Soviet Republic, established in Ukraine in 1919. It was proclaimed at the 3d All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets in Kharkov on March 10, 1919. Kharkov was declared its capital (since 1934, Kiev).

 

The Ukrainian People’s Republic of Soviets (1917–1918) was the predecessor of the Ukrainian SSR. It ceased to exist as a result of the entry of the troops of Germany and Austria-Hungary into the territory of Ukraine. After the defeat of the Central Powers in World War I in November 1918, the Bolsheviks began to restore Soviet power in Ukraine. The Provisional Workers’ and Peasants’ Government of Ukraine was formed in Kursk on November 28, 1918 (headed by Georgy Pyatakov, and from January 24, by Christian Rakovsky). The Ukrainian Soviet Army was created on November 30 (Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko was appointed as the Commander-in-Chief). On January 4, 1919, the Government moved to Kharkov (transformed into the Council of People’s Commissars on January 29).

 

The Soviet government of Ukraine opposed the authority of the Directorate of the Ukrainian People’s Republic (UPR) established in Kiev in December 1918. On February 5, 1919, Soviet troops under the general command of Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko took Kiev. By the spring, the Reds controlled almost the entire territory of Ukraine, except for the western part. The Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic was proclaimed and its Constitution was adopted at the 3d All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets on March 6–10, 1919. Grigory Petrovsky was elected Chairman of the Central Executive Committee. A border treaty with the Russian SFSR was concluded recognizing the state borders of nine governorates: Kiev, Kherson, Podolsk, Volyn, Kharkov, Poltava, Chernigov, Yekaterinoslav, Tauride (four northern districts of the Chernigov governorate became part of the newly created Gomel governorate of the Russian SFSR in April).

 

In May–June 1919, the offensive of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia (AFSR) began in Ukraine and the south of Russia. On June 1, 1919, the military and political alliance of the Soviet republics with a single command was established, the Ukrainian Soviet Army was disbanded and became part of the Workers and Peasants’ Red Army. In the summer, Anton Denikin’s troops captured most of the territory of Ukraine, including Kharkov (June 24) and Kiev (August 31). The Soviet authorities were evacuated or went underground.

 

The Red Army began a counter-offensive on October 11, 1919, and the Whites retreated to Crimea. The Ukrainian People’s Republic troops under the command of Symon Petliura were also defeated. He fled to Warsaw and signed an alliance with the Polish government on the war against the Russian SFSR.

 

In the second half of February 1920, the All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People’s Commissars resumed their activities on the territory of Ukraine. The people’s commissariats (of military and naval affairs, foreign trade, finance, labour, communications, mail and telegraph, councils of the national economy) of the Ukrainian SSR and the Russian SFSR were united at the same time. By the end of 1920, Soviet power had been established over most of the country. Under the terms of the Peace of Riga that ended the Soviet-Polish war (on March 18, 1921), the western border of the Ukrainian SSR passed along the Zbruch River and Western Ukraine became part of Poland.

 

On December 30, 1922, the Ukrainian SSR, the Russian SFSR, the Byelorussian SSR, and the Transcaucasian SFSR signed the Treaty on the creation of the USSR.