The Khotyn Uprising ( or ; ) was a Ukrainian-led insurrection in the far-northern tip of the Bessarabia region, nestled between Bukovina and Podolia. It occurred on January 7–February 1, 1919, less than a year after Bessarabia's integration into the Romanian Kingdom. The city it was centered on is now known as Khotyn (Хотин), and is located in Chernivtsi Oblast, Ukraine; in 1919, it was the capital of Hotin County, on the unofficial border between Romania and the Ukrainian People's Republic (UNR). The revolt was carried out by armed locals, mainly Ukrainian peasants, assisted by Cossack deserters from the Ukrainian People's Army and groups of Moldovans, with some support from local Bolsheviks and White Russians. It forms part of the Ukrainian War of Independence, though whether or not the UNR covertly supported it, beyond formally reneging it, is a matter of dispute. The role of Bolsheviks, which has been traditionally highlighted in Romanian and Soviet historiography alike, is similarly debated. The Khotyn Uprising is therefore ambiguously linked to the Russian Civil War and the Ukrainian–Soviet War.
After days of guerrilla activities by peasants, a large contingent of trained partisans crossed the Dniester from UNR territory, and, on January 23, managed to capture the city, creating confusion among Romanian Army garrisons. This group then formed a "Directorate", acting as Khotyn's unrecognized government. It aimed to change the status of the county, or of all Bessarabia, ahead of the Paris Peace Conference, but remained internally divided into pro-UNR and pro-Bolshevik factions. Within days, the Directorate was toppled by the returning Romanian Army under General Cleante Davidoglu, which also began a hunt for armed peasants. Critics of the intervention count 11,000 or more as killed during arbitrary shootings and shelling of localities on both banks of the Dniester, with 50,000 expelled. Romanian Army sources acknowledge that the repression was violent, while they may dispute the body count.
Participants in the revolt were generally alienated by the UNR's inaction, dividing themselves between the Red Army and the Whites. The Khotyn Uprising was closely followed by a raid on Tighina, carried out by the Bessarabian Bolshevik Grigory Kotovsky, whose forces came to include Khotyn veterans. Such incidents secured Bessarabia for Greater Romania, seen by the Entente Powers as a guarantee against communist revolution. In late 1919, the Armed Forces of South Russia, coalescing various White entities, sketched out an attempt to invade Bessarabia, but lost ground to the Red Army. The emerging Soviet Union continued to back partisans in Hotin County during the interwar, until annexing Bessarabia entirely in 1940.
Background Before 1918 The Ukrainian claim to Khotyn (or Hotin) extends back to the Principality of Halych, with reports that Ukrainians had settled there before the lands fell to the Hungarian Kingdom.Potylchak, p. 205 The city then belonged to the Principality of Moldavia, which grew out of a Hungarian fief, before becoming a tributary state of the Ottoman Empire. Imperial Russia began its incursions into Moldavia with the Pruth River Campaign of 1710–1711, prompting the Ottomans to annex Khotyn Fortress and reconstruct the corresponding Hotin County into a distinct raya in 1714.Brătianu, pp. 53, 63–64 The city was finally absorbed into Russia following the Bucharest Treaty of 1812, during which time it was recognized by all parties as being distinct from Bessarabia-proper.Brătianu, pp. 43, 53–54, 63–64; Cazacu, pp. 62–63 A census conducted five years later reported that 7,000 "Ruthenian" families had been colonized into the area by Russia.Brătianu, pp. 71–72 Immigration continued at a steady pace, and was in large part a private enterprise, with hired hands needed for the "immense estates" of Moldo-Bessarabian boyars.Cazacu, p. 78 By 1900, Ukrainians were a likely majority of the area's population,Brătianu, p. 133; Cazacu, p. 76 although no definitive count exists. According to historian Nicolae Enciu, in 1918 there were 121 all-Ukrainian villages, 52 all-Romanian, and 16 mixed.Gumenâi, p. 81 Khotyn town was populated by Bessarabian Jews, though accounts differ on their number, from a vast majorityGiurcă, p. 18 to a fifth of the inhabitants.Stănescu, p. 26
Under Russian rule, Hotin County was incorporated with the Bessarabia Governorate, as Khotinsky Uyezd. Its assembly, or Zemstvo, overrepresented Russian nobility, in particular the rival Krupensky and Lisovsky families; in 1900, it was dominated by members of the former, including Alexander N. Krupensky.Coadă, pp. 214–217 Its control was looser from 1912, when the Zemstvo presidency went to a Romanian nationalist, Dimitrie A. Ouatul.Coadă, pp. 243–244 Russian dominance was again being challenged during World War I, when the northern areas of Hotin were a devastated battlefield, along with the neighboring Duchy of Bukovina.Basciani, pp. 98, 106; Gumenâi, p. 81 The latter was an extension of Austria-Hungary, which envisioned annexing Khotyn upon defeating Russia and Romania.Ungureanu, p. 121 Following the February Revolution, Ouatul became Commissar for Khotyn, appointed by the Russian Provisional Government. His attempt to reassert control was ineffectual, as previously disenfranchised social groups began forming their own soviets and refusing to abide by central laws.Cazacu, pp. 186, 194 These soviets decreed the socialization of all landed estates.Fostoy, p. 594
The Provisional Government fell during the November Revolution, which left Bessarabia and Khotyn with an uncertain status. Bessarabia formally reorganized itself into an autonomous Moldavian Democratic Republic (RDM), headed by the former Russian envoy, Ion Inculeț. Inculeț himself noted that the region, including Khotyn, needed to be defended from Romanian and Ukrainian separatism, and remain attached to a Russian Federated Republic. He cited "devastation in the land of Hotin" as one of the main reasons for establishing a regional government.Cazacu, pp. 232, 250. See also Vrabie, p. 159 Ten cohorts of the newly formed Bessarabian Army were ordered to resume control of the region.Cazacu, p. 250
Also newly proclaimed, the Ukrainian People's Republic (UNR) issued claims to the whole of Bessarabia or to Khotyn area as early as July 1917,Rotari, p. 52 but also maintained friendly relations with the RDM and Romania. Romanian Premier Ion I. C. Brătianu, who still hoped to maintain the Moldavian Front against encroachment by the Central Powers, intended to bring the new regime to his side.Cancicov, pp. 204, 225, 259, 266–267, 272 By January 1918, the Imperial Russian Army spread out along the Siret River had divided itself into Bolsheviks and UNR loyalists—the latter helped Romanian authorities by repressing the former.Cancicov, pp. 266–267, 273–274 The Romanian Army sought both RDM and UNR approval for its subsequent incursion into Bessarabia, where it helped neutralize Bolshevik centers.Cancicov, pp. 273–274 In the event, the UNR agreed to recognize the RDM, but made specific claims to Hotin and Cetatea Albă counties.Brătianu, p. 133. See also Gumenâi, p. 81 Meanwhile, rival claims on the region were made by both the White movement and Soviet Russia, both of which fomented dissent among local Ukrainians.Gumenâi, p. 81
In the elections of November 1917, opponents of the UNR in Hotin County had chosen Nicolae Bosie-Codreanu, Nicolae Cernăuțeanu, and Constantin Iurcu as their delegates to the Bessarabian people's assembly, or Sfatul Țării.Gumenâi, pp. 80–81. See also Cazacu, pp. 240–242 In December, Ukrainian soldiers from the 10th Army Corps expressed a contrary wish, declaring that Khotyn needed to be included in the UNR.Rotari, p. 53 A UNR diplomat, Otto Eichelmann, argued that there were no Hotin representatives on show in March 1918, when this legislature voted in favor of union with Romania;Iorga, p. 28 nevertheless, Sfatul resolutions made specific reference to unified Bessarabia as extending "from Hotin to Ismail".Cazacu, pp. 307–309 Following the Eleven Days' War against Soviet Russia, the Central Powers, including Austria, could impose these borders on their defeated adversaries. The Romanian presence in Bessarabia, which coincided with the start of a working alliance between the UNR and the Central Powers, stood as a "clue that [Romanians] too are out of the war with the Central Powers."Cancicov, p. 286 Trilateral peace negotiations began in February, when Austria announced Romanian diplomats that the Bessarabian question was largely irrelevant to the Central Powers: "the [Bessarabian] question is to be solved directly between Romania, which occupies it militarily, and the Ukrainian and Moldavian republics".Cancicov, p. 321
Austrian–Romanian–Ukrainian dispute
On March 3, the Treaty of Brest effectively meant that the UNR renounced its claims in northern Bessarabia to Austria.Cancicov, pp. 406, 409, 447; Ungureanu, p. 130 The former Khotinsky Uyezd was occupied by the Royal Hungarian Honvéd, on behalf of Austria, that same month. Hungarians controlled the county down to (and including) Ocnița, as well as the northern extremity of Soroca County; under the terms of an armistice, the Romanian Army held on to the remaining areas, including 8 villages in Hotin.Dubitska, p. 65. See also Meltyukhov, pp. 44–45, 52–53 Early the following month, the Bukovinan Romanian Ion Nistor invited civilians, including those of Hotin, to "stand guard on the old border, as your grandparents and ancestors before you".Vrabie, pp. 308–309 On April 14, 1918, Romanian and RDM officials set up a border crossing at Otaci, east of Hotin area and further downstream on the Dniester.Vrabie, p. 344 UNR–Romanian relations grew more hostile over those days, with rumors emerging that the Ukrainian side had formally protested against the Romanian presence in Bessarabia.Cancicov, pp. 405–406, 408–409
In early May, a new Romanian government, headed by Alexandru Marghiloman, agreed to sign peace with the Central Powers. Although Marghiloman went into the negotiations promising that "under no circumstances would we lose Hotin",Cancicov, p. 436 the act ceded 600 square kilometers of land to Austrian Bukovina, including parts of the county, alongside the neighboring Hertsa region.Ungureanu, pp. 129–130, 134 Under the resulting regime, parts of Hotin that were either annexed or occupied by Austria were exploited, as a breadbasket for the peoples of Austria-Hungary. This tactic, which was enforced with Marghiloman's acquiescence,Meltyukhov, pp. 52–53 led to severe shortages by June 1918. Within months, the Hungarian military administration dissolved all soviets and offices answering to the Central Council of Ukraine, only delegating authority to the reestablished Zemstvo.Dubitska, pp. 67–69 Faced with such constraints, local Ukrainians began organizing into partisan units.Fostoy, pp. 594–595; Potylchak, p. 208
In April, the UNR itself was replaced by a more Austrian- and White-friendly regime, the Hetmanate, which made some efforts to extend itself into Hotin County and the "four parishes" of Soroca. A branch of the Ukrainian Army, including a 2nd Cavalry Division under Commandant Kolesnikov, was established in Khotyn, whose civilian authorities argued that Marghiloman had willingly renounced his claims to the area.Rusnak et al.. pp. 40–41 On May 26, judge Oleksa Suharenko was appointed Khotyn's Starosta by authorities from the Podolian Governorate, situated across the Dniester; he never took charge, as he was soon replaced by a P. Izbytskyi. The Austrian authorities ultimately consented to Izbytskyi's arrival, but stripped him of any real power.Rusnak et al.. pp. 40–41 By July 1918, Romanians grew alarmed about reports that Hetmanate representatives, including Oleksander Shulhyn, were seeking to annex Bessarabia in its entirety.Iorga, pp. 29, 43