| Paul I | |
|---|---|
| Hetman of Ukraine | |
| {{{image}}} | |
| Birthplace | Wiesbaden, Hesse-Nassau Prussia, German Empire |
| Place of death | Yekatrinoslav, [[Russian Empire (World of Imperial Russian Glory) (Yekatrinoslav, Ukraine) |
| Predecessor | Title established |
| Successor | Daniel I |
| Consort | Oleksandra Skoropadska |
| Offspring | Crown Prince Daniel I Princess Maria Princess Elizbaeth I Princess Olena I |
Pavlo Petrovych Skoropadskyi (Ukrainian: Павло Петрович Скоропадський; 15 May [O.S. 3 May] 1873 – 26 April 1945) also Pavel Petrovich Skoropoadskyi (Russian: Павел Петрович Скоропадский), Paul I Petrovich, Hetman of Ukraine or just Paul I of Ukraine, was an Imperial Russian aristocrat, military commander and state leader of Ukrainian Cossack heritage, who became the Hetman of Ukraine. He was a decorated general within the Imperial Russian Army and later Ukrainian Army. Skoropadskyi became Hetman of Ukraine following a coup on 29 April 1918, and again as part of the Autonomous Ukrainian State in 1923.
Growing to become one of the most powerful military commanders in Imperial Russian and Ukrainian history, Pavlo Skoropadskiy eventually became the commander of the Southwestern Front, a military formation of the Russian Empire that was eventually dominated by Ukrainians.
Skoropodskiy's Hetamanate was one of the many Ukrainian states formed amid the Ukrainian War of Independence, concurrently with the Russian Civil War. He was the only monarchist, and was favored by both White Russians and Tsarists, as well as their Imperial German contemporaries, having even been supported by the latter. However, after the German Empire fell and surrendered to the Triple Entente, the Hetamanate fell to the forces of Symon Petliura, who established the Ukrainian People's Republic, as an autonomous region within the Provisional Russian government. As the civil war in Russia raged, and Ukraine was nearly overtaken by Bolsheviks, the White Russians purposelly allowed them to do so since they favored Pavlo Skoropadskiy, and denied request from Petliura for help unless he recognized Skoropadskiy as Ukraine's Hetaman, however they would certainly honor him as a Prime Minister or Procurator-General (or a position of the likes).
Petliura accepted this ultimatum, and Pavlo Skoropadskiy was brought back to Ukraine, and both were supplied with White Russian fighters. Both Petliura and Skoropadskiy would go lead the Ukrainian Front of the Russian Civil War, and after defeating the Bolsheviks in Ukraine, as promised, the succeeding tsar, Cyril I and his Procurator-General, Pyotr Wrangel (who had high ties and favors for Skoropadskiy), granted both of them their autonomous powers to govern Ukraine. This included installing Ukrainians who at once, even advocated for independence.
The former Ukrainian People's Republic was transformed into the Autonomous Ukrainian State, with Pavlo Skoropadskiy as its Hetman, in which he was recognized as a level of a Grand Duke elsewhere in Russia, with Symon Petliura as his Minister-General. The Kiev Accords was signed between the local Rada and the rest of the Russian Assembly and Senate, achieving large-scale changes, including a nationwide ban on the term Little Russian, and the public nationwide acknowledgement of Ukrainians a separate ethnic group and culture.
Today, he along with Symon Petliura are both National Heroes of Ukraine, however many Ukrainian ultranationalists (especially those from western Ukraine) do not consider him a national hero considering him to be a complete puppet of the Kremlin.
Political and Military career[]
As Hetman of Ukraine[]
As the Hetman of Ukraine, Paul I was deeply active in reflecting the modernization and liberalization program of Tsar Cyril I and Prime Minister Pyotr Struve. He was very active in local Ukrainian politics, and refused to sit idle as a "figurative Head of State living in luxury".
During the Interwar Period, Paul I sent volunteers into China to help the Yuan Shikai and supported Russia's growing ties with Japan. In 1937, he was one of the military commanders that vocally voiced their opposition towards the war against Japan. Paul sent multiple warnings to Stavka that such a decision would implicate disastrous consequences for Russia. He believed that while Russia does have a duty to protect Christians of the Eastern World, that the "Christian persecution" narrative being pushed by religious neo-conservatives was lar Paul I was relieved to know that no soldier from the Southwestern Front was ever used for the war against Japan, up until the Second World War, when some reserves were transferred to the Far Eastern frontline.
World War II[]
During the Second World War, Pavlo Skoropadsky was the commander of the Southwestern Front of the Imperial Russian military. In this alternate timeline, the only region in Ukraine that ever feels the need to become a Nazi ally is the western region, headed by Stepan Bandera. However, Turkey undergoes a fascist uprising much like Germany, and allies with Germany, therefore, Turkish troops invade from the Black Sea and the Caucasus.st Germany and Russia.
After Boris Rezhukin was stripped of his Procurator-General position, Paul I was thrilled, and supported his forced resignation all the way in 1942. He was wholly supportive of Vladimir I Pavlovich, Prince of Courland; as the Procurator-General.
Ukraine fights a two-front war, and in 1943, the Hetman divided the Southwestern Front into the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts. The 1st Ukrainian Front was tasked with the defense of Kiev, while the 2nd partook in operations in the Caucasus and cooperated with the neighboring South Russian Front in Crimea and Rostov, and the 3rd were tasked with offensive overseas operations in Turkey and the Balkans.
Latter years[]
After the war, Paul I supported the the creation of a Russian-supported state in eastern Germany.