Seite - 150 - 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 theRussians once again occupiedparts of EastGalicia and triednot to repeat their previousmistakes. Consequently, in October 1916, the newRussian au- thoritiesremovedthelimitationsontheuseofPolishandUkrainianineducation while upholding the banon the use ofGermanorYiddish, overruling the ob- jections of the ForeignMinistry in Petrograd.30 In spite of these concessions, whichwereupheldandextendedby theProvisionalGovernment inthewakeof theFebruaryRevolution, thesecondRussianoccupationofpartsofEastGalicia failedtomakeanyappreciableprogressinthequesttowintheheartsandminds of the localEastSlavicpopulation.31 PhaseII:BetweenMobilisationandRetrenchment:TheDilemmas of ImperialCollapse,February1917–November1918 FromtheFebruaryRevolution to theTreatyofBrest-Litovsk TheFebruaryRevolutioninRussiashatteredtheseemingly impregnablesystem of Imperial dynasticism and released powerful centrifugal forces which pro- ducedaripple effect acrossEast-CentralEurope. Signingaseparatepeacewith thenewProvisionalGovernment inPetrograd,whichwould takeRussiaoutof thewar andeliminate theEasternFront, once againbecame topof theCentral Powers’prioritylist.Sinceamorecompetentpursuitofthewarefforthadbeena mainfactorbehindliberalsupport for theoverthrowofthemonarchy,however, theProvisionalGovernmentdidnothavetheslightest interest inpeacetalks.On 9April 1917, thenew foreignminister,Kadet (ConstitutionalDemocrat)Pavel Miliukov,reaffirmedRussia’scommitmenttothewar,highlightingnationalself- determination as Petrograd’s main war aim.32 This gave the Special Political Section (OsobyiPoliticheskiiOtdel) of theRussianForeignMinistry, set up in 1916 to study the problems of the East Slavic population of Austria-Hungary (amongother things), achance tore-interpretRussianpolicyontheUkrainian Question alongdemocratic lineswhile preserving theunityof theAll-Russian idea inameetingwithGalicianrefugees inMay1917.Themeeting’sresolution, soon forwarded to theChairmanof theProvisionalGovernment, PrinceL’vov, emphasisedthat theunificationofGalicia,Bukovina,andTranscarpathianRus’ with the newRussian revolutionary republicwould be an act of national self- 30 Bakhturina,PolitikaRossiiskoi imperii (seenote26),p. 223. 31 OntheRussianoccupationofGalicia,seealsovonHagen,WarinaEuropeanBorderland(see note 28), p. 19–53, 72–86;AlexanderVictorPrusin,Nationalizing aBorderland.War, Eth- nicity, andAnti-JewishViolence inEastGalicia, 1914–1920 (Judaic Studies Series), Tusca- loosa2005,p. 13–64. 32 Arno J.Mayer, PoliticalOriginsof theNewDiplomacy. 1917–1918,NewHaven1959,p. 75. BorislavChernev150