Page - 155 - in Österreich-Ungarns imperiale Herausforderungen - Nationalismen und Rivalitäten im Habsburgerreich um 1900

© 2020, V&R unipress GmbH, Göttingen ISBN Print: 9783847110606 – ISBN E-Lib: 9783737010603 April, Hetman Pavlo Skoropads’kyi would promote a conservative Ukrainian nationalidentitywhichrejectedtheagrariansocialismchampionedbytheRada, triggeringanumberof large-scalepeasantuprisings thatwouldhave tobeput downbyGermanandHabsburgtroops.TheDualMonarchy’sgreaterexperience with nationalist politics in general and the Ukrainian national movement in particular thus enabled it to continue playing an important role in Dnieper Ukraine, eventhough itwasclearly the juniorpartner in theoccupation. The remarkable activities of ArchdukeWilhelm vonHabsburg in Dnieper Ukraine in1918 furtherdemonstratehowHabsburgelites continuedtoengage in themobilisation of ethnicitywell into the final year of thewar.44Vasyl Vy- shyvanyi, as he quickly became known in Ukrainian circles, was dispatched beyondtheZbruchinMarch1918attheheadofBattleGroupArchdukeWilhelm, which included the Ukrainian Legion. He was under strict instructions from Emperor Karl to become his eyes and ears in Ukraine. First at Zaporizhia/ Oleksandrivsk/Aleksandrovskon theDnieper and then atKropyvnytskyi/Eliz- avethrad following his relocation by the Austro-Hungarian High Command, WilhelmengagedinaseriesofUkrainisationeffortswhichinvolvedtheopening ofUkrainiantheatresandschoolsandthesubsidisingofUkrainiannewspapers andmagazines. These cultural activities were intended to spread literacy and Ukrainiannational consciousnessamong the local, oftennationally-indifferent peasantry. Theultimate goal of this project – the creationof aUkrainian state closely alignedwithAustria-Hungary,withWilhelmasHetman–wasnot dis- similar fromMetropolitanSheptyts’kyi’splanfor thereorganisationofDnieper Ukraine (withhimself as religious leader) inAugust1914. Wilhelm’sUkrainophile activitiesdidnot receive the supportof theForeign Ministry inViennaor theArmyHighCommand,whichwerewaryofupsetting theapplecartandantagonisingBerlin.Thehighermilitaryauthoritiesultimately succeeded in sending the archduke and theUSS back to Bukovina at the be- ginning ofOctober. TheAustro-Hungarian diplomatic corps in particular re- mained ambivalent aboutHabsburg support for independent nation-states in thewesternborderlandsofthedefunctRussianEmpireuntil theveryend,never tiringofpointingoutthedangerousrepercussionsthispolicyhadfor thefuture territorial integrity of the DualMonarchy. “I askmyself whether we have an interest in shoring up perpetually a Ukrainian state which has ‘unredeemed brothers’ inAustria,”remarkedAustro-HungarianAmbassadorinBerlinPrince 44 Thefollowingdiscussionis largelybasedonmyarticleUkrainizationandItsContradictions in the Context of the Brest-Litovsk System, in: Lohr/Tolz/Semyonov/vonHagen (ed.), The EmpireandNationalismatWar(seenote3),p. 163–188; seealso the twoin-depthpolitical biographies ofWilhelm:TimothySnyder, TheRedPrince. TheSecret Lives of aHabsburg Archduke,NewYork2008; Iurii Tereshchenko/TetianaOstashko,Ukrains’kyi patriot z dy- nastiiHabsburhiv,Kiev1999. TheHabsburgMobilisationofEthnicity 155