As the Poles pursued a policy of genocide of the Russian population who did not want to live in slavery
The Polish government pursued a policy of genocide against the Russian population, who did not want to live in slavery. The Polish documents said: "... you must punish their wives and children and destroy their homes for better for nettle to grow in those places than the traitors to his royal favor of the Commonwealth to multiply."
Cossack uprisings
In the 1628 year, hetman Mikhail Doroshenko died during a campaign on the Crimea. In its place, the Cossack foreman hastily selected the representative of the rich Cossacks Gritska Cherny. The Polish government approved it. Black immediately began to crush the resistance of dissatisfied with the established order. Outraged Cossacks and part of the registered Cossacks declared Black deposed and proclaimed hetman Levk Ivanovich. But he was soon deposed to indecision and pliability.
The new hetman was an energetic and talented Zaporizhia Cossack Taras Fedorovich (Shaking). He had great combat experience, was a member of the Thirty Years War, as the commander of the mercenaries from among the Cossacks on the side of the Hapsburg Empire. But Black did not want to give up. He promised the Cossacks to forgive everything if they came to him with artillery from Zaporozhye and promised to return many to the registry. The Cossacks promised to be obedient and return the guns and began their march. Black left to meet them. Sent by Taras the vanguard of the Cossacks in March 1630, attacked them. Hetman Black was executed for treason.
Fedorovich turned to the people with generalists, in which he called to stand up to fight against the nobility. The campaign of the Cossacks was the impetus for the beginning of a large-scale Cossack-peasant uprising. The army of Taras grew to several tens of thousands of soldiers. He took possession of Cherkasy. The rebels attacked the estates and possessions of the nobility, killed their masters, seized their property and destroyed the gentry documents. The April-May uprising covered a large territory of the Ukraine-Ukraine. Apparently, Bogdan Khmelnitsky was one of the leaders of this uprising. And as the most educated person, he composed the versatile persons of Taras Fedorovich to the people. They called to unite with the Cossacks to protect the faith, promising Cossack liberties to the peasants.
The Polish crown army, along with 3 thousand registered Cossacks, stood in Korsun. Taras turned to the crown hetman Stanislav Konetspolsky with the requirement that he should retire to Bila Tserkva and give him registered Cossacks. These requirements were not met and the Cossacks went to Korsun. Locals went over to the rebels. 4 April in Korsun battle the Poles were defeated and retreated to the city of Bar. The rebels made Pereyaslavl their stronghold. Soon the Poles gathered their forces and went on the offensive. In May, the Polish army forced the Dnieper and fighting began at Pereyaslav, which lasted about three weeks and ended in early June with the victory of the rebels. In the decisive battle of 25 in May - “Tarasov night”, when the Cossacks at night caught the Poles in their camp by surprise, the enemy was defeated. The whole wagon train and artillery of the Polish hetman Konetspolsky went to Zaporizhzhya Cossacks.
However, despite the success in the war, Fedorovich, fearing betrayal by the Cossack officers, returned to Zaporizhia with loyal Cossacks. After he left 8 on June 1630, the Pereyaslav Agreement was signed between Konetspolsky and the Cossack elite. The registry increased from 6 to 8 thousand people, it included a part of well-off Cossacks - "extractors". Cossacks got the right to choose their own hetman. Cossacks that were not included (“inscribed”) were to go home.
The new hetman Timofey Orendarenko did not last long in power. In the summer of 1631, dissatisfied with his inability or unwillingness to deal with the disgruntled, the Poles appointed Ivan Kulagu-Petrazhitsky to take his place. But this protege of the rich elite of the Cossacks did not last long. In the spring of 1632, he was registered Cossacks on the orders of the king moved to Zaporozhye. He managed to take Khortytsya, burn some of the Cossack gulls (boats). Leaving the garrison in Zaporozhye, Kulaga returned to Kanev, where the hetman's office was located. For his business, Kulaga earned the king’s praise and when the Cossacks began to prepare for the campaign against Turkey, he promised to destroy the Sich.
At the same time, the registered Cossacks detained the Russian embassy, which was heading for Zaporozhye to Taras Fedorovich. Kulaga arrested ambassadors and read their letter to the Rada. But most of the Cossacks, burghers and peasants condemned the actions of the Kulagi. At that time, ordinary Russian people in Ukraine looked with hope at the Russian kingdom, hoping for Moscow’s help in fighting the Polish invaders, and expressed their readiness to serve the Russian sovereign. During frequent uprisings, the Cossacks and their leaders repeatedly turned to Moscow for help, asking for citizenship. However, Moscow then led a cautious policy, not daring to speak out for the reunification of the Russian land. Commonwealth was a strong enemy, the Poles were not so long ago sitting in Moscow itself. Russian ambassador was killed. This caused the anger of the common people. Soon Kulagu was dismissed and killed.
In 1632, King Sigismund II died. According to Polish custom, after the death of the king, two seimas were to pass - the convocation (constituent), which reviewed the past government, presented views on improvements under the new king, considered various proposals, and electoral - elective, where the king was elected. It was a very dangerous moment for Poland; powerful tycoons, relying on their aspirants, could lead the country to civil war. Bogdan Khmelnitsky had the honor of writing a letter to the deputies of the Seimas "from the Zaporizhzhya troops and the entire Russian people." Cossacks supported Vladislav. The second challenger was Casimir, known as a zealous Catholic and a persecutor of Orthodoxy. The Cossacks wrote that they hope to “return and multiply the violated rights and freedoms”. The letter said: "... in the reign of the late king, they suffered great injustices, unheard-of insults and were greatly distressed that the Uniates intervene on our rights and liberties, taking advantage of the patronage of some noble persons, cause a lot of oppression to us, the Cossacks, and the entire Russian people ... ".
That is, at this time the Russians, as they inhabited the Kiev region in the 9th-13th centuries, continued to live there, no “Ukrainians” existed. Ukraine is the outskirts of the Polish Empire. In Byzantium, South-Western Russia was called “Little Russia”, distinguishing it from the rest - “Great Russia”.
Also, the letter expressed a request to destroy all injustices before the coronation of the future king, which would calm the people, otherwise "... we will be forced to look for other measures of satisfaction ...". In addition, the Cossack Council offered to allow the Cossacks to choose a new king. That is, a path was proposed for the integration of the Russian Ukrainian borderlands as part of the Commonwealth. It is clear what caused the fury of the Polish gentry - their “slaves” dare to indicate the gentry whom to elect to the kings, they demand to stop the advancement of Catholicism to the east, and still admit the admission of the Cossacks to the election of the king. Cossack ambassadors did not achieve anything.
The Cossacks sent a new embassy, but it did not achieve anything. The Cossacks wrote a letter to the future King Vladislav personally. Khmelnitsky went with him. The Cossacks asked for mercy and favor and promised support against those who would interfere with it. Vladislav, understanding the significance of the Cossack force, flirted with the Cossacks, expressed a good disposition. His position was complicated by the confrontation with the Polish magnates, who followed the path of further restraint of royal power, wanted even more power, lands and wealth. In addition, after Vladislav IV ascended to the throne, another war began with Russia for Smolensk, which after the Troubles remained for the Poles. The Polish army led by the new king moved to Russia to help the garrison besieged by Russian troops in Smolensk. The war ended with the defeat of Russia. Russian troops were trapped between the fortress and the Polish army, and in February 1634 surrendered. In June 1634, the Polyanovsky Peace was signed. Smolensk remained for Poland. This world could not solve the fundamental contradictions between Russia and Poland. A new war was inevitable.
The Russian people in Little Russia were still being enslaved. There was strong pressure on the Cossacks. Ordinary people fled to Zaporizhia. Then the Polish government decided to build a barrier to the fugitives. In 1630, a French fortifying engineer Guillaume Levasseur de Boplan was invited to the Polish service. Later, returning to his homeland, he published the "Description of Ukraine, or the regions of the Kingdom of Poland, located between the border of Muscovy and Transylvania." Boplan commissioned the construction of fortresses in the south of the kingdom. One of these fortresses was Kodak, which was built in 1635 on the right bank of the Dnieper against the Kodak threshold. The fortress was a barrier on the way of the fugitives and had to block access to the Black Sea. The garrison was 200 German dragoon mercenaries led by French officer Jean Marion.
Fortress. Fragment historical cards
The fortress strongly hindered the Cossacks. Already in August, the 1635 of the year, the Cossacks under the command of Ataman Ivan Sulima, returning from the march to the Black Sea with a surprise attack, took and destroyed Kodak, cutting out the entire garrison (only 15 of the Dragoons who were in reconnaissance were alive). Commandant J. Marion himself was executed. Boplan also wanted to be executed, but eventually spared. Thus began a new uprising of the Cossacks against Polish rule.
At that time, in Ukraine, instead of Konetspolsky, who was with the crown army of the Swedish border (Poland fought with the Swedes for the Baltic states), a Ukrainian tycoon, a Kiev kastelyan (ruler), and a Bratslav voivode, senator Adam Kissel, were raised. With bribery and promises, he managed to ensure that the registered Cossacks moved towards the rebels towards Kodak. Sulima sent for help to the former hetman Taras Fedorovich (he left the Don with the faithful Cossacks), and he tried to avoid a decisive battle until the uprising gained strength. However, Sulym with the five closest associates was captured by traitors among the Cossack officers and extradited to the Poles. Sulima was brought to Warsaw, where he was tortured and executed in December. The Cossacks, who destroyed Kodak, cut off their ears and sent them to serf works.
Only one of the leaders of the rebels escaped death - Pavlyuk. Bogdan Khmelnitsky, in order not to tempt fate, also moved to the Cossack lower reaches. Pavlyuk also arrived there. Here they met with the envoy of the Crimean Khan Islam-Giray, who fought with Khan Katntemir and wanted an alliance with the Cossacks. The Cossacks began to prepare for a new uprising. Khmelnitsky was elected to the responsible position of the clerk of the Zaporizhia Army. He kept records of the troops, led the entire office, prepared the documents, held talks, speaking as a representative of the Sich.
In May, the 1637 began a new uprising. Zaporozhye's non-spree Cossacks elected Pavlyuk as hetman. The new hetman appealed to the people with a generalist, in which he called everyone to go to him and join the Cossack army, and panam threatened with cruel reprisals. Raising the Cossacks, Pavlyuk moved to Pereyaslav, where the main apartment of the registered Cossacks was then, and the hetman of the registered Cossacks, Vasily Tomilenko. Pavlyuk demanded to give him the hetman. Tomilenko agreed at first, but a Cossack foreman opposed him. The indecisive Tomilenko was deposed, reproaching Pavlyuk with indulgence, and elected Colonel Savva Kononovich as hetman of Pereyaslavl.
In July, the rebels entered Borovitsa 1637, almost all the locals supported Pavlyuk. On August 2, Pavlyuk's troops attacked Pereyaslav, the main apartment of the registered Cossacks, and seized Hetman Kononovich, troop clerk Fyodor Onushkevich and other officers. They were taken to the Pavlyuk headquarters - Chigirin, the Cossack Rada sentenced the hetman and foremen, who were in favor of the Polish order, to death. The troop clerk Khmelnitsky supported Pavlyuk in everything: his desire to unite with the Don Cossacks and recognize the authority of Moscow Russia. Together with Pavlyuk, he composed generalists, calling to fight for his homeland, for faith, rights, for abused wives and children.
The uprising on Left-Bank Ukraine broke out even more. As a result, all the regiments of the regiment went to the side of the rebels. The rebels seized the city outside the city, ruined the gentry estates. Shlyakhta fled, preferring, according to the testimony of the Polish chronicler Okolsky, "lyk life of silk death". Crown hetman Konetspolsky sent against the rebels a major magnate and his deputy, Nikolai Pototsky. Konetspolsky in the wagon of August 24 demanded that the non-commissioned officers, headmen and other officials "those who had already joined the willful mass of the people and for two weeks did not repent and did not return from there, did not consider the Cossacks performing their duties, tried to arrest ... If your graces could not delay them, then you must punish their wives and children and destroy them at home for it is better that nettle grows in those places than the traitors to his royal favor of the Commonwealth multiply ”. Accordingly, Nikolai Pototsky was used savage terror to the rebels and the population that supported them. The Poles burned, destroyed and destroyed everything in their path. Thus, the Polish government pursued a policy of genocide against the Russian population, who did not want to live in slavery.
6 (16) December 1637 opponents came together in a battle with. Kumeyki (near Chigirin). The Cossacks were the first to attack the enemy, but near the enemy camp they came across a swamp. They got out with difficulty, and then the Polish cavalry struck at them. During the battle, Polish troops managed to encircle the rebels. The Cossacks fought back in the camp of the wagons set in several rows. All day they repelled the attacks of the Polish cavalry supported by infantry and artillery. Moreover, the Cossack groups twice managed to break through the encirclement. During the second breakthrough, the camp managed to leave the Cossack elder with Pavlyuk. Pavlyuk with small forces retreated to Chyhyryn, where they hoped to unite with other detachments and replenish their stocks of gunpowder. At this time, the main forces of the rebels, remaining on the battlefield under the command of Dmitry Guni, continued to fight until late at night, distracting the enemy. The Cossacks under cover of darkness on the night of December 7 (17) left the camp on several dozen carts, scattered around the area and retreated to the Moshnam.
Not stopping in Moshny, the Cossacks retreated to the town of Borovitsa near Cherkasy. Here the detachment of Pavlyuk again united with the Cossacks Guni. By December 9 (19), the forces of the rebels were again surrounded by the Poles, who had taken Borovits in the siege. 10 (20) December broke out a new battle. The Poles surrounded Borovitsa with trenches and cut it off from the water. Day and night Polish artillery bombarded the town. On fire, he was all on fire. But the besieged stubbornly fought back. Unable to quickly break the rebels, Pototsky proposed negotiations. In conditions of complete encirclement, the Cossack foreman persuaded Pavlyuk to negotiate with Potocki. Khmelnitsky and Gunya joined the negotiations, but they were in the minority.
Kissel arrived at the rebel camp and was sent by Potocki and the Polish commissars. The officers and Cossacks were ordered to appear in the Rada, and in the presence of all the Cossack officers put before the Polish commissars signs of Cossack power: horsetail, mace, seal of the Army. During the negotiations, Pavlyuk was deposed, Ilyash Karaimovich was appointed as the new senior of the registry, who, "not participating in riots, faithfully remained with the crown army." The rebels were ordered to swear allegiance to the king, the foreman set an example. "Repentance" was witnessed by a Cossack letter to the crown hetman Konetspolsky. He signed and Khmelnitsky.
Pavlyuk was treacherously seized by the Poles during negotiations, along with other leaders of the uprising, the former hetman Tomilenko and G. Likhim. Pavlyuk in February 1636 was brutally executed in Warsaw. Together with him, the former registered hetman Tomilenko, who had sided with Pavlyuk, and the foreman, Evil, were executed by sentence of the Sejm. The Poles staged a massacre. The roads were lined with stakes on which the rebellious Cossacks and peasants were planted. A new wave of refugees poured into the lower lands of Zaporozhye, on the Don and into the Dnieper-Don interfluve — the future Slobozhanshchyna.
Major Polish tycoon, statesman and military leader Nikolai Pototsky (1595 - 1651)
At the same time, the Sejm, wishing to destroy the rebellious Cossacks, approved a document that became one of the worst in the history of the Cossacks - "The Order of the Zaporizhzhya Register Troops, which is in the service of the Commonwealth." King Vladislav proclaimed in “Ordination”: “... Cossack self-will turned out to be so unbridled that in order to pacify it, the troops of the Commonwealth had to move and wage war with him. By the will of the gentlemen, the lords of all troops and militias, having defeated and defeating the Cossacks, having averted danger from the Commonwealth, we forever take away all their ancient jurisdictions, prerogatives, incomes and other benefits that they used as a reward for the services rendered to our ancestors, and which they are now losing as a result of their rebellion. "
All the surviving rebels turned into flakes (serfs). From the nobility it was decided to elect a hetman, colonels and even esaulov. Colonels with their regiments had to carry the border guard service in Zaporozhye against the Tatars and hinder the actions of spawning Cossacks on islands and small rivers, preventing them from organizing naval campaigns against the Crimea and Turkey. Not a single Cossack, under the threat of death, should have left for Zaporozhye without a passport issued by the commissioner. The petty-bourgeoisie should not have signed up for the Cossacks, neither themselves nor their sons should even marry daughters to Cossacks on pain of confiscating property. The Cossacks were restricted to the Cherkassy, Chigirin, Korsun and other border towns.
To suppress possible new insurrections, it was decided to form a mercenary guard with a commissioner and colonels with a salary higher than that of the registered Cossacks, and also to restore the fortress on Kodak. The fortress was restored by the German engineer Friedrich Getkant, its size increased almost three times, the Catholic church and monastery were built, and the garrison was increased to 700 mercenaries. The firepower was reinforced with artillery, and a watchtower was built three kilometers from the fortress.
Thus, instead of a compromise with the Cossacks and the Russian population of south-western Russia, the Polish government intensified repression and terror. It became obvious that a new explosion could not be avoided.
Franz Rubo Zaporozhian attack in the steppe
To be continued ...
Cossack uprisings
In the 1628 year, hetman Mikhail Doroshenko died during a campaign on the Crimea. In its place, the Cossack foreman hastily selected the representative of the rich Cossacks Gritska Cherny. The Polish government approved it. Black immediately began to crush the resistance of dissatisfied with the established order. Outraged Cossacks and part of the registered Cossacks declared Black deposed and proclaimed hetman Levk Ivanovich. But he was soon deposed to indecision and pliability.
The new hetman was an energetic and talented Zaporizhia Cossack Taras Fedorovich (Shaking). He had great combat experience, was a member of the Thirty Years War, as the commander of the mercenaries from among the Cossacks on the side of the Hapsburg Empire. But Black did not want to give up. He promised the Cossacks to forgive everything if they came to him with artillery from Zaporozhye and promised to return many to the registry. The Cossacks promised to be obedient and return the guns and began their march. Black left to meet them. Sent by Taras the vanguard of the Cossacks in March 1630, attacked them. Hetman Black was executed for treason.
Fedorovich turned to the people with generalists, in which he called to stand up to fight against the nobility. The campaign of the Cossacks was the impetus for the beginning of a large-scale Cossack-peasant uprising. The army of Taras grew to several tens of thousands of soldiers. He took possession of Cherkasy. The rebels attacked the estates and possessions of the nobility, killed their masters, seized their property and destroyed the gentry documents. The April-May uprising covered a large territory of the Ukraine-Ukraine. Apparently, Bogdan Khmelnitsky was one of the leaders of this uprising. And as the most educated person, he composed the versatile persons of Taras Fedorovich to the people. They called to unite with the Cossacks to protect the faith, promising Cossack liberties to the peasants.
The Polish crown army, along with 3 thousand registered Cossacks, stood in Korsun. Taras turned to the crown hetman Stanislav Konetspolsky with the requirement that he should retire to Bila Tserkva and give him registered Cossacks. These requirements were not met and the Cossacks went to Korsun. Locals went over to the rebels. 4 April in Korsun battle the Poles were defeated and retreated to the city of Bar. The rebels made Pereyaslavl their stronghold. Soon the Poles gathered their forces and went on the offensive. In May, the Polish army forced the Dnieper and fighting began at Pereyaslav, which lasted about three weeks and ended in early June with the victory of the rebels. In the decisive battle of 25 in May - “Tarasov night”, when the Cossacks at night caught the Poles in their camp by surprise, the enemy was defeated. The whole wagon train and artillery of the Polish hetman Konetspolsky went to Zaporizhzhya Cossacks.
However, despite the success in the war, Fedorovich, fearing betrayal by the Cossack officers, returned to Zaporizhia with loyal Cossacks. After he left 8 on June 1630, the Pereyaslav Agreement was signed between Konetspolsky and the Cossack elite. The registry increased from 6 to 8 thousand people, it included a part of well-off Cossacks - "extractors". Cossacks got the right to choose their own hetman. Cossacks that were not included (“inscribed”) were to go home.
The new hetman Timofey Orendarenko did not last long in power. In the summer of 1631, dissatisfied with his inability or unwillingness to deal with the disgruntled, the Poles appointed Ivan Kulagu-Petrazhitsky to take his place. But this protege of the rich elite of the Cossacks did not last long. In the spring of 1632, he was registered Cossacks on the orders of the king moved to Zaporozhye. He managed to take Khortytsya, burn some of the Cossack gulls (boats). Leaving the garrison in Zaporozhye, Kulaga returned to Kanev, where the hetman's office was located. For his business, Kulaga earned the king’s praise and when the Cossacks began to prepare for the campaign against Turkey, he promised to destroy the Sich.
At the same time, the registered Cossacks detained the Russian embassy, which was heading for Zaporozhye to Taras Fedorovich. Kulaga arrested ambassadors and read their letter to the Rada. But most of the Cossacks, burghers and peasants condemned the actions of the Kulagi. At that time, ordinary Russian people in Ukraine looked with hope at the Russian kingdom, hoping for Moscow’s help in fighting the Polish invaders, and expressed their readiness to serve the Russian sovereign. During frequent uprisings, the Cossacks and their leaders repeatedly turned to Moscow for help, asking for citizenship. However, Moscow then led a cautious policy, not daring to speak out for the reunification of the Russian land. Commonwealth was a strong enemy, the Poles were not so long ago sitting in Moscow itself. Russian ambassador was killed. This caused the anger of the common people. Soon Kulagu was dismissed and killed.
In 1632, King Sigismund II died. According to Polish custom, after the death of the king, two seimas were to pass - the convocation (constituent), which reviewed the past government, presented views on improvements under the new king, considered various proposals, and electoral - elective, where the king was elected. It was a very dangerous moment for Poland; powerful tycoons, relying on their aspirants, could lead the country to civil war. Bogdan Khmelnitsky had the honor of writing a letter to the deputies of the Seimas "from the Zaporizhzhya troops and the entire Russian people." Cossacks supported Vladislav. The second challenger was Casimir, known as a zealous Catholic and a persecutor of Orthodoxy. The Cossacks wrote that they hope to “return and multiply the violated rights and freedoms”. The letter said: "... in the reign of the late king, they suffered great injustices, unheard-of insults and were greatly distressed that the Uniates intervene on our rights and liberties, taking advantage of the patronage of some noble persons, cause a lot of oppression to us, the Cossacks, and the entire Russian people ... ".
That is, at this time the Russians, as they inhabited the Kiev region in the 9th-13th centuries, continued to live there, no “Ukrainians” existed. Ukraine is the outskirts of the Polish Empire. In Byzantium, South-Western Russia was called “Little Russia”, distinguishing it from the rest - “Great Russia”.
Also, the letter expressed a request to destroy all injustices before the coronation of the future king, which would calm the people, otherwise "... we will be forced to look for other measures of satisfaction ...". In addition, the Cossack Council offered to allow the Cossacks to choose a new king. That is, a path was proposed for the integration of the Russian Ukrainian borderlands as part of the Commonwealth. It is clear what caused the fury of the Polish gentry - their “slaves” dare to indicate the gentry whom to elect to the kings, they demand to stop the advancement of Catholicism to the east, and still admit the admission of the Cossacks to the election of the king. Cossack ambassadors did not achieve anything.
The Cossacks sent a new embassy, but it did not achieve anything. The Cossacks wrote a letter to the future King Vladislav personally. Khmelnitsky went with him. The Cossacks asked for mercy and favor and promised support against those who would interfere with it. Vladislav, understanding the significance of the Cossack force, flirted with the Cossacks, expressed a good disposition. His position was complicated by the confrontation with the Polish magnates, who followed the path of further restraint of royal power, wanted even more power, lands and wealth. In addition, after Vladislav IV ascended to the throne, another war began with Russia for Smolensk, which after the Troubles remained for the Poles. The Polish army led by the new king moved to Russia to help the garrison besieged by Russian troops in Smolensk. The war ended with the defeat of Russia. Russian troops were trapped between the fortress and the Polish army, and in February 1634 surrendered. In June 1634, the Polyanovsky Peace was signed. Smolensk remained for Poland. This world could not solve the fundamental contradictions between Russia and Poland. A new war was inevitable.
The Russian people in Little Russia were still being enslaved. There was strong pressure on the Cossacks. Ordinary people fled to Zaporizhia. Then the Polish government decided to build a barrier to the fugitives. In 1630, a French fortifying engineer Guillaume Levasseur de Boplan was invited to the Polish service. Later, returning to his homeland, he published the "Description of Ukraine, or the regions of the Kingdom of Poland, located between the border of Muscovy and Transylvania." Boplan commissioned the construction of fortresses in the south of the kingdom. One of these fortresses was Kodak, which was built in 1635 on the right bank of the Dnieper against the Kodak threshold. The fortress was a barrier on the way of the fugitives and had to block access to the Black Sea. The garrison was 200 German dragoon mercenaries led by French officer Jean Marion.
Fortress. Fragment historical cards
The fortress strongly hindered the Cossacks. Already in August, the 1635 of the year, the Cossacks under the command of Ataman Ivan Sulima, returning from the march to the Black Sea with a surprise attack, took and destroyed Kodak, cutting out the entire garrison (only 15 of the Dragoons who were in reconnaissance were alive). Commandant J. Marion himself was executed. Boplan also wanted to be executed, but eventually spared. Thus began a new uprising of the Cossacks against Polish rule.
At that time, in Ukraine, instead of Konetspolsky, who was with the crown army of the Swedish border (Poland fought with the Swedes for the Baltic states), a Ukrainian tycoon, a Kiev kastelyan (ruler), and a Bratslav voivode, senator Adam Kissel, were raised. With bribery and promises, he managed to ensure that the registered Cossacks moved towards the rebels towards Kodak. Sulima sent for help to the former hetman Taras Fedorovich (he left the Don with the faithful Cossacks), and he tried to avoid a decisive battle until the uprising gained strength. However, Sulym with the five closest associates was captured by traitors among the Cossack officers and extradited to the Poles. Sulima was brought to Warsaw, where he was tortured and executed in December. The Cossacks, who destroyed Kodak, cut off their ears and sent them to serf works.
Only one of the leaders of the rebels escaped death - Pavlyuk. Bogdan Khmelnitsky, in order not to tempt fate, also moved to the Cossack lower reaches. Pavlyuk also arrived there. Here they met with the envoy of the Crimean Khan Islam-Giray, who fought with Khan Katntemir and wanted an alliance with the Cossacks. The Cossacks began to prepare for a new uprising. Khmelnitsky was elected to the responsible position of the clerk of the Zaporizhia Army. He kept records of the troops, led the entire office, prepared the documents, held talks, speaking as a representative of the Sich.
In May, the 1637 began a new uprising. Zaporozhye's non-spree Cossacks elected Pavlyuk as hetman. The new hetman appealed to the people with a generalist, in which he called everyone to go to him and join the Cossack army, and panam threatened with cruel reprisals. Raising the Cossacks, Pavlyuk moved to Pereyaslav, where the main apartment of the registered Cossacks was then, and the hetman of the registered Cossacks, Vasily Tomilenko. Pavlyuk demanded to give him the hetman. Tomilenko agreed at first, but a Cossack foreman opposed him. The indecisive Tomilenko was deposed, reproaching Pavlyuk with indulgence, and elected Colonel Savva Kononovich as hetman of Pereyaslavl.
In July, the rebels entered Borovitsa 1637, almost all the locals supported Pavlyuk. On August 2, Pavlyuk's troops attacked Pereyaslav, the main apartment of the registered Cossacks, and seized Hetman Kononovich, troop clerk Fyodor Onushkevich and other officers. They were taken to the Pavlyuk headquarters - Chigirin, the Cossack Rada sentenced the hetman and foremen, who were in favor of the Polish order, to death. The troop clerk Khmelnitsky supported Pavlyuk in everything: his desire to unite with the Don Cossacks and recognize the authority of Moscow Russia. Together with Pavlyuk, he composed generalists, calling to fight for his homeland, for faith, rights, for abused wives and children.
The uprising on Left-Bank Ukraine broke out even more. As a result, all the regiments of the regiment went to the side of the rebels. The rebels seized the city outside the city, ruined the gentry estates. Shlyakhta fled, preferring, according to the testimony of the Polish chronicler Okolsky, "lyk life of silk death". Crown hetman Konetspolsky sent against the rebels a major magnate and his deputy, Nikolai Pototsky. Konetspolsky in the wagon of August 24 demanded that the non-commissioned officers, headmen and other officials "those who had already joined the willful mass of the people and for two weeks did not repent and did not return from there, did not consider the Cossacks performing their duties, tried to arrest ... If your graces could not delay them, then you must punish their wives and children and destroy them at home for it is better that nettle grows in those places than the traitors to his royal favor of the Commonwealth multiply ”. Accordingly, Nikolai Pototsky was used savage terror to the rebels and the population that supported them. The Poles burned, destroyed and destroyed everything in their path. Thus, the Polish government pursued a policy of genocide against the Russian population, who did not want to live in slavery.
6 (16) December 1637 opponents came together in a battle with. Kumeyki (near Chigirin). The Cossacks were the first to attack the enemy, but near the enemy camp they came across a swamp. They got out with difficulty, and then the Polish cavalry struck at them. During the battle, Polish troops managed to encircle the rebels. The Cossacks fought back in the camp of the wagons set in several rows. All day they repelled the attacks of the Polish cavalry supported by infantry and artillery. Moreover, the Cossack groups twice managed to break through the encirclement. During the second breakthrough, the camp managed to leave the Cossack elder with Pavlyuk. Pavlyuk with small forces retreated to Chyhyryn, where they hoped to unite with other detachments and replenish their stocks of gunpowder. At this time, the main forces of the rebels, remaining on the battlefield under the command of Dmitry Guni, continued to fight until late at night, distracting the enemy. The Cossacks under cover of darkness on the night of December 7 (17) left the camp on several dozen carts, scattered around the area and retreated to the Moshnam.
Not stopping in Moshny, the Cossacks retreated to the town of Borovitsa near Cherkasy. Here the detachment of Pavlyuk again united with the Cossacks Guni. By December 9 (19), the forces of the rebels were again surrounded by the Poles, who had taken Borovits in the siege. 10 (20) December broke out a new battle. The Poles surrounded Borovitsa with trenches and cut it off from the water. Day and night Polish artillery bombarded the town. On fire, he was all on fire. But the besieged stubbornly fought back. Unable to quickly break the rebels, Pototsky proposed negotiations. In conditions of complete encirclement, the Cossack foreman persuaded Pavlyuk to negotiate with Potocki. Khmelnitsky and Gunya joined the negotiations, but they were in the minority.
Kissel arrived at the rebel camp and was sent by Potocki and the Polish commissars. The officers and Cossacks were ordered to appear in the Rada, and in the presence of all the Cossack officers put before the Polish commissars signs of Cossack power: horsetail, mace, seal of the Army. During the negotiations, Pavlyuk was deposed, Ilyash Karaimovich was appointed as the new senior of the registry, who, "not participating in riots, faithfully remained with the crown army." The rebels were ordered to swear allegiance to the king, the foreman set an example. "Repentance" was witnessed by a Cossack letter to the crown hetman Konetspolsky. He signed and Khmelnitsky.
Pavlyuk was treacherously seized by the Poles during negotiations, along with other leaders of the uprising, the former hetman Tomilenko and G. Likhim. Pavlyuk in February 1636 was brutally executed in Warsaw. Together with him, the former registered hetman Tomilenko, who had sided with Pavlyuk, and the foreman, Evil, were executed by sentence of the Sejm. The Poles staged a massacre. The roads were lined with stakes on which the rebellious Cossacks and peasants were planted. A new wave of refugees poured into the lower lands of Zaporozhye, on the Don and into the Dnieper-Don interfluve — the future Slobozhanshchyna.
Major Polish tycoon, statesman and military leader Nikolai Pototsky (1595 - 1651)
At the same time, the Sejm, wishing to destroy the rebellious Cossacks, approved a document that became one of the worst in the history of the Cossacks - "The Order of the Zaporizhzhya Register Troops, which is in the service of the Commonwealth." King Vladislav proclaimed in “Ordination”: “... Cossack self-will turned out to be so unbridled that in order to pacify it, the troops of the Commonwealth had to move and wage war with him. By the will of the gentlemen, the lords of all troops and militias, having defeated and defeating the Cossacks, having averted danger from the Commonwealth, we forever take away all their ancient jurisdictions, prerogatives, incomes and other benefits that they used as a reward for the services rendered to our ancestors, and which they are now losing as a result of their rebellion. "
All the surviving rebels turned into flakes (serfs). From the nobility it was decided to elect a hetman, colonels and even esaulov. Colonels with their regiments had to carry the border guard service in Zaporozhye against the Tatars and hinder the actions of spawning Cossacks on islands and small rivers, preventing them from organizing naval campaigns against the Crimea and Turkey. Not a single Cossack, under the threat of death, should have left for Zaporozhye without a passport issued by the commissioner. The petty-bourgeoisie should not have signed up for the Cossacks, neither themselves nor their sons should even marry daughters to Cossacks on pain of confiscating property. The Cossacks were restricted to the Cherkassy, Chigirin, Korsun and other border towns.
To suppress possible new insurrections, it was decided to form a mercenary guard with a commissioner and colonels with a salary higher than that of the registered Cossacks, and also to restore the fortress on Kodak. The fortress was restored by the German engineer Friedrich Getkant, its size increased almost three times, the Catholic church and monastery were built, and the garrison was increased to 700 mercenaries. The firepower was reinforced with artillery, and a watchtower was built three kilometers from the fortress.
Thus, instead of a compromise with the Cossacks and the Russian population of south-western Russia, the Polish government intensified repression and terror. It became obvious that a new explosion could not be avoided.
Franz Rubo Zaporozhian attack in the steppe
To be continued ...
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