Tarashcha uprising

Tarashcha uprising [Таращанське повстання or Звенигородсько-Таращанське повстання; Tarashchanske povstannia or Zvenyhorodsko-Tarashchanske povstannia]. One of several insurrections against the German occupation and the Hetman government in Ukraine. The uprising broke out on 8 June 1918, when the peasants of 24 villages of Kryvets and Stryzhavka volosts took up arms. It spread quickly to the southern part of Tarashcha county. After routing the Hetman detachments at Yanyshivka (10 June) some 4,000 rebels took Tarashcha itself (12 June) and then almost the whole county. The Germans sent two infantry and one cavalry division to crush the uprising as well as a similar outbreak in the neighboring Zvenyhorodka region. On 20 June they captured Tarashcha, but the fighting continued until the end of July. The rebels were commanded by the soldiers V. Balias and F. Hrebenko and the sailor P. Hryhorenko. Besides Bolsheviks the leadership included left Ukrainian Social Revolutionaries (later Borotbists) led by M. Shynkar. The rebels demanded revolutionary rights and privileges, the restoration of the Central Rada, and the convening of a constituent assembly for Ukraine. The Zvenyhorodka uprising, begun by peasants, was supported by a kish of Free Cossacks led by L. Shevchenko.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 5 (1993).]