Editing Lviv (section)

===Polish–Ukrainian War===
{{further|Polish–Ukrainian War}}
After the [[Dissolution of Austria-Hungary|collapse of the Habsburg Monarchy]] at the end of the First World War, Lviv became an arena of battle between the local Polish population and the [[Ukrainian Sich Riflemen]]. Both nations perceived the city as an integral part of their new statehoods which at that time were forming in the former Austrian territories. On the night of 31 October – 1 November 1918 the [[West Ukrainian People's Republic|Western Ukrainian People's Republic]] was proclaimed with Lviv as its capital. 2,300 Ukrainian soldiers from the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen (Sichovi Striltsi), which had previously been a corps in the Austrian Army, made an attempt to take over Lviv. The city's Polish majority opposed the Ukrainian declaration and began to fight against the Ukrainian troops.<ref>Timothy Snyder, ''The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569–1999'', Yale University Press, 2003, p.158</ref> During this combat an important role was taken by young Polish city defenders called [[Lwów Eaglets]].

The Ukrainian forces withdrew outside Lwów's confines by 21 November 1918, after which elements of Polish soldiers began to loot and burn much of the Jewish and Ukrainian quarters of the city, killing approximately 340 civilians (see: [[Lwów pogrom (1918)|Lwów pogrom]]). The pogromists were tried by Polish authorities and three were executed.<ref name="ND">Norman Davies. [https://books.google.com/books?id=SOFkWX8EC4cC&dq=lwow+pogrom+1918+killed++jews&pg=PA1012 "Ethnic Diversity in Twentieth-Century Poland."] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160102033537/https://books.google.com/books?id=SOFkWX8EC4cC&pg=PA1012&dq=lwow+pogrom+1918+killed++jews&ei=30HASPveLIyYyATwlKiRDg&sig=ACfU3U30AZS2LbGlIGHT5aGD2ic7lFJ6eQ |date=2 January 2016}} In: Herbert Arthur Strauss. Hostages of Modernisation: Studies on Modern Antisemitism, 1870–1933/39. Walter de Gruyter, 1993.</ref> The retreating Ukrainian forces besieged the city. The Sich riflemen reformed into the [[Ukrainian Galician Army]] (UHA). The Polish forces aided from central Poland, including [[Józef Haller|General Haller]]'s [[Blue Army (Poland)|Blue Army]], equipped by the French, relieved the besieged city in May 1919 forcing the UHA to the east.

Despite [[Allies of World War I|Entente]] mediation attempts to cease hostilities and reach a compromise between belligerents the [[Polish–Ukrainian War]] continued until July 1919 when the last UHA forces withdrew east of the [[Zbruch River|River Zbruch]]. The border on the River Zbruch was confirmed at the [[Treaty of Warsaw (1920)|Treaty of Warsaw]], when in April 1920 Field [[Józef Piłsudski|Marshal Piłsudski]] signed an agreement with [[Symon Petliura|Symon Petlura]] where it was agreed that in exchange for military support against [[Bolsheviks|the Bolsheviks]] the [[Ukrainian People's Republic]] renounced its claims to the territories of Eastern Galicia.

In August 1920, Lviv was attacked by the [[Red Army]] under the command of [[Alexander Ilyich Yegorov|Aleksandr Yegorov]] and [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]] during the [[Polish–Soviet War]] but [[Battle of Lwów (1920)|the city repelled the attack]].<ref>Norman Davies, White Eagle, [[Red star]]. Polish-Soviet War</ref> For the courage of its inhabitants Lviv was awarded the [[Virtuti Militari]] cross by Józef Piłsudski on 22 November 1920.

On 23 February 1921, the council of the [[League of Nations]] declared that Galicia (including the city) 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 (as a whole<ref name="MagocsiB" />), whose sovereign remained the [[Allied and Associated Powers|Allied Powers]] and fate would be determined by the [[Council of Ambassadors]] at the League of Nations.<ref>''Ukraine: A Concise Encyclopedia'' (1963). Edited by [[Volodymyr Kubiyovych]]. p. 780.</ref> On 14 March 1923, the Council of Ambassadors decided that Galicia would be incorporated into Poland "whereas it is recognised by Poland that ethnographical conditions necessitate an autonomous regime in the [[Eastern Galicia|Eastern part of Galicia]]."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.forost.ungarisches-institut.de/pdf/19230315-1.pdf |title=DECISION TAKEN BY THE CONFERENCE OF AMBASSADORS REGARDING THE EASTERN FRONTIERS OF POLAND. PARIS, MARCH 15, 1923 |website=forost.ungarisches-institut.de |language=en |access-date=14 January 2018 |archive-date=19 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719101750/http://www.forost.ungarisches-institut.de/pdf/19230315-1.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> This provision was never honoured by the [[Second Polish Republic|interwar Polish government]]. After 1923, the region was internationally recognized as part of the Polish state.<ref name="MagocsiB">{{cite book |last=Magocsi |first=Paul R. |title=A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its Peoples |date=1996 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |pages=525–526}}</ref>