President Yanukovych flees to Russia, opposition takes over. US and European Union impose ever-harsher sanctions on Russia. Government launches military operation in response. He takes office in May, and his Servant of the People party wins early parliamentary elections in July.
The town of Kamianets-Podilskyi was founded by Kievan Rus. Foreign domination. Image source, National Bank of Ukraine. National poet Taras Shevchenko is commemorated on the hryvnya banknote. Russian rule.
EU-Ukraine economic ties are strengthening. Millions of Ukrainian labor migrants are now part of European societies, while their remittances hugely support the Ukrainian economy. While Europeanization—in the form of cooperation and integration with the EU—remains an important aspirational milestone for Ukraine, other developmental priorities may limit or even prevent it.
Whither the Dream? I hope that in the future we will see more peace, freedom, and wealth in Ukraine and wider Europe. Yet my hope is constantly in conflict with the facts of what happened to the hopes of the founding fathers and mothers of Ukraine.
Notes 1. Mikhail Minakov et al. Stuttgart: ibidem-Verlag, , The opinions expressed in this article are those solely of the authors and do not reflect the views of the Kennan Institute. The Kennan Institute is the premier U. The Kennan Institute is committed to improving American understanding of Russia, Ukraine, and the region through research and exchange.
Read more. Close Search Search. Show Streaming. Focus Ukraine. One group, consisting of the registered Cossacks, sought a compromise with the Poles. The other, the unprivileged majority, led by Olyfer Holub, ignored the Polish injunctions. They remained recalcitrant, and in —5 even fought on land and sea against Turkey as the allies of the Crimean khan Mohamet-Girei III.
Hetman Marko Zhmailo and his successor Mykhailo Doroshenko were forced to sign the Treaty of Kurukove , which limited the number of registered Cossacks to 6, and the Cossacks' freedom in general. But peace did not last long. The Zaporozhian rebellion, led by Taras Fedorovych Triasylo , forced the Poles to negotiate the Pereiaslav Treaty of , which increased the register to 8, but failed, as before, to appease the Zaporozhian Cossacks, who continued their raids against the Turks.
In the registered Cossacks , led by Ivan Petrazhytsky-Kulaha , demanded that they, as a loyal, obedient, knightly estate see Estates , be allowed to take part in the election of the new king after the death of Sigismund III Vasa. Under Petro Mohyla , the new metropolitan of Kyiv —47 , the Orthodox church experienced a renaissance, as did Ukrainian education , scholarship, and culture in general see Kyivan Mohyla Academy.
But although the Cossacks helped him in his wars with Sweden , Muscovy during which the Chernihiv region was annexed , and Turkey, he did not recognize their demands for increased privileges.
Consequently, many Cossacks continued to flee to the Zaporizhia. To stop this exodus the Polish government built a fort in Kodak in , but the Cossacks, led by Hetman Ivan Sulyma , razed it. The general dissatisfaction with Polish rule resulted in a new uprising in , led by Pavlo Pavliuk.
The rebels were defeated in the Battle of Kumeiky and forced to accept even greater restrictions. Having fought several battles, the rebels finally surrendered at the Starets landmark.
After this event the number of registered Cossacks was limited to 6,, their senior officers see Cossack starshyna were appointed by the Polish nobles, the hetman was replaced by a Polish commissioner , burghers and peasants were forbidden to marry Cossacks or join their ranks, Cossacks could reside only in Chyhyryn , Korsun , or Cherkasy districts, unregistered Cossacks were outlawed, the Kodak fortress was rebuilt, and Polish garrisons were stationed throughout Ukraine.
For a decade thereafter the Polish magnate kinglets kept the Cossacks in check and intensified their exploitation and oppression of Ukrainian Orthodox peasants and burghers.
The Khmelnytsky era. The great uprising of was one of the most cataclysmic events in Ukrainian history. It is difficult to find an uprising of comparable magnitude, intensity, and impact in the history of early modern Europe. A crucial element in the revolt was the leadership of Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky —57 , whose exceptional organizational, military, and political talents to a large extent accounted for its success.
The uprising engulfed all of Dnipro Ukraine. Polish nobles, officials, Uniates , and Jesuits were massacred or forced to flee.
Jewish losses, estimated at over 50, during what became a decade-long Cossack-Polish War , were especially heavy, because the Jews , who were concentrated in Ukraine in large numbers, were seen as agents of the Polish szlachta. The Poles were crushed at the Battle of Zhovti Vody on 16 May and again in September, at the Battle of Pyliavtsi in Volhynia where the Cossacks were joined by the peasants en masse.
Upon his triumphant entry into Kyiv , he declared that although he had begun the uprising for personal reasons he was now fighting for the sake of all Ukraine. Defeated once again at the Battle of Zboriv on 15 August, the Poles sued for peace and the Treaty of Zboriv was signed on 18 August The Poles, however, broke the treaty in and with the help of the Tatars defeated the Cossacks at the Battle of Berestechko ; and Khmelnytsky was forced to conclude the Treaty of Bila Tserkva in September The treaty allowed the Poles to return to much of Ukraine.
Realizing that he could not defeat the Poles by military means alone and hoping to expand his political base, Khmelnytsky turned to diplomacy. In September he dispatched a large Cossack force to Moldavia in the hope of installing his son, Tymish Khmelnytsky , there. The hetman envisaged the creation of a great coalition backed by the Ottomans, Tatars, and Danubian principalities and consisting of Ukraine, Transylvania, Brandenburg, Lithuania , and even Cromwell's England.
Khmelnytsky's plans suffered a great setback when the Moldavian boyars revolted and his son died in battle in Another major setback occurred during the siege of Zhvanets in Podilia in December Khmelnytsky was about to annihilate the army of Jan II Casimir Vasa when his Tatar allies signed a separate peace with the Poles. Khmelnytsky then abandoned his orientation on the Ottomans and Tatars and drew closer to Muscovy.
The Pereiaslav Treaty of established an alliance of Ukraine and Muscovy. The Poles responded to the new alliance by combining forces with the Tatars. A new expanded phase of conflict began. In , while a combined Muscovite-Ukrainian army see Ivan Zolotarenko scored major successes in Belarus , the Poles and, especially, the Tatars devastated Ukraine.
A year later it was Poland that experienced devastation, when the Swedes, taking advantage of the war, invaded the country. Khmelnytsky's foreign policy, especially his co-operation with the Swedes, who were also at war with Muscovy , raised the tsar's ire. But Khmelnytsky also had his grievances: he was bitter over the imposition of Muscovite rule in Belarus , where the populace had expressed preference for a Cossack government; even more infuriating was the Vilnius Peace Treaty with the Poles in October , which Moscow had concluded without consulting the hetman.
Mutual recriminations followed, and there were signs that the hetman was reconsidering the link with Moscow. Then the Ukrainian-Transylvanian offensive in Poland collapsed.
Crushed by these setbacks and already ill, Khmelnytsky died on 6 August The Hetman state. At the time of Bohdan Khmelnytsky 's death, the Cossacks controlled the former Kyiv voivodeship , Bratslav voivodeship , and Chernihiv voivodeship , an area inhabited by about 1.
About 50 percent of the land, formerly owned by the Polish crown, became the property of the Zaporozhian Host , which, in return for taxes, allocated it to self-governing peasant villages.
Cossacks and Ukrainian nobles retained approximately 33 percent of the land, and the church, 17 percent. The entire area was divided into 16 military and administrative regions corresponding to the territorially based regiments of the Cossack army see Regimental system. Initially, the Cossack starshyna senior officers were elected by their units, but in time these posts often became hereditary. At the pinnacle of the Cossack military-administrative system stood the hetman.
Assisting the hetman was the General Officer Staff , which functioned as a general staff and a council of ministers. The formal name of the new political entity was the Zaporozhian Host ; the Muscovites , however, referred to it as Little Russia , while the Poles continued calling it Ukraine.
Hoping to establish a dynasty, Bohdan Khmelnytsky had arranged for his year-old son Yurii Khmelnytsky to succeed him.
It soon became apparent, however, that the young boy was incapable of ruling, and Ivan Vyhovsky was chosen hetman —9. Vyhovsky hoped to establish an independent Ukrainian principality. His elitist and pro-Polish tendencies engendered a rebellion by the rank-and-file Cossacks and Zaporozhian Cossacks , led by Martyn Pushkar and Yakiv Barabash and covertly backed by Moscow.
Vyhovsky emerged victorious but militarily and politically weakened. Realizing that a confrontation with Moscow was inevitable, Vyhovsky entered into negotiations with the Poles regarding the return of Ukraine to the Polish Commonwealth. In September they concluded the Treaty of Hadiach. Viewing the treaty as an act of war, Moscow dispatched a large army into Ukraine. Realizing that his base of support was crumbling, in September the hetman fled to Poland.
The Cossack starshyna , hoping that the appeal of his name would help to heal internal conflicts, elected Yurii Khmelnytsky hetman — The Muscovites , who returned to Ukraine with another large army, forced the young hetman to renegotiate the Pereiaslav Treaty of see Pereiaslav Articles of The new pact was a major step forward in Moscow's attempts to tighten its hold on Ukraine: it increased the number of Muscovite governors and garrisons in Ukraine, forbade the hetman from maintaining foreign contacts without the tsar's permission, and stipulated that election of Cossack leaders should be confirmed by Moscow.
Disillusioned, Khmelnytsky went over to the Poles in , helped them defeat the tsar's army at Chudniv , and signed the Treaty of Slobodyshche. The regiments of Left-Bank Ukraine , led by Yakym Somko , refused to follow Khmelnytsky, however, and remained loyal to the tsar. Unable to cope with the strife and chaos, Khmelnytsky resigned in A period of constant war and devastation began.
The Ruin. At times, the Ottoman presence was felt in the south. All Cossack hetmans during this period were dependent on these powers for support. The hetmans' weakness stemmed largely from internal conflicts, especially the ongoing social tensions between the Cossack starshyna and the rank and file and the peasants , who resented the attempts of the starshyna to monopolize political power and impose labor obligations upon them. Consequently, political factionalism, opportunism, and adventurism became prevalent among the Cossack leaders, who were easily manipulated by Ukraine's powerful neighbors.
Teteria, who adhered strictly to a pro-Polish line, invaded the Left Bank together with the Poles in and urged its Cossacks to march on Moscow. When the offensive failed, Teteria and the Poles see Stefan Czarniecki returned to the Right Bank see Ivan Popovych , Varenytsia Uprising ; their brutality in quelling numerous anti-Polish uprisings aroused such animosity that Teteria was forced to abdicate and flee to Poland.
The first Ukrainian hetman to pay homage to the tsar for which he received the title of boyar, estates, and the daughter of Prince Dmitrii Dolgoruky in marriage , he signed the Moscow Articles of , which significantly increased Muscovy 's political, military, fiscal, and religious control. These concessions, the hetman's high-handedness, the behavior of the Muscovite governors and tax collectors, and the Treaty of Andrusovo —an armistice that ratified the partition of Ukraine between Poland and Muscovy—infuriated the populace and led to widespread revolts against Briukhovetsky and the Muscovite garrisons.
Briukhovetsky's attempts at backing away from Moscow and heading the revolt against it failed to appease the rebels, and in he was killed by an angry mob. An attempt to preserve Cossack Ukraine from chaos and to reassert Ukrainian self-government was made by the popular colonel of Cherkasy and hetman of Right-Bank Ukraine , Petro Doroshenko — After the Poles signed the Treaty of Andrusovo , Doroshenko turned against them and resolved to unite all of Ukraine under his rule.
To gain the support of the rank-and-file Cossacks , he agreed to hold frequent meetings of the General Military Council , and to free himself from overdependence on the powerful colonels , he established mercenary Serdiuk regiments under his direct command. Doroshenko then invaded Left-Bank Ukraine and, after Ivan Briukhovetsky 's demise in , was proclaimed hetman of all Ukraine.
During his absence from the Right Bank, however, the Zaporozhian Cossacks proclaimed Petro Sukhovii hetman; soon after, the Poles returned and established Mykhailo Khanenko as yet another rival hetman. Returning to confront his adversaries, Doroshenko appointed Demian Mnohohrishny acting hetman —72 on the Left Bank. A Muscovite army invaded the Left Bank, however, and Mnohohrishny was forced to swear allegiance to the tsar see Hlukhiv Articles in Ukraine was divided again.
Weakened, Petro Doroshenko was forced to rely increasingly on the Ottomans. In his forces joined the huge Turkish- Tatar army that wrested Podilia away from the Poles see Buchach Peace Treaty of , and in —7 he found himself fighting on the side of the Turks against the Orthodox forces of the tsar and of the new hetman of Left-Bank Ukraine , Ivan Samoilovych.
Compromised by his association with the Muslim occupation and the ravages of the civil war, the now unpopular Doroshenko surrendered to Samoilovych in The Peace Treaty of Bakhchesarai left much of southern Right-Bank Ukraine a deserted neutral zone between the two empires. No longer in need of Khmelnytsky, the Ottomans had him executed, and pashas governed the Right Bank from Kamianets-Podilskyi.
Although Demian Mnohohrishny , like Ivan Briukhovetsky , was elected hetman there with Muscovite acquiescence, he did not intend to be a puppet of the tsar.
This was evident from his demands that Moscow limit its military presence in the cities to Kyiv , Nizhyn , Pereiaslav , and Chernihiv. With the help of mercenary regiments , he managed to establish order on the Left Bank, but his constant conflicts with the increasingly entrenched Cossack starshyna brought about his downfall. Demian Mnohohrishny 's successor Ivan Samoilovych —87 made loyalty to Moscow and cordial relations with the starshyna the cornerstones of his policy.
He thus managed to remain hetman for an unprecedented 15 years. To win over the starshyna , he awarded the members generous land grants and created the so-called fellows of the standard a corps of junior officers , thereby encouraging the development of a hereditary elite in Left-Bank Ukraine. Like all hetmans, Samoilovych attempted to extend his authority over all of Ukraine. He tightened his control over the unruly Zaporozhian Cossacks , and from he fought alongside the Muscovites against Petro Doroshenko and the Turks.
Greatly disappointed by his and Muscovy's failure to conquer the devastated Right-Bank Ukraine, he organized the mass evacuation of its inhabitants to the Left-Bank Ukraine and Slobidska Ukraine. The Polish-Muscovite Eternal Peace of and anti-Muslim coalition validated Poland 's claims to Right-Bank Ukraine and placed the Zaporizhia lands under the direct authority of the tsar instead of the hetman. Consequently, Samoilovych was not overly co-operative when Muscovy launched a huge invasion of the Crimea in Blamed by the Muscovite commander Vasilii Golitsyn and the Cossack starshyna for the failure of the campaign, Samoilovych was deposed and exiled to Siberia.
After Poland recovered Right-Bank Ukraine from Turkey in and the Zaporozhian Cossacks asserted their autonomy , only about a third of the territory of the Hetman state , or Hetmanate, that Bohdan Khmelnytsky established remained under the authority of the hetmans. Situated now mostly in Left-Bank Ukraine , the Hetmanate consisted of only 10 regiments. While the structure of Cossack self-government underwent only minor changes, major shifts occurred in the socioeconomic structure of the Left Bank.
By the late 17th century, the starshyna had virtually excluded rank-and-file Cossacks from decision-making and higher offices, and the latter's political decline was closely related to their mounting economic problems. Individual Cossacks took part in the almost endless wars of the 17th and early 18th centuries at their own expense.
Consequently many of them were financially ruined, and this caused a decline in the number of battle-ready Cossacks and in the size of the Cossack army.
In the Hetmanate's army numbered only about 20, men. Moreover, the equipment, military principles, and tactics on which the Cossacks relied had become increasingly outdated.
Confronted by internal weaknesses, leading a depleted military force, and disillusioned by the behavior of the Poles and Ottomans during the Ruin , most Cossack leaders no longer questioned the need to maintain links with Moscow. But they were still committed to preserving what was left of the rights guaranteed to them by the Pereiaslav Treaty of The Mazepa era. For most of his years in office Mazepa pursued the traditional, pro-Muscovite policies of the Left-Bank Ukraine hetmans.
He continued to strengthen the Cossack starshyna , issuing them over 1, land grants see Kolomak Articles , but he also placed certain limits on their exploitation of the lower classes. The largess of the tsars made him one of the wealthiest landowners in Europe. Mazepa used much of his wealth to build, expand, and support many churches and religious, educational, and cultural institutions. His pro- starshyna policies, however, engendered discontent among the masses and the anti-elitist Zaporozhian Cossacks and resulted in a dangerous but unsuccessful Tatar -supported Zaporozhian uprising led by Petro Petryk in —6.
A cardinal principle of Ivan Mazepa 's policy was the maintenance of good relations with Moscow. He developed close relations with Tsar Peter I , energetically helping him in his —6 Azov campaigns against the Tatars and Turks.
He was also his adviser in Polish affairs. These close contacts helped him gain Muscovite backing for the occupation of Right-Bank Ukraine in during the great anti-Polish Cossack revolt led by Semen Palii. Once again Ukraine was united under the rule of one hetman. The Cossack regiments suffered huge losses during difficult campaigns in the Baltic Sea region, Poland , and Saxony; the civilian populace had to support Muscovite troops and work on fortifications; and Peter's reforms threatened to eliminate Ukrainian autonomy and integrate the Cossacks into the Muscovite army.
Pressured by the disgruntled starshyna , Mazepa began having doubts about Moscow's overlordship. In October , after the tsar informed Mazepa that he could not count on Moscow's aid should the Swedes and Poles invade Ukraine, Mazepa decided to join the advancing Swedes.
In July , Charles and Mazepa were defeated in the decisive Battle of Poltava and fled to Ottoman Moldavia , where the aged and dejected hetman died. About 50 leading members of the starshyna , almost Cossacks from the Hetman state , and over 4, Zaporozhian Cossacks followed Ivan Mazepa to Bendery. In the spring of they elected Pylyp Orlyk , Mazepa's general chancellor , as their hetman-in-exile. Anxious to attract potential support, Orlyk drafted the Constitution of Bendery.
After initial successes, the campaign failed. Left-Bank Ukraine. After the failure of Ivan Mazepa 's plans, the absorption of the Hetman state into the Russian Empire began in earnest. It was, however, a long, drawn-out process, which varied in tempo, because some Russian rulers were more dedicated centralizers than others, and during certain times it was dangerous to antagonize the Ukrainians particularly in the course of war with the Ottomans.
To weaken Ukrainian resistance, the imperial government used a variety of divide-and-conquer techniques: it encouraged conflicts between the hetmans and the Cossack starshyna , cowed the latter into submission by threatening to support the peasantry, and used complaints by commoners against the Ukrainian government as an excuse to introduce Russian administrative measures. With the acquiescence of the tsar, Ivan Skoropadsky was chosen hetman — Several Russian innovations followed his election.
In violation of tradition, no new treaty was negotiated, and the tsar confirmed Ukrainian rights only in general terms see Reshetylivka Articles of Peter I appointed a Russian resident, accompanied by two Russian regiments, to the hetman's court with supervisory rights over the hetman and his government.
The hetman's residence was moved from Baturyn to Hlukhiv , closer to the Russian border. Peter began the practice of personally appointing colonels , bypassing the hetman, while the resident received the right to confirm other officers. Many of the new colonels were Russians or other foreigners, and for the first time Russians, particularly Aleksandr Menshikov , acquired large landholdings in Ukraine many of them expropriated from the Mazepists. Even publishing was controlled by Peter's decree of , which forbade publication of all books in Ukraine with the exception of liturgical texts, which, however, were to be published only in the Russian redaction of Church Slavonic.
In Ukrainians were forbidden to export their grain and other products directly westward. Instead, they had to ship through Russian-controlled Riga and Arkhangelsk, where the prices were dictated by the Russian government. Russian merchants , meanwhile, received preferential treatment in exporting their goods to the Hetmanate.
Tens of thousands of Cossacks were sent north to build the Ladoga canal and the new capital of Saint Petersburg , where many of them died from overwork, malnutrition, and unsanitary conditions. Established supposedly to look after the tsar's interest by controlling finances and to hear appeals against any wrongdoings of the Cossack starshyna , it seriously undermined the position of the hetman.
Ivan Skoropadsky protested vehemently but to no avail. Soon after its establishment he died. While Pavlo Polubotok was acting hetman —4 , a struggle for power developed between him and Gen Stepan Veliaminov, the head of the Little Russian Collegium. Refusing to give ground to the Collegium, Polubotok improved several aspects of the hetman government, especially the judiciary, so as to deprive Russians of an excuse for interference. To reduce peasant grievances, he pressured the starshyna to be less blatant in exploiting the peasantry.
Polubotok's and the starshyna 's repeated entreaties to restore their privileges, abolish the Collegium, and appoint a hetman see Kolomak Petitions angered Peter I and he responded by increasing the authority of the Collegium. Soon afterward, Polubotok and his colleagues were ordered to Saint Petersburg and imprisoned there. Polubotok died in prison.
His colleagues were pardoned after Peter's death in In it introduced direct taxation of the Ukrainians. But, when Stepan Veliaminov demanded that Russians in Ukraine , and especially the influential Aleksandr Menshikov , also pay taxes, he lost support in Saint Petersburg.
Moreover, the possibility of a new war with the Ottoman Empire raised the need to appease the Ukrainians. Therefore, in , Emperor Peter II , influenced by Menshikov, abolished the Collegium and sanctioned the election of a new hetman, Danylo Apostol — The new hetman's diplomatic , military, and political prerogatives were limited. Aware that any attempt to restore the hetman's political rights was doomed, Danylo Apostol concentrated on improving social and economic conditions.
He regained, however, the right to appoint the General Officer Staff and colonels , greatly reduced the number of Russians and other foreigners in his administration, brought Kyiv , long under the authority of Russian governors , under his sway, and had the number of Russian regiments in Ukraine limited to six.
Thus, he slowed the process of the Hetmanate's absorption into the Russian Empire. After Danylo Apostol's death, the new empress, Anna Ivanovna —40 , forbade the election of a new hetman and established a new board, the Governing Council of the Hetman Office —50 , to rule the Ukrainians. Its first president, Prince Aleksei Shakhovskoi, received secret instructions to spread rumors blaming the hetmans for taxes and mismanagement and to persuade Ukrainians that the abolition of the Hetman state would be in their interest.
What is Ukraine? A part of its territory is [in] Eastern Europe, but a[nother] part, a considerable one, was a gift from us! Kiev is the mother of Russian cities.
Such slogans and insinuations might be little more than a rhetorical smokescreen concealing a pursuit of sober, hard-nosed realpolitik.
But there is much to suggest that these beliefs are in fact informing policymaking at the highest levels of power. More broadly, competing interpretations of history — particularly the Stalinist period — have turned into a key ingredient of the deepening dispute between Russia and the West and a subject that Putin in particular appears to feel unusually passionate about.
Its south-western territories, including Kiev, were conquered by Poland and Lithuania in the early 14 th century. For roughly four hundred years, these territories, encompassing most of present-day Ukraine, were formally ruled by Poland-Lithuania, which left a deep cultural imprint on them. During these four centuries, the Orthodox East Slavic population of these lands gradually developed an identity distinct from that of the East Slavs remaining in the territories under Mongol and later Muscovite rule.
Following the incorporation of present-day Ukraine into Poland-Lithuania, the Ukrainian language evolved in relative isolation from the Russian language. At the same time, religious divisions developed within Eastern Orthodoxy. From the mid th to the late 17 th centuries, the Orthodox Churches in Moscow and in Kiev developed as separate entities, initiating a division that eventually resurfaced in later schisms.
Most of what is now Ukraine was formally governed by Polish-Lithuanian nobility prior to the 18 th century, but these lands were predominantly inhabited by Orthodox East Slavs who began to form semi-autonomous hosts of peasant warriors — the Cossacks.
Most of them felt a cultural affinity for Muscovite Russia but had no particular desire to be a part of the Muscovite state. They staged a major uprising against their Polish overlords in Six years later, the expanding Tsardom of Russia signed a treaty of alliance with the Zaporizhian Cossacks. Notwithstanding this temporary turn towards Moscow, the Cossacks also explored other options: In the Treaty of Hadiach with Poland in , they were on the verge of becoming a fully-fledged constituent member of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
The treaty failed, however, and the Cossacks remained divided in their loyalties. Internal disagreements about whether to side with Poland or Russia contributed to a series of civil wars among them in the late s. In , Poland-Lithuania had to cede to Moscow control of the territories east of and including Kiev.
The Cossack statelet in the eastern territories gradually turned into a Russian vassal state, but its relationship with Russia was rife with conflict.
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