Zaporozhian Cossacks
During the course of the 16th, 17th and well into the 18th century, the Zaporozhian Cossacks were a strong political and military force that challenged the authority of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Tsardom of Russia, and the Crimean Khanate.
[4][5] There were also groups of people who fled into these wild steppes from the cultivated lands of Kievan Rus' in order to escape oppression or criminal pursuit.
They survived chiefly from hunting and fishing and raiding Asiatic tribes for horses and food, but they also mixed with these nomads as well adopting a lot of their cultural traits.
The Zaporozhian Cossacks had various social and ethnic origins but were predominantly made up of escaped serfs who preferred the dangerous freedom of the wild steppes, rather than life under the rule of Polish aristocrats.
Cossacks, however, were raiding wealthy merchant port cities in the heart of the Ottoman Empire, which were just two days away by boat from the mouth of the Dnieper River.
By 1615 and 1625, Cossacks had managed to raze townships on the outskirts of Constantinople, forcing the Ottoman Sultan Murad IV to flee his palace.
Tensions increased when Commonwealth policies turned from relative tolerance to the suppression of the Orthodox church, making the Cossacks strongly anti-Catholic, which at that time was synonymous with anti-Polish.
[12] Some sources refer to the Zaporozhian Sich as a "cossack republic",[14] as the highest power in it belonged to the assembly of all its members, and because its leaders (starshina) were elected.
[12] At Sich Rada were reviewed issues of internal and foreign policies, conducted elections of military starshina, division of assigned land, punishment of criminals who committed the worst crimes etc.
[16] There was a cossack military court, which severely punished violence and stealing among compatriots, bringing women to the Sich, consumption of alcohol in periods of conflict, etc.
[16] The seal of the Zaporozhian Host was produced in a round form out of silver with a depiction of cossack in a gabled cap on a head, in kaftan with buttons on a chest, with a sabre (shablya), powder flask on a side, and a self-made rifle (samopal) on the left shoulder.
[16] Palanka's and kurin's seals were either round or rectangular with images of lions, deers, horses, moon, stars, crowns, lances, sabers, and bows.
[16] Kettledrums (lytavry) were large copper boilers that were fitted with a leather which served for transmission of various signals (calling cossacks to a council, raising an alarm etc.).
[16] All kleinody items (except for the kettledrum sticks) were stored in the Sich's Pokrova church treasury and were taken out only on a special order of kish otaman.
[16] Sometimes, part of kleidony was considered a great silver inkwell (kalamar), an attribute of a military scribe (pysar) of the Zaporozhian Host.
[16] With the proclamation of independence, the Ukrainian government has raised the issue of returning the national cultural valuables before the leadership of Russia; no specific agreements have ever been reached, however.
[16] After the Treaty of Pereyaslav in 1654, the Zaporozhian Host became a suzerainty under the protection of the tsar of Russia, although for a considerable period of time it enjoyed nearly complete autonomy.
[citation needed] After the death of Bohdan Khmelnytsky in 1657, his successor Ivan Vyhovsky initiated a turn towards Poland, alarmed by the growing Russian interference in the affairs of the Hetmanate.
The treaty was ratified by the Sejm but was rejected at the Hermanivka Rada by the Cossack rank and file, who would not accept a union with Catholic Poland, which they perceived as an oppressor of Orthodox Christianity.
Although some of the Zaporozhian cossacks returned to Moscow's protection, their popular leader Kost Hordiienko was resolute in his anti-Russian attitude and no rapprochement was possible until his death in 1733.
While advocating for the preservation for the Hetmanate autonomy and privileges of the starshina, Skoropadsky was careful to avoid open confrontation and remained loyal to the union with Russia.
The Zaporozhian Cossacks regained all of their former lands, privileges, laws and customs in exchange for serving under the command of a Russian Army stationed in Kiev.
Concerned about the possibility of Russian interference in Zaporozhia's internal affairs, the Cossacks began to settle their lands with Ukrainian peasants fleeing serfdom in Poland and Russia proper.
The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca (1774) annexed the Crimean Khanate into Russia, so the need for further southern frontier defence (which the Zaporozhians carried out) no longer existed.
The lack of southern borders and enemies in the past years had a profound effect on the combat-ability of the Cossacks, who realised the Russian infantry would destroy them after they were surrounded.
Under the guidance of a starshyna Lyakh, behind Kalnyshevky's back a conspiracy was formed with a group of 50 Cossacks to go fishing in the river Inhul next to the Southern Bug in Ottoman provinces.
Supporting the increase in the privileges gained by the higher ranking leadership put a strain in the budget, whilst the stricter regulations of the regular Russian Army prevented many other Cossacks from integrating.
The Kuban Cossacks served Russia's interests right up to the October Revolution, and their descendants are now undergoing active regeneration both culturally and militarily.
[31] Although in 1775 the Zaporozhian Host formally ceased to exist, it left a profound cultural, political and military legacy on Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Turkey and other states that came in contact with it.
[38] In November, 2016, Cossack's songs of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast were inscribed on the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding.
