From the War Between Empires to the Geopolitical Revolution in Central and Eastern Europe
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15407/uhj2019.02.172Keywords:
geopolitical revolution, World War I, East Central Europe, Brest Peace Treaty, Poland, Ukraine, Wilson’s Fourteen Points.Abstract
The article examines the preconditions and the process of geopolitical transformations in East Central Europe during and after the World War I (1914–1918). The author analyzes the historiographic dimension of the concept of “geopolitical revolution” proposed by the outstanding Polish historian W.Sukiennicki and describes the actualization of “Polish question” during the Great War and the various vision of solution of it by the elites of the leading states. The essence of the geopolitical revolution in East Central Europe was the simultaneous collapse of empires. The significance of the Brest Peace Treaty in 1918 presents as an attempt to the implementation of the doctrine of “Mitteleuropa”, which could be embodied in East Central Europe. However, the Brest system has never become a political reality. From the Polish political point, it was a good chance and opportunity, for the Ukrainians it was lost. Besides,the author considers the process of Ukrainian statehood and its perception among the Polish, European and American elites. Therefore, the author stresses the importance of understanding the future of revived Poland and the role of "new" Russia in the rebuilding of Europe among the French, British and American elites. Moreover, in the American political discussions about the future world there was no place for recognition of the right for independence to Ukrainian people. The significance of the Warsaw Agreement (April 1920), called the Pilsudski – Petliura Pact, and the battle of Warsaw (August 1920) the author identifies as the main factors that determined the Eastern policy of Poland. Hence the role of the "Ukrainian question" as a factor in the deimperialization of Russia, since at that time there were no geopolitical conditions to recognition of independent Ukraine. The geopolitical revolution gave a good chance for the national and social liberation of the Ukrainian nation, but then there was no international conjuncture for Ukraine as a state. The author’s conclusion is that the Ukrainian national revolution should be considered in the context of the geopolitical revolution in East Central Europe that arose as a reaction on the World War I.
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