ABSTRACT

While the state of communications technology, the vicpen issitudes of war and revolution, and vast distances created obstacles to communication and interaction on the territory of the former Russian Empire during 1917–1918, very often during these revolutionary years, events in one region of the periphery were profoundly shaped by similar things taking place in others. Through a cross-regional and comparative analysis, this article considers the parallels between the situations in the Ukrainian and Transcaucasian theatres, and also the interactions that took place between the independent Ukrainian governments and the Transcaucasian Seim and Federation during this period, and also the ways in which the similar experiences and challenges facing the actors in these spaces, particularly among the ultimately victorious Bolsheviks, influenced their longer-term perspectives towards issues of nationalism, national sentiments, autonomy and federation in the minority regions of the periphery.