Important notice: This page contains lore relevant to the upcoming Eastern Europe rework, and it may not reflect the current in-game setup that well. The ultimate goal, to eventually fully transpose the changes made to the lore in-game, still stands. This lore also may not be final, and some minor changes may occur.
Pavlo Petrovich Skoropadskyi is a Ukrainian aristocrat, decorated Imperial Russian Army general of Cossack descent and the current Hetman of Ukraine.
History[]
Early Life[]
Pavlo Skoropadskyi was born in Wiesbaden, Germany, on May 3, 1873, where his mother stayed at a health resort. He grew up on his father's estate in Trostianets (at that time part of Russia, now in Ukraine), studied at the Starodub gymnasium, and graduated from the elite Page Corps cadet school in Saint Petersburg. He served in a cavalry guard regiment and commanded a company of the Chita Cossack Regiment in the Russo-Japanese War. He was appointed aide-de-camp to Emperor Nicholas II in 1905, a colonel in 1906, commander of the 20th Finnish Dragoon Regiment in 1910, and a major general and commander of a cavalry regiment in the emperor's House Guard in 1911. During the Weltkrieg he commanded the 1st Brigade of the 1st Cavalry Guard Division, then the 5th Cavalry and 1st Cavalry Guard divisions, and the 34th Army Corps (at the rank of lieutenant general).
Activities in Ukrainian Nation-building[]
After the February Revolution of 1917, Skoropadskyi oversaw the Ukrainization of the 34th Corps as the 1st Ukrainian Corps. He was elected honorary otaman of the Free Cossacks at their first congress in October 1917. In October–November of that year the disciplined 60,000-man First Corps and the Free Cossacks under his command controlled the Vapniarka–Zhmerynka–Koziatyn–Shepetivka railway corridor. It disarmed and demobilized pro-Bolshevik military units returning from the southwestern and Romanian fronts and thereby prevented them from attacking Kyiv and plundering Ukraine. As an opponent of the Central Rada's socialist policies (especially its agrarian reforms) Skoropadskyi initiated a conspiracy known as the Ukrainian People's Hromada, consisting of his fellow noble landowners and loyal officers, mostly former Russian ones. Its plans gained not only the support of the Ukrainian Democratic Agrarian party and the All-Ukrainian Union of Landowners, but also of the Germans, who saw him as a better alternative to the People's Republic government, which was not able to supply Germany with the amounts of grain it had promised them in the German-Ukrainian cooperation treaty of February 1918. They also pushed him secretly in the power struggle with Austria-Hungary for the control of Ukraine. The Austrians one the other hand wanted to get Wilhelm Franz von Habsburg-Lothringen on the Ukrainian Hetman throne.
Hetmanate[]
Pavlo Skoropadskyi after his coup, 1918.
On the 29th of April, 1918, Pavlo Skoropadskyi's coup was launched, after a farmer's congress declared him "Hetman of Ukraine". With "German support" (the Germans actually never intervened and promised neutrality during the coup, however they blocked the barracks of troops loyal to the government, which helped in culminating in a pretty much bloodless coup), the coup was successful, and Skoropadskyi was chrismated as the Hetman of Ukraine in the Saint Sophia Cathedral. The day of the coup saw the adoption of a new constitution and Skoropadskyi’s assumption of the post of Commander in Chief of the military. Press censorship was instituted, a new supreme court was established, and all the reforms of the previous government were reversed.
The next few years saw a struggle to maintain control over Ukraine, with a number of democratic, socialist, Bolshevik and anarchist movements moving to counter his ascension to power. After a failed attempt to unite the moderate parties of Ukraine, Skoropadskyi drew up a new cabinet consisting of loyalists. This resulted in the founding of the All-Ukrainian Nationalist Party (VNP). The purpose of the VNP was to keep control of government solely in the hands of Skoropadskyi, and forms his political power-base.
In addition to his role as the Hetman, Pavlo Skoropadskyi also acts as the Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine's military, the Armed Forces of the Ukrainian State. Skoropadskyi is also considered the cultural head of Ukraine and Ukraine's top legislator. As Hetman, Skoropadskyi may appoint the Head of the Rada, as well as a number of other positions within the Ukrainian State.
Personal Life[]
Pavlo Skoropadskyi traces his heritage and legitimacy as Hetman of Ukraine to Ivan Skoropadskyi, the 18th century Hetman of the Zaporizhian Cossack Host.
On the 11th of January, 1898, Pavlo Skoropadskyi married Ukrainian noblewoman Oleksandra Skoropadska. Oleksandra traced her family heritage back to the Kochubey noble family.
Pavlo and Oleksandra had six children:
- Maria (born 1898)
- Yelyzaveta (born 1899)
- Petro (born 1900), suffers from epilepsy
Hetman Pavlo Skoropadskyi meeting with Kaiser Wilhelm II at Schloss Wilhelmshöhe, September 1918
- Danylo Skoropadskyi (born 1906)
- Pavlo (born 1915, died 1918 of disease)
- Olena Skoropadska (born 1919)
While his daughters went on to marry wealthy Ukrainian nobles and landowners, only Danylo has taken any interest in politics. Danylo Skoropadskyi currently works in Ukraine's Foreign Ministry.
Pavlo Skoropadskyi is known for his acquaintanceship with many Ukrainian landowners, fellow heads of state, and even Kaiser Wilhelm II. One of his closest friends is the German general Wilhelm Groener, who met Skoropadskyi during his time as Chief of Staff of the occupation troops in Ukraine in 1918-1919.
Outside of the Reichspakt, Skoropadskyi is often defamed as a mere puppet of the Germans, a fact that angers him very much as he considers himself an independent ruler who was forced to rely on the Germans only during a time of weakness. Actually, Skoropadskyi never thought that a German victory would be possible, and he had counted on an Entente victory up until late 1918 - The fact that he was wrong, still bothers him today.