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The Ruin (Ukrainian history)
Encyclopedia
The Ruin is a period of Ukrainian history
from the death of hetman
Bohdan Khmelnitsky in 1657 and until ascension of hetman
Ivan Mazepa
in 1687. This period is characterised by continuous strife, civil war
, and foreign intervention of Ukraine's
neighbours. The Ukrainian saying of the time: "Від Богдана до Івана не було гетьмана" (From Bohdan to Ivan
there was no hetman [in between]) — accurately summarises the chaotic events of this period.
Bohdan Khmelnytsky
who delivered the country from centuries of Polish
domination though years of Wars of Liberation and its entry into the Tsardom of Moscow. While Khmelnytsky was a charismatic and influential leader, clearly one of the prominent figures in Ukrainian history, he did not, however, establish clear rules of succession and in his will wanted his son Yurii
to become the new hetman. Yurii Khmelnytsky was unfortunately not only young and inexperienced but clearly lacked the charisma and the leadership qualities of his father, as was shown by his two attempts to rule.
At the time of Khmelnitsky's death, the Cossack state had a territory of about 250000 square miles (647,497 km²) and a population of around 1.2-1.5 million. Society consisted of the remaining non-Catholic nobles, the starshina or richer Cossacks, the mass of the Cossacks and those peasants who did not bear arms. Seventeen percent of the land was held by the Orthodox Church and 33% by local nobles. The remaining 50% had been confiscated from the Poles and was up for grabs. The land was a frontier society with no natural borders, no tradition of statehood and a population committed to Cossack liberty or anarchy. The land was thinly peopled by recent immigrants who could move again. The confiscated lands could easily change hands in any conflict. There was an unresolved conflict between the mass of poorer cossacks and the wealthier group who aspired to semi-noble status. The state was weak and needed a protector, but the Poles wanted their land back, Russian autocracy fitted ill with cossack liberty (although they were two sides of the same coin), the Crimeans were mainly interested in slave raiding and the Turks were little concerned with this barbarian frontier. The Swedes were too far away and the Don Cossacks
and Kalmucks, stayed out of the conflict.
The History of this period is complex. Its basic themes are: The failure to find a single leader who could pursue a consistent policy; The constant switching of alliances with outside powers who had their own interests; The conflict between the richer and poorer cossacks; and the influence of the Orthodox church which tended to favour Moscow.
1657-59: Vyhovsky and the Poles: At the time of Khmelnitsy's death his son Yurii was only 16, so the hetmanate was given to Ivan Vyhovsky
. He based his power on the richer cossacks ('starshina') and sought a reapprochement with Poland. This led to a rebellion of the more democratic cossacks which was defeated in June 1658, a civil war cost about 50,000 lives. In September 1658 he signed the Treaty of Hadiach
with Poland which would have turned Ukraine into a third member of the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth - but the treaty was never implemented. The treaty led to a massive Russian invasion which was defeated at the Battle of Konotop
on 29 June 1659. Faced with a revolt by several pro-Moscow colonels, Vyhovsky resigned and retired to Poland in October 1659.
1659-63: Yurii Khmelnitsky: Russia and Poland: The hetmanate passed to Bohdan's son Yurii Khmelnytsky
who was now about 18. In 1659 he was forced to sign the Pereiaslav Articles which often being confused with the treaty itself. They significantly increased Russian power. The next year, fighting resumed between Russia and Poland. Yurii hung back. After a number of Polish victories, Yurii agreed to return Ukraine to the commonwealth. This led the right bank cossacks under Yakym Somko
to depose him. Depressed by this effective partition of Ukraine, in January 1663, Yurii surrendered his hetman's mace
and retired to a monastery.
1663-65: Teteria and Poland: Pavlo Teteria
, who held only the right bank, followed a strongly pro-Polish policy. When his invasion of the left bank failed, he returned to deal with the numerous rebellions that had broken out against the Poles. The behavior of his Polish allies cost him what little support he had and he resigned and fled to Poland.
1665-76: Doroshenko and the Turks: The goal of Petro Doroshenko
was to re-unite the two halves of Ukraine. He held frequent councils to cultivate the poorer cossacks and created a 20,000 man band of mercenaries to free himself from the starshina. In 1667, Russia and Poland, without consulting the cossacks, signed the Treaty of Andrusovo
which partitioned the cossack lands at the Dnieper river. The thinly populated southern area (Zaporozhia) was to be a Russo-Polish condominium, but was in practice self-governing to the extent that it had a government. In response, Doroshenko turned to the Turks. (Polish-Cossack-Tatar War (1666-1671)
) In the fall of 1667 an Ottoman-Cossack force invaded Galicia and compelled the king to grant Doroshenko extensive autonomy. He accepted a loose Ottoman overlordship, invaded the left bank, removed the rival hetman
and in 1668 declared himself hetman of a united Ukraine. Crimea backed a rival hetman and the Poles backed Mykhailo Khanenko
, with whom they invaded the right bank. Turning to meet the invaders, he placed Demian Mnohohrishny
in control of the left bank, which quickly came under Russian control. In 1672 he helped the Turks annex Podolia
. During the Russo-Turkish War (1676-1681) he aided the Turks against Russia. This involvement with non-Christians cost him his remaining support. On 19 September 1676, he gave up authority to Ivan Samoylovych
of the left bank and went into exile in Russia.
1678-81: Yurii Khmelnitsky and the Turks: In 1678 the Turks, who had a large army in the area, appointed their prisoner Yurii Khmelnytsky
as hetman. He participated in the second campaign of Chyhyryn
and was deposed by the Turks in 1681.
At this point, English sources become thin. The Right Bank was severely depopulated, many of those who were not killed or enslaved by the Tatars having fled to the Left Bank or Sloboda Ukraine
. Polish rule was gradually restored and the country began to fill up again.
1661-63: Somko and the Starshina: In 1660 the left bank cossacks deposed Yurii Khmelnitsky because of the Polish alliance and made Yakym Somko
Acting Hetman
. Yurii held on to the right bank, effectively partitioning the country. Somko favored the upper class provoking the opposition of the Zaporozhians under Bruikhevetsky. He also lost the support of Moscow. At the Chorna rada of 1663
he was replaced by Briukhovetsky and executed.
1663-68: Briukhovetsky and the Russians 1663-1668: Ivan Briukhovetsky
was almost completely dependent on Russia. In 1665 he went to Moscow and signed the Moscow Articles of 1665
. Russian tax collectors and soldiers were allowed in, a Russian was to be head of the church, a Russian representative was to be present at hetman elections and the Hetman was to go to Moscow for confirmation. Soldiers and tax collectors provoked resistance and the church resisted Muscovite influence. The Truce of Andrusovo (1667) seemed a Russian betrayal of cossack interests. A series of revolts broke out. Bruikovetsky back pedaled. In the spring of 1668, as Doroshenko's forces crossed the Dnieper, Bruikovetsky was beaten to death by a mob.
1668-72: Mnohohrishny and Left Bank Autonomy: On 9 June 1668 Doroshenko proclaimed himself hetman of a united Ukraine. In 1669 the Poles set up a rival hetman (Mykhailo Khanenko
and invaded the right bank. Turning to meet them, he placed Demian Mnohohrishny
as acting hetman of the left bank. As Doroshenko weakened, and under Russian pressure, he accepted Russian supremacy. A stable relationship developed as Moscow moderated its demands and Mnohohrisny protected local interests. He made some progress in restoring law and order, but could not control the starshina. Some of these denounced him to the Czar, who had him arrested, tortured and exiled to Siberia.
1672-87: Samoylovych and Russia: When Ivan Samoylovych
was elected hetman he agreed to limited powers. He could not judge the starshina or carry on foreign relations without the consent of the starshina council. He disbanded the hired troops under the hetman's direct control. In 1674 and 1676 he and his Russian ally besieged Doroshenko at Chyhyryn. On September 19, 1676, Doroshenko surrendered to Samylovych, who declared himself hetman of a united Ukraine. But within two years the Turks drove him back across the Dnieper. Poland and Russia signed the Eternal Peace Treaty of 1686
which again recognized Polish rule of the right bank and removed the Poles from Zaporozhia, a major disappointment for Samoylovych. In 1687 100,000 Russians and 50,000 Cossacks launched an attack on the Crimea (Crimean campaigns
), which failed. Samoylovych was blamed, removed, and exiled to Siberia.
1687-1709: Mazepa and Stability: With Ivan Mazepa
's election to the hetmanate, the Ruin effectively comes to an end and the history of the left bank merges with the Hetmanate as a part of Russia. With the opening of the Great Northern War
in 1700, Russian demands began to seem excessive. In 1708 Mazepa allied himself with Charles XII. At Poltava
Charles, Mazepa and those cossacks that followed him were defeated and exiled to Turkey.
History of Ukraine
The territory of Ukraine was a key center of East Slavic culture in the Middle Ages, before being divided between a variety of powers. However, the history of Ukraine dates back many thousands of years. The territory has been settled continuously since at least 5000 BC, and is also a candidate site...
from the death of hetman
Hetman
Hetman was the title of the second-highest military commander in 15th- to 18th-century Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which together, from 1569 to 1795, comprised the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, or Rzeczpospolita....
Bohdan Khmelnitsky in 1657 and until ascension of hetman
Hetman
Hetman was the title of the second-highest military commander in 15th- to 18th-century Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which together, from 1569 to 1795, comprised the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, or Rzeczpospolita....
Ivan Mazepa
Ivan Mazepa
Ivan Stepanovych Mazepa , Cossack Hetman of the Hetmanate in Left-bank Ukraine, from 1687–1708. He was famous as a patron of the arts, and also played an important role in the Battle of Poltava where after learning of Peter I's intent to relieve him as acting Hetman of Ukraine and replace him...
in 1687. This period is characterised by continuous strife, civil war
Civil war
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....
, and foreign intervention of Ukraine's
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
neighbours. The Ukrainian saying of the time: "Від Богдана до Івана не було гетьмана" (From Bohdan to Ivan
Ivan Mazepa
Ivan Stepanovych Mazepa , Cossack Hetman of the Hetmanate in Left-bank Ukraine, from 1687–1708. He was famous as a patron of the arts, and also played an important role in the Battle of Poltava where after learning of Peter I's intent to relieve him as acting Hetman of Ukraine and replace him...
there was no hetman [in between]) — accurately summarises the chaotic events of this period.
Background
The Ruin started after the death of hetmanHetman
Hetman was the title of the second-highest military commander in 15th- to 18th-century Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which together, from 1569 to 1795, comprised the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, or Rzeczpospolita....
Bohdan Khmelnytsky
Bohdan Khmelnytsky
Bohdan Zynoviy Mykhailovych Khmelnytsky was a hetman of the Zaporozhian Cossack Hetmanate of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . He led an uprising against the Commonwealth and its magnates which resulted in the creation of a Cossack state...
who delivered the country from centuries of Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
domination though years of Wars of Liberation and its entry into the Tsardom of Moscow. While Khmelnytsky was a charismatic and influential leader, clearly one of the prominent figures in Ukrainian history, he did not, however, establish clear rules of succession and in his will wanted his son Yurii
Yurii Khmelnytsky
Yurii Khmelnytsky , younger son of the famous Ukrainian Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky and brother of Tymofiy Khmelnytsky, was a Zaporozhian Cossack political and military leader...
to become the new hetman. Yurii Khmelnytsky was unfortunately not only young and inexperienced but clearly lacked the charisma and the leadership qualities of his father, as was shown by his two attempts to rule.
At the time of Khmelnitsky's death, the Cossack state had a territory of about 250000 square miles (647,497 km²) and a population of around 1.2-1.5 million. Society consisted of the remaining non-Catholic nobles, the starshina or richer Cossacks, the mass of the Cossacks and those peasants who did not bear arms. Seventeen percent of the land was held by the Orthodox Church and 33% by local nobles. The remaining 50% had been confiscated from the Poles and was up for grabs. The land was a frontier society with no natural borders, no tradition of statehood and a population committed to Cossack liberty or anarchy. The land was thinly peopled by recent immigrants who could move again. The confiscated lands could easily change hands in any conflict. There was an unresolved conflict between the mass of poorer cossacks and the wealthier group who aspired to semi-noble status. The state was weak and needed a protector, but the Poles wanted their land back, Russian autocracy fitted ill with cossack liberty (although they were two sides of the same coin), the Crimeans were mainly interested in slave raiding and the Turks were little concerned with this barbarian frontier. The Swedes were too far away and the Don Cossacks
Don Cossacks
Don Cossacks were Cossacks who settled along the middle and lower Don.- Etymology and origins :The Don Cossack Host was a frontier military organization from the end of the 16th until the early 20th century....
and Kalmucks, stayed out of the conflict.
The History of this period is complex. Its basic themes are: The failure to find a single leader who could pursue a consistent policy; The constant switching of alliances with outside powers who had their own interests; The conflict between the richer and poorer cossacks; and the influence of the Orthodox church which tended to favour Moscow.
Left and Right Banks 1648-63
1648-57: Khmelnitsky: Crimea and Russia: Khmelnitsky started his rebellion in alliance with the Khanate of Crimea. When his acceptance of Russian overlordship in 1654 (Treaty of Pereiaslav) led to the Russo-Polish War (1654-1667) the Crimeans switched sides and began raiding Ukraine. In his last years Khmelnitsky backed away from Russia and was negotiating with Sweden and Transylvania.1657-59: Vyhovsky and the Poles: At the time of Khmelnitsy's death his son Yurii was only 16, so the hetmanate was given to Ivan Vyhovsky
Ivan Vyhovsky
Ivan Vyhovsky was a hetman of the Ukrainian Cossacks during three years of the Russo-Polish War . He was the successor to the famous hetman and rebel leader Bohdan Khmelnytsky...
. He based his power on the richer cossacks ('starshina') and sought a reapprochement with Poland. This led to a rebellion of the more democratic cossacks which was defeated in June 1658, a civil war cost about 50,000 lives. In September 1658 he signed the Treaty of Hadiach
Treaty of Hadiach
The Treaty of Hadiach was a treaty signed on 16 September 1658 in Hadiach between representatives of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Cossacks...
with Poland which would have turned Ukraine into a third member of the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth - but the treaty was never implemented. The treaty led to a massive Russian invasion which was defeated at the Battle of Konotop
Battle of Konotop
The Battle of Konotop or Battle of Sosnivka was fought between a coalition led by the Hetman of Ukrainian Cossacks Ivan Vyhovsky and cavalry units of the Russian Tsardom, led by Semyon Pozharsky and Semyon Lvov, on June 29, 1659 near the town of Konotop, Ukraine, during the Polish-Russian War...
on 29 June 1659. Faced with a revolt by several pro-Moscow colonels, Vyhovsky resigned and retired to Poland in October 1659.
1659-63: Yurii Khmelnitsky: Russia and Poland: The hetmanate passed to Bohdan's son Yurii Khmelnytsky
Yurii Khmelnytsky
Yurii Khmelnytsky , younger son of the famous Ukrainian Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky and brother of Tymofiy Khmelnytsky, was a Zaporozhian Cossack political and military leader...
who was now about 18. In 1659 he was forced to sign the Pereiaslav Articles which often being confused with the treaty itself. They significantly increased Russian power. The next year, fighting resumed between Russia and Poland. Yurii hung back. After a number of Polish victories, Yurii agreed to return Ukraine to the commonwealth. This led the right bank cossacks under Yakym Somko
Yakym Somko
Yakym Somko , was a Ukrainian Cossack military leader of the Pereyaslav regiment and was the Acting Hetman of Left-bank Ukraine in 1660-1663, during The Ruin....
to depose him. Depressed by this effective partition of Ukraine, in January 1663, Yurii surrendered his hetman's mace
Bulawa
The bulawa is a ceremonial mace or baton. The word is of Turkish origin....
and retired to a monastery.
Polish Right Bank 1663-81
Pavlo Teteria
Pavlo Teteria was Hetman of Right-Bank Ukraine .Before his hetmancy he served in a number of high positions under Bohdan Khmelnytsky, and Ivan Vyhovsky....
, who held only the right bank, followed a strongly pro-Polish policy. When his invasion of the left bank failed, he returned to deal with the numerous rebellions that had broken out against the Poles. The behavior of his Polish allies cost him what little support he had and he resigned and fled to Poland.
1665-76: Doroshenko and the Turks: The goal of Petro Doroshenko
Petro Doroshenko
Petro Dorofeyevych Doroshenko was a Cossack political and military leader, Hetman of Right-bank Ukraine and a Russian voyevoda.-Earlier life:...
was to re-unite the two halves of Ukraine. He held frequent councils to cultivate the poorer cossacks and created a 20,000 man band of mercenaries to free himself from the starshina. In 1667, Russia and Poland, without consulting the cossacks, signed the Treaty of Andrusovo
Treaty of Andrusovo
The Truce of Andrusovo was a thirteen and a half year truce, signed in 1667 between Tsardom of Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which were at war since 1654 over the territories of modern-day Ukraine and Belarus....
which partitioned the cossack lands at the Dnieper river. The thinly populated southern area (Zaporozhia) was to be a Russo-Polish condominium, but was in practice self-governing to the extent that it had a government. In response, Doroshenko turned to the Turks. (Polish-Cossack-Tatar War (1666-1671)
Polish-Cossack-Tatar War (1666-1671)
Polish-Cossack-Tatar War was the war between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Ottoman Empire over Ukraine...
) In the fall of 1667 an Ottoman-Cossack force invaded Galicia and compelled the king to grant Doroshenko extensive autonomy. He accepted a loose Ottoman overlordship, invaded the left bank, removed the rival hetman
Ivan Briukhovetsky
Ivan Briukhovetsky was a pro-Russian hetman of Left-Bank Ukraine from 1663 to 1668. For background see The Ruin...
and in 1668 declared himself hetman of a united Ukraine. Crimea backed a rival hetman and the Poles backed Mykhailo Khanenko
Mykhailo Khanenko
Mykhailo Stepanovych Khanenko was a Ukrainian Cossack military leader, and nominal hetman of Right-bank Ukraine from 1669-74 in rivalry with Petro Doroshenko during The Ruin ....
, with whom they invaded the right bank. Turning to meet the invaders, he placed Demian Mnohohrishny
Demian Mnohohrishny
Demian Mnohohrishny was the Hetman of Left-bank Ukraine from 1669 to 1672. See The Ruin His surname literally means "of many sins"....
in control of the left bank, which quickly came under Russian control. In 1672 he helped the Turks annex Podolia
Podolia
The region of Podolia is an historical region in the west-central and south-west portions of present-day Ukraine, corresponding to Khmelnytskyi Oblast and Vinnytsia Oblast. Northern Transnistria, in Moldova, is also a part of Podolia...
. During the Russo-Turkish War (1676-1681) he aided the Turks against Russia. This involvement with non-Christians cost him his remaining support. On 19 September 1676, he gave up authority to Ivan Samoylovych
Ivan Samoylovych
Ivan Samoylovych was the Hetman of Left-bank Ukraine from 1672 to 1687. His term in office was marked by further incorporation of the Cossack Hetmanate into the nascent Russian Empire and by attempts to win the Right-bank Ukraine from Poland-Lithuania....
of the left bank and went into exile in Russia.
1678-81: Yurii Khmelnitsky and the Turks: In 1678 the Turks, who had a large army in the area, appointed their prisoner Yurii Khmelnytsky
Yurii Khmelnytsky
Yurii Khmelnytsky , younger son of the famous Ukrainian Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky and brother of Tymofiy Khmelnytsky, was a Zaporozhian Cossack political and military leader...
as hetman. He participated in the second campaign of Chyhyryn
Chyhyryn
Chyhyryn is a city located in Cherkasy Oblast of central Ukraine. In 1648 to 1669 the city was the capital of Ukraine .- Location :...
and was deposed by the Turks in 1681.
At this point, English sources become thin. The Right Bank was severely depopulated, many of those who were not killed or enslaved by the Tatars having fled to the Left Bank or Sloboda Ukraine
Sloboda Ukraine
Sloboda Ukraine was a historical region which developed and flourished in the 17th and 18th centuries on the southwestern frontier of the Tsardom of Russia....
. Polish rule was gradually restored and the country began to fill up again.
Russian Left Bank 1661-87
Yakym Somko
Yakym Somko , was a Ukrainian Cossack military leader of the Pereyaslav regiment and was the Acting Hetman of Left-bank Ukraine in 1660-1663, during The Ruin....
Acting Hetman
Acting Hetman
Acting Hetman was a title during the 17th, and 18th centuries, in the Cossack Hetmanate. The acting hetman was the governing authority in the Hetmanate temporarily substituted for the hetman. The acting hetman was appointed by the hetman himself, to perform the duties of the hetman when absent...
. Yurii held on to the right bank, effectively partitioning the country. Somko favored the upper class provoking the opposition of the Zaporozhians under Bruikhevetsky. He also lost the support of Moscow. At the Chorna rada of 1663
Chorna rada of 1663
The Chorna rada of 1663 was a Cossack Rada meeting on 17-18 June, 1663 till near Nizhyn, Ukraine. Where thousands of common cossacks, Zaporozhians, Ukrainian peasants, and including the Cossack starshyna where assembled to elect a new Hetman of Left-bank Ukraine...
he was replaced by Briukhovetsky and executed.
1663-68: Briukhovetsky and the Russians 1663-1668: Ivan Briukhovetsky
Ivan Briukhovetsky
Ivan Briukhovetsky was a pro-Russian hetman of Left-Bank Ukraine from 1663 to 1668. For background see The Ruin...
was almost completely dependent on Russia. In 1665 he went to Moscow and signed the Moscow Articles of 1665
Moscow Articles of 1665
The Moscow Articles of 1665 was an agreement signed on 11 October 1665 between the Left-Bank Ukrainian Hetman Ivan Briukhovetsky and the Tsardom of Russia.The treaty put Left-Bank Ukraine under the control of the Russian Tsar...
. Russian tax collectors and soldiers were allowed in, a Russian was to be head of the church, a Russian representative was to be present at hetman elections and the Hetman was to go to Moscow for confirmation. Soldiers and tax collectors provoked resistance and the church resisted Muscovite influence. The Truce of Andrusovo (1667) seemed a Russian betrayal of cossack interests. A series of revolts broke out. Bruikovetsky back pedaled. In the spring of 1668, as Doroshenko's forces crossed the Dnieper, Bruikovetsky was beaten to death by a mob.
1668-72: Mnohohrishny and Left Bank Autonomy: On 9 June 1668 Doroshenko proclaimed himself hetman of a united Ukraine. In 1669 the Poles set up a rival hetman (Mykhailo Khanenko
Mykhailo Khanenko
Mykhailo Stepanovych Khanenko was a Ukrainian Cossack military leader, and nominal hetman of Right-bank Ukraine from 1669-74 in rivalry with Petro Doroshenko during The Ruin ....
and invaded the right bank. Turning to meet them, he placed Demian Mnohohrishny
Demian Mnohohrishny
Demian Mnohohrishny was the Hetman of Left-bank Ukraine from 1669 to 1672. See The Ruin His surname literally means "of many sins"....
as acting hetman of the left bank. As Doroshenko weakened, and under Russian pressure, he accepted Russian supremacy. A stable relationship developed as Moscow moderated its demands and Mnohohrisny protected local interests. He made some progress in restoring law and order, but could not control the starshina. Some of these denounced him to the Czar, who had him arrested, tortured and exiled to Siberia.
1672-87: Samoylovych and Russia: When Ivan Samoylovych
Ivan Samoylovych
Ivan Samoylovych was the Hetman of Left-bank Ukraine from 1672 to 1687. His term in office was marked by further incorporation of the Cossack Hetmanate into the nascent Russian Empire and by attempts to win the Right-bank Ukraine from Poland-Lithuania....
was elected hetman he agreed to limited powers. He could not judge the starshina or carry on foreign relations without the consent of the starshina council. He disbanded the hired troops under the hetman's direct control. In 1674 and 1676 he and his Russian ally besieged Doroshenko at Chyhyryn. On September 19, 1676, Doroshenko surrendered to Samylovych, who declared himself hetman of a united Ukraine. But within two years the Turks drove him back across the Dnieper. Poland and Russia signed the Eternal Peace Treaty of 1686
Eternal Peace Treaty of 1686
The Eternal Peace Treaty of 1686 was a treaty between Tsardom of Russia and Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, signed by Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth envoys: voivod of Poznań Krzysztof Grzymułtowski and chancellor of Lithuania Marcjan Ogiński and Russian knyaz Vasily Vasilyevich...
which again recognized Polish rule of the right bank and removed the Poles from Zaporozhia, a major disappointment for Samoylovych. In 1687 100,000 Russians and 50,000 Cossacks launched an attack on the Crimea (Crimean campaigns
Crimean campaigns
Crimean campaigns of 1687 and 1689 were two military campaigns of the Russian army against the Crimean Khanate. They were a part of the Russo-Turkish War and Russo-Crimean Wars. These were the first Russian forces to come close to Crimea since 1569...
), which failed. Samoylovych was blamed, removed, and exiled to Siberia.
1687-1709: Mazepa and Stability: With Ivan Mazepa
Ivan Mazepa
Ivan Stepanovych Mazepa , Cossack Hetman of the Hetmanate in Left-bank Ukraine, from 1687–1708. He was famous as a patron of the arts, and also played an important role in the Battle of Poltava where after learning of Peter I's intent to relieve him as acting Hetman of Ukraine and replace him...
's election to the hetmanate, the Ruin effectively comes to an end and the history of the left bank merges with the Hetmanate as a part of Russia. With the opening of the Great Northern War
Great Northern War
The Great Northern War was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in northern Central Europe and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swedish alliance were Peter I the Great of Russia, Frederick IV of...
in 1700, Russian demands began to seem excessive. In 1708 Mazepa allied himself with Charles XII. At Poltava
Poltava
Poltava is a city in located on the Vorskla River in central Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Poltava Oblast , as well as the surrounding Poltava Raion of the oblast. Poltava's estimated population is 298,652 ....
Charles, Mazepa and those cossacks that followed him were defeated and exiled to Turkey.
Results
- The attempt to create a Ruthenian Cossack state failed.
- Ukraine was partitioned between Russia and Poland along the Dnieper.
- Poland lost the left bank, was weakened and went into decline.
- Russia expanded to the south and somewhat to the southwest.
- There was a major shift of Ruthenian population from the devastated right bank to the left bank and Sloboda UkraineSloboda UkraineSloboda Ukraine was a historical region which developed and flourished in the 17th and 18th centuries on the southwestern frontier of the Tsardom of Russia....
, thereby increasing the area under peasant agriculture. - Turkey briefly expanded its power into Ukraine (Doroshenko to about 1699).
Sources
- Orest Subtelny, 'Ukraine, A History',2000: This article is largely a summary of Chapter 9.
- The Ruin (from Ukraine), Encyclopædia Britannica
- Encyclopedia of Ukraine