Borymskyi — Visions of Ukrainian Statehood: Poland’s Eastern Policy & the Polish-Soviet War of 1920

IN-PERSON @ HURI | 34 Kirkland Street, Cambridge, MA 02138

Competing Visions of Ukrainian Statehood: Poland’s Eastern Policy and the Polish-Soviet War of 1920

A lecture by historian Vitalii Borymskyi, HURI Research Fellow and Research Fellow at the Institute of History of Ukraine, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

Ukraine Study Group | Attendees are invited to enjoy an informal lunch.

LEARN MORE: https://www.huri.harvard.edu/event/vitalii-borymskyi-visions-of-ukrainian-statehood-polands-eastern-policy-and-polish-soviet-war-1920

The lecture explores the political and ideological dimensions of the Polish–Soviet War of 1920 through the lens of Ukraine’s struggle for statehood. It examines how competing Polish political camps – the federalists around Józef Piłsudski and the National Democrats led by Roman Dmowski – offered radically different visions of Poland’s eastern policy and of Ukraine’s place within it. The talk shows how the short-lived Polish–Ukrainian alliance of 1920, though intended to create a buffer against Russia, was undermined by conflicting territorial ambitions and mutual distrust. It also analyzes Ukrainian, Soviet, and Russian responses to the alliance and to the subsequent Riga Peace Treaty, which effectively partitioned Ukraine. By tracing these debates and outcomes, the lecture highlights how the war of 1920 was not only a military confrontation but also a struggle over the meaning of Ukrainian statehood – a struggle whose echoes continue to shape political thought and Polish–Ukrainian relations to this day.

You may also like the following events from Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard University:

• Next month, 3rd December, 05:00 pm, Marika C. Kuzma — Carols of Birds, Bells, and Sacred Hymns from Ukraine in Cambridge