Petliura’s alliance with Poland

At the end of 1919 the position of Petliura’s army was difficult. He had to fight against the Reds and the Whites at the same time. As he had no chances to defeat his powerful enemies he turned to Poland for help. Petliura agreed to Poland’s incorporation of Galicia and western Volhynia in return for Polish military help against the Bolsheviks. That enraged West Ukrainians who accused him of treason. Poles were interested in war with the Bolsheviks not so much to defeat them as to create a buffer East Ukrainian state between themselves and Soviet Russia.

The Polish-Ukrainian offensive was successful at first. By 6 May the allied forces, took Kyiv. Petliura and the Polish generals expected Ukrainian peasants to rebel against the Reds but it did not happen. By June the Bolsheviks launched a counterattack which brought them great success. The Polish capital Warsaw was under threat. The Poles were ready to renounce considerable parts of western Ukraine and western Belarus but Lenin decided to attack Warsaw and start all-European revolution from there. The threat of loosing independence inflamed patriotism in Poland. Poland conducted mobilization and counterattacked the Reds. The Bolsheviks were forced to retreat and lost western Ukraine and western Belarus. Exhausted by the war the Reds and the Poles decided to divide Ukraine. As a result of the war with Soviet Russia the Poles got the lands promised by Petliura but failed to establish a buffer Ukrainian state. Unable to fight against the Soviets alone Petliura’s army retreated to the Polish side of the border and was interned. The war for Ukrainian independence was finally over.

Дата добавления: 2015-07-11