Seite - 141 - 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 rience inUkrainianaffairsmeantthat theDualMonarchyplayedaleadingpart, especially early on. This involved positive as well as negativemobilisation of ethnicity intheempire’sUkrainianpopulatedterritories, the lattermanifesting itselfinthesuppressionof‘undesirable’,especiallyRussophile,formsofnational identity. Incontrast, during the secondphase, betweenFebruary1917andNo- vember 1918, the Habsburg establishment became increasingly reluctant to mobiliseUkrainiannationalism,as it realised that Imperial collapse in theeast might have grave repercussions at home. Nonetheless, this phase witnessed unprecedentedHabsburg involvement in all-Ukrainian affairs, as the quarter- million strong Austro-Hungarian Ostarmee swept through Southern Ukraine andArchdukeWilhelmvonHabsburg initiatedapolicyofUkrainisationwhich made thepopular youngprinceaclaimant to the throneofwhatwasby thena Ukrainianmonarchy(Hetmanate).Bythetimeofthelateautumncollapseofthe CentralPowers, theUkrainianLegionformerlyunder thearchduke’scommand becameactively involved inthecreationofaWest-UkrainianPeople’sRepublic fightingbitterlywithPolish forcesoverLemberg. Phase I:Mobilisation throughMilitarisationandPropaganda, August1914–February1917 TheUkrainianLegion Theoneindispensablefactoraffectingwarnationalism,EricLohrsuggests,isthe roleofthearmy.3Traditionally, theHabsburgarmyhadeschewedtheformation ofmilitary units on apurely national basis, relying instead onamulti-lingual Habsburgtreu officer corps which aimed to transcend the very notion of na- tionality.4 In a reversal of this policy, the Habsburg authorities established a precedent by allowing the creationof aPolish Legionunder Jjzef Piłsudski in August 1914. Having conferred with Ukrainian political leaders in Lemberg, CountEmanuelUrbas, thelocalrepresentativeoftheAustro-HungarianForeign Office, raised thepossibilityof aUkrainianLegionas earlyas6August incon- junctionwith the potential future establishment of aUkrainian state on terri- tories conquered fromRussia.While some of his sources suggested that the initiativewouldattractperhapsasmanyas15,000volunteers,Urbasreckoneda 3 EricLohr,WarNationalism, in: id./VeraTolz/AlexanderSemyonov/MarkvonHagen(ed.),The EmpireandNationalismatWar(Russia’sGreatWarandRevolution,1914–1922,2),Bloomington 2014,p.91–108,herep.93–96. 4 Istv#nDe#k, BeyondNationalism. A Social and Political History of the Habsburg Officer Corps, 1848–1918,NewYork1990. TheHabsburgMobilisationofEthnicity 141