The UPR Government’s Decision to Refuse Austro-Hungarian Armed Assistance (March 1918)
Abstract
At the end of February 1918, Austria-Hungary, following Germany, sent its troops to Ukraine in response to the UPR government’s call for armed assistance in the fight against the Bolsheviks. However, almost immediately after the entry of Austro-Hungarian units into Ukrainian territory, the government of the Ukrainian People’s Republic attempted to have them withdrawn. The purpose of the research paper is to identify the reasons for that step by the Ukrainian leaders and to find out its result.
The scientific novelty is that for the first time in the framework of a special study, the motives and content of the Ukrainian government’s decision to remove Austrian and Hungarian military units from the territory of the Ukrainian People’s Republic (March 1918) are uncovered, and the implementation of that decision is highlighted.
Conclusions. In an attempt to secure grain supplies from Ukraine, which Austria-Hungary needed to overcome the acute food crisis, the Austro-Hungarian command, without awaiting the government of the Ukrainian People’s Republic (UPR) to organize exports, ordered its troops, as soon as they entered the territory of the UPR, to buy grain independently and also provide protection estates as the main agricultural producers – on the contrary to the legislation of the UPR, which provided for the abolition of large landownership.
Such interventions in the sphere of internal politics of the UPR prompted its leaders to seek the withdrawal of Austro-Hungarian troops from Ukraine. The general idea was to remove Austrian and Hungarian troops from Ukraine, leaving Ukrainian units that were in Austrian service, in particular the Legion of Ukrainian Sich Riflemen. The plan was supported by some of the German military leaders.
However, it remained unrealized. The Ukrainian government abandoned the idea, apparently, fearing to become dependent on the German troops after the removal of the Austro-Hungarian forces, as well as needing the support of Austria-Hungary in solving its foreign policy tasks, in particular, in the case of the annexation of Bessarabia to the UPR.
Funding. The study was prepared based on the results of fundamental research “The Socio-cultural Space of Ukraine in the Second Half of the Nineteenth – First Third of the Twentieth Century: the Peasant-centric Dimension” (state registration number: 0123U101600) with the support of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.
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