Cossacks write to the Sultan
"Cossacks". I. Repin
The transition to tsarist rule of most of the right-bank Cossack regiments
Throughout Ukraine, the name of Doroshenko, who visited the Turks, caused a general curse.
The Turkish occupation led to massive violence, plunder and the capture of people for sale into slavery. Turkish colonization turned out to be even worse than the Polish one. Russians from the Right Bank Ukraine fled en masse to the Left Bank or to the lands subject to the Polish crown.
Rzeczpospolita in 1673 waged successful military operations against Turkey. This allowed the Russian high command to begin an active campaign on the Right Bank.
In winter, the Turks, as usual, took the army across the Danube to winter quarters. There were no large Crimean-Turkish forces on the Right Bank. The main forces of Doroshenko (up to 6 thousand) were in Chigirin.
At the beginning of 1674, the army of the boyar Romodanovsky and the Cossack army of Samoilovich crossed the Dnieper. The advance detachment of the roundabout Skuratov made a raid on Chigirin. The Cossack detachment of the "Turkish hetman" who had come out to meet them was dispersed. Chigirin was a strong fortress, on the walls and towers of which there were up to 100 guns. They did not attack him, but the city suburbs were burned out.
Meanwhile, the main forces of Romodanovsky marched along the Dnieper to the north. They passed Chigirin without a fight and in early February 1674 also occupied Cherkassy without a fight. The rains began, the roads got wet, then the army moved on the ice of the Dnieper.
The tsar's troops reached the town of Moshny near Kanev.
General Esaul Lizogub, who was with a small detachment in Kanev, with representatives of 10 right-bank regiments appeared in the camp of Romodanovsky and Samoilovich and took the oath to the tsar. Then Boguslav, Medvin, Kamenny Brod, Rzhishchev, Terekhtemirov, Tripolye, Stayki and Belogorodka took the oath to the tsar. The power of the Russian tsar was recognized by the hetman Khanenko, who had previously obeyed the Polish crown. He became convinced that there was little sense from the Polish king, the inhabitants of Western Russia did not receive any help or protection from him, and announced that he was becoming a subject of Moscow.
Meanwhile, heavy rains continued until mid-February. Snow melted on both sides of the Dnieper and greatly weakened the ice on the Dnieper. In order not to be left without a crossing, the Russian-Cossack regiments withdrew to the left bank of the great river, and stopped at Pereyaslavl. In Kanev, 4 thousand garrison of Cossacks of different regiments, headed by Lizogub, was left. Also in Kanev was appointed the son of the great governor of Romodanovsky Mikhail with a detachment of infantry in 2,5-3 thousand people (then he was replaced by the governor Koltovsky). The same garrison under the command of the governor Verderevsky was placed in Cherkassy.
Doroshenko, having received reinforcements from the Crimean horde, sent his brothers Grigory and Andrei with a Cossack-Tatar detachment against the cities that had sworn allegiance to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich.
But the detachment of Colonel Tseev and General Esaul Lyseneko, left on the right bank, defeated the enemy near Boguslav and Lisyanka. Grigory Doroshenko was captured.
This victory of the sovereign's troops led to the transfer of the cities of the Belotserkovsky regiment, headed by Colonel Butenko, to the tsarist citizenship. In addition, the chief chieftain Gamaley and Andrei Doroshenko fled from Korsun to Chigirin. After that, the five Cossack colonels who were there swore allegiance to Alexei Mikhailovich.
On March 17, 1674 in Pereyaslavl, a council was held on the election of the hetman of both sides of Ukraine. Khanenko solemnly laid down the signs of hetman's dignity received from the Polish king and resigned from power. The foreman and the Cossacks of the left and right bank regiments elected Ivan Samoilovich as hetman of the Zaporizhzhya Army on both sides of the Dnieper under the rule of the Russian sovereign. The sergeant major retained her rank. The register was established in 20 thousand Cossacks. The Hetman could not have an independent foreign policy.
Thus, during the winter campaign of 1674, most of the foremen, Cossacks and cities on the Right Bank voluntarily went over to the side of Moscow. Samoilovich was recognized as the only hetman. The tsar's garrisons occupied such important centers of Ukraine as Cherkassy, Kanev and Korsun.
Siege of Chigirin
Doroshenko kept Chigirin behind him and waited for help from the Tatars and Turks to resume the struggle for Ukraine.
Chigirinsky hetman sent Mazepa to Istanbul to ask for help.
But he did not reach, Ivan Serko's Cossacks intercepted him in the steppes and handed him over to the tsarist governors. The general clerk was recruited. Mazepa, as one of the most educated people of his time, became the educator of the children of Hetman Samoilovich. A few years later, he again became clerk general, and later played an important role in his overthrow.
Doroshenko's second embassy nevertheless slipped through the cordons and arrived at the grand vizier, who promised to help out the vassal.
Doroshenko was not worried in vain. The Russian command planned to take the last strongholds of the "Turkish hetman" in the summer of 1674. They planned to build a large flotillato threaten enemy shores and force Turkey to make peace.
In April 1674, with the arrival of the Crimean detachment led by Khan Dzhambet-Girey, Doroshenko sent his brother Andrey to conduct reconnaissance in force.
Right-bank Cossacks captured Balakleia and Orlovka. Then they approached Brave, but in early May they were defeated and fled to Chigirin. After that, most of the Crimeans left, taking away the full.
Nevertheless, mutual raids continued further. Cossacks from Moshna defeated Doroshenkovites. Then several hundred Cossacks and Tatars of Doroshenko made a raid near Mgliev near Korsun, but they were repelled by the Cossacks of Colonel Yaserinsky. At the same time, a Cossack-Tatar detachment approached Cherkassy, but was repelled by the governor Verderevsky.
Upon learning of the loss of Balakliya and Orlovka, Romodanovsky and Samoilovich sent a detachment under the command of Pereyaslavl Colonel Dmitry Raichi (5 Cossack regiments) and a detachment of regular troops of Colonel Beklemishev (900 soldiers and reitar, Cossacks of the Sumy regiment) to the right bank. On the right bank, they joined the right bank shelves. Andrei Doroshenko with the Cossacks (1500 people) and the Tatars of Dzhambet-Girey and Telig-Girey (6 thousand people) attacked two Cossack regiments at Balakleya, but was repulsed. On June 9, Raichi's cavalry utterly defeated the enemy on the river. Tashlyk.
Meanwhile, the united army of Romodanovsky (27 thousand soldiers of the Belgorod and Sevsky categories) and Samoilovich (10 thousand Cossacks) set out from Pereyaslav. The army crossed the Dnieper at Cherkassy and joined up with the Raichi detachment at Smela.
On July 23, the tsarist troops defeated the emerging enemy cavalry and laid siege to Chigirin. With the arrival of the royal army, Zhabotin, Medvedovka, Krylov and a number of other towns surrendered. Also, the tsarist warriors on August 6 began the siege of Pavoloch. It was not possible to seize Chigirin on the move. Doroshenko knew that help would soon be available, prepared for the defense. Russian regiments and Cossacks quickly erected trenches, placed batteries, and began bombing. But this did not work, the besieged refused to surrender, fired back. And there was no time left to prepare the assault, the Ottomans were on the way.
Turkish invasion
In the summer, the Turks resumed their offensive.
The united Turkish-Tatar army, led by Sultan Mehmed IV himself, the vizier Kara-Mustafa and the Crimean khan Selim-Girey, crossed the Dniester in July 1674 and moved to Ukraine. The Turks took up the cities they had not yet conquered. The first was Ladyzhin, who repulsed several attacks, but then fell. Raichi's detachment planned to go to Ladyzhin's aid, but (upon news of the enemy's capture of Bar, Mezhibor and his enormous superiority in forces) retreated.
This time Poland could not bind the Ottomans. King Jan Sobieski's treasury was empty after the elections and coronation. The mercenaries had nothing to pay. The patriotic impulse of the gentry after the Khotyn victory has already died out, she again fled to the fortresses and estates. A weak crown army covered Poland itself. There was nothing to defend Ukraine with. The Ottomans destroyed 14 more towns, the men were massacred, women and children were sold into slavery. The Turkish army turns east.
Zaporozhye ataman Serko, who was near Uman, left Ukraine. He went to the Sich to strike at the Crimea. Uman surrendered to the Turks.
But when the main forces of the Ottomans left for Kiev, the Cossacks revolted and killed the Basurman garrison. The Ottoman army was forced to return to Uman. The fortress was captured by tunneling. However, this siege delayed the Turks until September. And they refused to march to Kiev. At the news of the invasion of a terrible enemy, the masses of the West Russian population fled to the left bank of the Dnieper in whole villages.
Part of the Tatar troops immediately moved from the Dniester to Chigirin, to the aid of Doroshenko.
Already on August 9, the Tatars appeared at the fortress. Prince Romodanovsky and Samoilovich, alarmed by the news of a possible peace between Turkey and Poland, lifted the siege and took the army to Cherkassy. On August 13, the tsar's army repulsed the attack of the Doroshenkovites and Tatars. But with rumors of the Sultan's attack on Cherkassy, they burned the city and retreated to the left bank.
The siege of Pavoloch was also removed. The main forces of the Russian army were located at Kanev, the Cossacks covered the main crossings on the Dnieper. The Russians began to prepare to repel the enemy invasion.
However, having captured Uman, having achieved the release of Chigirin and the departure of the royal army to the left bank, the Turkish-Tatar army left Ukraine and began to return across the Dniester.
In the sieges of Ukrainian cities, the Ottomans used up ammunition, it was difficult to feed a large army in a devastated country. Winter was approaching. Selim-Girey then returned to the Dnieper with the aim of making a raid on the Left Bank, but soon abandoned this idea and returned to the Crimea. The khan went to defend his inheritance, as its outskirts were devastated by the Kalmyks, Donets and Cossacks.
Thus, the Turkish army prevented the tsarist governors from completing the conquest of the Right Bank. Doroshenko, besieged in Chigir, was rescued.
At the same time, it was obvious that success was on the side of the Russians. With the approach of autumn, the Turks and Tatars withdrew across the Dniester and into the Crimea. Russian troops held the main points beyond the Dnieper - Kiev, Kanev, Korsun, and some other fortifications.
Rzeczpospolita received an important respite this year. The army of Jan Sobieski in the fall and winter resumed the offensive against Doroshenko, Turks and Tatars in the Dniester region and other regions of Right-Bank Ukraine.
For the common population of the Right Bank, this time turned into new troubles. This region of Western Russia was turning into a "desert" - a deserted territory.
Fights in other directions
In the spring and summer of 1674, the situation on the Belgorod line was less tense than a year ago.
Most of the Crimean horde went with the khan to the Dniester under the banners of the sultan. The Tatars made several raids. The Kalmyks went over to their side and betrayed Moscow. In the summer they took part in raids on the Russian outskirts.
Russian border units (garrisons of towns and forts of the Belgorod line, suburban regiments) repulsed the attacks. Themselves pursued the enemy in the steppe, went to the approaches to Azov. As a result, the raids of the Crimeans and Azovites did not have any impact on the Ukrainian front.
The Russian command planned active operations in the Northern Black Sea region.
The Russians decided to abandon Azov's frontal attacks and go over to his naval blockade. To do this, they were going to use the Miussky town founded in 1673, build a powerful base there, build new ships and disrupt sea communications between Azov, Crimea and Turkey. In this case, it was possible to take Azov, diverting Turkish forces from Ukraine.
However, a number of troubles did not allow launching an offensive in the spring of 1674. In winter and spring, part of the Kalmyk leaders gave their oath to the tsar and attacked the Cossack villages up the Don (above Cherkassk). 61 towns were attacked, the Don people suffered heavy losses in people and property. However, in the summer the situation stabilized, the Kalmyks returned to Russian citizenship and opposed the Tatars. The tsar's reinforcements arrived on the Don only in the fall, and even then not in full force.
The Cossacks almost raised a confusion - an impostor, "Tsarevich Simeon Alekseevich", appeared at them. Relations with the Sich were settled only in the summer. Serko sent the impostor to Moscow, obeyed, and the conflict was settled.
Serko Zaporozhian Cossacks operated in western Ukraine, during the Ottoman invasion they retreated to the Sich. In September, Serko defeated part of the Crimean army during his return home. Then the Zaporozhye Cossacks took part in the defense of Sloboda Ukraine.
The Turkish command, concerned about the activity of the enemy near Azov, sent strong reinforcements to the fortress. The garrison numbered 5 thousand people. A strong Ottoman flotilla of 30 galleys and dozens of small ships also arrived. The Crimean Khan also sent several thousand horsemen to the Azov region. The Crimeans destroyed the Miussky town and destroyed the planes that were preparing there.
In June, a detachment of archers and Don Cossacks of stolnik Kosagov and atman Kaluzhanin went into the Sea of Azov and headed to the mouth of the Mius. However, here the Russians encountered large forces of the Turkish fleet and returned to Cherkassk. Meanwhile, Turkish and Tatar reinforcements arrived in Azov. The Turkish-Tatar corps reached the number of 9 thousand people.
In July, the Ottomans tried to launch an offensive and go up the Don, but the tsarist governors Khitrovo and Kosagov met them at the mouth of the river. Aksai and smashed. The enemy retreated to Azov. In August, in connection with the termination of the offensive of the Sultan's army in Ukraine, most of the reinforcements left Azov. In late August, the Kalmyks, Donets and Streltsy of Kosagov and Ataman Yakovlev ravaged the outskirts of Azov.
In September, reinforcements finally arrived on the Don under the command of the governor Khovansky, but a new campaign to the mouth of the Mius and Azov did not take place. The weather conditions were unfavorable, and the Don people did not want to support the operation.
As a result, although the actions of our forces in the Black Sea region did not bring major successes, they were able to divert the attention and a significant part of the Crimean Turkish forces from the main theater of military operations in Ukraine. In addition, the constant threat to Azov reduced the threat of enemy raids on the Russian southern outskirts.
1675 Campaign
Moscow believed that a decisive battle with Turkey would take place this year. The tsarist troops were preparing. Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich was going to lead the Tsar's army. Negotiations were conducted with the Poles. The army of Romodanovsky and Samoilovich was supposed to cross the Dnieper and go to join with the Poles.
However, the Cossack foreman sabotaged this plan. The hetman and the colonels were afraid that in the event of a Russian-Polish alliance, they would not be able to extend power to the entire Right Bank. In addition, the Poles seemed to be unreliable allies. The Russian government, fearing a new uprising in Ukraine, did not insist. As a result, they decided to confine themselves to defense, crush Doroshenko and organize raids on the enemy's rear.
Another attempt to occupy the Azov region failed, including because of the conflict with the Don Cossacks, who did not want the appearance of royal fortresses in this place (limiting their autonomy). At the same time, significant Turkish-Tatar forces diverted the attention of the Russians to Azov.
In 1675, the main actions took place on the Polish front - in Podolia and Galicia.
The army of the vizier Ibrahim Shishman and the Crimean horde invaded there. The enemy horde swept across Ukraine again. She swept away everything that had survived in previous invasions. However, in Ukraine the bassoons did not stay, they devastated it along the way. Their goal was to break Poland, to force a peace beneficial for the Ports. But the threat, in fact, to Poland and the patrimony of the gentry again stirred up the gentry. Polish gentry flowed under the banner of Sobieski. In Galicia, battles were in full swing. On August 24, Jan Sobessky defeated 20 thousand Shishman's army near Lvov. The Ottomans were thrown back.
The situation for the Turkish hetman Doroshenko continued to deteriorate. He held only the lands of the Chigirinsky and Cherkassky regiments. There was almost no help from the Tatars, since they were employed in Galicia. His power was hated by the people. He only held on by terror. The population of the Right Bank continued to flee to the lands subject to the Russian tsar. Even the most severe repressions did not help - the captured fugitives were sold into slavery.
The demand of the Sultan government to issue 500 girls and boys under 15 years old for harems caused a riot even in Chigirin, loyal to the hetman. Doroshenko, even through the ataman Serko, began to probe the possibility of subordination to Moscow, but with the preservation of the position of hetman. He sent to Moscow the signs of power received from the Sultan.
Ataman Serko with the Zaporozhian Cossacks, the Tsar's archers, the Donets of Ataman Minaev, Kalmyks and the people of Prince Cherkassky made a big raid on the Crimea in August-September. They went not along the well-known roads to Perekop, but secretly, in the steppes, made their way to the peninsula through the fords of the Sivash.
For several days they ravaged the peninsula and made a lot of noise. The khan's murzas gathered thousands of horsemen and rushed to intercept, but Serko set up an ambush. The Crimeans suffered a great defeat. They returned with rich trophies, liberated thousands of people from slavery.
Moreover, this raid improved Poland's position again. The Tatars turned their horses back to protect their ulus. And the Ottoman army was left without the Khan's cavalry.
This event caused the well-known correspondence of the Cossacks with the Sultan.
Muhammad was furious and sent a personal message to the Sich. He demanded that the Cossacks submit. Otherwise, he threatened to wipe him off the face of the earth.
The Zaporozhians were amused.
In response, they wrote
"To the Turkish shaitan, the damned devil brother and comrade",
used a lot of swear words.
Obviously, the letter did not reach the addressee.
The Sultan's officials simply would not dare to deliver such a message.
Battle of the Turkish Banner, Jozef Brandt
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