How to relax / 19.07.2023

Khortytsia island and Zaporizhian Sich. Zaporozhye Sich, its significance and destruction Letter to the Turkish Sultan

Zaporozhye Sich is a military-political organization of the Ukrainian Cossacks. The Zaporozhye Sich was called because all the Sich were located beyond the rapids of the Dnieper, which crossed the Dnieper in several places, on the section between Dnepropetrovsk and Zaporozhye. There were 12 rapids in total (Kodatsky, Sursky, etc.), which crossed the Dnieper from shore to shore and stretched for 100 km, after which the river spilled into a wide flood - the Great Meadow, where there were many islands (more than 250). IN different time The Sich was located on different islands - Malaya Khortytsia, Tomakovka, Bazavluka, etc.

The concept of “Zaporozhye Sich” was used in two meanings: in a broad sense, these are all the lands that were under the control and ownership of the Cossacks; in a narrow sense, this is the central settlement where the administrative control of the Sich was located. The Cossack possessions were also called the Liberties of the Zaporozhian Army, and the central settlement was Kosh.

Until the middle of the 16th century. The history of the Zaporozhye Sich is, as a rule, more legendary, and only reliable historical information about it dates back to 1552. Historians associate the founding of the first Zaporozhye Sich on the island of Malaya Khortitsa with the name of the first Cossack hetman (Hetman - senior over the Cossacks, military commander) Dmitry Vishnevetsky.

The highest authority in the Sich was Cossack Rada. She performed legislative, administrative and judicial functions. All Cossacks took part in its work. The decision was made after the majority voted for it. As a rule, the Rada considered important issues of domestic and foreign policy, carried out the division of land, and tried criminals. An important function of the Rada was the election of the government of the Sich - the military foreman, as well as local authorities - the palanka or regimental foreman. At different times, the number of Cossack elders was up to 150 people. This category included: Koshevoy ataman, military judge, military esaul, military clerk, military convoy, military servants: cornet, bunchuzhny, dovbysh, clerks; marching and palanka commanders - colonel, clerk, captain.

The total number of Cossacks usually did not exceed 5–6 thousand people.

Features of the Zaporozhye Sich

there was no serfdom here; instead, free labor was used.

The Cossacks accepted everyone into their ranks, regardless of their social origin, nationality, or religion. But one of the main unifying factors in the Sich was the Orthodox faith.

women and children were not allowed.

The Cossacks are a phenomenal phenomenon in the history of Ukraine. Zaporozhye Cossacks became the successors of the state traditions of Kievan Rus, thanks to their activities, a new round of struggle begins for the creation of an independent state on Ukrainian lands.

23. Cossack-peasant uprisings of the late 16th - early 17th centuries.

. Reasons, nature, periodization of the national liberation struggle of the Ukrainianpeople.

Main reasons for the revolution

political reason (lack of state independence).

increasing economic oppression.

strengthening of national-religious oppression.

Driving forces: Cossacks, peasants, townspeople, partly gentry.

Character:

national liberation, popular, fair, anti-feudal, religious, social.

Periodization:

1) feral 1648-1657 - the highest rise of national sanctification. movements.

2) 1657-1663 – the period of Ruins, Troubles.

Zaporizhzhya Sich(Ukrainian: Zaporizka Sich) - socio-political and military-administrative organization of the Ukrainian Cossacks, which formed at the end of the 15th century. - first half of the 16th century beyond the Dnieper rapids in the area of Khortytsia Island.

Zaporozhye Sich is the name of a series of successive military and administrative centers Dnieper grassroots Cossacks from the 16th to the 18th centuries, called “Sich” after the name of the main fortification (military camp) and “Zaporozhian” according to their location in the lower reaches of the Dnieper south of the impassable Dnieper rapids. Read more → Wikipedia.

The steppe area below the Dnieper rapids has long been called Zaporozhye (due to its location beyond the Dnieper rapids). It was here, on the border of the forest and the wild steppe, at the junction of Slavic sedentary constancy and the wild life of nomads, that the Zaporozhye Cossacks were born and strengthened.

Location of the Zaporozhye Sich in different periods of its history

In 1397, the Golden Horde Khan Tokhtamysh transferred the Horde lands (Kiev region, Podolia, Chernigov region and part of the Wild Field) to the Lithuanian prince Vitovt in exchange for protection from Tamerlane; the remaining lands were for a long time considered nobody's lands, intended only for nomadism. In the first mentions, the word “Cossack” meant “worker, farm laborer” or vice versa, Turkic. "a free, independent person, an adventurer, a vagabond."

During the campaign of the Polish king Jan-Albrecht against the Tatars in 1489, Christian Cossacks showed the way to his army in Podolia. In the same year, detachments of atamans Vasily Zhila, Bogdan and Golubets attacked the Tavanskaya crossing in the lower reaches of the Dnieper and, having dispersed the Tatar guards, robbed the merchants. Subsequently, the khan's complaints about Cossack attacks became regular. According to Litvin, given how habitually this designation is used in documents of that time, it can be assumed that the Slavic Cossacks were known for decades, at least from the middle of the 15th century, it is also possible that their Turkic-speaking (mainly Tatar) neighbors environment, the Zaporozhye Cossacks borrowed not only the name, but also many other words, signs of appearance, organization and tactics, and mentality.

Franz Roubaud. Attack of the Cossacks in the steppe

Reasons for the emergence of the Zaporozhye Sich

The awakening of the self-awareness of the Ukrainian people in connection with the colonization of the Middle Dnieper region
- constant military danger from the Crimean Khanate and nomadic Tatar hordes
- organizational role of local, border landowners and officials
- strengthening of social and religious oppression, enslavement of the peasantry, peasants and townspeople fled from feudal duties and state taxes
- the presence in Ukrainian society of separate layers of free people who occupied an intermediate position between the poor, the gentry and the peasantry

The Cossacks used the land, were engaged in trades, and participated in self-government. To defend against Turkish-Tatar aggression, the Cossacks united in military detachments. They themselves inflicted a wave of attacks on the Tatars and Turks: going down the Dnieper on their big boats- "Seagulls", they attacked Tatar garrisons, Turkish galleys, fortresses, forts.

During the first decades of the 16th century, the lordship managed to subjugate a significant territory of the Middle Dnieper region and turn most of the Ukrainian population into feudal dependents or semi-dependent ones. However, some of the Cossacks, in order to get rid of feudal oppression, retreated to the southeast, to the lower reaches of the Dnieper.

Already in 1527, the Crimean Khan Sapig-Girey complained to the Lithuanian government about the Cherkassy and Kanev Cossacks, who set up “outings” (engaged in trades) near the Tatar nomads, and exported fish, furs and honey from here for sale in the “volosts” (state territory of Lithuania ). The rich lands beyond the rapids attracted Lithuanian and Ukrainian feudal lords. Lords with detachments of armed servants more than once invaded Cossack possessions. Thus, at the rapids, as before in the Middle Dnieper region, two waves of colonization collided: the master's wave, represented by the magnates, mainly the elders of the south-eastern borderland of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the people's wave, represented by the Zaporozhye Cossacks.

The threat to the Cossacks was no less from the South, from the Crimean Tatars, who continuously devastated the “departures” and captured the Cossacks. Constant attacks by enemies forced the Cossacks to build fortifications for defense. At first they founded separate towns or sichs in different places, including, probably, on the island of Bolshaya Khortytsia. Later, due to the intensification of the offensive of the lords and Crimean Tatars in Zaporozhye, the Cossacks united into one Sich to consolidate their forces.
Great banner of the Zaporozhye Sich XVI-XVIII centuries. (front and back sides)

The first written mention of the Sich was left by the Polish chronicler Marcin Bielski. According to his story, the Cossacks behind the Dnieper rapids were engaged in trades in the summer (fishing, hunting, beekeeping), and in the winter they dispersed to the nearest cities (Kyiv, Cherkassy, etc.), leaving several hundred armed men in a safe place on the island in Kosh firearms and Cossack cannons. Belsky's story about the Cossacks allows us to conclude that the unification of individual sections into the Zaporozhye Sich probably occurred somewhere in the 1530s. Tomakovka Island (later named Butsky, as well as Dnieper and Gorodishche), which towered above the surrounding area and was an excellent natural fortification, can be considered the place where the Zaporozhye Sich was founded as an organization of all the Cossacks beyond the rapids.

The Cossacks were replenished with people from different layers of the population: peasants, townspeople, gentry.

Farewell to the Sich. Painting by Afanasy Slastion (Ukrainian) early 20th century

Conditions for admission to Zaporozhye Sich:

The tsarist government used its troops and fortresses in Zaporozhye not only to defend the region, but also to establish control over the Zaporozhye Sich in the interests of the feudal state. The Zaporizhian Sich gradually lost its independence. In the 2nd half. 17th century Polish gentry, having captured Right Bank Ukraine, began to destroy the Cossacks and restore serfdom, and Crimea and Turkey launched an offensive against Ukraine. At that difficult time for the Ukrainian people, the Zaporozhye Cossacks courageously fought against the Polish, Crimean and Turkish aggressors. The campaigns of the Cossacks against Poland and Crimea under the leadership of the famous Koshe chieftain Ivan Sirko in the 60s-70s of the 17th century acquired particular significance.

The government of Tsar Peter I considered the Zaporozhye Sich as one of the centers of the liberation struggle of the Ukrainian people. After Hetman Ivan Mazepa and part of the Zaporizhian elders and Cossacks under the leadership of the Koshe chieftain Kostya Gordienko went over to the side of the Swedes, the tsarist government accused the entire Zaporizhian Cossacks of treason. By order of the tsarist government, on May 14 (25), 1709, the Zaporozhye Sich was destroyed by troops under the command of Colonel Yakovlev.

After the defeat of the Swedish army and the Ukrainian Cossacks under the command of Hetman Mazepa near Poltava, some Cossacks went south and in 1710 founded the new Sich, at the confluence of the Kamenka River (in the Kherson region) into the Dnieper. However, by order of Peter, it was destroyed by the troops of Hetman Skoropadsky and General Buturlin. The Cossacks moved even further and established the Oleshkov Sich within the Ottoman Empire. According to the Prut Peace Agreement (1711) and the Adrianople Agreement (1713), the Moscow state renounced claims to Right Bank Ukraine and Zaporozhye and recognized Turkey's jurisdiction over the Zaporozhye Sich.

The last period (1734-1775) in the history of the Zaporozhye Sich was reflected, on the one hand, by a noticeable economic rise of Zaporozhye, on the other, by a gradual decline in the autonomy of the Zaporozhye Sich and the order that was inherent in it in the early period. The strengthening of feudal-serfdom and national oppression in the central regions of Ukraine and the relative calm on the Russian-Crimean borders contributed to the people's colonization of Zaporozhye. In the 70s of the 18th century. the population of Zaporozhye was most likely 100 thousand people. In this regard, the management of the region has become more complicated. It was then that the administrative-territorial division of Zaporozhye into 8 palanki (districts) took shape.

To supervise the actions of the Koshevo foreman near the Sich in 1735, the Novosechensky retranchement was built and a garrison was placed. Measures were taken to verify Cossack computs (lists) and introduce passports. On the borders of Zaporozhye, by order of the tsarist government, a system of fortified lines was built and the military settlements of New Serbia (1752) and Slavic-Serbia (1753) were founded.

After the liquidation of the hetmanate (1764), the Zaporozhye Sich remained the only Ukrainian region where autonomy was still preserved. According to the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Peace Treaty of 1774, the borders of Russia moved to the mouth of the Southern Bug, and the Zaporozhye Sich lost its significance as an outpost in the fight against Turkish-Tatar aggression. In addition, the tsarist government, recalling the participation of the Sich in the bloody uprising on the Right Bank in 1768, better known as Koliivshchyna, feared new unrest. Moreover, Emelyan Pugachev in 1774, during the riot, was going to reunite with the Cossacks, feeling moral support from them. After the suppression of the rebellion, Zaporozhye became a reliable refuge for many participants in this uprising.

In April 1775, Grigory Potemkin spoke at a meeting of the tsarist government with a project for the liquidation of the Zaporozhye Sich. At the beginning of June 1775, tsarist troops led by General P. Tekel, returning from the Turkish front, besieged the Zaporozhye Sich on June 4-5 (15-16), 1775. Lacking the strength to defend themselves, Koshevoy Ataman Pyotr Kalnyshevsky was forced to surrender the fortress without battle. Together with the foreman, he was arrested and, at Potemkin’s suggestion, exiled for life to the Solovetsky Monastery.

Under the reign of Empress Catherine II, they tried to turn the Cossacks into an obedient cog in the imperial military machine. Both the Don and Yaik (for supporting E. Pugachev; they were even renamed “Ural”) Cossacks came under attack - but the Zaporozhye Sich suffered the most.

The Zaporozhye army was declared disbanded .

We must understand that a state within a state is not a compatible thing. The Zaporozhye Sich as a state entity and as a social organization within the empire a priori represented not only an inconvenience, but also a danger. Catherine herself, in her Manifesto, pointed out the main fault of the Cossacks: building “... in the middle of the Fatherland, a completely independent region under its own frantic control.” This was the main reason for its destruction in Russian Empire. Many Ukrainian historians see this as the main thing - national! - the reason for the destruction of the Sich: they say it was the destruction of the last attributes of Ukrainian independence.

The tsarist government began to distribute the lands of the Zaporozhye Sich to landowners, and to enslave the Cossacks. This caused the escape of 5,000 Cossacks to Turkish-controlled territory at the mouth of the Danube, where they founded the Transdanubian Sich.

Zaporizhzhya Sich in the international arena .

Zaporizhzhya Sich took important place in interstate relations of European and Asian countries. This was the result of the relative independence of the Sich in foreign policy, the presence of many thousands of combat-ready troops, and the territorial location of the Cossack region on the border between the European and Asian worlds. Governments of various Western European countries, incl. Austria, France, Cossacks were invited to military service and thereby were drawn into the orbit of European politics

The main directions of the foreign policy of the Zaporozhye Sich were:

The fight against Tatar-Turkish aggression The Cossacks intervened in the conflicts that arose in relations between Crimea and Turkey and sought to use them to strengthen their own positions. The Cossacks assumed this function from the very beginning of their existence. The heroic, most resonant campaigns against the Tatars and Turks are associated with the names of hetmans Bohdan Ruzhinsky (1575), Samyil Koshka (beginning of the 17th century), Mikhail Naymanovich (1608), Peter Konashevich-Sagaidachny (1616). Thanks to active offensive tactics, the Cossacks undermined the power of the Crimean Khanate and Turkey and became the leading force in the fight against these states.

Relations with the Moscow state, which are characterized as complex and ambiguous

Ukrainians and Russians were connected by the need to protect themselves from the Crimean Khanate and Turkey. Hetman Dmitry Vishnevetsky had allied relations with Moscow. There were other cases of cooperation between the Cossacks and the Moscow government, coordinating their joint actions against the Tatars and Turks. At the same time, relations between the Zaporozhye Sich and the Moscow state remained tense and often openly hostile. Being part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Cossacks acted on its side in military conflicts with Muscovy.

The successes of the Zaporozhye Sich in the international arena contributed to its strengthening and stimulated its internal political activities aimed at protecting Ukrainian interests

At the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century, the Sich became the center of the liberation movement of the Ukrainian people.

Today I start a story about Zaporozhye Sich
There is a lot of information and photographs, so I will divide the report into 2 parts

Historical materials will be interrupted by my impressions.

Well, first, a little historical information - The formation of the Zaporozhye Sich is connected with the process of formation of the Ukrainian Cossacks and their development of the Ukrainian lands previously devastated by the Tatars between the Dnieper and the Southern Bug.
The first Cossacks appeared in Zaporozhye probably at the beginning of the 16th century. Numerous detachments that were engaged in the economic development of these lands and waged a constant fight against the Tatars were forced to build fortifications from fallen trees (the so-called “Gorodets” and bins, or “sich”) at the exits for their own safety.
The appearance of a large fortified point beyond the thresholds, which would be a permanent base for an attack on the Crimean Khanate, is associated with the name of Vishnevetsky (Dmitry Vishnevetsky). In the first half of the 50s. XVI century (there are several versions regarding the time of foundation of the Khortitsky Sich - from 1552 to 1556) he founded on the island. Malaya Khortytsia (now Baida Island) is a castle that became a Cossack stronghold and a stronghold for large-scale campaigns against the Tatars. Later, the location of the Cossack capital changed several times, and several slaughters were recorded in the history of the Cossacks: Tomakovskaya (1564-1593), Bazavlukskaya (1593-1638), Nikitinskaya (1638-1652), Chertomlykskaya (1652-1709), Kamensky (1709-1711), Oleshkovskaya (1711-1734) and Novaya Sich (1734-1775).
The structures of the Sich made it a real fortress: the Cossacks dug deep ditches around it, built high earthen ramparts on which they built defensive towers with loopholes. There were cannons here, and armed Cossacks were on constant patrol.
In the middle of the Sich there was a vast square where Cossack military councils were held, which decided all issues of everyday life. The square was surrounded by Cossack dwellings - huts built from wooden logs or wicker and covered with reeds; office, gun shop (gun workshop), church, foreman's houses. All these structures were well adapted for defense.
The territory of Zaporozhye was called “the lands of the Zaporozhye Army.” Zaporozhye Sich in terms of territory size at the beginning of the 18th century. (the territory of the Sich was constantly changing, borders were transferred) was approaching island England.

The idea of creating a historical and cultural complex on the island of Khortytsia, which is a generalized image of the Cossack capitals of the Sich of the 16th-18th centuries, arose back in 1965, but before Ukraine acquired the status of an independent state, this idea was rejected for ideological reasons of those times. The ceremonial laying of the complex took place on October 14, 2004. Despite the fact that there is not a single confirmation of the existence of the Sich on the island of Khortitsa, this picturesque town harmoniously fit into the surrounding natural landscape, especially clearly emphasizing the atmosphere of that time.
The historical and cultural complex "Zaporozhye Sich" became a single collective image of all the Sichs that existed during the times of the Cossacks. The most interesting elements of architecture, culture, life and life of the Zaporozhye Cossacks are brought together here. Just like the Cossack Sich that existed in ancient times, the entire complex is divided into two parts - the inner Kosh - the central part of the Sich, and the suburb adjacent to the Kosh, where craft and trade facilities are concentrated.
The Sich on Khortytsia is built in the image of the real Sich on a slightly reduced scale; all the elements of the existing Sichs are present here. Protective fortifications were built around the complex, consisting of a high rampart encircling the Sich, a deep ditch and a fence in the form of a wooden palisade.

Along the perimeter of the palisade there are three towers - the entrance tower on the south side, where the central entrance to the complex is located,

small tower - in the eastern part of Kosh, overlooking the Dnieper

and a bell tower, which is located on the border of Kosh and the suburbs.

The central entrance to the complex will lead us to the inner kosh.

To the right of the entrance is a powder magazine

And we'll take a look at the cannon shop. The Cossacks kept their military arsenal there

The composition is created in the image of the pushkarny of the last Zaporozhye Sich, the New Sich, which existed in 1734-1775. It performed two main functions: it housed the Zaporozhye artillery arsenal and detained suspects of crimes. The military facility was headed by a gunner, who was elected at the Cossack council. Several gunners were subordinate to him. By the way, the last Zaporozhye gunner Ivan Smola lived in his winter hut on the Nizhnyaya Khortytsia river.
In the new pushkarna you can see different types of artillery: cannons, falconets, mortars, howitzers of that time, as well as ozhigs - rapid-fire weapons of the Cossack era. There are also shells used by the Cossacks during military campaigns: cannonballs, bombs, grenades

A fragment of the fortification of the then artillery battery can be seen in front of the gunnery.

And we will go to the next hut, where the exhibition “Cossack Life” is located

It was on such carts drawn by oxen that the Chumaks traveled across the salt to the Crimea

Boats hollowed out from solid pieces of wood...

And we will go to another Cossack mud hut for the exhibition "Cossack Cradle"

Cossack pipes of all types and sizes

potter's workplace...Unfortunately, we didn't have one with us

In the center of Kosh is central square- Maidan, the center of which is an active church - the Sich Church of the Intercession of the Virgin.

The Cossacks were extremely religious. They took a vow not to allow anyone to come to the Sich who did not profess the Orthodox faith. And representatives of other religions were allowed only if they accepted Orthodoxy. According to Dmitry Yavornitsky, the first Church of the Intercession Holy Mother of God was built in 1576. It was built of wood. At the Sich Church there was a parish school for teaching literacy, the law of God, prayers and writing. For the performance of sacred rites, priests were given a “fatal tax,” that is, an annual budget for the maintenance of the church and clergy. The Zaporozhye Cossacks considered their church independent of the highest spiritual Russian hierarchy; they placed the decision of Kosh of Zaporozhye above the authority of the Kyiv Metropolitan, although they asked him to appoint priests to the Sich.

In 1304, news of the free Cossacks in Zaporozhye and their ataman Kritika appeared for the first time. As Vladimir Boguslavsky points out, in these bandit gangs at that time the Turkic, rather than the Slavic, element clearly predominated. Only by the middle of the 15th century did the Slavs prevail in the steppe freemen, which turned into quite noticeable military force, unbridled and subordinate to no one

According to researchers, the first fortress beyond the Dnieper rapids was built by Prince Dmitry Vishnevetsky in 1553 on the island of Malaya Khortytsia and existed until 1557. Currently this island bears the name of Baida. The grassroots Cossacks themselves (another name for the Zaporozhye Cossacks) were first mentioned in a letter from the Grand Duke of Lithuania Sigismund Augustus “to those Cossacks who, having moved from Ukrainian castles and cities, live in the Lower Cossacks” (1568). Since the mid-1580s, the lower (Zaporozhye) Cossacks were called Sich.

Malaya Khortytsia

According to researchers, in the entire history of the Zaporozhye Cossacks there were 8 sections, which were located mainly in downstream Dnieper, beyond the rapids, and existed from 5 to 40 years each. In total, the Zaporozhye Sich existed for about two and a half centuries. All Zaporizhian Sich did not exist simultaneously, but were replaced one after another for various reasons. Sometimes the word “palanka” was used to designate the Sich fortification. In military terms, the Zaporizhian community was divided into 38 kurens. In military terms, kuren meant a hundred, a regiment, an independent part of the Army. The word kuren had a double meaning. It also meant the home of the Cossacks. By appearance the residential kuren was a long barracks, 30 meters long and about 4 meters wide. The most suitable comparison with the modern organizational and staffing structure of the armed forces for the kuren is the concept of “company”.

Type of smoking area. Modern reconstruction on Khortitsa

The Rada of the Zaporozhye Cossacks represented the highest administrative, legislative and Judicial authority. At the military councils, all the most important issues in the life of the Cossacks were discussed: about peace, about campaigns against enemies, about the punishment of important criminals, about the division of lands and lands, about the choice of a military foreman. Military rallies were held without fail on January 1 (the beginning of the new year), October 1 (the temple holiday in the Sich), Intercession and on the 2nd or 3rd day of Easter. In addition, the Rada could be convened at any day and time at the request of the majority of the Army. The decisions of the Rada were binding on every Cossack. The total commanding staff in the Sich, according to various sources, numbered from 49 to 149 people. The main thing in the Sich was the Koshevoy Ataman. Next came the judge, captain, clerk and kuren atamans. It was actually the government of the Zaporozhye Sich. Next came the lowest command staff: signatory, podesaul, cornet, etc. Koshevoy ataman united military, administrative, judicial and spiritual power and in wartime had the powers of a dictator. He had the right to sign death sentences for Cossacks who committed crimes. The Koshevoy Ataman entered into diplomatic relations with neighboring states: Moscow, Poland, Crimea, Turkey, etc. He had the official title “His Majesty, Mr. Koshevoy Ataman.” The symbol of power of the Koshe chieftain is the mace. At the same time, without a decision from the Rada, the Koshevoy Ataman could not make a single decision on his own.

Cossack Rada on the Zaporozhye Sich. Diorama from the Zaporozhye Sich Museum, Khortytsia, 2008

The Zaporozhye Cossacks were armed with howitzers, mortars and mortars, self-propelled guns, pistols, spears, sabers, bows, arrows, blades and daggers. Historical and archaeological data show that the Zaporozhian Army was armed with the most advanced weapons of that time, taken from all the peoples with whom the Cossacks fought. Like true knights, the Cossacks preferred the saber to any other weapon. The army was divided into three types of troops - infantry, cavalry and artillery. The number of the entire army was 10,000 - 12,000 people, of which the infantry was about 6,000 people. The elite part of the army was the cavalry. In terms of its fighting qualities, this unit represented the most formidable force of the Cossacks.

The army was divided into regiments and hundreds. The hundred was a tactical unit of the army and numbered 180 people. The regiment consisted of three hundred with a total number of 540 people. A common means of transport during steppe campaigns among the Cossacks was a camp, that is, a quadrangular or round row of carts, which could be installed in several rows and fastened with chains.

The main sources of income in the Sich were: military booty during campaigns, foreign and domestic trade, wine sales, tribute from transportation, royal grain and cash salaries. The main source was war booty. According to custom, the Cossacks gave the best part of the booty to the church, and divided the rest among themselves. As noted by foreigners who visited the Sich on trade, embassy or other business, the money remaining after the division could be drunk by the Cossacks to the last penny. Concealing part of the loot by a Cossack was considered a crime. The second significant part of the income came from the taverns located on the lands of the Zaporozhian Army and the collection from the troops of merchants, merchants, industrialists and Chumaks passing through the lands. A significant part of the income came from “smoke”, that is, a tax on housing within the Army. The last source of income was the salary received by the Cossacks from the Polish king, and then from the Moscow Tsar (registered Cossacks).

In 1591-1638. A series of Cossack-peasant uprisings take place. In 1648, the Cossacks rebelled due to the increased oppression of the Cossacks by Polish magnates. The uprising was led by Cossack colonel Bogdan Khmelnytsky. Initially, the Cossacks were successful. They were supported by the Crimean Khanate, which was then ruled by Islam III Giray. In the Battle of Yellow Waters (1648), the Cossack-Crimean army (the Cossacks were commanded by Khmelnitsky, and the Crimeans by Tugai Bey) won their first victory, defeating the Polish detachment of Stepan Pototsky. Victory soon followed in the Battle of Korsun (May 16, 1648). By the end of July, the entire territory of the Left Bank was liberated, and by the end of August - Bratslav, Kiev, Podolsk (except for the city of Kamenets) voivodeship on the right bank, as well as the eastern and southern regions of the Volyn voivodeship . The liberation of the right bank is associated with the name of Maxim Krivonos. In September (11-13) a victory was won near Pilyavtsy. In the fall, Galicia becomes the scene of military action. On September 26, the siege of Lvov began. Hetman demanded that the Polish command and city authorities capitulate and hand over Y. Vishnevetsky and A. Konetspolsky to the Cossacks. Having learned that they had secretly fled, Khmelnitsky, having received a ransom to pay the Horde, lifted the siege and headed to Zamosc. In early November, the hetman began negotiations with the Polish government and concluded a truce with John II Casimir. The victorious campaign of 1648 is completed. On December 23, 1648, the Cossacks solemnly entered Kyiv.

Bohdan Khmelnytsky.

Maxim Krivonos.

Battle under yellow waters.

However, in 1651, the Battle of Berestetsky took place, as a result of which the Polish army led by King John Casimir and Nikolai Potocki inflicted a crushing defeat on the Cossacks, and in August of the same year, the Lithuanian hetman Radziwill occupied Kyiv. The Cossacks were forced to ask for help from fellow believer Russia. In 1654, the Pereyaslav Rada was convened, declaring the transfer of the territories controlled by the rebels to the protectorate of Russia. Russian troops supported the rebel Cossacks, which led to the Russian-Polish War of 1654-1667. The war ended with the Andrusevsky Truce, under the terms of which the territories lying east of the Dnieper (left-bank Ukraine) went to Russia, and those lying to the west (right-bank Ukraine) - to Poland. The terms of the truce were later confirmed by the peace treaty of 1686.

Nikolay Pototsky

Jan Casimir.

Battle of Berestetskaya.

Considering that the Zaporozhye Sich had a significant influence on the Cossacks throughout Ukraine, an intense diplomatic struggle unfolded between Peter I and Hetman Mazepa for the Zaporozhye Army. Letters began to arrive in Zaporozhye from Peter I and Mazepa, in which both tried to win the Cossacks to their side.

Ivan Mazepa.

Tsar Peter I, according to D.I. Yavornitsky, lost the diplomatic war.

At the Rada, held in March, the Cossacks took the side of Charles XII and began military operations against Russian troops, both independently and together with Swedish troops. In a skirmish in the town of Tsarichevka, the Cossacks captured several Russian soldiers, whom they sent to the Swedish king, who was then stationed in the town of Budishchi. But in most cases, the Sich were defeated, so they were defeated in a skirmish with the detachment of Colonel Boltin, together with the Swedes they failed at the town of Sokolna from General Renne. After Kost Gordienko and Hetman Mazepa signed an alliance treaty with Charles XII, Tsar Peter I ordered Prince Menshikov to move three regiments of Russian troops from Kyiv to the Zaporozhye Sich under the command of Colonel Yakovlev in order to “exterminate the entire nest of rebels to the ground.” Colonel Yakovlev, who approached the Sich, tried to negotiate with the Cossacks “in a good way” in order to avoid bloodshed, but knowing that Koshevo Sorochinsky with the Tatars could come to the aid of the besieged from the Crimea, he began to storm the Sich. The Cossacks managed to repulse the first assault, while Yakovlev lost up to three hundred soldiers and officers. The Cossacks even managed to capture a certain number of prisoners, whom they “shamefully and tyrannically” killed.

On May 11, 1709, with the help of the Cossack colonel Ignat Galagan, who knew the system of defensive fortifications of the Sich, the fortress was taken, burned and completely destroyed.

Ignat Galagan.

The fate of the Cossacks was finally decided on August 5, 1775, with the signing by the Russian Empress Catherine II of the manifesto “On the destruction of the Zaporozhye Sich and on its inclusion in the Novorossiysk province.”

The most famous written monument of the history of the Zaporozhye Sich is the letter of the Cossacks to the Turkish Sultan (given from the Extract from the book of the Darwin collection of the history of the Zaporozhye Sich, stored in the Public Library of the city of St. Petersburg, the Message dates back to the end of the 17th century.) Letter from the Sultan: “Sultan Mohammed IV - to the Zaporozhye to the Cossacks. I, the Sultan and ruler of the Sublime Porte, brother of the Sun and the Moon, the viceroy of Allah on Earth, the ruler of the kingdoms of Macedonia, Babylon, Jerusalem, Greater and Lesser Egypt, king over kings, ruler over rulers, incomparable knight, invincible warrior, ruler. Tree of Life, persistent guardian of the tomb of Jesus Christ, guardian of God himself, hope and comforter of Muslims, intimidator and great protector of Christians, I command you, Zaporozhye Cossacks, to surrender to me voluntarily and without any resistance and not to make me worry about your attacks Sultan Mohammed IV.”

To this letter the Cossacks replied: “You, Sultan, are the Turkish devil, and the damned devil’s brother and comrade, Lutseper’s own secretary. What kind of a knight are you in the devil if you don’t kill a jackass with your bare ass. The devil is dying, and yours is devouring. you son of a bitch, the blue Christian mothers under you, we are not afraid of your army, we will fight with you by land and water, forgive your mother, cook of Babylon, charioteer of Macedon, brawer of Jerusalem, goat-cutter of Alexandria, pig of Great and Lesser Egypt, Armenian villain, Tatar sagaydak, Kamenets kat, the whole world and the underworld has a blaze, the gasp himself is the grandson of our ass... you are a pig's face, a mare's ass, a breeding dog, an unchristened forehead, your mother... that's what the Cossacks said, you won't be any worse. And now it’s over, because the date is unknown and the calendar is not possible, the month is in the sky, the year is in the prince, and we have the same day as you, for this kiss on our ass Signed: Koshevoy Ataman Ivan Sirko! with all the Zaporozhian cats."

Places, History

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Historical materials will be interrupted by my impressions.

Along the perimeter of the palisade there are three towers - the entrance tower on the south side, where the central entrance to the complex is located,

small tower - in the eastern part of Kosh, overlooking the Dnieper

and a bell tower, which is located on the border of Kosh and the suburbs.

The central entrance to the complex will lead us to the inner kosh.

To the right of the entrance is a powder magazine

And we'll take a look at the cannon shop. The Cossacks kept their military arsenal there

A fragment of the fortification of the then artillery battery can be seen in front of the gunnery.

And we will go to the next hut, where the exhibition “Cossack Life” is located

It was on such carts drawn by oxen that the Chumaks traveled across the salt to the Crimea

Utensils

Boats hollowed out from solid pieces of wood...

Sich school building

And we will go to another Cossack mud hut for the exhibition "Cossack Cradle"

Cossack pipes of all types and sizes

potter's workplace...Unfortunately, we didn't have one with us

Reed roof

In the center of Kosh there is a central square - Maidan, the center of which is an active church - the Sich Church of the Intercession of the Virgin.

Entrance to the church

The Cossacks were extremely religious. They took a vow not to allow anyone to come to the Sich who did not profess the Orthodox faith. And representatives of other religions were allowed only if they accepted Orthodoxy. According to Dmitry Yavornitsky, the first Church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary was built in 1576. It was built of wood. At the Sich Church there was a parish school for teaching literacy, the law of God, prayers and writing. For the performance of sacred rites, priests were given a “fatal tax,” that is, an annual budget for the maintenance of the church and clergy. The Zaporozhye Cossacks considered their church independent of the highest spiritual Russian hierarchy; they placed the decision of Kosh of Zaporozhye above the authority of the Kyiv Metropolitan, although they asked him to appoint priests to the Sich.

Despite the fact that the church was wooden, its interior decoration was very expensive. Church books and icons were decorated with precious metals, vessels were made of gold and silver, banners and shrouds were decorated with pearls, precious stones and pendants. Church vestments were made of expensive fabrics and embroidered with gold threads. The surviving inventory of the property of the Intercession Church is impressive.

According to legend, the church was made without a single nail

Subsequently, after the Bolsheviks came to power, unique church relics from the times of the Zaporozhye Sich ended up abroad. Among them are the icon of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the sacristy of the Intercession Church of the New Sich, the Gospel of 1759, pernachs, horsetails, flags of the New Sich, a military seal and 35 kuren flags of the Zaporozhye Lower Army, 14 Zaporizhian Sich ataman and kuren maces and pernachs, military and regimental flags