1919 January: The Whites’ Northern Corps is formed in Estonia. The Whites’ Western Army is formed in Siberia. A counterattack by the Estonian Army, reinforced by Finnish, Danish, and Swedish volunteers, drives invading Soviet forces back to Narva. 1 January: The Belorussian SSR is formed. 3–5 January: The Red Army occupies Riga (establishing a Soviet government under Pēteris Stučka) and Vil′na (establishing a Soviet government under Vincas Kapsukas). The Latvian Provisional Government flees to Anglo–German protection at Libau (Liepāja); the Lithuanian Provisional Government flees to Kaunas. 3 January–16 March: Soviet forces advance on the Ukrainian Front, capturing Khar′kov (3 January), where a new Soviet government is proclaimed under Cristian Rakovski (28 January); Kiev (4–6 February); and eventually, most of left-bank Ukraine, and establishing bridgeheads on the right bank of the Dnepr. 5–15 January: The Spartacist uprising in Berlin fails. 8 January: The Armed Forces of South Russia is created, uniting the Volunteer Army with the Don (and subsequently the Kuban and Terek) Cossacks, with General Denikin as commander in chief. 13 January: General E. K. Miller arrives at Arkhangel′sk and assumes the post of Governor-General of the Northern Region. N. D. Chaikovskii subsequently leaves North Russia (23 January) to join the Russian Political Conference in Paris. 14 January: A congress of the National Russian Committee at Vyborg selects General N. N. Iudenich as commander of White forces in northwest Russia. 18 January: The Paris Peace Conference opens. 22 January: The Allies broadcast an invitation to all warring parties in Russia to meet for peace talks in Turkey (the “Prinkipo Proposal”). The Act of Zluka proclaims union of the Ukrainian National Republic and the West Ukrainian People’s Republic. 24 January: A circular from the Orgbiuro of the Bolshevik Central Committee calls for mass terror against Cossacks implicated in attacks on Soviet power. Red forces drive Dutov’s Orenburg Cossacks from Orenburg, reestablishing rail communications with Red forces in Central Asia. January–March: The Red Army’s advance on the Southern Front results in the defeat of the Don Army and the capture of the important agricultural regions around the Don and parts of the northern Donbass. 4–6 February: The Red Army captures Kiev. 10 February: White forces commanded by General Wrangel capture the Terek capital, Vladikavkaz. 11 February: S. V. Petliura becomes head of the Ukrainian Directory. 14 February: As German forces withdraw, Red Army and Polish units clash at Bereza Kartuska (Biaroza)—the beginning (or at least a precursor of) the Soviet–Polish War. 15 February: Krasnov resigns as ataman of the Don Cossacks. A. F. Bogaevskii is elected to replace him. 16 February: The formation of the joint Lithuanian-Belorussian Soviet Republic (Litbel; dissolved 25 August 1919) prompts Polish occupation (20 February) of Brest-Litovsk, Białystok, and other border cities.