Changes

Peasant refugees from Polish landlord rule escaped to the steppes of Ukraine in the 15th and 16th centuries, where they became frontiersmen called [[Cossacks]].  Their main center was Zaporizhska Sich, a wild town on the lower [[Dnieper]] River. Outlaws and frontiersmen, fighters and pioneers, the Cossacks seized the Ukrainian imagination.  They ranged the steppe in covered wagons, pulling them into tight squares to face a Tatar attack.  Urged on by Polish subsidies, they launched lucrative raids on the ports of Poland's enemy Turkey, using sixty-foot‐long double-ruddered galleys.  The men boasted splendid moustaches, red boots and wide baggy trousers as they danced, sang and drank horilka in heroic quantities.<ref> Reid (2000) p. 30 </ref>  Some Cossacks aligned with Poland; others led rebellions against the Poles in 1591, 1595, 1625, 1635 and 1637.

Peasant refugees from Polish landlord rule escaped to the steppes of Ukraine in the 15th and 16th centuries, where they became frontiersmen called [[Cossacks]].  Their main center was Zaporizhska Sich, a wild town on the lower [[Dnieper]] River. Outlaws and frontiersmen, fighters and pioneers, the Cossacks seized the Ukrainian imagination.  They ranged the steppe in covered wagons, pulling them into tight squares to face a Tatar attack.  Urged on by Polish subsidies, they launched lucrative raids on the ports of Poland's enemy Turkey, using sixty-foot‐long double-ruddered galleys.  The men boasted splendid moustaches, red boots and wide baggy trousers as they danced, sang and drank horilka in heroic quantities.<ref> Reid (2000) p. 30 </ref>  Some Cossacks aligned with Poland; others led rebellions against the Poles in 1591, 1595, 1625, 1635 and 1637.

The rebellions climaxed in 1648-1654 in a popular uprising, accompanied by widespread pogroms against Jews, led by the Cossack hetman (general) [[Bohdan Khmelnytsky]] (1595-1657).<ref> He is called Bogdan Khmelnitsky in Russian and Bogdan Chmielnicki in Polish.</ref> Khmelnytsky's victory over Poland led to a Cossack "state," the hetmanate.<ref> The Cossaks formed a military regime but most historians say the hetmanate was not a fully formed state, as it lacked borders, stable laws, an administrative apparatus or an ethnic population base. Apart from Russia it did not seek diplomatic recognition through the exchange of ambassadors.</ref> As the creator of the first quasi-independent Cossack state in the 16th century, Khmelnitsky became immortalized in Ukrainian national sentiment. In the Communist era Moscow bolstered his status.  The exploits of Khmelnitsky and the Cossacks became the focus of numerous ceremonial acts, exhibitions and dedications.  Since 1991, however, Ukrainian scholars are more divided over the issue of whether he sold out the national interest to Russia.<ref> Serhii Plokhy, "The Ghosts of Pereyaslav: Russo-Ukrainian Historical Debates in the Post-soviet Era." ''Europe-Asia Studies'' 2001 53(3): 489-505. Fulltext: [http://www.jstor.org.proxy.cc.uic.edu/view/09668136/ap030066/03a00050/0 in Jstor]; Zenon E. Kohut, "In Search of Early Modern Ukrainian Statehood: Post-Soviet Studies of the Cossack Hetmanate." ''Journal of Ukrainian Studies'' 1999 24(2): 101-112. Issn: 0228-1635 not online</ref>

The rebellions climaxed in 1648-1654 in a popular uprising, accompanied by widespread pogroms against Jews, led by the Cossack hetman (general) [[Bohdan Khmelnytsky]] (1595-1657).<ref> He is called Bogdan Khmelnitsky in Russian and Bogdan Chmielnicki in Polish.</ref> Khmelnytsky's victory over Poland led to a Cossack "state," the hetmanate.<ref> The Cossaks formed a military regime but most historians say the hetmanate was not a fully formed state, as it lacked borders, stable laws, an administrative apparatus or an ethnic population base. Apart from Russia it did not seek diplomatic recognition through the exchange of ambassadors.</ref> As the creator of the first quasi-independent Cossack state in the 16th century, Khmelnitsky became immortalized in Ukrainian national sentiment. In the Communist era Moscow bolstered his status.  The exploits of Khmelnitsky and the Cossacks became the focus of numerous ceremonial acts, exhibitions and dedications.  Since 1991, however, Ukrainian scholars are more divided over the issue of whether he sold out the national interest to Russia.<ref> Serhii Plokhy, "The Ghosts of Pereyaslav: Russo-Ukrainian Historical Debates in the Post-soviet Era." ''Europe-Asia Studies'' 2001 53(3): 489-505. Fulltext: [http://www.jstor.org.proxy.cc.uic.edu/view/09668136/ap030066/03a00050/0 in Jstor]; Zenon E. Kohut, "In Search of Early Modern Ukrainian Statehood: Post-Soviet Studies of the Cossack Hetmanate." ''Journal of Ukrainian Studies'' 1999 24(2): 101-112. Issn: 0228-1635 not online</ref>

===Polish and Russian control===

===Polish and Russian control===

In 1657-1686  came "The Ruin," a devastating 30-year war between Russia, Poland, Turks and Cossacks for control of Ukraine.  For three years Khmelnytsky's armies controlled present-day western and central Ukraine, but deserted by his Tatar allies, he suffered a crushing defeat at Berestechko, and turned to the Russian Czar for help.  In 1654, Khmelnytsky signed the Treaty of Pereiaslav, forming a military and political alliance with Russia that acknowledged loyalty to the Czar.  The wars escalated in intensity with hundreds of thousands of deaths. Defeat came in 1686 as the "Eternal Peace" between Russia and Poland gave Kiev and the Cossack lands east of the Dnieper over to Russian rule and the Ukrainian lands west of the Dnieper to Poland.  In 1709 Cossack  Hetman Ivan Mazepa (1687-1709) sided with Sweden against Russia in the [[Great Northern War]] (1700-1721).  Mazepa, a member of the Cossack nobility, received an excellent education abroad and proved to be a brilliant political and military leader enjoying good relations with the Romanov dynasty. After [[Peter the Great]] became czar, Mazepa as hetman gave him more than twenty years of loyal military and diplomatic service and was well rewarded. Eventually Peter recognized that in order to consolidate and modernize Russia's political and economic power it was necessary to do away with the hetmanate and Ukrainian and Cossack aspirations to autonomy. Peter refused to assist Cossack forces in protecting Ukraine from imminent attack by Sweden, thus abrogating treaty obligations between Russia and Ukraine. Mazepa accepted Polish invitations to join the Poles and Swedes against Russia. The move was disastrous for the hetmanate, Ukrainian autonomy, and Mazepa. He died in exile after fleeing from the [[Battle of Poltava]] (1709), where the Swedes and their Cossack allies suffered a catastrophic defeat at the hands of Peter's Russian forces

In 1657-1686  came "The Ruin," a devastating 30-year war between Russia, Poland, Turks and Cossacks for control of Ukraine.  For three years Khmelnytsky's armies controlled present-day western and central Ukraine, but deserted by his Tatar allies, he suffered a crushing defeat at Berestechko, and turned to the Russian Czar for help.  In 1654, Khmelnytsky signed the Treaty of Pereiaslav, forming a military and political alliance with Russia that acknowledged loyalty to the Czar.  The wars escalated in intensity with hundreds of thousands of deaths. Defeat came in 1686 as the "Eternal Peace" between Russia and Poland gave Kiev and the Cossack lands east of the Dnieper over to Russian rule and the Ukrainian lands west of the Dnieper to Poland.  In 1709 Cossack  Hetman Ivan Mazepa (1687-1709) sided with Sweden against Russia in the [[Great Northern War]] (1700-1721).  Mazepa, a member of the Cossack nobility, received an excellent education abroad and proved to be a brilliant political and military leader enjoying good relations with the Romanov dynasty. After [[Peter the Great]] became czar, Mazepa as hetman gave him more than twenty years of loyal military and diplomatic service and was well rewarded. Eventually Peter recognized that in order to consolidate and modernize Russia's political and economic power it was necessary to do away with the hetmanate and Ukrainian and Cossack aspirations to autonomy. Peter refused to assist Cossack forces in protecting Ukraine from imminent attack by Sweden, thus abrogating treaty obligations between Russia and Ukraine. Mazepa accepted Polish invitations to join the Poles and Swedes against Russia. The move was disastrous for the hetmanate, Ukrainian autonomy, and Mazepa. He died in exile after fleeing from the [[Battle of Poltava]] (1709), where the Swedes and their Cossack allies suffered a catastrophic defeat at the hands of Peter's Russian forces