Lyzen Y. Peacekeeping missions during the Polish-Ukrainian war of 1918–1919.

The dissertation is devoted to a comprehensive research of activity of peacekeeping missions during the Polish-Ukrainian war of 1918–1919. Little-known aspects of the activities of various peacekeeping missions in Eastern Galicia and the international commission of Louis Botha in the lines of the Paris Peace Conference (hereinafter – PPC) were thoroughly studied. The main geopolitical factors that influenced the formation of the Entente’s politics towards Poland and the Western Ukrainian People’s Republic (hereinafter – WUPR) are analyzed. The origin and activity of the main diplomatic missions on the settlement of the Polish-Ukrainian military conflict of 1918–1919 are studied. Sources for writing a dissertation are divided into archival, periodicals, memoirs and memories of this period. Unpublished and published archival materials in Polish and Ukrainian archival institutions and periodicals in libraries and archives of Kyiv, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Krakow and Przemysl are analyzed. Ukrainian and foreign scientific literature is considered and its five main groups of historiographical sources are singled out. In particular, the content of general works, specialized research on peacekeeping missions, studying of the geopolitical interests of the Entente in the Galician region and diplomatic aspects of resolving the disputed Polish-Ukrainian territories are described. Methodological tools of the dissertation are revealed. The general scientific and special scientific research methods, the principles of scientific knowledge, which the dissertation adhered to when writing the scientific work, are characterized. Using scientific and theoretical methods of cognition, the work comprehensively highlights key aspects of the Entente’s military-diplomatic politics towards the WUPR and Poland. In particular, they managed to clarify a number of key facts about the first military-diplomatic missions of the Entente, studied the political views of members of the bloc, their attitude to the Polish-Ukrainian confrontation in Eastern Galicia and the future of disputed territories in the region. The dissertation states, after the first victims of the Polish-Ukrainian confrontation in Lviv, the first attempts at reconciliation took place. It was emphasized that in an attempt to stop the bloodshed, the parties to the conflict held talks on ending hostilities during the three weeks of fighting in the city. Briefly analyzed the emergence of the first unofficial Entente mission led by French Lieutenant Henri Willem and its impact on the negotiation process between Poles and Ukrainians in Lviv.