The Ukrainian nationalists under Symon Petliura are forced to make unlikely alliances in order to withstand a renewed Soviet invasion of Ukraine. Although the nationalists were ultimately vanquished, the ideal of independent Ukrainian statehood would live on and manifest itself in unexpected ways in the future.

The Directory's tenuous hold on power continues to slip away as it faces off against an array of hostile powers in every direction. Meanwhile, the ideological divides within Ukraine itself become increasingly apparent.

In early 1919, the unification of Ukraine, the dream of Ukrainian nationalists for centuries, had finally been achieved. In the midst of the wider conflict that was engulfing eastern Europe at that time, internal divisions and external pressures would once again threaten the unity of Ukraine.

The German high command, losing patience with the intransigence of the Central Rada, has it overthrown and replaced by a new government under Hetman Pavlo Skoropadsky. However, as Germany's fortunes in the First World War began to wane, so too did the Hetman's control over Ukraine.

The beleagured Ukrainian People's Republic concludes a peace treaty with the Central Powers just as Soviet forces approach Kyiv. But while this action may have secured Ukraine's freedom from Bolshevik domination, it begins to appear as though the Ukrainians had exchanged one conqueror for another.

In 1917, war breaks out between Russia's new Soviet government and the newly independent Ukrainian People's Republic. But as the armies of the Central Powers close in, and anti-Bolshevik opposition grows throughout the former empire, Ukraine is positioned to become a battleground in a much wider conflict.

When the Tsar is overthrown in February of 1917, the Ukrainian people seek to take advantage of this opportunity to exercise their right to national self-determination. Despite the modesty of their initial demands, they are met with resistance from the Russian Provisional Government.

In the mid-18th century, the people of "Little Russia" began to form a new national identity as Ukrainians. Regarded by the Tsarist authorities as a threat to the stability of the Russian Empire, drastic measures would be taken to suppress this movement before it was too late.