In December 1918
Hetman of the
Ukrainian State Pavlo Skoropadskyi was deposed after the Directorate was established.
Post-Hetmanate recovery With the defeat of the
Central Powers in World War I, Skoropadsky could no longer rely on Germany and
Austria-Hungary's support. On 13 November 1918 Skoropadky's opponents set up a rival body known as the Directorate, whose forces were headed by the newly reformed
Sich Riflemen. Most of Skoropadsky's troops joined with the Directorate during a month-long Ukrainian Civil War. Skoropadsky then turned to some of the Russian officers who were fighting alongside
Anton Denikin, forming them into a Special Corps, but these troops were not able to face the Directorate's troops. On 19 December 1918, the Directorate's troops took
Kyiv and overthrew Skoropadsky's regime. The Directorate re-established the
Ukrainian People's Republic (UNR). The new regime was torn between the pro-nationalistic, including the party of peasant-democrats, and the factions for the federal union with Russia. At the end the idea to reestablish the
Central Rada was set aside as well as to recover all its legal acts yet the most important one were preserved. On 26 December 1918 the Directorate released its declaration to eliminate the Hetman regime. By the end of 1918 the Directorate began to be dominated by the Ukrainian military leader,
Symon Petliura. Faced by many enemies on all sides the UNR's army was organised to face each threat. To the North-east were the
Bolsheviks, to the south-east were the
Russian Whites, to the south-west
Romanians who had claims on territory in
Bukovina and
Halychyna, and the French intervention force took
Odessa in December 1918 to fill the power vacuum left by the withdrawing Austrians and Germans. Coming quickly to some understanding with the French and the Romanians, the UNR's army was able to employ more men on other fronts.
Change of powers 1919-1920 With major fighting breaking out in January 1919, the Ukrainians were pushed back and Kyiv fell in February 1919. The government moved to
Vinnytsia on 5 February 1919. A political trick took place that the Directorate tried to play with
Volodymyr Vynnychenko resignation to demonstrate a change of powers in the Ukrainian government and maybe attain a possible acceptance with the Entente.
Symon Petliura has left the party and replaced the Vynnychenko's position who was too well known. Petliura has assumed the position of the Directorate's chairman on 11 February 1919, a week after the government moved to
Podolia. The talks, alas, were proved to be without results. By May 1919, the Directorate's armies had been squeezed into a narrow strip of land around
Brody. The Directorate then negotiated with the government of Poland, which was attacking the Ukrainians from behind, with this ceasefire, the Ukrainians were able to counter-attack and re-take
Podilia and established a new capital in
Kamianets-Podilskyi. In July, the UNR's forces were joined by the
Western Ukrainian Republic's forces, who had been pushed out of
Galicia by the Poles. During that time (May 1919), Denikin and his White Army launched an offensive against the Reds, during the summer and autumn of that year. The
White Guards forces pushed the Reds out of the Central and Eastern Ukraine, thus, giving the Directorate another chance to reclaim
Kyiv. But the constant
Red Guards counter-attacks and a deadly typhus epidemic caused the Petliura forces to be pushed out of Ukraine completely into the well established territory of Poland. A political crisis took place inside the Directorate members of which were heavily interfered in the affairs of the Council of People's Ministers. Because of that, Shvets and Makarenko were sent on the state matters abroad. Later in May 1920, on the request of Petliura to return, they did not reply and were dismissed. In 1920, the Polish Army reorganized with the help from the two new Ukrainian divisions to prepare an offensive against the Denikin's forces. A
UNR-Polish Treaty in April 1920 provided for combined operations between the two armies under overall Polish command while recognizing the Polish sovereignty over the territory of the former
West Ukrainian People's Republic with the border passing along the
Zbruch river. In the
Soviet-Polish war of 1920, the Poles and Ukrainians advanced side by side, and the UNR was set up again when they re-took Kyiv. But less than a month later, the Soviet's summer counter-offensive left the Poles and Ukrainians retreating, an armistice was signed in late 1920. With this great disappointment, the UNR forces launched an attack on their own against the Reds from Polish territory, however that was quickly beaten. They were forced back into Galicia. In 1921 Poland concluded the border dispute by the
Treaty of Riga with the Soviet Union, thus, canceling the
Treaty of Warsaw. The Treaty of Riga divided
Western Ukraine among Poland,
Czechoslovakia and
Hungary and gave the
Soviet Union control over the rest of (current) Ukraine (which became the
Ukrainian SSR). ==Normative Acts==