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{{Short description|1918–19 conflict between the Second Polish Republic and Ukrainian forces}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict          = Polish–Ukrainian War
| partof            = the [[Ukrainian War of Independence]] and the [[aftermath of World War I]]
| date              = 1 November 1918 – 18 July 1919<br>({{Age in years, months, weeks and days|month1=11|day1=01|year1=1918|month2=07|day2=18|year2=1919}})
| place             = [[West Ukrainian People's Republic]]
| result            = Polish victory<ref>{{cite book |title=Literary Canon Formation as Nation-Building in Central Europe and the Baltics |author1=Aistė Kučinskienė |author2=Viktorija Šeina |author3=Brigita Speičytė |isbn=978-90-04-45771-3 |year=2021 |publisher=Koninklijke Bril |page=140 |quote=As a result, on 1st November 1918 the Polish-Ukrainian war of Eastern Galicia broke out. It spread throughout the entire province and ended with a Polish victory only in mid-July 1919. |doi=10.1163/9789004457713_008}}</ref>
* Signing of the [[Treaty of Warsaw (1920)|Treaty of Warsaw]]
| combatant1        = {{flag|Second Polish Republic|1919}}
----
'''Regional support''':{{ubl|
{{flag|Kingdom of Romania|name=Romania}}<br />(in [[Bukovina]] and [[Pokuttia]])
|{{flag|Hungarian People's Republic (1918–19)|name=Hungary}}
|{{flagcountry|First Czechoslovak Republic|1918}}}} (conflicts with Hutsul Republic)
----
'''Strategic support''':<br />{{flag|French Third Republic|name=France}}
| combatant2        = {{ubl|{{flagicon|Ukrainian People's Republic}} [[West Ukrainian People's Republic]]| [[File:Прапор України з Великим Гербом УНР.png|23px|border|link]] [[Ukrainian People's Republic]]|{{flagicon|Ukrainian People's Republic}} [[Hutsul Republic]]<br>(in [[Maramureș]])|{{flagicon|Ukrainian People's Republic}} [[Komancza Republic]]<br>(in [[Lemkivshchyna]] until January 1919)|{{flagicon|Ukrainian People's Republic}} {{ill|Bukovyna Viche|uk|Буковинське віче}}<br>(in [[Bukovina]], 6–11 November 1919)}}
'''Supported by''':<br>{{flagcountry|First Czechoslovak Republic|1918}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ukraine and the Ukrainian Question in Czechoslovak Policy. Ukrainian Statehood in the 20th Century |url=http://litopys.org.ua/ukrxx/e10.htm |access-date=2025-08-18 |website=litopys.org.ua |quote=though Czechoslovak political and economic circles supported and cooperated with ZUNR and favored its unification with the other Ukrainian lands as part of a federative Russia}}</ref>
| commander1        = {{ubl|{{flagdeco|Second Polish Republic|1919|name=Poland}} [[Józef Piłsudski]]|{{flagdeco|Poland}} {{ill| Jan Wroczyński|pl}}|{{flagdeco|Second Polish Republic|1919|name=Poland}} [[Józef Haller]]|{{flagdeco|Second Polish Republic|1919|name=Poland}} [[Wacław Iwaszkiewicz]]|{{flagdeco|Poland|1919}} [[Zygmunt Zieliński (1858–1925)|Zygmunt Zieliński]]|{{flagdeco|Second Polish Republic|1919|name=Poland}} [[Edward Rydz-Śmigły]]|{{flagdeco|Poland}} [[Tadeusz Rozwadowski]]}}
| commander2        = {{ubl|{{flagicon|Ukrainian People's Republic}} [[Yevhen Petrushevych]]|{{flagdeco|Ukraine|1918}} [[Sydir Holubovych]]|{{flagdeco|Ukraine|1918}} [[Viktor Kurmanovych]]|{{flagdeco|Ukraine|1918}} [[Myron Tarnavsky]]|{{flagicon|West Ukrainian People's Republic}} [[Oleksander Hrekov]]|{{flagicon|Ukrainian People's Republic}} [[Mykhailo Omelianovych-Pavlenko]]|{{flagicon|Ukrainian People's Republic}} {{ill|Omelian Popovych|uk|Попович Омелян Олександрович}}|{{flagicon|West Ukrainian People's Republic}} [[Boguslaw Shashkevych]]|{{flagicon|West Ukrainian People's Republic}} [[:uk:Опарівський Василь|Vasyl Oparivsky]]{{KIA}}|[[File:Прапор України з Великим Гербом УНР.png|23px|border|link]] [[Symon Petliura]]|[[File:Прапор України з Великим Гербом УНР.png|23px|border|link]] [[Oleksander Osetsky]]|{{flagdeco|Ukraine|1918}} [[Stepan Klochurak]]}}
| strength1         = {{ubl|{{flagdeco|Second Polish Republic|1919|name=Poland}} '''Polish forces''':<br />190,000|{{flagdeco|Kingdom of Romania}} '''Romanian forces''':<br />4,000|{{flagdeco|Hungarian People's Republic (1918–19)}} '''Hungarian forces''':<br />620+}}
| strength2         = {{ubl|{{flagicon|Ukrainian People's Republic}} '''[[Ukrainian Galician Army|West Ukrainian forces]]''':<br />70,000–75,000<ref>Lev Shankovsky. [http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages\U\K\UkrainianGalicianArmy.htm Ukrainian Galician Army] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150814012731/http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages |date=August 14, 2015}}. ''Encyclopedia of Ukraine''. Vol. 5. 1993.</ref> or over 100,000<ref name="Risch">William Jay Risch. ''The Ukrainian West: Culture and the Fate of Empire in Soviet Lviv''. Harvard University Press. 2011. p. 30.</ref>|{{flagicon|Ukrainian People's Republic}} '''[[Ukrainian People's Army|UPR forces]]''':<br />35,000|{{flagicon|Ukrainian People's Republic}} '''Hutsul forces''':<br />1,100|{{flagicon|Ukrainian People's Republic}} '''Komancza forces''':<br />800}}
| casualties1       = 10,000
| casualties2       = 15,000
| territory         = Dissolution and annexation of the [[West Ukrainian People's Republic]] by Poland

| image             = 02._Польсько-українська_війна_1918-1919.jpg
}}

{{Campaignbox Polish-Ukrainian War}}
{{Campaignbox Establishment of Second Polish Republic}}

The '''Polish–Ukrainian War''', from November 1918 to July 1919, was a conflict between the [[Second Polish Republic]] and Ukrainian forces (both the [[West Ukrainian People's Republic]] and the [[Ukrainian People's Republic]]).

The conflict had its roots in ethnic, cultural, and political differences between the [[Polish people|Polish]] and [[Ukrainians|Ukrainian populations]] living in the region, as [[Second Polish Republic|Poland]] and both Ukrainian republics emerged from the collapse of the [[Russian Empire|Russian]] and [[Austrian empire]]s.

The war started in [[Galicia (Eastern Europe)|Eastern Galicia]] after the dissolution of the [[Austro-Hungarian Empire]] and spilled over into the [[Chełm Land|Chełm]] and [[Volhynia]] regions formerly belonging to the Russian Empire.

Poland won the disputed territory on 18 July 1919.

==Background==
[[File:Polish-Ukrainian and Polish-Soviet Wars early 1919.JPG|thumb|upright=0.9|Polish–Ukrainian and Polish–Soviet Wars, early 1919]]

The origins of the conflict lie in the complex nationality situation in Galicia at the turn of the 20th century. As a result of the [[House of Habsburg]]'s relative leniency toward national minorities, [[Austria-Hungary]] was the perfect ground for the development of both Polish and Ukrainian national movements. During the [[Revolutions of 1848|1848 Revolution]], the Austrians, concerned by Polish demands for greater autonomy within the province, gave support to [[Ruthenians]], the name of the [[East Slavs|East Slavic]] people that later was recognized as [[Ukrainians]]; their goal was to be recognized as a distinct nationality.<ref name="PRMagocsi">C. M. Hann, P. R. Magocsi, ''Galicia: A Multicultured Land'', 2005, [[University of Toronto Press]], p. 14</ref><ref name="Szporluk">Roman Szporluk. [http://www.wcfia.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/801__Szporluk1.pdf "The Making of Modern Ukraine: The Western Dimension"]. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110325173211/http://www.wcfia.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/801__Szporluk1.pdf |date=2011-03-25 }}. ''Harvard Ukrainian Studies'' XXV (1/2) 2001. pp. 64–65</ref>

Schools teaching [[Ruthenian language]] were established, Ruthenian political parties formed and attempts were begun to revive their national culture.<ref name="PRMagocsi"/><ref>Georgiy Kasianov,<!--spelled thus on the cover--> ''A Laboratory of Transnational History: Ukraine and Recent Ukrainian Historiography'', Central European University Press, 2009, p. 199</ref><ref name="Szporluk"/> In the late 1890s and the first decades of the next century, the [[populist]] Ruthenian intelligentsia adopted the term Ukrainians to describe their nationality.<ref>P. R. Magocsi. ''A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its People''. University of Toronto Press. 2010. p. 471.</ref> They endeavored to promote a national culture, including efforts toward standardization of the Ukrainian language, and the establishment and support of Ukrainian cultural institutions such as scientific societies, theater, and a [[Andrey Sheptytsky National Museum of Lviv|national museum]] in Lviv; beginning in the early 20th century, a national consciousness developed among the broader Ruthenian population, which was mainly rural.<ref>S. Conrad. ''Globalisation and the Nation in Imperial Germany''. [[Cambridge University Press]], 2010, p. 200.</ref>

Multiple incidents between the two nations occurred throughout the late 19th century and the early 20th century. In 1903, both Poles and Ukrainians held separate conferences in Lviv: the Poles in May and Ukrainians in August. Afterwards, the two national movements developed with contradictory goals, which was a cause of the later clash.

The ethnic composition of Galicia underlaid the conflict between the Poles and Ukrainians there. The Austrian province of [[Galicia (Central Europe)|Galicia]] consisted of [[Ruthenian Voivodeship]] territory that was part of Poland from 1434, and was seized by Austria in 1772, during the First [[Partition of Poland]]. The land included the territory of historical importance to Poland, including the ancient capital of [[Kraków]], and had a majority Polish population, but the east Galicia included the heartland of the historic territory of [[Galicia-Volhynia]] and had a Ukrainian majority.<ref name=Magosci>{{cite book|last=Magosci |first=R. |title=A History of Ukraine|location=Toronto |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=1996}}</ref> In eastern Galicia, Ukrainians made up 65% of the population, Poles – 22%  and Jews – 12%.<ref>Timothy Snyder. (2003). ''The Reconstruction of Nations''. New Haven: [[Yale University Press]], p. 123</ref> However, the eastern Galician cities and towns were mostly populated by Poles and Jews,<ref >{{cite book |last1=Markovits |first1=Andrei S. |last2=Sysyn |first2=Frank E. |title=Nationbuilding and the Politics of Nationalism |date=1982 |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |isbn=9780674603127 |page=150}}</ref> with Polish people forming the largest group of urban inhabitants.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Himka |first1=John-Paul |title=Galician Villagers And The Ukrainian National Movement In The Nineteenth Century |date=1988 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=9781349193868 |page=xxiii}}</ref>

In the city of Lwów (Lviv), the population in 1910 was approximately 60% Polish<ref>[http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages\N\O\NovemberUprisinginLviv1918.htm "November Uprising in Lviv, 1918"]. ''Encyclopedia of Ukraine''. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150814012731/http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages |date=August 14, 2015}}</ref> and 12% Ukrainian.{{citation needed|date=July 2023}} Poles considered Lviv to be one of Poland's cultural capitals and not having a control over the city was unthinkable for them.{{sfn|Eberhardt|2012|p=20}}<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wendland |first1=Anna Veronika |title=Post-Austrian Lemberg: War Commemoration, Interethnic Relations, and Urban Identity in L'viv, 1918–1939 |journal=Austrian History Yearbook |date=2003 |volume=34 |pages=88, 90 |doi=10.1017/S0067237800020440 |issn=1558-5255}}</ref>

The religious and ethnic divisions corresponded to [[social stratification]]. Galicia's leading social class were Polish nobles or descendants of [[Ruthenian nobility|Rus' gentry]] who had been Polonized in the past, but in the east of the province, Ruthenians (Ukrainians) were the majority of the peasants.<ref>P. R. Magocsi. ''A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its People''. University of Toronto Press. 2010. p. 419.</ref><ref>R. Bideleux, I. Jeffries. ''A History of Eastern Europe: Crisis and Change''. [[Taylor & Francis]]. 2007. p. 182.</ref> Poles and Jews were responsible for most of the commercial and industrial development in Galicia in the late 19th century.<ref>P. R. Magocsi, 1996, p. 429.</ref>

Throughout the 19th and the early 20th centuries, the local Ukrainians attempted to persuade the Austrians to divide Galicia into [[West Galicia|Western]] (Polish) and [[East Galicia|Eastern]] (Ukrainian) provinces. The Austrians eventually agreed in principle to divide the province of Galicia. In October 1916, Emperor [[Karl I of Austria|Karl I]] promised to do so once the war had ended.<ref name="Magosci"/>

==Prelude==
{{see also|November Uprising (Lemberg, 1918)}}
Due to the intervention of [[Archduke Wilhelm of Austria]], who adopted a Ukrainian identity and considered himself a Ukrainian patriot, in October 1918 two regiments of mostly Ukrainian troops were garrisoned in Lemberg (modern Lviv).<ref>Timothy Snyder (2008). ''Red Prince: The Secret Lives of a Habsburg Archduke''. New York: Basic Books, p. 117</ref> As the [[Austria-Hungary|Austro-Hungarian]] government collapsed, on October 18, 1918, the [[Ukrainian National Council]] (''Rada''), consisting of Ukrainian members of the Austrian parliament and regional Galician and [[Bukovina|Bukovynan]] diets as well as leaders of Ukrainian political parties, was formed. The council announced the intention to unite the West Ukrainian lands into a single state. As the Poles were taking their own steps to take over Lviv and Eastern Galicia, Captain [[Dmytro Vitovsky]] of the [[Ukrainian Sich Riflemen|Sich Riflemen]] led the group of young Ukrainian officers in a decisive action and during the night of October 31 – November 1, the Ukrainian military units, consisting of 1,400 soldiers and 60 officers, took control over [[Lviv]].<ref>[https://www.national.org.ua/library/lytwyn.html The Ukrainian–Polish War 1918–1919] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190527135834/http://www.national.org.ua/library/lytwyn.html |date=2019-05-27 }} by Nicholas Litvin. Dissertation for Doctor of History, National Library of Ukraine</ref> The [[West Ukrainian People's Republic]] was proclaimed on November 13, 1918, with Lviv as its capital.

The timing of proclamation of the Republic caught the Polish ethnic population and administration by surprise. The new Ukrainian Republic claimed sovereignty over Eastern Galicia, including the [[Carpathian Mountains|Carpathians]] up to the city of [[Nowy Sącz]] in the West, as well as [[Volhynia]], [[Carpathian Ruthenia]] and [[Bukovina]] (the last two territories were also claimed by [[Hungary]] and [[Romania]] respectively).<ref>Magocsi, 1996, p. 518</ref><ref>I. Livezeanu. ''Cultural Politics in Greater Romania: Regionalism, Nation Building, and Ethnic Struggle, 1918–1930''. Cornell University Press. 2000. p. 56</ref><ref name=Subtelny367/> In Lviv, the Ukrainian residents enthusiastically supported the proclamation. The city's significant [[Jews|Jewish]] minority accepted or remained neutral towards the Ukrainian proclamation, while the city's Polish majority was shocked to find themselves in a proclaimed Ukrainian state.<ref name=Subtelny367>[[Orest Subtelny]], ''[https://archive.org/details/ukrainehistory00subt_0 <!-- quote=0802083900. --> Ukraine: A History]'', pp. 367–368, University of Toronto Press, 2000, {{ISBN|0-8020-8390-0}}</ref> Since the West Ukrainian People's Republic was not internationally recognized and Poland's boundaries had not yet been defined, the issue of ownership of the disputed territory was reduced to a question of military control.<ref name="Chojnowski">A. Chojnowski. "[http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages%5CU%5CK%5CUkrainian6PolishWarinGalicia1918hD719.htm Ukrainian-Polish War in Galicia] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121012143822/http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages%5CU%5CK%5CUkrainian6PolishWarinGalicia1918hD719.htm |date=2012-10-12 }}, 1918–19." ''Encyclopedia of Ukraine''. Vol. 5 1993.</ref>

==War==
[[File:Orleta Eaglets defending the Łyczaków Cemetery during the Siege of Lwów.jpg|thumb|250px|''"[[Orlęta|Lwów Eaglets]] – the defence of the cemetery"'' by [[Wojciech Kossak]] (1926). Oil on canvas, [[Polish Army Museum]], [[Warsaw]].<br>A painting depicting Polish youths in the [[Battle of Lemberg (1918)]] (in Polish historiography called the Defense of Lwów) against the [[West Ukrainian People's Republic]] proclaimed in Lviv.]]
[[Image:Polish-Ukrainian War - final stage.JPG|thumb|right|200px|Final stage of the Polish–Ukrainian War.]]

===Initial stages===
Fighting between Ukrainian and Polish forces was concentrated around the declared Ukrainian capital of Lviv and the approaches to that city. In Lviv, the [[Ukrainian Galician Army|Ukrainian forces]] were opposed by local self-defence units formed mostly of World War I veterans, students and children. However, skillful command, good tactics and high morale allowed Poles to resist the poorly planned Ukrainian attacks.<ref name="Subtelny">Subtelny, 2000, p. 370.</ref> In addition, the Poles were able to skillfully buy time and wait for reinforcements through the arrangement of cease-fires with the Ukrainians.<ref>Vasyl Kuchabsky, Gus Fagan. (2009). ''Western Ukraine in Conflict with Poland and Bolshevism, 1918–1923''. Toronto: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press at the University of Toronto, pp. 44–48</ref> While Poles could count on widespread support from the civilian population, the Ukrainian side was largely dependent on help from outside the city.<ref>Chris Hann, Paul R. Magocsi, 2005, p. 144.</ref> Other uprisings against Ukrainian rule erupted in [[Drohobych]], [[Przemyśl]], [[Sambir]] and [[Jarosław]].<ref name="Chojnowski"/> In Przemyśl, local Ukrainian soldiers quickly dispersed to their homes and Poles seized the bridges over the River San and the railroad to Lviv, enabling the Polish forces in that city to obtain significant reinforcements.<ref>P. J. Wróbel. "The revival of Poland and Paramilitary Violence. 1918–1920." In: Rüdiger Bergien. ''Spießer, Patrioten, Revolutionäre: Militärische Mobilisierung und gesellschaftliche Ordnung in der Neuzeit''. V&R unipress. 2010. p. 296.</ref>

After two weeks of heavy fighting within Lviv, an armed unit under the command of Lt. Colonel [[Michał Karaszewicz-Tokarzewski]] of the renascent [[Polish Army]] broke through the Ukrainian siege on November 21 and arrived in the city. The Ukrainians were repelled, the entire Ukrainian Sich Riflemen regiment sent to support the Ukrainians being annihilated. Immediately after capturing the city, some in the local Jewish militia attacked Polish troops,<ref>Czeslaw Madajczyk [https://www.tygodnikprzeglad.pl/ani-pogrom-ani-odwet/ "Poles were upset that a Jewish militia was shooting at Polish troops"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170906033301/https://www.tygodnikprzeglad.pl/ani-pogrom-ani-odwet/ |date=2017-09-06 }}</ref> while at the same time elements of the Polish forces as well as common criminals [[Lwów pogrom (1918)|looted the Jewish and Ukrainian quarters of the city]], killing up to 340 civilians.<ref>Joanna B. Michlic. [https://books.google.com/books?id=t6h2pI7o_zQC&pg=PA111&dq=Lw%C3%B3w+pogrom&lr=&ei=92S_SInQHpzayATrmPiJDg&sig=ACfU3U1e3psQJhfrMsxIRBS6q1N_xwpucg ''Poland's Threatening Other: The Image of the Jew from 1880 to the Present'']. University of Nebraska Press, 2006. "One of the first and worst instances of anti-Jewish violence was Lviv pogrom, which occurred in the last week of November 1918. In three days 72 Jews were murdered and 443 others injured. The chief perpetrators of these murders were soldiers and officers of the so-called Blue Army, set up in France in 1917 by General Jozef Haller (1893–1960) and lawless civilians".</ref><ref>Herbert Arthur Strauss. [https://books.google.com/books?id=SOFkWX8EC4cC&pg=PA1048&dq=Lw%C3%B3w+pogrom+murdered+1918&lr=&ei=DGa_SOzBJoGSyASjovyPDg&sig=ACfU3U3_we9A4fDthOTMaEkX3amxAmMMGw Hostages of Modernization: Studies on Modern Antisemitism, 1870–1933/39.] Walter de Gruyter, 1993. "In Lwów, a city whose fate was disputed, the Jews tried to maintain their neutrality between Poles and Ukrainians, and in reaction a pogrom was held in the city under auspices of the Polish army"</ref><ref name="ND">Norman Davies. [https://books.google.com/books?id=SOFkWX8EC4cC&pg=PA1012&dq=lwow+pogrom+1918+killed++jews&ei=30HASPveLIyYyATwlKiRDg&sig=ACfU3U30AZS2LbGlIGHT5aGD2ic7lFJ6eQ "Ethnic Diversity in Twentieth Century Poland."] In: Herbert Arthur Strauss. ''Hostages of Modernization: Studies on Modern Antisemitism, 1870–1933/39''. Walter de Gruyter, 1993.</ref> The Poles also interned a number of Ukrainian activists in detention camps.<ref>Grünberg, Sprengel, p. 260</ref> The Ukrainian government provided financial assistance to the Jewish victims of the violence<ref>Alexander Victor Prusin. (2005). ''Nationalizing a Borderland: War, Ethnicity, and Anti-Jewish Violence in East Galicia, 1914–1920''. University of Alabama Press. p. 99</ref> and were able to recruit a [[Ukrainian Galician Army#Jewish Battalion|Jewish battalion]] into their army.<ref>Myroslav Shkandrij. (2009). ''Jews in Ukrainian Literature: Representation and Identity''. New Haven: Yale University Press. pp. 94–95</ref> Some factions blame these atrocities on the [[Blue Army (Poland)|Blue Army]] of [[Jozef Haller|General Haller]]. This is unlikely as this French-trained and supported fighting force did not leave France and the Western Front until April 1919, well after the rioting.<ref>Nastal, Stanislaw I., The Blue Division, Polish Army Veteran's Association in America, Cleveland, Ohio 1922</ref><ref>Wyczolkowski, Major Stefan, Outline of the Wartime History of the 43rd Regiment of the Eastern Frontier Riflemen, Warsaw 1928</ref><ref>Bobrowski, Major Stanislaw, Outline of the Wartime History of the 44th Regiment of Eastern Frontier Riflemen, Warsaw 1929</ref><ref>Dabrowski, Major Jerzy, Outline of the Wartime History of the 45th Regiment of Eastern Frontier Infantry Riflemen, Warsaw 1928</ref><ref>Skarzynski, Lt. Wincenty, The Polish Army in France in Light of the Facts, Warsaw 1929</ref>

On November 9 Polish forces attempted to seize the Drohobych oil fields by surprise, but, outnumbered by the Ukrainians, they were driven back. The Ukrainians retained control over the oil fields until May 1919.<ref name= "oilfrank">Alison Fleig Frank. (2005). ''Oil Empire: Visions of Prosperity in Austrian Galicia''. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press. pp. 207–228</ref>

On 6 November, a new Ukrainian polity was proclaimed in the Northern half of the region of [[Bukovina]]: [[Ukrainian Bukovina]] under President {{ill|Omelyan Popovych|uk|Попович Омелян Олександрович}}. The new state had its capital at [[Chernivtsi]].<ref name="Volodymyr Kubiĭovych 1963, p. 787">Volodymyr Kubiĭovych, Ukrainian National Association, 1963, ''Ukraine, a Concise Encyclopedia, Volume 1'', p. 787</ref> It was dissolved on 11 November, when the [[Romanian Army]] occupied Chernivtsi.<ref>Robert A. Kann, Zdenek David, University of Washington Press, 2017, ''Peoples of the Eastern Habsburg Lands, 1526–1918'', p. 446</ref><ref>[[Ivan Katchanovski]], Zenon E. Kohut, Bohdan Y. Nebesio, Myroslav Yurkevich, Scarecrow Press, 2013, ''Historical Dictionary of Ukraine'', p. 749</ref><ref name="Volodymyr Kubiĭovych 1963, p. 787"/> The Ukrainian administration and its military support retreated from the city the day before.<ref name="Volodymyr Kubiĭovych 1963, p. 787"/>

[[File:Boberski Witowski Cehelski 1918.jpg|thumb|left|200px|[[Dmytro Vitovsky]], first commander of the Ukrainian Galician Army, flanked by two officers, 1918.]]

By the end of November 1918, Polish forces controlled Lviv and the railroad linking Lviv to central Poland through Przemyśl, while Ukrainians controlled the rest of [[Eastern Galicia]] east of the river [[San (river)|San]], including the areas south and north of the railroad into Lviv. Thus, the Polish-controlled city of Lviv (Lwów) faced Ukrainian forces on three sides.<ref name="initialkuchabsky">Vasyl Kuchabsky, Gus Fagan. (2009). ''Western Ukraine in Conflict with Poland and Bolshevism, 1918–1923''. Toronto: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press at the University of Toronto, pp. 179–184</ref>

===Battles over Volhynia===
Immediately after the collapse of Austria-Hungary, Polish forces had captured the Kholm ([[Polish language|Polish]]: ''Chełm'') area; shortly thereafter the Austrian commandants in southwestern Volhynia ([[Volodymyr-Volynskyi]] and [[Kovel]]) handed over the government to the local Polish national committees. In November–December 1918, the Poles also advanced into [[Podlachia]] and Western [[Polesia]], but were stopped in western Volhynia by the troops of general [[Oleksander Osetsky|Osetsky]].<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Kubijovyč|editor1-first=Volodymyr E.|title=Ukraine, a Concise Encyclopedia, Vol. 1|date=1963|publisher=Ukrainian National Association, University of Toronto Press|page=760}}</ref>

As Polish units tried to seize control of the region, the forces of the [[Ukrainian People's Republic]] under [[Symon Petlura]] tried to recover the territory of [[Kholm Governorate (Ukraine)|Kholm Governorate]] already controlled by the Polish troops.

According to [[Richard Pipes]], the first major [[pogrom]] in this region took place in January 1919 in the town of [[Ovruch]], where Jews were robbed and killed by regiments of Kozyr-Zyrka affiliated with Symon Petlura's government.<ref>Richard Pipes. "The Ukrainian pogroms during the Russian Civil War." In: B. Frankel. ''A Restless Mind: Essays in Honor of Amos Perlmutter''. Routledge. 1996. p. 268</ref> [[Nicolas Werth]] claims that armed units of the Ukrainian People's Republic were also responsible for rapes, looting, and massacres in [[Zhytomir]], in which 500–700 Jews lost their lives.<ref>Nicolas Werth. [http://www.massviolence.org/Crimes-and-mass-violence-of-the-Russian-civil-wars-1918?artpage=3 Crimes and Mass Violence of the Russian Civil Wars (1918–1921)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150926185055/http://www.massviolence.org/crimes-and-mass-violence-of-the-russian-civil-wars-1918?artpage=3 |date=2015-09-26 }}. March 2008</ref>

After two months of heavy fighting the conflict was resolved in March 1919 by fresh and well-equipped Polish units under General [[Edward Rydz-Śmigły]].

===Stalemate in Eastern Galicia===
[[File:Polish and ukrainian soldiers while armistice at Kraszewskiego Street in Lemberg 17-18.11.1918.JPG|thumb|Polish and Ukrainian soldiers in Lviv (Lwów) during a ceasefire, 1918]]
[[File:Polski automobil pancerny z obrony Lwowa 1918-19.JPG|thumb|Photograph of an improvised [[Piłsudski Tank|armored vehicle]], constructed by the Polish defenders of Lwów, decked with the White Eagle and an American Flag, 1918]]

Thanks to fast and effective mobilization in December 1918, the Ukrainians possessed a large numerical advantage until February 1919 and pushed the Poles into defensive positions.<ref name="Subtelny"/> According to an American report from the period of January 13 – February 1, 1919, Ukrainians eventually managed to surround Lviv on three sides. The city's inhabitants were deprived of water supply and electricity. Ukrainian army also held villages on both sidelines of the railway leading to [[Przemyśl]].<ref>J. Cisek. Kościuszko, ''We Are Here! American Pilots of the Kosciuszko Squadron in Defense of Poland, 1919–1921''. McFarland. 2002. p. 49.</ref>

Ukrainian forces continued to control most of eastern Galicia and were a threat to Lviv itself until May 1919. During this time, according to Italian and Polish reports, Ukrainian forces enjoyed high morale (an Italian observer behind Galician lines stated that the Ukrainians were fighting with the "courage of the doomed") while many of the Polish soldiers, particularly from what had been [[Congress Poland]], wanted to return home because they saw no reason to fight for an alien land; the Polish forces were outnumbered by two to one and lacked ammunition.<ref>Michael Palij. (1995). ''The Ukrainian-Polish Defensive Alliance, 1919–1921: an aspect of the Ukrainian revolution''. Edmonton, Alberta: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press at University of Alberta, p. 50 According to a confidential report written in January 1919 by Polish expert Roman Knoll within the Polish ministry of foreign affairs, based on a discussion with Col. Nienewski a deputy of Gen. Stanyslaw Szeptycki, "Soldiers from Congress Poland, in the units of the Bug group, are saying that 'they want to go back to Poland because they do not see any reason to fight against Ruthenians over Ruthenian lands."</ref> Despite being initially outnumbered, the Poles had certain advantages. Their forces had many more and better-trained officers resulting in a better discipline and more mobile force; the Poles also enjoyed excellent intelligence and, due to their control of railroads behind their lines, were able to move their soldiers quite quickly. As a result, although the Poles had fewer total troops than did the Ukrainians, in particularly important battles they were able to bring in as many soldiers as did the Ukrainians.<ref name="initialkuchabsky"/>

On December 9, 1918, Ukrainian forces broke through the outer defences of Przemyśl in the hope of capturing the city and thus cutting off Polish-controlled Lviv from central Poland. However, the Poles were able to quickly send relief troops and by December 17 the Ukrainians were forced back. On December 27, bolstered by peasant troops sent to Galicia from Eastern Ukraine in the hopes that the Western Ukrainians would be able to form a disciplined force out of them, a general Ukrainian offensive against Lviv began. Lviv's defences held, and the eastern Ukrainian troops mutinied.<ref name="stalematekuchabsky">Vasyl Kuchabsky, Gus Fagan. (2009). ''Western Ukraine in Conflict with Poland and Bolshevism, 1918–1923''. Toronto: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press at the University of Toronto, pp. 192–211</ref>

From January 6-January 11, 1919 a Polish attack by 5,000 newly recruited forces from [[Congress Poland|formerly Russian Poland]] commanded by [[Jan Romer]] was repulsed by Western Ukrainian forces near [[Rava-Ruska]], north of Lviv. Only a small number of troops together with Romer were able to break through to Lviv after suffering heavy losses. Between January 11 and January 13, Polish forces attempted to dislodge Ukrainian troops besieging Lviv from the south while at the same time Ukrainian troops attempted another general assault on Lviv. Both efforts failed. In February 1919, Polish troops attempting to capture [[Sambir]] were defeated by the Ukrainian defenders with heavy losses, although the poor mobility of the Ukrainian troops prevented them from taking advantage of this victory.<ref name="stalematekuchabsky" />

On February 14, Ukrainian forces began another assault on Lviv. By February 20, they were able to successfully cut off the rail links between Lviv and Przemysl, leaving Lviv surrounded and the Ukrainian forces in a good position to take the city. However, a French-led mission from the Entente arrived at the Ukrainian headquarters on February 22 and demanded that the Ukrainian cease hostilities under threat of breaking all diplomatic ties between the Entente and the Ukrainian government. On February 25 the Ukrainian military suspended its offensive.<ref name="stalematekuchabsky"/> The [[Marie Joseph Barthélemy|Barthélemy]] mission proposed a [[demarcation line]] (February 28) leaving almost 70% of the East Galician territory to Ukrainians, and Lviv with oil fields to Poland. The Ukrainians would be supplied with half of the oil production. The proposal was accepted by the Poles.<ref name="Lviv 1952. pp. 273, 176">"According to a member of the Ukrainian delegation in Lviv, Dr. [[Michael Lozynsky]] the French representative on the commission, warned the Ukrainians that their military advantage could disappear quickly once General Haller's Polish Army arrived from France." John Stephen Reshetar. ''The Ukrainian Revolution, 1917–1920: A Study of Nationalism''. Princeton University Press. 1952. pp. 176, 273.</ref><ref name="The Rebirth of Poland">[http://www.ku.edu/~eceurope/hist557/lect11.htm The Rebirth of Poland] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205175847/http://web.ku.edu/~eceurope/hist557/lect11.htm |date=2012-02-05 }}. University of Kansas, lecture notes by professor [[Anna M. Cienciala]], 2004.</ref> The Allied demands, which included the loss of significant amount of Ukrainian-held and inhabited territory, were however deemed to excessively favor the Poles by the Ukrainians, who resumed their offensive on March 4. On March 5 Ukrainian artillery blew up the Polish forces' ammunition dump in Lviv; the resultant explosion caused a panic among Polish forces. The Ukrainians, however, failed to take advantage of this. During the time of the cease-fire, the Poles had been able to organize a relief force of 8,000–10,000 troops which by March 12 reached Przemyśl and by March 18 had driven the Ukrainian forces from the Lviv-Przemyśl railroad, permanently securing Lviv.<ref name="stalematekuchabsky"/>

On January 6–11 of 1919 a small part of the [[Ukrainian Galician Army]] invaded [[Carpathian Ruthenia|Transcarpathia]] to spread pro-Ukrainian sentiments among residents (the region was occupied by Hungarians and Czechoslovaks). Ukrainian troops fought with Czechoslovak and Hungarian local police. They succeeded in capturing some Hungarian-controlled Ukrainian settlements. After some clashes with Czechoslovaks, the Ukrainians retreated because Czechoslovakia (instead of [[Ukrainian People's Republic]]) was the only country that traded with the Western Ukrainian People's Republic and that supported it politically.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}} Further conflict with the Czechoslovak authorities would have led to the complete economical and political isolation of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic.

===Ukrainian collapse===
[[File:Polish FT-17 tanks near Lwów.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Blue Army (Poland)|Blue Army]] included the 1st Tank Regiment of 120 [[Renault FT]] tanks. With its arrival in Lwów, the Ukrainians had to face the fourth largest tank unit in the world.]]

[[Image:Ukrainian Galician Army Nieuport 17.jpg|thumb|right|[[Nieuport 17]] of the Ukrainian Galician Army]]

On May 14, 1919, a Polish general offensive began throughout Volhynia and Eastern Galicia. It was carried out by units of the [[Polish Army]], aided by the newly arrived [[Blue Army (Poland)|Blue Army]] of General [[Józef Haller de Hallenburg]]. This army, composed of Polish forces which had fought for the [[Triple Entente|Entente]] on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western front]],<ref>W. F. Reddaway. ''The Cambridge History of Poland'', Vol. 1. [[Cambridge University Press]]. 1971. p. 477</ref> numbering 60,000 troops,<ref>Orest subtelny. (200). ''Ukraine: a History''. Toronto: [[University of Toronto Press]], p. 370</ref> was well equipped by the Western Allies and partially staffed with experienced French officers specifically to fight the [[Bolsheviks]] and not the [[Ukrainian Galician Army|forces of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic]]. Despite this, the Poles dispatched Haller's army against the Ukrainians in order to break the stalemate in eastern Galicia. The Allies sent several telegrams ordering the Poles to halt their offensive, as using the French-equipped army against the Ukrainians specifically contradicted the conditions of the French assistance, but these were ignored,<ref name=Watt>{{cite book|author=Watt, R. |title=Bitter Glory: Poland and Its Fate 1918–1939|location=New York |publisher=[[Simon and Schuster]] |year=1979}}</ref> with the Polish side arguing that the Ukrainians were Bolshevik sympathizers.<ref name=Subtelny370>Subtelny, ''[[op. cit.]]'', [https://archive.org/details/ukrainehistory00subt_0/page/370 <!-- quote=0802083900. --> p. 370]</ref> At the same time, on May 23, [[Romania]] opened a second front against Ukrainian forces, demanding their withdrawal from the southern sections of eastern Galicia, including the temporary capital of [[Ivano-Frankivsk|Stanislaviv]]. This resulted in a loss of territory, ammunition and further isolation from the outside world.<ref name = "palij1"/>

The Ukrainian lines were broken, mostly due to the withdrawal of the elite [[Sich Riflemen]]. On May 27 the Polish forces reached the [[Złota Lipa]]–[[Berezhany]]-{{ill|Jezierna|pl}}-[[Radyvyliv|Radziwiłłów]] line. The Polish advance was accompanied by a large wave of [[Anti-jewish|anti-Jewish]] violence and looting by disorganized Polish mobs, as in Lviv in 1918, and by Polish military units operating against the orders of their officers, in particular, those of the [[Poznań]] regiments and Haller's army.<ref>Prusin, Alexander Victor (2005). ''Nationalizing a Borderland: War, Ethnicity, and Anti-Jewish Violence in East Galicia, 1914–1920. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, pp. 102–103. The author describes mass thefts, forced labor by Jewish women and children, ritual humiliation of Jews (beards being cut off, etc.), and destruction of sacred scrolls and prayer books in synagogues. He writes, "two Polish units – Poznan regiments and General Jozef Haller's Army – especially earned the reputation as notorious Jew baiters and staged brutal pogroms in Sambor, the Lwow district, and Grodek Jagiellonski."</ref> Following the demands of the [[Triple Entente|Entente]], the Polish offensive was halted and Haller's troops assumed defensive positions.

===Chortkiv Offensive and ultimate Polish victory===
{{main|Chortkiv offensive}}
[[File:Shell from Polish-Ukrainian war 1918-1919 in Lviv.png|166px|thumb|right|Shell from Polish–Ukrainian war 1918–1919 in [[Lviv]], dated 5 January 1919.]]

On June 8, 1919, the Ukrainian forces under the new command of [[Oleksander Hrekov]], a former general in the Russian army, started a counter-offensive, and after three weeks advanced to [[Hnyla Lypa]] and the upper [[Stryi]] river, defeating five Polish divisions. Although the Polish forces had been forced to withdraw, they were able to prevent their forces from collapsing and avoided being encircled and captured. Thus, in spite of their victories, the Ukrainian forces were unable to obtain significant amounts of arms and ammunition. By June 27 the Ukrainian forces had advanced 120&nbsp;km. along the [[Dnister]] river and on another they had advanced 150&nbsp;km, past the town of [[Brody]]. They came to within two days' march of Lviv.<ref name="chortkiv">Vasyl Kuchabsky, Gus Fagan. (2009). ''Western Ukraine in Conflict with Poland and Bolshevism, 1918–1923''. Toronto: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press at the University of Toronto, pp. 241–242</ref>

The successful Chortkiv offensive halted primarily because of a lack of arms – there were only 5–10 bullets for each Ukrainian soldier.<ref name=Subtelny368>Subtelny, ''[[op. cit.]]'', p. 368</ref> The West Ukrainian government controlled the [[Drohobych]] [[oil fields]] with which it planned to purchase arms for the struggle, but for political and diplomatic reasons weapons and ammunition could only be sent to Ukraine through [[Czechoslovakia]]. Although the Ukrainian forces managed to push the Poles back approximately 120–150&nbsp;km. they failed to secure a route to Czechoslovakia. This meant that they were unable to replenish their supply of arms and ammunition, and the resulting lack of supplies forced Hrekov to end his campaign.

[[Józef Piłsudski]] assumed the command of the Polish forces on June 27 and started yet another offensive, helped by two fresh Polish divisions. On June 28, the Polish offensive began. Short of ammunition and facing an enemy now twice its size, the Ukrainian Galician Army and ZUNR leadership were pushed back to the line of the [[Zbruch River|Zbruch river]] on 16–18 July, after which ZUNR was occupied by Poland.<ref>[https://uinp.gov.ua/istorychnyy-kalendar/cherven/9/1919-yevgen-petrushevych-stav-upovnovazhenym-dyktatorom-zunr Ending of the Polish-Ukrainian war]</ref> Although the Ukrainian infantry had run out of ammunition, its artillery had not. This provided the Ukrainian forces with cover for an orderly retreat. Approximately 100,000 civilian refugees and 60,000 troops, 20,000 of whom were combat ready, were able to escape across the [[Zbruch River]] into Central Ukraine.<ref name="chortkiv"/>

==Diplomatic front==
[[File:Interallied mission to Poland (Gen Barthelemy) 02.1919.jpg|thumb|Allied diplomatic mission to Poland in Lwów, February 1919. First row from the left: Stanisław Wańkowicz, [[:pl:Robert Howard Lord|Robert Howard Lord]], [[:de:Marie Joseph Barthélemy|Gen. Joseph Barthélemy]], [[:en:Tadeusz Rozwadowski|Gen. Tadeusz Rozwadowski]], [[:en:Adrian Carton de Wiart|Gen. Adrian Carton de Wiart]] and Maj. Giuseppe Stabile.]]
[[Image:Poland & The New Baltic States.jpg|thumb|right|"Poland & The New Baltic States": a map from a 1920 British [[atlas]], showing borders left undefined between the treaties of Brest-Litovsk, [[Treaty of Versailles|Versailles]] and [[Peace of Riga|Riga]]|246x246px]]

The Polish and Ukrainian forces struggled on the diplomatic as well as military fronts both during and after the war. The Ukrainians hoped that the western allies of World War I would support their cause because the [[Treaty of Versailles]] that ended the first world war was based on the principle of national [[self-determination]]. Accordingly, the diplomats of the West Ukrainian People's Republic hoped that the West would compel Poland to withdraw from territories with a Ukrainian demographic majority.<ref name="palij1">Michael Palij. (1995). ''The Ukrainian-Polish Defensive Alliance, 1919–1921: An Aspect of the Ukrainian Revolution''. Edmonton, Alberta: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press at University of Alberta, pp. 48–58</ref>

Opinion among the allies was divided. Britain, under the leadership of prime minister [[David Lloyd George]], and to a lesser extent Italy were opposed to Polish expansion. Their representatives maintained that granting the territory of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic to Poland would violate the principle of national self-determination and that hostile national minorities would undermine the Polish state.<ref name="palij1"/> In reality, the British policy was dictated by unwillingness to harm Russian interests in the region and alienate the future Russian state through preventing possible union of [[Eastern Galicia]] with Russia.<ref name="Wandycz">P. S. Wandycz. ''France and Her Eastern Allies, 1919–1925: French-Czechoslovak-Polish Relations from the Paris Peace Conference to Locarno''. [[University of Minnesota Press]]. 1962. pp. 107–116</ref> In addition, Britain was interested in Western Ukraine's oil fields. Czechoslovakia, itself involved in a [[Polish–Czechoslovak War|conflict with Poland]], was friendly towards the Ukrainian government and sold it weapons in exchange for oil.<ref name="oilfrank" /><ref name="subtlenyZUNR">Orest Subtelny. (1988). ''Ukraine: A History''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp. 370–371</ref> France, on the other hand, strongly supported Poland in the conflict. The French hoped that a large, powerful Polish state would serve as a counterbalance to Germany and would isolate Germany from Soviet Russia. French diplomats consistently supported Polish claims to territories also claimed by Germany, Lithuania and Ukraine.<ref name="palij1" /> France also provided large numbers of arms and ammunition, and French officers, most notably General Haller's forces, to Polish forces that were used against the western Ukrainian military.<ref name="subtlenyZUNR" /><ref>Mantoux, Paul, Arthur S Link, and Manfred F Boemeke. The Deliberations of the Council of Four (March 24–June 28, 1919). Princeton, N.J.: [[Princeton University Press]], 1992.</ref>

During the winter of 1918–1919, a diplomatic offensive by the Polish government tried to tilt the opinions of the Allies in favor of fully backing the Polish cause and to counter German disinformation campaign, which aimed to weaken French, British and American support of the new Polish state. Government officials in Poland and abroad repeatedly raised the issue of a possible link between Germany and the West Ukrainian People's Republic, insisting that the Germans were financially supporting the West Ukrainian government and the Bolshevik revolution in Russia in order to sow a wave of political unrest and chaos in the region.<ref>Bolshevism and Poland, Paris – June, 1919 {{cite web |url=https://archive.org/stream/2453305upenn/2453305_djvu.txt |title=Full text of "Bolshevism and Poland" |access-date=2017-11-02 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151022045224/https://archive.org/stream/2453305upenn/2453305_djvu.txt |archive-date=2015-10-22 }}</ref> However, the Ukrainians objected to such claims, arguing that the Poles only sought to portray the West Ukrainian People's Republic as pro-German and sympathetic to the [[Bolsheviks]] because of a successful defense put up by the [[Ukrainian Galician Army]], which stalled the Polish military offensive.<ref name="palij1" />

In attempt to end the war, in January 1919 an Allied commission led by a French general was sent to negotiate a peace treaty between the two sides, prompting a ceasefire. In February it recommended that the West Ukrainian People's Republic surrender a third of its territory, including the city of [[Lviv]] and the [[Drohobych]] oil fields. The Ukrainians refused as the truce did not correspond to ethnology of the country or the military situation, and broke diplomatic ties with Poland.<ref name="palij1" /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofpeaceco01tempuoft|title=A history of the Peace Conference of Paris|first=Harold William Vazeille|last=Temperley|publisher=London Oxford University Press, Hodder & Stoughton|access-date=5 May 2018|via=Internet Archive|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160403060559/https://archive.org/details/historyofpeaceco01tempuoft|archive-date=3 April 2016}}</ref> In mid-March 1919, the French marshal [[Ferdinand Foch]], who wanted to use Poland as an operational base for an offensive against the Red Army, brought the issue of Polish–Ukrainian war before the [[Supreme War Council|Supreme Council]] and appealed for large-scale Polish-Romanian military operation which would be conducted with Allied support, as well as sending [[Blue Army (Poland)|Haller's divisions]] to Poland immediately to relieve Lviv from Ukrainian siege.<ref name="Wandycz" />

Another Allied commission, led by South African General [[Louis Botha]], proposed an armistice in May that would involve the (West) Ukrainians keeping the Drohobych oil fields and the Poles keeping Lwów.<ref name="palij1" /><ref name="Wandycz" /> The Ukrainian side agreed to this proposal<ref name="palij1" /> but it was rejected by the Poles on the grounds that it didn't take into consideration the overall military situation of Poland and the circumstances on the eastern front. The Bolshevik army broke through the [[Ukrainian People's Republic|UPR]] forces and was advancing to Podolia and Volhynia. The Poles argued that they need military control over the whole of Eastern Galicia to secure the Russian front in its southern part and strengthen it by a junction with Romania.<ref name="Wandycz" /> The Poles launched an attack soon afterward using a large force equipped by France (Haller's Army), which captured most of the territory of the West Ukrainian People's Republic. Urgent telegrams by the Western allies to halt this offensive were ignored.<ref name="palij1" /> Czechoslovakia, which had inherited seven oil refineries from prewar Austrian times and which was dependent on its contracts for oil with the Ukrainian government, demanded that the Poles send the Czechoslovaks the oil that had been paid for to the Ukrainian government. The Poles refused, stating that the oil was paid for with ammunition that had been used against Polish soldiers. Although the Czechoslovaks did not retaliate, according to Polish reports the Czechoslovaks considered seizing the oil fields from the Poles and returning them to the Ukrainians who would honor their contracts.<ref name="oilfrank" />

On June 25, 1919, the Allied Council legitimized Polish control over Eastern Galicia through the resolution that approved military occupation by Polish forces, including Haller's Army, up to the river [[Zbruch River|Zbruch]] and authorized the Polish government to establish an interim civil administration, which would preserve as far as possible the territorial autonomy and liberties of the inhabitants.<ref name="Wandycz2"/><ref>{{cite journal|title=The Paris Peace Conference, 1919|journal=Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States|date=1919|volume=IV|pages=854–855|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office}}</ref> On November 21, 1919, the Highest Council of the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference]] granted Eastern Galicia to Poland for a period of 25 years, after which a [[plebiscite]] was to be held there, and obliged the Polish government to give territorial autonomy to the region.<ref name="Eberhardt"/><ref>Lawrence Martin, John Reed. ''The Treaties of Peace, 1919–1923''. The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. 2007. p. lviii.</ref> This decision was suspended on 22 December 1919 and never implemented.<ref name="Eberhardt">{{cite journal |last1=Eberhardt |first1=Piotr |title=The Curzon line as the eastern boundary of Poland. The Origins and the political background |journal=Geographica Polonica |date=2012 |volume=85 |issue=1 |page=10}}</ref><ref name="Wandycz2">Piotr Wandycz. ''The United States and Poland''. [[Harvard University Press]]. 1980. pp. 141–143.</ref> On April 21, 1920, [[Józef Piłsudski]] and [[Symon Petliura]] signed an [[Treaty of Warsaw (1920)|alliance]], in which Poland promised the [[Ukrainian People's Republic]] the military help in the [[Kiev offensive (1920)|Kyiv offensive]] against the [[Red Army]] in exchange for the acceptance of Polish–Ukrainian border on the river Zbruch.<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Kofman|editor1-first=Jan|editor2-last=Roszkowski|editor2-first=Wojciech|title=Biographical dictionary of Central and Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century|date=2008|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|page=783}}</ref><ref name="Talmon"/>

Following this agreement, the government of the [[West Ukrainian People's Republic]] went into exile in Vienna, where it enjoyed the support of various West Ukrainian political emigrees as well as soldiers of the Galician army interned in Bohemia.<ref name=Encyclopedia>{{cite book|author=Kubijovic, V. |title=Ukraine: A Concise Encyclopedia|location=Toronto |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=1963}}</ref> Although not officially recognized by any state as the government of West Ukraine,<ref name="Talmon">S. Talmon. ''Recognition of Governments in International Law: With Particular Reference to Governments in Exile''. [[Oxford University Press]]. 1998. pp. 289, 320.</ref> it engaged in diplomatic activity with the French and British governments in the hopes of obtaining a favourable settlement at Versailles. As a result of its efforts, the council of the League of Nations declared on February 23, 1921, that Galicia lay outside the territory of Poland and that Poland did not have the mandate to establish administrative control in that country and that Poland was merely the occupying military power of Galicia, the sovereign of which were the Allied Powers (pursuant to the Treaty of [[Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919)|Saint-Germain]] signed with Austria in September 1919) and whose fate would be determined by the [[Council of Ambassadors]] at the League of Nations.<ref name=Encyclopedia/> The Council of Ambassadors in Paris stated on July 8, 1921, that so-called "West Ukrainian Government" of [[Yevhen Petrushevych]] did not constitute a government either de facto or de jure and did not have the right to represent any of the territories formerly belonging to the Austrian empire.<ref name="Talmon"/> After a long series of negotiations, on March 14, 1923, the Council of Ambassadors decided that Galicia would be incorporated into Poland "taking into consideration that Poland has recognized that in regard to the eastern part of Galicia ethnographic conditions fully deserve its autonomous status."<ref name=Encyclopedia/> After 1923, Galicia was internationally recognized as part of the Polish state.<ref>Magocsi. R. (1996), p. 526.</ref> The government of the West Ukrainian People's Republic then disbanded, while Poland reneged on its promise of autonomy for Eastern Galicia.

===Barthelemy Line===
[[File:Partiton proposals for eastern Galicia.svg|thumb|400x400px|Map of [[Eastern Galicia]] with the partition proposals from January and February 1919{{legend|red|No Ukrainian claims}}{{legend|#fdfbf4|Disputed Area}}{{legend|blue|No Polish claims}}]]
In an attempt to stop the war, a French general {{ill|Marie Joseph Barthélemy|de}} proposed a demarcation line, known as the {{ill|Barthelemy Line|pl|Linia Barthelemy’ego}}, that was supposed to cease the fighting between the [[Polish Armed Forces (Second Polish Republic)|Polish]] and [[Ukrainian Galician Army|West Ukrainian]] army.

In 1918, the [[Allies of World War I|Entente]] countries sought to form a common anti-Bolshevik front, which was to include the Polish, [[Russian State|White Russian]], Romanian and Ukrainian armies. The outbreak of [[Battle of Lemberg (1918)|Polish-Ukrainian hostilities in Lviv]] on 1 November thwarted these plans, so the Entente states began to press both the Poles and Galicians to seek a settlement and adopt the demarcation line proposed by the allied states.

On 19 January 1919, by the order of General [[Louis Franchet d'Espèrey|Franchet d'Esperey]], a peacekeeping mission under the command of General Joseph Barthelemy arrived in [[Kraków]]. Initially, the mission familiarised itself with the Polish position, which opted for the [[Bug (river)|Bug]]-{{ill|Świca|pl}} line. It then travelled to Lwów, meeting with the Ukrainian delegation. The Ukrainians opted for the [[San (river)|San]] line as a future demarcation line.

In this situation, General Barthelemy presented his compromise proposal on 28 January 1919. The armistice line was to run along the Bug River to [[Kamianka-Buzka|Kamionka Strumiłłowa]], then along the border of the districts to [[Bibrka|Bóbrka]], then along the Bóbrka-Wybranka railway line, westwards to [[Mykolaiv|Mikołajów]] (leaving Mikolajiv on the Ukrainian side), then along the railway line Lwów-[[Stryi]] to the border of the disputed territory in the [[Eastern Carpathians]]. The [[Stryi]]-[[Lavochne]] railway line was to remain in Ukrainian hands.<ref>Rafał Galuba, "Let us be judged by sword and blood ...". Konflikt polsko-ukraiński o Galicję Wschodnią w latach 1918–1919, Poznań 2004, {{ISBN|83-7177-281-5}} p. 99.</ref> This was to be a temporary line, until the matter was settled by the [[Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920)|Paris Peace Conference]].<ref>[[Władysław Pobóg-Malinowski]], ''Najnowsza historia polityczna Polski'' vol. II 1914–1939, first national edition, Gdańsk 1990, published by Oficyna wydawnicza Graf, {{ISBN|83-85130-29-2}}, pp. 300–302.</ref>

The Polish side accepted this solution,<ref name="Lviv 1952. pp. 273, 176"/><ref name="The Rebirth of Poland"/> but the Ukrainian delegation insisted on the 'San line'. As a result of the Ukrainian disapproval, the Entente delegation made another attempt at mediation. This was carried out by the {{ill|Inter-allied Commission for Poland|pl|Komisja Międzysojusznicza dla Polski}} subcommittee set up on 15 February 1919 and headed by [[Joseph Noulens]]. The sub-commission consisted of General Joseph Barthelemy ([[Third French Republic|France]]) as chairman, Colonel [[Adrian Carton de Wiart]] ([[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|UK]]), Dr Robert Howard Lord ([[United States]]) and Major Giovanni Stabile ([[Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946)|Italy]]).<ref>Subcommittee for the Suspension of Arms on the Front of the Polish-Ukrainian Struggle in Eastern Galicia' was formed on 15 February 1919. Chairman: Joseph Barthélemy. Members: Robert Howard Lord ([[United States]]), Colonel [[Adrian Carton de Wiart]] ([[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|UK]]), Major Giovanni Stabile ([[Kingdom of Italy|Italy]]) The sub-commission was to bring about the cessation of the [[Polish-Ukrainian War]], so that the [[Paris Peace Conference (1919-1920)|Paris Peace Conference]] could settle the nationality of [[Eastern Galicia]]. The position of [[Joseph Noulens]] prevailed in the Inter-Socialist Commission for Poland, which advocated the purely military nature of possible agreements with the West Ukrainian People's Republic, without prejudging any political issues. Indeed, [[Esme Howard]] advocated linking the possible agreement with WUNR to the promise of recognition [[Ukrainian People's Republic]] (of which WUNR was formally a part after the [[Unification Act]]) by the [[Allies of World War I|Entente]]. Howard's proposal was not supported by a majority of the Commission. Rafał Galuba, ''"Let us be judged by sword and blood ...". Konflikt polsko-ukraiński o Galicję Wschodnią w latach 1918–1919'', Poznań 2004, {{ISBN|83-7177-281-5}} p. 108.</ref> The subcommittee presented a draft [[truce|truce convention]] on 15 February 1919. The truce, along the Barthelemy Line, was to be purely military and not affect the decisions of the Paris Peace Conference in any way. An integral part of the convention was to be a supplementary treaty concerning the {{ill|Boryslav-Drohobychian Oil Basin|pl|Borysławsko-Drohobyckie Zagłębie Naftowe}}. It was to remain on the Polish side of the truce line under the management of an international commission, with 50% of oil production to be transferred to the Ukrainian side. Poland and WUNR were only to be able to record the volume of production and pay for oil supplies. The project secured Entente interests in the oil basin and was the first step towards its neutralisation. At the time of the proposal, the territory of the basin was under the control of the [[Ukrainian Galician Army]]. For the West Ukrainian government, the terms of the Armistice Convention were unfavourable; however, they offered a chance to compromise with Poland and obtain international recognition of the Ukrainian state by the Entente.<ref>Rafał Galuba, "Let us be judged by sword and blood ...". Konflikt polsko-ukraiński o Galicję Wschodnią w latach 1918–1919, Poznań 2004, {{ISBN|83-7177-281-5}} pp. 101–102.</ref>

The commission succeeded in getting the [[armistice]] treaty signed on 24 February 1919, and presented its proposals to the parties on 28 February, which was rejected by the West Ukrainian side. As a result of the failure to agree on the demarcation line, Polish-Ukrainian hostilities resumed on 2 March.

==Civilian casualties==

Historian Christoph Mick states there was no systematic violence nor massacres of ethnic Poles by Ukrainians during the course of this war<ref>Christoph Mick. (2015). Lemberg, Lwow, Lviv, 1914–1947: Violence and Ethnicity in a Contested City. West Lafayette, Indiana: Purdue University Press, pp. 177–184</ref> but that both sides blamed each other for bloodshed. When Ukrainian forces first captured Lwów they refused to take hostages,<ref name="Christoph Mick 2015 pg. 150">Christoph Mick. (2015). Lemberg, Lwow, Lviv, 1914–1947: Violence and Ethnicity in a Contested City. West Lafayette, Indiana: Purdue University Press, p. 150</ref> tolerated Polish recruitment centers<ref>Jochen Böhler. (2019). Civil War in Central Europe, 1918–1921: The Reconstruction of Poland. Oxford University Press, p. 78</ref> and were even prepared to enter negotiations with the Polish side, but were met with armed resistance.<ref name="Christoph Mick 2015 pg. 150"/> Polish historians, however, describe numerous examples during which Ukrainian troops used terror to subdue Poles into compliance.<ref>Wojna polsko-ukraińska 1918–1919: działania bojowe, aspekty polityczne, kalendarium Grzegorz Łukomski, Czesław Partacz, Bogusław Polak Wydawnictwo Wyższej Szkoły Inżynierskiej w Koszalinie; Warszawa, 1994, 285 p.  96 ''Terrorem usiłowano milionową społeczność polską zmusić do spokoju i respektowania zarządzeń władz ukraińskich''</ref><ref>Czesław Partacz – Wojna polsko-ukraińska o Lwów i Galicję Wschodnią 1918–1919 [w:] Przemyskie Zapiski Historyczne – Studia i materiały poświęcone historii Polski Południowo-Wschodniej. 2006, 09 R. XVI–XVII (2010)</ref> Ukrainian authorities tried to intimidate the Polish population in Lwów by sending soldiers and armed trucks into the streets and dispersed crowds that could have developed into pro-Polish demonstrations.<ref>Lwów 1918–1919 Michał Klimecki Dom Wydawniczy Bellona, 1998, p. 99</ref> Ukrainian soldiers patrolled the streets with firearms and machine guns aimed at pedestrians; Polish sources claim that the Ukrainians shot bystanders who were looking at them from windows or building entrances,<ref>Czesław Partacz – Wojna polsko-ukraińska o Lwów i Galicję Wschodnią 1918–1919 Przemyskie Zapiski Historyczne – Studia i materiały poświęcone historii Polski Południowo-Wschodniej. 2006–09 R. XVI–XVII (2010) p. 65</ref> while Ukrainians claimed Poles were shooting at their soldiers from windows and behind gateways.<ref>Christoph Mick. (2015). Lemberg, Lwow, Lviv, 1914–1947: Violence and Ethnicity in a Contested City. West Lafayette, Indiana: Purdue University Press, pp. 146–150</ref> Polish fighters also often dressed in civilian clothing when shooting at Ukrainian soldiers.<ref>Christoph Mick. (2015). Lemberg, Lwow, Lviv, 1914–1947: Violence and Ethnicity in a Contested City. West Lafayette, Indiana: Purdue University Press, p. 146 "Particularly in the early stages, Polish fighters often wore civilian clothes without any signs identifying them as combatants"</ref> According to historian Christoph Mick, both Poles and Ukrainians engaged in a propaganda war with each side accusing the other of war crimes and brutality.<ref name = "Mick 4">Christoph Mick. (2015). Lemberg, Lwow, Lviv, 1914–1947: Violence and Ethnicity in a Contested City. West Lafayette, Indiana: Purdue University Press, p. 180</ref> During fights over Lviv, Polish nurses who assisted wounded soldiers were said to have been captured by Ukrainian forces and tortured before being executed,<ref>Wojna polsko-ukraińska 1918–1919: działania bojowe, aspekty polityczne, kalendarium. Grzegorz Łukomski, Czesław Partacz, Bogusław Polak. Wydawnictwo Wyższej Szkoły Inżynierskiej w Koszalinie; Warszawa, 1994 p. 95</ref> while Ukrainians sources claimed that Polish soldiers shot Ukrainian medical patrols and accused Poles of rape and bloodlust.<ref>Christoph Mick. (2015). Lemberg, Lwow, Lviv, 1914–1947: Violence and Ethnicity in a Contested City. West Lafayette, Indiana: [[Purdue University Press]], p. 152</ref>

When Poles captured Lwów, a mixed group of Polish criminals released from prisons, militiamen and some regular soldiers pillaged the Jewish and Ukrainian parts of the city, abusing local civilians.<ref>Christoph Mick. (2015). Lemberg, Lwow, Lviv, 1914–1947: Violence and Ethnicity in a Contested City. West Lafayette, Indiana: Purdue University Press, p. 159</ref> According to historian [[Norman Davies]] the Poles killed approximately 340 civilians, 2/3 of them Ukrainians and the rest Jews.<ref name="ND"/> According to Christoph Mick, only Jews were killed during these events and Ukrainians, while subject to hostile acts, were not murdered.<ref>Christoph Mick. (2015). Lemberg, Lwow, Lviv, 1914–1947: Violence and Ethnicity in a Contested City. West Lafayette, Indiana: Purdue University Press, p. 161</ref>

According to Polish historians, during the course of the war, Ukrainian forces conducted massacres against the Polish population in [[Sokilnyky, Lviv Oblast|Sokolniki]] where 500 buildings were burned down and circa 50 Poles killed.<ref>Rafał Galuba, „Niech nas rozsądzi miecz i krew...”. Konflikt polsko-ukraiński o Galicję Wschodnią w latach 1918–1919, Poznań 2004, {{ISBN|83-7177-281-5}}, p. 228; M. Klimecki, Polsko-ukraińska wojna o Lwów i Wschodnią Galicję. Aspekty polityczne i wojskowe, Warszawa 1997</ref> In [[Zamarstyniv|Zamarstynow]], a Ukrainian commander accused the Polish civilian population of supporting the Polish side and allowed for brutal house searchers by his troops in which civilians were beaten, robbed, murdered and raped. Ukrainian forces also murdered prisoners of war during these events. A day later, Polish troops executed a group of Ukrainian prisoners in retaliation.<ref>M. Klimecki, Polsko-ukraińska wojna o Lwów i Wschodnią Galicję. Aspekty polityczne i wojskowe, Warszawa 1997 p. 102 ''Dołud oskarżył polską ludność cywilną o udzielanie pomocy wrogowi (szpiegowanie, ostrzeliwanie ukraińskich żołnierzy) i zezwolił na przeprowadzenie brutalnych rewizji domów. Doszło do gwałtów, pobić, mordów i rabunków bezbronnych. Podwładni Dołuda dopuścili się także mordu na grupie jeńców''</ref><ref>Wojna polsko-ukraińska 1918–1919: działania bojowe, aspekty polityczne, kalendarium Grzegorz Łukomski, Czesław Partacz, Bogusław Polak Wydawnicwo Wyższej Szkoły Inżynierskiej w Koszalinie; Warszawa, 1994 p. 92</ref> On 24 November 1919, the village of Bilka Szlachecka was attacked by Ukrainian forces, burned down and its civilian population massacred, with 45 civilians murdered and 22 wounded.<ref>Folia Historica Cracoviensia 2004 Memoriał metropolity lwowskiego obrządku łacińskiego Józefa Bilczewskiego o relacjach ukraińsko-polskich w Galicji (Małopolsce) w latach 1914–1920 Uniwersytet Papieski Jana Pawła II w Krakowie p. 456 "par. Biłka Szlachecka. Po napadzie ukraińskim na wieś 24 XI 1918 r. w niedzielę i podpaleniu wsi, zastrzelono
45 osób, a 22 odniosły rany"</ref> In Chodaczkow Wielki, 4 Polish girls were murdered by Ukrainian soldiers and their bodies mutilated.<ref>Wojna polsko-ukraińska 1918–1919: działania bojowe, aspekty Grzegorz Łukomski, Czesław Partacz, Bogusław Polak Wydawn. Wyższej Szkoły Inżynierskiej w Koszalinie; Warszawa, 1994 p. 103 "W Chodaczkowie Wielkim koło Tarnopola, żołnierze ukraińscy w maju 1919 r. zamordowali 4 polskie dziewczęta, obcięli im piersi i używali ich jako piłek"</ref> A special Polish commission for investigation of these atrocities established that even more drastic events occurred, but refused to blame Ukrainian nation for them, putting the blame for them on small percentage of Ukrainian society, mainly soldiers, peasants and so called "half-intelligentsia", that is village teachers, officers and members of gendarmerie.<ref name="Czesław Partacz page 103">Wojna polsko-ukraińska 1918–1919: działania bojowe, aspekty polityczne, kalendarium Grzegorz Łukomski, Czesław Partacz, Bogusław Polak Wydawnictwo Wyższej Szkoły Inżynierskiej w Koszalinie; Warszawa, 1994 p. 103</ref> The commission, which included representatives from Italy and France, established that in just three districts 90 murders were committed on civilians besides robberies. Numerous churches desecrated by Ukrainian forces as well. Nuns from three cloisters were raped and later murdered by being blown up by explosive grenades. There were cases of people being buried alive. The commission also noted however that several Ukrainian villagers had hidden Poles.<ref name="Czesław Partacz page 103"/> The head of the commission, Zamorski recommended imprisonment of culprits of the atrocities, while establishing friendly relationship with Ukrainian population based on existing laws.<ref>Czesław Partacz – Wojna polsko-ukraińska o Lwów i Galicję Wschodnią 1918–1919 Przemyskie Zapiski Historyczne – Studia i materiały poświęcone historii Polski Południowo-Wschodniej. 2006–09 R. XVI–XVII (2010) p. 77</ref>

Overall, although there is no evidence of government-controlled mass persecutions of civilians by either the Ukrainians or the Poles, given the paramilitary nature of the fighting atrocities were committed by soldiers or paramilitaries from both sides.<ref>Jochen Böhler. (2019). Civil War in Central Europe, 1918–1921: The Reconstruction of Poland. Oxford University Press, p. 81</ref>

==Aftermath==
[[File:Wojna polsko-ukraińska (polscy ochotnicy przed kościołem w Chyrowie) 1919.jpeg|thumb|Polish–Ukrainian War 1918–1919. Polish defenders of Chyrów (modern [[Khyriv]]) with the [[Jesuit]] college in the background, 1919.]]
[[File:Gromoboj sanok 1919.jpeg|thumb|Polish armoured train [[Sanok]]-[[Gromobój (armoured train)|Gromobój]] and a Polish soldier Wiktor Borczyk with his son, 1918.]]

Approximately 10,000 Poles and 15,000 Ukrainians, mostly soldiers, died during this war.<ref name=Subtelny370/> Ukrainian [[POW]]s were kept in ex-Austrian [[POW camp]]s in [[Dąbie, Kraków|Dąbie (Kraków)]], [[Łańcut]], [[Pikulice]], [[Strzałków, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship|Strzałków]], and [[Wadowice]].

Both sides conducted mass arrests of civilians. By July 1919, as many as 25,000 Poles ended up in Ukrainian [[Internment|internment camps]],<ref>Jochen Böhler. (2018) Civil War in Central Europe, 1918–1921: The Reconstruction of Poland. Oxford University Press p. 81</ref> in [[Zhovkva]], [[Zolochiv, Lviv Oblast|Zolochiv]], [[Mykulyntsi]], [[Strusiv]], [[Yazlovets]], [[Kolomyya]] and [[Kosiv]]. Interned Polish civilians, soldiers and Catholic priests were held during the winter months in unheated barracks or railway cars with little food, many subsequently died from exposure to the cold, starvation and [[typhoid fever|typhoid]].<ref>Żurawski vel Grajewsk, Przemysław  (2017). MĘCZEŃSTWO KRESÓW 1918-1956, page 12. Biblioteka WEI.</ref><ref>Kania, Leszek. (2007). ADMINISTRACJA POLSKICH OBOZÓW DLA JEŃCÓW I INTERNOWANYCH WOJENNYCH W POLSKO-UKRAIŃSKIEJ WOJNIE O GALICJĘ WSCHODNIĄ (1918–1919), p. 194. Instytut Prawa i Administracji PWSZ w Sulechowie.</ref>

After the war, in 1920–1921, over one hundred thousand Ukrainians were placed in camps (often characterized as internment camps or sometimes as concentration camps) by the Polish government.<ref>Myroslav Shkandrij. (2015) Ukrainian Nationalism: Politics, Ideology, and Literature, 1929–1956. New Haven: Yale University Press p. 19</ref><ref name="Christopher Mick 2016 pg. 210">Christopher Mick. (2016). Lemberg, Lwow, and Lviv 1914–1947: Violence and Ethnicity in a Contested City Purdue University Press p. 210</ref><ref>[http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CC%5CO%5CConcentrationcamps.htm Concentration camps] Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine. Originally published in Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1 (1984). University of Toronto Press.</ref> In many cases, prisoners were denied food and medical attention, and some starved, died of disease or committed suicide. The victims included not only Ukrainian soldiers and officers but also priests, lawyers and doctors who had supported the Ukrainian cause.<ref>Myroslav Shkandrij. (2015) Ukrainian Nationalism: Politics, Ideology, and Literature, 1929–1956. New Haven: Yale University Press p. 19 Cited passage states "After the war, in 1920–1921, Polish concentration camps held over one hundred thousand people. In many cases prisoners were denied food and medical attention. Some starved; others died of disease or committed suicide. Among the interned were Jews and others of other nationalities who supported Ukrainian independence, and Jews figured among the witnesses who described the murder and abuse."</ref> The death toll at these camps was estimated at 20,000 from diseases<ref>Jochen Böhler. (2019). Civil War in Central Europe, 1918–1921: The Reconstruction of Poland. Oxford University Press, p. 81 "100,000 Ukrainians were subsequently interred in the camps of the ultimately victorious Polish Army. One fifth of them fell to infectious diseases."</ref> or 30,000 people.<ref name="Christopher Mick 2016 pg. 210"/>

Following the war, the French, who had supported Poland diplomatically and militarily, obtained control over the eastern Galician oil fields under conditions that were very unfavorable to Poland.<ref>Alison Fleig Frank. (2005). ''Oil Empire: Visions of Prosperity in Austrian Galicia''. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press. pp. 234–235</ref>

In the beginning of the [[World War II|Second World War]], [[Territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union|the Soviets annexed parts of Poland]] which included Galicia and Volhynia. Galicia and Volhynia were attached to [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic|Ukraine]], which at that time was a republic of the Soviet Union. According to the [[Yalta Conference]] decisions, while the Polish population of Eastern Galicia was [[Polish population transfers (1944–46)|resettled to Poland]], the borders of which were [[Territorial changes of Poland immediately after World War II|shifted westwards]], the region itself remained within Soviet Ukraine after the war and currently forms the westernmost part of now independent [[Ukraine]].

==Legacy==
Although the 70 to 75 thousand men who fought in the [[Ukrainian Galician Army]] lost their war, and Galicia became Polish, the experience of proclaiming a Ukrainian state and fighting for it significantly intensified and deepened the nationalistic Ukrainian orientation within Galicia. Since the interwar era, Galicia has been the center of [[Ukrainian nationalism]].<ref>Ronald Grigor Suny, Michael D. Kennedy. (2001). ''Intellectuals and the Articulation of the Nation''. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. p. 131</ref>

According to a noted interwar Polish publicist, the Polish–Ukrainian War was the principal cause for the failure to establish a Ukrainian state in Kyiv in late 1918 and early 1919. During that critical time the Galician forces, large, well-disciplined and immune to [[Communism|Communist]] subversion, could have tilted the balance of power in favor of a Ukrainian state. Instead, it focused all of its resources on defending its Galician homeland. When the western Ukrainian forces transferred east in the summer of 1919 after they had been overwhelmed by the Poles, the Russian forces had grown significantly, and the impact of the Galicians was no longer decisive.<ref>Peter J. Potichnyj (1980). ''Poland and Ukraine, Past and Present''. Hamilton: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, McMaster University. pp. 21–22</ref>

After the war, the Ukrainian soldiers who fought became the subject of folk songs and their graves a site of annual pilgrimages in western Ukraine which persisted into Soviet times despite persecution by the Soviet authorities of those honoring the Ukrainian troops.<ref>William Jay Risch. (2011). ''The Ukrainian West: Culture and the Fate of Empire in Soviet Lviv''. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. pp. 169–170</ref>

For Poles living in Eastern Galicia, the victory of the Polish forces over the Ukrainian Galician Army and the prospect of the region becoming part of the newly reconstructed [[Second Polish Republic|Polish Republic]], after 146 years of foreign domination caused a great wave of excitement. In the years after the war, battles such as that of [[Lviv]] were remembered as outstanding examples of Polish heroism and resilience. Children and young defenders of the [[Łyczakowski Cemetery]], who lost their lives defending the city, such as [[Jerzy Bitschan]] became household names in Poland during the interwar period.<ref>[https://www.sbc.org.pl/dlibra/show-content/publication/edition/16834?id=16834|Dla Ciebie Polsko Orlęta Lwowskie. Dziecko – bohater. „Panteon Polski”] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180505230325/https://www.sbc.org.pl/dlibra/show-content/publication/edition/16834?id=16834%7CDla |date=2018-05-05 }}, s. 16, Nr 16 z 1 listopada 1925.</ref><ref>Władysław Nekrasz: Harcerze w bojach. Przyczynek do udziału harcerzy polskich w walkach o niepodległość Ojczyzny w latach 1914–1921. Warszawa: 1930, s. 57.</ref><ref>Czesław Mazurczak: Harcerstwo Sanockie 1910–1949. Kraków: Harcerska Oficyna Wydawnicza, 1990.</ref>

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==See also==
* [[Battle of Lwów (1918)]]
* [[Komancza Republic]]
* [[Lwów Eaglets]]
* [[Polish–Romanian alliance]]
* [[Romanian occupation of Pokuttia]]
* [[Treaty of Riga]]
* [[Ukrainian Galician Army]]
* [[Ukrainian–Soviet War]]
* [[Ukrainian War of Independence]]
* [[37th Łęczyca Infantry Regiment]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|22em}}

==Bibliography==
{{See also|Bibliography of Ukrainian history}}
* {{in lang|pl}} Marek Figura, ''Konflikt polsko-ukraiński w prasie Polski Zachodniej w latach 1918–1923'', Poznań 2001, {{ISBN|83-7177-013-8}}
* {{in lang|pl}} Karol Grünberg, Bolesław Sprengel, ''"Trudne sąsiedztwo. Stosunki polsko-ukraińskie w X–XX wieku"'', Książka i Wiedza, Warszawa 2005, {{ISBN|83-05-13371-0}}
* {{in lang|pl}} Witold Hupert, ''Zajęcie Małopolski Wschodniej i Wołynia w roku 1919'', Książnica Atlas, Lwów – Warszawa 1928
* {{in lang|pl}} [[Władysław Pobóg-Malinowski]], ''Najnowsza Historia Polityczna Polski, Tom 2, 1919–1939'', London 1956, {{ISBN|83-03-03164-3}}
* Paul Robert Magocsi, ''A History of Ukraine'', University of Toronto Press: Toronto 1996, {{ISBN|0-8020-0830-5}}
* {{in lang|pl}} Władysław A. Serczyk, ''Historia Ukrainy'', 3rd ed., Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich, Wrocław 2001, {{ISBN|83-04-04530-3}}
* Leonid Zaszkilniak, ''The origins of the Polish-Ukrainian conflict in 1918–1919'', Lviv
* Paul S. Valasek, ''Haller's Polish Army in France'', Chicago: 2006 {{ISBN|0-9779757-0-3}}

(ukr.) [https://chtyvo.org.ua/authors/Avtorskyi_kolektyv/Zakhidno-Ukrainska_Narodna_Respublika_1918-1923_Entsyklopediia_Tom_1_A-Zh.pdf Західно-Українська Народна Республіка 1918–1923. Енциклопедія. Т. 1] [archive]: А–Ж. Івано-Франківськ : Манускрипт-Львів, 2018. 688 с. {{ISBN|978-966-2067-44-6}}

(ukr.) [https://chtyvo.org.ua/authors/Avtorskyi_kolektyv/Zakhidno-Ukrainska_Narodna_Respublika_1918-1923_Entsyklopediia_Tom_2_Z-O.pdf Західно-Українська Народна Республіка 1918–1923. Енциклопедія. Т. 2] [archive]: З–О. Івано-Франківськ : Манускрипт-Львів, 2019. 832 с. {{ISBN|978-966-2067-61-3}}

(ukr.) [https://chtyvo.org.ua/authors/Avtorskyi_kolektyv/Zakhidno-Ukrainska_Narodna_Respublika_1918-1923_Entsyklopediia_Tom_3_P-S.pdf Західно-Українська Народна Республіка 1918–1923. Енциклопедія. Т. 3] [archive]: П –С. Івано-Франківськ: Манускрипт-Львів, 2020.576 с. {{ISBN|978-966-2067-65-1}}

(ukr.) [https://chtyvo.org.ua/authors/Avtorskyi_kolektyv/Zakhidno-Ukrainska_Narodna_Respublika_1918-1923_Entsyklopediia_Tom_4_T-Ya.pdf Західно-Українська Народна Республіка 1918–1923. Енциклопедія. Т. 4] [archive]: Т - Я. Івано-Франківськ: Манускрипт-Львів, 2021.688 с. {{ISBN|978-966-2067-72-9}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Polish-Ukrainian War}}
* [http://pygmy-wars.50megs.com/ Pygmy Wars. Eastern Europe's Bloody struggles 1918–1923]
* {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091027152933/http://www.geocities.com/hallersarmy/klee.html |date=October 27, 2009 |title=Eyewitness description of the war from a Ukrainian perspective }}
* Andrzej Chojnowski, [http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CU%5CK%5CUkrainian6PolishWarinGalicia1918hD719.htm Ukrainian-Polish War in Galicia, 1918–19 in the Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 5 (1993)]

{{World War I}}
{{Polish wars and conflicts}}
{{Dissolution of Austria–Hungary}}

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