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A Grain of Contention: Colonial Expansion, National Self-Determination, and the Quest for Calories in Ukraine, 1918

Fri, November 21, 10:00 to 11:45am EST (10:00 to 11:45am EST), -

Abstract

This paper examines the forced grain requisitions carried out by the Central Powers in Ukraine in 1918. By the war’s end, grain and foodstuffs were vital to military economies, physical survival, and political order. The bread treaty of Brest-Litovsk de jure recognized Ukraine’s independence but de facto made it a supplier for the Central Powers’ war effort. For most Ukrainians—predominantly peasants—sovereignty meant not international recognition but control over their own resources. As a result, the Central Powers’ violent grain extractions met armed local resistance.
Focusing on grain as central to imperial expansion and national self-determination, this paper examines a paradoxical encounter between imperial grain collectors and local peasants—specifically, between the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen, a voluntary unit of the Habsburg Army, and southern Ukrainian peasants. Initially seeing themselves as Ukraine’s liberators, the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen, in practice, became enforcers of colonial exploitation. This paper explores how they navigated this role and how peasants perceived them as imperial oppressors. This case study situates grain and foodstuffs as key drivers in reshaping ideas of sovereignty and self-determination.

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