in fact, they would split on this issue, later some would go over to the side of the Soviet government, others would fight against it). As a result, it was decided, together with parliament, to create labor councils and convene a Congress of the working people (analogous to the Congress of Soviets). The real power remained with the field commanders and chieftains, future commandants and commissars of the Directory.
On November 15, the Directory left for Belaya Tserkov, to the location of a detachment of Sich riflemen who supported the uprising. The mutiny was also supported by many Ukrainian units and their commanders. In particular, Bolbochan in Kharkov (the commander of the Zaporozhye corps), the commander of the Podolsk corps, General Yaroshevich, the commander of the Black Sea kosh Polishchuk, the minister of railway transport Butenko, General Osetsky - the commander of the Hetman's Railway Division (he became the chief of staff of the uprising) went over to the Directory. The uprising was also supported by the peasants, tired of the power of the occupiers and their henchmen, there was a hope that under the new government the situation would change for the better (already in 1919 the peasants would also fight against the Directory).
On November 16, the forces of the Directory captured Bila Tserkva and headed towards Kiev in echelons. On November 17, a council formed by German soldiers signed a neutrality agreement with the Directory. The Germans were now only interested in the evacuation to their homeland. Therefore, the Petliurites, by agreement with the Germans, had to maintain order on the railways and not rush to storm Kiev. As a result, Skoropadsky lost the support of the German troops and could now rely only on the Russian officers in Kiev. However, the numerous officers were not a single force; many preferred neutrality or went to serve the Ukrainian nationalists. In addition, the hetman's government was late, the available volunteer formations were small and they had no desire to die for the hetman. Thus, Skoropadsky was left practically without troops.
On November 19, 1918, the Petliurites approached Kiev. They did not rush to attack only because of the position of the Germans. The Ukrainian nationalists acted cruelly, the captured Russian officers were brutally tortured and killed. The bodies of the killed were defiantly sent to the capital. Panic began in Kiev, many fled. Skoropadsky appointed General Fyodor Keller, popular among the officers, as commander-in-chief of his remaining troops. He was a hero of the First World War (he commanded a cavalry division, a cavalry corps), an excellent cavalry commander - "the first saber of Russia." According to his political positions, he is a monarchist. His extreme right-wing convictions, hatred of Ukrainian nationalism and tough straightforwardness (he did not hide his convictions), revived the local Kiev "swamp", "progressive" circles against the commander-in-chief. Skoropadsky, fearing that Keller would liquidate the German regime in his activities to "re-create a united Russia", dismissed the commander-in-chief. This will alienate part of the Russian officers from the hetman, who would prefer to leave Kiev and go to the Crimea and the North Caucasus to serve in Denikin's Volunteer Army.
Meanwhile, the troops still loyal to the hetman government went over to the side of the Directory. Bolbochan's Zaporozhye corps took control of almost the entire territory of the Left-Bank Ukraine. The Petliurites achieved a large numerical superiority near Kiev, formed four divisions and disarmed part of the German troops. The Germans did not resist. On December 14, 1919, the Petliurites occupied Kiev practically without a fight. Skoropadsky abdicated power and fled with the leaving German units. The former hetman lived quietly in Germany until 1945 and received a pension from the German authorities. By December 20, the troops of the Directory won up in the provinces.
Thus, the UPR was restored. The Petliurites perpetrated a cruel terror against the Russian officers and supporters of the hetmanate. In particular, General Keller and his adjutants were killed on December 21.
Government of the Directory. In the foreground is Simon Petlyura and Vladimir Vinnichenko, early 1919
