波乌战争

The Polish–Ukrainian War, from November 1918 to July 1919, was a conflict between the Second Polish Republic and Ukrainian forces (both the West Ukrainian People's Republic and the Ukrainian People's Republic).

The conflict had its roots in ethnic, cultural, and political differences between the Polish and Ukrainian populations living in the region, as Poland and both Ukrainian republics emerged from the collapse of the Russian and Austrian empires.

The war started in Eastern Galicia after the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and spilled over into the Chełm and Volhynia regions formerly belonging to the Russian Empire.

Poland won the disputed territory on 18 July 1919.

Background

The origins of the conflict lie in the complex nationality situation in Galicia at the turn of the 20th century. As a result of the House of Habsburg's relative leniency toward national minorities, Austria-Hungary was the perfect ground for the development of both Polish and Ukrainian national movements.……

Prelude

Due to the intervention of Archduke Wilhelm of Austria, who adopted a Ukrainian identity and considered himself a Ukrainian patriot, in October 1918 two regiments of mostly Ukrainian troops were garrisoned in Lemberg (modern Lviv).……

War

Initial stages

Fighting between Ukrainian and Polish forces was concentrated around the declared Ukrainian capital of Lviv and the approaches to that city. In Lviv, the Ukrainian forces were opposed by local self-defence units formed mostly of World War I veterans, students and children. However, skillful command, good tactics and high morale allowed Poles to resist the poorly planned Ukrainian attacks.……

Diplomatic front

The Polish and Ukrainian forces struggled on the diplomatic as well as military fronts both during and after the war. The Ukrainians hoped that the western allies of World War I would support their cause because the Treaty of Versailles that ended the first world war was based on the principle of national self-determination.……

Civilian casualties

Historian Christoph Mick states there was no systematic violence nor massacres of ethnic Poles by Ukrainians during the course of this war but that both sides blamed each other for bloodshed. When Ukrainian forces first captured Lwów they refused to take hostages, tolerated Polish recruitment centers and were even prepared to enter negotiations with the Polish side, but were met with armed resistance.……

Aftermath

Approximately 10,000 Poles and 15,000 Ukrainians, mostly soldiers, died during this war. Ukrainian POWs were kept in ex-Austrian POW camps in Dąbie (Kraków), Łańcut, Pikulice, Strzałków, and Wadowice.

Both sides conducted mass arrests of civilians. By July 1919, as many as 25,000 Poles ended up in Ukrainian internment camps, in Zhovkva, Zolochiv, Mykulyntsi, Strusiv, Yazlovets, Kolomyya and Kosiv.……

Legacy

Although the 70 to 75 thousand men who fought in the Ukrainian Galician Army lost their war, and Galicia became Polish, the experience of proclaiming a Ukrainian state and fighting for it significantly intensified and deepened the nationalistic Ukrainian orientation within Galicia. Since the interwar era, Galicia has been the center of Ukrainian nationalism.