A desolate Commonwealth, a desolate Ukraine. Wolves howled at the ruins of ancient cities and the once flourishing country resembled a great tomb. Hatred had creeped into hearts and poisoned the blood of fellowmen….
Henryk Sienkiewicz, With Fire and Sword
With these words, Henryk Sienkiewicz ended his great work With Fire And Sword. Within its pages, he depicted the fate of the Cossack uprising led by Bohdan Chmielnicki. The uprising, which broke out in 1648, was a decisive moment for the future of both Poland and Ukraine, with the latter then coming under Moscow’s rule for the first time.
The course of the fighting
Fighting between the Republic of Poland and the Cossacks had been going on for several years. Among the most important clashes of this period, it is worth mentioning the Battle of Zhovti Vody, Korsun and Piławce in 1648, the siege of Lviv, Zamość and Zbarazh and the battle of Zborov in 1649, as well as the battles of Beresteczko in 1651 and Batoh in 1652. Thereafter, hostilities quietened down somewhat, although the uprising continued, and Khmelnytsky did not abandon his ambitious plans. One of his next moves was a rapprochement with Moscow.
Towards tsar
In October of 1653, the Russian Zemsky Sobor decided to break the peace with the Republic, incorporate Dnieper Ukraine into the Tsarist state and declare war on the Polish-Lithuanian state. In January of the following year, the Tsar sent his representation to the Cossacks, who arrived in Pereyslav. On the 17th of January, a Cossack council was convened, the following day placing the Hetmanate under the “protection” of the Tsar, but retaining the right to elect the Hetman. Moscow also pledged to increase the Cossack register to 60,000, and the Cossack elders were to keep their landed estates. However, Tsar Alexei did not abide by the Pereyeslav settlement because, as he claimed, his status under self-rule did not provide for swearing oaths to his subjects. Nevertheless, he used it as a pretext to launch a war against the Commonwealth and subjugate the Left-bank of Ukraine.
And so for the next 400 years
The Pereysevo Settlement ‘pushed’ Ukrainian lands into Russian hands for the first time in history. From that moment onwards, it took many years and centuries for Ukraine to “break free” completely from Russian rule. It was not able to fully regain its independence until the 24th of August 1991, though Ukranians fight for it once again today.