Historical Preconditions for the Origin of the Ukrainian Sich Movement in Galicia and Bukovyna at the Beginning of the 20th Century
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31861/hj2026.63.31-42Keywords:
Ukrainian Sich movement, USR, society «Sich», national revival, Austrian (Austro-Hungarian) Empire, Galicia, Bukovyna, fire-gymnastic societyAbstract
This article analyzes the historical preconditions for the emergence of the Ukrainian Sich movement in Galicia and Bukovyna, which is viewed as a natural outcome of the national revival of the 19th and early 20th centuries along the border between the Russian and Austrian (Austro-Hungarian) empires. Particular attention is paid to Pokuttia — a historical and ethnographic region that, starting in the 1840s, gradually became one of the centres of the Ukrainian national movement, and in 1900, the birthplace of the first branches of the «Sich» fire and gymnastic society in Galicia, where it achieved its greatest development. The ideologist and organizer of «Sich», K. Trylovskyi, viewed the society as a means of strengthening the electorate of the newly formed Ukrainian Radical Party (URP) amid increasingly competitive election campaigns. The founding of the first «Sich» groups, whose existence evoked the glorious historical traditions of the Cossacks and the Zaporozhian Sich, became an integral part of the politicization of the Ukrainian national movement in the 1890s and early 20th century.
It is noted that in the 19th century, Galicia served as a kind of «bridge» through which the national and cultural influence from Russian-ruled Ukraine spread to neighbouring Bukovyna. The organizational model of Galicia Sich movement began to be implemented in Bukovyna in 1902 and had certain distinctive features due to the local conditions of the Ukrainian national revival (greater ideological diversity, a more moderate political stance, willingness for interethnic dialogue, closer integration with the existing network of societies, etc.). The multifaceted activities of the «Sich» society up to 1914 contributed to the establishment of Ukrainian national consciousness among the peasant masses of Galicia and Bukovyna, and its branches, which interacted with one another, laid the foundation for the formation of the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen during World War I.
References
1. Babchuk S., Dobrovilni pozhezhno-himnastychni tovarystva «Sich» na Bukovyni (1902–1914 rr.): istoriia stanovlennia, rozvytok ta zanepad, in «Zavalska «Sich» — zolota storinka ukrainskoi istorii: Materialy Vseukrainskoi naukovo-praktychnoi konferentsii, prysviachenoi 125-y richnytsi utvorennia Zavalskoi «Sichi» (s. Zavallia, 4 travnia 2025 r.)», Sniatyn; Chernivtsi, Druk Art, 2025, s. 19–22.
2. Bantysh-Kamenskiy D., Istoriya Maloy Rossii ot vodvoreniya Slavyan v sei strane do unichtozheniya Getmanstva [The History of Little Russia from the Settlement of the Slavs in This Country to the Destruction of the Hetmanate], v 3-kh chastyakh, izdanie chetvertoe, S.-Peterburg, Kiev, Kharkov, 1903, 609 s.
3. Dobrzhanskyi O., Natsionalnyi rukh ukraintsiv Bukovyny druhoi polovyny XIX — pochatku XX st. [The national movement of Ukrainians in Bukovyna in the second half of the 19th — early 20th century], Chernivtsi, Zoloti lytavry, 1999, 574 s.
4. Franko I., Ukraintsi [Ukrainians], in «Zibrannia tvoriv: u 50-ty t.», Kyiv, 1984, t. 41, s. 162–193.
5. Holovatskyi I., Pershe tovarystvo «Sich» i sichovyi rukh. Do 100-richchia vid zasnuvannia «Sichi» u Halychyni ta 85 richchia boiv USS na hori Makivtsi [The First «Sich» Society and the Sich Movement. On the 100th Anniversary of the Foundation of «Sich» in Galicia and the 85th Anniversary of the USR Battles on Makivka Mountain], URL: http://www.spas.net.ua/index.php/news/full/244
6. Hrushevskyi M., Iliustrovana istoriia Ukrainy [Illustrated History of Ukraine], Kyiv, 1992, 558 s.
7. Hrytsak Ya., Narys istorii Ukrainy. Formuvannia modernoi ukrainskoi natsii XIX–XX st. [Outline of the History of Ukraine. Formation of the Modern Ukrainian Nation in the 19th–20th Centuries], Kyiv, 1996, 360 s.
8. Huivaniuk M., Mizh spivpratseiu ta konfrontatsiieiu: sichovyi rukh Halychyny y Bukovyny u systemi mizhslovianskykh vidnosyn pochatku XX st. [Between Cooperation and Confrontation: The Sich Movement of Galicia and Bukovyna in the System of Inter-Slavic Relations at the Beginning of the 20th Century], in «Zavalska «Sich» — zolota storinka ukrainskoi istorii: Materialy Vseukrainskoi naukovo-praktychnoi konferentsii, prysviachenoi 125-y richnytsi utvorennia Zavalskoi «Sichi» (s. Zavallia, 4 travnia 2025 r.)», Sniatyn; Chernivtsi, Druk Art, 2025, s. 23–31.
9. Huivaniuk M., Sichovyi rukh na Bukovyni (1902–1914 rr.): mizh halytskoiu modelliu ta bukovynskoiu rehionalnoiu spetsyfikoiu [The Sich Movement in Bukovyna (1902–1914): Between the Galician Model and Bukovynian Regional Specificity], in «Kraieznavstvo», Kyiv, 2025, s. 139–146.
10. Huivaniuk M., Sichovyi rukh u Halychyni y Bukovyni (1900–1914 rr.) [Sich Movement in Galicia and Bukovyna (1900–1914)], Chernivtsi, Zelena Bukovyna, 2009, 254 s.
11. Huivaniuk M., Sichovyi rukh u Halychyni y na Bukovyni [The Sich Movement in Galicia and Bukovyna], dysertatsiia na zdobuttia naukovoho stupenia kandydata istorychnykh nauk za spetsialnistiu 07.00.01 — istoriia Ukrainy, Chernivtsi, 2002, 241 s.
12. Korolko A., Poshyrennia kozatskykh tradytsii i symvoliky XVI–XVIII st. v ukrainskomu sichovomu rusi na Pokutti pochatku XX st. [The spread of Cossack traditions and symbolism of the 16th–18th centuries in the Ukrainian Sich movement in Pokuttia at the beginning of the 20th century], in «Zavalska «Sich» — zolota storinka ukrainskoi istorii: Materialy Vseukrainskoi naukovo-praktychnoi konferentsii, prysviachenoi 125-y richnytsi utvorennia Zavalskoi «Sichi» (s. Zavallia, 4 travnia 2025 r.)», Sniatyn; Chernivtsi, Druk Art, 2025, s. 34–56.
13. Korolko A., Sichovyi rukh na Pokutti (1900–1914 rr.): orhanizatsiini oseredky ta yikh praktychna diialnist. [The Sich Movement in Pokuttia (1900–1914): Organizational Centres and Their Practical Activities], in «Visnyk Prykarpatskoho universytetu. Istoriia», vyp. 19, Ivano-Frankivsk, 2011, s. 13–21.
14. Masan O., Pershi bukovynski «Sichi» [The first Bukovynian «Siches»], in «Zavalska «Sich» — pochatok masovoho rukhu natsionalno-patriotychnykh syl za vidrodzhennia ukrainskoi derzhavnosti. Materialy naukovo-teoretychnoi konferentsii 25 bereznia 1995 roku, s. Zavallia Sniatynskoho raionu Ivano-Frankivskoi oblasti», Sniatyn, 1995, s. 35–43.
15. Mudryi M., Formuvannia novochasnoi natsionalno-politychnoi kultury ukrainskoho suspilstva Halychyny (problema zovnishnikh modelei). [The formation of modern national-political culture of Galician Ukrainian society (the problem of external models)], in «Visnyk Lvivskoho universytetu. Seriia istorychna», Lviv, 2003, vyp. 38, s. 115–147.
16. Raikivskyi I., Ideia ukrainskoi natsionalnoi yednosti v hromadskomu zhytti Halychyny XIX stolittia [The idea of Ukrainian national unity in the public life of Galicia in the 19th century], Ivano-Frankivsk, 2012, 932 s.
17. Raikivskyi I., Vzaiemyny halytskykh i naddniprianskykh diiachiv u 1830–1840-kh rr. [Relations between Galician and Dnieper figures in the 1830s–1840s], in «Ukrainskyi istorychnyi zhurnal», Kyiv, 2009, № 1, s. 39–55.
18. «Rusalka Dnistrova». Dokumenty i materialy [«Dniester Mermaid». Documents and Materials], Kyiv, 1989, 544 s.
19. Ruske pytannie [Rus question], in «Meta», Lviv, 1863, № 3, lystopad, s. 210–218.
20. Sereda O., Hromady rannikh narodovtsiv u Skhidnii Halychyni (60-ti roky XIX stolittia) [Communities of early narodovtsi in Eastern Galicia (1860s)], in «Ukraina: kulturna spadshchyna, natsionalna svidomist, derzhavnist», Lviv, 2001, vyp. 9: Yuvileinyi zbirnyk na poshanu F. Stebliia, s. 378–392.
21. Shevchenko T., Chyhyryne, Chyhyryne [Chyhyryn, Chyhyryn], in «Kobzar», Kyiv, 1994, s. 195.
22. Shevchenko T., Yurodyvyi [Holy Fool], in «Kobzar», Kyiv, 1994, s. 536.
23. Siredzhuk P., Khronolohiia vynyknennia «Sichei» na terenakh Pokuttia [Chronology of the emergence of the «Siches» in the Pokuttia region], in «Zavalska «Sich» — zolota storinka ukrainskoi istorii: Materialy Vseukrainskoi naukovo-praktychnoi konferentsii, prysviachenoi 125-y richnytsi utvorennia Zavalskoi «Sichi» (s. Zavallia, 4 travnia 2025 r.)», Sniatyn, Chernivtsi, Druk Art, 2025, s. 32–33.
24. Studynskyi K., Z korespondentsyi Denysa Zubrytskoho (rr. 1840–1853). [From the correspondence of Denys Zubrytskyi (years 1840–1853)], in «Zapysky NTSh», Lviv, 1901, t. XLIII, kn. 5, s. 1–66.
25. Trofymiak B., Himnastychno-sportyvni orhanizatsii v natsionalno-vyzvolnomu rusi Halychyny (druha pol. XIX — persha pol. XX st.) [Gymnastic-sports organizations in the national liberation movement of Galicia (second half of the 19th — first half of the 20th century)], Ternopil, Ekonomichna dumka, 2001, 694 s.
26. Vozniak M., Yak probudylosia ukrainske narodnie zhyttia v Halychyni za Avstrii [How Ukrainian folk life awoke in Galicia under Austria], Lviv, 1924, 180 s.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
