Ukrainian War of Independence
After the collapse of the Russian monarchy in 1917, the people of Ukraine attempted to assert their long-held ambitions of independence. In the years that followed, the leaders of the Ukrainian national movement would be forced to navigate a complex web of belligerent factions as their nation became a battleground in the wider conflict that enveloped the lands of the old empire. Against this vast array of enemies, thousands of Ukrainians would fight and die to make their vision of a free, independent, sovereign Ukraine into a reality.
This is the story of the Ukrainian War of Independence.
Cover Image: Leaders of the Ukrainian national movement in Kyiv’s Sofiivska Square during the Third All-Ukrainian Military Congress, November 1917.
Episodes (listed in reverse order)
"World Peace in Ukraine!" Ukrainian propaganda poster, c.1920.
Bibliography
Doroshenko, Dmytro. A Survey of Ukrainian History. Trident Press Limited, 1975.
Engelstein, Laura. Russia in Flames: War, Revolution, Civil War, 1917-1921. Oxford University Press, 2019.
Hrushevsky, Mykhailo. A History of Ukraine. Archon Books, 1970
Hunczak, Taras. The Ukraine, 1917-1921: A Study in Revolution. Harvard University Press, 1977.
Maslakh, Serhii and Shakhrai, Vasyl. On the Current Situation in Ukraine. University of Michigan Press, 1970.
Plokhy, Serhii. The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine. Basic Books, 2021.
Reshetar, John. The Ukrainian Revolution, 1917-1920: A Study in Nationalism. Princeton University Press, 1952.
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.