Українознавство (Sep 2019)
Military and Political Confrontation between the UPR and RSFSR in the Modern Ukrainian Historiography
Abstract
The article analyzes the coverage of the first Bolshevik-Ukrainian war (December 1917 – April 1918), which began as a result of the conflict between the UPR and the RSFSR, by modern Ukrainian scientists. In the days of Ukraine’s independence, a considerable amount of research on this confrontation appeared. These are the works of V. Verstiuk, O. Boiko, L. Harcheva, V. Yeshpanov, Ya. Tynchenko, V. Savchenko, V. Soldatenko, S. Lytvyn, M. Kovalchuk, and others. This historiographical exploration focuses on new approaches and interpretations in the writings of domestic scientists on the most important events of this war. It has been investigated that the scientific literature has covered in great detail the causes of the first Soviet-Ukrainian war and the peculiarities of the events of late 1917, early 1918, as well as the more important motives for military failures of national formations. The majority of modern domestic researchers are claimed to conclude that the UPR was not ready for war. Their works analyze the causes and consequences of the conflict between V. Vynnychenko and S. Petliura; the latter’s measures to build the Ukrainian army; his steps to strengthen Ukraine’s defense capability and prepare for the counteraction against the Bolshevist aggression in November–December 1917. Scientists lay the main responsibility for the difficult situation on V. Vynnychenko as the head of the Ukrainian government, who failed to secure Ukraine’s defense and did not support S. Petliura’s efforts to organize resistance to the Bolsheviks’ offensive. The questions of the UPR’s readiness for the war with the RSFSR, its origins and beginning, failure in the creation of a national army remain controversial in the latest scientific works. The scientists disagree on the fighting capacity of the military forces, both Ukrainian and Soviet, and their numbers. These differences in figures are quite significant and require further clarification.
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