The Polish-West Ukrainian Conflict over East Galicia in 1918−1919
The eastern portion of Europe and the end of WWI – The end of WWI resulted in significant changes concerning the political boundaries of Central, East, and South-East Europe. The extent of these changes resulted in regional wars over the land distribution in several mini-regions in the eastern portion of Europe, and it was to take around five to six years before new borders between the states were finally established and stabilized. This continued at least up to 1938.
The political transformation of the eastern portion of Europe after 1918 was a direct result of the collapse of both the German Second Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire during the last months of 1918, as well as due to unsettled western borders of the ex-Russian Empire (collapsed in 1917) which still was involved into the revolution and civil war. Most of the boundary changes in this half of Europe after WWI were direct result of decisions reached by the Entente powers (Allied and Associated Powers during WWI) at the Paris Peace Conference that began in early 1919. This resulted in five peace treaties, named after the castles outside Paris where they were been finally signed. Each of these peace treaties dealt in part, but in some cases entirely, with states in Central Europe. This was the case, for instance, for Poland which was already in the post-WWI military-political conflict with the West Ukrainian nationalists over the land of East Galicia.
The state borders of post-WWI Poland were decided by the Paris Peace Conference by three means: 1) Through decisions of the Council of Ambassadors; 2) Plebiscites held under Entente direction; and 3) By the result of the war between West Ukraine and Bolshevik Russia. Concerning Poland, the final settlement of its eastern borders became the most complex. In fact, the first boundary problem was Galicia, or more precisely East Galicia, where Poles went to open war with Ukrainians. On November 1st, 1918, when the rule of Austria-Hungary finally collapsed in the region, local Ukrainian nationalistic leaders proclaimed the independence of the West Ukrainian National (People’s) Republic. This new state claimed the whole of East Galicia (eastward from the San River with Lwiw) to be Ukrainian followed by North Bukowina and Carpathian Rus’. However, these territorial claims became immediately challenged by local Poles who fought all over Galicia to be united with the post-WWI Poland. Consequently, the result was a Polish-Ukrainian War that lasted from November 1918 until the summer of 1919, when the Galician-West Ukrainian military detachments were expelled from East Galicia which finally became a part of the interwar Poland.
