In the period after the Russian revolutions which is commonly known as the Russian Civil
War many nationalities, ethnic groups with all kinds of political affiliations asserted
themselves and proclaimed their own states. Did you know that there was also a Ukrainian state
established in the Russian Far East: it was known as Green Ukraine. How this state emerged
and how did it come to an end is what you will learn in this very interesting episode
about the forgotten Ukrainian Republic in the Russian Far East: Green Ukraine.
Good to have you back on the channel, if you're new my name is Stefan and I'm a Dutch history teacher
and I'd like to cover history for you and if you find it interesting consider subscribing and also
hit that notification bell. In the previous video I explained how in the year of 1918
four different Ukrainian states existed. The year 1917 was the starting sign for many nationalities and
ethnic groups to secede for the bygone Russian Empire, let's take a look at what happened in
Ukraine first. Inaugurated on 7 November, 1917, the Ukrainian National Republic (UNR;
a.k.a. Ukrainian People's Republic; UPR) distanced itself from the Bolshevik government that
had taken power in Petrograd and Moscow. Complete independence was asserted on 12 January.
Now the Bolsheviks they entered peace talks with the Central Powers because they inherited a state
that was still in war and these talks were held at Brest-Litovsk. When these talks dead locked
in January 1918 the Ukrainians signed a separate peace deal with the Germans which was known as
Bread Peace in which: “... Ukraine agreed to supply Germany and Austria-Hungary with a
million tons of bread annually in exchange for their recognition of the Ukrainian People’s
Republic (UNR) that had recently declared its independence from Russia.” Meanwhile a rival
government was set up by Ukrainian Bolsheviks in the city of Kharkiv, initially known as the
Ukrainian People's Republic of Soviets. Do notice that around this time several short-lived Soviet
republics throughout Ukraine sprung up such in the regions of Odessa, Crimea and Donetsk.
However the Bolsheviks managed to cease power in Kiev the Ukrainian capital shortly after
the Bolsheviks also have brokered a peace deal with the Germans: the peace treaty of Brest-Litovsk was
signed and as a result the entirety of Ukraine and more came in the hands of the Central Powers. The
Germans reinstated the UNR but relations soured and the Germans installed a new government towards
the end of April 1918 Russian-speaking former tsarist officer Pavlo Skoropadskyi as
Hetman of Ukraine. Flashforward to 11 November 1918: the First World War came to an
end and also the conditions of the peace treaty of Brest-Litovsk were annulled and thus the German
occupation of Ukraine ended. On the 22nd of January 1919 Ukrainian independence was proclaimed again
however it was not to last because the Bolsheviks were on their way. How all this went down is what
I covered in depth in my video about why Ukraine did not achieve independence after WW1:
see the end card for that. In November 1918 the West Ukrainian People's Republic was also
established: it controlled most of Eastern Galicia that previously was part of the Austro-Hungarian
Empire that had crumbled by now, eventually this state was overthrown by Poland and we
should not forget the Free Territory that was led by Nestor Machno; not really a state because
the anarcho-libertarians were against this. The anarchists allied themselves with the Reds to
defeat the Whites which they did after this they were annihilated when the Reds turned on them
Nestor Machno got away to Romania. But there was another Ukrainian state that sprung up
in the Russian Far East which was known as Green Ukraine or the Green Wedge (Zelenii klin) or New
Ukraine. Now normally I cover these short-lived states on location but I guess I won't get here
anytime soon so you have to do with some footage that I recorded from the train when I travel
through the region in the summer of 2019. Ah, these peaceful times... The first question that comes
to mind is why did Ukrainians live in the Russian Far East? Mid 19th century the Russians extended
their territory in the east in the Treaty of Aigun of 1858 and the Convention of Peking of 1860. During
this period a small number of Ukrainian settlers moved though the region. Later in the 1880s the
Russian tsar announced free transportation and free land for Ukrainian settlers that
were willing to settle in the Russian Far East. Near the end of that century many ukrainians
would inhabit the region known as the territory between the amul river and the Pacific Ocean in
Russia's Maritime Province. “Russia’s 1897 census counted 22.4 million Ukrainian speakers inside the
Russian Empire, of which 1.2 million lived outside what was then considered Ukraine. Of these, just
over a million lived in the European part of the Empire, with more than 200,000 in the Asian part.”
Efforts to establish Ukrainian autonomy in this region were made in 1917, in June to be precisely,
which therefore occurred several months after February Revolution had taken place. When the first
All-Ukrainian Far Eastern Congress came together in Nikol'sk-Ussuriisk about 100 kilometers away from
Vladivostok to form a Far Eastern Krai Rada. In January 1918 the Second All-Ukrainian Far Eastern
Conference at Khabarovsk proclaimed the union of the region with the Ukrainian National Republic. For
some reasons the union did not hold. I didn't read exactly why but I could come up with something...
perhaps the fact that it's well over 9 000 kilometers away from Kyiv. Then in April 1918
the Third All-Ukrainian Far Eastern Congress strived for the creation of an independent Ukrainian state
and wanted to create an army. This was all hindered by White Admiral Alexander Kolchak who would seized
power in Omsk and declared his dictatorship: separatism was outlawed. But when his forces
collapsed after their failed push Moscow and the disastrous Siberian Ice March efforts were
redoubled. It was not to be as a pro-Bolshevik Far Eastern Republic (FER) was established
with his HQ in Chita and this republic laid claim on the lands of Green Ukraine. Now Green
Ukraine would exist more or less some two more years as it was this disbanded in 1922 when
the troops of the FER marched into the region. “The Far Eastern Republic (FER) was intended
to act as a buffer between the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR),
which formally recognized the FER on 14 May 1920, and the Japanese interventionist forces
that were still present in large numbers in the region. This maneuver proved successful when the
Japanese recognized the FER and signed a peace treaty with it on 15 July 1920 (the Gongota
Agreement).” I found these two proposed flags of Green Ukraine as far as political leaders Yuri
Hlushko (nicknamed “Mova”) was the head of the congress. I read was sentenced to imprisonment
by the Bolsheviks and would later in WW2 perish because of starvation in Kyiv.
Green Ukraine's Army Commander was Boris Khreschatitsky. He was a general in the Russian Imperial Army and served
in the Far East. In the summer of 1918 he began forming a Ukrainian Army in the Far East, however
he later joined Kolchak and his advance towards Moscow and latest served under the White ataman
Grigory Semyonov. He would migrate to Manchuria to escape the Reds. After several years
he moved to France and joined the French Foreign Legion and after the German takeover of France
in 1940 he moved to Tunis where he passed away. Now not much is written about Green Ukraine in English
literature. In the works of different historians that wrote about the Russian Revolution and its
aftermath only Jonathan Smele wrote about it so if you have any additional information
about Green Ukraine feel free to share this in the comments. Now Green Ukraine was not the
only territory inside the Russian Empire where Hkrainians were living there were other regions
as well: Raspberry Ukraine. Here a short-lived Cuban People's Republic saw the light of day it would be
absorbed into the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. Yellow Ukraine that saw
no significant independent political force after 1917 and Gray Ukraine when there was no successful
attempt to create a Ukrainian autonomous region.