Healy, Joseph (2003) Central Europe in Flux: Germany, Poland and Ukraine, 1918-1922
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Healy, Joseph (2003) Central Europe in flux: Germany, Poland and Ukraine, 1918-1922. PhD thesis. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/2324/ Copyright and moral rights for this thesis are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Glasgow Theses Service http://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] University of Glasgow Departament of Central and Eastern European Studies Central Europe in flux: Germany, Poland and Ukraine, 1918-1922 Phd Thesis Josepl'Healy 2003 Table of Contents Preface. Chapter 1. Germany, Poland and Ukraine -A Historical Perspective. Chapter 2. German War Aims and Ukraine, 1914-1918. Chapter 3. German-Polish Relations, 1918-1922. Chapter 4. The German Army in Ukraine, November 1918-March 1919. Chapter 5. The German Foreign Ministry and Ukraine. Chapter 6. Ukraine and German Economic Policy. Chapter 7. Paul Rohrbachand the Ideasof the Ukrainophiles. Chapter 8. The Period of Hostility. Poland and Ukraine, November 1918-January 1920. Chapter 9. The Alliance and the Soviet - Polish War, January-September1920. Chapter 10. East Galicia and the Struggle for Ukrainian Independence, 1918-1921. Chapter 11. The Treaty of Riga and its Aftermath. Chapter 12. Ukrainian Prisoners in the Polish Internment Camps, 1920-1924. Conclusion. Appendix 1 The Treaty of Riga (1921). Appendix 2 The Warsaw Treaty (Agreement) (1920). Appendix 3 Pilsudski's Proclamation of April 1920. Appendix 4 Map of Ukrainian and Polish Railways in 1921. Bibliography. ýýý1 i PREFACE This thesis is an examination of the relationship between the Ukrainian nationalists, led by Petliura (The Ukrainian Peoples' Republic) and both Germany and Poland in the period 1918-1922. The work begins by analysing the historical relationships with both countries prior to the First World War. The Polish relationship was far more long term and the experience of the 17`h century struggle for independenceby Ukrainians against Poland, had a major impact on the development of Polish history and on Ukraine's drift into a union with Russia. This historical experience also influenced the theories of Pilsudski and Wasilewski, as to how the Russian Empire could be reconstructed after its collapse, and the role of Ukraine in the reconfiguration of states in Central and Eastern Europe. Leon Wasilewski, the political and cultural theoretician who influenced Pilsudski, contributed extensively to the historiography. His works on the subject include, Zarys stosunköw galicyjskich (Warsaw, 1906), Ukraina i sprawa ukrainska (Krakow, 1911), Die Ukrainer in Russland und die politischen Bestrebungen derselben (Vienna, 1915), Na Wschodnich Kresach Krdlestwa Polskiego (Piotkrdw, 1916), Die Ostprovinzen des alten Polenreiches (Lithauen Weissruthenien u. die Landschaft Chelm - Ostgalizien - die Ukraina) (Krakow, 1917) and La paix avec 1'Ukraine (Geneva, 1917). I utilised the classic works on Ukrainian history for this, examining the long term historical role of Poland in Ukraine. These include, Orest Subtelny, Ukraine: A History (Toronto: Toronto University Press, 1988) and Paul R. Magosci, A History of Ukraine (Toronto: Toronto University Press, 1996), along with Andreas Kappeler, Kleine Geschichte der Ukraine (Munich: C.H. Beck, 1994). Although the thesisaddresses primarily the situation after World War I and the military collapse of Germany in Eastern Europe, I also examine the historical relationship between Germany and Ukraine, which came to the fore in the period of World War I, and especially following the treaties of Brest Litovsk. This period involved the German recognition of Ukrainian independence, and the German intervention in Ukrainian internal political and economic affairs. These issues are addressed in Chapter 2. It also is necessary to examine the beginnings of strains between Polish and Ukrainian nationalism and the competing claims to territories, such as Chelm. This caused a problem for the Germans, who were in the position of 2 arbitrating the conflicting territorial claims. The German military occupation of Ukraine is also examined and the dictates of German policy in the country. The role of Ukraine in Germany's overall war plans is also analysed and how the Germans placed great importance on the economic place of Ukraine. This is the aspect of German-Ukrainian relations prior to the Nazi period, which has been most analysed by German historians, and I have utilised these sources, together with material from German archives. One of my aims in examining this period is to analyse how the German war aims in Ukraine differed from those following the war and during the early years of the Weimar Republic and to what extent there was continuity. In Chapter 31 have analysed the serious situation, which existed between Poland and Germany during the course of the Versailles Treaty negotiations and until the settling of the plebiscites in areaswith mixed German-Polish populations. The issue of disputed borders bedevilled Polish-German relations as much as it did Polish- Ukrainian. Upper Silesia and East Prussia were the flash points and the situation almost came to war on several occasions. The German hatred of Poland, which arose from virtually all political groupings in Germany, cannot be overestimated, and the sensethat Poland was France's satellite and ally in Central Europe, whose purpose was to contain Germany following Versailles, was the abiding idea in the foreign relations of the two states. The Soviet-Polish War brought this to the fore and I am examining how Germany swung behind Soviet Russia in this conflict, albeit its ability to act was severely constrained by the Entente and Versailles. I demonstrate how the relationship could lead to very differing views on the issue of Ukrainian independence and how an opposing position was nearly always adopted. Chapter 4 deals with the military situation in Ukraine from November 1918, when Germany surrendered to the Allied Powers, until March 1919, when German troops eventually left the country. There has been a very limited historiography on this period from the German perspective, unlike the role of the French and the anarchists. The question I am addressing is how the German military in Ukraine at this time, related to the Ukrainian nationalists, and whether the German military had an independent policy or were merely acting on Allied instructions. I addressed this question by examining the relationship between the German troops and the French and the influence of Bolshevik propaganda on the German army in the east. Most of the sourceshere were from German archives and the work of the German military historian 3 Kurt Fischer. K. Fischer, Deutsche Truppen und Entente-Intervention in Süd Russland 1918/19 (Boppard am Rhein: Harold Bold Verlag, 1973), who has dealt with the German military role in Ukraine in the most detail. I also consulted Richard Debo, Revolution and Survival: The Foreign Policy of Soviet Russia, 1917-18 (1979) and Survival and Consolidation: The Foreign Policy of Soviet Russia, 1918-1921 (1990), also Jeremy Smith, The Bolsheviks and the National Question (1999). Michael J. Carley, Revolution and Intervention: The French Government and the Russian Civil War (1983) was also a relevant source. There is also some reference to the German military role in 1919 in the recent Perry Moore, Stamping Out the Virus. Allied Intervention in the Russian Civil War 1918-1920. (Atglen, PA: Schiffer Military History, 2002). However, all of the above works, with the exception of Fischer, concentrate on the role of the French in Ukraine, and the foreign policy of the Bolsheviks, rather than the German - Ukrainian perspective. In Chapter 5 the foreign policy of the early Weimar Republic, as it related to Ukraine is analysed, and particularly the views of the Auswärtiges Amt (Foreign Ministry). The principal issues here are to what extent the foreign policy of the German Republic differed from that of the empire and how the Foreign Ministry regarded the Ukrainian nationalists, with particular emphasis on the development of the Polish - Ukrainian alliance and its impact on German policy. Here I have used German archival sources from the Political Archive of the Foreign Ministry (Politische Archiv des Auswärtiges Amt) in Bonn, together with the Bundesarchiv (Federal Archive) in Potsdam, which includes the files of other government departments, together with press reports. The issue of diplomatic recognition by Berlin of the Soviet regime in Ukraine is addressed, and particularly attempts to pressurise Berlin by holding German diplomats hostage in Kiev. How did the arrest and detention of Radek, the Soviet representative in Berlin, impact on the diplomatic game being played out between Kharkov and Berlin? To what extent was Germany's refusal to recognise Soviet Ukraine the result of Entente pressure not to do so, and what was Germany's perspective on the various regimes in Ukraine during the course of 1919 and 1920? What was the imperative behind the Foreign Ministry's policy of `wait and see'? Following this, in Chapter 6I have addressedthe important issue of German economic interest in Ukraine, which dated from the period of the German occupation. What was the involvement of German industrialists in formulating policy towards 4 Ukraine and how German fears about the loss of the Ukrainian market led to an attempt to foster good relations with both the White regime of Denikin and the Soviet Ukrainian government? I am examining the influence of economic realpolitik on German relations with Ukrainian nationalists. The files of the Economics Ministry and the Reichs Chancellory files in the Bundesarchiv in Potsdam, together with Foreign Ministry files in Bonn, dealing with economic affairs were used as sources.