Occupation of Kharkiv (1917)

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Part of the Ukrainian–Soviet War

Date	19 December 1917 – 10 January 1918 (3 weeks and 1 day)
Location	Kharkiv, Ukraine
Result	Soviet victory

Belligerents

Russian Soviet Republic

Ukrainian People's Republic of Soviets

Ukrainian People's Republic

Commanders and leaders

Vladimir Antonov-Ovseyenko

Mikhail Muravyov

Moisey Rukhimovich

Omelian Volokh [uk]

Strength

10,000

2,700

Casualties and losses

unknown

Ukrainian troops disarmed
300 join the Reds

v t e Southern Front of the Russian Civil War
1917 1st Kharkiv 1918 Mughan Shamkhor Donbas-Don 1st Kiev Ice March Steppe March Iași–Don March Days 1st Crimea Transcaucasia Kuban Goychay Sochi Tsaritsyn Kurdamir Livny Baku Dibrivka Allied intervention 1919 Voronezh–Povorino Katerynoslav March Northern Caucasus Ukraine 2nd Kiev Khotyn Uprising 1st Donbas Hryhoriv Uprising Binagadi Chapan rebellion Vyoshenskaya Uprising Alexandrovsky Fort Bender Uprising Odesa 2nd Kharkiv Mamontov Raid Southern Front counteroffensive 3rd Kiev Perehonivka Advance on Moscow Nizhyn–Poltava Orel–Kursk Voronezh–Kastornoye Khopyor–Don Pavlohrad–Katerynoslav 3rd Kharkiv 4th Kiev 2nd Donbas 1920 Rostov–Novocherkassk Odesa North Caucasus Novorossiysk Azerbaijan Yalama Sarvan Ganja Ochakov Anzali Lankaran Ulagay's Landing Obytichnyi Spit Armenia Northern Taurida Dagestan uprising Tambov Rebellion Perekop–Chonhar 2nd Crimea Bolshevik–Makhnovist conflict 1921 Anapa February Georgia Mountainous Armenia

Southern Front
of the Russian Civil War

1917

1st Kharkiv

1918

1919

1920

1921

v t e Ukrainian–Soviet War (1917–1921)
Kharkiv (Dec 1917) Poltava Kruty (Jan 1918) Darnytsia Kiev (Feb 1918) Operation Faustschlag (Feb 1918 Severynivka Battle of Berdychiv [uk] Battle for Kamianets-Podilskyi [uk] The Battle of Irpin [uk] German Occupation of Kiev [uk] Donbas [uk] Battle for Izyum [uk] Crimea Uprising of Crimean Tatars [uk] 1918 Ukrainian coup d'état Motovilivka (Nov 1918) Anti-Hetman Uprising (Nov–Dec 1918) Ukraine (1919) Kiev (Jan 1919) Kiev (Aug 1919) Triangle of Death First Winter Campaign (1919–20) Kiev (1920) Second Winter Campaign (1921) Bolshevik uprisings in Ukraine Dubno (Oct 1917) Kiev (Nov 1917) Vinnytsia (Nov 1917) Aleksandrovsk (Dec 1917) Ekaterinoslav (Jan 1918) Kiev (Jan–Feb 1918) Odessa (Jan 1918)

Ukrainian–Soviet War (1917–1921)

Bolshevik uprisings in Ukraine

The Occupation of Kharkiv was the first episode of the Ukrainian–Soviet War, during which on 23 December 1917, the Russian Bolsheviks seized the Ukrainian city Kharkiv and installed Soviet power there. The Ukrainian authorities failed to expel the Bolsheviks and the last Ukrainian regiments in the city were disarmed on 10 January 1918.

Events

Initially, it was stated that the arrival of the Red troops in Ukraine was due only to the need for the advancement of Soviet troops on the Ukrainian railroad that were heading against the rebellious Russian Whites under Alexey Kaledin, which had occupied Rostov-on-Don on 15 December. In December 1917 the Leninist government was not yet ready for a full-scale war against the Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR).

A complete anarchy was established in Kharkiv, and even the local Bolsheviks and the Kharkiv City Duma urged the withdrawal of violent red detachments from the city.

On the night of 10 January, local Red Guard units unexpectedly disarmed the two regiments of the UPR (2,700 bayonets), which had been trying to preserve dual power (UPR and Bolsheviks) in the city for 20 days. Some 300 disarmed UPR soldiers wished to join the socialist revolution and were enlisted in the Soviet Army as an independent unit, the regiment of the Red Cossacks.

Kharkiv became the capital of the Ukrainian People's Republic of Soviets until 19 April 1918, when German units and the UPR Zaporozhian Division under Petro Bolbochan's command took Kharkiv from the Bolsheviks.

Sources

Havrylenko, O. A.; Lohvynenko, I. A. (1994). "Більшовицький переворот у Харкові: як це було]" [The Bolshevik coup in Kharkiv: how it happened]. Наукові записки кафедри українознавства Харківського ун-ту [Scientific notes of the Department of Ukrainian Studies of Kharkiv University] (in Ukrainian). Vol. 1. Kharkiv: Kharkiv University. pp. 48–55. Archived from the original on 18 January 2012. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
Kovalchuk, Mykhailo (2015). Битва двох революцій: Перша війна Української Народної Республіки з Радянської Росією [The Battle of Two Revolutions: The First War of the Ukrainian People's Republic with Soviet Russia] (in Ukrainian). Kyiv: Stilos. p. 411. ISBN 9789661931076. OCLC 952158083.
Savchenko, Viktor (2006). "Первая война большевиков против Украинской Народной Республики (декабрь 1917 — февраль 1918)" [The first war of the Bolsheviks against the Ukrainian People's Republic (December 1917 - February 1918)]. Двенадцать войн за Украину [Twelve wars for Ukraine] (in Russian). Kharkiv: Folio. ISBN 9789660334564. OCLC 266898877. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
Shama, Oleg (20 February 2015). "Червона гвардія. Як більшовики вперше захопили Київ і три тижні грабували та вбивали місцевих мешканців" [Red Guard. How the Bolsheviks first captured Kyiv and looted and killed local residents for three weeks]. NV.ua (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 22 November 2022.

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