Spór o Galicję Wschodnią : 1914-1923

Abstract

The matter in dispute was the area about 55,337 sq. km that belonged to Poland before the partition in the seventeenth century, and later a crown land of Austria, the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomery. The population census taken in December, 1910 showed that about 5 million people inhabited the area including 62 per cent of Greek Catholics, 25 per cent of Roman Catholics, 12 per cent of Jews and 0.6 per cent of Protestants. At that time about 59 per cent of people spoke Ukrainian and 40 per cent spoke Polish. The geographical distribution of the people made it impossible to divide the land in dispute along the ethnic line. The most disputed city was the city of Lvov (ca 206 thousand inhabitants in 1910), which was a typical Polish city like most cities in this region. At every stage of the Polish - Ukrainian dispute there was a third party; until 1918 it was the Austrian Government and the Habsburg Dynasty. Next there were the world powers such as: the United States of America, Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan, which supervised the disputed region from December, 1919 (on the basis of the peace treaty with Austria in Saint Germain). Early in November, 1918 the Ukrainian National Council captured the disputed territory with the help of the military force, and the People's Republic of West Ukraina was proclaimed. The Polish inhabitants of Lvov counterattacked using the military force which gave rise to the Polish - Ukrainian War that ended in July, 1919, the Ukrainian troops were removed from Galicia. The Ukrainian Government emigrated to Vienna, but it did not receive an international support; however, it was backed by the People’s Republic of Ukraina. In June, 1919 in the face of the increasing Bolshevik threat the main world powers encouraged Poland to control the disputed region; and in November, 1919 Poland was given a 25-year - long mandate to administer the region under the control of the League of Nations due to the defeat of Denikin’s Army. Because the Polish Government claimed its rights to the disputed territory the above mentioned decision was suspended despite the attempts of the Ukrainian Emigration Government. The issue of East Galicia was again considered on the international scene during the Polish-Soviet War of 1920. The world powers tried to impose on Poland certain solutions in return for the financial assistance; however, the plan failed due to the rejection of Britain’s mediation attempts by the Soviet Russian. Earlier the People’s Republic of Ukraina signed a treaty with Poland giving up its claims to East Galicia in return for help in fighting against the Bolshevik expansion. The Polish-Russian Peace treaty signed in Riga annihilated the above plans, but it included a statement that Russia accepted the presence of Poland in the disputed region. Despite the opposition of the East Galicia Ukrainian Emigration the issue of East Galicia became the internal Polish affair. The international powers lost their interest in the issue in March, 1923 after the Polish eastern borderline had been confirmed. However, the conflict badly influenced the Polish-Ukrainian relationship in the following years.