The Collapse of Empires and Dawn of Opportunity

The early twentieth century witnessed the dramatic unraveling of Europe’s continental empires, creating unprecedented opportunities for national self-determination across Eastern Europe. For Ukraine, the dual collapse of the Russian and Austro-Hungarian empires in 1917-1918 created the first genuine opportunity for national self-realization in modern history. Though Ukrainian political movements had existed before World War I, the complete disintegration of imperial control provided the necessary conditions for ambitious nation-building projects.

This period represented a critical juncture in Ukrainian history—a fleeting moment when centuries of foreign domination might be cast aside in favor of independent statehood. The Ukrainian lands, long divided between competing empires, suddenly found themselves in a position to determine their own political future. What followed was a complex, often chaotic struggle that would ultimately shape Ukrainian national consciousness for generations to come.

The Revolutionary Catalyst: Petrograd’s February Revolution

The Ukrainian independence movement found its initial impetus not in Kyiv but in distant Petrograd, where the February Revolution of 1917 spelled the end of Romanov rule. The revolution emerged from a perfect storm of wartime privations: food shortages, military failures, and growing popular discontent with the autocracy. When demonstrations erupted on March 8 (February 23 by the Julian calendar), garrison troops sided with protesters, forcing Nicholas II to abdicate.

In the power vacuum that followed, two competing centers of authority emerged: the Provisional Government formed by liberal members of the Duma, and the Petrograd Soviet representing workers, soldiers, and radical intellectuals. This “dual power” arrangement created inherent instability throughout the former empire, with the central government’s authority constantly challenged by local soviets.

In Ukraine, the situation was even more complex, developing into what historians would later characterize as a “triple power” dynamic. Alongside the all-Russian Provisional Government and local soviets, Ukrainian nationalists quickly established their own governing institution—the Central Rada (Council)—just two days after the tsar’s abdication.

The Central Rada: Ukraine’s First Parliament

On March 17, 1917, activists from the Society of Ukrainian Progressives established the Central Rada in Kyiv, with prominent historian Mykhailo Hrushevsky elected as its chairman. This marked the beginning of organized Ukrainian political life after centuries of imperial suppression. The Rada initially brought together representatives from across Ukraine’s political spectrum, though its membership predominantly consisted of teachers, clergy, students, and cultural figures rather than elected officials.

The political parties within the Rada represented diverse visions for Ukraine’s future. The Ukrainian Party of Socialist-Federalists advocated for autonomy within a reformed Russian state. The Ukrainian Party of Socialist-Revolutionaries, which became the largest faction, pushed for radical land reform to appeal to the peasant majority. The Ukrainian Social Democratic Labor Party included fiery nationalists like Volodymyr Vynnychenko and Symon Petliura, who would play significant roles in the coming struggle.

The Rada quickly moved to establish its authority, organizing mass demonstrations that saw 100,000 people marching under blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flags in Kyiv on April 1. By summer, approximately 300,000 soldiers had sworn allegiance to the Rada rather than the Provisional Government, creating the nucleus of a Ukrainian national army.

Declaring Autonomy: The Universals of 1917

Frustrated by the Provisional Government’s refusal to recognize Ukrainian autonomy, the Central Rada took matters into its own hands. On June 23, 1917, it issued its First Universal (a term derived from Cossack edicts), unilaterally declaring Ukrainian autonomy. The document proclaimed that “the Ukrainian people should have the right to order their own lives on their own land” without breaking from Russia.

This declaration, while symbolically powerful, revealed the Rada’s practical limitations. It controlled no territory, collected taxes only through voluntary contributions, and offered no clear definition of what “autonomy” would entail. The Provisional Government initially ignored the declaration, then appealed to “brotherly Ukrainian people” not to undermine Russian democracy.

Undeterred, the Rada established a General Secretariat headed by Vynnychenko that functioned as a cabinet government. The weakened Provisional Government, facing military collapse on the Eastern Front, eventually recognized the Secretariat’s authority in five Ukrainian-majority provinces, though it stopped short of recognizing the Rada itself.

The Bolshevik Seizure of Power and Ukrainian Response

The Bolshevik coup in Petrograd in November 1917 dramatically altered the political landscape. In Kyiv, Rada forces helped Bolsheviks defeat troops loyal to the Provisional Government, but this temporary alliance quickly soured. On November 20, the Rada issued its Third Universal, proclaiming the Ukrainian People’s Republic as an autonomous unit within a future Russian democratic federation.

This declaration sparked immediate conflict with the Bolsheviks, who rejected Ukrainian independence outright. In December, Bolsheviks convened an All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets in an attempt to overthrow the Rada. When this failed, they established a rival Ukrainian Soviet Republic in Kharkiv on December 25, backed by invading Russian Bolshevik forces.

The Ukrainian People’s Republic found itself outmatched militarily. After fierce fighting that claimed many Ukrainian student volunteers, Bolshevik forces captured Kyiv in February 1918. The Rada fled to Zhytomyr, where it took desperate measures to ensure survival—including secret negotiations with the advancing German army.

Full Independence and Foreign Intervention

Facing existential threat from the Bolsheviks, the Rada took the fateful step of declaring full independence. On January 25, 1918, it issued the Fourth Universal, condemning Bolshevik “chaos, murder and crime” and proclaiming the Ukrainian People’s Republic “an independent, free, sovereign state of the Ukrainian people.”

This move enabled the Ukraine to sign a separate peace treaty with Germany and Austria on February 9. The treaty recognized Ukrainian sovereignty over nine provinces but included secret clauses requiring Ukraine to supply food to the Central Powers. German pressure subsequently forced Bolshevik forces to withdraw from Ukraine by April 1918, but at the cost of making Ukraine dependent on German military support.

The socialist orientation of the Ukrainian People’s Republic—including land nationalization and workers’ rights—clashed with conservative German priorities. Germany needed Ukrainian grain and stability, not social revolution. When the Rada proved unable to deliver on its commitments, Germany implemented a backup plan: installing a conservative monarchy under Pavlo Skoropadsky, a former Russian general and descendant of Cossack hetmans.

The Hetmanate: German Puppet or Nation-Builder

On April 29, 1918, a congress of conservative Ukrainian landowners proclaimed Skoropadsky as Hetman of Ukraine, reviving the historical Cossack title. The same day, the Rada adopted a constitution and elected Hrushevsky as president, but these measures proved meaningless as Skoropadsky assumed power with German backing.

Skoropadsky remains a controversial figure in Ukrainian history. Critics dismiss him as a German puppet and reactionary who restored many tsarist-era institutions, banned strikes, and reinstated censorship. His government included many Russian speakers who favored Ukraine’s eventual reunion with Russia.

Recent scholarship offers a more nuanced assessment. Though not a Ukrainian nationalist, Skoropadsky pursued significant nation-building projects. His administration opened over 150 Ukrainian-language secondary schools and two universities, established the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, National Library, State Archive, and Art Academy—many of which endure today. He established diplomatic relations with numerous European countries and helped legitimize the concept of an independent Ukrainian state.

His regime proved short-lived. German requisitioning of grain provoked peasant uprisings, while political opposition consolidated around the Ukrainian National Union. As Germany faced certain defeat in late 1918, Skoropadsky’s attempts to save his regime failed. In December, he fled Kyiv disguised as a wounded German soldier, and the Hetmanate collapsed.

Western Ukraine: A Different Struggle

While these events unfolded in former Russian territories, Western Ukraine—under Austrian control until 1918—developed along a different trajectory. As the Habsburg Empire collapsed, Ukrainian leaders in Lviv established the Ukrainian National Council, which proclaimed the West Ukrainian People’s Republic on November 1, 1918.

This new republic immediately faced opposition from Polish nationalists, who also claimed these territories. Poles constituted majorities in cities like Lviv, and after street fighting forced the Ukrainian government out of the city by November 22, the conflict escalated into full-scale war between Ukraine and Poland.

Despite relatively developed civil society institutions inherited from Austrian rule, the West Ukrainian People’s Republic struggled against better-organized Polish forces backed by the Entente powers. The republic sought union with the Ukrainian People’s Republic, and formal unification occurred on January 22, 1919, though western regions retained practical autonomy.

Military fortunes continued to decline throughout 1919. Polish forces, originally trained to fight Bolsheviks, were redirected against Ukrainians. By June, the Treaty of Versailles temporarily awarded Galicia to Poland, and surviving West Ukrainian forces retreated across the Zbruch River into eastern Ukraine.

The Directory: Final Attempt at Independence

With the Hetmanate’s collapse, power passed to the Directory—a five-member executive body named after the French Revolutionary Directoire. Dominated by Vynnychenko and Petliura, the Directory reestablished the Ukrainian People’s Republic but ruled as a virtual military dictatorship rather than renewing the Rada.

The Directory faced overwhelming challenges: continued fighting with Bolsheviks, peasant armies controlling much countryside, French intervention in support of White forces in Odesa, and catastrophic epidemics. In February 1919, Bolsheviks recaptured Kyiv, forcing the Directory to retreat westward.

Perhaps most damaging was the wave of pogroms that swept Ukraine in 1919, resulting in approximately 300,000 Jewish deaths—the largest anti-Jewish violence in Europe prior to the Holocaust. All armed factions—Whites, Reds, otamany, and Directory forces—participated in these atrocities, though evidence suggests significant involvement by troops under Petliura’s command. This violence would later lead to Petliura’s assassination in Paris in 1926 by a Jewish anarchist seeking vengeance.

Military fortunes briefly improved in August 1919 when Directory forces, allied with Galician troops, captured Kyiv from the Bolsheviks. But this victory proved fleeting. White forces, committed to restoring a unified Russia, refused to recognize Ukrainian independence and soon forced the Directory out. By December, the Bolsheviks had recaptured most of eastern Ukraine, while Petliura fled to Warsaw to seek Polish support.

The Polish Alliance and Final Collapse

In a controversial move, Petliura allied with Poland in 1920, trading Ukrainian territorial concessions for military support against the Bolsheviks. Polish and Ukrainian forces briefly captured Kyiv in May but were soon driven back by the Red Army. The subsequent Polish-Soviet War ended with the Treaty of Riga in March 1921, which confirmed Polish control over Galicia and western Volhynia while recognizing Bolshevik authority in eastern Ukraine.

This treaty marked the effective end of Ukraine’s independence struggle. The Ukrainian People’s Republic became a government-in-exile, while most Ukrainian territory fell under Soviet control. The dream of independence, so briefly realized, would remain unfulfilled for seven decades.

Soviet Ukraine: Form without Substance

Despite defeating Ukrainian nationalists, the Bolsheviks recognized the utility of maintaining Ukrainian administrative structures. In 1919, they established the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, which technically enjoyed independence until joining the Soviet Union in 1922.

This arrangement represented Lenin’s solution to the “national question”: allowing “national in form, socialist in content” republics that maintained cultural distinctiveness while submitting to Communist Party control. Ukraine retained its own government, capital (initially Kharkiv), and cultural institutions, and even theoretically maintained the right to secede from the union—a provision that would prove significant in 1991.

This Soviet Ukrainian state bore little resemblance to the independent republic envisioned by the Rada. Power resided with the Communist Party, ultimately controlled from Moscow. Yet the mere existence of a Ukrainian administrative entity helped preserve the concept of Ukrainian statehood during the Soviet period.

Western Ukraine Under Polish Rule

The Treaty of Riga left approximately seven million Ukrainians as Europe’s largest stateless minority under Polish, Czechoslovak, and Romanian rule. Nearly five million Ukrainians became Polish citizens, primarily in Galicia and Volhynia.

Polish rule proved bitterly disappointing for Ukrainian aspirations. Despite League of Nations promises of autonomy, Ukrainian-language education, and cultural rights, these commitments went largely unfulfilled—especially after Józef Piłsudski’s 1926 coup established an authoritarian, nationalist regime. Ukrainian schools were closed or Polonized, academic positions eliminated, publications censored, and political participation restricted.

This repression fueled growing Ukrainian resistance, particularly from radical right-wing organizations. The Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), founded in 1929, embraced integral nationalism influenced by fascist ideas and launched a campaign of violence against Polish authorities. Political assassinations, including that of Polish Interior Minister Bronisław Pieracki in 1934, prompted harsh reprisals including internment camps.

Economic hardship, particularly during the Great Depression, further radicalized the population. Massive emigration provided escape for some, but for those who remained, resentment festered—setting the stage for the terrible violence that would engulf the region during World War II.

Legacy of the Independence Struggle

The failed independence struggle of 1917-1921 left complex legacies for Ukraine. The experience demonstrated both the possibility of statehood and the formidable obstacles to achieving it. The period produced enduring national symbols—the trident coat of arms, blue-and-yellow flag, and national anthem—that would be reclaimed after 1991.

Perhaps most significantly, the brief existence of Ukrainian state institutions established the precedent and administrative framework for future independence. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Ukraine possessed both the territorial integrity and governmental structures necessary for immediate statehood—unlike many other post-Soviet republics.

The period also bequeathed difficult historical memories, particularly regarding ethnic violence and collaboration with foreign powers. Figures like Petliura remain controversial—national heroes to some, perpetrators of pogroms to others. These contested memories continue to influence Ukrainian politics and historical discourse.

Ultimately, the independence struggle of 1917-1921 represents both a tragedy of missed opportunity and a crucial foundation for modern Ukrainian statehood. The dream deferred in 1921 would finally be realized seventy years later, when Ukraine emerged as an independent nation with boundaries remarkably similar to those claimed by the Ukrainian People’s Republic. The failed state-building attempts of the revolutionary period provided both inspiration and practical lessons for the generation that would successfully establish an independent Ukraine at the end of the twentieth century.