Khotin Uprising

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Monument to the heroes of the Khotin uprising.
Monument to the heroes of the Khotin uprising.

The Uprising of Khotin, also known as the Khotin Massacre, was an insurrection in the eastern part of Moldavia (Bessarabia), followed by the ethnic cleansing of Ukrainian civilians by Romanian authorities, in January–February 1919. The city of Khotin (Ukrainian: Хотин, Khotyn) is located now in the Chernivtsi Oblast, Ukraine.

In 1918 the town of Khotin was annexed to Romania, along with the rest of Bessarabia, after a representative body voted to join Romania. The Khotin region had been part of the Russian Empire since the Treaty of Bucharest (1812) and had a large Ukrainian population. Before that, the region was part of Moldavia, which is why Romania made claims to the region. The Romanian troops occupied Khotin on January 13, 1919 despite the active resistance of the Ukrainian population and the official protest from the Ukrainian People's Republic. The area's swift occupation by the Romanian troops was largely supported by the Entente that considered Romania instrumental for stopping the spreading of Bolshevism towards the south-eastern Europe.

The Ukrainian population saw the Ukrainian People's Republic whose lands where just across the Dniester River as the solution to their strive for self-determination. However, the UPR was involved at the time in an armed conflict with the Boshevik forces, while the West Ukrainian People's Republic, another nascent Ukrainian state to the north of the region, was at the time involved in a war with Poland which eventually crushed the Western Ukrainian statehood attempt. Both conflicts involved all of the Ukrainian military forces, and none could be spared to start yet another armed conflict with Romania.

The first task of the Romanian occupation force was to suppress and harass the Ukrainian population who saw little future for themselves in the nationalist Romanian state.[1] Such policies only radicalised the opposition and in the night to January 23 the population of Khotin rose into an armed rebellion. By the morning the city was cleared of Romanian forces and in two following days the entire district was seized by the partisans. The power was assumed by a newly created Khotyn Directory that proclaimed the right of self-determination for the Bessarabians and "overthrowing of the Romanian yoke".

The later revisionist historians attempted to ascribe the revolt to the Bolshevik agitation trying to minimize the role of the anti-Ukrainian actions of the new occupants of the region.[2] However, the rebels were separated from Bolshevik forces by the lands of the UPR which was involved in its own armed conflict with the Bolsheviks. Seing little chance to obtain any assistance from the nascent Ukrainian states they had to rely on their own in an attempt to liberate themselves from Romanian rule. The rebel force quickly grew to almost 30,000 people organized into three infantry regiments, the cavalry squadron and the artillery division.[3]

A week later, major forces of the Romanian army arrived to the area in order to quell the rebellion. The rebels could not succeed against the well-organized regular army equipped with the modern ammunition provided by the Entente. The Ukrainians retreated towards the Dniester River still hoping to receive some assistance from the UPR; the latter, however, facing the critical situation in the war with the Bolshevik forces was unable to provide any. Facing tremendous losses from the overwhelming Romanian force, the guerillas rushed across the river followed by the refugees. About 4,000 fighters and 50,000 refugees crossed into Ukraine during the 12 days of the uprising.[4]

The plight of those who remained was miserable. The number of people executed by Romanian authorities is estimated to be near 15,000.[3] During the reign of terror that followed, dozens of Ukrainian villages in Bukovina were burned and razed to the ground.[5] The plunder by the Romanian army was accompanied by a large scale maraudering, torture and rape.[5] The policy of forced Romanianization of the remaining Ukrainian population was implemented until 1940, when the area was ceded to the Soviet Union following the Soviet Ultimatum to Romania.

[edit] References

Inline
  1. ^ Oleksandr Derhachov (editor), "Українська державність у XX столітті." (Ukrainian Statehood in the Twentieth Century: Historical and Political Analysis), Chapter: "Ukraine in Romanian concepts of the foreign policy", 1996, Kiev ISBN 966-543-040-8
  2. ^ L. "Mişcarea subversivă în Basarabia", Chişinău, 1925; Ion Nistor, "Istoria Basarabiei, Chişinău, 1991
  3. ^ a b Dovidnyk z istoriï Ukraïny, 3-Volumes, Article "Hotyns'ke Povstannya, 1919" (T.3), Kiev, 1993-1999, ISBN 5-7707-5190-8 (t. 1), ISBN 5-7707-8552-7 (t. 2), ISBN 966-504-237-8 (t. 3).
  4. ^ Volodymyr Kubiiovych; Zenon Kuzelia, Енциклопедія українознавства (Encyclopedia of Ukrainian studies), 3-volumes, Kiev, 1994, ISBN 5-7702-0554-7
  5. ^ a b Ihor Burkut, Khotyn uprising against Greater Romania, "Chas", January 1, 2003
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