The Polish–Ukrainian War, from November 1918 to July 1919, was a conflict between the Second Polish Republic and Ukrainian forces (both the West Ukrainian People's Republic and the Ukrainian People's Republic).
The conflict had its roots in ethnic, cultural, and political differences between the Polish and Ukrainian populations living in the region, as Poland and both Ukrainian republics emerged from the collapse of the Russian and Austrian empires.
The war started in Eastern Galicia after the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and spilled over into the Chełm and Volhynia regions formerly belonging to the Russian Empire.
Poland won the disputed territory on 18 July 1919.
Background
The origins of the conflict lie in the complex nationality situation in Galicia at the turn of the 20th century. As a result of the House of Habsburg's relative leniency toward national minorities, Austria-Hungary was the perfect ground for the development of both Polish and Ukrainian national movements. During the 1848 Revolution, the Austrians, concerned by Polish demands for greater autonomy within the province, gave support to Ruthenians, the name of the East Slavic people that later was recognized as Ukrainians; their goal was to be recognized as a distinct nationality.C. M. Hann, P. R. Magocsi, Galicia: A Multicultured Land, 2005, University of Toronto Press, p. 14Roman Szporluk. "The Making of Modern Ukraine: The Western Dimension". . Harvard Ukrainian Studies XXV (1/2) 2001. pp. 64–65
Schools teaching Ruthenian language were established, Ruthenian political parties formed and attempts were begun to revive their national culture.Georgiy Kasianov, A Laboratory of Transnational History: Ukraine and Recent Ukrainian Historiography, Central European University Press, 2009, p. 199 In the late 1890s and the first decades of the next century, the populist Ruthenian intelligentsia adopted the term Ukrainians to describe their nationality.P. R. Magocsi. A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its People. University of Toronto Press. 2010. p. 471. They endeavored to promote a national culture, including efforts toward standardization of the Ukrainian language, and the establishment and support of Ukrainian cultural institutions such as scientific societies, theater, and a national museum in Lviv; beginning in the early 20th century, a national consciousness developed among the broader Ruthenian population, which was mainly rural.S. Conrad. Globalisation and the Nation in Imperial Germany. Cambridge University Press, 2010, p. 200.
Multiple incidents between the two nations occurred throughout the late 19th century and the early 20th century. In 1903, both Poles and Ukrainians held separate conferences in Lviv: the Poles in May and Ukrainians in August. Afterwards, the two national movements developed with contradictory goals, which was a cause of the later clash.
The ethnic composition of Galicia underlaid the conflict between the Poles and Ukrainians there. The Austrian province of Galicia consisted of Ruthenian Voivodeship territory that was part of Poland from 1434, and was seized by Austria in 1772, during the First Partition of Poland. The land included the territory of historical importance to Poland, including the ancient capital of Kraków, and had a majority Polish population, but the east Galicia included the heartland of the historic territory of Galicia-Volhynia and had a Ukrainian majority. In eastern Galicia, Ukrainians made up 65% of the population, Poles – 22% and Jews – 12%.Timothy Snyder. (2003). The Reconstruction of Nations. New Haven: Yale University Press, p. 123 However, the eastern Galician cities and towns were mostly populated by Poles and Jews, with Polish people forming the largest group of urban inhabitants.
In the city of Lwów (Lviv), the population in 1910 was approximately 60% Polish"November Uprising in Lviv, 1918". Encyclopedia of Ukraine. and 12% Ukrainian. Poles considered Lviv to be one of Poland's cultural capitals and not having a control over the city was unthinkable for them.
The religious and ethnic divisions corresponded to social stratification. Galicia's leading social class were Polish nobles or descendants of Rus' gentry who had been Polonized in the past, but in the east of the province, Ruthenians (Ukrainians) were the majority of the peasants.P. R. Magocsi. A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its People. University of Toronto Press. 2010. p. 419.R. Bideleux, I. Jeffries. A History of Eastern Europe: Crisis and Change. Taylor & Francis. 2007. p. 182. Poles and Jews were responsible for most of the commercial and industrial development in Galicia in the late 19th century.P. R. Magocsi, 1996, p. 429.
Throughout the 19th and the early 20th centuries, the local Ukrainians attempted to persuade the Austrians to divide Galicia into Western (Polish) and Eastern (Ukrainian) provinces. The Austrians eventually agreed in principle to divide the province of Galicia. In October 1916, Emperor Karl I promised to do so once the war had ended.
Prelude
Due to the intervention of Archduke Wilhelm of Austria, who adopted a Ukrainian identity and considered himself a Ukrainian patriot, in October 1918 two regiments of mostly Ukrainian troops were garrisoned in Lemberg (modern Lviv).Timothy Snyder (2008). Red Prince: The Secret Lives of a Habsburg Archduke. New York: Basic Books, p. 117 As the Austro-Hungarian government collapsed, on October 18, 1918, the Ukrainian National Council (Rada), consisting of Ukrainian members of the Austrian parliament and regional Galician and Bukovynan diets as well as leaders of Ukrainian political parties, was formed. The council announced the intention to unite the West Ukrainian lands into a single state. As the Poles were taking their own steps to take over Lviv and Eastern Galicia, Captain Dmytro Vitovsky of the Sich Riflemen led the group of young Ukrainian officers in a decisive action and during the night of October 31 – November 1, the Ukrainian military units, consisting of 1,400 soldiers and 60 officers, took control over Lviv.The Ukrainian–Polish War 1918–1919 by Nicholas Litvin. Dissertation for Doctor of History, National Library of Ukraine The West Ukrainian People's Republic was proclaimed on November 13, 1918, with Lviv as its capital.
The timing of proclamation of the Republic caught the Polish ethnic population and administration by surprise. The new Ukrainian Republic claimed sovereignty over Eastern Galicia, including the Carpathians up to the city of Nowy Sącz in the West, as well as Volhynia, Carpathian Ruthenia and Bukovina (the last two territories were also claimed by Hungary and Romania respectively).Magocsi, 1996, p. 518I. Livezeanu. Cultural Politics in Greater Romania: Regionalism, Nation Building, and Ethnic Struggle, 1918–1930. Cornell University Press. 2000. p. 56 In Lviv, the Ukrainian residents enthusiastically supported the proclamation. The city's significant Jewish minority accepted or remained neutral towards the Ukrainian proclamation, while the city's Polish majority was shocked to find themselves in a proclaimed Ukrainian state.Orest Subtelny, Ukraine: A History, pp. 367–368, University of Toronto Press, 2000, Since the West Ukrainian People's Republic was not internationally recognized and Poland's boundaries had not yet been defined, the issue of ownership of the disputed territory was reduced to a question of military control.A. Chojnowski. "Ukrainian-Polish War in Galicia , 1918–19." Encyclopedia of Ukraine. Vol. 5 1993.
War
Initial stages Fighting between Ukrainian and Polish forces was concentrated around the declared Ukrainian capital of Lviv and the approaches to that city. In Lviv, the Ukrainian forces were opposed by local self-defence units formed mostly of World War I veterans, students and children. However, skillful command, good tactics and high morale allowed Poles to resist the poorly planned Ukrainian attacks.Subtelny, 2000, p. 370. In addition, the Poles were able to skillfully buy time and wait for reinforcements through the arrangement of cease-fires with the Ukrainians.Vasyl Kuchabsky, Gus Fagan. (2009). Western Ukraine in Conflict with Poland and Bolshevism, 1918–1923. Toronto: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press at the University of Toronto, pp. 44–48 While Poles could count on widespread support from the civilian population, the Ukrainian side was largely dependent on help from outside the city.Chris Hann, Paul R. Magocsi, 2005, p. 144. Other uprisings against Ukrainian rule erupted in Drohobych, Przemyśl, Sambir and Jarosław. In Przemyśl, local Ukrainian soldiers quickly dispersed to their homes and Poles seized the bridges over the River San and the railroad to Lviv, enabling the Polish forces in that city to obtain significant reinforcements.P. J. Wróbel. "The revival of Poland and Paramilitary Violence. 1918–1920." In: Rüdiger Bergien. Spießer, Patrioten, Revolutionäre: Militärische Mobilisierung und gesellschaftliche Ordnung in der Neuzeit. V&R unipress. 2010. p. 296.