Cossacks are a unique phenomenon in Eastern Europe that is not found anywhere else in the world. Homeland of the Cossacks - the lower reaches of the Dnieper. On the islands of this high-water river, the first Sichs were located - the fortifications of Cossack troops.
Hetmans of Ukraine were known far beyond their lands. The feats of the Cossacks in the fight against the Ottoman Empire are remembered in many countries of Western and Eastern Europe.
The history of the Cossacks
The very concept of "Cossack" is not of Slavic origin. It belongs to the Turkic or Turkish language. It means “guard”, “free man”. The first news of the Cossacks dates back to the 15th century. The complaint of the Crimean Khan to the Lithuanian prince mentions people who broke Turkish ships at the mouth of the Dnieper between Cherkasy and Kiev.
After that, in documents and annals, Cossacks are increasingly mentioned as militant groups that lived in their own way. Their number increased each time due to "carers". So called enslaved villagers who did not have their own land and in search of a better life went to the sparsely populated lands of the forest-steppe strip of modern Ukraine.
Later they will create their own state of the Zaporizhzhya Army. This name is due to the fact that the Cossacks settled outside the Dnieper. It was there that they created their fortifications and fought against the raids of the Tatars. Hetmans of Ukraine led them.
Creation of the first Cossack Sich
The first hetmans of Ukraine (ataman atoms) are little known. With the creation of the first Sich, the name of Prince Dmitry Vishnevetsky (1550-1563), which in folklore is referred to by the nickname Baida, is associated. It is known that he was from the family of landowners of Volhynia.
In 1553 he gathered a group of Cossacks of 300 people and set off for the Dnieper rapids to fight the Tatars, who devastated the land and kept the small population of the border territories in fear.
The first Sich was created on the island of Malaya Khortitsa. The Tatars tried several times to destroy this fortification. They succeeded in 1557. Prince Vishnevetsky was forced to leave Sich. However, he did not stop the fight against the Tatars.
The death of the first hetman is shrouded in many legends. It is known that he was captured by the Turkish army in 1563 in Moldova. He was taken to Istanbul (Constantinople), where he was killed. He was hung by a metal hook over the sea.
Some legends say that Baida was very impressed with the Turkish sultan and he invited him to convert to Islam, marry his daughter and become the best warrior. But the Cossack refused and publicly insulted the faith of the Sultan and his entire family. For this, the first hetman of Ukraine was executed.
The first "registers" of Cossacks
As the Cossacks increased in number and possessed a special military organization, it became a serious threat not only to the incoming Tatars, but also to the Polish kingdom. It was he who owned the Ukrainian lands after signing with the Lithuanian Principality of the Union of Lublin in 1569.
To control this military power, it was necessary to subjugate the Cossacks. Such an attempt was made by Gigmont Augustus. He invited 300 Cossacks to enter the “register” and receive from the king a certain fee for the service. At the head of the registered Cossacks were the hetmans of Ukraine. However, such an amount was an insignificant part of those who considered themselves Zaporozhye Cossacks.
The value of the hetman in the Zaporizhzhya Army
The administrative and political center of Sich became in the 16th century. All power in the Cossack structure belonged to the Sich Rada. Each Cossack had the right to vote.
Getmans of UkraineManagement of Zaporizhzhya Sich |
Sichovaya Rada | Carried out domestic and foreign policy, declared war, made peace, repaired the court, worked with embassies. |
Hetman (Ataman) | The highest military, administrative, judicial power. During the war, his power was unlimited, in peacetime all his decisions were coordinated with the Sich Rada. |
Army clerk | Sich Chancellery management, diplomatic correspondence and all documentation. |
Military judge | Court, enforcement of laws. |
Army osavul | Assistant hetman in military and administrative affairs. |
From the table it is clear that all power belonged to the Sich Rada. The hetmans of Ukraine were limited in their decisions. In addition, their position was elective, she did not inherit. If necessary, the ataman could be changed.
The most famous hetmans
Cossacks have existed since the 15th century. During this time, a lot of hetmans and ataman were chosen at Sich. All of them played a role in history. However, the most famous are the following hetmans of Ukraine.
The list is presented in chronological order of their reign:
- Dmitry Vishnevetsky (Baida).
- Petro Konashevich (Sagaidachny).
- Bohdan Khmelnytsky.
- Ivan Mazepa.
- Cyril Razumovsky.
Each of them should devote a separate book. The first representative of the list was mentioned above.
Petro Konashevich (1614-1622)
His name is associated with the era of the heroic campaigns of the Cossacks against the Ottoman Empire. At this time, the Cossacks made many naval raids on Turkish galleys. They freed the prisoners and plundered captured ships.
It is known that Petro Konashevich was born in the village of Kulchitsy (modern Lviv region) in the family of a small Ukrainian landowner. He received his education at the Ostrog Academy and the Lviv fraternal school.
His nickname is connected with the name of a bow and a quiver for arrows - sagaidak. Thanks to his skill to shoot accurately from a bow, he was nicknamed Sagaidachny.
The victory in the Battle of Khotyn in 1621 brought the hetman glory and death. This battle decided the outcome of the Turkish-Polish war. In addition, she showed that it is possible to defeat the Ottoman army, and stopped the further capture of European states by the Islamic world. The janissaries, furious from defeat, killed their own sultan, which led to the further decline of the Turkish Empire.
Severely wounded, he died a few months later in Kiev as the greatest hetman of Ukraine. Sahaidachny shared all his property between his wife and fraternal schools.
Bogdan Khmelnitsky (1648-1657)
Born in 1595 in the family of a Cossack centurion. He also took part in the Turkish-Polish war. In it, his father was killed. The Turks seized Khmelnitsky himself and sent to Constantinople, where he spent two years in captivity.
After many successful sea voyages against the Turks, he was appointed centurion. Bogdan Khmelnitsky with the Cossacks took part in the war with Spain on the side of France in 1646. Thanks to them, the fortress of Dunkirk was taken.
Khmelnitsky became the one who raised a national liberation uprising on Ukrainian lands against Polish omnipotence, which swept all sections of the population. A Cossack state was created, which conducted foreign policy with many countries. In his policy, the hetman sought allies from different angles: among the Crimean Khanate, the Moscow kingdom, and the countries of Europe. He opted for cooperation with Russia, which he approved with the entire Zaporizhzhya Army in the Pereyaslav Rada.
Bogdan Khmelnitsky died in 1657. After that, the period of Ruins (devastation) began on Ukrainian lands. Hetmanism, like all Ukrainian lands, will be divided between Poland and Russia into Right-Bank and Left-Bank, respectively. Each part has its own hetmans of Ukraine. The list of Cossack leaders has doubled since that time.
Ivan Mazepa (1687-1708)
The most controversial personality among hetmans is Ivan Mazepa. His mind, education, ability to manipulate people allowed him to be the hetman of Left - Bank Ukraine for more than 20 years.
He was born in 1639, received a good education, was in the service of the Polish king, and later with the hetman of the Right-Bank Ukraine Petro Doroshenko. During the assignment, he was captured and taken prisoner to the Left Bank Hetman, however, he was able to gain a foothold in the new conditions.
He found a common language with Peter the Great, received from him a gift of land and was one of the richest people in Europe. He donated a lot of money for the development of education, the construction of Orthodox churches. The style of these buildings will eventually be attributed to the Mazepevsky or Cossack Baroque.
In the outbreak of the Northern War, Ivan Mazepa (hetman of Ukraine) goes over to Sweden. However, he did not receive the support of the entire Cossacks and was defeated in the Battle of Poltava in 1709. Together with the Swedish king Karl Mazepa, he fled to Moldova, where he died the same year at the age of 70.
His act in Soviet times was considered solely as a betrayal. Modern Ukrainian historians are inclined towards the fact that Ivan Mazepa, first of all, defended his interests and the Hetman.
Kirill Razumovsky (1750-1764)
The last hetman of Ukraine is Kirill Razumovsky. He was an educated young man who was appointed to manage the Hetman at the age of 22. The choice was due to the fact that his older brother Alexei was a favorite of the Russian Empress Elizabeth.
He was not like the previous ataman atoms and spent most of his time in St. Petersburg. However, the period of his reign is rightfully considered the "golden autumn" of the Hetman.
With the coming to power of Catherine the Second, everything changes and in 1764 the last hetman of Ukraine renounces the mace. Part of the Cossacks became the Army of Faithful Cossacks, later the Black Sea, and even later the Kuban Cossack Army. Those who did not submit, crossed to the side of the Turkish Sultan and founded the Trans-Danube Sich.