"We will be just a bedding for other nations"
German Skoropadsky with his officers
Peasant War
Dictatorship of Skoropadsky ("Vulgar operetta" by Skoropadsky) could not stop the processes of disintegration of Little Russia. The power of the hetman, as we were glad before, did not inspire respect among the people. The hetman's policy, oriented towards the wealthy segments of the population (bourgeoisie, landowners, officers and officials), the export of food and raw materials in the interests of the German bloc, repression and terror, caused large-scale popular resistance. The land reform aimed at selling off the landlords' land under state control was not supported by the peasantry. The peasants did not want to pay for what they had already seized.
Resistance detachments multiplied, red partisans, just bandits. The peasant war took on a large-scale character, the authorities did not control individual areas. Talented folk leaders like Makhno came to the fore. Entire rebel small armies appeared. They could not resist the regular Austro-German units, but the occupiers could not control the entire territory. The garrisons occupied cities, important objects, stations and ensured the operation of the railways. The Germans and Austrians had to fight the rebels, and hopes that the Russian Ukraine would provide provisions and raw materials for the warring Central Powers were buried. Of course, the Germans, as best they could, robbed the occupied Western Russian regions, but failed to establish a stable order.
On June 25, 1918, an Austrian diplomat reported to Vienna from Kyiv:
"German, as well as imperial and royal troops, are forced to continuously conduct defensive battles, sometimes associated with significant losses."
Emperor Wilhelm II (left) and Hetman Skoropadsky at a meeting at the Headquarters of the Supreme Command in Spa in August 1918
About "Ukrainian culture"
Skoropadsky himself was a reasonable man. He understood that there was no Ukrainian culture:
“The whole Ukrainian culture was expressed in the fact that a crowd of all sorts of indefinite youth in hats with a kititsa walked around Kyiv; some shaved off their heads, releasing the "settler".
The Ukrainian dictator noted:
“This narrow Ukrainianism is exclusively a product brought to us from Galicia, the culture of which it makes no sense for us to completely transplant: there is no evidence of success and is simply a crime, since there, in fact, there is no culture there. After all, Galicians live leftovers from the German and Polish table. Already one of their languages clearly reflects this, where five words 4 of Polish and German origin.
And further:
“Great Russians and our Ukrainians (under them Skoropadsky meant Russians-Little Russians, bearers of Russian culture - Approx. Aut.) created Russian science, Russian literature, music and art by common efforts, and to give up this of their high and good in order to to take the squalor that the Galicians so naively and kindly offer us, Ukrainians, is simply ridiculous and unthinkable.
The Russian general understood that if the Little Russians abandoned the common Russian culture, from Pushkin and Gogol, then “we (Little Russians-Ukrainians - Approx. Aut.) we will be just a bedding for other nations.”
The hetman realized that in the current situation, Ukraine was doomed, there would be no independent power:
“The Germans were seizing the country more and more evenly. I observed that pedantry and thoughtfulness that was reflected in all their actions. I saw that they would not unite into those cultural strata of society, which we had few in Ukraine, but which were dispersed, while the Germans, who always reckoned with intelligence and strength, would simply, under certain conditions, turn Ukraine into a new Germany. There were already data for that, since, despite the universals that destroyed land ownership, the estates were given to the Germans.
Trying to find a new owner
In the autumn of 1918, when it became clear that Germany was losing, Skoropadsky began to look for allies. In October, he secretly meets with the ataman of the Don Army Krasnov to conclude an alliance and negotiate with the White Guards of the South of Russia.
Ataman recalled: "You, of course, understand that I, the adjutant wing and the general of His Majesty's retinue, cannot be a full-fledged Ukrainian and talk about a free Ukraine." The Hetman speaks of the possibility of an anti-Bolshevik alliance with Denikin, the Don, the Kuban, the Crimea and Georgia. And then says historical phrase: "We are all Russian people, and we need to save Russia, and we can only save it ourselves." The hetman was ready to provide the whites with the rich reserves of the tsarist army that remained in Little Russia: weapon, ammunition, ammunition, etc.
The problem was that there was no united Russia then. There were several centers hostile to each other. There was red Russia with its capital in Moscow and white Russia with its center in the south. There were also various separatists. And the peasants "without a king" generally lived on their own and were not going to obey anyone.
Skoropadsky wanted to unite with White Russia. The basis was common: the capitalists, the bourgeoisie, the landlords, the bureaucracy, a significant part of the officers. Orientation to the West. Hatred for the Bolsheviks. However, white Russia was not united. Denikin focused on the Entente, Krasnov - on Germany. The "flexible" ataman was closer to the hetman than the stubborn Denikin. Krasnov was never able to convince Denikin to make an alliance with the "traitor" Skoropadsky.
At the same time, anticipating the fall of the Second Reich, Skoropadsky worked out all possible lines in the fall. Secretly contacted Ukrainian nationalists led by the former head of the Rada Vynnichenko. It was proposed to assemble a council of various nationalist parties. In essence, to ensure the transfer of power from the hetman to the nationalists.
On November 14, 1918, a few days after the news of the Compiègne truce, Hetman Skoropadsky signed the "Charter" - a manifesto in which he announced that he would defend "the long-standing power and strength of the All-Russian State", and called for the construction of the All-Russian Federation as the first step towards reconstruction of Great Russia. This was the last rate of Skoropadsky. Kyiv was packed with thousands of Russian officers, their mobilization could have saved it. The hetman renounced the separatist, Ukrainianization policy. The Hetmanate “turned white” and began conscripting Colonel Svyatopolk-Mirsky and General Kirpichev to volunteer squads. The officers decorated the left sleeve of their greatcoats with a tricolor white-blue-red chevron, as in Denikin's army. It was the only combat-ready contingent of the "Ukrainian State" army.
However, Skoropadsky was late. On the night of November 14, 1918, the former leaders of the Central Rada, headed by Vinnichenko, formed the Directory of the Ukrainian People's Republic (UNR), which began an armed struggle for power. Leaving Belaya Tserkov on November 18, 1918, Petliura's army marched on Kyiv not under yellow and blue, but under red banners. The Petliurists were no longer in favor of "independence", but against the bourgeoisie and the "Akhvitzers". Vinnichenko and Petliura fought for power and wanted to get massive support from the people, the peasants, who hated the bourgeoisie. It is interesting that the Bolsheviks at that moment supported the Petliurists in order to topple the Hetmanate. On December 14, the troops of the Directory occupied Kyiv.
Skoropadsky fled in a German convoy. Lived in Germany as a private person, received a pension. He did not cooperate with the Nazis, he died in April 1945 during the Anglo-American bombing.
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