Monarchist Profile: General Pavlo Skoropadskyi

Pavlo Petrovych Skoropadskyi was born on May 3, 1873 in Wiesbaden, the German Empire, to an old, aristocratic Ukrainian family. The most famous ancestor of the family was Ivan Skoropadskyi who, under Tsar Peter the Great, had become Hetman of the Ukrainian Cossacks (Hetman being a chieftain or head of state, originally an elected position). Pavlo’s father was a colonel in a cavalry regiment of the Russian Imperial Guard and served in the Caucasian War before becoming a local political official and his mother was also related to a number of the most prominent Ukrainian families. He grew up hearing about the long history of service his ancestors had given to Ukraine and the Russian Empire. Considering his background, it is not surprising that he decided on a military career at an early age and after his preliminary education went on to graduate from the Page Corps cadet school in St Petersburg in 1893. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Chevalier Guard cavalry regiment.

Skoropadskyi in 1904

In the following years Skoropadskyi earned several promotions and started his own family when he married Oleksandra Petrivna Durnovo, daughter of the General Governor of Moscow. When the Russo-Japanese War broke out, Skoropadskyi was given command of a company of the 2nd Chita Cossack Regiment of the Trans-Baikal Cossack Host. He distinguished himself and was moved to the staff of the commanding general of the Russian Far East and earned numerous decorations for his service during the war with Japan. In 1905 the Tsar promoted him to colonel with a place on his own military staff and in 1910 he was given command of a Finnish cavalry regiment. The following year, so great was his prestige, he was posted to the Life Guard Cavalry Regiment, the elite troops trusted with the personal security of the Tsar himself. In 1912 he was promoted to major general and, at the start of World War I, was given command of a cavalry brigade in the first guards division, part of the First Army under General Paul von Rennenkampf, who he knew from the Russo-Japanese War. Skoropadskyi earned further praise for his service in the invasion of East Prussia and for his contributions in numerous battles was promoted to divisional command and in 1916 was made a lieutenant general.

1917 saw Skoropadskyi entrusted with the command of an army corps which was later to become the First Ukrainian Corps. The troops under his command were victorious in numerous engagement, earning particular praise for his successful defense against attacks on the Romanian front. However, that was also the year that the Russian Empire began to fall apart with the revolution that brought down the monarchy, replacing it with the weak and ineffectual provisional government that tried to keep Russia in the war. The empire was coming apart at the seams and Ukraine was no exception to this chaotic trend. That same year, radical elements began to separate the Ukraine from Russia, ultimately resulting in the declaration of independence of the so-called Ukrainian People’s Republic in 1918. It became clear to Skoropadskyi that Ukraine and Russia had enemies on the home front who were a far greater threat than that posed by the German Empire and Austria-Hungary. Ukraine itself was in chaos as rival revolutionary governments struggled for power while Russia itself fell prey to the machinations of the Bolsheviks.

conversing with the Kaiser

Skoropadskyi began to make common cause with the Germans who were increasingly alarmed at the spread of revolutionary communism (though they were partly to blame for its introduction) and Skoropadskyi seemed an ideal man to work with as he had a reputation as both a solid Russian monarchist and a Ukrainian patriot. Ukraine had, effectively, become a protectorate of Germany after the Russian government was forced to come to terms with the Germans and they helped engineer the coup that brought down the Ukrainian People’s Republic and solidify Ukraine under one, nationalist, government. General Skoropadskyi was favored by the Germans, while Austria-Hungary favored a new monarchy under Archduke Wilhelm of Austria who had commanded Hapsburg Ukrainian troops in the war. However, as the dominant partner, it was the will of Germany that prevailed and Skoropadskyi was installed as Hetman of the State of Ukraine, having close contact with the Germans and even meeting with Kaiser Wilhelm II.

Naturally, because of this, his enemies on the left accused him of being a collaborator and lacking in Ukrainian nationalism. Needless to say, this was unfair as Skoropadskyi was never lacking in Ukrainian patriotism, however, he realized that Ukraine would be vulnerable alone and welcomed the cooperation of White Russian monarchists and pan-Slavic nationalists as well as the support of the Central Powers they had earlier opposed but all in order to save Ukraine from the revolutionary crisis. Despite his critics, Skoropadskyi responded in the best possible way; by delivering results. Order was restored across the Ukraine, government services began to function again, a peace was negotiated with Bolshevik Russia and diplomatic ties were established with numerous other countries which recognized the independence of the State of Ukraine. These were all things that none of the previous revolutionary governments claiming power had ever been able to achieve. He worked feverishly to build up the foundations of an independent Ukraine with infrastructure improvements and new educational institutions. Unfortunately, the time and breathing space needed to accomplish this was attained in large part due to the support of Germany and Austria-Hungary who, as 1918 wore on, were clearly losing the war.

Austria-Hungary was first to come apart and eventually Germany began to collapse as well. The revolutionaries saw their chance and began to move against the Hetman. The Russian Bolsheviks too were watching closely, letting the chaos do the hard work for them, after which they could sweep in and reclaim Ukraine with minimal effort. It all worked out entirely to the benefit of the communists. In the fall of 1918 Skoropadskyi was overthrown as the Germans pulled out. The Ukrainian People’s Republic was restored but that was a complete farce and was only temporary as the Soviets soon took over the country anyway while Skoropadskyi was forced to go into exile in Germany. This was a terrible blow to the monarchist cause in Ukraine because, although the office of “Hetman” had not originally been a strictly monarchist sort of position, Skoropadskyi had effectively made it as much and had he continued in office, there seems little doubt based on his subsequent behavior that it would have become a hereditary position and it is also true that he worked closely alongside Ukrainian and White Russian monarchists during his time in power.

While in exile, Skoropadskyi continued to work with fellow Ukrainian and Russian exiles toward the ultimate goal of seeing the Soviet usurper regime destroyed. He supported both Ukrainian independence as well as the restoration of the Russian Empire under the House of Romanov with Ukraine being a sovereign state within the framework of a broader Russian Empire, a goal not very different from that of the Russian Imperial Family today. He worked alongside various monarchists, nationalists and others of the exile community as well as maintaining contacts with various friendly factions in Germany. However, he refused to ever have anything to do with the Nazi Party which, of course, meant that this efforts would be suppressed once Hitler came to power. Still, he kept up his efforts as best he could, never relenting in his determination to see both the Ukrainian and Russian peoples freed from Soviet tyranny. In 1945, while fleeing before the advancing Red Army, he was wounded in an Allied bombing raid and died in Bavaria on April 26, 1945 at the age of 71. He was buried with the rites of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Oberstdorf and was succeeded by his son, Danylo Skoropadskyi, as leader of the Ukrainian monarchist group called the United Hetman Association. He lived in exile in Britain until he died in 1957, presumably poisoned by agents of the KGB. However, his other children have continued to carry the torch for a Ukrainian monarchy to the present day.

Soldier of Monarchy: Colonel Alexander Kazakov

The First World War saw many advances in the art of war, particularly in the harnessing of industry and modern machinery for military purposes. It was the conflict which saw the first widespread use of automatic weapons, chemical weapons, super-long range artillery, submarines, tanks and, of course, aircraft. Somewhat unfairly, the Russian Empire is usually seen as lagging far behind the other Allied powers in all of these areas, depending almost entirely on the massive hordes of Russian infantry to win battles. True enough, Imperial Russia was not as industrially advanced as some other major powers, and the tough, relentless Russian soldier was always the best weapon of the Tsar but the Imperial Russian Navy actually had the first military submarine fleet in the world, deployed from Vladivostok during the war with Japan and while Russia was taken out of the First World War before tanks came into widespread use, the Russian Empire did also take to the skies with the war planes of the Imperial Russian Air Service. In fact, Russia had been training military pilots (using French aircraft) since 1910. At the outbreak of World War I it was, in fact, the Russian Empire that had the second largest air force in the world.

The man who would achieve the greatest combat record of anyone in the Imperial Russian Air Service was Alexander Alexandrovich Kazakov. Born into a minor noble family on January 15, 1889 in Kherson Governorate (today the Ukraine), the young Kazakov wasted no time in setting his life on course for a military career. Like many future pilots (in many other countries) Kazakov first decided on the cavalry as his preferred branch of service. In 1908 he graduated from Yelizavetgrad cavalry school and served in the cavalry until 1913. First serving as a coronet in the Twelfth Lancer regiment he was promoted to lieutenant in 1911. In 1913 he decided to trade his horse in for an airplane and began undergoing training to become a pilot at the Gatchina military aviation school. He qualified as a military pilot in September of 1914, after World War I had already broken out, and was sent to the front in December as the youngest pilot of the fourth aviation corps. During his career, Kazakov flew the Morane-Saulnier, Spad - SA2, the Nieuport 11 and the Nieuport 17; all French aircraft. In quick order he would prove himself to be among the best fighter pilots the First World War would produce.

Not many may be aware of the fact that it was actually a pilot of the Imperial Russian Air Service, Pyotr Nesterov, who was the first pilot to ever attack and bring down an enemy aircraft; which he did by ramming an Austrian observation plane. On March 31, 1915 Kazakov followed in his footsteps by similarly ramming and bringing down an Austrian plane. Miraculously, he survived and was awarded the Order of Saint Anne, fourth class (later earning the third as well). With this initial victory Kazakov proved himself a pilot to be reckoned with and he soon demonstrated his abilities even further and by September was promoted to command the Nineteenth Corps Fighter Detachment, continuing to fly Nieuports. From June 27 to December 21, 1916 he brought down four more enemy aircraft to officially join that elite club of fighter pilots known as aces. The exact total of the victories of Colonel Kazakov are a little difficult to ascertain. This was due to a number of factors, one of which was the emphasis of the Russian Empire on “teamwork” which emphasized the successes of the group rather than the scores of individual pilots (Russia was not the only country to do things this way, Italy being another example). There were also the usual complications of attributing victories achieved by more than one pilot working together and victories over enemy territory or for which there were no witnesses and thus could not be confirmed.

An example of this came on May 6, 1917 when Colonel Kazakov achieved his sixth victory but which he won in cooperation with Ernst Leman and Pavel Argeyev. Nonetheless, he had shot down another plane by May 25 and by the end of his career reached a total of 20 confirmed aerial victories, making him the number one Russian ace of the First World War. His actual score, however, may have been considerably higher or a bit lower, though not enough to rob him of his ‘number one’ status. According to some sources he shot down 15 enemy planes on his own and 17 in conjunction with other pilots while still other sources claim he shot down 32 aircraft but this was most likely a number arrived at by combining both sets of victories into one total. However, whether it was 15 and 17, 20 or 32, Kazakov was certainly the most successful Russian fighter pilot of the war. Unfortunately, despite the ultimate Allied victory, the cause for which he fought was a lost one.

Kazakov was disgusted by the outbreak of the October Revolution and refused to betray his oath of loyalty to the Tsar. As a result, the revolutionary government stripped him of his rank and dismissed him from service. Later, a friend warned him that the Red Army was about to press him into service as a military aviation expert. Refusing to join the detested Red faction, Colonel Kazakov went to Murmansk in June of 1918 and from there, in August, to Archangel where he enlisted with the Slavo-British Allied Legion to fight for the White Russian faction against the Reds. He was given the rank of major in the Royal Air Force of Great Britain and appointed to command the air squadron of the legion, flying the rugged Sopwith Camel planes. Unfortunately, the British soon withdrew their support and as this vital assistance drained away, White Russian morale plummeted. On August 1, 1919, near Benezniky, Kazakov arranged an air show to cheer the troops. Sadly, he died in a plane crash in that very show. Officially, it was considered an accident, but many witnesses, such as the British flying ace Ira Jones, believed that Kazakov had crashed his plane deliberately, knowing that the counterrevolutionary cause was doomed and refusing to live on in a world in which his beloved Russian homeland was ruled by the hated Bolsheviks. Whatever the case, Russia had lost her most successful ace, one of the great pioneer fighter pilots of Russian history and a faithful soldier, loyal to the death to his Tsar and motherland.

Royal Profile: Basil the Embroidered

In hindsight most historians would agree that World War I was the conflict which determined whether monarchy or republicanism would dominate the 20th Century; whether the old dynastic empires would continue or if political ideologies would become the chief method of dividing the world. Had things gone differently then our world would certainly be considerably different, and one way we can glimpse this is by looking at the actions of the Central Powers on the Eastern Front, where Germany and Austria-Hungary were ultimately successful in defeating Imperial Russia and set about re-working the map of Eastern Europe. However, unlike that done by the Allies at Versailles, the remodeling done by Germany and Austria was to be very monarchist in nature, planning for a Kingdom of Finland, a "United Baltic Duchy" of Latvia and Estonia and a Kingdom of Lithuania all reigned over by minor German royals. There was also a short-lived Kingdom of Poland established which would likely have gone to Archduke Karl Stephan von Hapsburg. There was also talk about the possibility of establishing a Kingdom of Ukraine with the crown perhaps going to the Hapsburg Archduke Wilhelm von Austria-Toskana.

Many in the Ukraine had long been dissatisfied with Russian rule and a republican government was quickly declared after the Germans drove out the Russian armies. This was soon replaced by a new government under the rule of a pro-German "Hetman" who ruled as a sort of Cossack military dictator with a cabinet made up of mostly Russian monarchists. The Hetman therefore faced constant accusations of being both too greatly pro-German and pro-Russian. The attention of the Ukrainian monarchists focused mostly on the Archduke Wilhelm who was the third son of the possible Hapsburg King of Poland Archduke Karl Stefan. A graduate of the Maria Theresa Military Academy, he commanded the Ukrainian Legion in World War I, later given the more historical title, "the Ukrainian Sich Rifles". He was fluent in Ukrainian and very familiar with the culture, even taking the name Vasily Vyshyvaniy. His friends began calling him "Basil the Embroidered".

He gained a fairly considerable following and rumors began to abound that he would become the King of the Ukraine in 1918. However, he failed to gain the necessary support of the Germans who were, for the time being, sticking with the Hetman, Pavel Skoropadsky. Certainly, with his undeniable knowledge and love of the country there could have been no better candidate for Ukrainian king among all the royals of the German and Austrian Empires. In fact, talk of his elevation to the throne became so widespread that the Hetman began to worry about his political future, complaining to the German Ambassador and even German Kaiser Wilhelm II himself, demanding that the Hapsburg Archduke be removed from his country. The Kaiser looked into the matter, but the German Ambassador advised that it be best for "Basil the Embroidered" to stay where he was as a way to make sure the Hetman realized he could be replaced if his pro-Russian sentiments became too strong.

It is proof of his character that Archduke Wilhelm remained in the Ukraine even after the retreat of the Germans and continued to serve as a colonel in the Sich Rifles in the hopeless fight against the invading Russian Red Army. Later, a Polish-controlled directory took power but was itself soon overthrown by the Red Army forcing Basil and his men to retreat through Poland back to Germany. He based himself in Munich, setting up a headquarters for Ukrainians who wished to work to drive out the Russians and restore Ukrainian independence. By the early 1920's Basil had gained some financial backing as well as a diverse collection of Ukrainians, Baltic Germans, Cossacks, Poles and even a Romanov claimant to the throne of Russia, Prince Cyril Romanov. There was finally enough resources for Basil to order the formation of a Free Ukrainian army under a Polish-Russian general named Biskupski, even the famous General Erich Ludendorff associated with them on occasion in his on-going denunciations of Bolshevism and the Versailles Treaty.

Unfortunately, Basil came to discover that his supporters were not the sort he had hoped for. Most had their own agendas for advancement and impossibly grandiose dreams of an invasion of the Soviet Union and every other variety of ridiculous schemes. Time and resources were squandered on fantastic schemes rather than on more immediate, and most importantly, reasonably possible goals. It became clear that the causes of the Baltic, Ukraine and Russian monarchists were too diverse to form a well-working, coordinated group. Finally, the German government disbanded his force and after a Russo-German treaty was signed all enemies of the Soviet regime operating in Germany were to be suppressed. Basil lost his funding with General Ludendorff managing to have most of the funds diverted to the growing German Nazi Party.

After living for a time in Spain, Basil moved back to Austria where he kept in constant contact with the Ukrainian exiles and never ceased to work on their behalf, especially when the Red Army began a campaign of persecution in the country. Basil served on an international committee, formed at the request of the Greek-Catholic Episcopate for the Ukraine led by Andrei Sheptytsky. Prior and during World War II Basil was placed under tight surveillance by the Gestapo. When the Red Army re-conquered Eastern Europe Basil was taken and died sometime in the 1950's though the details remain a mystery. Some say he died in Kiev while Austrian POW's assert he was tortured and killed by the Communists. In any event, the last hope for an independent Ukrainian kingdom had died with him. Given all of the oppression, starvation and horrific murder the people of the Ukraine were subjected to after their initial liberation in World War I, we can only imagine how much more happy and peaceful the country could have been as a free monarchy with Allied support.

Russia's Would-Be Czarina Visits Ukraine

The Russian Monarchist's Blog has a story about the visit of the Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, heiress of the Romanov dynasty, to the Republic of the Ukraine where she was treated with all of the pomp and ceremony of a visiting head-of-state. See the post here.