Ober Ost - Aftermath

Aftermath

The Germans started to withdraw from Ober-Ost around late 1918 and early 1919. In the vacuum left upon their retreat, a series of conflicts arose as various ethnic groups (Poles, Balts, Ukrainians) tried to create states, clashing with each other and with the various factions of the Russian Revolution. Winston Churchill commented: "The war of giants has ended, the wars of the pygmies began." For details, see:

• Soviet westward offensive of 1918–1919, part of the Polish-Soviet War (the largest of the resulting conflicts)
• Ukrainian-Soviet War and Ukrainian-Polish War
• Estonian War of Independence, Latvian War of Independence, Lithuanian War of Independence