(
right) at
Lviv, oil on canvas by
Jan Matejko, 1885,
National Museum in
Warsaw While the Czapliński Affair is generally regarded as the immediate cause of the uprising, it was primarily a catalyst for actions representing rising popular discontent. Religion, ethnicity, and economics factored into this discontent. While the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth remained
a union of nations, a sizable population of Orthodox
Ruthenians was ignored. Oppressed by the Polish magnates, they took their wrath out on Poles, as well as the Jews, who often managed the estates of Polish nobles. The advent of the
Counter-Reformation worsened relations between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches. Many Orthodox Ukrainians considered the
Union of Brest as a threat to their Orthodox faith.
Initial success At the end of January 1648, a
Cossack Rada was called, and Khmelnytsky was unanimously elected a
hetman. A period of feverish activity followed. Cossacks were sent with hetman's letters to many regions of Ukraine calling on Cossacks and Orthodox peasants to join the rebellion,
Khortytsia was fortified, efforts were made to acquire and make weapons and ammunition, and emissaries were sent to the
Khan of Crimea,
İslâm III Giray. Initially, Polish authorities took the news of Khmelnytsky's arrival at the Sich and reports about the rebellion lightly. The two sides exchanged lists of demands: the Poles asked the Cossacks to surrender the mutinous leader and disband, while Khmelnytsky and the Rada demanded that the Commonwealth restore the Cossacks' ancient rights, stop the advance of the
Ruthenian Uniate Greek Catholic Church, yield the right to appoint Orthodox leaders of the Sich and of the Registered Cossack regiments, and to remove Commonwealth troops from Ukraine. The Polish magnates considered the demands an affront, and an army headed by Stefan Potocki moved in the direction of the Sich. Had the Cossacks stayed at Khortytsia, they might have been defeated, as in many other rebellions. However, Khmelnytsky marched against the Poles. The two armies met on 16 May 1648 at
Zhovti Vody, where, aided by the Tatars of
Tugay Bey, the Cossacks inflicted their first crushing defeat on the Commonwealth. It was repeated soon afterwards, with the same success, at the
Battle of Korsuń on 26 May 1648. Khmelnytsky used his diplomatic and military skills: under his leadership, the Cossack army moved to battle positions following his plans, Cossacks were proactive and decisive in their manoeuvrers and attacks, and most importantly, he gained the support of both large contingents of registered Cossacks and the
Crimean Khan, his crucial ally for the many battles to come.
Establishment of Cossack Hetmanate The
Patriarch of Jerusalem Paiseus, who was visiting Kiev at this time, referred to Khmelnytsky as the Prince of Rus. In February 1649, during negotiations in
Pereiaslav with a Polish delegation headed by Senator
Adam Kysil, Khmelnytsky declared that he was "the sole autocrat of Rus" and that he had "enough power in Ukraine,
Podilia, and
Volhynia... in his land and principality stretching as far as Lviv, Kholm (modern
Chełm), and
Halych." After the period of initial military successes, the
state-building process began. His leadership was demonstrated in all areas of state-building: military, administration, finance, economics and culture. Khmelnytsky made the
Zaporozhian Host the supreme power in the new Ukrainian state and unified all the spheres of Ukrainian society under his authority. Khmelnytsky built a new government system and developed military and civilian administration. A new generation of statesmen and military leaders came to the forefront:
Ivan Vyhovsky,
Pavlo Teteria,
Danylo Nechai and
Ivan Nechai,
Ivan Bohun,
Hryhoriy Hulyanytsky. From Cossack polkovnyks, officers, and military commanders, a new elite within the Cossack Hetman state was born. Throughout the years, the elite preserved and maintained the autonomy of the
Cossack Hetmanate in the face of Russia's attempt to curb it. It was also instrumental in the onset of the period of
Ruin that followed, eventually destroying most of the achievements of the Khmelnytsky era.
Complications . It was later taken by the Swedes in Warsaw 1655 and is now to be seen at Armémuseum, Stockholm, Sweden. Khmelnytsky's initial successes were followed by a series of setbacks as neither Khmelnytsky nor the Commonwealth had enough strength to stabilise the situation or to inflict a defeat on the enemy. What followed was a period of intermittent warfare and several peace treaties, which were seldom upheld. From spring 1649 onward, the situation turned for the worse for the Cossacks; as Polish attacks increased in frequency, they became more successful. The resulting
Treaty of Zboriv on 18 August 1649 was unfavourable for the Cossacks. It was followed by another defeat at the
battle of Berestechko on 18 June 1651 in which the Tatars betrayed Khmelnytsky and held the hetman captive. The Cossacks suffered a crushing defeat, with an estimated 30,000 casualties. They were forced to sign the
Treaty of Bila Tserkva, which favoured the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Warfare broke open again and, in the years that followed, the two sides were almost perpetually at war. Now, the
Crimean Tatars played a decisive role and did not allow either side to prevail. It was in their interests to keep both Ukraine and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from getting too strong and becoming an effective power in the region. Khmelnytsky started looking for another foreign ally. Although the Cossacks had established their
de facto independence from Poland, the new state needed legitimacy, which could be provided by a foreign monarch. In search of a protectorate, Khmelnytsky approached the
Ottoman sultan in 1651, and formal embassies were exchanged. The Turks offered vassalship, like their other arrangements with contemporary
Crimea,
Moldavia and
Wallachia. However, the idea of a union with the Muslim monarch was not acceptable to the general populace and most Cossacks. The other possible ally was the
Tsardom of Russia. However, despite appeals for help from Khmelnytsky in the name of the shared Orthodox faith, the tsar preferred to wait, until the threat of a Cossack-Ottoman union in 1653 finally forced him to action.
Treaty with the tsar accepting the Zaporozhian Host under the tsar's sovereignty After a series of negotiations, it was agreed that the Cossacks would accept overlordship by the Tsar
Alexei Mikhailovich. To finalize the treaty, a Russian embassy led by
boyar Vasily Buturlin came to
Pereiaslav, where, on 18 January 1654, the Cossack Rada was called and the treaty concluded. Historians have not come to a consensus in interpreting the intentions of the tsar and Khmelnytsky in signing this agreement. The treaty legitimized Russian claims to the capital of
Kievan Rus' and strengthened the tsar's influence in the region. Khmelnytsky needed the treaty to gain a legitimate monarch's protection and support from a friendly Orthodox power. Historians have differed in their reading of Khmelnytsky's goal with the union: whether it was to be a military union, a
suzerainty, or a complete incorporation of Ukraine into the
Tsardom of Russia. The differences were expressed during the ceremony of the oath of allegiance to the tsar: the Russian envoy refused to reciprocate with an oath from the ruler to his subjects, as the Cossacks and Ruthenians expected, since it was the custom of the Polish king. Khmelnytsky stormed out of the church and threatened to cancel the entire treaty. The Cossacks decided to rescind the demand and abide by the treaty.
Final years As a result of the 1654
Treaty of Pereiaslav, the geopolitical map of the region changed. Russia entered the scene, and the Cossacks' former allies, the Tatars, had switched sides and gone over to the Polish side, initiating warfare against Khmelnytsky and his forces.
Tatar raids depopulated whole areas of Sich. Cossacks, aided by the Tsar's army, took revenge on Polish possessions in
Belarus, and in the spring of 1654, the Cossacks drove the Poles from much of the country. Sweden entered the mêlée. Old adversaries of both Poland and Russia, they occupied a share of Lithuania before the Russians could get there. The occupation displeased Russia because the tsar sought to take over the Swedish Baltic provinces. In 1656, with the Commonwealth increasingly war-torn but also increasingly hostile and successful against the Swedes, the ruler of
Transylvania,
George II Rákóczi, also joined in.
Charles X of Sweden had solicited his help because of the massive Polish popular opposition and resistance against the Swedes. Under blows from all sides, the Commonwealth barely survived. , Ukraine, where Khmelnytsky was buried Russia attacked Sweden in July 1656, while its forces were deeply involved in Poland. That war ended in status quo two years later, but it complicated matters for Khmelnytsky, as his ally was now fighting his overlord. In addition to diplomatic tensions between the tsar and Khmelnytsky, a number of other disagreements between the two surfaced. In particular, they concerned Russian officials' interference in the finances of the
Cossack Hetmanate and in the newly captured Belarus. The tsar concluded
a separate treaty with the Poles in
Vilnius in 1656. The Hetman's emissaries were not even allowed to attend the negotiations. Khmelnytsky wrote an irate letter to the tsar accusing him of breaking the Pereiaslav agreement and contrasted this with the honesty of the Swedes: In Poland, the Cossack army and Transylvanian allies suffered a number of setbacks. As a result, Khmelnytsky had to deal with a Cossack rebellion on the home front. Troubling news also came from Crimea, as Tatars, in alliance with Poland, were preparing for a new
invasion of Ukraine. Though already ill, Khmelnytsky continued to conduct diplomatic activity, at one point even receiving the tsar's envoys from his bed. File:Death of Bohdan. Taras Shevchenko.jpg|thumb|
Death of Bohdan [Khmelnytsky], an 1836-1837 painting by Taras Shevchenko On 22 July, he suffered a
cerebral hemorrhage and became paralysed after his audience with the Kiev Colonel Zhdanovich. His expedition to
Halychyna had failed because of mutiny within his army. Less than a week later, Bohdan Khmelnytsky died at 5 a.m. on 27 July 1657. His funeral was held on 23 August, and his body was taken from his capital, Chyhyryn, to his estate, at Subotiv, for burial in his ancestral church. In 1664 a Polish hetman
Stefan Czarniecki recaptured Subotiv and, according to some Ukrainian historians, ordered the bodies of the hetman and his son,
Tymish, to be exhumed and desecrated, while others claim that is not the case. == Personal life ==