The accession of Ukraine to Russia (1654) took place against the backdrop of complex socio-political events related to the desire of Ukrainians to become more independent and not depend entirely on Poland. Since 1648, the confrontation entered the armed phase, but no matter how many victories the Cossacks won under the leadership of Bogdan Khmelnitsky over the Polish troops, they could not turn the victories on the battlefield into tangible political dividends. It became clear that without the help of a powerful ally, it would not be possible to get out of the custody of the Commonwealth, as a result, Ukraine and Russia reunited. Briefly describe the reasons for the historical event.
Equality and Autonomy
During the six years of the war, in numerous bloody battles, the Ukrainian people defeated the Polish troops many times with enormous exertion. But, delivering tangible blows to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Khmelnitsky at first was not yet going to tear Ukraine away from the Polish state. He stood on the position of Cossack autonomy, that is, he sought to ensure that the Cossacks and the gentry had equal rights, and that the Ukrainian lands became equal in rights within the Commonwealth along with Poland and Lithuania. Then there was still no talk about the reunification of Ukraine with Russia. The year 1654 changed the situation.
Or maybe independence?
Meanwhile, few believed in the idea of ​​equality in the framework of autonomy. Already in the first years of the war in Ukraine, and in Poland, rumors spread that:
- Khmelnitsky wants to restore some "Old Russian" or create a new principality.
- He calls himself "the prince of Russia."
- Cossacks want to establish an independent state.
But then for the independence of Ukraine the necessary prerequisites have not yet developed. The main participants in the war - and this is the illiterate Cossacks and the same illiterate peasantry - could not create their own state ideology, the leading layer - Cossack foremen and gentry - did not have the proper political weight to implement the separatist plans. Moreover, even the hetman Khmelnitsky did not yet have popular confidence. Only during the war, in the process of the formation of the Ukrainian Cossack state, the idea of ​​independence was spread and affirmed.
Union with Turkey
The longer the hostilities took place, the more Khmelnytsky, the elders and the masses became convinced that Ukraine alone could not free itself from the power of gentry Poland without anyone else's help. There were only two powerful neighbors who were ready to confront the Commonwealth: the Russian state in the east and the Ottoman Empire in the south. Khmelnitsky had little choice: either the entry of Ukraine into Russia, or the recognition of vassal dependence on Turkey.
Initially, the Turkish sultan, who had enough strength to withstand the encroachments of Poland in Ukraine, became a contender for Ukraine. Between Khmelnitsky and the government of the Sultan, negotiations were conducted. In 1651, the Ottoman Porta announced that it was accepting the Zaporizhzhya Army as vassals. In fact, the real help of the Turkish sultan was limited only by the fact that the Crimean Tatars participated in the battles, who were at war with the Cossacks for centuries. They remained very unreliable allies and with their treacherous behavior, robberies and withdrawal of the population into captivity brought more troubles than benefits to Ukrainians.
Seeking help from Russia
The alliance with the Ottoman Empire did not actually take place. It was not even a matter of the weak military-financial assistance of the Sultan, but of mental incompatibility. The differences between the Orthodox and Muslims, whom the people called "basurman", turned out to be insurmountable. In this situation, the eyes of Bogdan Khmelnitsky and the population of Ukraine turned to fellow believers - the Russians.
June 8, 1648, six years before the accession of Ukraine to Russia (1654), Bogdan Khmelnitsky wrote the first letter of assistance to the Russian autocrat Aleksei Mikhailovich. Initially, Russia was in no hurry to get involved in a full-scale war with a strong Polish-Lithuanian kingdom. But the leader of the Ukrainians all six years urged the tsar to provide assistance, seeking the inclusion of the Russian state in the war against gentry Poland. Khmelnitsky before the Moscow ambassadors emphasized the importance of joint defense of the Orthodox faith that is common for the fraternal peoples, with his victories he unmasked the exaggerated ideas about the power of the Commonwealth, noted the great advantages that the reunification of Ukraine with Russia will have. 1654 showed the foresight and correctness of Khmelnitsky.
Expectant position of Russia
Moscow understood the importance of an alliance with Ukraine:
- The strategic alliance, above all, paved the way south to the Black Sea and west.
- He weakened Poland.
- Destroyed a possible alliance of the Zaporizhzhya Sich with Turkey.
- Strengthened the state by the entry under the Russian banner of the three hundred thousandth Cossack army.
However, for a long time due to the complex internal and external circumstances, as well as in the hope of weakening both warring parties - Poland and Ukraine - the tsarist government took a wait and see attitude. Help was limited to sending bread and salt to Ukraine, allowing Ukrainians to move to the outlying lands, and exchanging embassies.
Rapprochement
Relations between Bogdan Khmelnitsky and the Russian government revived in 1652-1653, in the last years of the war of liberation. Almost continuously, embassies went from Ukraine to Moscow and from Moscow to Ukraine. In January 1652, Khmelnitsky sent his envoy Ivan Iskra to the Russian capital. The spark in the embassy’s order stated that the hetman and the entire Zaporizhzhya army wanted “tsarist Majesty to take them to their side”.
In December 1652 and January 1653 in Moscow, Samoilo Zarudny held negotiations with his comrades. Zarudny said that the tsar "ordered them to take the High Hand under his sovereign." On January 6, 1653, Khmelnitsky called in Chigirin a council of elders, who decided not to put up with Poland, but to continue fighting until Ukraine became part of Russia.
In April-May 1653, negotiations in Moscow were conducted by the ambassadors Kondraty Burlyai and Siluan Muzhilovsky. The tsarist government also sent ambassadors to Bogdan Khmelnitsky, in particular, at the end of May 1653, A. Matveev and I. Fomin left for Chigirin.
1654: Ukraine-Russia - together forever
The complication of the situation in Ukraine forced the tsarist government to speed up the decision. On June 22, 1653, the stolnik Fyodor Ladyzhensky went to Ukraine from Moscow with a letter from Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, in which he agreed to transfer the lands of Ukraine to the "high royal hand".
On October 1, 1653, the Zemsky Sobor met in Moscow to finally resolve the issue of relations between Russia and Ukraine and declare war on the Commonwealth. In the Faceted Chamber of the Kremlin, they decided "The Zaporizhzhya Army and the Hetman Bogdan Khmelnitsky with the lands and their cities to take the sovereign's arm". So the story was made. The reunification of Ukraine with Russia was approved not only by the tsar, but by all sections of the population (except serfs, who did not have voting rights), whose representatives gathered at the cathedral. At the same time, the Zemsky Sobor decided to start a war with Poland.
However, this is not the final accession of Ukraine to Russia. The year 1654 required several more meetings before final entry conditions were worked out. The recognition by Russia of Ukraine as a free, independent country was important. About this in the decision of the Zemsky Sobor it was stated as follows: "So as not to release them into citizenship of the Turkish Sultan or the Crimean Khan, because they became the oath of royal people."
Contract signing
January 31, 1653 the Russian embassy arrives at the headquarters of Khmelnitsky - the city of Pereyaslav - with a letter of the decision of the Zemsky Cathedral and the “highest command”. The embassy, ​​headed by V. Buturlin, was solemnly greeted by foremen and ordinary people.
On January 6, 1654, Bogdan Khmelnitsky arrived in Pereyaslav and the next day met with ambassadors in order to discuss the terms of the union. On January 8, after secret negotiations with the foremen on the terms of accession, Bogdan Khmelnitsky went out to the people and confirmed Ukraine’s accession to Russia. 1654 was a turning point in the fate of two peoples.
The Ukrainian embassies several times visited Moscow to discuss the details of the voluntary entry of Left-Bank Ukraine under the protectorate of the Russian Empire.
History of Ukraine in dates: reunion with Russia
- 1591-1593 - the uprising of the registered Cossacks against the Polish gentry and the first appeal of the hetman Krishtof Kosinsky for help to the Russian Tsar.
- 1622, 1624 - Appeal of Bishop Isaiah Kopinsky, and then Metropolitan Job Boretsky to the Tsar to accept the Orthodox of Little Russia into Russian citizenship.
- 1648 - Bogdan Khmelnitsky raises an all-Ukrainian uprising against the gentry and June 8 writes the first letter to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich about help and alliance. The first victories of the Cossack army and the signing of the Zborovsky peace treaty, which provided autonomy to the Zaporizhzhya Army.
- 1651 - the resumption of hostilities, the heavy defeat of the Cossacks near Berestechko.
- 1653 - a new appeal of Bogdan Khmelnitsky to the Russians with a request to help the Cossacks and a petition for acceptance of Left-Bank Ukraine as citizenship. October 1 gathered Zemsky Cathedral.
- 1654 - On January 8, the Pereyaslavskaya Rada met, popularly deciding to unite with Russia. On March 27, Zemsky Sobor and the tsar granted most of the requests put forward by foremen and the hetman, which provided for broad autonomy. This document finally consolidated the reunification of Left-Bank Ukraine with Russia.