How Ukraine was sold for a bottle of schnapps

25
How Ukraine was sold for a bottle of schnapps
Field Marshal Hermann von Eichhorn in Kyiv

The abolition of Prohibition and the appearance of the German occupation troops in Kyiv coincided, so a joke appeared at that time: “They sold Ukraine for a bottle of schnapps!” The Germans quickly put the separatists in their place and dispersed the Rada.

Ultimatum


On January 27 (February 9), 1918, the German and Austro-Hungarian delegations signed a separate peace treaty with the delegation of the Central Rada. On January 31 (February 13), the Ukrainian delegation asked for military assistance from the Central Powers against Soviet Russia. The German top military-political leadership decides to intervene in the East from the Baltic to the Carpathians.



On February 9, 1918, Germany and Austria-Hungary issued an ultimatum to the representatives of Soviet Russia to recognize their agreement with the Rada. In response, on February 10, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Trotsky categorically refused to make concessions. Trotsky was sure that Germany, infected with revolutionary moods, would no longer be able to carry out a powerful offensive on the Russian front. The People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs waited "when the oppressed classes of all countries will take power into their own hands, like the working people of Russia."

There is also an opinion that Trotsky, as a representative of internationalist revolutionaries interested in the further destruction of Russia, provoked the Central Powers. In the new turmoil, he had to consolidate his position by pushing Lenin. This was not the first and not the last large-scale provocation by Trotsky in the conditions of the Russian Troubles.

On February 10, Trotsky from Brest gave a telegram in which Russia refused "to sign the annexationist treaty", and on the other hand, stopped the war with Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey. The demobilization of the army was announced. On the night of February 11, Commander-in-Chief Krylenko received a telegram from Trotsky:

"Announce demobilization along the entire front."

In general, it was a convention. The army itself has already demobilized. There were pitiful remnants. Corps were reduced to divisions, divisions to regiments. But they were enough to keep the main operational areas. Already on February 11, Lenin demanded to stop the demobilization, the army commissars were instructed to delay the telegrams of Trotsky and Krylenko on demobilization. But it was already too late. The soldiers went home.


Trotsky's speech to the Red Army, 1918

Intervention


On February 17, 1917, the German army went on the offensive from the Baltic to Little Russia (the Ottomans began the invasion even earlier). A week later, the Austro-Hungarian army launched an offensive. The old Russian army by this time was already completely ruined and completely demoralized by Trotsky's actions. Simultaneously with the advance of the Germans, many thousands of soldiers of the former Russian army went east, to their homes. The remaining decomposed units were not even suitable for garrison, security and police service. The new Red Army was just beginning to take shape. Therefore, the Germans advanced almost without encountering resistance.

Already on February 18, the Germans occupied Dvinsk (now Daugavpils), on February 19 - Lutsk and Rovno, on February 21 - Minsk and Novograd-Volynsky, on February 24 - Zhitomir. On the 19th, the Soviet government offered Berlin to accept peace on its own terms. But the Germans were in no hurry, they got into the taste of conquest. At the same time, the Council of People's Commissars took measures to strengthen the defense capability of Russia. On February 20, the government issued an appeal "To the working population of all Russia", showing readiness for peace and determination to fight. A Provisional Executive Committee of the Council of People's Commissars was formed, headed by Lenin, authorized to resolve operational issues of defense.

On February 21, the decree of the Council of People's Commissars "The socialist fatherland is in danger!" was published. The Soviets called for "defending every position to the last drop of blood". The evacuation of the rolling stock of the railways was announced, the remaining property was destroyed, the bourgeoisie, workers and peasants were mobilized to prepare fortifications. Emergency measures were taken to establish the rear, military production, and supply troops. They put things in order in the rear: provocateurs, spies, speculators and other enemies of the people were to be shot. Volunteers were recruited in the cities for the Red Army. New red units were hastily transferred to the most dangerous areas near Narva, Revel and Pskov (Petrograd direction).

On February 23, the Central Powers put forward a new ultimatum: Russia was to completely clear the Baltic states (Latvia and Estonia), withdraw troops from Finland and Ukraine, recognize the Ukrainian government, leave the Caucasian regions occupied during the war. They demanded to disperse the army, to disarm the fleet. They were given two days to respond. Meanwhile, the enemy advance continued. On February 24, the Turks occupied Trebizond; on the 25th, Revel and Pskov were taken by the Germans. The Baltic Fleet was evacuated from Revel to Helsingfors in difficult winter conditions, and from there to Kronstadt. The sailors saved their ships from being captured by the enemy (Ice trip).

On March 1, Kyiv and Gomel fell, on March 5, Mogilev. On February 25, the Austrians crossed the border rivers Zbruch and Dniester, immediately occupied the cities of Kamenets-Podolsky and Khotyn. The Austro-Hungarian army advanced in the direction of Odessa along the Lvov railway, quickly occupied Podolia. On March 13, the Austrians were in Odessa. Soviet institutions were evacuated to Sevastopol.

The Soviet state, which had barely begun to form new armed forces, could not resist the invasion of the Central Powers. On February 23, the Council of People's Commissars (7 members of the Central Committee voted in favor, 4 members voted against and 112 abstained) and the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (86 votes in favor, 25 against with XNUMX abstentions) accepted the German ultimatum. Lenin literally pushed through this difficult decision.

On February 24, the Soviet leader declared:

“The absolute necessity of signing at the moment an exciting, incredibly difficult peace with Germany is caused primarily by the fact that we have no army, that we cannot defend ourselves.”

On February 28, the Soviet delegation headed by Sokolnikov arrived in Brest-Litovsk. On March 1, negotiations resumed, and on March 3, the “obscene” Brest peace was signed.


"Trotsky learns to write." German caricature of L. D. Trotsky, who signed the peace treaty in Brest-Litovsk. 1918

Ukrainian front


In the Ukrainian direction, the Bolsheviks were unable to organize a serious defense. Komfront Antonov-Ovseenko noted:

“Our Romanian and Southwestern fronts were in complete disintegration. They could not oppose any real force to the German invasion.

The small units of the Red Army, which were at the stage of formation, the Red Guards and Red Cossacks, who had an irregular, partisan character, could not resist the mass regular Austro-German army. There was no one and nothing to defend. The Reds retreated to the east. On February 28, units of the Southern Front left Kyiv, all Soviet institutions moved to Poltava.

Together with the German and Austrian troops, there were small detachments of the UNR headed by Petlyura - Haidamaks, Sich Riflemen and Cossacks (about 3 thousand people). They were completely dependent on German supplies and military support. The Germans controlled the actions of the Petliurists. So, the Austro-German contingent in the Russian Ukraine totaled about 450 thousand bayonets.

On March 1, 1918, the Gaidamaks and German units entered Kyiv. The administration of the occupied regions of Little Russia was headed by the German Field Marshal Hermann von Eichhorn. Volhynia, Podolia, Kherson, Yekaterinoslav and Odessa were controlled by the Austrians.


Austrian troops parade along Nikolaevsky Boulevard, Odessa. 1918

"Second Paris"


Following the Germans, members of the Rada returned to Kyiv. They hoped that the German army would secure the borders with the "Muscovites", and that the Haidamaks, with the support of the Austrians, would restore order in the Ukraine.

The Germans had their own plans: to restore order and immediate requisition of food. Bread, cattle were confiscated, and gold, jewelry and other goods were not forgotten. The robbery began, and well-organized, methodical.

This was also acknowledged by Ukrainian leaders.

“Such mockery,” the Rada commissar for the Kyiv district informed on March 25, “brought the population to terrible indignation against the Ukrainian authorities, and the population begins to offer armed resistance.”

Eichhorn, seeing what kind of garbage the “mother of Russian cities” had been turned into by revolutionaries of all stripes, immediately declared:

“We will make a second Paris out of Kyiv!”

The city quickly brought order and cleanliness. The beggars and vagabonds, who bred during the turmoil, announced a uniform round-up, loaded into trains and taken out of Kyiv. Then the Germans did away with gangs and criminals. Caught thieves were shot without trial or investigation. All Kievans could admire these demonstration events: they were invited with the help of pre-pasted posters.

Therefore, the prosperous city public remembered the German occupation with sympathy. The city was orderly, clean and safe. There were bakeries and electricity. All theaters and cinemas, horse races operated. Kyiv ladies flirted with German officers. The dry law was abolished. Many townspeople sat on cocaine (it was then a legal drug, sold in pharmacies as a medicine), you could buy a juvenile prostitute in the market. In general - a typical "enlightened" West, a "second Paris".
Our news channels

Subscribe and stay up to date with the latest news and the most important events of the day.

25 comments
Information
Dear reader, to leave comments on the publication, you must sign in.
  1. +2
    30 September 2022 05: 06
    Times change and so do fools...
    1. +2
      30 September 2022 08: 54
      Yes, you do not read this Samsonovsky nonsense !!! He chooses only facts convenient for his theory and ignores others that contradict his theory. There is a good course of lectures on the First World War by Yegor Yakovlev on the Internet ... Where not only the historical events themselves are clearly understood, but also the causes of their occurrence, as well as the consequences of these events ...
  2. -1
    30 September 2022 05: 41
    The Germans quickly put the separatists in their place and dispersed the Rada.

    If we do not complete all the tasks of the NWO and do not return the enemy outskirts to friendly Ukraine, the Poles will do the same!
  3. 0
    30 September 2022 05: 45
    Trotsky-Bronstein broke firewood ... what
    and so does the current Zelensky.
    1. 0
      30 September 2022 05: 59
      Quote: Lech from Android.
      current Zelensky.

      And finish with an ice pick in the head!
      1. -3
        30 September 2022 06: 06
        who, when and where will finish, only the Lord knows, at least you figured out what was done so as not to repeat the mistakes ... but no, again on a rake ...
      2. 0
        1 October 2022 23: 06
        He should have finished like this. Will it be an ice ax or something else is not so important, the main thing is that his death would be the most painful.
        1. -1
          3 October 2022 05: 53
          with the death of the president of a well-known country, has anything changed ??? maybe you yourself need to think about how to do it right. even the Kursk "maize" resolved the nuclear Caribbean crisis without any wars and the "best" diplomats in the world.
          1. 0
            3 October 2022 16: 21
            Ask the Americans, they killed many presidents of their opponents.
  4. 0
    30 September 2022 05: 58
    On March 17, the host of the FIRST CHANNEL INFORMATION PROGRAM said that everything that is happening in Ukraine is the result of the collapse of the union, and the supply of weapons is the result of the collapse of the Warsaw Pact. Only he did not say who did what the Nazis failed to do in 1941, the co-host quickly translated the "arrows" .but we all know very well that these were not Georgians and not "khokh.l" from Dneprodzerzhinsk, but a Stavropol and Uralian and others like them, who instead of the song "the union of the indestructible free republics rallied FOREVER great Russia" for some reason sang completely otherwise, “you give perestroika, down with freeloaders (your own Russians in other republics), take freedom as much as you want.” True, it didn’t do without a bottle, one vineyard was cut down, the other filled his eyes with shame until he was “gone”.
    1. -4
      30 September 2022 08: 57
      And the enemies of the USSR, thanks to their "Liberators" Gorbachev and Yeltsin, who seized the USSR and divided it among themselves under spells of "independence", themselves recognized both their Perestroika and the destruction of the USSR as a crime against the USSR and the Soviet people, and therefore betrayed their own " Liberators, "tossed them to the communists and their supporters.
  5. 0
    30 September 2022 08: 40
    "On February 28, a Soviet delegation led by Sokolnikov arrived in Brest-Litovsk." (c)
    Grigory Yakovlevich Sokolnikov aka Girsh Yakovlevich Brilliant
  6. +1
    30 September 2022 08: 50
    No one has the right to rate history. Some scold the Soviet military and accuse them of violating their oath. At the same time, they forget that the same thing happened in 1917. A lot has changed since then. The younger generations have been attacked by the number proposed and recommended by the International Bank. Six years is a long time for such an attack. The matrix is ​​ready. And you can offer anything. And more virtuality.
    1. 0
      30 September 2022 10: 53
      here it’s just the opposite - everyone “assesses”, but they don’t want to learn.
    2. +1
      30 September 2022 13: 42
      Nikolay Malyugin. You are confusing 1917, when there was a war that no one wanted with a peaceful life, when the top of the communists wanted to become nobles and robbed the people, as the nobles did before the Soviet regime. The venality that occurred when the brainless ruined the union, the people did not want this, will be described very soon. The United States itself was afraid of what the communists had done, and therefore they did not want such a communist party as was in the USSR. So the main brainless museum was built, a mockery of the created.
      1. 0
        30 September 2022 17: 39
        Zinovy: Excuse me, but you need to study history.
  7. BAI
    -2
    30 September 2022 08: 53
    They put things in order in the rear: provocateurs, spies, speculators and other enemies of the people were to be shot.

    Absolutely the right decision during the war. Note to the current leadership of the Russian Federation.
  8. +1
    30 September 2022 11: 37
    In spring and autumn, the level of Samsonism goes off scale, everything is as psychiatrists write laughing
  9. +1
    30 September 2022 11: 38
    Quote: BAI
    They put things in order in the rear: provocateurs, spies, speculators and other enemies of the people were to be shot.

    Absolutely the right decision during the war. Note to the current leadership of the Russian Federation.

    Aren't you afraid that at the expense of you they will be mistaken in the wrong direction?
    1. +3
      30 September 2022 12: 20
      Quote: smaug78
      Aren't you afraid that at the expense of you they will be mistaken in the wrong direction?

      So all those who call for purges hope that they will purge. smile
      The funny thing is that for some reason they believe that the cleaners themselves will not be affected by the purge. Naive...
      1. 0
        30 September 2022 12: 35
        You're right:
        "History is not a teacher, but an overseer: it does not teach anything, but only punishes for ignorance of the lessons"
        .
      2. 0
        3 November 2022 10: 40
        By the way, these two photos just serve as proof that they cleaned who they needed. :)
  10. 0
    30 September 2022 23: 40
    Well, judging by Zele, there is complete order with cocaine in Kyiv and without the Germans, it has always been good with prostitutes, there are enough of them even for wide export. It remains to shoot the bandits and clean up after that ..
  11. 0
    1 October 2022 21: 23
    How many years have passed, but Kyiv is still the same. A hotbed of thieves of all stripes, whores, bandits and cocaine addicts. This dump must be completely destroyed, along with all the shit that lives there.
  12. 0
    2 November 2022 22: 43
    Ukraine was bought for a bottle of schnapps, lace underpants and glass beads, as if they were very precious without analogues in the world. Not far from us lived a grandfather named Murovany. At one time he lived young in Kyiv, and then in places not far from Kyiv, they were looking for him. So it happened there, real horror, just like in time, when the Germans occupied Ukraine in 1941. This is exactly what happened in 1918. They stripped the curtains from the windows, pulled them out and found everything that people were hiding. The women cursed, the girls wept. With what to marry there is nothing in hiding. Then the hides disappeared. Windows and doors were pulled out, everything that could serve the Reich was taken away without talking. You squeal, with a bayonet in the ass or a butt in the head. One man had a decent garden, which he liked, dug up and did not peep. How Mamai went through Ukraine. Then it dawned that soon Ukraine might be unfit for life, they began to gather in detachments. But they showed them their own, the rebels, they shot and hanged them. Now the Ukrainians have forgotten everything. They were made to forget!

"Right Sector" (banned in Russia), "Ukrainian Insurgent Army" (UPA) (banned in Russia), ISIS (banned in Russia), "Jabhat Fatah al-Sham" formerly "Jabhat al-Nusra" (banned in Russia) , Taliban (banned in Russia), Al-Qaeda (banned in Russia), Anti-Corruption Foundation (banned in Russia), Navalny Headquarters (banned in Russia), Facebook (banned in Russia), Instagram (banned in Russia), Meta (banned in Russia), Misanthropic Division (banned in Russia), Azov (banned in Russia), Muslim Brotherhood (banned in Russia), Aum Shinrikyo (banned in Russia), AUE (banned in Russia), UNA-UNSO (banned in Russia), Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People (banned in Russia), Legion “Freedom of Russia” (armed formation, recognized as terrorist in the Russian Federation and banned)

“Non-profit organizations, unregistered public associations or individuals performing the functions of a foreign agent,” as well as media outlets performing the functions of a foreign agent: “Medusa”; "Voice of America"; "Realities"; "Present time"; "Radio Freedom"; Ponomarev; Savitskaya; Markelov; Kamalyagin; Apakhonchich; Makarevich; Dud; Gordon; Zhdanov; Medvedev; Fedorov; "Owl"; "Alliance of Doctors"; "RKK" "Levada Center"; "Memorial"; "Voice"; "Person and law"; "Rain"; "Mediazone"; "Deutsche Welle"; QMS "Caucasian Knot"; "Insider"; "New Newspaper"