The Military-Political Alliance and Diplomatic Cooperation of the UPR and the WUPR

Abstract

The article deals with the relationship between the West Ukrainian People’s Republic and the Ukrainian People’s Republic during the Ukrainian revolution of 1917–1921. Within this framework, the military-political union and the interaction in the diplomatic sphere between the UPR and the WUPR are examined. It is noted that the question of the Union of the WUPR with Dnipro Ukraine arose due to the large-scale aggression of Poland in the West and the offensive of the Bolsheviks from the East. However, it was envisaged that the WUPR would be granted broad autonomy with its own army and government. The WUPR received considerable military and material aid from the UPR, which contributed to the war with a much stronger enemy. It is argued that after the union was created, there was a need for harmonization and co-ordination of foreign policy of the states and their foreign affairs agencies. As a result, those institutions acquired all-Ukrainian status. However, this did not affect WUPR missions in the countries that emerged in the territories of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, namely Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. Other diplomatic missions become common for the UPR and the WUPR. The article states that over time certain controversies emerged as for the vision of foreign policy priorities of the WUPR and the UPR. The government and military leadership of the WUPR began to cooperate with the Bolsheviks. One of the reasons is the lack of power of the WUPR armed forces and the Bolshevik sympathy towards them. Besides, the increasing number of Galician and Dnipro Ukraine politicians and diplomats offered Y. Petrushevych to change his foreign policy orientation, distance himself from S. Petliura and be guided solely by his own interests. In turn, S. Petliura forged an agreement on behalf of the UPR on the recognition of Eastern Galicia as part of Poland and the rejection of previous acts of national unity. The article also deals with the process of establishing the military cooperation of the WUPR with the Bolsheviks and the agreements inter se. Keywords: WUPR, UPR, military-political alliance, diplomacy, foreign policy, Bolsheviks.