The dissertation is a complex academic research of political terror perpetrated by the military-political regimes of Kherson and Odesa provinces during 1918-1922. Based on the wide range of sources and academic research materials, the dissertation analyzes the prerequisites and consequences of various forms of political terror, committed by various military-political regimes in order to achieve their political and social goals. During the period of Odesa Soviet Republic, the Bolshevik leaders encouraged spontaneous chaotic terror. The most terrible consequences of terror were executions of innocent victims. The atmosphere of terror and class hatred towards “the exploiting classes” terrified all the strata of the population. In March-April 1918, the local authorities of the UPR did not have the capacity for coercion, not to mention terror, due to the lack of both full-fledged state security authorities and the philosophy of compliance with legal norms. On the other hand, in the Ukrainian State of Hetman P. Skoropadsky, the units of the State Guard actively fought against numerous threats to the state system, giving priority to countering Bolshevism, which posed the greatest danger. The second period of Bolshevik power in the Odesa region was marked by systematic political terror and the creation of OHNK and official proclamation of “red terror”. The investigated sources revealed the names of 270 victims, executed in OHNK dungeons. In August 1919 and in 1920-1922 the penal authorities of the Bolshevik power initiated terror against the participants of the uprising of German colonists. The evidence is provided by OHNK rulings, containing death penalty sentences or imprisonment in the concentration camp. During the Denikin regime, courts-martial became the embodiment of an “institutional” or “sanctioned” form of white terror, and the “hysterical” or “unauthorized” form of white terror was enacted by counterintelligence. At least 145 people fell victim to white terror between August 1919 and February 1920. Poor “class awareness” of Odesa proletariat became a serious obstacle for political Bolshevik dictatorship. The Odesa Social Democratic Party committee enjoyed the support of the major part of Odesa proletariat. The position of the Mensheviks contradicted the concepts of the Bolsheviks' ideas, leading to the repressions against this party. The Bolshevik party pursued the policy of ousting the bourgeoisie from politics and particularly from economic sphere. Extremely tough was the campaign of confiscating personal belongings from wealthy bourgeois households. The relations between the Bolsheviks and Ukrainian peasants were extremely antagonistic. The response of the authorities was the campaign against the so-called kurkuli (well-to-do farmers). The peasants were deprived of their land, cattle, agricultural tools and were forced to become members of collective farms. In 1920, Bolshevik started an openly hostile policy towards persons of Polish nationality, many of whom were hostile to this government as well. The manifestations of anti-Polish terror were the mandatory registration of all Poles and subjects of the Polish state, who were then put under surveillance, detention and arrest, hostage-taking, imprisonment in concentration camps, and executions as the most severe punishment. The end of 1920 – beginning of 1921 was marked by the strengthening of the peasants' protests, caused by the elimination of the well-to-do farmers and forced confiscation of harvest in order to satisfy the needs in food primarily in Moscow and Petrograd. To suppress the active and passive peasants' resistance the authorities started using regular military forces, which attacked and liquidated numerous rebellious detachments. The prospect of introducing fixed food tax and subsided protest movement in the second half of 1921 resulted in the cancellation of collective liability and imposition of individual liability of peasants. Implementation of the new forms of terror was exercised by mobile regional revolutionary tribunal. At the same time transition to food tax failed to eliminate violence towards the peasants, because they continued to organize resistance and avoid taxes. 1921 was the final year when the leaders of the national liberation movement in Ukraine and abroad undertook a desperate attempt to restore Ukrainian People's republic and overthrow the communist occupational regime. In 1921 in Odesa region, similarly to other regions, the network of underground anti-Bolshevik organizations continued its activities. The authorities called the network “Petlyura organizations” and tried to liquidate them, imposing arrests and punishing hundreds of people. It was a proof that “the builders of the new fair regime” realized that the young generation with their ideals of freedom and dignity presented the biggest threat for the communist power.
