Brest-Litovsk peace treaty of february 9, 1918 and Ukraine’s entry into the international arena (based on documentary postcards)

Visual sources (photographs, documentary postcards, newsreels, etc.) as a cultural phenomenon occupy an important place in the complex of sources on the modern history of European countries. The aim of the study is to analyze an important international event based on German documentary postcards, in particular, the preparation and signing of a peace treaty on February 9, 1918, in Brest-Litovsk by authorized representatives of the Ukrainian People’s Republic and the countries of the Quadruple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria). The methodological framework is based on the principles of historicism and scientific objectivity, socio-cultural and chronological methods, methods of analysis and synthesis, historical and comparative, iconographic, iconological, etc. The scientific novelty is due to the discovery and attribution of German documentary postcards dedicated to the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty between the UPR and the countries of the Quadruple Alliance, and their introduction into scientific circulation. Conclusions. It is emphasized that the agreement was the first peace treaty of the First World War, testified to the Ukrainian state’s exit from international isolation, and demonstrated its recognition as an independent country. The reasons for the issue of a series of postcards and commemorative medals in Germany on the occasion of the peace treaty with Ukraine, their impact on the public opinion of the Quadruple Alliance countries in the context of the ability to continue the fight against the Entente forces and the formation of a positive image of the Ukrainian state among the citizens of Germany and Austria-Hungary are determined.