Historical calendar – anniversary of Bohdan Chmielnicki's agreement with the Russian Empire. By his power, the Cossack leader accepted the Moscow protectorate.
Today in our calendar we will look at the relations between the Republic of Poland, Russia and Cossacks on the eve of the Flood.
When the Tsar Michael I died in 1645, his son, Alexy I, took over. The young man was completely unaware of interior affairs, especially economical issues. He gave taxation privileges to his flatterers, while he raised tributes to peasants and townspeople, leading to respective uprisings, the largest of which was the alleged salt rebellion, connected with the salt tax. In abroad policy, the fresh squad returned to the thought of Filaret's state revenge, but decided to wait for an even better minute to attack the Republic than the 1 from 1632.
Such an chance appeared rather quickly, as already in 1648, with the outbreak of the Chmielnicki Uprising. The rebels defeated the Polish army respective times, which gave emergence to chances of success in a possible invasion of Lithuania. The Tsar sought an excuse to break the peace of Polanów, but thanks to the Crimean message to Warsaw, in which Chan promised a joint expedition to Moscow if it attacked Poland, he withdrew to the waiting positions.
The decision to attack the Kremlin was made only after annihilating the Polish army under Batoh In 1652, however, a good excuse was inactive needed. It became the Perejassan settlement of 18 January 1654, under which the weakened Chmielnicki unlawfully surrendered to the Tsar's care all of Ukraine, in exchange for the preservation of Cossack privileges. The Republic, despite the Tatar aid declared at the time, faced a fresh threat almost powerless.
Chmielnicki's search for abroad support was due to his defeat at Beestek in 1651. Although it was not decently utilized by Poles, and was further beaten at Batoh, the Cossack power was broken. The fresh Polish run of 1653 was not spectacular, but in the north, Lithuanian hetman Janusz Radziwiłł led an effective offensive against the insurgents.
The massacre of Polish prisoners after the conflict of Batoh yet closed the way for Chmielnicki to scope an agreement with the Republic of Poland. The many years' war led to the demolition of Ukraine, its material and human reserves shrinked. Everything indicated that the Cossack captain would yet lose this kind of war to exhaustion. That's why he decided to act desperate and signed a deal with Tsar Alexi. Under her power, he devoted himself to his care, which in practice meant the Cossack-Russian alliance against the Republic and the rapidly approaching war.
When the Russian invasion began in the spring of 1654, The Republic of Poland could only defy it symbolically, especially in Lithuania. Cities fell 1 by one, incapable to number on any help. The Russians took revenge for past disasters in the right way for their civilization circle. For example, after the capture of Mścisław, they murdered about 15,000 of its inhabitants, and the surviving craftsmen moved into Russia. It was the alleged Trubecki massacre.
Previous entry from our calendar is available Here.
