Thus by the early years of the twentieth century and the approach of the First World War, conditions in Galicia had been vitally changed. The Ukrainian masses were no longer satisfied with the mere appellation of Ruthenian. The province which had been the most lost to the Ukrainian cause had been made the most advanced and the most conscious of its inheritance. The forces that had been striving for the adaptation of Ukrainian culture and language to that of Russia had been definitely checked and the influence that was radiating from Lviv was in its turn impinging upon Kiev and the Ukraine that was still under Russia. At the same time, conditions were still such that the fight in the province between the Ukrainian and Polish populations remained undecided, but a few more years of peace would undoubtedly strengthen the Ukrainian position still further. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN _BETWEEN REVOLUTION AND WAR_ The revolution of 1905 made many changes in the life of Russia and these affected very materially the situation in Ukraine. For the period of a few weeks it appeared as if the entire country were reverting to a state of chaos. There seemed little positive agreement upon any definite course of action. Change was in the air. Each nationality in the Russian Empire, each social class propounded its own program and there was no central authority to decide between them. The Imperial power seemed weakened after the disastrous Russo-Japanese War but the various malcontents were not prepared to harmonize their differences into a working whole. As a result the forces of the central government were ultimately able to resume control and gradually annul many of the promises that they had been forced to make at the height of the movement. The agrarian disturbances in Eastern Ukraine were among the most bitter in the entire Empire but it was relatively easy to consider these as more agrarian than national, the more so as up to this time Russian authorities had refused to consider Ukraine as a separate entity within the Empire. That had been destroyed by Catherine and even though the conditions of landholding were far more favorable to the individual than elsewhere in Russia, it would have been exceedingly tactless for the autocracy and the liberals alike to stress any symptoms of dissatisfaction that came from a separatist source. For good or ill it was necessary for Russia, the Russia of the right or the left, to maintain the theory that Ukraine and Russia were one and inseparable or a fire would be kindled that would be difficult to extinguish.