The Consequences of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk for the 1918 UPR in German and Austrian Historiography

Abstract

The relevance of this topic is conditioned by the fact that in the history of the Ukrainian revolution from 1917 to 1921, additional aspects are revealed when inspecting the terms of the signed Brest-Litovsk peace treaty between the Ukrainian Central Rada (UCR) and Germany and Austria-Hungary. The study includes an analysis of the circumstances that prompted the Ukrainian leadership to ask for help from the Quadruple Alliance (QA) in February 1918 and conclude a military convention with them. The conclusion of the agreement is a particularly important moment in the history of Ukraine, as it fundamentally affected the future, namely, it contributed to maintaining the country's independence and development. The main purpose of the study is to investigate and analyse the changes that have occurred since the conclusion of the agreement between Ukraine and Austria-Hungary and Germany. The object of research is the process of concluding the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, and the subject is the document itself. The following scientific methods were used when writing the paper: structural and functional, dialectical, logical analysis, synthesis, comparative analysis, analysis of scientific literature, and generalisation. The main results are the analysis of the practical and theoretical consequences of the peace treaty on the fate of the Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR). The practical significance of the study is that by investigating the mistakes of the UCR in the state creation, it would help to avoid similar problems in the future. During the writing of the paper, statistical data, scientific studies, and historical sources were analysed and scientific works of political figures of that time were reviewed. Important are the works of the chairman of the Central Rada of the UPR Mykhailo Hrushevsky and political and public figure Volodymyr Vynnychenko