Establishment The Hetmanate emerged as a result of a major Cossack uprising in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, which broke out in 1648 in Ukrainian lands under the leadership of Bohdan Khmelnytsky. The causes of the uprising included
corruption within the royal administrations of the Commonwealth, social disenfranchisement, intensification of the activities of the
Orthodox Church, and the growth of the Cossack population despite government-imposed limitations. As a result of continuous wars with the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Cossack Hetmanate effectively became independent but lacked international legal recognition.
Khmelnytsky Uprising After many successful military campaigns against the Poles, Hetman
Bohdan Khmelnytsky made a triumphant entry into
Kyiv on Christmas 1648, where he was hailed as a liberator of the people from Polish captivity. In February 1649, during negotiations in
Pereiaslav with a Polish delegation, Khmelnytsky made it clear to the Poles that he wanted to be the
Hetman of a Ruthenia stretching to
Chelm and
Halych, and built with the
Tatars' help. He warned them that he intended to resume his military campaign. When the delegation returned and informed
John II Casimir of Khmelnytsky's new campaign, the king called for an all
szlachta volunteer army, and sent regular troops against the cossacks in southern
Volhynia. However, after obtaining intelligence of superior cossack forces, the Polish troops retreated to
Zbarazh to set up a defense. The forces of
Jeremi Wiśniowiecki reinforced the Zbarazh defenders while he took the lead of all Polish forces. Khmelnytsky besieged the city, wearing it down through a series of random attacks and bombardments. The king, while rushing to help Wiśniowiecki, was ambushed with his newly gathered forces. Khmelnytsky, leaving part of his army with
Ivan Cherniata near Zbarazh, moved together with
İslâm III Giray to intercept the Polish reinforcements and block their way at a river crossing near
Zboriv. Caught by some degree of surprise, John Casimir started negotiations with the Tatar khan. With the khan at his side, he forced Khmelnytsky to start peace negotiations.
Formation of the Hetmanate Khmelnytsky signed the
Treaty of Zboriv in August 1649, with a result somewhat less than the Cossack leader had anticipated from his campaign. According to the concluded agreement, the number of
Registered Cossacks had to be increased to 40,000 and the Crown Forces were not allowed to enter the territory east of towns
Hornostaipil,
Korostyshiv,
Pavoloch,
Pohrebyshche,
Vinnytsia,
Bratslav,
Yampil up to Muscovy border which generally related to the
Kyiv Voivodeship (Palatinatus Kioviensis),
Bratslav Voivodeship (Palatinatus Braclavensis), and
Chernihiv Voivodeship (Ducatus Chernichov and Ducatus Novogrodeck) . As ruler of the Hetmanate, Khmelnytsky engaged in state-building across multiple spheres: military, administration, finance, economics, and culture. He invested the
Zaporozhian Host under the leadership of its hetman with supreme power in the new Ruthenian state, and unified all the spheres of Ukrainian society under his authority. This involved building a government system and a developed military and civilian administration out of Cossack officers and Ruthenian nobles, as well as the establishment of an elite within the Cossack Hetman state. The Hetmanate used Polish currency, and Polish was frequently used as the language of administration and even of command. However, after the
Truce of Andrusovo in 1667, the "simple language" (), or the commonly spoken vernacular language of Ukraine, began to be written down and widely used in official documents of the Cossack Hetmanate.
Protectorate of Moscow Pereyaslav Agreement The unreliability of the alliance with the Crimean Khanate compelled Khmelnytsky to seek foreign assistance in the struggle against Warsaw. Among the candidates willing to accept the Cossacks under their protection, the hetman considered Ottoman Sultan Mehmed and Muscovite Tsar Alexis. After prolonged negotiations, the Cossack side chose the latter. After the
Crimean Tatars betrayed the Cossacks for the third time in 1653, Khmelnytsky realized he could no longer rely on
Ottoman support against Poland, and he was forced to turn to
Tsardom of Russia for help. Final attempts to negotiate took place in January 1654 in the town of
Pereiaslav between Khmelnytsky with Cossack leaders and the Tsar's ambassador,
Vasiliy Buturlin. At the Pereiaslav Council, Khmelnytsky and the Cossack elite swore allegiance to the tsar in exchange for recognition of the Hetmanate’s self-government and the declaration of war against the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Additional conditions of the Muscovite–Cossack alliance were set out in the March Articles, which were signed by the hetman later that same year. The treaty was concluded in April in
Moscow by the Cossacks
Samiilo Bohdanovych-Zarudny and
Pavlo Teteria, and by
Aleksey Trubetskoy, Vasilii Buturlin, and other
boyars. As a result of the treaty, the Zaporozhian Host became an autonomous Hetmanate within the Russian state. The treaty also led to the
Russo-Polish War of 1654–1667.
Continuing war and diplomacy In the spring of 1654, a joint Cossack–Muscovite army invaded the territory of Lithuania. The Cossacks independently captured the lands of
White Ruthenia and, together with the Muscovites, seized the capital
Vilnius. In response, the army of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, along with Crimean Tatars, launched a campaign against the Ukrainian
Bratslav region. Khmelnytsky halted the enemy in 1655 at the
Battle of Okhmativ. The military weakening of the Commonwealth was exploited by the Swedish Empire. In 1655, Swedish King
Charles X launched a war against the Commonwealth in the Baltic region. The following year, fearing the strengthening of Sweden in the region, the Muscovite Tsardom declared war on Sweden and concluded a separate
Vilnius Peace with the Commonwealth. The Muscovites excluded the Cossacks from negotiations with the Poles and opposed the annexation of southern Belarus to the Hetmanate. Due to violations of the Pereiaslav agreements, Khmelnytsky concluded an alliance with the
Swedish Empire and the
Principality of Transylvania — enemies of Muscovy — and continued the struggle against the Commonwealth. This amounted to a de facto break with Muscovite protectorate. He also renewed diplomatic contacts with Crimea, perceiving a threat to Cossack sovereignty from the southeast.
The Ruin The period of Hetmanate history known as "the
Ruin", lasting from 1657 to 1687, was marked by constant civil wars throughout the state.
Rise of Ivan Vyhovsky After
Bohdan Khmelnytsky died in 1657, his sixteen-year-old son
Yurii Khmelnytsky was elected as successor. Bohdan's son was not only too young and inexperienced, but also clearly lacked the charisma and leadership qualities of his father. In response,
Ivan Vyhovsky, the general scribe () of the Hetmanate and an adviser to Bohdan Khmelnytsky, was elected hetman in 1657 by the
Starshyna council. His election caused widespread discontent among other regiments and the Zaporizhian Host, who sent runners to Moscow with complaints. As a result, new elections were called that same year at which Vyhovsky was reelected at the General Military Council. This election was also confirmed by Russian authorities who were informed according to the Pereiaslav treaty. Moscow continued to accept runners from the regions of Cossack Hetmanate completely disregarding the authority of hetman and spreading rumors that in truth Russia did not support the candidacy of Vyhovsky. Vyhovsky's election was opposed by the
Zaporozhian Cossacks, who had not been invited to the council, and by Poltava colonel
Martyn Pushkar, who led opposition forces that rejected the restoration of the noble-dominated social order. Together with the Zaporozhian
ataman Yakiv Barabash, Pushkar raised a rebellion in
Left-Bank Ukraine and appealed for support to the only possible ally — Muscovite Tsardom. Initially, the tsar attempted to reconcile the sides, later sending troops intended to support either the hetman, if he dismissed the Tatars, or the rebels if he failed to do so. Vyhovsky, seeing the situation turning out of his control, went on to extinguish the revolt. In the spring
Attempts at reconciliation with the Commonwealth on the Treaty of Hadiach Within a year, the hetman managed to suppress the opposition militarily. Subsequently, due to Vyhovsky’s openly pro-Polish policy and continued overt support of anti-hetman forces by the Muscovite government, he pursued a course toward withdrawal from Muscovite protection. The newly elected Metropolitan
Dionisi Balaban was transferred to
Chyhyryn, away from Kyiv. A manifest nullifying the union with Russia was sent throughout Europe, mainly because it was conducting friendly relationships with Poland and supporting internal opposition within the Hetmanate. Negotiations with Sweden had frozen, while he had military support from the
Crimean Khanate, so Vyhovsky decided to renegotiate with Poland, with whom talks continued for quite some time. On September 16, 1658 in
Hadiach, a
Cossack council together with emissaries of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth approved an agreement proposed by the hetman to return Ukraine under the authority of the Polish king. The
Treaty of Hadiach was signed based on the idea of transforming the Commonwealth into a union of Poland, Lithuania, and
Cossack Rus’. Under the conditions of the treaty, Ukraine would become a third and autonomous component of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, under the ultimate sovereignty of the
King of Poland but with its own military, courts, and treasury. But the treaty, although ratified by the Diet in May 1659, was never implemented because it was unpopular among the lower classes of the Ruthenian society, where more rebellions occurred.
Vyhovsky's downfall In response to the Treaty of Hadiach, the Muscovite Tsardom sent troops into Ukraine, which were defeated by Vyhovsky and his allies in 1659
at Konotop. Despite the victory, the hetman could not capitalize on it — the Warsaw
Sejm curtailed the negotiated text of the Hadiach Agreement. This provoked outrage among the entire Cossack community and contributed to the revival of pro-Muscovite influences on the Left Bank. At the same time, Zaporozhian Cossacks led by
Ivan Sirko independently launched a raid against Crimea, an ally of Vyhovsky. In September 1659, the hetman was deposed at a
Black Council near Hermanivka for having “sold Ukraine to the Poles”. Vyhovsky escaped, and in Bila Tserkva the Cossacks elected the 18-year-old Yurii Khmelnytsky, son of the late Bohdan, as the new hetman, who signed the newly composed
Pereiaslav Articles that were increasingly unfavorable for the Hetmanate and later led to introduction of
serfdom rights.
Partition of Ukraine (1667) After the flight of Teteria,
Petro Doroshenko was elected the new hetman of Right-Bank Ukraine. He suppressed pro-Muscovite opposition in his territory, resumed negotiations with the Ottoman Empire regarding protection, and, with the support of the Crimean Tatars, launched a war against the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, hoping to “drive all Poles out of Ukraine into Poland”. These actions pushed the Commonwealth and the Muscovite Tsardom toward peace. In 1667, the Russo-Polish war ended with the
Treaty of Andrusovo, which split the Cossack Hetmanate along the Dnieper River:
left-bank Ukraine enjoyed a degree of autonomy within the Tsardom of Russia, while
right-bank Ukraine remained part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and was temporarily occupied by the Ottoman Empire in the period of 1672–1699 (see the
Treaty of Buchach and the
Treaty of Karlowitz). The agreement nullified the Cossacks’ struggle for their own state and provoked widespread outrage on both sides of the river. In 1668, councils of Cossack elders convened in Right-Bank Chyhyryn and Left-Bank Hadiach adopted identical resolutions—to accept the protection of the Ottoman sultan. An anti-Muscovite uprising erupted on the Left Bank. Near
Dykanka, the hetmans Doroshenko and Briukhovetsky met; however, rank-and-file Cossacks tore the latter apart as a traitor to Moscow. Doroshenko was proclaimed hetman of both banks of the Dnieper. For a short time,
Petro Doroshenko became the hetman of both banks. He defeated the Muscovite army and returned to Chyhyryn, leaving the defense of the Left Bank to the Chernihiv colonel
Demian Mnohohrishny. However, already in 1669, in Doroshenko’s absence, part of the Left-Bank elite, persuaded by Orthodox Archbishop
Lazar Baranovych, proclaimed Mnohohrishny hetman and approved the signing of the Hlukhiv Articles — a new agreement establishing Muscovite protection over the Cossacks. Due to Mnohohrishny’s sympathy for Doroshenko, he quickly lost the hetman’s
mace. In 1672, Muscovite troops surrounded
Baturyn, arrested the hetman, and after torturing him in Moscow, exiled him to
Siberia. At a new Cossack council held on Muscovite territory near
Putyvl, surrounded by Muscovite troops, a new hetman was elected—General Chancellor
Ivan Samoilovych, one of those who had denounced Mnohohrishny. He signed new Konotop Articles, which deprived the Hetmanate of the right to conduct independent foreign policy and stripped ordinary Cossacks of the right to elect the hetman.
Doroshenko's alliance with Ottomans Against the backdrop of the gradual absorption of the Left Bank by Muscovy and internal anarchy, in 1669 the Right-Bank hetman Petro Doroshenko accepted the protection of the Ottoman sultan near Korsun. After treason by
Demian Mnohohrishny and a new Polish offensive, Doroshenko concluded an alliance with the Ottomans, who granted him Ukraine, while the hetman agreed to support Ottoman military action with his army. "By 1669 the Porte issued a patent (berat, nişan) granting Doroshenko all of Cossack Ukraine as an Ottoman
sancak or province". This move sharply reduced his popularity among the Ukrainians and commoners, giving rise to the emergence of two self-proclaimed right-bank hetmans, Petro Sukhovii and the pro-Polish
Mykhailo Khanenko. Direct armed support of the anti-Doroshenko forces by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth forced
Sultan Mehmed IV to intervene in the conflict. In 1672, Ottoman troops captured
Podillia, the
Bratslav region, and the southern
Kyiv region and forced the Poles to sign the
Treaty of Buchach. Doroshenko restored his power, but due to Tatar raids and violent
islamization, the Ukrainian population of the right bank began to flee to the left bank of the Dnieper,
Sloboda Ukraine,
Galicia and
Volhynia.
Samoilovych's campaigns In 1674, Samoilovych's left-bank Cossacks, together with the Russian army,
invaded the right bank, and in 1676, deprived of support, Doroshenko capitulated, surrendering the hetman's capital of Chyhyryn with
kleinods. These events unleashed the
Russo-Turkish War, as a result of which the Ottoman-Tatar army completely destroyed the Cossack capital Chyhyryn. In order to deprive the enemy of support, the Left-bank hetman's government
forcibly removed the entire population of the Dnieper region to the Left bank. The war ended with the conclusion of the
Bakhchysarai Peace in 1681. According to this treaty, the Russo-Ottoman border was established along the Dnieper; the territory between the Dnieper and
Buh rivers had to be uninhabited for 20 years. After the defeat of the Ottomans at the
Battle of Vienna in 1683, the Tsardom of Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth concluded the
Treaty of Perpetual Peace in 1686, which also established the division of the Hetmanate between them. On the left bank, Samoilovych was considered to be the culprit of the disintegration of the Cossack state between the Tsardom of Russia, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Ottoman Empire. After the unsuccessful
Crimean campaign of 1687, he was denounced, arrested and exiled to
Siberia. At the same time, on the right bank, the Poles abolished the Cossack self-government and the
regimental system in 1699. As a result, the Hetmanate continued to exist only on the left bank of the Dnieper.
Hetmanate under Ivan Mazepa Social and political changes 's chronicle The period of the Ruin effectively ended when
Ivan Mazepa was elected hetman, serving from 1687 to 1708. He brought stability to the Left-bank Ukraine, which was again united under a single hetman. The Hetmanate flourished under his rule, particularly in literature and architecture. The architectural style that developed during his reign was called the
Cossack Baroque style. Mazepa worked to elevate the Cossack starshyna to the status of a new nobility, including not only high-ranked officials, but also members of their families into the new elite and turning them into a privileged group separate from
rank and file Cossacks. This new aristocracy preferred to style itself as szlachta, underlining its direct descent from the political nation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and adopting its own
coats of arms. Lower classes, most prominently peasants, were subjected to the military administration and required to pay taxes. Social mobility between classes was a usual occurrence, with richer peasants able to provide themselves with weapons entering the Cossack army, and poorer Cossacks working on land turining into peasants. Big landowners practiced the creation of
slobodas, where new settlers coming to their land were allowed to live on beneficial terms; with time those settlers would be turned into their landlord's subjects. The rise of the new Cossack elite caused social frictions, illustrated by the 1692 revolt led by Petro Ivanenko (Petryk).
Alliance with Charles XII of Sweden Mazepa's military policies contributed to the popular dissatisfaction, as the hetman was required to provide Cossack troops for numerous wars led by the Russian government. The
Great Northern War, which broke out between
Russia and
Sweden in 1700, greatly damaged the Ukrainian economy by disrupting the trade with Poland. Mazepa's alliance with
Peter I caused heavy losses among Cossacks and increased Russian interference in the Hetmanate's internal affairs. Russian troops stationed in Ukraine engaged in mass requisition of food and cattle, which put an additional burden on the heavily taxed population, and violated local law by exploiting Cossacks in military construction, robbing houses and engaging in murder and rape. When the
tsar refused to defend Ukraine against the Polish King
Stanislaus Leszczynski, an ally of
Charles XII of Sweden, Mazepa allied himself with the Swedes on October 28, 1708. As most Cossack regiments at that time were fighting at the front, only a small number of Cossacks joined the hetman in his alliance with Charles XII. Having learned about Mazepa's desertion, Peter declared him a traitor and ordered his general
Alexander Menshikov to burn the hetman's capital in Baturyn. Up to 15,000 people, including women and children, were killed during the
sack of the city by Muscovite troops on 13 November 1708. A special commission was created in
Lebedyn in order to
persecute suspected followers of the renegade hetman. This resulted in the death of over 900 Cossack officials, who were accused of treason. On 17 November, after performing a mock execution of Mazepa's
effigy, Peter officially appointed
Starodub colonel
Ivan Skoropadsky as hetman. An
anathema on Mazepa's name was officially proclaimed by the
Russian Orthodox Church and remained in place until 1918.
Battle of Poltava The unusually cold
winter of 1708-1709 contributed to problems suffered by Mazepa and his new Swedish allies arriving to Ukraine: soldiers were suffering from the lack of residential quarters and warm clothes, and the need to requisition food and animal feed caused dissatisfaction among locals. In addition, Peter's agents spread rumours about the hetman being a secret Catholic and a Polish sympathizer. The fact that Charles XII's soldiers were
Protestants also didn't help to win the popular sympathy. Hostility to Mazepa's allies increased after the Swedish campaign in
Sloboda Ukraine during early 1709, as a result of which numerous settlements were ruined. On the positive side, in March 1709 Zaporozhian Sich, the hetman's longtime opponent, joined Mazepa's anti-Moscow alliance, with its
kish otaman Kost Hordiienko arriving to the Swedish-Cossack camp. As a reaction to this development, Peter I ordered the destruction of the Zaporozhian Sich, and in May his troops executed thousands of people residing in its territories. The decisive
battle of Poltava, which took place on 8 July 1709 ended in the defeat of Swedish forces from a numerically superior Russian army, which also included Skoropadsky's Cossack troops. After retreating with the remnants of their forces to
Perevolochna, Mazepa and Charles XII crossed the
Dnieper and arrived to the Ottoman possessions. Peter I offered Turkish officials a large sum of money in exchange for delivering the hetman to him, but the sultan declared Mazepa to have legal immunity. The exhausted hetman never recovered from the defeat and died on 2 October 1709 in
Bender.
Hetmanate after Mazepa Pylyp Orlyk's hetmanate in exile version of the Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk exhibited in Kyiv In April 1710 Mazepa's general scribe
Pylyp Orlyk was elected as his successor, serving as hetman in exile. One of Orlyk's first acts after the election was the approval of the
Pacts and Constitutions of the Zaporozhian Host, which introduced a democratic structure for the Cossack state. The new hetman's most important ally in realizing this program was Charles XII, who in May 1710 proclaimed himself
protector of Ukraine. Following the declaration of war against Peter I by the sultan, in January 1711 a treaty of alliance between Orlyk and khan
Devlet II Giray was signed in
Bakhchisaray. Soon thereafter, the hetman's troops entered Right-bank Ukraine with the support of Polish forces and the
Nogays, and were soon joined by many locals. However, during the
Siege of Bila Tserkva Nogays fled Orlyk's ranks, raiding the surrounding country, and the hetman was forced to return to Bender. Soon thereafter, Peter I started a counteroffensive with the support of Moldovan ruler
Dimitrie Cantemir, but in July the tsar's forces were
encircled on the
Prut river. As a result, Peter had to sign a
peace agreement, according to which Russian troops were to leave Right-bank Ukraine. In March 1712 the sultan declared Orlyk to be the "Lord of Ukraine" in the lands formerly ruled by Petro Doroshenko. However, when a Cossack detachment under command of Danylo Horlenko was sent to establish the hetman's rule in the region, he met the opposition of Polish authorities. After a year of battles, on 22 April 1714 the Ottomans de-facto recognized Polish control over the Right-bank Ukraine. Having failed to win the Ottoman support for his cause, in late 1714 Orlyk left Bender for Sweden, meanwhile his supporters moved to Left-bank Ukraine, hoping for an
amnesty, and Kost Hordiienko returned to the Zaporozhian Sich. From that time on, the exiled hetman would travel between European courts, looking for support in liberating Ukraine from Russian rule. Despite Orlyk's warnings about the danger of Peter I and his state to the European order and attempts to prove Ukraine's essential role for the continent, he was unable to reach his goal, and died in 1742 in Iasi.
Incorporation into the Russian Empire The treaties of
Adrianople and
Karlowitz finalized the partition of Cossack lands in Ukraine, with Russia establishing itself on the Left Bank and in Kyiv, and after 1734 also gaining protectorate over the Zaporozhian Sich. The Ottomans preserved their sphere of influence in the lowland areas between the
Danube and Dnieper, meanwhile Poland preserved control over Galicia, Volhynia, Podolia and areas surrounding Kyiv from the west. Unilke the latter areas, Left-bank Ukraine retained its political and administrative structure established during the hetmanship of Bohdan Khmelnytsky. Following the destruction of Baturyn, the Hetmanate's capital was moved to
Hlukhiv. After the Battle of Poltava, the Hetmanate's autonomy became nominal and the
Governorate of Kyiv was established. According to articles presented to Peter I in 1709 at
Reshetylivka, it was proposed to include the Cossack army into the Russian military as part of a separate
Ukrainian Division, however the document was never approved. The Hetmanate's military continued to be recruited from among Cossack landowners, who were freed from taxes and enjoyed a number of privileges and were subordinated to Cossack starshyna. Due to the expensiveness of weapons, gunpowder, horses and other equipment, which the recruits had to provide on their own, starting from the 1720s Cossack registers were constantly understaffed. As a result, in 1735 the
host divided in two groups:
Elected Cossacks, who were obliged to perform military service, and
Cossack helpers, who were tasked with supplying the army. Among the latter a group of landless Cossacks who worked as hired labour started to emerge. Starting from the early 18th century, free movement of peasants was gradually limited: in 1739 settlers were forbidden to move to the Hetmanate from
Sloboda Ukraine, and in 1761 hetman
Kyrylo Rozumovsky obliged those wishing to change their place of residence to receive a permit from their previous landowner. The economic state of Ukrainian lands suffered from the decision of Russian authorities to station three regiments of the
imperial army in Ukraine on a constant basis, which was taken in the aftermath of the Battle of Poltava. This contributed to the introduction of special taxes to be paid by local inhabitants. Additionally, new trade regulations approved by Peter I banned the exports of numerous goods deemed "strategically important" and forcibly redirected trading routes through Northern Russia. As a result, Ukraine increasingly turned into a producer of raw materials for the developing industrial centres such as Moscow and
Saint Petersburg. The foundation of state-owned factories put an additional strain on the traditional
guild system.
First abolition of hetmanship The decline of cities resulting from state policies introduced under Peter I led to conflicts between local authorities based on the
Magdeburg Law and the Cossack administration. The latter also became a victim of the dismantlement of local self-government by tsarist authorities: starting from 1715, Cossack colonels could only be appointed with agreement of the monarch's representative, and starting from the 1730s direct appointment of officials became the norm. During that period the Cossack elite increasingly incorporated people of non-Ukrainian origin, such as ethnic
Russians and
Serbs, who were considered to be more loyal to the monarchy. In 1722 Peter I created the
Collegium of Little Russia as an institutuion subjected not to his
Foreign Ministry, but to the
Governing Senate. This step signified that from now on the Hetmanate would be viewed by the authorities as an integral part of the wider Russian Empire. The Collegium consisted of Russian officers and was presided by
Stepan Velyaminov. Following the death of hetman Ivan Skoropadsky in 1722, Cossack starshyna appointed
Pavlo Polubotok as acting hetman for the period before the new election. However, Peter I refused to approve Polubotok's candidacy, and a confict emerged between the top Cossack officials and Velyaminov, who in the absence of a hetman attempted to subject the Hetmanate to the Collegium. In 1723 Polubotok arrived to Saint Petersburg with a
petition from Cossacks, asking to permit the electon of a new hetman, abolish the new taxes and restore the courts' autonomy. Enraged with the appeal, the tsar ordered Polubotok and other members of his delegation to be imprisoned in the
Peter and Paul Fortress, where the acting hetman died in December 1724. Following the death of Peter I in 1725 Collegium of Little Russia was officially declared to be a "protector of the common people" in Ukraine.
Attempts of reform After the death of empress
Catherine I in 1727, the
Supreme Privy Council ruling from the name of underage
Peter II declared the restoration of hetmanship in anticipation of a new
war against Turkey. On 1 October 1727 70-year old
Myrhorod Regiment colonel
Danylo Apostol was elected as the new hetman. Next year, during his visit to Moscow, he was granted new articles from the government, which slightly increased the Hetmanate's autonomy. During his tenure, Apostol performed a revision of land properties and introduced a precisely calculated budget, the expenses for which were covered from the export tax. In 1728 a commission was organized in order to harmonize the Hetmanate's law system. Its work continued until 1744, long after the hetman's death, and the codified laws continued to remain in force until into the 19th century. , 1740–1750, superimposed on modern Ukraine's territory. After Apostol's death in 1734, power in the Hetmanate was transferred to the
Governing Council of the Hetman Office, which consisted of six members: three high-ranked officers of the Russian army stationed in Ukraine and three representatives of the Cossack administration. The real power belonged to the head of the former group. During the
Russo-Turkish War of 1735-1739 Russian army's supreme commander,
field marshal von Münnich, received unlimited power in the Hetmanate and Sloboda Ukraine. Münnich openly disrespected the local law and autonomy, threatening Cossack officials with exile in
Siberia, and petitioned for their territories to be transferred into his hereditary ownership in form of a
duchy. The situation improved after the enthronement of
Elizabeth Petrovna, who was secretly married to Ukrainian Cossack
Oleksiy Rozumovsky. During her visit to Kyiv and Hlukhiv in 1744, Elizabeth held an audience with members of the starshyna, who petitioned her to restore their "ancient liberties", including the right to elect a hetman. Soon thereafter the Hetmanate's territory was freed from the obligation to station troops, and local inhabitants were allowed to freely trade grain. In 1745 the
Metropolitanate of Kyiv was restored, and in 1747 a special decree reinstated the position of hetman. In March 1750 Kyrylo Rozumovsky, the 22-year old younger brother of Oleksiy, was "elected" hetman
in absentia and awarded with the traditional symbols of power by the empress. After being promoted to field marshal, in July Kyrylo arrived to Hlukhiv, where he was received with great pomp. Despite initially being seen as a mere puppet of Saint Petersburg, the new hetman turned out to be a capable politician and administrator. Educated at the imperial court and married into the Russian higher nobility, he viewed Ukraine as an indivisible part of the Russian Empire, but supported the control of local elites over the Hetmanate, wishing to serve as a guarantor of its autonomy. A characteristic example of Rozumovsky's views was his decision to move the hetman's capital to Mazepa's Baturyn, where he ordered the construction of a
classical palace surrounded by a park. Baturyn was planned by him to house a new university, that would function along with the reformed Kyiv Mohyla Academy. Rozumovsky supported the official recognition of higher-ranked Cossacks and clergy as part of the nobility with rights equal to those provided to szlachta by the
Statutes of Lithuania. Between 1760 and 1763 the hetman introduced a judicial reform, which replaced regimental courts by introducing a system modelled on the court system of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Another practice introduced by Rozumovsky was the organization of starshyna congresses in order to approve the government's decisions. One of such congresses held in Hlukhiv proposed a reform, according to which the hetman's post would be inherited by Rozumovsky's descendants, and called for a return to the system of relations between Ukraine and the tsar negotiated under Bohdan Khmelnytsky.
End of the Cossack Hetmanate The reform proposals issued by members of the Cossack elite in Hlukhiv caused concern in Saint Petersburg, and in January 1764 Rozumovsky was called up to he capital, never to return. The decision to remove Rozumovsky and liquidate the Hetmanate was taken by empress
Catherine II under the influenceof her secretary
Grigory Teplov, a former mentor of the hetman, who had spent many years in Ukraine. According to Teplov, the Hetmanate's legal system, which was based on the Statute of Lithuania, was incompatible with an
autocratic system due to its "
republican" character. In late February Rozumovsky was forced to resign, receiving in exchange a lifelong
pension and numerous landholdings in Ukraine. According to a decree issued on 21 October 1764, the hetman's post was officially liquidated, and its powers were transferred to the recreated
Collegium of Little Russia headed by
Governor General Pyotr Rumyantsev. Under Rumyantsev's tenure, a new revision of the Hetmanate's landholdings was performed in 1765-1767, including a
population census. The Hetmanate's elite was increasingly incorporated into the imperial nobility, and in 1775 the Zaporozhian Sich
was liquidated. Finally, on 27 September 1781
regimental division of the Hetmanate was abolished. The regimental administrative system of the Little Russia Governorate was completely abolished and viceroyalties were formed. The Little Russia Governorate was then divided into three viceroyalties (provinces): Kyiv, Chernihiv and Novhorod-Siverskyi. This step meant the final and complete integration of the Ukrainian lands and society into the Russian Empire. According to this act, all institutions of law and local administration inherited from the Hetmanate were dissolved and replaced with ones formed on the example of similar institutions in other parts of the empire. In 1783 Cossack regiments were replaced with regular horse regiments staffed with
former Cossacks. By 1785, when the
Charter to the Gentry was issued, most members of the Cossack elite had been equalized in status with
Russian nobility. After the dissolution of the Hetmanate, in 1783 the system of
serfdom would be spread to its former territories, tying the rural population to land. An aggressive policy of
Russification was also started. Many Ukrainian peasants resorted to claiming Cossack origin in order to evade becoming serfs. As a result, by the late 18th century the territories of the former Hetmanate boasted a higher-than-average noble population compared to other regions of the Russian Empire. ==Government==