Ukrainian Historical Geography Mishmash Quiz

Answer: Kyiv Oblast

The Medvin Republic was centered on the village of Medvin, in Kyiv Oblast. It lasted from 1919 to 1922. It arose when the area was occupied by the Bolsheviks in 1919, as a means of preserving a measure of Ukrainian statehood against the Moscow-backed Soviet regime.

It also had to sporadically fight against the White Army of general Anton Denikin. Its first head was Hryhoriy Prykhavka, who was succeeded in 1920 by Khoma Sydorenko. In 1922, the Soviets succeeded in destroying the Republic, amidst a process of subduing their opponents, which is known as "Red Terror".

Much of the information about this episode of the Ukrainian War of Independence is known due to the firsthand account of Medvic resident Ivan Dubynets, published in exile in 1952.

Answer: Cherkasy Oblast

The Mliiv Republic was centered on the village of the same name, located in Cherkasy Oblast. It arose in 1919, with the aim of preserving Ukrainian self-rule against the Bolshevik occupation. Its head was Otaman (a military/civilian administrative title stemming from the Cossack era) Trokhym Babenko. Only after three years of struggle and much brutalization of the locals did the Soviets succeed in crushing the Mliiv Republic.

Answer: Zakarpattia Oblast

Carpatho-Ukraine was centered on the city of Uzhhorod and then the city of Khust, in Zakarpattia Oblast. It arose when Czechoslovakia was collapsing in 1938. Its head, Avhustyn Voloshyn, hoped for recognition of its independence, but the international community was hesitant to do so.

In the end, Adolf Hitler consented to the request of his ally, Hungary, and recognized the area as Hungarian. Although the local Ukrainians, aided by their co-nationals from the parts of the country occupied by other powers, resisted fiercely, Carpatho-Ukraine was subdued in the spring of 1939.

Answer: Kirovohrad Oblast

The Republic of Chornyi Lis was centered on the village of Tsvitne, in Kirovohrad Oblast. It existed in close cooperation with the Kholodnyi Yar Republic in neighbouring Cherkasy Oblast. It arose in 1920 after an uprising in the nearby village of Znamenka and kept resisting until 1923. The participants were destroyed to the last man by the Soviet Cheka.

Answer: Volyn Oblast

The Kolky Republic was centered on the village of Kolky, in Volyn Oblast. It existed from April 1943 to November of the same year. It was created by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, which had been formed on the previous year to combat the occupying powers of the USSR and the Third Reich. To create the Republic, the insurgents cleared a significant part of modern-day Volyn Oblast of Nazi troops and established Ukrainian institutions, even printing their own money.

It took six months of fierce combat for the Republic to fall to the German war machine.

In 1944, when the Soviet Union occupied the area, new waves of repressions followed for the residents, leaving Kolky and the surrounding region terribly devastated.

Answer: Cherkasy Oblast

Perhaps the most famous of the localized pockets of Ukrainian resistance to both Red and White Armies, the Kholodnyi Yar republic was centered on the village of Melnyky in Cherkasy Oblast. It arose in 1919 and was headed by Vasyl Chuchupak. Its name derives from the forest near this village, which had been immortalized in a 1845 poem by Ukraine's national poet, Taras Shevchenko.

The Republic's motto was "Freedom of Ukraine or Death". It lasted until 1922, when only under a false flag of truce did the Soviets manage to lure its leaders into an ambush.

Answer: Zhytomyr Oblast

The Olevsk Republic was centered on the village with the same name in Zhytomyr Oblast. It was headed by Ukrainian leader Taras Bulba-Borovets in August 21, 1941 and was planned to be the first step in restoring the Ukrainian People's Republic and resist both the then-retreating USSR and the then-advancing Nazi Germany. Borovets, whom initially the Nazis tried to persuade to work for them, refused to acknowledge any foreign, including German, rule over Ukraine.

The Wehrmacht destroyed the Olevsk Republic in November 1941.

In the process, they also massacred 8500 Jews of Zhytomyr Oblast.

Answer: Ternopil Oblast

The Antonivtsi Republic was centered in the village of the same name, which is located in Ternopil Oblast. It existed from March 1943 to April 1944. Its creation was the result of the formation of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, which united Ukrainian nationalists to fight against the Soviet and Nazi occupations. To create this mini-state, the UPA fighters drove the Nazis out of more than 13 villages and were able to hold on for more than a year, Its destruction, which the Nazis were unable to achieve, occurred due to the Soviet onslaught in Western Ukraine.

The entire insurgent area was levelled to the ground and neighbouring locals were summarily deported to Siberia, where they mostly perished. Yet, the insurgents were able to escape from the Soviet trap and continue the struggle for more than a decade.

Answer: Zakarpattia Oblast

The Hutsuls are a subgroup of Ukrainians dwelling in the Carpathian Mountains. The Hutsul Republic was proclaimed in 1918, when the occupying Austro-Hungarian Empire was disintegrating. It was centered on the village of Yasinya, in Zakarpattia Oblast. It lasted until 1919, when, despite the region's Ukrainian character, Zakarpattia was given to the newly-formed Czechoslovakia.

Answer: Zaporizhzhia Oblast

The Makhnovshchyna is one of the most fascinating episodes of the Ukrainian War of Independence, given that it was headed by a self-proclaimed anarchist, Nestor Makhno, who was also striving to secure an independent Ukrainian state. It existed from 1919 to 1922 and its capital was the city of Hulyaipole, in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

It also included a substantial part of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts, where military/civilian leaders loyal to Makhno cooperated with famous formations of the Ukrainian People's Republic, such as the Sich Riflemen, headed by the future leader of the Ukrainian Nationalists, Colonel Yevhen Konovalets.