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Between Liberalism and Democracy: Cossack-Themed Belles-Lettres in Vormärz Galicia
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 May 2018
Extract
At the turn of August and September of 1914, Galician Ukrainian volunteers formed the Legion of Ukrainian Sich Riflemen (Ukrains′ki Sichovi Stril′tsi or Ukrainische Sitschower Schützen) as a unit separate from the simultaneously created Polish Legions. Sich referred to the historical headquarters of the Zaporozhian Cossacks located on the Dnieper River. In photographs, however, the Sich Riflemen look like ordinary Austrian-Hungarian soldiers. There is nothing specifically “Cossack” about their appearance. In 1914, Sich simply stood for the military or paramilitary activity of young Ukrainian males. Every soldier in the Legion of Ukrainian Sich Riflemen was now, by definition, a Sich man, a Cossack. The Cossack characteristics suggested by the term “Sich” had become inextricably linked with alleged Ukrainian martial valor.
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Footnotes
In the first place, I need to thank Pieter Judson, who read and criticized all the consecutive versions of this article. I am also very grateful to Lucy Riall and Maciej Janowski for their comments, which helped me to clarify my focus at an early stage. Several other scholars dedicated their time and shared their thoughts with me: Mateusz Falkowski, Anna Grześkowiak-Krwawicz, Nicola Miller, Alexandra Ortolja-Baird, Oleksandr Polianichev, Johannes Remy, Ostap Sereda, Frank Sysyn, Larry Wolff, and Zofia Zielińska. Lastly, I would like to express my gratitude to Daniel Unowsky from the Austrian History Yearbook and the two anonymous reviewers. Of course, any inaccuracies and oversimplifications are my sole responsibility.
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