Page - 156 - 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 Gottfried zu Hohenlohe-Schilingsfürst in a telegram to Vienna on 25March 1918.45 In the event, suchwarnings came too late tohelpHabsburgauthorities stall the suddencrystallisationofnation-ness engenderedby the Imperialmo- bilisationofethnicityandwarnationalismacrossEast-CentralEurope.Emperor Karl’smanifestoof16October,whichproposedtoreorganisetheAustrianhalfof theempireintoafederationofequalnationalities(includingUkrainians),merely precipitated the unilateral declarations of independence of nascent nation- states. Conclusion Like Imperial collapse inRussia inFebruary1917, thedissolutionof theHabs- burgEmpire inOctober-November1918 facilitatedanexplosionof interethnic violence.FreefromtherestraininginfluenceoftheImperialstate, themobilised andmilitarisedPolishandUkrainiannationalmovementsembarkedonaseries ofwars over theownershipofGalicia.Ukrainian forces, amongwhich theUk- rainian Sich Sharpshooters played a prominent part, forced the issue by pro- claiming thecreationofa secondUkrainian state, theWestUkrainianPeople’s Republic,inLembergon19October1918.Polishforces,reinforcedbyadditional military detachments fromKrakjw/Krakau andPrzemys´l/Premissel, soon got theupperhandandexpelledtheUkrainians.TheformerGaliciancapitalbecame thestageofcountlessattacksandcounterattacksover thenext fewyears, as the two sides sought to regain theupperhand.The escalationof the latentPolish- UkrainianconflictsymbolisedthetransformationoftheGreatWarfromaclash ofempires toaclashofcompetingnation-buildingprojects that left little room for accommodatingnational and religiousminorities.46Thebacchanalia of in- terethnicviolence,whichtheImperialmobilisationofethnicityhadunwittingly facilitated,wouldgoontodefinethesecondhalfofthecontinuumofviolencein East-CentralEurope,untilthedustfinallysettledandmoreorlessstableborders emerged in1922–1923. 45 Hohenlohe anCzernin,Österreichische Interessen inBezugdieUkraineunddiedeutsche PolitikgegenüberdenöstlichenRandstaaten,02.03.1918,in:Hornykiewicz(ed.),Ereignisse inderUkraine (seenote5), vol. 1,p. 328. 46 SeeMick,Lemberg,Lwjw,L’viv, 1914–1947(seenote15),p. 174–187. BorislavChernev156