Why Ukraine and Poland Went to War in 1919? (Polish-Ukrainian War Documentary)

Lviv or Lwów are two names for the same city that was known as Lemberg until 1919. The Poles considered it as one of their most important cultural and political centers, the Ukrainians too. And so, in the aftermath of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the question of who would control this city led to conflict: The Polish-Ukrainian War.
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» SOURCES
Smele, Jonathan. The ‘Russian’ Civil Wars 1916-1926 (London: Hurst, 2015).
Mawdsley, Evan. The Russian Civil War (New York: Pegasus Books, 2005).
Leonhard, Jörn. Der überforderte Frieden. Versailles und die Welt 1918-1923 (CH Beck, 2018).
Macmillan, Margaret. The Peacemakers: Six Months That Changed the World (London: John Murray, 2001)
Dudko, Oksana: Polish-Ukrainian Conflict over Eastern Galicia , in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War, ed. by Ute Daniel, Peter Gatrell, Oliver Janz, Heather Jones, Jennifer Keene, Alan Kramer, and Bill Nasson, issued by Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin 2014-10-08 encyclopedia.1914-1918-online...
Kutschabsky, W. Die Westukraine im Kampfe mit Polen und dem Bolschewismus in den Jahren 1918-1923 (Berlin, 1934)
Davies, Norman. White Eagle Red Star (Random House, 2003 (1972))
Sharp, Alan. The Versailles Settlement. Peacemaking and the First World War, 1919-1923 (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008)
Judson, Pieter. The Habsburg Empire: A New History (Belknap Press, 2016)
Böhler, Jochen. Civil War in Central Europe, 1918-1921 (Oxford University Press, 2019)
Timothy Snyder. The Reconstruction of Nations. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003)
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»CREDITS
Presented by: Jesse Alexander
Written by: Jesse Alexander
Director: Toni Steller & Florian Wittig
Director of Photography: Toni Steller
Sound: Toni Steller
Editing: Toni Steller
Motion Design: Philipp Appelt
Mixing, Mastering & Sound Design: above-zero.com
Maps: Daniel Kogosov ( / zalezsky )
Research by: Jesse Alexander
Fact checking: Florian Wittig
Channel Design: Alexander Clark
Original Logo: David van Stephold
Contains licensed material by getty images
All rights reserved - Real Time History GmbH 2020

[@TheGreatWar]

Support for this episode also came from Game of Trenches, a free mobile game out now for iOS and Android: bit.ly/GameOfTrenches * *Ads like this help us with the production of this show, for example we were able to hire someone in Kiev this month who was able to get us pictures from the Ukrainian National Archive. This included a lot of analog bureaucracy and of course that kind of work doesn't come for free.

[@user-qq9rh]

Do us a favour and bayonet charge on

[@jackapgar5824]

Jan Rudnicki shut up

[@snakeking1012]

Will you guys do an episode on Lithuania

[@chervon5773]

Jan Rudnicki No one was completely innocent in these times. Not Poles, not Ukrainians, not Russians, no one

[@janrudnicki6111]

@@chervon5773 We have documents that speak differently.

[@chervon5773]

Also the whole conflicts in the East were insane. In 1919 alone, Kyiv changed hands over a dozen times. Imagine living there and being part of a different country every month.

[@TheTimer81]

That is interesting to know. Can you give me some reference for further studing?

[@zapelen]

TheTimer81 read some Bulgakov books, for example "White Guard" it's about White officers in Kiev in that time

[@Newbmann]

@@TheTimer81 It's probably like living in Stalins Italian city STALINO ops I ment donensk today. That's just as insane

[@john_smith_john]

@@Newbmann wtf are you on about

[@toyvoobrygan2926]

zapelen Bulgakov was pro-white and all his memories directed to praise all that dedicated to russian empire

[@lordsteppergod7269]

History class never talked about this war

[@QALibrary]

mine too, that talked a lot about the Russia civil war and a very small part about Allied troops being used to help the Whites vs the Reds

[@MajorCoolD]

Indeed... I guess it disrupts the 'easy' black and white morality that made the Germans the bad guys in the initial stages of the following great war. Afterall, a poor, unprepared and innocent Poland is probably more sympathethic than a Bellicose Nation, hungry for power and filled with a sense of superiority, that almost immediatly after it's conception started to wage war on it's own neighbours. But then again so is war, so is politics. The rich and powerfull give the tune and the little man can do little more than to dance the jig and make the best of it.

[@threaruscamuwundra7417]

I mean, in the grand scheme of the entire history of the planet. You wouldnt see this one covered as it hasnt that much of an impact as other wars. But still interesting nonetheless

[@historycenter4011]

Irrelevant to world or american history. History class isnt gonna talk about every bloodly little conflict.

[@Shivom.Parihar]

Shut up you toxic anti semitic fool.

[@marsoz_]

I'm so glad someone is covering the post-WWI conflicts in-depth. Only recently my only knowledge of anything after WWI was the Spanish Civil War, now I have a whole new period of history to study!

[@neilwilson5785]

Yes, I was thinking that during this video. I've seen the same history repeated over and over on TV, but not THIS history. It's a chance to learn new things.

[@williestyle35]

You really don't hear much because that is the Western narrative. In the East, war fighting never really came to an end. After the Russian Revolution things accelerated. Just look how much has already been covered by this channel.

[@marek2853]

In the same time was Czechoslovak And pole war about silesia..or Czechoslovak And hungarian war about slovak land ...romanian army join ...And Many more

[@marek2853]

And Czechoslovak legions war in the russia against red army...it was blood time... Incredible story about our legions in the russia...

[@estebanjimenez420]

Check out thr Rif War.

[@JasonSputnik]

I never knew about TWO different Ukrainian states and armies. Thank you guys, this channel keeps getting better!

[@OchotaJack]

And in Kharkiv had its own capitol and government soviet Ukraine..

[@marcinmalczewski310]

Probably even more than that. Ukrainians anarhists and their warlords where also force to be recon with. Thats why western powers didnt consider Ukraine as serius nation.

[@alekshukhevych2644]

Those were Russian puppet states though..The Donets republic and the newly founded soviet Ukraine!

[@user-hb4fc8be2w]

Ukraine would cease to exist in the not to distant future. More than 30 millions see themselves as Russians and would eventually rejoin Russia.

[@alekshukhevych2644]

@@user-hb4fc8be2w if that were true Ukraine would never exist. In 2013 they did a survey with 91% of the 42 Million Ukrainian citizens considering themselves Ukrainian. Ukrainian is a nation whose seperation from Russians and Poles is very clear. Our languages are different, we have different last names, wear different national clothing, have seperate history and have different traditions. Ukraine is a mono-ethnic country, over 90% are ethnic Ukrainiand. U are brainwashed my Serbian friend! If that were true Ukraine would have ceased to exist kn 2014 with the Russian spring..which by the way was pretty small..Biggest pro-Russian demonstrations had only 10,000 ppl in Donetsk...

[@HS-su3cf]

The War to End All Wars ended November 11th 1918. Somebody obviously didn't get the memo.

[@MusicandGamesandStuf]

The War to End All Empires seems to fit better

[@justinbeath5169]

@@MusicandGamesandStuf in that case Britain, France, and Japan didn't get the memo

[@conveyor2]

@@justinbeath5169 And the USA.

[@justinbeath5169]

@@conveyor2 America isn't an empire

[@2x2leax]

@@justinbeath5169 But had colonies, like the Philippines or Puerto Rico.

[@SamIAmSXE]

Happy Birthday, TGW! Been watching since year one.

[@neilwilson5785]

I was late to the war (1915/2015), but not as late as the yanks. Just kidding, we love what you did for us.

[@ReidHenderson]

I'm absolutely baffled by the number of wars from 1900 to 1944 it's insane. And they definitely never went through it in public school history classes! I find it extremely interesting.

[@Akhjar7161]

Because they want to tell you the rest of the world outside of Europe is uncivilized and always at war with each other, specially the African tribes. And it's not just from 1900 to 1944. Remember 100 years old, thirty years war, thirteen years war?

[@mikefay5698]

Censorship of History was intense in my day and continues. The Internet makes us free!

[@charlesburgoyne-probyn6044]

It doesn't fit the narrative of 1914 -18 and 1939 -45 the British are used to as the wars because they were ours the others well that's nothing to us, what is remarkable is how restive eastern Europe west Asia was until the early 1920's violence begats violence in one way people get fed up with it all in another it's like aftershocks from an earthquake

[@cuzi123]

Not covered in school because they are too busy convincing children they are trans or showing drag queen shows

[@vibranium-riprich314]

You mean 1914-1945?

[@andregurkenstein9192]

Wait we gonna get four more year of this. You're a blessing

[@OptimusShr]

There probably is four more years worth of material due to all the fallout from the war.

[@axelpatrickb.pingol3228]

Between the German Revolution of 1919 and the solidification of everything in Europe by 1925 there is a lot of stuff to uncover in between...

[@ethank.6602]

Thats the job of between two wars

[@horsefish2525]

I`m impressed how honest and clear way you have pictured complexity of political and military situation during Polish-Ukrainian War of 1919.

[@jessealexander2695]

Thanks!

[@Ivan_StandWithUkraine]

As a Ukrainian, I can confirm that this viseo is objective and neutral. Thanks.

[@oleksandrshulvinsky7812]

I am Ukrainian and I also share pan's Wojciech opinion about honesty and clarity of this video. It is imporant to look back reasonably for both nations.

[@jessealexander2695]

To all three of you: I am very glad you chose to comment. We knew this episode dealt with a topic that is still sensitive for many people, and we put a lot of effort into the research and the writing (down to discussing some individual words we used) to make sure we told the story but also did so in the most objective balanced way we could. Of course many people will criticize (and that's okay, it's youtube comments), but I am glad you saw our effort!

[@volodymyrbondarenko9471]

I agreed. Peace

[@Dany94256]

*hears Prezmysìl Fortress and Lemberg mentioned* "Hello darkness my old friend..."

[@neilwilson5785]

I love the different pronunciation of the city by Indy and Jesse. I am British, and just say 'Przzmshlll' I can't do it.

[@Dany94256]

@@neilwilson5785 I can relate, Neil! Being Italian, the tendency is to beat down on the z and have it as PR(E)MIZEL, but it's not correct. Try after try, I got around an half decent "premishil", but huge props to both Indy and Jesse for being so polyglot versatile

[@TheGreatWar]

the secret for Przemysl is that the word has only two silibels when you pronounce it.

[@Dany94256]

@@TheGreatWar isn't that the secret for the whole polish language? XD

[@aerodynamism5438]

Well you also may name Prezmysil on ukrainian (Peremyshl) or german (Premissel)

[@oldesertguy9616]

I never paid much attention to the period right after the war. It's really fascinating how the fighting never stopped.

[@LuvBorderCollies]

When you dig deep into European/Mediterranean/Near East history you see that war never ended. For small areas there would be "peace" but it was only temporary. The crazy thing is much of the fighting and wars was over who gets to sit on the throne!!

[@oldesertguy9616]

@@LuvBorderCollies I "luv" your screen name. One of the best dogs I ever had was a Border Collie. They are amazing.

[@LuvBorderCollies]

@@oldesertguy9616 Best dog a person could ever hope for but they are a little challenging as puppies. LOL

[@GuinessOriginal]

Still hasn’t

[@maciek_k.cichon]

Funny how the German name of the city is politically neutral in this case. Great to have you guys for all these years!

[@readisgooddewaterkant7890]

​@Polish Hero Witold Pilecki poles where the ones who tried to asimilate ukrainians austrians did not

[@GuinessOriginal]

@zx yeah west Ukrainians certainly always have collaborated with Germans

[@GreatPolishWingedHussars]

That's nonsense to call the city German-Austrian! This is the term used by the occupiers and is certainly not the name of this city in English! Incidentally, the city should be called Polish Lwów in this context, because the majority of the population was Polish at the time and the city then properly belonged to Poland after this war.

[@renemagritte8237]

Yes, it is apparently politically neutral for an outside observer. For those, who are emotionally involved like Poles and Ukrainians, it's most certainly not.

[@maciek_k.cichon]

@@GreatPolishWingedHussars Lemberg was official Austrian name and it was printed on maps like that up to 1918. Google some.

[@hqlife5128]

I cannot believe how incredible it is to finally hear about this war from an outsider perspective. I never heard this conflict told not from the point of the combatants

[@PatrickBoylanWriter]

Jesse is much more comfortable in front of the camera. Bravo!

[@jessealexander2695]

Practice makes perfect ;)

[@john_smith_john]

@@jessealexander2695 What were you doing before you signed up for the show?

[@salluna1957]

Uber

[@TheCimbrianBull]

@@salluna1957 ROFL! 🤣 😂 😅

[@jessealexander2695]

@@john_smith_john Watching the show! (and working for a university)

[@Mszaanisko]

This channel is a gem! I've watched a lot of history channels and how it's that I just found it so late!

[@americanexcursions3542]

Great video. I thought that channel stopped posting in November 2018. Now I have to catch up on all the videos. Thank you for continuing.

[@adriangoodman8901]

Jesse well done, your coming of age on youtube has flourished, as you seem every bit as confident and enthusiastic as Indy. I'm happy to continue watching this channel even after the great war

[@jessealexander2695]

Thanks!

[@lesiamelesia]

Thank you for this video! My grandfather's uncle was a soldier of Western Ukrainian People's Republic. He has never came back from the war und my family doesn't now, what has happend to him. I hope he rest in peace as all participants of this war.

[@concept5631]

A shame that they never returned. I hope they found peace, wherever they are.

[@jjdelft3216]

@@concept5631 He will have a martyrs death for his land

[@louisecorchevolle9241]

@@jjdelft3216 which land it was 2 republics ten dialers lemma a mess first ukrainian should have united and stop making pogroms

[@GuinessOriginal]

@@jjdelft3216 if that’s how you think I hope you’re doing the same now

[@wielblad1344]

zdechł jak pies... ci ludzie popełnili wiele zbrodni! nie zasługują na szacunek... tfu!!!

[@dogukanyel1391]

Are you make a video about Polish-Soviet war ?

[@TheGreatWar]

we will make several

[@dogukanyel1391]

@@TheGreatWar thank you

[@kev492001]

@@TheGreatWar I can't wait to watch! Thanks for shining more light, on not well known wars and events.

[@TheCimbrianBull]

*a young angry Stalin wants to know your location*

[@alehandro393]

In this war Ukraine is ally to Poland :D

[@Delzona]

Another great and informative episode!! Again I have to state that I had no idea there was so much conflict going on after the war was “over”! It really seems that for some regions the end of the war was more a pause in fighting so the different groups could now focus on fighting each other!! These videos also help me better understand how and why parts of Europe still have issues to this day!

[@tomm9963]

Western Ukrainians Peoples Republic and the Ukrainians Peoples Republic? Next you'll be talking about the People's Front of Judea and the Judean Peoples Front

[@neilwilson5785]

Monty Python were well educated, and knew about history. In the UK we joke in order to tell the truth.

[@tomm9963]

@@neilwilson5785 You don't need to tell me how we joke in the UK, I'm from there

[@TheCimbrianBull]

What have the Romans ever done for us?

[@UVtec]

Splitters!

[@Pantsinabucket]

Thomas McDonnell those might as well have been factions in these wars, Lwow, Odessa, and Kiev were all majority or plurality Jewish.

[@jona.scholt4362]

Really been enjoying this series on the fallout of the Great War. Topics I had only a cursory knowledge of (or in some cases near none) I now find incredibly interesting.

[@chaseskalon3622]

Love this video and this channel so so much! Keep up the great work everyone!

[@obamavrat671names]

As a Ukrainian, I had to thank you for your work, I wish I found this channel before I started to learn about this period of history

[@joannazywotko7753]

My family is from Lwow an they have never made distinction between Pols and Ukrainians weird

[@GuinessOriginal]

@@joannazywotko7753 have you seen Wolyn? It’s been banned in Ukraine for 5 years

[@magdaty1815]

@@joannazywotko7753 that is weird since there is difference in language, religion, basic understanding of notions for example of the word nationalism

[@obamavrat671names]

@@Xavry2115 the first: how can you guarantee it? The second: why would we need Rostov? The third: how is that Lviv a Polish city? I'm not sure if you're the bot or quite a silly person. When someone, especially in the modern world, tries to redraw the country frontiers by war which is claiming to be national liberation and fair it brings nothing but more grief, intransigence and discord beyond the peoples.

[@obamavrat671names]

@@GuinessOriginal what been banned and why?

[@electricink3908]

Great show . May Ukrainians and Poles never fight again!

[@512TheWolf512]

We today stand united in our hatred of russian fásçísts. Poland and Ukraine are the real brothers

[@titanuranus3095]

Makhno and the Anarchists surely deserve an episode of their own?

[@TheGreatWar]

give us two more weeks

[@DuffmanIRL]

@@TheGreatWar Excellent! Thanks for all your hard work!

[@TheCimbrianBull]

Makhno was quite a character to say the least. He was the original gangsta!

[@titanuranus3095]

@@TheCimbrianBull Arguably, he invented the drive by.

[@game2game275]

@@TheGreatWar Maybe a video on the contributions of Ukrainians during ww1? The Sich Riflemen, Tsarist Ukrainians, Hetmanate and People's republic forces and their deals with Germany? Please?

[@gokraw]

these videos are great, i'm really glad i found them. thanks a lot

[@dmytrodymydyuk3378]

My hometown is Lviv/Lwów/Lemberg and thank you so much for this great video!

[@louisecorchevolle9241]

Lvov in English you can admire an unique stall in memory of war criminals ukrainian SS Galizien division No body but ukraine has a Stella in memoriam SS

[@GreatPolishWingedHussars]

That's wrongto call the city German-Austrian Lemberg! This is the term used by the occupiers and is certainly not the name of this city!

[@ninjagamers2659]

Lwów

[@SuperMookles]

@@louisecorchevolle9241 What a stupid comment, even by the standards of social media.

[@WangAiHua]

@@louisecorchevolle9241 The city is LVIV in English! (Ukrainian transliteration). In Ukrainian it is "львів". It is sooo..... Putlerish of you to continue to push the RuZZian transliteration instead of the Ukrainian one! I do not believe that you are against war criminals, since you do not mention any of the Butcha(ry) , murder, torture and rape going on by your RuZZian friends who have cross the border to kill Ukrainians.

[@polskiziemniak9776]

Thank you very much for this particular episode. Greets from Poland!

[@piniu1986]

Jezu człowieku właśnie przykladnołeś gościowi który pokazuje mapę że zasięg zamieszkania Ukraińców ciągnął się aż do Krakowa włącznie.

[@9gENJOYER]

Po prostu jesteś debilem

[@JerzyFeliksKlein]

The city of Lwow has very strong Polish roots just like Vilnus. I actually have an Ukrainian friend who is from Lwow who speaks fluent Polish because he grew up there (though he cannot write or read in Polish which I only found out later when he emailed me and it turned out he was writing in Ukrainian and using google translate to translate his messages). There is a level of complexity of Polish-Ukrainian relationship which this video didn't delve into, but overall it was an accurate description of the actual conflict.

[@josehernandezmartinez8719]

What a interesting friend you have.

[@stvitus12]

You probably meant links, not the roots. As you put it here, it would be the same as to claim that Warszaw has very strong Russian roots, referring to the fact that it was a part of the Russian Empire for an extended period of time.

[@Darko-fo9hz]

@@stvitus12 The first university was wounded by Russians

[@googleto1881]

it all goes back to slavic tribes my friend

[@zbigniewbialczak1692]

@@stvitus12 Warsaw has never been a Russian city,has never had Russian roots and the same applies to Lviv/Lwow/Lemberg which was founded in 1250 by king Daniel of Galicia and became the capital of the Kingdom of Galicia-Volhynia, region was also called Ruthenia, between 1272-1349, it was then conquered by Casimir III of Poland in 1340, which moved Lviv under Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth rule between 1349 and 1772 when Poland was partitioned for the first time, which moved Lviv under Austria, Austrian-Hungarian Empire rule, then for a short time under West Ukrainian People's Republic in 1918, then under Poland, Polish Second Republic until 1939, and then under Soviet Union from 1945 until 1991. It's utter bonkers man😀. Poland or rather, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was partitioned by Prussia, Austria, de facto Habsburg Empire and Russia three times and wiped off the map between 1795 and 1918. Warsaw became a provincial city. Poland's borders have changed so much since the Polish baptism in 966 through centuries to such an extent, that it's mind boggling it still exists now. Read this, 1795 Warsaw was annexed by Prussia, 1806 city is occupied by French forces under Napoleon, 1809 Austrians in power between April and June, 1813 Russians in Power. The history of Poland is crazy complicated, with too many wars, battles, conflicts, uprisings, unions, alliances, rebellions,civil wars, twists and turns, foreign rulers, invasions and it would take me moths to explain it all here.

[@Marinealver]

Ukraine: We are surrounded by enemies Polland: So are we Lets Fight!!!!! Ukraine has been eliminated.

[@BatkoMahnovets]

As you noticed there were 3 ukraine’s and poles fought on with the smallest of them.

[@OrkosUA]

Poland had only enemy to the east, while Ukraine had them on all sides.

[@OrkosUA]

@Sigillum Militum against Lithuania you waged aggressive war, thus it dows not count. And with Czechs you only fought for one city. Thus it also cant be considered equal to Ukrainian situation. Poland only got freedom because of luck and that bolsheviks had to deal with Ukraine and were far away.

[@sergeontheloose]

Poland has it easy - they don't have to fight the russkies every day, because Ukraine is in between.

[@Adrivius]

@Sigillum Militum Don't worry, OrkosUa has the kind of knowledge about the history that the Ukrainian government will allow him hehe

[@Phoenix-bw9rj]

This is by far the Best history channel on KZbin

[@thesljivo4101]

Brilliantly pronounced Slavic words! You have my respect and admiration

[@MrMaxlines]

Not at all. For example, "Zbruch" is not pronounced as "Zbrookh", and "Chortkiv" is not "Khortkiv"

[@oleksacrowley9580]

Not really. The host pronounces Ukrainian names with some Russian accent when the spelling they chose for the video clearly states Ukrainian spelling (transliterated for English speakers).

[@cassubia]

This is good stuff - accessible, clear and pretty objective - congrats.

[@jessealexander2695]

Thanks!

[@DragonR333]

Thanks for the great video. It was very interesting to see. Somehow it is not that easy to find much information about this war at school.

[@FAKos-np7rh]

amazing production thank you!

[@AleksanderK12]

I love how you guys calling that city "Lemberg". Very... diplomatic I guess

[@TheGreatWar]

It felt like that best action for this hot potato issue

[@bergener8659]

@@TheGreatWar you "forgot" to add the russian trancription of the city :)

[@jakubkuberski448]

@@bergener8659 Lwów, Lviv, Lvov, Lemberg, Lemberek, Lavov, Liov, Ilbav, Ilyvó, Leopolis, Leopoldstadt etc

[@DragonR333]

@@bergener8659 Russian has nothing to do with this city. It sounds the same like you can also add Chinese transcription of the city.

[@bergener8659]

@@DragonR333 you don't say:)

[@jacksharpe2148]

Loving these longer more indepth videos. It fits in well with the Chaos of Post WW1. BTW you should make all your Russian Civil War/border conflicts into one playlist once you finish covering the conflict.

[@timex513]

thank you for making history interesting.

[@rafaeltaleisnik4129]

Great chanel! Thanks for sharing your knowledge. Regards from Brazil

[@MrTTar]

Thanks for covering these conflicts in such detail. The Polish-Ukranian war is often overlooked compared to the Polish-Lithunian and Russo-Polish conflicts. I'm British, and even the Third Afghan War (1919) is given much more coverage in academic history.

[@TheGreatWar]

We will cover all these three as well in some capacity

[@raceris7309]

Polish-Lithuanian war isn't widely discussed about from what I've seen, except in the respective countries. (Poland and Lithuania)

[@mikefay5698]

And they are still fighting the Russians. What a Gas!

[@WangAiHua]

General Haller was specifically told by the British NOT to attack Ukraine but only the Bolsheviks. First thing he did was head south and attacked Ukraine.

[@acosorimaxconto5610]

Great narrative Jesse. Thanks for showing how WW1 did not end in 1918. What happened post 1918 is even more complex than what happened '14 - '18, you do a great job of making it (almost!) understandable

[@josephstalin9357]

Not a world war anymore

[@just_kidding_kid]

Thanks for your video. Regards from Lviv

[@brokenbridge6316]

A nicely informative video. Great job.

[@arandomuseroftheinternet8003]

Five years later, and you're still my favorite history channel ❤

[@celdur4635]

Sad that they couldn't agree on the bigger threat being the Soviet Russians, if West Ukraine and Poland had reached some sort of agreement, they could've had a chance to at least have -some- Ukrainian government. They did know that the Soviets wanted ALL of the Russian Empire territories back right?

[@LOKa-bg6qn]

In fact, there was an alliance between Petlura and Pilsudski and a formal treaty which fixed the border between Ukraine and Poland on the river Zbruch. And the joint forces kicked the Soviets out of Kiev in 1920.

[@Bravo-oo9vd]

AFAIK the whites were the ones who wanted to restore the Russian Empire with its past borders while the soviets claimed smaller territory, at least during the civil war.

[@celdur4635]

@@Bravo-oo9vd Well ofc, it made sense at the time. The Reds failed at keeping the old Russian Empire borders. But they accepted peace with smaller borders instead of suiciding into war, the whites should've promised the same, and they did, to the Poles at least.

[@wingedhussar1453]

It's truly sad .Ukraine if all of them joined on Poland side could have fought back Russia and perhaps Germans much better.unfrotunately nationalistic ukrainans we're to stubborn and naive

[@celdur4635]

@@wingedhussar1453 Nationalistic Poles too, they were fractured internally, Poland was. Some wanted pure national state others, the military, wanted a Commonwealth.

[@perrydear6306]

Wonderful stuff! I thought a scale ( however approx.) on your maps would be most useful/informative, thanks!

[@shawngilliland243]

@The Great War - Thank you for clarifying which languages' names you use for cities and regions. The situation at the time there in Poland, two Ukraines, and two Russias - all overlapping - seems to me to rival that of the Balkans in its complexity and intensity. Add the Slovaks and Romanians, and "witches' cauldron" seems like an appropriate adjective!

[@louisecorchevolle9241]

2 Russia Bolcheviks were Russians ?

[@artu3296]

Thanks for the video!! This war after the war waas unknown to me. However, it is sad that after years of war between the allies and the axis, the fight did not really stopped in other fronts, leaving more suffering to people.

[@adamsmith1300]

The best foreign presentation of Ukrainian history after the Great war I ever saw. Greetings from Lemberg)

[@vacysmotuzas4267]

Thanks for the great video. It was very interesting to see ...

[@thomasrozen]

Fantastic as always!

[@bhangrafan4480]

Excellent video. Most people in western Europe have a grossly over-simplistic view of history and politics of Eastern Europe and really do not understand the background to the region.

[@dogpoochogenius]

I learned a lot about polish history from this channel.

[@jameskelman9856]

AAA - Awesome As Always ! Thanks !

[@trevocity5589]

just found this channel today i love it!

[@RomaInvicta202]

Great stuff, very objective, very knowledgeable - I'm Polish, although my mum was Galician Ukrainian and it's horribly complicated issue I wish we (Polish and Ukrainians alike) learn to live together in peace

[@JustAsPlanned1]

I think we are on a right path these days

[@scandited2763]

Yeah, there were many controversies, but that's what makes Ukraine and Poland different from russia. While Ukraine and Poland learned a lesson from a hisotry and continue living on, russia keeps living in a past, trying to rebuild greatness it had once. Spoiler, it never had.

[@Cortesevasive]

@@scandited2763 its not that simple, anglosaxons bribe jewlenski to wage war

[@mikefay5698]

@@scandited2763 That is why the end of the Soviet Union was so catastrophic for all the Workers of the Planet. There would be no wars in Central Europe or the Middle East. But the Soviet Union of the Planet will arise as long as Capitalist callapse continues into decrepity run by obsolete Geriatrics and Clowns!

[@florianmarcelmaca8785]

Așa trebuie sa fie. Noi români am ajutat și vom face tot ce putem in continuare. Să nu mai conteze ce vecin avem,,,kongolez, daca este înțelegere, prieteniei și respect reciproc. Trebuie sa ne educam pe noi și neapărat copiii noștri, să Nu mai sufere in viitor, să existe iubire, înțelegere, dar și toleranță multa.

[@Zamolxes77]

"Neutrals ... they sicken me, with an enemy you know where they stand, but with neutrals ? Who knows ?" - Zap Branigan

[@MyUnoriginalUsername]

its like when your crush ghosts you for no reason

[@walterweiss7124]

futurama :)

[@atsekoutsoube]

Never heard of this war before. Many Thanks indeed Great War

[@owensthilaire8189]

Well done bro. Love the desk/steamer trunk. Where'd you unearth that? People think i'm weird 'cause i carry a pocket watch some times.

[@kupchyk]

Дуже Вам дякую за цей епізод та його виважений зміст!!! (Thank you very much for this episode)

[@mambacosplay2790]

мало інформації - таке відчуття що спеціально так мало

[@kalabancjusz]

It's not entirely true what you have said that there never were Ukrainian elites- they did exist as former Kievian Rus boyars who become Polish nobility after the Union of Lublin of 1573 with Grand Duchy of Lithuania and subsequently most assimilated into Polish culture. Many famous people know as Poles were in fact at least partially of Ukrainian or Belarusian origins. For example Tadeusz Kościuszko or Jan III Sobieski. Even the famous (or infamous) fighter against the great cossacks uprising in XVIIth century - Jeremi Wiśniowecki was raised in Ukrainian language and orthodox Christianity but later decided to convert to catholicism and become a Pole. Later his son become an elective king of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

[@kopernikuspolackus5148]

Honestly back then there wasnt anything like national identity, they were all just "citizens of Rzeczpospolita", just language and faith were different

[@dantheman3378]

Oh and I forgot to mention Ukraine was created after the first world war .

[@horsefish2525]

And it was a big problem: the polonisation of Rusin elites. They left most of the nation in opposite to Commonwealth. They were similar to today Ukrainian oligarches: egoistic, stupid and and creating anarchy in political life.

[@Szakal_zlocisty-Canis_aureus]

its sooo funny when you use XX perspective when you try write about past before XX-XIX nationalism:P and you write about smt funny like Ukrainian or Belarusian -.- "king is country, country is king" the king's subjects are a nation-.- and peasant called himself "local"... gl with roll foam from the mouth about XXw bs:P Dont forget read about austro-hungarian idea/project "ukraine"... Divide and Conquer you fools:P

[@GreenRatel]

@@kopernikuspolackus5148 That's a blatant lie. Populations just didn't interact with each other as much and didn't have the knowledge and means of transportation to even care about different ethnicities that lived in the same state. That being said wealthy people were very much aware of mosaic that was the society of Commonwealth and that's why many of them polonised voluntarily over time.

[@stanlomas]

Brilliant summary Thank you.

[@davidknox5929]

Thx.Never heard of these wars before.

[@DuffmanIRL]

World class video, as always. Thank you.

[@neilwilson5785]

Ha, waiting for the anarchist black flag video.

[@d0maupa59]

Slav 🇵🇱✝️☦️🇺🇦

[@obamavrat671names]

One love fellow brother

[@sspiby]

very informative a thumbs or hands up for you

[@plKleczek]

Jesse, you've said that "both sides executed civilians, took hostages, and killed prisoners" and I'm pretty sure that was indeed the case. However, could you list some exact examples of such atrocities, for each of the sides (both Ukrainian and Polish)? I'd like to read more on this topic and I need somewhere to start the search :)

[@jessealexander2695]

Hi Pawel, You can have a look at the sources in the video description as well, but one that cited extensively from primary sources was: Böhler, Jochen. Civil War in Central Europe, 1918-1921 (Oxford University Press, 2019).

[@user-iz4pt2ro3e]

beautiful video Hello from Lviv

[@user-ts5wk3ed4x]

That was great. You are doing an awesome job.

[@LangeE612]

As a historian I have never heard of these wars, while they had such an impact on the local population and the course of history in general. Thank you Great War for enlightening me again and again!

[@Tom-2142]

Tomasz Szypulski a western one perhaps, we in the west do not hear about these Slavic eastern matters much at all.

[@adamczajkowski2665]

Polish moustaches used to be glorious.

[@Oxtocoatl13]

I read from War in Peace that the Ukrainian soldiers were a pain for all armies fighting in the region as they would volunteer any force that was dominant in their home region and when that force was moving away they would desert and join someone else. Peasant militiamen have different priorities from politicians and generals I guess.

[@Baltasarmk]

We were doing this for centuries and it worked. We did not lose our identity despite not having an independent state since the 12 century. and in the end, we achieved or goal - independence. What do you know about Silesians? Probably nothing, they are weaklings who were consumed and assimilated by Poland. They did not manage to do what we did.

[@toyvoobrygan2926]

Oxtocoatl you're right, but only if you talk about different armies of ukrainian anarchist otamans.But In the regular(as it called "effective army") army of Ukrainian People rep. lead by Directoria, soldiers were self-motivated and true to ukrainian national goals till the end

[@fafarcop9579]

Если бы русские обращались с украинцами так , как поляки с силезцами, то и следа бы от украинцев не осталось...

[@pawedobosz4356]

@@fafarcop9579 Then please explain how "Golodomor" apperaed? Russian soviet NKWD confiscaded all crops from Ukrainian peasants whad led to several million deaths in Ukraine of famine.

[@fafarcop9579]

@@pawedobosz4356 Ukrainian soviet NKWD.....it will be more accurate

[@icecoffee1361]

Another amazing episode 👍🏻

[@igorbednarski8048]

I'm Polish and I don't think I have ever heard of the war in history classes. As a history buff I was aware of the conflict taking place before watching this video, but there was just so much stuff going on at that time around Poland alone (fight for independence, Uprisings in Greater Poland and Silesia, war with Bolsheviks, Lithuanians, Ukrainians...) that I never really looked into this particular war in detail. Thanks for that very informative video.

[@pacthug4life]

Could you maybe do a video about the Polish-Ukrainain Kiev offensive?

[@agvb5749]

Romanians and Polish = brothers. Cheers from Romania

[@AndrD1406]

Erdely is Hungary

[@fload46d]

Very interesting and thank you.

[@deathrow1009]

Could you in future do more videos on Ukraine during the post war fallout/ Russian civil war? I'd love to learn more, particularly regarding the Makhnovists role in said period.

[@jessealexander2695]

Just wait for our next episode!

[@deathrow1009]

@@jessealexander2695 Yes mate! Keen as a bean! 👌

[@thefangsofcerberus4715]

Love this channel...had no idea finland fought the Soviets..had no idea the poles fought the Ukrainians...damn history class here in the U.S. left this out

[@georgeplagianos6487]

Oh yes they left a lot of history out. If they included all these wars and skirmishes around the world we would have school all the way into the late summer. Never rest because these wars that still going on will never give us a rest. Kind of make us feel hopeless when these wars never ends

[@crhu319]

Americans are kept ignorant of history.

[@danisawesome4214]

Love the show! Wish I could contribute on Patron but I’m broke af

[@snowmanflo]

Maybe together we can raise a penny and send it over...

[@Shivom.Parihar]

^^

[@NaumRusomarov]

sell your plasma and become a patron of the show!

[@snowmanflo]

I wish I had one...

[@steveguild871]

@@NaumRusomarov and/or bone marrow :-D

[@marcod7347]

I love this channel. My addictive personality has a found something satisfying.

[@marcod7347]

As The Great Cactus Jack would say....BANG BANG

[@Gonkawonga]

Thank you Jesse for your clarity on this hidden war. From Hong Kong.

[@samuraijack5919]

This is so weird! Nobody ever talks about this in history class (at least in upstate New York classrooms) I was just told things just kind of settled.

[@TheGreatWar]

yeah, a lot of this is new to us as well

[@Rickeeey1]

During the partitions the Austrians supported Ukrainian conflicts against the Poles. They essentially wanted to reduce Polish influence in East Galicia (or more correctly in Małopolska Wschodnia).

[@samuraiace454]

Yeah, you are occupied these territories in ancient times. But anyway, polish in more time better people than ukrainians and russians. IMHO. I'm ukrainian.

[@AndrD1406]

Yet the number of Poles only increased. Wonder why?

[@phann860]

Excellent presentation, I am surprised that anyone survived between the anarchy, chaos and contending armies in this period.

[@KarlDMarx]

I love the closing statement!

[@JagMan78]

Love that 1920s office you got.

[@WildBillCox13]

I have watched every episode from the start. And-Hi Flo!

[@TheGreatWar]

Hi!

[@QALibrary]

History is very interesting - have you been to any schools etc talking about your work/channel and what new history and thinking that you come up with your work? and is the video archive being released on to DVD?

[@TheGreatWar]

We cannot afford to do DVDs at the moment, but maybe in the future.

[@Canadian789119]

Great Episode.

[@snakepisscan4041]

Thanks as the grandson of a Ukrainian solider .. I am learning my Ukrainian history from this .

[@MrMaxlines]

Could you tell more about your grandfather please? Was he from Western or Eastern Ukraine?

[@unknownuntitled5341]

@@MrMaxlines he was from division ss galizien, i guess

[@MrMaxlines]

@@unknownuntitled5341 or a soldier of Ukrainian People's Republic who fled from a Red Terror in 1920's

[@MrMaxlines]

Great and objective! Waiting for a video about Ukrainian People's Republic.

[@user-br7fo7ky8e]

Fantastic episode! And of course, Happy Birthday! Your channel is one of my favorite ones. I would also really appreciate the video about Nestor Makhno and Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine (Makhnovshchyna).

[@varovaro1967]

I live your success as my own! Thank you for five years of enjoyment!

[@Venedict77]

I love this show ! Thank you !

[@DoraFauszt]

Happy Birthday TGW crew!

[@uncletorino2645]

Truly enjoyed. Thank you very much.

[@WildBillCox13]

Wow! This explains so much . . . wonder why it isn't emphasized as part of a young student's introduction to historical, political, and social studies?