"The Russian land will rise, it has never risen as never before"
Bogdan Khmelnitsky decided to speak "for the violation of the Russian faith and for the reproach of the Russian people"! He asked for help from the brothers, and they answered: “Let us be with you: the Russian land will rise, it has never risen as never before”.
Rise of Ostryanin and Guni
The defeat of the Pavlyuk uprising, the bloody Polish terror and the “Ordinations”, which severely infringed upon the rights of the Cossacks, did not stop the development of the liberation movement in South-Western Russia.
At the beginning of February, a registered Cossack officer gathered in Chigirin 1638. The eternal question was solved: what to do? The elder feared both the wrath of the king and the new uprising of the Cossacks. In the lower reaches of the Cossacks proclaimed hetman Jacob Ostryanin, he, along with Dmitry Gunya again raised the people to fight with the Poles. The foreman composed a letter in which she asked the high Diet to return the former rights to the Cossacks. But the Cossack embassy did not succeed, all Cossack requests were rejected.
Moreover, the repressions were decided to intensify, in order to finally suppress "assassinations and riots" with fire and sword. Polish commissars arrived in Ukraine. Commissioner Meletsky and his detachment arrived in Zaporizhia and demanded the extradition of Ostryanin, Skidan and other instigators of the uprising. Cossacks refused. The uprising expanded, the registry Cossacks, who were in the detachment of the Polish Commissioner, began to go over to the side of the Cossacks. Mielecki wrote in his report to Colonel Stanislav Potocki (the brother of the Polish hetman): "It is difficult to use Kazaks against their people - it’s like plowing the ground with a wolf."
The Poles were outraged in Little Russia. Everywhere there were gallows and stakes with the corpses of "rebels". The churches were polluted. People fled to Zaporozhye and the Russian kingdom. With the coming of spring 1638, the Cossacks raised another uprising. According to “Velichko’s Chronicle” in March 1638, on the eve of the march, Ostryanin appealed to the Russian people as a generalist, in which he announced that he would “come out with an army in Ukraine to liberate the Orthodox people from the yoke of enslavement and torment of the Lyceum of Tirana and to search for repaired offenses, ruin and tormenting oaths ... to the entire embassy of the Russian clan, on both sides of the Dnieper of the sacking ”and urged the population to join them. Leaflets were distributed throughout the Little Russia. They were transported and carried the elders bandurists, teenagers and monks.
After some time, the detachments of the Cossacks came out of Zaporozhye, divided into three parts. The first of them, headed by Ostryanin, advancing along the left bank of the Dnieper, occupied Kremenchug, Khorol and Omelnik, and then to Malta, where the Cossacks strengthened. For the development of the offensive there were few forces and decided to hold the defenses, waiting for the approach of new units. Zaporizhzhya flotilla, led by Huney, on seagulls climbed the Dnieper and took ferries in Kremenchug, Maksimovka, Buzhin and Chigirin. Gunya was supposed to prevent the enemy from crossing to the right bank. Skidan went along the right bank of the Dnieper to Chigirin and occupied it. Skidan's task was to deter the enemy troops, who would attempt to come to the aid of Potocki.
Goltva against Ostryanin moved Stanislav Pototsky, who was supported by the registered Cossacks, led by Colonel Illyash Karaimovich. 1 May 1638, in a fierce battle, the Polish army was defeated. Pototsky went to Lubny, which was a very advantageous defensive point, and sent messengers to Bar to the crown hetman asking for help. Ostryanin followed Potocki to Lubny, intending to smash the enemy before he received reinforcements. In the battle of Lubna 6 on May, the Cossacks with a decisive blow forced the enemy to retreat to the fortress. The battle weakened both sides, giving none of them the advantage, but Potocki was in a better position. He sat in Lubny and waited for reinforcements.
Having learned that Nikolai Pototsky and Jeremiah Vishnevetsky (a large Ukrainian magnate who has his own army) had already come out to help S. Pototsky, Ostryanin headed for Lukoml and Mirgorod. When Ostryanin approached Sleporod, Pototsky and Vishnevetsky collapsed on him with all his forces. Ostryanin went to Lukoml, and from there along Sula to her mouth to Zhovnin, where he became a camp. There, the Cossacks built a well-fortified camp and repelled the attacks of the enemy. 3 (13) June The Polish army launched a decisive assault on the positions of the rebels and achieved some success. Ostryanin, having suffered significant losses and considering further resistance impractical, with a part of the Cossacks retreated from under Zhovnin into the borders of the Russian kingdom. Cossacks with the permission of the Russian government settled in the town of Chuguev, which they restored.
The remaining Cossacks elected hetman Guna. The Cossacks took a bend on the bank of the Sula, which was washed by the river from almost all sides and built a new fortified camp. From the side that was not washed by the river, a shaft was poured. The siege of the camp by the Polish army continued until the end of July. By the besieged comrades tried to break through the detachment of Skidan, but without success. In a fierce battle, he was defeated. Wounded Skidan captured and executed. The Cossacks kept the defense until mid-August. As a result, the Cossacks, having no hope for help from the outside and experiencing an acute shortage of food and ammunition, were forced to capitulate. Only a part of the Cossacks, led by Guney, went on a breakthrough and made their way to the Don, outside the Commonwealth.
The defeat of the anti-Polish uprisings in 1637-1638. led to a sharp deterioration in the situation of not only ordinary Cossacks and peasants, but also registered Cossacks. With the help of "Ordinance" the Poles "tightened the screws." From now until the 1648, there was a lull - 10 years of golden peace. But it was the calm before the storm.
"Golden Peace"
Outraged by the repressions, the Cossacks in the fall of 1638, again sent their elected to the Polish king. They handed over another petition, compiled by Bogdan Khmelnitsky. They asked to leave the Cossacks on the previous freedoms and lands, to keep their military salary, to provide the widows of the dead Cossacks, etc. The King accepted Cossack ambassadors, but began to complain himself. The royal treasury was empty, the nobility and the magnates did not obey royal decrees, the military power of royal power depended on them. The Cossacks returned with nothing.
Getman Pototsky gathered Cossacks, and they read “Ordinatsiyu”: the hetman’s post, the election of esauls and colonels, etc. were abolished. The registered Cossacks under the control of the commissioner appointed by the Polish Sejm were obliged to suppress any actions against the Polish authorities. Representatives of the registered Cossacks were forced to sign these conditions. Among these representatives was the centurion, demoted from the post of troop clerk, Bogdan Khmelnitsky. In the meantime, the Poles restored the Kodak fortress, making it even stronger.
Apparently, the Poles were afraid of a new uprising and saw in Khmelnitsky a potential leader of the Cossacks - intelligent and decisive. Bogdan wanted to eliminate. Therefore, he had to leave his homeland for a while. When the Cossack ambassadors were in Warsaw, the French envoy to the court was the Comte de Brezis. France at this time entered the Thirty Years War to prevent the Habsburgs from getting stronger. The French army, led by Prince Condé (nicknamed the Great Conde), needed an extra "cannon fodder". The Comte de Brezi advised the Cardinal Mazarin of the Zaporozhye Cossacks as mercenaries. He wrote that these were “very brave warriors, good riders, perfect foot soldiers, especially they are capable of protecting fortresses”. The September 1644 Ambassador told Mazarin that the Cossacks "now have a very capable commander Khmelnitsky, they respect him at court here." The Cossacks were already noted in the Thirty Years War, fighting on the side of the Habsburgs, and under the banners of Gustav-Adolf, etc. Their authority as an excellent military force was very high. According to one version, Khmelnitsky headed or was in the composition of the Cossack detachment, who fought for France. When in 1655, Bogdan Khmelnitsky participated in negotiations with the French ambassador, he said that he was pleased to recall his stay in France, and he proudly called Prince Condé his former commander. In this war, Khmelnitsky and his Cossacks took Dunkirk by storm, gained new combat experience and strengthened their ranks. Khmelnitsky, in fact, created the core of the new rebel army.
In addition, at this time, Khmelnitsky had a special relationship with King Vladislav. In 1646, Vladislav IV decided to start a war with Turkey without the consent of the Seimas, that he would win the lands and establish large hereditary possessions on them, strengthening the royal power. Land meant income and army. Therefore, the king needed the Cossacks. He began to seek support from Cossack officers - Ilyash Karaimovich, Barabash and Khmelnitsky. The Cossack army was supposed to unleash a war with the Crimean Khanate and Porto, and for this it received a royal charter, restoring Cossack rights and privileges. In particular, the king promised to increase the roster to 20 thousand Cossacks and reduce the number of Polish troops in the Ukraine. Bogdan Khmelnitsky Vladislav knew for a long time, since the march on Moscow. Having learned about the negotiations of the king with the Cossacks, the Sejm prevented these plans and the king was forced to abandon his plans. The letter issued by the king was kept secret by Barabash. Later Khmelnitsky took possession of her to use for political purposes.
War of liberation
Learned so that Khmelnitsky became the most prominent figure among the Cossack chieftains. One of the most capable warriors and commanders, educated and intelligent, Bogdan became the potential leader of the new Russian uprising against the Polish occupiers. All that was needed was a reason to finally move him from his place - service, estate, wide connections, family. To this hero began to fight for the people.
Family tragedy was the occasion. Khmelnitsky had a small farm Subotov, near Chigirin. Chigirinsky elder Alexander Konetspolsky (the son of the great crown hetman) and Chigirinsky sub-kingdom Chaplinsky decided to take away Subotov. Khmelnitsky wrote to the king and Vladislav, with his act, assigned Subotov to him. But the royal document did not help either. Taking advantage of Khmelnitsky’s absence, Chaplinsky, who hated Khmelnitsky, attacked his farm, looted him, took away a woman (Elena-Gelenu), with whom Khmelnitsky lived after the death of his first wife Anna Somkovna, and beat Khmelnitsky’s younger son, which apparently cost him his life . With Elena Chaplinsky married. Khmelnitsky tried to find the truth in court, but without success. They laughed at him, they say, you will find a new woman, do not worry and paid a small refund.
Then he turned to the king. Khmelnitsky tried to continue the business of recruiting Cossack troops for the war with the Crimea and Turkey. Vladislav supported the old idea. And according to the legend, Khmelnytsky said: “The Cossacks are brave warriors, do you have a sword and strength, and what do you stand up for yourself?” According to some reports, the king, through the crown chancellor of Ossolinsky, granted Bogdan the hetman of Zaporizhia and handed over the hetman’s dignity signs - banner and mace.
As a result, Khmelnitsky "went on the warpath." In September, 1647, near Chigirin, he gathered loyal people. Bogdan and his comrades, seeing the impotence of the royal power against the omnipotence of the magnates, finally decided to revolt. Bogdan Khmelnitsky decided to speak "for the violation of the Russian faith and for the reproach of the Russian people"! He asked for help from the brothers, and they answered: "Let us be with you: the Russian land will rise, it has never been raised as never before."
However, among the Cossacks was a traitor. He reported that "Khmelnitsky revolts Cossacks", Konetspolsky. The same was reported to the Cossack commissioner Shemberg, who notified the crown hetman Pototsky. Khmelnitsky grabbed. In Lviv, wagons with weaponsbought for rebellion. Failed to ship guns to Zaporozhye. They were afraid of Khmelnitsky being executed, the Cossack "mob" could revolt. They decided to release, and then, without unnecessary noise, kill somewhere else. While someone had to take the rebellious Cossack on bail. He entrusted for Khmelnitsky pan Krichevsky, the colonel of the Zaporozhian Army and a friend of Bohdan. He also told Khmelnitsky that they secretly want his "death to betray." In December, 1647, Khmelnitsky disappeared. Together with him, several hundred Cossacks left for Zaporizhia.
In mid-December 1647, Khmelnitsky and his comrades arrived at the Sich. Here he was waiting for him on the island of Tomakovka with a detachment of Zaporozhian co-workers, his colleague, the registered centurion Fedor Lyuty. He fled to Zaporozhye earlier and was elected the chief ataman. Zaporizhian Sich was then located on Bazavluk (Chertomlyk) island. In the area of Hotitsa Island there was a government garrison - the Cherkassy Regiment Regiment and a detachment of Polish dragoons Colonel Gursky. Also a serious garrison stood at the Kodak fortress. Therefore, all the fugitives gathered on the island of Butsk, a little lower than the Sich. Khmelnitsky arrived here, on the island of Butskaya. He was greeted with great joy, found the chieftain, who raised all offended. Here began to form the liberation army.
In January, 1648, Bohdan Khmelnytsky was elected hetman. Began a great holy cause. The liberation of the Russian land from the invaders and their local hangers-on.
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