The Great Revolt and the Rule of the Cossacks 1648

The plots and plans of the Roman Church brought an end to this fragile Polish equilibrium. The metropolitan (archbishop) of Kyiv and most of his clergy signed a unity agreement with Rome.

Meanwhile, in the badlands of the wild south of Ukraine, a new political force was emerging: The Cossacks. Their name emerged from the Turkish “kazak,” which meant “free man” (think about Kazakhstan!). They started off as a loose coalition of hunters and honey-gatherers, but under external pressure they had banded together into a pirate kingdom, much like the early Rus’. By the mid-1500s, they had become a famous fighting force, with a determinedly egalitarian philosophy of leadership. You led if you could, and you led if others let you lead. This was especially appealing to Ukrainian serfs. Once an oversupply of labor developed in the wheatlands, the landlords reimposed serfdom, which triggered a major migration of serfs to the land of the Cossacks.

At first, the Polish overlords enjoyed being able to hire the Cossacks as mercenaries to settle border wars with the savage peoples further east (including the Muscovites). In peacetime, however, they were difficult to control. They were adept at using either horses or boats, and could not be subdued by conventional marching-army tactics.

The Cossacks buzzed and stung along the southern and eastern flanks of the Commonwealth, growing in number, expertise, and power. Ideologically, they identified themselves as Eastern Orthodox, making a welcome home for disaffected Ukrainians. They skirmished their way deeper and deeper into the heartland of Ukraine.

The Orthodox Church flourished, and Ukraine enjoyed a brief cultural revival. Petro Mohyla (the new Orthodox Metropolitan) led with energy and restored public respect for Ukrainian culture. It became possible for Ukrainian learning to thrive, and Ukraine’s first university was established, the Kyivan Mohyla Academy.

The respite was only very brief for Ukraine, however. In 1648, everyone began killing each other again.

The leader of the revolt was a Cossack officer named Khmelnytsky, who had fled Ukraine for Cossack-held territories, and was elected Hetman (meaning “headman,” unsurprisingly!) He started mobilizing an invasion force and coordinating local rebellions all over Ukraine. Liberation was in the air!

Kyivan rulers sent for a Polish army to put down the rebellion, but in May 1648, Khmelnytsky defeated them in two well-judged battles. Ukrainian peasants revolted and killed Polish landlords, Latin priests, and Jewish financiers. Khmelnytsky won another decisive battle against the Poles, launched a lightning raid into Poland itself, and returned to Kyiv as liberator.

Freedom, however, was to come with a distinctly Cossacky flavor.

Khmelnytsky set up Ukraine as a Cossack state, with Cossack officers taking over the role of the ousted Polish gentry. The peasants began to roll their eyes. Poland continued to press from the west, and the Tatars were still sniping on the east. Then, despite all his initial liberationist popularity, Khmelnytsky opened the door for the next great repression of Ukraine—he invited the Muscovites to help him in his wars. Ukraine concluded a treaty with Russia at Pereiaslav in 1654.