Ukrainian Attempts at State Building in 1917–1921 and the Idea of Intermarium: A Historiographical and Archival Note
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Date
2017
Authors
Boyko, Viktoria
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Abstract
This paper aims to shed light on the historiographical and archival component of an important
topic - the efforts to build an independent Ukrainian state in the period 1917-1921. It also
scrutinizes Polish Eastern Policy of that period to provide background for further research. The
issues touched upon in this brief review indicate the need for further research in this thematic
realm. The historiography given in this article captures the views of Polish political elites at the
turn of the twentieth century. It could be argued that these elites were strongly focused on the
resurrection of an independent Polish state. One of the strongest positions was formulated by
the National Democrats, the so-called Endeks, led by the well-known political figure Roman
Dmowski, who in his Thoughts of a Modern Pole (1903), or in Germany, Russia, and the Polish
Problem (1908), as well as in his Polish Politics and the Rebirth of the State (1925) and other works
stressed the idea of incorporating Ukrainian lands into the Polish state, and called Ukrainians an
“ahistorical,” “non-state” nation, i. e. a nation with no right to have a state of their own. The Endeks
believed that only those lands along its eastern border should be incorporated. These were lands
that Poland could “digest” and gradually Polonize completely, thus becoming a monoethnic state.
He considered Eastern Galicia, Volhynia, and Podillia to be such territories. Other Ukrainian
lands according to the Endeks should belong to Russia and act as a counterweight to German
hegemony. Simultaneously the idea of antemurale, of Poland being a bulwark of Christianity
confronting the East, was seen as part of the great mission to protect Western civilization from
the Bolshevik threat. Thus, in this part of the Polish political elite’s vision there was no place for
an independent Ukraine.
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Keywords
Ukrainian National Republic, Polish Eastern Policy, Intermarium, Józef Piłsudski, article
Citation
Boyko V. Ukrainian Attempts at State Building in 1917–1921 and the Idea of Intermarium: A Historiographical and Archival Note / Viktoria Boyko // Kyiv-Mohyla Humanities Journal. - 2017. - No. 4. - P. 95-100.