other · Poland, Lithuania and Russia

Free Territory

1918 CE – 1921 CE · capital Huliaipole

Nestor Makhno's anarchist zone in south-eastern Ukraine, run by peasant councils and defended by a revolutionary army in the Civil War.

Origins

Nestor Makhno, an anarchist from Huliaipole, organised peasant partisans against the Austro-German occupiers and the Ukrainian State in 1918. As the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine grew, it controlled a large area between the Dnieper and the Sea of Azov, which anarchists called the Free Territory.

Rule and society

The movement rejected any state, organising regional congresses of peasants, workers and insurgents, free soviets and communes, while anarchist thinkers such as Volin ran its cultural work. In practice it was a military zone held by Makhno's highly mobile cavalry and machine-gun carts. The insurgents fought Germans, nationalists and Bolsheviks, and in September 1919 their victory at Peregonovka disrupted Denikin's march on Moscow.

Decline and legacy

In 1920 Makhno allied with the Red Army against Wrangel, but once the Whites were beaten the Bolsheviks turned on the insurgents in November. After months of fighting Makhno escaped to Romania in August 1921 and died in Paris in 1934.

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Free Territory. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/free-territory
MLA
“Free Territory.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/free-territory. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Free Territory.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/free-territory.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Free Territory’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/free-territory (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻