The war ensued soon after the October Revolution when Lenin dispatched Antonov's expeditionary group to Ukraine and Southern Russia.

Soviet historiography viewed the Bolshevik victory as the liberation of Ukraine from occupation by the armies of Western and Central Europe (including that of Poland).

The Kiev Military District command tried to prevent a Bolshevik coup, leading to street fights and eventually surrendering of pro-Bolshevik troops in the city.

On December 17, 1917, Sovnarkom, which had initiated peace talks with Central Powers earlier that month, sent a 48-hour ultimatum to the Rada requesting it stop "counterrevolutionary actions" or prepare for war.

They engaged in an armed conflict at a rail station in Bakhmach with the Ukrainian troops who refused to let the Russian red forces (three regiments and an artillery division) pass.

[5] The Bolsheviks, numbering around 30,000 and composed of Russian army regulars stationed at the front, a number of garrisoned units, and Red Guard detachments composed of laborers from Kharkov gubernia and the Donbass, began by advancing from the northeast led by Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko and Mikhail Muravyov.

[6] The Ukrainian forces at the time of the invasion consisted of about 15,000 made up from volunteer detachments and several battalions of the Free Cossacks and the Sich Riflemen.

Pavlo Skoropadsky with a regiment of the Free Cossacks managed to stop them near Zhmerynka, disarm them, and deport them to Russia.

[1] As the Bolsheviks marched towards Kyiv, a small Ukrainian National Republic unit of less than 500 schoolboys (some sources give a figure of 300[7]), commanded by Captain Ahapiy Honcharenko, was hastily organized and sent to the front on January 29, 1918, to take part in the Battle of Kruty.

[8] After six days of battle and running low on food and ammunition, the uprising was suppressed by counter-revolutionary forces,[9] in which 300 Bolshevik workers died.

[4] Under the command of Symon Petlura, the combined forces pushed the Bolsheviks out of Right Bank Ukraine and retook Kyiv on March 1.

Ukrainian, German, and Austro-Hungarian armies continued making gains, taking back Left Bank Ukraine, Crimea and the Donets Basin.

To stop the coming war with the Bolsheviks, the government of Chekhivsky sent a delegation to Moscow led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Semen Mazurenko.

[12] On December 28, 1918, the Central Committee of the Left UPSR officially declared the mobilization of forces in the support of the Soviet government by an armed staging.

[citation needed] On January 7, 1919, the Bolsheviks invaded Ukraine in full force[13] with an army led by Vladimir Antonov-Ovseyenko, Joseph Stalin, and Volodymyr Zatonsky.

[1] The Directorate declared war once again against Russia on January 16 after several preliminary ultimatums to the Russian SFSR sovnarkom to withdraw their troops.

The Ukrainian forces consisted of two regular troop formations, the Zaporozhian Corps and the Sich Riflemen, as well as partisan detachments.

At this time the military action that takes place on the territory of Ukraine is between the armies of Directorate and the Ukrainian Soviet Government which is completely independent.

The only person who was against it, was the chairman of the Directory Volodymyr Vynnychenko, while Shapoval, for example, for some reason was simply requesting the prompt creation of the Soviet government.

Denikin later commented that the war declaration did not change absolutely anything on the frontlines and only reflected the political crisis inside the Ukrainian government with the victory of the military party of Petliura-Konovalets-Hrekov over Vynnychenko-Chekhivsky.

Then Chekhivsky resigned from office, right after Vynnychenko created in Kamianets-Podilskyi the Committee for the salvation of Republic, which was again dissolved by Petliura on February 13.

Surprisingly, by the end of March the Ukrainian armies successfully conducted series of military operations retaking Sarny, Zhytomyr, Korosten, and threatening to take back Kyiv.

[1] The Red Army retaliated against the Ukrainian offensive, recapturing Proskurov on 5 July and putting the temporary capital Kamianets-Podilskyi under threat.

Another significant development of this period was the signing of the Treaty of Warsaw with Poland on April 22, and then beginning of a joint offensive with Polish troops against the Bolsheviks.

[6] On May 7, a Ukrainian division under the command of Marko Bezruchko entered Kyiv, but was quickly forced out by a Red Army counteroffensive led by Semyon Budyonny.

[1] This campaign was meant to incite a general uprising amongst the Ukrainian peasants, who were already disgruntled with the Soviets,[13] and to unify partisan forces against the Bolsheviks in Ukraine.

However, on its return west, it was intercepted by a Bolshevik cavalry force under the command of Grigore Kotovski at Bazar and routed in battle near Mali Mynky on November 17.