title: Jonathan Edwards (theologian)

text: Edwards delivered the sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God", a classic of early American literature, during another revival in 1741, following George Whitefield's tour of the Thirteen Colonies. Edwards is well known for his many books, "The End for Which God Created the World", "The Life of David Brainerd", which inspired thousands of missionaries throughout the 19th century, and "Religious Affections", which many Calvinist Evangelicals still read today.


title: Jonathan Edwards (theologian)

text: Edwards died from a smallpox inoculation shortly after beginning the presidency at the College of New Jersey in Princeton.


title: Jonathan Edwards (theologian)

text: Jonathan Edwards was born on October 5, 1703, the only son of Timothy Edwards (1668–1759), a minister at East Windsor, Connecticut (modern-day South Windsor), who eked out his salary by tutoring boys for college. His mother, Esther Stoddard, daughter of Rev. Solomon Stoddard of Northampton, Massachusetts, seems to have been a woman of unusual mental gifts and independence of character. Jonathan, their only son, was the fifth of 11 children. Timothy Edwards held at least one person in enslavement in the Edwards' household, a black man named Ansars. Jonathan was trained for college by his father and elder sisters, all of whom received an excellent education. His sister Esther, the eldest, wrote a semi-humorous tract on the immateriality of the soul, which has often mistakenly attributed to Jonathan.


title: Jonathan Edwards (theologian)

text: He entered Yale College in 1716 at just under the age of 13. In the following year, he became acquainted with John Locke's "Essay Concerning Human Understanding", which influenced him profoundly. During his college studies, he kept notebooks labeled "The Mind," "Natural Science" (containing a discussion of the atomic theory), "The Scriptures" and "Miscellanies," had a grand plan for a work on natural and mental philosophy, and drew up rules for its composition.


title: Jonathan Edwards (theologian)

text: He was interested in natural history and, as a precocious 11-year-old, had observed and written an essay detailing the ballooning behavior of some spiders. Edwards edited this text later to match the burgeoning genre of scientific literature, and his "The Flying Spider" fit easily into the contemporary scholarship on spiders. Although he studied theology for two years after his graduation from Yale, Edwards continued to be interested in science. Although many European scientists and American clergymen found the implications of science pushing them towards deism, Edwards went the other way. He believed the natural world was evidence of God's masterful design. Throughout his life, Edwards often went into the woods as a favorite place to pray and worship in the beauty and solace of nature.


title: Jonathan Edwards (theologian)

text: Edwards was fascinated by the discoveries of Isaac Newton and other scientists of this time period. Before he was called to full-time ministry work in Northampton, he wrote on various topics in natural philosophy, including light and optics, in addition to spiders. While he worried about those of his contemporaries who seemed preoccupied by materialism and faith in reason alone, he considered the laws of nature to be derived from God and demonstrating his wisdom and care. Edwards's written sermons and theological treatises emphasize the beauty of God and the role of aesthetics in the spiritual life. He is thought to anticipate a 20th-century current of theological aesthetics, represented by figures such as Hans Urs von Balthasar.


title: Jonathan Edwards (theologian)

text: In 1722 to 1723, he was for eight months an un-ordained "supply" pastor (a clergyman employed to preach and minister in a church for a definite time, but not settled as a pastor) of a small Presbyterian church on William Street in New York City. The church invited him to remain, but he declined the call. After spending two months in study at home, in 1724–1726, he was one of the two tutors at Yale tasked with leading the college in the absence of a rector. Yale's previous rector, Timothy Cutler, lost his position when he defected to the Anglican Church. After two years, he had not been replaced.


title: Jonathan Edwards (theologian)

text: He partially recorded these years 1720 to 1726 in his diary and in his resolutions for his conduct which he drew up at this time. He had long been an eager seeker after salvation and was not fully satisfied as to his own conversion until an experience in his last year in college, when he lost his feeling that the election of some to salvation and of others to eternal damnation was "a horrible doctrine," and reckoned it "exceedingly pleasant, bright and sweet." He now took a great and new joy in taking in the beauties of nature and delighted in the allegorical interpretation of the Song of Solomon. Balancing these mystic joys is the stern tone of his Resolutions, in which he is almost ascetic in his eagerness to live earnestly and soberly, to waste no time, to maintain the strictest temperance in eating and drinking.


title: Jonathan Edwards (theologian)

text: On February 15, 1727, Edwards was ordained minister at Northampton and assistant to his grandfather Solomon Stoddard, a noted minister. He was a scholar-pastor, not a visiting pastor, his rule being 13 hours of study a day.


title: Jonathan Edwards (theologian)

text: In the same year, he married Sarah Pierpont. Then 17, Sarah was from a notable New England clerical family: her father was James Pierpont (1659–1714), a founder of Yale College; and her mother was the granddaughter of Thomas Hooker. Sarah's spiritual devotion was without peer, and her relationship with God had long proved an inspiration to Edwards. He first remarked on her great piety when she was 13 years old. She was of a bright and cheerful disposition, a practical housekeeper, a model wife, and the mother of his 11 children, who included Esther Edwards. Edwards held to complementarian views of marriage and gender roles.


title: Jonathan Edwards (theologian)

text: Solomon Stoddard died on February 11, 1729, leaving to his grandson the difficult task of the sole ministerial charge of one of the largest and wealthiest congregations in the colony. Its members were proud of its morality, its culture and its reputation.


title: Jonathan Edwards (theologian)

text: Summing up Edwards' influences during his younger years, scholar John E. Smith writes, "By thus meditating between Berkeley on the one hand and Locke, Descartes, and Hobbes on the other, the young Edwards hoped to rescue Christianity from the deadweight of rationalism and the paralyzing inertia of skepticism."


title: Jonathan Edwards (theologian)

text: On July 8, 1731, Edwards preached in Boston the "Public Lecture" afterwards published under the title "God Glorified in the Work of Redemption, by the Greatness of Man's Dependence upon Him, in the Whole of It," which was his first public attack on Arminianism. The emphasis of the lecture was on God's absolute sovereignty in the work of salvation: that while it behooved God to create man pure and without sin, it was of his "good pleasure" and "mere and arbitrary grace" for him to grant any person the faith necessary to incline him or her toward holiness, and that God might deny this grace without any disparagement to any of his character. In 1733, a Protestant revival began in Northampton and reached such an intensity in the winter of 1734 and the following spring, that it threatened the business of the town. In six months, nearly 300 of 1100 youths were admitted to the church.


title: Jonathan Edwards (theologian)

text: The revival gave Edwards an opportunity to study the process of conversion in all its phases and varieties, and he recorded his observations with psychological minuteness and discrimination in "A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God in the Conversion of Many Hundred Souls in Northampton" (1737). A year later, he published "Discourses on Various Important Subjects", the five sermons which had proved most effective in the revival. Of these, none was so immediately effective as that on the "Justice of God in the Damnation of Sinners", from the text, "That every mouth may be stopped." Another sermon, published in 1734, "A Divine and Supernatural Light, Immediately Imparted to the Soul by the Spirit of God", set forth what he regarded as the inner, moving principle of the revival, the doctrine of a special grace in the immediate, and supernatural divine illumination of the soul.


title: Jonathan Edwards (theologian)

text: By 1735, the revival had spread and popped up independently across the Connecticut River Valley, and perhaps as far as New Jersey. However, criticism of the revival began, and many New Englanders feared that Edwards had led his flock into fanaticism. Over the summer of 1735, religious fervor took a dark turn. A number of New Englanders were shaken by the revivals but not converted, and became convinced of their inexorable damnation. Edwards wrote that "multitudes" felt urged—presumably by Satan—to take their own lives. At least two people committed suicide in the depths of their spiritual distress, one from Edwards's own congregation—his uncle Joseph Hawley II. It is not known if any others took their own lives, but the "suicide craze" effectively ended the first wave of revival, except in some parts of Connecticut.


title: Jonathan Edwards (theologian)

text: Despite these setbacks and the cooling of religious fervor, word of the Northampton revival and Edwards's leadership role had spread as far as England and Scotland. It was at this time that Edwards became acquainted with George Whitefield, who was traveling the Thirteen Colonies on a revival tour in 1739–40. The two men may not have seen eye to eye on every detail. Whitefield was far more comfortable with the strongly emotional elements of revival than Edwards was, but they were both passionate about preaching the Gospel. They worked together to orchestrate Whitefield's trip, first through Boston and then to Northampton. When Whitefield preached at Edwards's church in Northampton, he reminded them of the revival they had undergone just a few years before. This deeply touched Edwards, who wept throughout the entire service, and much of the congregation too was moved.


title: Jonathan Edwards (theologian)

text: The movement met with opposition from conservative Congregationalist ministers. In 1741, Edwards published in the defense of revivals "The Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God", dealing particularly with the phenomena most criticized: the swoonings, outcries, and convulsions. These "bodily effects," he insisted, were not distinguishing marks of the work of the Spirit of God one way or another. So bitter was the feeling against the revival in some churches, that in 1742, he felt moved to write a second apology, "Thoughts on the Revival in New England," where his main argument concerned the great moral improvement of the country. In the same pamphlet, he defends an appeal to the emotions, and advocates preaching terror when necessary, even to children, who in God's sight "are young vipers... if not Christ's."


title: Jonathan Edwards (theologian)

text: He considered "bodily effects" incidental to the real work of God. But his own mystic devotion and the experiences of his wife during the Awakening (which he recounts in detail) make him think that the divine visitation usually overpowers the body, a view in support of which he quotes Scripture. In reply to Edwards, Charles Chauncy wrote "Seasonable Thoughts on the State of Religion in New England" in 1743 and anonymously penned "The Late Religious Commotions in New England Considered" in the same year. In these works, he urged conduct as the sole test of conversion. The general convention of Congregational ministers in the Province of Massachusetts Bay seemed to agree, protesting "against disorders in practice which have of late obtained in various parts of the land." In spite of Edwards's able pamphlet, the impression had become widespread that "bodily effects" were recognized by the promoters of the Great Awakening as the true tests of conversion.


title: Jonathan Edwards (theologian)

text: To offset this feeling, during the years 1742 and 1743, Edwards preached at Northampton a series of sermons published under the title of "Religious Affections" (1746), a restatement in a more philosophical and general tone of his ideas as to "distinguishing marks." In 1747, he joined the movement started in Scotland called the "concert in prayer," and in the same year published "An Humble Attempt to Promote Explicit Agreement and Visible Union of God's People in Extraordinary Prayer for the Revival of Religion and the Advancement of Christ's Kingdom on Earth". In 1749, he published a memoir of David Brainerd, who had lived with his family for several months and had died at Northampton in 1747. Brainerd had been constantly attended by Edwards's daughter Jerusha, to whom he was rumored to have been engaged to be married, though there is no surviving evidence of this. In the course of elaborating his theories of conversion, Edwards used Brainerd and his ministry as a case study, making extensive notes of his conversions and confessions.


title: Jonathan Edwards (theologian)

text: Edwards owned as slaves several black children and adults during his lifetime, including a young teenager named Venus who was kidnapped in Africa and whom he purchased in 1731, a boy named Titus, and a woman named Leah. In a 1741 pamphlet, Edwards defended enslaving people who were debtors, war captives, or were born enslaved in North America, but rejected the trans-Atlantic slave trade.


title: Jonathan Edwards (theologian)

text: After being dismissed from the pastorate, he ministered to a tribe of Mohicans in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. In 1748, there had come a crisis in his relations with his congregation. The Half-Way Covenant, adopted by the synods of 1657 and 1662, had made baptism alone the condition to the civil privileges of church membership, but not of participation in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Edwards's grandfather and predecessor in the pastorate, Solomon Stoddard, had been even more liberal, holding that the Supper was a converting ordinance and that baptism was a sufficient title to all the privileges of the church.


title: Jonathan Edwards (theologian)

text: As early as 1744, Edwards, in his sermons on Religious Affections, had plainly intimated his dislike of this practice. In the same year, he had published in a church meeting the names of certain young people, members of the church, who were suspected of reading improper books, and also the names of those who were to be called as witnesses in the case. It has often been reported that the witnesses and accused were not distinguished on this list, and so the entire congregation was in an uproar. However, Patricia Tracy's research has cast doubt on this version of the events, noting that in the list he read from, the names were definitely distinguished. Those involved were eventually disciplined for disrespect to the investigators rather than for the original incident. In any case, the incident further deteriorated the relationship between Edwards and the congregation.


title: Jonathan Edwards (theologian)

text: Edwards's preaching became unpopular. For four years, no candidate presented himself for admission to the church, and when one eventually did, in 1748, he was met with Edwards's formal tests as expressed in the and later in . The candidate refused to submit to them, the church backed him, and the break between the church and Edwards was complete. Even permission to discuss his views in the pulpit was refused. He was allowed to present his views on Thursday afternoons. His sermons were well attended by visitors, but not his own congregation. A council was convened to decide the communion matter between the minister and his people. The congregation chose half the council, and Edwards was allowed to select the other half of the council. His congregation, however, limited his selection to one county where the majority of the ministers were against him. The ecclesiastical council voted by 10 to 9 that the pastoral relation be dissolved.


title: Jonathan Edwards (theologian)

text: The church members, by a vote of more than 200 to 23, ratified the action of the council, and finally a town meeting voted that Edwards should not be allowed to occupy the Northampton pulpit, though he continued to live in the town and preach in the church by the request of the congregation until October 1751. In his "Farewell Sermon" he preached from 2 Corinthians 1:14 and directed the thoughts of his people to that far future when the minister and his people would stand before God. In a letter to Scotland after his dismissal, he expresses his preference for Presbyterian to congregational polity. His position at the time was not unpopular throughout New England. His doctrine that the Lord's Supper is not a cause of regeneration and that communicants should be professing Protestants has since (largely through the efforts of his pupil Joseph Bellamy) become a standard of New England Congregationalism.


title: Jonathan Edwards (theologian)

text: Edwards was in high demand. A parish in Scotland could have been procured, and he was called to a Virginia church. He declined both, to become in 1751, pastor of the church in Stockbridge, Massachusetts and a missionary to the Housatonic Indians, taking over for the recently deceased John Sergeant. To the Indians, he preached through an interpreter, and their interests he boldly and successfully defended by attacking the whites who were using their official positions among them to increase their private fortunes. During this time he got to know Judge Joseph Dwight who was Trustee of the Indian Schools. In Stockbridge, he wrote the "Humble Relation", also called "Reply to Williams" (1752), which was an answer to Solomon Williams (1700–76), a relative and a bitter opponent of Edwards as to the qualifications for full communion. He there composed the treatises on which his reputation as a philosophical theologian chiefly rests, the essay on Original Sin, the "Dissertation Concerning the Nature of True Virtue", the "Dissertation Concerning the End for which God created the World", and the great work on the "Will", written in four and a half months, and published in 1754 under the title, "An Inquiry into the Modern Prevailing Notions Respecting that Freedom of the Will which is supposed to be Essential to Moral Agency".


title: Jonathan Edwards (theologian)

text: Aaron Burr, Sr., Edwards' son-in-law, died in 1757 (he had married Esther Edwards five years before, and they had made Edwards the grandfather of Aaron Burr, later U.S. vice president). Edwards felt himself in "the decline of life", and inadequate to the office, but was persuaded to replace Burr as president of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University). He arrived in January, 1758 and was installed on February 16, 1758. He gave weekly essay assignments in theology to the senior class.


title: Jonathan Edwards (theologian)

text: Almost immediately after becoming president of the College of New Jersey, Edwards, a strong supporter of smallpox inoculations, decided to get inoculated himself in order to encourage others to do the same. Never having been in robust health, he died as a result of the inoculation on March 22, 1758. Edwards left behind eleven children (three sons and eight daughters).


title: Jonathan Edwards (theologian)

text: The grave of Edwards is located in Princeton Cemetery. Written in Latin, the long emotional epitaph inscription on the horizontal gravestone eulogizes his life and career and laments the great loss of his passing. It draws from the classical tradition in extolling the virtues of the deceased and directly inviting the passerby to pause and mourn.


title: Jonathan Edwards (theologian)

text: The followers of Jonathan Edwards and his disciples came to be known as the New Light Calvinist ministers, as opposed to the traditional Old Light Calvinist ministers. Prominent disciples included the New Divinity school's Samuel Hopkins, Joseph Bellamy and Jonathan Edwards's son Jonathan Edwards Jr., and Gideon Hawley. Through a practice of apprentice ministers living in the homes of older ministers, they eventually filled a large number of pastorates in the New England area. Many of Jonathan and Sarah Edwards's descendants became prominent citizens in the United States, including the third U.S. vice president Aaron Burr and the College Presidents Timothy Dwight, Jonathan Edwards Jr. and Merrill Edwards Gates. Jonathan and Sarah Edwards were also ancestors of Edith Roosevelt, the writer O. Henry, the publisher Frank Nelson Doubleday and the writer Robert Lowell.


title: Jonathan Edwards (theologian)

text: Edwards's writings and beliefs continue to influence individuals and groups to this day. Early American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions missionaries were influenced by Edwards's writings, as is evidenced in reports in the ABCFM's journal "The Missionary Herald," and beginning with Perry Miller's seminal work, Edwards enjoyed a renaissance among scholars after the end of the Second World War. The Banner of Truth Trust and other publishers continue to reprint Edwards's works, and most of his major works are now available through the series published by Yale University Press, which has spanned three decades and supplies critical introductions by the editor of each volume. Yale has also established the Jonathan Edwards Project online. Author and teacher, Elisabeth Woodbridge Morris, memorialized him, her paternal ancestor (3rd great grandfather) in two books," The Jonathan Papers" (1912), and "More Jonathan Papers" (1915). In 1933, he became the namesake of Jonathan Edwards College, the first of the 12 residential colleges of Yale, and The Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University was founded to provide scholarly information about Edwards' writings. Edwards is remembered today as a teacher and missionary by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on March 22. The contemporary poet Susan Howe frequently describes the composition of Edwards' manuscripts and notebooks held at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library in a number of her books of poetry and prose, including and . She notes how some of Edwards' notebooks were hand sewn from silk paper that his sisters and wife used for making fans. Howe also argues in "My Emily Dickinson" that Emily Dickinson was formatively influenced by Edwards's writings, and that she "took both his legend and his learning, tore them free from his own humorlessness and the dead weight of doctrinaire Calvinism, then applied the freshness of his perception to the dead weight of American poetry as she knew it."


title: Jonathan Edwards (theologian)

text: The eminence of many descendants of Edwards led some Progressive Era scholars to view him as proof of eugenics. His descendants have had a disproportionate effect upon American culture: his biographer George Marsden notes that "the Edwards family produced scores of clergymen, thirteen presidents of higher learning, sixty-five professors, and many other persons of notable achievements."


title: Jonathan Edwards (theologian)

text: The Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University holds the majority of Edwards' surviving manuscripts, including over one thousand sermons, notebooks, correspondence, printed materials, and artifacts. Two of Edwards' manuscript sermons and other related historical texts are held by The Presbyterian Historical Society in Philadelphia.


title: Jonathan Edwards (theologian)

text: The entire corpus of Edwards' works, including previously unpublished works, is available online through the Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University website. The Works of Jonathan Edwards project at Yale has been bringing out scholarly editions of Edwards based on fresh transcriptions of his manuscripts since the 1950s; there are 26 volumes so far. Many of Edwards' works have been regularly reprinted. Some of the major works include:


title: Jonathan Edwards (theologian)

text: The text of many of Edwards's sermons have been preserved, some are still published and read today among general anthologies of American literature. Among his more well-known sermons are:


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: The Polish–Ukrainian War, from November 1918 to July 1919, was a conflict between the Second Polish Republic and Ukrainian forces (both the West Ukrainian People's Republic and Ukrainian People's Republic). The conflict had its roots in ethnic, cultural and political differences between the Polish and Ukrainian populations living in the region, as Poland and both Ukrainian republics were successor states to the dissolved Russian and Austrian empires. The war started in Eastern Galicia after the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and spilled over into Chełm Land and Volhynia (Wołyń) regions formerly belonging to the Russian Empire, which were both claimed by the Ukrainian State (a client state of the German Empire) and the Ukrainian People's Republic. Poland re-occupied the disputed territory on 18 July 1919.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: The origins of the conflict lie in the complex nationality situation in Galicia at the turn of the 20th century. As a result of the House of Habsburg's relative leniency toward national minorities, Austria-Hungary was the perfect ground for the development of both Polish and Ukrainian national movements. During the 1848 Revolution, the Austrians, concerned by Polish demands for greater autonomy within the province, gave support to a small group of Ruthenians, the name of the East Slavic people that later adopted the self-identification of "Ukrainians" or "Rusyns"; their goal was to be recognized as a distinct nationality.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: Schools teaching Ruthenian language were established, Ruthenian political parties formed and attempts were begun to develop their national culture. That came as a surprise to some Poles who had believed, until the revolution, along with most politically-aware Ruthenians, that Ruthenians were part of the Polish nation, which was then defined in political, rather than ethnographic, terms. In the late 1890s and the first decades of the next century, the populist Ruthenian intelligentsia adopted the term Ukrainians to describe their nationality. They endeavored to promote a national culture, including efforts toward standardization of the Ukrainian language, and the establishment and support of Ukrainian cultural institutions such as scientific societies, theater, and a national museum in Lviv; beginning in the early 20th century, a national consciousness developed among the broader Ruthenian population, which was mainly rural.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: Multiple incidents between the two nations occurred throughout the late 19th century and the early 20th century. For example, the Polish administration opposed the Ukrainians in parliamentary elections in 1897. Another conflict developed in 1901 to 1908 around Lviv University since Ukrainian students demanded a separate Ukrainian university, but Polish students and faculty attempted to suppress the movement. In 1903, both Poles and Ukrainians held separate conferences in Lviv: the Poles in May and Ukrainians in August. Afterwards, the two national movements developed with contradictory goals, which was a cause of the later clash.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: The ethnic composition of Galicia underlay the conflict between the Poles and Ukrainians there. The Austrian province of Galicia consisted of Ruthenian Voivodeship territory that was part of Poland from 1434, and was seized by Austria in 1772, during the First Partition of Poland. The land included the territory of historical importance to Poland, including the ancient capital of Kraków, and had a majority Polish population, but the east Galicia included the heartland of the historic territory of Galicia-Volhynia and had a Ukrainian majority. In eastern Galicia, Ukrainians made up approximately 65% of the population, and Poles made up only 22% of the population.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: Of the 44 administrative divisions of Austrian eastern Galicia, Lviv (, ), the largest city was the capital of the province, was the only one in which Poles made up a majority of the population. In Lviv, the population in 1910 was approximately 60% Polish and 17% Ukrainian. The city, with its Polish inhabitants, was considered by many Poles to have been one of Poland's cultural capitals. For many Poles, including those in Lviv population, it was unthinkable for their city not to be under Polish control.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: The religious and ethnic divisions corresponded to social stratification. Galicia's leading social class were Polish nobles or descendants of Rus' gentry who had been Polonized in the past, but in the east of the province, Ruthenians (Ukrainians) were the majority of the peasants. Poles and Jews were responsible for most of the commercial and industrial development in Galicia in the late 19th century.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: Throughout the 19th and the early 20th centuries, the local Ukrainians attempted to persuade the Austrians to divide Galicia into Western (Polish) and Eastern (Ukrainian) provinces. These efforts were resisted and thwarted by those local Poles, who feared losing control of Lviv and East Galicia. The Austrians eventually agreed in principle to divide the province of Galicia. In October 1916, Emperor Karl I promised to do so once the war had ended.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: Due to the intervention of Archduke Wilhelm of Austria, who adopted a Ukrainian identity and considered himself a Ukrainian patriot, in October 1918 two regiments of mostly Ukrainian troops were garrisoned in Lemberg (modern Lviv). As the Austro-Hungarian government collapsed, on October 18, 1918, the Ukrainian National Council ("Rada"), consisting of Ukrainian members of the Austrian parliament and regional Galician and Bukovynan diets as well as leaders of Ukrainian political parties, was formed. The council announced the intention to unite the West Ukrainian lands into a single state. As the Poles were taking their own steps to take over Lviv and Eastern Galicia, Captain Dmytro Vitovsky of the Sich Riflemen led the group of young Ukrainian officers in a decisive action and during the night of October 31 – November 1, the Ukrainian military units, consisting of 1,400 soldiers and 60 officers, took control over Lviv. The West Ukrainian People's Republic was proclaimed on November 13, 1918, with Lviv as its capital.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: The timing of proclamation of the Republic caught the Polish ethnic population and administration by surprise. The new Ukrainian Republic claimed sovereignty over Eastern Galicia, including the Carpathians up to the city of Nowy Sącz in the West, as well as Volhynia, Carpathian Ruthenia and Bukovina (the last two territories were also claimed by Hungary and Romania respectively). Although, the majority of the population of the Western-Ukrainian People's Republic were Ukrainians, many urban settlements had Polish majorities. In Lviv, the Ukrainian residents enthusiastically supported the proclamation. The city's significant Jewish minority accepted or remained neutral towards the Ukrainian proclamation, while the city's Polish majority was shocked to find themselves in a proclaimed Ukrainian state. Since the West Ukrainian People's Republic was not internationally recognized and Poland's boundaries had not yet been defined, the issue of ownership of the disputed territory was reduced to a question of military control.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: Fighting between Ukrainian and Polish forces was concentrated around the declared Ukrainian capital of Lviv and the approaches to that city. In Lviv, the Ukrainian forces were opposed by local self-defence units formed mostly of World War I veterans, students and children. However, skillful command, good tactics and high morale allowed Poles to resist the badly planned Ukrainian attacks. In addition, the Poles were able to skillfully buy time and wait for reinforcements through the arrangement of cease-fires with the Ukrainians. While Poles could count on widespread support from the civilian population, the Ukrainian side was largely dependent on help from outside the city. Other uprisings against Ukrainian rule erupted in Drohobych, Przemyśl, Sambir and Jarosław. In Przemyśl, local Ukrainian soldiers quickly dispersed to their homes and Poles seized the bridges over the River San and the railroad to Lviv, enabling the Polish forces in that city to obtain significant reinforcements.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: After two weeks of heavy fighting within Lviv, an armed unit under the command of Lt. Colonel Michał Karaszewicz-Tokarzewski of the renascent Polish Army broke through the Ukrainian siege on November 21 and arrived in the city. The Ukrainians were repelled. Immediately after capturing the city, some in the local Jewish militia attacked Polish troops, while at the same time elements of the Polish forces as well as common criminals looted the Jewish and Ukrainian quarters of the city, killing approximately 340 civilians. The Poles also interned a number of Ukrainian activists in detention camps. The Ukrainian government provided financial assistance to the Jewish victims of the violence and were able to recruit a Jewish battalion into their army. Some factions blame these atrocities on the Blue Army of General Haller. This is unlikely as this French-trained and supported fighting force did not leave France and the Western Front until April 1919, well after the rioting.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: On November 9 Polish forces attempted to seize the Drohobych oil fields by surprise, but, outnumbered by the Ukrainians, they were driven back. The Ukrainians retained control over the oil fields until May 1919.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: On 6 November, a new Ukrainian polity was proclaimed in the Northern half of the region of Bukovina: Ukrainian Bukovina under President Omelian Popovych. The new state had its capital at Chernivtsi. It was dissolved on 11 November, when the Romanian Army occupied Chernivtsi. The Ukrainian administration and its military support retreated from the city the day before.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: By the end of November 1918, Polish forces controlled Lviv and the railroad linking Lviv to central Poland through Przemyśl, while Ukrainians controlled the rest of Eastern Galicia east of the river San, including the areas south and north of the railroad into Lviv. Thus, the Polish-controlled city of Lviv (Lwów) faced Ukrainian forces on three sides.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: Immediately after the collapse of Austria-Hungary, Polish forces had captured the Kholm (Polish: "Chełm") area; shortly thereafter the Austrian commandants in southwestern Volhynia (Volodymyr-Volynskyi and Kovel) handed over the government to the local Polish national committees. In November–December 1918, the Poles also advanced into Podlachia and Western Polesia, but were stopped in western Volhynia by the troops of gen. M. Osetsky.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: As Polish units tried to seize control of the region, the forces of the Ukrainian People's Republic under Symon Petlura tried to recover the territory of Kholm Governorate already controlled by the Polish troops.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: According to Richard Pipes, the first major pogrom in this region took place in January 1919 in the town of Ovruch, where Jews were robbed and killed by regiments of Kozyr-Zyrka affiliated with Symon Petlura's government. Nicolas Werth claims that armed units of the Ukrainian People's Republic were also responsible for rapes, looting, and massacres in Zhytomir, in which 500–700 Jews lost their lives.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: After two months of heavy fighting the conflict was resolved in March 1919 by fresh and well-equipped Polish units under General Edward Rydz-Śmigły.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: Thanks to fast and effective mobilization in December 1918, the Ukrainians possessed a large numerical advantage until February 1919 and pushed the Poles into defensive positions. According to an American report from the period of January 13 – February 1, 1919, Ukrainians eventually managed to surround Lviv on three sides. The city's inhabitants were deprived of water supply and electricity. Ukrainian army also held villages on both sidelines of the railway leading to Przemyśl.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: Ukrainian forces continued to control most of eastern Galicia and were a threat to Lviv itself until May 1919. During this time, according to Italian and Polish reports, Ukrainian forces enjoyed high morale (an Italian observer behind Galician lines stated that the Ukrainians were fighting with the "courage of the doomed") while many of the Polish soldiers, particularly from what had been Congress Poland, wanted to return home because they saw no reason to fight against Ruthenians over Ruthenian lands; the Polish forces were outnumbered by two to one and lacked ammunition. Despite being initially outnumbered, the Poles had certain advantages. Their forces had many more and better-trained officers resulting in a better disciplined and more mobile force; the Poles also enjoyed excellent intelligence and, due to their control of railroads behind their lines, were able to move their soldiers quite quickly. As a result, although the Poles had fewer total troops than did the Ukrainians, in particularly important battles they were able to bring in as many soldiers as did the Ukrainians.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: On December 9, 1918, Ukrainian forces broke through the outer defences of Przemyśl in the hope of capturing the city and thus cutting off Polish-controlled Lviv from central Poland. However, the Poles were able to quickly send relief troops and by December 17 the Ukrainians were forced back. On December 27, bolstered by peasant troops sent to Galicia from Eastern Ukraine in the hopes that the Western Ukrainians would be able to form a disciplined force out of them, a general Ukrainian offensive against Lviv began. Lviv's defences held, and the eastern Ukrainian troops mutinied.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: From January 6-January 11, 1919 a Polish attack by 5,000 newly recruited forces from formerly Russian Poland commanded by Jan Romer was repulsed by Western Ukrainian forces near Rava-Ruska, north of Lviv. Only a small number of troops together with Romer were able to break through to Lviv after suffering heavy losses. Between January 11 and January 13, Polish forces attempted to dislodge Ukrainian troops besieging Lviv from the south while at the same time Ukrainian troops attempted another general assault on Lviv. Both efforts failed. In February 1919, Polish troops attempting to capture Sambir were defeated by the Ukrainian defenders with heavy losses, although the poor mobility of the Ukrainian troops prevented them from taking advantage of this victory.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: On February 14, Ukrainian forces began another assault on Lviv. By February 20, they were able to successfully cut off the rail links between Lviv and Przemysl, leaving Lviv surrounded and the Ukrainian forces in a good position to take the city. However, a French-led mission from the Entente arrived at the Ukrainian headquarters on February 22 and demanded that the Ukrainian cease hostilities under threat of breaking all diplomatic ties between the Entente and the Ukrainian government. On February 25 the Ukrainian military suspended its offensive. The Barthélemy mission proposed a demarcation line (February 28) leaving almost 70% of the East Galician territory to Ukrainians, and Lviv with oil fields to Poland. The Ukrainians would be supplied with half of the oil production. The proposal was accepted by the Poles. The Allied demands, which included the loss of significant amount of Ukrainian-held and inhabited territory, were however deemed to excessively favor the Poles by the Ukrainians, who resumed their offensive on March 4. On March 5 Ukrainian artillery blew up the Polish forces' ammunition dump in Lviv; the resultant explosion caused a panic among Polish forces. The Ukrainians, however, failed to take advantage of this. During the time of the cease-fire, the Poles had been able to organize a relief force of 8,000–10,000 troops which by March 12 reached Przemyśl and by March 18 had driven the Ukrainian forces from the Lviv-Przemyśl railroad, permanently securing Lviv.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: On January 6–11 of 1919 a small part of the Ukrainian Galician Army invaded Transcarpathia to spread pro-Ukrainian sentiments among residents (the region was occupied by Hungarians and Czechoslovaks). Ukrainian troops fought with Czechoslovak and Hungarian local police. They succeeded in capturing some Hungarian-controlled Ukrainian settlements. After some clashes with Czechoslovaks, the Ukrainians retreated because Czechoslovakia (instead of Ukrainian People's Republic) was the only country that traded with the Western Ukrainian People's Republic and that supported it politically. Further conflict with the Czechoslovak authorities would have led to the complete economical and political isolation of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: On May 14, 1919, a Polish general offensive began throughout Volhynia and Eastern Galicia. It was carried out by units of the Polish Army, aided by the newly arrived Blue Army of General Józef Haller de Hallenburg. This army, composed of Polish forces which had fought for the Entente on the Western front, numbering 60,000 troops, was well equipped by the Western Allies and partially staffed with experienced French officers specifically to fight the Bolsheviks and not the forces of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic. Despite this, the Poles dispatched Haller's army against the Ukrainians in order to break the stalemate in eastern Galicia. The Allies sent several telegrams ordering the Poles to halt their offensive, as using the French-equipped army against the Ukrainians specifically contradicted the conditions of the French assistance, but these were ignored, with the Polish side arguing that the Ukrainians were Bolshevik sympathizers. At the same time, on May 23, Romania opened a second front against Ukrainian forces, demanding their withdrawal from the southern sections of eastern Galicia, including the temporary capital of Stanislaviv. This resulted in a loss of territory, ammunition and further isolation from the outside world.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: The Ukrainian lines were broken, mostly due to the withdrawal of the elite Sich Riflemen. On May 27 the Polish forces reached the Złota Lipa–Berezhany--Radziwiłłów line. The Polish advance was accompanied by a large wave of anti-Jewish violence and looting by disorganized Polish mobs, as in Lviv in 1918, and by Polish military units operating against the orders of their officers, in particular, those of the Poznań regiments and Haller's army. Following the demands of the Entente, the Polish offensive was halted and Haller's troops assumed defensive positions.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: On June 8, 1919, the Ukrainian forces under the new command of Oleksander Hrekov, a former general in the Russian army, started a counter-offensive, and after three weeks advanced to Hnyla Lypa and the upper Stryi river, defeating five Polish divisions. Although the Polish forces had been forced to withdraw, they were able to prevent their forces from collapsing and avoided being encircled and captured. Thus, in spite of their victories, the Ukrainian forces were unable to obtain significant amounts of arms and ammunition. By June 27 the Ukrainian forces had advanced 120 km. along the Dnister river and on another they had advanced 150 km, past the town of Brody. They came to within two days' march of Lviv.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: The successful Chortkiv offensive halted primarily because of a lack of arms – there were only 5–10 bullets for each Ukrainian soldier. The West Ukrainian government controlled the Drohobych oil fields with which it planned to purchase arms for the struggle, but for political and diplomatic reasons weapons and ammunition could only be sent to Ukraine through Czechoslovakia. Although the Ukrainian forces managed to push the Poles back approximately 120–150 km. they failed to secure a route to Czechoslovakia. This meant that they were unable to replenish their supply of arms and ammunition, and the resulting lack of supplies forced Hrekov to end his campaign.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: Józef Piłsudski assumed the command of the Polish forces on June 27 and started yet another offensive, helped by two fresh Polish divisions. On June 28, the Polish offensive began. Short of ammunition and facing an enemy now twice its size, the Ukrainian Galician Army and ZUNR leadership were pushed back to the line of the Zbruch river on 16–18 July, after which ZUNR was occupied by Poland. Although the Ukrainian infantry had run out of ammunition, its artillery had not. This provided the Ukrainian forces with cover for an orderly retreat. Approximately 100,000 civilian refugees and 60,000 troops, 20,000 of whom were combat ready, were able to escape across the Zbruch River into Central Ukraine.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: The Polish and Ukrainian forces struggled on the diplomatic as well as military fronts both during and after the war. The Ukrainians hoped that the western allies of World War I would support their cause because the Treaty of Versailles that ended the first world war was based on the principle of national self-determination. Accordingly, the diplomats of the West Ukrainian People's Republic hoped that the West would compel Poland to withdraw from territories with a Ukrainian demographic majority.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: Opinion among the allies was divided. Britain, under the leadership of prime minister David Lloyd George, and to a lesser extent Italy were opposed to Polish expansion. Their representatives maintained that granting the territory of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic to Poland would violate the principle of national self-determination and that hostile national minorities would undermine the Polish state. In reality, the British policy was dictated by unwillingness to harm Russian interests in the region and alienate the future Russian state through preventing possible union of Eastern Galicia with Russia. In addition, Britain was interested in Western Ukraine's oil fields. Czechoslovakia, itself involved in a conflict with Poland, was friendly towards the Ukrainian government and sold it weapons in exchange for oil. France, on the other hand, strongly supported Poland in the conflict. The French hoped that a large, powerful Polish state would serve as a counterbalance to Germany and would isolate Germany from Soviet Russia. French diplomats consistently supported Polish claims to territories also claimed by Germany, Lithuania and Ukraine. France also provided large numbers of arms and ammunition, and French officers, most notably General Haller's forces, to Polish forces that were used against the western Ukrainian military, much to the horror of Lloyd George and President Wilson.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: During the winter of 1918–1919, a diplomatic offensive by the Polish government tried to tilt the opinions of the Allies in favor of fully backing the Polish cause and to counter German disinformation campaign, which aimed to weaken French, British and American support of the new Polish state. Government officials in Poland and abroad repeatedly raised the issue of a possible link between Germany and the West Ukrainian People's Republic, insisting that the Germans were financially supporting the West Ukrainian government and the Bolshevik revolution in Russia in order to sow a wave of political unrest and chaos in the region. However, the Ukrainians objected to such claims, arguing that the Poles only sought to portray the West Ukrainian People's Republic as pro-German and sympathetic to the Bolsheviks because of a successful defense put up by the Ukrainian Galician Army, which stalled the Polish military offensive.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: In attempt to end the war, in January 1919 an Allied commission led by a French general was sent to negotiate a peace treaty between the two sides, prompting a ceasefire. In February it recommended that the West Ukrainian People's Republic surrender a third of its territory, including the city of Lviv and the Drohobych oil fields. The Ukrainians refused, the truce did not correspond to ethnology of the country or the military situation and broke diplomatic ties with Poland. In mid-March 1919, the French marshal Ferdinand Foch, who wanted to use Poland as an operational base for an offensive against the Red Army, brought the issue of Polish–Ukrainian war before the Supreme Council and appealed for large-scale Polish-Romanian military operation which would be conducted with Allied support, as well as sending Haller's divisions to Poland immediately to relieve Lviv from Ukrainian siege.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: Another Allied commission, led by South African General Louis Botha, proposed an armistice in May that would involve the (West) Ukrainians keeping the Drohobych oil fields and the Poles keeping Lviv. The Ukrainian side agreed to this proposal but it was rejected by the Poles on the grounds that it didn't take into consideration the overall military situation of Poland and the circumstances on the eastern front. The Bolshevik army broke through the UNR forces and was advancing to Podolia and Volhynia. The Poles argued that they need military control over whole Eastern Galicia to secure the Russian front in its southern part and strengthen it by a junction with Romania. The Poles launched an attack soon afterward using a large force equipped by France (Haller's Army), which captured most of the territory of the West Ukrainian People's Republic. Urgent telegrams by the Western allies to halt this offensive were ignored. Czechoslovakia, which had inherited seven oil refineries from prewar Austrian times and which was dependent on its contracts for oil with the Ukrainian government, demanded that the Poles send the Czechoslovaks the oil that had been paid for to the Ukrainian government. The Poles refused, stating that the oil was paid for with ammunition that had been used against Polish soldiers. Although the Czechoslovaks did not retaliate, according to Polish reports the Czechoslovaks considered seizing the oil fields from the Poles and returning them to the Ukrainians who would honor their contracts.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: On June 25, 1919, the Allied Council legitimized Polish control over Eastern Galicia through the resolution that approved military occupation by Polish forces, including Haller's Army, up to the river Zbruch and authorized the Polish government to establish an interim civil administration, which would preserve as far as possible the territorial autonomy and liberties of the inhabitants. On November 21, 1919, the Highest Council of the Paris Peace Conference granted Eastern Galicia to Poland for a period of 25 years, after which a plebiscite was to be held there, and obliged the Polish government to give territorial autonomy to the region. This decision was suspended on 22 December 1919 and never implemented. On April 21, 1920, Józef Piłsudski and Symon Petliura signed an alliance, in which Poland promised the Ukrainian People's Republic the military help in the Kyiv Offensive against the Red Army in exchange for the acceptance of Polish–Ukrainian border on the river Zbruch.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: Following this agreement, the government of the West Ukrainian People's Republic went into exile in Vienna, where it enjoyed the support of various West Ukrainian political emigrees as well as soldiers of the Galician army interned in Bohemia. Although not officially recognized by any state as the government of West Ukraine, it engaged in diplomatic activity with the French and British governments in the hopes of obtaining a favourable settlement at Versailles. As a result of its efforts, the council of the League of Nations declared on February 23, 1921 that Galicia lay outside the territory of Poland and that Poland did not have the mandate to establish administrative control in that country and that Poland was merely the occupying military power of Galicia, the sovereign of which were the Allied Powers (pursuant to the Treaty of Saint-Germain signed with Austria in September 1919) and whose fate would be determined by the Council of Ambassadors at the League of Nations. The Council of Ambassadors in Paris stated on July 8, 1921, that so-called "West Ukrainian Government" of Yevhen Petrushevych did not constitute a government either de facto or de jure and did not have the right to represent any of the territories formerly belonging to the Austrian empire. After a long series of negotiations, on March 14, 1923, the Council of Ambassadors decided that Galicia would be incorporated into Poland "taking into consideration that Poland has recognized that in regard to the eastern part of Galicia ethnographic conditions fully deserve its autonomous status." After 1923, Galicia was internationally recognized as part of the Polish state. The government of the West Ukrainian People's Republic then disbanded, while Poland reneged on its promise of autonomy for Eastern Galicia.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: In at attempt to stop the war, a French general proposed a demarcation line, known as the , that was supposed to cease the fighting between the Polish and West Ukrainian army.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: In 1918, the Entente countries sought to form a common anti-Bolshevik front, which was to include the Polish, White Russian, Romanian and Ukrainian armies. The outbreak of Polish-Ukrainian hostilities in Lviv on 1 November thwarted these plans, so the Entente states began to press both the Poles and Galicians to seek a settlement and adopt the demarcation line proposed by the allied states.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: On 19 January 1919, by the order of General Franchet d'Esperey, a peacekeeping mission under the command of General Joseph Barthelemy arrived in Cracow. Initially, the mission familiarised itself with the Polish position, which opted for the Bug- line. It then travelled to Lviv, meeting with the Ukrainian delegation. The Ukrainians opted for the San line as a future demarcation line.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: In this situation, General Barthelemy presented his compromise proposal on 28 January 1919. The armistice line was to run along the Bug River to Kamionka Strumiłłowa, then along the border of the districts to Bóbrka, then along the Bóbrka-Wybranka railway line, westwards to Mikołajów (leaving Mikolajiv on the Ukrainian side), then along the railway line Lviv-Stryi to the border of the disputed territory in the Eastern Carpathians. The Stryi-Lavochne railway line was to remain in Ukrainian hands. This was to be a temporary line, until the matter was settled by the Paris Peace Conference.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: The Polish side accepted this solution, but the Ukrainian delegation insisted on the 'San line'. As a result of the Ukrainian disapproval, the Entente delegation made another attempt at mediation. This was carried out by the subcommittee set up on 15 February 1919 and headed by Joseph Noulens. The sub-commission consisted of General Joseph Barthelemy (France) as chairman, Colonel Adrian Carton de Wiart (UK), Dr Robert Howard Lord (United States) and Major Giovanni Stabile (Italy). The subcommittee presented a draft truce convention on 15 February 1919. The truce, along the Barthelemy Line, was to be purely military and not affect the decisions of the Paris Peace Conference in any way. An integral part of the convention was to be a supplementary treaty concerning the . It was to remain on the Polish side of the truce line under the management of an international commission, with 50% of oil production to be transferred to the Ukrainian side. Poland and WUNR were only to be able to record the volume of production and pay for oil supplies. The project secured Entente interests in the oil basin and was the first step towards its neutralisation. At the time of the proposal, the territory of the basin was under the control of the Ukrainian Galician Army. For the West Ukrainian government, the terms of the Armistice Convention were unfavourable; however, they offered a chance to compromise with Poland and obtain international recognition of the Ukrainian state by the Entente.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: The commission succeeded in getting the armistice treaty signed on 24 February 1919, and presented its proposals to the parties on 28 February, which was rejected by the West Ukrainian side. As a result of the failure to agree on the demarcation line, Polish-Ukrainian hostilities resumed on 2 March.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: Historian Christoph Mick states there was no systematic violence nor massacres of ethnic Poles by Ukrainians during the course of this war but that both sides blamed each other for bloodshed. When Ukrainian forces first captured Lviv they refused to take hostages, tolerated Polish recruitment centers and were even prepared to enter negotiations with the Polish side, but were met with armed resistance. Polish historians, however, describe numerous examples during which Ukrainian troops used terror to subdue Poles into compliance. Ukrainian authorities tried to intimidate Polish population in Lviv by sending soldiers and armed trucks into the streets and dispersed crowds that could turn to Polish demonstrations. Ukrainian soldiers patrolled the streets with firearms and machine guns aimed at pedestrians; Polish sources claim that the Ukrainians shot bystanders who were looking at them from windows or building entrances. while Ukrainians claimed Poles were shooting at their soldiers from windows and behind gateways. Polish fighters also often dressed in civilian clothing when shooting at Ukrainian soldiers. According to historian Christoph Mick, both Poles and Ukrainians engaged in a propaganda war with each side accusing the other of war crimes and brutality. During fights over Lviv, Polish nurses who assisted wounded soldiers were said to have been captured by Ukrainian forces and tortured before being executed, while Ukrainians sources claimed that Polish soldiers shot Ukrainian medical patrols and accused Poles of rape and bloodlust.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: When Poles captured Lviv, a mixed group of Polish criminals released from prisons, militiamen and some regular soldiers pillaged the Jewish and Ukrainian parts of the city, and abusing local civilians. According to historian Norman Davis the Poles killed approximately 340 civilians, 2/3 of them Ukrainians and the rest Jews. According to Christoph Mick, only Jews were killed during these events and Ukrainians, while subject to hostile acts, were not murdered.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: According to Polish historians, during the course of the war, Ukrainian forces conducted massacres against the Polish population in Sokoloniki where 500 buildings were burned down and circa 50 Poles killed. In Zamarstynow, a Ukrainian commander accused the Polish civilian population of supporting the Polish side and allowed for brutal house searchers by his troops in which civilians were beaten, robbed, murdered and raped. Ukrainian forces also murdered prisoners of war during these events. A day later, Polish troops executed a group of Ukrainian prisoners in retaliation. On 24 November 1919, the village of Bilka Szlachecka was attacked by Ukrainian forces, burned down and its civilian population massacred, with 45 civilians murdered and 22 wounded. In Chodaczkow Wielki, 4 Polish girls were murdered by Ukrainian soldiers and their bodies mutilated. A special Polish commission for investigation of these atrocities established that even more drastic events occurred, but refused to blame Ukrainian nation for them, putting the blame for them on small percentage of Ukrainian society, mainly soldiers, peasants and so called "half-intelligentsia", that is village teachers, officers and members of gendarmerie. The commission, which included representatives from Italy and France, established that in just three districts 90 murders were committed on civilians besides robberies. Numerous churches desecrated by Ukrainian forces as well. Nuns from three cloisters were raped and later murdered by being blown up by explosive grenades. They were cases of people being buried alive. The commission also noted however that several Ukrainian villagers have hidden Poles. The head of the commission, Zamorski recommended imprisonment of culprits of the atrocities, while establishing friendly relationship with Ukrainian population based on existing laws.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: Overall, although there is no evidence of government-controlled mass persecutions of civilians by either the Ukrainians or the Poles, given the paramilitary nature of the fighting atrocities were committed by soldiers or paramilitaries from both sides.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: Approximately 10,000 Poles and 15,000 Ukrainians, mostly soldiers, died during this war. Ukrainian POWs were kept in ex-Austrian POW camps in Dąbie (Kraków), Łańcut, Pikulice, Strzałków, and Wadowice.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: Both sides conducted mass arrests of civilians. By July 1919, as many as 25,000 Poles ended up in Ukrainian internment camps, in Zhovkva, Zolochiv, Mykulyntsi, Strusiv, Yazlovets, Kolomyya and Kosiv. Interned Polish civilians, soldiers and Catholic priests were held during the winter months in unheated barracks or railway cars with little food, many subsequently died from exposure to the cold, starvation and typhoid.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: After the war, in 1920–1921, over one hundred thousand people were placed in camps (often characterized as internment camps or sometimes as concentration camps) by the Polish government. In many cases, prisoners were denied food and medical attention, and some starved, died of disease or committed suicide. The victims included not only Ukrainian soldiers and officers but also priests, lawyers and doctors who had supported the Ukrainian cause. The death toll at these camps was estimated at 20,000 from diseases or 30,000 people.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: Following the war, the French, who had supported Poland diplomatically and militarily, obtained control over the eastern Galician oil fields under conditions that were very unfavorable to Poland.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: In the beginning of the Second World War, the area was annexed by the Soviet Union and attached to Ukraine, which at that time was a republic of the Soviet Union. According to the Yalta Conference decisions, while the Polish population of Eastern Galicia was resettled to Poland, the borders of which were shifted westwards, the region itself remained within Soviet Ukraine after the war and currently forms the westernmost part of now independent Ukraine.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: Although the 70 to 75 thousand men who fought in the Ukrainian Galician Army lost their war, and Galicia became Polish, the experience of proclaiming a Ukrainian state and fighting for it significantly intensified and deepened the nationalistic Ukrainian orientation within Galicia. Since the interwar era, Galicia has been the center of Ukrainian nationalism.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: According to a noted interwar Polish publicist, the Polish–Ukrainian War was the principal cause for the failure to establish a Ukrainian state in Kyiv in late 1918 and early 1919. During that critical time the Galician forces, large, well-disciplined and immune to Communist subversion, could have tilted the balance of power in favor of a Ukrainian state. Instead, it focused all of its resources on defending its Galician homeland. When the western Ukrainian forces transferred east in the summer of 1919 after they had been overwhelmed by the Poles, the Russian forces had grown significantly, and the impact of the Galicians was no longer decisive.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: After the war, the Ukrainian soldiers who fought became the subject of folk songs and their graves a site of annual pilgrimages in western Ukraine which persisted into Soviet times despite persecution by the Soviet authorities of those honoring the Ukrainian troops.


title: Polish–Ukrainian War

text: For Poles living in Eastern Galicia, the victory of the Polish forces over the Ukrainian Galician Army and the prospect of the region once again becoming part of the newly-reconstructed Polish Republic, after 123 years of foreign domination caused a great wave of excitement. In the years after the war, battles such as that of Lwów were remembered as outstanding examples of Polish heroism and resilience. Young defenders of the Łyczakowski Cemetery, who lost their lives defending the city, such as Jerzy Bitschan became household names in Poland during the interwar period.


title: Transverse myelitis

text: Transverse myelitis (TM) is a rare neurological condition wherein the spinal cord is inflamed. The adjective "transverse" implies that the spinal inflammation (myelitis) extends horizontally throughout the cross section of the spinal cord; the terms "partial transverse myelitis" and "partial myelitis" are sometimes used to specify inflammation that affects only part of the width of the spinal cord. TM is characterized by weakness and numbness of the limbs, deficits in sensation and motor skills, dysfunctional urethral and anal sphincter activities, and dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system that can lead to episodes of high blood pressure. Signs and symptoms vary according to the affected level of the spinal cord. The underlying cause of TM is unknown. The spinal cord inflammation seen in TM has been associated with various infections, immune system disorders, or damage to nerve fibers, by loss of myelin. As opposed to leukomyelitis which affects only the white matter, it affects the entire cross-section of the spinal cord. Decreased electrical conductivity in the nervous system can result.


title: Transverse myelitis

text: Symptoms include weakness and numbness of the limbs, deficits in sensation and motor skills, dysfunctional urethral and anal sphincter activities, and dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system that can lead to episodes of high blood pressure. Symptoms typically develop over the course of hours to a few weeks. Sensory symptoms of TM may include a sensation of pins and needles traveling up from the feet. The degree and type of sensory loss will depend upon the extent of the involvement of the various sensory tracts, but there is often a "sensory level" at the spinal ganglion of the segmental spinal nerve, below which sensation to pain or light touch is impaired. Motor weakness occurs due to involvement of the pyramidal tracts and mainly affects the muscles that flex the legs and extend the arms.


title: Transverse myelitis

text: Disturbances in sensory nerves and motor nerves and dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system at the level of the lesion or below, are noted. Therefore, the signs and symptoms depend on the area of the spine involved. Back pain can occur at the level of any inflamed segment of the spinal cord.


title: Transverse myelitis

text: If the upper cervical segment of the spinal cord is involved, all four limbs may be affected and there is risk of respiratory failure – the phrenic nerve which is formed by the cervical spinal nerves C3, C4, and C5 innervates the main muscle of respiration, the diaphragm.


title: Transverse myelitis

text: Lesions of the lower cervical region (C5–T1) will cause a combination of upper and lower motor neuron signs in the upper limbs, and exclusively upper motor neuron signs in the lower limbs. Cervical lesions account for about 20% of cases.


title: Transverse myelitis

text: A lesion of the thoracic segment (T1–12) will produce upper motor neuron signs in the lower limbs, presenting as a spastic paraparesis. This is the most common location of the lesion,<!-- <ref name="Alexander2015">


title: John Corabi

text: John Corabi (born April 26, 1959) is an American hard rock singer and guitarist. He was the frontman of The Scream during 1989 and the frontman of Mötley Crüe between 1992 and 1996 during original frontman Vince Neil's hiatus from the band.


title: John Corabi

text: Corabi is considered a "rock journeyman" with a long list of collaborations with established acts such as Angora, Union and ESP (both with former Kiss lead guitarist Bruce Kulick), Ratt (as a guitarist), Twenty 4 Seven (with his then Ratt bandmate Bobby Blotzer), Zen Lunatic, Brides of Destruction, and Angel City Outlaws (with his then Ratt bandmates Robbie Crane and Bobby Blotzer, and former Ratt guitarist Keri Kelli, who he replaced in Ratt). He was the lead singer for supergroup The Dead Daisies. His autobiography titled "Horseshoes & Hand Grenades" was released in 2022 and he is finalizing a solo album for release.


title: John Corabi

text: After Mötley Crüe parted ways with lead singer Vince Neil in February 1992, Corabi was hired as his replacement. Bassist Nikki Sixx and drummer Tommy Lee stated that Corabi was capable of singing anything and everything and that was the reason they chose him. Corabi recorded the self-titled "Mötley Crüe" album in 1994 and the EP "Quaternary". Though the music was heavier and more elaborate than the rest of the Mötley Crüe catalog, it did not sell as well as previous releases from the band. Before a concert in Tucson, Arizona which had a 15,000 seat capacity, only 4,000 tickets were sold, Nikki Sixx decided to call into a Tucson area radio station and offer any fan who showed up free tickets. When only two people took Sixx up on his offer, Sixx stated he knew this version of the band was finished. During the early stages of the writing of a new album which would become "Generation Swine", Mötley Crüe's record label refused to provide funds to record the album unless Vince Neil was let back in the band. Rather than hiring another label, Mötley Crüe acceded to the demand and by 1997, Corabi departed the band and Neil returned. Many of the songs from the early writing session were used on the album and Corabi is credited on the liner notes for co-writing some of the songs.


title: John Corabi

text: Corabi and the rest of Mötley Crüe made personal appearances at London's Hard Rock Cafe at a private party in February 1994 promoting their self-titled "Mötley Crüe" album. The evening was also attended by many Mötley Crüe competition winners who were invited into the VIP area to chat to Corabi, as well as the other 3 band members. Early in 2008, Corabi attended the Motley Cruise, a 4-day cruise in the Caribbean (Miami, Key West and Cozumel, Mexico) including performers such as Vince Neil, Skid Row, Ratt, Slaughter, Endeverafter and Lynam. On this cruise, Corabi joined Vince Neil on stage to perform "Highway to Hell" by AC/DC. This performance was a unique event as fans witnessed the two Mötley Crüe vocalists share the same microphone.


title: John Corabi

text: Corabi spoke about his time with the band and his thoughts on the first record with Mötley Crüe. Corabi said: "my record was the first record that they had done that didn't go platinum, didn't make some sort of crazy noise, and everybody panicked".


title: John Corabi

text: In July 2015, Corabi and his band performed at a bar and played all of the songs off of the Mötley Crüe album. Weeks after the performance, Corabi stated "The album would have made it if this was under a different band name". He was portrayed by Anthony Vincent Valbiro in the 2019 Mötley Crüe biopic "The Dirt".


title: John Corabi

text: John's bitterness with his lack of success in Mötley Crüe continues over 25 years after his firing from the band. In an interview in September 2021, Corabi said: "After my incredibly STUPID portrayal in "The Dirt" Movie and the ludicrous shitty statements of one of the band members in regards to my contributions and lack of writing talents, yours truly is not even remotely interested in doing that again", in reference to a rumor on him rejoining the Crüe.


title: John Corabi

text: In 1997, Corabi formed the band Union with Bruce Kulick (recently released from KISS), Brent Fitz, and Jamie Hunting. John and Bruce wrote what would become the first Union album (self titled) and proceeded with a nationwide acoustic tour, to promote the album, featuring just Corabi and Kulick (both on guitar). Soon the full band went on a world tour headlining small venues in support of the Union album. The second album "Live in the Galaxy" was a live recording with two acoustic tracks recorded in a mobile studio. The third and final Union album, The Blue Room, was a more polished sound than the first studio CD. Union never officially called it quits (playing live shows every so often with guest drummers and bass players), but with Kulick playing along with Grand Funk Railroad, Corabi playing with many bands, most notably Ratt, and both members being tied up in solo projects, Union will probably never return to write new studio material.


title: John Corabi

text: Corabi played guitar and bass in the Eric Singer Project. ESP also featured guitarist Bruce Kulick, bassist Karl Cochran, and drummer Eric Singer. Ace Frehley makes a special appearance on the Hendrix cover "Foxy Lady". He was also a member of Twenty 4 Seven, a collaboration with Corabi, drummer Bobby Blotzer (Ratt, Contraband), and guitarist Rob Marcello (Ironhorse, Obsession, Danger Danger) recorded 10 hard rock tracks entitled "Destination Everywhere" (US, 2002).


title: John Corabi

text: In early 2004, Corabi joined Jerry Cantrell's covers band Cardboard Vampyres. Also in the band were The Cult guitarist Billy Duffy, The Cult bassist Chris Wyse and drummer Josh Howser. The band played at various venues in the United States between 2004 and 2005. They predominately played along the West Coast. No albums were released by the band.


title: John Corabi

text: Corabi was featured as second guitarist on Brides of Destruction's 2004 album "Here Comes The Brides". He had multiple reasons for leaving the band. One was the fact that he was told it would be an effort much like the "Mötley Crüe" album. Secondly, he did not get along very well with Tracii Guns. He also said in an interview that "when Nikki told me about the band, I was really into the idea of writing another CD with the heavy sound of the Mötley Crüe album, but as we got more into recording, we had our drummer singing what was supposed to be the best song on the CD, when Nikki and Tracii were saying that our singer was the hot new thing, it just did not make sense to me."


title: The Rasmus

text: The Rasmus is a Finnish rock band that formed in 1994 in Helsinki while the band members were in upper comprehensive school. The original band members were Lauri Ylönen (lead singer-songwriter), Eero Heinonen (bass), Pauli Rantasalmi (guitar) and Jarno Lahti (drums). Jarno Lahti left the year after and was replaced by Janne Heiskanen in 1995. Heiskanen quit the band in 1999 and was soon replaced by Aki Hakala. Pauli Rantasalmi left the band and was replaced by female guitarist Emilia "Emppu" Suhonen in 2022. Best known for their 2003 hit single "In the Shadows", the band has sold 5 million albums worldwide and approximately 350,000 albums in Finland alone, and has won numerous awards, both domestic and international. The band represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 with the song "Jezebel".


title: The Rasmus

text: While still in high school, Lauri Ylönen, Eero Heinonen, Pauli Rantasalmi and Jarno Lahti formed the band "Rasmus" while they were in 8th grade. The band played their first gig at their schools pre-Christmas party (23 December 1994). In 1995 Jarno left the band, and was replaced by Janne Heiskanen. In December 1995 they released their debut EP "1st", including the songs "Funky Jam", "Myself", "Frog" and "Rakkauslaulu". In only a few weeks the EP had already sold 1000 copies. The EP was originally released independently through Teja G. Records but was re-released through Warner Music Finland after they signed with them early in 1996. The band also wrote the song "Don't Shut the Door" which would stay unused until it was re-written in 2009 as "October & April" for their compilation album "Best of 2001–2009". In 1996 they released their debut album "Peep" through Warner Music Finland. The album was first released in Finland on 23 September, where it went Gold, and later in Estonia and Russia, and subsequently worldwide. Later in 1996 the band released two more EP's, "2nd" and "3rd". Even though labeled as an EP, "3rd" went No. 8 on the Finnish Singles Chart later that year.


title: The Rasmus

text: Next year the band won an EMMA (the Finnish equivalent of Grammys) for the best newcomer of 1996. Lauri and Pauli decided to quit school to focus fully on Rasmus and on 29 August they released their second album "Playboys". It went Gold in Finland, and the single "Blue" also went Gold when it was released in May the same year.


title: The Rasmus

text: 1998 marked the release of the third Rasmus album "Hell of a Tester" (sometimes written "Hellofatester"). The album was released on 2 November and marks a change in their musical style from funk to more solid rock. The album received Gold status in Finland. The most popular single was "Liquid", which was released in September, getting into the Top 40 on MTV Nordic. It was voted Single of the Year for 1998 by music critics and fans and the video won an award in 1999 at the Finnish Music Video Awards. Lauri wrote Liquid on Lauttasaari bridge. The band also wrote religious material which never saw daylight. During 1999 Rasmus were headlining big festivals in Finland. Janne Heiskanen left the band after playing his last gig supporting Red Hot Chili Peppers. Janne decided to retire himself in meditation in India, where he lived for some years. This left the band in disarray and were close to breaking up. Aki Hakala, who had previously sold merchandise for the band, was eventually asked to become the new drummer. Together with Killer and Kwan they formed the Dynasty association a small, independent record label for recruiting new Finnish artists. In 2000 the band changed their name from "Rasmus" to "The Rasmus" to avoid confusion with the Swedish DJ of the same name (another artist, British Rasmus Gardell, has also used the name). In late 1999 The Cardigans' manager Petri H. Lundén recommended the band to Lars Tengroth, director of new Swedish independent label Playground Music. Tengroth went to see them play live in Helsinki and, as he later told HitQuarters, "fell in love with them straight away". Having released three albums in Finland and achieved modest success they were looking to develop their career outside of the country and Playground agreed to help them do this. In late 2000 the band began working with producers Martin Hansen & Micke Nord in Sweden for their next album, ending up leaving their former funk sound completely behind and changing the style into straight forward pop rock. Once signed to Playground the band spent time developing their act to meet the demands of establishing themselves internationally. According to Tengroth: "It was like starting from scratch; we were creating a new band so to speak." They did a lot of things that were new to them – they spent a long time working on their songs before recording, they worked with producers for the first time, and they recorded outside of Finland. They already had a strong stage show but welcomed ideas in improving it further.


title: The Rasmus

text: In October 2001, The Rasmus released "Into," their fourth studio album, and first album for Playground Music. It was the first The Rasmus to be released in other European countries such as France and Spain. The album reached No. 1 in the Finnish album charts and spawned the singles "F-F-F-Falling", "Chill", "Madness" and "Heartbreaker/Days". All of these were released in 2001 apart from Heartbreaker/Days, which was released in 2002. For this fact and the name's change, some fans consider this album the first of "The Rasmus". In 2001 they also released their first compilation album, "Hell of a Collection", composed of eighteen songs, nearly all of which were revamped versions of songs from the previous three albums. The exceptions are the final track, "Liquid" (Demo), which is a demo tape of their hit song "Liquid", and the songs "F-F-F-Falling" and "Chill" which were the first new songs released after Aki replaced Janne. They won four EMMAs in 2002 for Best Group, Best Album, Best Pop/Rock Album and Best Song for "F-F-F-Falling".


title: The Rasmus

text: On 21 March 2003, The Rasmus released their fifth studio album, "Dead Letters". "Dead Letters" sold 2 million copies worldwide and signified the band's major breakthrough, receiving 8 Gold and 6 Platinum music certification awards. Lead single "In the Shadows" received 6 gold and 2 platinum awards, selling over 1 million copies and breaking the record for performance royalties received abroad on a Finnish composition (overtaking the works of Jean Sibelius). The commercial success of the album saw the band receiving numerous music awards across Europe, winning the 'Best Nordic Act' category in the 2003 MTV Europe Music Awards, and five Finnish EMMA awards for Best Group, Best Album, Best Video (In My Life), Best Artist and Export in 2004. They also won an ECHO award for best international newcomer and were awarded "Best International Artist" at the 2004 MTV Russia Music Awards. "In The Shadows" was on the nominations list for the 2004 Kerrang! Award for Best Single. Such success led to extensive touring around the world. In 2004 they released their first live DVD "Live Letters" which was filmed at Gampel Open Air in Switzerland on 21 August 2004.


title: The Rasmus

text: On 12 September 2005, The Rasmus released their sixth studio album, "Hide from the Sun". The album received Platinum status in Finland and sold more than 15,000 copies in the UK alone. Overall, Hide from the Sun sold 500,000 copies worldwide. The band received a nomination for 'Best Rock Band' at the 2006 Eska Awards, and performed at the ceremony. They were also nominated in the 'Rock Album of the Year', 'Song of the Year' (No Fear), 'Best Finnish Band' categories at the EMMA awards 2006. Bassist Eero Heinonen released his solo album "Making Waves" with his side project Hay & Stone on 20 September 2006.


title: The Rasmus

text: The Rasmus continued their extensive touring throughout 2007. The band met Desmond Child in Dominican Republic, who began working with the band on producing their seventh studio album. 2007 also marked the start of Eero Heinonen's career as a music video director.


title: The Rasmus

text: "Black Roses" was released on 24 September 2008. It immediately replaced Metallica's "Death Magnetic" at the top of the Finnish Album Charts and went Gold after one week.


title: The Rasmus

text: The album was originally planned to be released in March that year, but was delayed due to new songs the band still wanted to record, including the lead single, "Livin' in a World Without You". The album's sound is generally less heavy than that of "Hide from the Sun". However, a few of the album's songs, such as "Ten Black Roses", "The Fight", and "Lost and Lonely", contain symphonic rock/metal elements. The album spawned a second single "Justify" in 2009. "Black Roses" sold 350,000 copies worldwide.


title: The Rasmus

text: On 28 November 2009 they released their second compilation album, "Best of 2001–2009", featuring songs recorded between 2001 and 2009. While most of the songs were already released, it features a new unreleased song called "October & April" which features vocals by Anette Olzon. This song was recorded during the same time as "Black Roses", but wasn't included as it didn't follow the album concept.


title: The Rasmus

text: In early 2010, The Rasmus started working on their next album, which would be released by the band's personal record label due to their contract with their previous label dissolving at the end of 2009.


title: The Rasmus

text: On 30 March 2011, Lauri Ylönen released his solo album "New World", with the first single "Heavy" being released in February of that year. The material premiered the annual EMMA Gala on 26 February 2011. Ylönen stated that he wanted several songs that didn't fit The Rasmus to be released as a major record rather than a demo. The album was self-produced with their record label Dynasty Recordings. The album charted at a peak of No.2 on the Finnish album charts. In 2011 the band signed a contract with Universal Music Finland. Shortly after, The Rasmus began producing their eighth studio album, lead singer Lauri Ylönen claimed they were aiming to revisit the sound of one of their earlier albums, "Into". The album's lead single "I'm a Mess" was first performed on 25 February 2012 during the Finnish national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2012, and was also the official song for the 2012 European Athletics Championships. The band's eighth studio album was announced to be self-titled, and was released on 18 April 2012 in several European countries. 'Stranger', the second single from the album, was released on 15 May 2012. The album was re-issued as "The Rasmus tour edition" in autumn 2012, and featured the addition of the single "Mysteria". The self-titled album later won two EMMA awards for "Best album cover" & "Best music video ("I’m a Mess")".


title: The Rasmus

text: In September and October 2016, the Rasmus posted updates from the studio showing them recording a ninth studio album, "Dark Matters", was released on 6 October 2017. The first single from the album, "Paradise", was released on 31 March 2017.


title: The Rasmus

text: On 17 August 2018, it was announced via the official Facebook page that a new single will be released titled 'Holy Grail' on 14 September.


title: The Rasmus

text: On 10 October 2019, whilst playing the Dead Letters Anniversary Tour at Rock City in Nottingham, Ylönen announced that the band had been working on new music for a possible future release.


title: The Rasmus

text: On 12 January 2022, the band was announced as one of the competing entrants in the Finnish national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2022, with the song "Jezebel" written by Ylönen and Desmond Child. The band stated in an interview that their decision to participate was due to the COVID-19 pandemic cancelling all of their tours and performances, try something new, and allow the group to bond even more. The release marks also the first Rasmus song with new guitarist Emilia "Emppu" Suhonen, who replaced longtime guitarist and founding member Pauli Rantasalmi, who left for personal reasons.


title: The Rasmus

text: The band would eventually go on to win the Finnish national selection competition, thus earning the right to represent Finland in the contest in Turin, Italy, where they placed 21st with 38 points. The band's tenth album "Rise" was released on 23 September 2022.


title: The Rasmus

text: The Rasmus have released a total of twenty music videos. Niklas Fronda and Fredrik Löfberg of Baranga Film have directed three of the band's videos, all from the "Dead Letters" album. "Dead Letters" is the album with most music videos: seven videos have been released from that album, including three versions of "In the Shadows". The videos of "Immortal" and "Your Forgiveness" were directed by bassist Eero Heinonen. The first video they ever made was for "Funky Jam" in 1996.


title: The Rasmus

text: The Rasmus were part of a brotherhood of Finnish bands known as "Dynasty", along with the hip-hop band Kwan and the now-separated modern rock band Killer. Dynasty also have a studio in Helsinki, where they recruit new Finnish talent. Several members of Dynasty have tattoos with the Dynasty text; one can be found on Pauli's left and Lauri's right arm. Pauli and Eero also have instruments and gear bearing the Dynasty logo. Pauli has helped with the production of Kwan, winning an EMMA for Producer of the Year in 2001.


title: Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts

text: Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts is an animated television series created by Radford Sechrist and developed by Bill Wolkoff, adapted from Rad's 2015 webcomic Kipo. The series is produced by American company DreamWorks Animation Television and animated by South Korean studio Mir.


title: Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts

text: The young adult animated series follows a girl named Kipo Oak, who is searching for her father after being forced to flee from her burrow, and must explore the post-apocalyptic surface world ruled by mutated animals to find him. Along the way, she befriends human survivors Wolf and Benson, and the mutant animals Dave and Mandu.


title: Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts

text: The series has been critically acclaimed for its design, characterization, music, world-building, voice acting, and diversity. The series is particularly notable for its representation of LGBT and characters of color.


title: Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts

text: The show's three seasons, each ten episodes long, were released in 2020. Season 1 was released on January 14, season 2 on June 12, and season 3 on October 12.


title: Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts

text: In 2020, animals mutated into anthropomorphic creatures called "mutes". Mutes rose up against the human race, forcing the majority of it to live in underground cities called burrows. In the 23rd century, Los Angeles has been reduced to a post-apocalyptic wasteland collectively known as "Las Vistas".


title: Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts

text: In the first season, Kipo Oak, a thirteen-year-old girl, is separated from her father Lio after their burrow is attacked by a "mega monkey", a colossal, mutated spider monkey. Traversing Las Vistas, she befriends Wolf, a cold and hardened girl who has been surviving on her own after her adoptive wolf family turned on her, the upbeat Benson and his insect companion Dave, and the mute pig Mandu. Together, they set out to find the burrow Kipo's community fled to after their first one was destroyed. During their adventures, Kipo discovers that she has the DNA of a mega jaguar, and can transform her body. As the five journey along they make many mute allies and enemies, including the tyrant Scarlemagne, a mandrill mute who intends to subjugate humanity with his mind-controlling pheromones and force the other mutes into an utopian empire which he will rule with a human army.


title: Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts

text: In the second season, Kipo learns she was experimented with mute DNA by her parents before her birth, turning her into a half-human, half-jaguar hybrid, and that her mother Song, previously thought to be deceased, is actually the mega monkey who destroyed her burrow, mutated as a side effect from her pregnancy and mind-controlled with Scarlemagne's pheromones by Dr. Emilia, her parents' former employer who now leads a resistance group against mutes. She also discovers that Scarlemagne was originally an ordinary mandrill named Hugo whom Kipo's parents turned sentient and secretly raised as their son, but grew to hate them after they were forced to abandon him. Kipo frees Song from her mind control and defeats Scarlemagne, while Emilia plots to revert mutes back into normal animals.


title: Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts

text: In the third season, Kipo creates the "Human Mute Ultimate Friendship Alliance" (HMUFA) to fight Emilia, but struggles to make humans and mutes work together. Emilia creates an anti-mute cure with Kipo's DNA, and it is with this cure that Kipo turns her mother human again. Ultimately, Kipo succeeds in making peace between mutes and humans. With her plans foiled and unwilling to accept change, Emilia turns herself into a mega mute to kill Kipo and her friends, but she is defeated with Scarlemagne's help, who sacrifices himself to save Kipo. Five years later, Kipo happily lives on the surface where humans and mutes finally co-exist in harmony.


title: Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts

text: "Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts" was created by Radford Sechrist, previously a storyboard artist for "Dan Vs." and later director on the "". After quitting his job as an animator, Sechrist began posting the webcomic "Kipo" on Tumblr in 2015. The animated series based on the webcomic was first announced at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival in June 2019. Sechrist compared the series to "The Wizard of Oz", "but instead of ruby slippers [Kipo] has Converse on".


title: Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts

text: The series has five writers in addition to showrunner Sechrist and executive producer Bill Wolkoff. They worked in two teams, each comprising a director and three board artists. The animation is made by Studio Mir in South Korea using traditional animation methods. About sixty people worked on the series at DreamWorks, and about fifty-five at Studio Mir.


title: Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts

text: As Netflix pushed forward, "Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts" became a notable example of expanded representation. In the first season of "Kipo", which streamed on January 10, Benson said outright he was gay, saying he only liked the series protagonist, Kipo, in a platonic way. He also developed a crush on a male character, Troy, in the show's 10th episode. Due to these elements, some noted the show's "casual queerness."


title: Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts

text: In August 2021, Sechrist told Insider that he and Wolkoff realized that there weren't "iconic Superman or Spider-Man archetypes very often as a gay person in media" saying that gay people would be villains or comic relief, with their pitch for Benson as part of the show, making history, becoming the first Black gay protagonist and "second-known animated kids character" apart from a character in "6teen" to "identify themselves as gay in dialogue."


title: Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts

text: The soundtrack to the series, including several original songs, was composed by Daniel Rojas. It draws on an eclectic mix of musical styles, from folk to classical music and hip-hop, with Wu-Tang Clan founding member and Bad Billions' voice actor GZA being given co-writing credit for the 'Newton Wolves Rap'. The first soundtrack album, "Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts: Season 1 Mixtape", was released in January 2020 by Back Lot Music. The second soundtrack album, titled "Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts: Season 2 Mixtape", was released in late May 2020 by Back Lot Music.


title: Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts

text: All three seasons of "Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts" have a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes, with too few reviews for a consensus. At "io9", Beth Elderkin described "Kipo" as a "must-watch", writing that it joined the likes of "She-Ra and the Princesses of Power", "Gravity Falls" and "Steven Universe" as a series with a broad appeal to many age groups, and highlighting its music and art design. At "Collider", Dave Trumbore noted "Kipo"s similarity to other recent female-led animated portal fantasy series such as "Amphibia" and "The Owl House", and described it as a "classic in the making" that drew on cultural touchstones such as "Fallout", "The Warriors", "The Island of Doctor Moreau", "Planet of the Apes" and "Alice in Wonderland".


title: Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts

text: NPR argued that the series is colorful and funny, with its diversity allowing it comment on sexuality, race, and class, combining the world-building in "" and the inclusivity, and heart, of a show like "Steven Universe." Forbes said that Kipo, like the "fellow empath Steven Universe," attempts to talk antagonists about their feelings.


title: Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts

text: Writing for "Polygon", Petrana Radulovic appreciated that beneath a standard fantasy exploration quest, the series is a "vibrant mosaic, with a unique world, multidimensional character relationships, and a deeper underlying plot" about the tensions between mutes and humans. She also noted that Benson was the first character to have an explicit coming out as gay in an all-ages animation series, and that the understated manner of the scene, in episode 6, made it all the more noteworthy. Charles Pulliam-Moore at "io9" likewise wrote that the series's "casual queerness is fantastic" because Benson's orientation is not treated as a plot point to complicate Kipo's feelings for him, but, "with a distinct matter-of-factness", as just one aspect of his character. Dave Trumbore of Collider noted that the show explores "burgeoning same-sex relationships in a positive manner," referring to the relations between Benson and Troy. A review of the season by Shamus Kelley pointed out the continued flirting between Troy and Benson, with Benson trying to impress him, and his dad, praising that their relationship has had "zero drama...[and] zero subtext," treated as a "regular thing without any of the restrictions gay characters have had before." Kevin Johnson wrote about how in Kipo, "the surface world of earth is genuinely dangerous, and each character, still couched in their Blackness, represents different perspectives," exploring race like "Steven Universe" explored gender, and is willing to "explore the messiness of racial issue," believing that Kipo could become "a beacon through the thorny, fraught issues of race," just as Steven taught young viewers how to "let compassion and kindness guide them through encountering and dealing with gender concerns."