Ukraine

Ukraine, also known as the Ukrainian State, is a country in eastern Europe.

Russian Revolution & Independence
Following centuries of Imperial Russian rule, Ukraine was established as an autonomous region of the Russian Empire in the summer of 1917 and became fully independent in the winter of 1918. However the fledgling republic would become endangered as Soviet forces began several incursions along the border, seizing Kyiv on February 9th, 1918. Terrified of losing their independence, the Central Rada contacted the Germans, who were occupying large swaths of Eastern Europe. As part of the negotiations of the Treaty of Brest Litovsk, the Germans promised to intervene and aid Ukraine in expelling the Bolsheviks - in return, the Ukrainians would have to provide the Central Powers with grain. By April, the German-Austrian Operation Faustschlag had completely ousted the Bolsheviks from Ukraine. However, the Republic had turned out to be corrupt and inefficient and unable to deliver on promises for grain shipments made with Germany. In addition, despite having expelled the Bolsheviks from the country, socialist agitation continued throughout much of the country.

Formation of the Hetmanate
Eventually the Germans forcefully disbanded the Rada after they attempted to implement a series of social reforms and failed to deliver grain to Germany. In the process German forces arrested Prime Minister Vsevolod Holubovych on charges of terrorism. After the coup, the Germans replaced the Rada with a conservative government led by Pavlo Skoropadskyi, called the Hetmanate, and replaced the UPR with the “Ukrainian State”. While the Hetman was backed by Ukrainian Cossacks, Poles, and even Russians, he had little support from Ukrainian intellectuals. On April 29th, 1918, the All-Ukrainian Farmers’ Congress elected Skoropadskyi as the Ukrainian Hetman. As a result of the change in leadership all the reforms of the UPR were reversed and censorship was introduced, and eventually, unlike the Rada, was able to establish control over much of the country, establish diplomatic ties to foreign countries, and sign a peace treaty with the RSFSR.

Ukrainian nation-building
During this time the Ukrainian State also began printing Ukrainian textbooks and establishing Ukrainian schools, though the country was unable to establish effective economic policies on its own, instead relying on German aid. After the capture of Kharkiv in early 1919, the issue of Nestor Makhno and his Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine could not be ignored any longer. Bolstered by German military units and equipment, Skoropadskyi announced an offensive to eliminate the anarchist insurgency. Operations began slowly, as numerous raids on Ukrainian troops were done by Makhno himself. The goal of the raids was to capture German equipment such as artillery and machine guns. However, the raids only wrought mild success, and when the Ukrainian Army began offensives on March 2nd, the RIAU’s forces were beaten back and by 1920 the Black Army had been reduced to a low level insurgency.