Splintering of Eastern Europe: Poland and Ukraine
Overview
Poland
With regards to European History, there is no region more complex and nuanced than the borderlands, sometimes called the “frontier lands”; these are Eastern European countries that are located between Germany and Russia. Two of the most prominent countries in the history of this region are Poland and Ukraine. Both countries have rich histories full of ethnic, cultural, religious, and linguistic diversity. Simultaneously, both countries have fought for autonomy and survival for centuries—sometimes between one another, sometimes between themselves and foreign occupiers: Germany and the Soviet Union. With shifting politics and borders, these countries experienced excessive violence in the twentieth century. But despite their shared border and status as “borderlands,” the histories of Poland and Ukraine are starkly different but ever intertwined. In this way, both countries serve as benchmarks for conflicts that have persisted into the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
Learning Objectives
- Evaluate how both the West and Russia responded to Poland and Ukraine during the interwar era (1919 – 1939).
Key Terms / Key Concepts
borderlands: countries in Eastern Europe that are located between Russia and Germany
Polish-Ukrainian Conflict: conflict between Poland and Ukraine in 1918 – 1919 over the territories of Galicia and Volhynia
Galicia and Volhynia: territories on the Polish-Ukrainian borders that were heavily fought over because of oil and agrarian resources
Polish-Soviet War: major war between Poland and the Soviet Union (1918 – 1921) in which Poland stopped the communists from spreading their revolutionary ideology across Europe
Battle of Warsaw: decisive turning point for the Poles in the Polish-Soviet War
Antisemitism: anti-Jewish ideology
Pogrom: physical attacks on Jewish communities that often result in arrests, beatings, murders, and seizure of Jewish property
Polonization: attempt by Poles to minimize Jewish culture in Poland and promote ethnic Polish culture, which focused on Catholicism, cuisine, dress, and language
Poland
For centuries, Poland has played an integral part economically, politically, and militarily in Central-Eastern Europe. Just east of Germany, it is historically rich in agricultural production, coal, and natural resources. Poland is equally rich in its cultural diversity. The country has historically been ethnically Slavic and religiously Catholic, but also the home to some of the largest Jewish communities in Europe. Historically, Poland has been targeted for exploitation and violent conflict within its borders and with its closest neighbors.
Background
During the late nineteenth century through World War I, Poland did not exist as a country. For this reason, Poles fought on both sides in World War I, although predominately with the Allies. During the war, the lands of present-day Poland were some of the primary regions of conflict on the Eastern Front. The war devastated Polish communities economically and socially, leaving the peasants with little to survive on.
When the Allies won the war in 1918, England, France, and the United States insisted that Poland, which had once been a sovereign nation, regain their former land and become an independent nation once more. President Woodrow Wilson was so committed to the restoration of an independent Poland that he devoted principle #13 to argue for it in his famous Fourteen Points. Its borders were created from lands that were, at that point, part of the three strong empires that surrounded it: Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia.
On paper, the Allies’ support for Poland’s independence appeared altruistic. And perhaps, some of the western politicians supported the movement based on altruistic, humanitarian principles. Behind closed doors, though, western politicians supported the re-establishment of an independent Poland to counter the threat growing in Eastern Europe—the communist Bolsheviks. Drawing on their history, the Allies (correctly) assumed that the Poles would not willingly join with the Bolsheviks. An independent Poland, supported by the Western Allies, would act as a buffer zone between Russia and Western Europe, thus reducing the threat that Lenin’s revolution would sweep across Europe.
Regardless of the motivation, Poland regained its independence following the end of World War I in late 1918. From afar, the Western Allies knew they had been right on two points: Lenin was on the move to seize Europe’s borderlands, and Poland would resist the Soviet tide to the last man.
Second Polish Republic
In late 1918, the Second Polish Republic was born. Following World War I and the collapse of the German, Austro-Hungarian, and Russian Empires, political and economic instability reigned across the borderlands. Poland did not escape these social disruptions. As a country, though, it did achieve something enviable to many of the other borderland countries—independence supported by Western Allies, which involved restoration of their former territory.
Throughout the 1920s, Poland struggled to stay afloat financially, particularly after the Great Depression. Poverty was high, especially in the eastern part of the country. Inflation was rampant. Despite their independence, social tensions were elevated due to the instability within the country and the external threats it faced. Much of the land that fell into Polish hands at the end of World War I was deeply contested by all their Eastern neighbors. Belarus, Lithuania, and Ukraine all believed that borders of the Second Polish Republic incorporated territory that belonged to their nations. As a result of these disputes, Poland engaged in numerous conflicts throughout the 1920s, including wars against Lenin and the Soviets, as well as a war with their next-door neighbor, newly-born Ukraine.
Polish-Ukrainian Conflict
As World War I ended, conflict between Poland and its eastern neighbor, the newly independent Ukraine, escalated into military action. In October 1918, the two countries attacked one another for possession of the lands known as Galicia and Volhynia. These regions lay between the Polish and Ukrainian borders. Both sides sought to gain control of the region. Because of its oil reserves, Galicia was especially important to both nations. In contrast, Volhynia remained largely rooted in agriculture and animal husbandry, which are also important resources because of the enormous amount of food that could be produced in the area.
Poland defeated the Ukrainian troops in the conflict by the summer of 1919 due to better organization, discipline, and Western support. To their delight, the Poles retained control of Galicia and Volhynia. However, the Polish government treated the Ukrainian people who lived in the territories as second-class citizens, which ensured a lingering tension. Furthermore, the Poles did not anticipate the horror that would result from their possession of the two territories, as they became zones of intense fighting during World War II.
Polish-Soviet War
Poland engaged in minor wars with all of its eastern neighbors during the interwar era. But by far the most significant threat remained the communist Soviet Union. As the Western Allies predicted, Lenin was keen to spread his communist revolution across Europe, and possibly topple democracies in the western half of the continent.
Following Germany’s defeat in World War I, the Russians annulled the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and moved to claim territory in central Europe for the Soviet Union. Poland was believed by both the Russians, and the Western Powers alike, to be the one country which could halt the surging red tide. Therefore, it is not surprising that Lenin set his sites on taking control of the nation.
The Poles had no interest in losing their independence, culture, or religion to the Bolsheviks. Battles raged between the Catholic Poles and the seemingly “godless” Red Army. They mounted a dramatic offensive that resulted in their securing territory throughout Belarus, Lithuania, and Poland by early 1920.
The Polish army experienced several significant defeats as the Red Army advanced through Lithuania toward Warsaw. Before the Russians could secure the capital city, the Poles launched a massive defense at the Battle of Warsaw. The massive Polish defense of the city repelled the Russians and forced a ceasefire.
In spring 1921, the Poles had decisively won the Polish-Soviet War. The Peace Treaty of Riga was signed, securing Polish territory in eastern Europe. For the time, Poland had expelled the Russian communists from its lands and intended to remain a democratic nation.
Antisemitism and Polonization
Instability in the borderlands was due to not only external threats but also the disparities among civilians and communities. Active attempts were made to create a Polish identity based on Catholicism, as well as the Polish language and culture. Historically, Polish lands were rich in ethnic diversity. Jews were the largest of the minority groups to live in Poland. They had developed large communities called shtetls throughout the country. For centuries, the Poles and the Jews had developed a workable, if not always harmonious, relationship that enabled them to work and live among one another. However, during the interwar era Polish attitudes shifted dramatically toward their Jewish neighbors—particularly in the poorer parts of the country. Antisemitism spiked across the country. Poles began to circulate the idea that their country and people had suffered so intensely during World War I because of Jewish collaboration with occupying forces. Moreover, they saw the Jews as natural allies of the Russian communists. Thus, in the interwar era, the Poles launched a campaign of Polonization in Galicia and other regions that had large Jewish communities.
During the Polish-Soviet War, and through the early 1920s, Poles engaged in pogroms across the country. These attacks on Jews resulted in hundreds of arrests, widespread murders of Jews, and seizure of Jewish property. While the attacks did not come close to matching the murderous regime of the Nazis in the 1940s, they did signal hostility between Poles and Jews that would persist into World War II to disastrous effect.
Significance
During the interwar years, Poland achieved independence that always seemed under threat. Political, social, and economic strife produced the allusion that the democratic government stood on a narrow precipice and that it could fall if the wind blew too hard. And yet, despite their setbacks and instability, the Poles repelled the Bolsheviks in 1921. Thus, they stopped Lenin’s attempt to spread the communist revolution across Europe. In the process of halting Soviet expansion, Poland created enemies and allies that would become important in World War II.
Ukraine
In the twenty-first century, no Eastern European nation has received such attention or has taken such a place of importance as Ukraine. This country, the largest European nation (other than Russia), is peculiar in its duality. On the surface, it is a country of sweeping landscapes, and a nation of agrarianism. Beneath the pastoral scene though is a country that has been fraught with political tension for over a hundred years.
Learning Objectives
- Evaluate how both the West and Russia responded to Poland and Ukraine during the interwar (1919 – 1939) era
Key Terms / Key Concepts
Ukrainian People’s Republic: independent Ukrainian state from 1917 – 1921 based in Kyiv
West Ukrainian People’s Republic: short-lived Ukrainian state based in Lviv from fall 1918 to summer 1919
Soviet-Ukrainian War: war between Ukrainian government and forces in the Ukrainian People’s Republic and the Russian Red Army (1918 – 1921) that ended in a Russian victory
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic: name for the Ukrainian republic governed by Russia from 1922 – 1921
Background of Ukraine
People have inhabited the present-day country of Ukraine for millennia. Historians generally cite the establishment of Ukrainian people in Eastern Europe in the late 800s with the settlement of the Kyivan Rus—Slavic peoples descended from eastern Viking tribes. Indeed, the Kyvian Rus peoples played a significant role in the Middle Ages, prior to the Mongol invasion. During this time, the basis for the modern Ukrainian language developed, and along with it, a particular sense of an ethnic Ukrainian culture Following the defeat of the Mongols, Ukrainians found themselves in a region with constantly shifting political borders—sometimes belonging to the Poles and Lithuanians, other times to the Russians.
World War I
During World War I, most of the lands where Ukrainians lived were in the Russian Empire. There were, however, significant Ukrainian populations living in the territory of Galicia—a region that was part of Austria-Hungary in 1914. Because of this split, Ukrainian troops fought on both sides of the war throughout World War I, although higher numbers of troops fought on the side of Russia and the Allies.
Like many ethnic groups, the Ukrainians saw the collapse of the Russian, Austro-Hungarian, and German Empires in 1917 – 1918 as a gateway to independence based on ethnic borders. Similarly, they hoped for support from Western democracies, such as Poland had received.
The Two Ukraines
Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, nationalist Ukrainians established an independent government in the city of Kyiv, located at that time in Russian territory. This government proclaimed independence for the Ukrainian People's Republic. The new country would establish its borders based on ethnic Ukrainian populations and loosely model their government on socialist principles.
After the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918, a second nationalist Ukrainian group established the West Ukrainian People's Republic with its capital at Lviv, a city in Galicia. This situation resulted in two separate, briefly independent, Ukraines. Each had their own ideology but advocated for Ukrainian independence and promoted nationalism.
Very quickly, the West Ukrainian People’s Republic government claimed control over the highly contested and desired region of Galicia. This set the fragile Ukrainian state on a collision course with their significantly stronger neighbor, Poland. War for control over Galicia erupted in late 1918, and ended within a year with a Polish victory in the Polish-Ukrainian Conflict. The Polish triumph resulted in the collapse of the West Ukrainian People’s Republic.
Fighting for Survival
With the Western Ukrainian People’s Republic’s collapse in 1919, there was little opportunity for a large and united Ukraine. Even in the larger state of the Ukrainian People’s Republic, division was high. In the western borderlands, Poland remained in control of Galicia. Internal fighting for control of Ukrainian-inhabited lands persisted for two additional years.
Unlike Poland, which had received political support for the reestablishment of its borders from Western allies, Ukraine received no support. Instead, Western countries raised eyebrows at the potentially socialist state that shared a border with Russia. While Poland had strong allies, Ukraine was left to stand alone against Polish and Russian enemies.
Russia also eyed the politically weak, Ukrainian People’s Republic. It not only lacked strong infrastructure but also a strong military because much of the Ukrainian’s fighting force had perished in World War I.
From 1918 to 1921, the Bolsheviks launched campaigns to destroy the Ukrainian People’s Republic and annex its lands into Soviet territory. This campaign pitted the Ukrainian nationalists in Kyiv against the Russian Red Army in the Soviet-Ukrainian War. With no allies, and significantly under-gunned in comparison to the Russians, the Ukrainians capitulated in 1921. In four years, Ukrainian dreams of an independent country were erased. In place of the Ukrainian People’s Republic, Lenin established a pro-Russian, communist government and annexed all of the Ukrainian lands not claimed by the Poles.
With the Russian victory, Lenin and the Bolshevik party annexed the majority of Ukrainian lands into a constituent republic based on Ukrainian ethnicity and named the new republic, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. This new state, joined with Russia, formed the basis of the Soviet Union.
Life for Ukrainians under Russian rule proved challenging. On the one hand, the Russians encouraged “Ukrainization” of the land by encouraging the widespread use of the Ukrainian language in schools, public offices, and in publications. But Joseph Stalin’s rise to power in Russia soon ended the golden age of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, as life for Ukrainians became harsher and increasingly violent.
Legacy
Ukraine’s history during the early twentieth century is simultaneously inspiring and tragic. It lacked the military strength and alliances with the West that Poland had; therefore, it could not successfully repel the Russian Red Army. And yet, regardless of its political and military defeats, the Ukrainian people never relinquished their ethnic pride.
Attributions
All Images from Wikimedia Commons
Prusin, Alexander V. The Lands Between: Conflict in the East European Borderlands, 1870-1992. Oxford University Press, Oxford: 2010. 72-97; 98; 110; 115.
Snyder, Timothy. The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569-1999. New Haven, Yale University Press: 2003. 133-142.