Pavlo Skoropadsky

Pavlo Skoropadsky, Hetman of all Ukraine in 1918, the anti-Bolshevik monarch.

Pavlo Petrovyts Skoropadsky (Urkainian: Павло Петрович Скоропадський) (Wiesbaden, May 15, 1873 – Metten, April 26, 1945) was a Ukrainian politician who served as the head of state (Hetman) of the Imperial German-backed Ukrainian State from April 1918 to October 1918.

The First World War in Eastern Europe concluded with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, signed in March 1918, granting the Central Powers, especially Germany, the right to occupy Ukraine. On April 29, 1918, the Germans established a semi-monarchical regime in Ukraine, led by a hetman, the Wiesbaden-born Ukrainian landowner and general Pavlo Skoropadsky. This regime was primarily supported by landowners, Cossacks, and the Russian Kadets and was in direct opposition to the predominantly social democratic Ukrainian People's Republic, which had been declared in Kyiv on January 25 of that year. Archduke Wilhelm of Habsburg also aspired to the Ukrainian throne and was a rival of Skoropadsky.

During Skoropadsky's rule, significant cultural and educational initiatives were undertaken. For instance, he decreed the establishment of several Ukrainian universities, including one in Kamianets-Podilskyi. However, the Hetmanate would ultimately prove to be a brief interlude. His pro-German stance and conservative agrarian policies alienated many, and after the Armistice was signed, his rule quickly came to an end in November 1918. On December 14, a new provisional government led by Volodymyr Vynnychenko and Symon Petliura captured him, and the Ukrainian People's Republic was restored.

In 1919, Skoropadsky fled to Berlin. From Germany, he sought support to overthrow communist rule in Ukraine. Shortly before the end of the Second World War, Skoropadsky was severely wounded during an air raid on April 16, 1945. He succumbed to his injuries in the infirmary of the Metten Abbey monastery.