Skip to main content

Chronology

1902-1903 Peasant uprisings in the Poltava-Kharkiv region of the Russian Empire and in Austrian Galicia.

1904 Central Union of Ukrainian Cooperatives organized in Austrian Galicia, with 550 branches and 180,000 members.

1904-1905 Russo-Japanese War.

1905 General workers’ strikes throughout Russia, including in Kyiv, Odesa, Katerynoslav, and Kharkiv; Tsar Nicholas II issues the October Manifesto on the improvement of state order on 17 October, granting the Russian people basic civil liberties and a voice in legislation.

1906 First Russian State Duma (May-July); Russia implements Pyotr Stolypin agrarian reforms on 9 November, granting individuals the right to land ownership. 

1907 Austria-Hungary introduces universal suffrage; Second Russian State Duma (March-June) and Third Russian State Duma (November 1907 to June 1912).

1908 Józef Pilsudski founds the Union of Active Struggle (ZWC) in Galicia protesting against violations of election law; Ukrainian student Myroslav Sichinskyi assassinates Governor Andrzej Potocki.

1910 Józef Pilsudski's Union of Active Struggle organizes a paramilitary organization "Związek Strzelecki” in Lviv; Adam Kotsko, a Ukrainian student, is killed in a clash with Polish students at Lviv University.

1911 Dmitrii Bogrov assassinates the Prime Minister of the tsarist government, Pyotr Stolypin, at the Kyiv Opera House on 18 September.

1912 Fourth Russian State Duma (November 1912- March 1917)

1914 Austria-Hungary declares war against Serbia on 28 July; Germany declares war against Russia on 1 August and against France on 3 August; Austria-Hungary declares war against Russia on 6 August. The Austro-Hungarian troops included national legions, Polish, Albanian, and Ukrainian (Ukrainian Sich Riflemen) 

1914, August A pro-Austrian Ukrainian Rada is formed in Lviv, headed by parliamentarian Kost Levytskyi, which after the defeat of the Austrian army in Galicia transfers to Vienna. Socialists from Eastern Ukraine establish the Union for the Liberation of Ukraine in Lviv.

1914, August Russian troops defeat the Austrian-Hungarian army in the Battle of Lemberg and occupy eastern Galicia.

1915 After a lengthy siege, the 120,000-strong Austro-Hungarian garrison of Przemysl surrenders to the Russian army in March.

1915 The Ukrainian Rada reorganizes in Vienna.

1915 German troops break the Russian stronghold in June, leading to the departure of the tsarist army from Galicia.

1915 The Ukrainian Rada and the Union for the Liberation of Ukraine join to form the General Ukrainian Rada.

1917 'February' Revolution breaks out in Russia in March; Tsar Nicholas II abdicates; Russian Provisional Government formed. Ukrainians in Eastern Ukraine take steps towards independence, eventually leading to proclamation of the Ukrainian National Republic (U.N.R.).

1917, March Central Rada (Council) set up in Kyiv following collapse of Russian Empire.

1917, June-November First, Second, and Third universals of Central Rada declared.

1918, January Fourth universal of Central Rada declares independence of Ukrainian People's Republic.

1918, April-May Ukrainian forces in Kyiv disarmed by German troops; All-Ukrainian Agrarian Congress declares Pavlo Skoropadskyi hetman; Central Rada deposed.

1918, Spring-Summer Numerous rival governments continue to vie for control for some or all of Ukraine during ensuing civil war.

Fall 1918 World War I draws to a close; collapse of Austria-Hungary. Preparations for declaration of Western Ukrainian independence. Establishment of Western Ukrainian National Republic (Z.U.N.R.).

1 November 1918 Ukrainian takeover of Lviv, leads to Immediate conflicts with Poles. War between the Z.U.N.R. and Poland until early summer 1919.

15 December 1918 Directory of U.N.R. takes power.

1919, January Paris Peace Conference begins; Act of Union between the U.N.R. and Z.U.N.R. proclaimed in Kyiv.

1919, February Bolshevik forces take Kyiv; Symon Petliura becomes head of Directory.

1919, May Central Ruthenian People's Council declares voluntary union of Transcarpathia with Czechoslovakia.

1919, August-September White armies drive Bolsheviks out of Ukraine; Treaty of Saint-Germain concerning dissolution of Austria-Hungary.

1919, December Treaty between the U.N.R. and Poland; Curzon Line established as eastern border of Poland.

1919, December-2020, May First Winter Campaign of Army of U.N.R.

21 April 1920 Warsaw Pact signed between the Directory and Poland, according to which Poland receives Galicia and Volhynia in exchange for military aid, and renounces claims to Dnieper Ukraine in favour of the U.N.R.

25 April 1920 Beginning of the Polish-Soviet War of 1920.

4 June 1920 Treaty of Trianon: Hungary recognizes the independence of Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, as well as the transfer of Slovakia and Transcarpathian Ukraine to Czechoslovakia.

1920, August Soviet advance on Warsaw. U.N.R. mission evacuated to Tarnow.

1921, March Peace of Riga brings an end to the Polish-Soviet war of 1919-1920. Ukraine and Belarus are divided between Russia and Poland.

8 May 1921 Transcarpathia annexed by Czechoslovakia.

1922 Stalin elected General Secretary of the Bolshevik Party in May; the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is formed, from a confederation of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and the Caucasus Federation, at the 1st Congress of the Council of the Union held in December.

1923 The territory of Eastern Galicia is officially transferred by the League of Nations to Poland.

Appendices
Chronology