The struggle for statehood and identity: Ukrainian military emigration between the two world wars (1920—1939)

According to the materials of report at the meeting of the Presidium of the NAS of Ukraine, March 11, 2026

Abstract

The report examines the peculiarities of the contribution of Ukrainian military emigration to the struggle for statehood and national identity in the interwar period of the 20th century (1920—1939). The division of organizational activity into periods and the basic geographical coordinates of the placement of soldiers and senior officers are determined. The main directions of the contribution of Ukrainian military emigration to the struggle for statehood and identity have been established. Such directions include: 1) military organizational activity, which was embodied in the creation of the Society of Soldiers of the Army of the Ukrainian People's Republic in Poland, the Society of Soldiers of the Army of the Ukrainian People's Republic in France and the consolidation of personnel potential for the future armed conflict; 2) support for state and political institutions in the form of the government of the Ukrainian People's Republic in exile and the Ukrainian Union of Statist Farmers; 3) establishment of military scientific institutions that were supposed to prepare a new generation of senior officers; 4) the development of military theory and education by generals and senior officers in exile, subordinated to the construction of strategies for the military-political struggle for statehood in the geopolitical situation at that time; 5) information campaigns in the form of spreading knowledge about the Ukrainian liberation struggle on the international arena; 6) cultural, educational and publishing activities. The specifics of the cultural, educational and scientific activities of the representatives of Ukrainian military emigration are covered in detail, and the role of their intellectual heritage is clarified. The peculiarities of the social and living conditions of emigrants, their contribution to cultural diplomacy are determined. A number of urgent scientific problems for modern researchers of Ukrainian military emigration have been established.

Cite this article: 

Sydorenko A.O. The struggle for statehood and identity: Ukrainian military emigration between the two world wars (1920—1939) (according to the materials of report at the meeting of the Presidium of the NAS of Ukraine, March 11, 2026). Visn. Nac. Akad. Nauk Ukr. 2026. (6): 73—77. https://doi.org/10.15407/visn2026.06.073