On November 1, during the night, the Ukrainians judged that it was time to act and the Council took over the control of the city of Lviv with the tacit permission of the Austrian Governor of Galicia. The blue and yellow flag of Ukraine was hoisted over the city hall and the Republic of Western Ukraine was formally proclaimed. At the same time, in Western Galicia, the Poles raised their standard over the city of Krakow. The old regime was ended. Soon the Ukrainians in other cities of Western Ukraine followed suit and the new Republic commenced the difficult and painful task of setting up an administration. Its resources were indeed scanty. There was no money and no trained corps of administrators, for the old government had kept most of the more responsible posts in Galicia in the hands of the Poles. More important than that, the forces available to maintain order were equally non-existent or unsatisfactory. There were the remains of the Ukrainian legions in the Austrian army, the Riflemen of the Sich, and there were some disorganized reserve units in the neighborhood of the city, which were largely composed of Ukrainians, since officers and men from other sections of the Empire had left them to return home. There was a marked lack of officers, since the unfavorable conditions of Galicia had prevented many Ukrainians from rising in the Austro-Hungarian service. It was with this scanty support that the new government under Dr. Evhen Petrushevich set to work. Any hopes of a peaceable period for organization were soon ended. As soon as the Poles realized that Lviv had been taken over by the Ukrainians, there began a revolt of the Polish population of the city. Many of the participants were mere schoolboys, but they seized the main post office and the Ukrainians were unable to dislodge them. Civil war broke out, but it was a civil war in which artillery and heavy weapons were absent from both sides. For three weeks the battle went on in the city as both sides tried to bring up what reinforcements were available. The Poles finally succeeded in moving from Krakow into the city by train a force of 140 officers and 1200 men. Even such a small body of more or less trained soldiers was enough to turn the scales in the favor of the Poles and two days after they arrived, the Ukrainian government left the city and retired to Stanislaviv and later to Ternopil. This did not mean that the Republic had given up the struggle. It still held the largest part of Eastern Galicia, with the exception of the railroad line from Peremyshl to Lviv, which the Poles succeeded in keeping open. At the same time there was a practical siege of Lviv during the entire winter. The Poles, however, were able to gather forces elsewhere in the country and steadily new and better armed detachments pushed their way into Eastern Galicia.