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Ukraine
Tag
(49)
1917
November
20
Proclamation of the Ukrainian People's Republic
On 20 November 1917 the Central Rada in Kiev issued the Third Universal. It proclaimed the Ukrainian People's Republic as part of a federal Russia.
1918
January
03
Ukrainian delegation at Brest
On 3 January 1918 the Germans announced that a delegation of the Ukrainian Central Rada had arrived at Brest-Litovsk, wishing to negotiate peace on its own.
08
Trotsky at Brest-Litovsk
On 8 January 1918 peace talks resumed at Brest-Litovsk. The Soviet delegation was now led by Trotsky, who turned the sessions into a verbal duel with Kühlmann.
22
Fourth Universal
On 22 January 1918 the Central Rada issued the Fourth Universal. The Ukrainian People's Republic became independent as Bolshevik troops marched on Kiev.
30
Peace talks resume at Brest-Litovsk
On 30 January 1918 the peace talks resumed at Brest. Trotsky brought delegates of Soviet Ukraine and challenged the right of the Kiev Rada to negotiate.
February
01
Central Powers recognise Ukraine
On 1 February 1918 at Brest Czernin declared that the Central Powers recognised the Ukrainian People's Republic as an independent, sovereign state.
09
Key event
Peace of Brest-Litovsk with Ukraine
On 9 February 1918 the Central Powers made peace with the Ukrainian People's Republic at Brest. For grain they promised it Chełm Land, angering the Poles.
11
Resignation of the Kucharzewski government
On 11 February 1918 Jan Kucharzewski's government resigned in protest against the Treaty of Brest, which gave the Chełm Land to Ukraine.
15
Battle of Rarańcza
On the night of 15–16 February 1918 Colonel Haller's Second Brigade of the Legions broke through the Austrian front at Rarańcza in protest at the Ukraine peace.
18
Key event
Operation Faustschlag begins
At noon on 18 February 1918 the armistice on the Eastern Front expired. The Germans advanced and that same day, almost without a fight, took Dvinsk and Lutsk.
20
Balfour on the Ukrainian treaty
On 20 February 1918, says the British war chronicle, Balfour told the Polish National Committee that London rejected the Central Powers' peace with Ukraine.
March
02
Germans occupy Kiev
On 1–2 March 1918 Ukrainian People's Republic troops entered Kiev, followed by the Germans. The Central Rada soon returned, but under German protection.
13
Germans occupy Odessa
On 13 March 1918 German and Austro-Hungarian troops entered Odessa. The Odessa Soviet Republic collapsed and its authorities fled by ship to Sevastopol.
17
Germans occupy Nikolayev
On 17 March 1918 Central Powers troops entered Nikolayev, the centre of Black Sea shipbuilding. In its yards they seized an unfinished battleship.
29
Germans take Poltava
On 29 March 1918 the Ukrainian Zaporozhian Division and German troops drove the Bolsheviks out of Poltava. The road to Kharkov and eastern Ukraine lay open.
April
03
Germans take Yekaterinoslav
In early April 1918 the Bolsheviks abandoned Yekaterinoslav on the Dnieper and German troops entered the city. The road to the Donbas lay open before them.
08
Germans take Kharkov
On 7–8 April 1918 German troops entered Kharkov, capital of the Donetsk–Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic. Its government fled to Luhansk.
09
Union of Bessarabia with Romania
On 9 April 1918 the Sfatul Țării in Kishinev voted by 86 votes to unite Bessarabia with Romania, subject to autonomy and land reform.
13
Protests against the union of Bessarabia
On 13 April 1918 the Little Rada in Kiev condemned the union of Bessarabia with Romania and refused to recognise it. Soviet Russia soon protested too.
19
Germans enter the Crimea
On 18–19 April 1918 German troops broke the Reds' defences on the Perekop Isthmus and entered the Crimea. Their goal was Sevastopol and the Black Sea Fleet.
29
Skoropadskyi proclaimed hetman
On 29 April 1918 a congress of landowners in Kiev proclaimed General Pavlo Skoropadskyi Hetman of Ukraine. With German backing he overthrew the Central Rada.
May
04
Armistice of Korenevo
On 4 May 1918 at Korenevo station near Kursk, envoys of Soviet Russia and the German-Ukrainian command agreed an armistice and marked out a neutral zone.
09
Lyzohub government
In early May 1918 Hetman Skoropadskyi entrusted the government to Fedir Lyzohub. Kadets dominated the cabinet; the Ukrainian socialists boycotted it.
11
Key event
Fighting at Kaniów
In the night of 10/11 May 1918 the Germans attacked the Polish II Corps at Kaniów. The Poles held out all day, but short of ammunition they capitulated.
June
12
Ukrainian–Russian armistice
On 12 June 1918 in Kiev the Ukrainian State and Soviet Russia signed a preliminary agreement halting the fighting along the whole front during the talks.
July
30
Assassination of Eichhorn
On 30 July 1918 the Left SR Boris Donskoy threw a bomb at Field Marshal Eichhorn in Kiev. The commander of German forces in Ukraine died that evening.
November
01
Fighting for Lviv begins
On the night before 1 November 1918 Ukrainian soldiers seized Lviv and proclaimed it the capital of a Ukrainian state. That same day its Poles took up arms.
15
Petliura's uprising
On 15 November 1918 the Directorate called from Bila Tserkva for a rising against Hetman Skoropadskyi, who had proclaimed federation with Russia the day before.
22
Poles take Lviv
On the night of 21–22 November 1918 the Ukrainians withdrew from Lviv, and in the morning the Poles took the city. On the day of victory a pogrom broke out.
28
Union of Bukovina with Romania
On 28 November 1918 the General Congress of Bukovina in Czernowitz voted to unite the land with Romania. Most Ukrainians boycotted the proceedings.
December
10
Unconditional union of Bessarabia
On the night of 9–10 December 1918 the Sfatul Țării in Chișinău gave up Bessarabia's autonomy, declared unconditional union with Romania and dissolved.
11
Ukrainians occupy Odessa
On 11 December 1918 Directorate troops entered Odessa. The Russian volunteers withdrew to the port, where an Allied zone formed under cover of Entente warships.
14
Fall of the Hetmanate
On 14 December 1918 Directorate troops broke into Kiev, and Hetman Pavlo Skoropadskyi renounced power and went into hiding under German protection.
18
French land at Odessa
On 18 December 1918 General Borius's French division landed at Odessa. At the French demand, the Directorate's troops began to leave the city.
20
The Directorate in Kiev
On 19 December 1918 the Directorate of the Ukrainian People's Republic made its ceremonial entry into Kiev. A service and a rally were held on Sofia Square.
26
West Ukrainian People's Republic
At the end of 1918 the government of the West Ukrainian People's Republic sat in Tarnopol. It was building an army and preparing union with Dnieper Ukraine.
1919
March
19
End of the siege of Lviv
On 19 March 1919 Polish units, among them Konarzewski's Greater Poland troops, retook the Przemyśl–Lviv railway and broke the Ukrainian ring round the city.
May
14
Polish offensive in Eastern Galicia
On 14 May 1919 Haller's troops, despite Entente objections, attacked the Ukrainians in Eastern Galicia and Volhynia, taking most of the country in two weeks.
June
07
Chortkiv offensive
On 7 June 1919 the Ukrainian Galician Army, pushed back to the Zbruch, unexpectedly attacked. The next day it took Czortków and advanced into Galicia.
25
Supreme Council allows Poland to occupy Eastern Galicia
On 25 June 1919 the powers' foreign ministers let Poland occupy Eastern Galicia up to the Zbruch, with Haller's army too, leaving its status open.
July
03
Denikin's Moscow directive
On 3 July 1919, in newly taken Tsaritsyn, General Denikin issued a directive to the armies of South Russia: take Moscow, the "heart of Russia".
17
Key event
End of the Polish–Ukrainian war
In mid-July 1919 the Ukrainian Galician Army withdrew beyond the Zbruch, and on 17 July the fighting ceased. The whole of Eastern Galicia was in Polish hands.
1920
April
21
Piłsudski's alliance with Petliura
On 21 April 1920 in Warsaw Poland recognised Petliura's Ukrainian People's Republic, which gave up Eastern Galicia. A military pact followed on 24 April.
25
Start of the Kiev offensive
On 25 April 1920 Polish and Ukrainian troops struck the Red Army from the Pripyat to the Dniester, taking Zhytomyr, Berdychiv, Koziatyn and Vinnytsia in 3 days.
May
07
Poles enter Kiev
On 7 May 1920 Polish cavalry rode into Kiev, abandoned by the Red Army. Two days later a joint Polish-Ukrainian parade marched down the Khreshchatyk.
June
05
Budyonny's Cavalry Army breaks through the front
On 5 June 1920 Budyonny's Cavalry Army broke through the Polish front at Samhorodok in Ukraine and reached the Polish rear. Five days later the Poles left Kiev.
August
31
Battle of Komarów (1920)
On 31 August 1920 Colonel Rómmel's Polish 1st Cavalry Division defeated Budyonny's First Cavalry Army near Komarów, in one of the last great cavalry battles.
October
12
Armistice of Riga
On 12 October 1920 Poland and Soviet Russia and Ukraine signed an armistice and preliminary peace terms in Riga. The fighting stopped at midnight on 18 October.
1921
March
18
Key event
Peace of Riga
On 18 March 1921 Poland and Soviet Russia and Ukraine signed a peace treaty in Riga. It ended the Polish–Soviet War and fixed Poland's eastern border.