Hetman is a symbol of Ukraine

In the historical tradition, the hetman is a military commander who directed a certain group of troops or an entire army. For the first time in the sources, the word "hetman" is mentioned in connection with the Hussite uprising in the Czech Republic. In Poland, the term has been used since 1503, it was the commander of the Royal Armed Forces.

Hetmans as political leaders

With the majority of Ukrainian hetmans there is such a thing as the "national liberation struggle of the Ukrainian people" against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The history of awarding this title in Ukraine is very interesting. Contrary to the entrenched historical association, that the hetman is purely the manager of the Cossacks and the state of the Hetmanate, for the first time Bogdan Khmelnitsky officially received the title in 1648.

After the Union of Lublin in 1596 in Poland there was a reform of local government, according to which in each of the regions of the monarchy appeared its ruler, who was called the hetman. This is the story of the appearance of the title "Ukrainian hetmans".

Military successes of the Zaporozhye Army

It is not worth talking about some useful activity of the official hetmans, set by the Polish king for Ukraine. Among the famous political, military or cultural figures of the 16th-17th centuries there is not one official hetman. Cossack hetmans personified that part of the intelligentsia, who considered themselves to be people who were free from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Cossacks set themselves several tasks:

• Struggle against the Polish gentry, from which the peasants economically depended (panshchina, obrokki, etc.);
• Struggle against external enemies (the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire).

The most famous Cossack hetmans of the late 16th and first half of the 17th century were Krishtof Kosinsky, Severin Nalivaiko, and Petr Konashevich-Sagaidachny. These people saw in the development of the Cossacks a real chance to translate the desire of the Ukrainian people to gain independence and, accordingly, their own state. At the same time, they clearly understood the complexity of this process. The main methods of struggle were military campaigns and insurrections. The most massive was the uprising of 1591-1596. At that time Cossack pens were very manly, but not yet equipped with weapons, so suffered several defeats in major battles. Together with this, they were able to inflict considerable damage to the nobles. It was after these uprisings that Rzeczpospolita reformed the system of local government by introducing the official post of hetman. Of the external campaigns of the Cossacks it is worth noting Moscow in 1602, as well as several serious outings against the Turks, who showed the Ukrainians as very strong opponents.

Hetman Khmelnitsky

Bogdan-Zinovy Khmelnitsky was born in 1596. He received a good education in the Kiev fraternal school. The family estate of Khmelnitsky is located in Subotov, near the town of Chigirin (modern Cherkasy region of Ukraine). He served in the camp of registered Cossacks, took part in the war with Spain, took the fortress of Dunkirk in France. But his main mission in life Khmelnytsky carried out in the period from 1648 to 1654 during the national liberation war against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was during these years that the hetman was the military and political leader of the forces that fought against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The war against the Polish state took place with varying success. Successful battles were in the spring of 1648 under the Yellow Waters and Korsun.

Polish leaders realized that they were dealing with a strong opponent. During the summer of 1648, Ukrainian troops ravaged Polish estates. The number of soldiers in the army of Khmelnitsky has grown to 30,000 people. In the spring of 1648 there was a winning battle at Pilyavtsi. In the years that followed, there were fights near Zbarazh and Berestechok. The main result of Bogdan Khmelnitsky's activity was the annexation of Ukrainian lands to Russia in 1654 in Pereyaslav.

Ivan Mazepa - hetman of Ukraine

The period of Mazepa's reign from 1687 to 1709 can be conditionally divided into 2 parts. Before the Great War began, the hetman had very good relations with Peter the Great. The main activity of Mazepa during this period, aimed at the good of the people, was manifested in the development of culture and spirituality (the building of churches). The second period (from 1700 to 1709) showed that Mazepa is a hetman who thinks about the independence of the country. The apogee of such moods was the arrangements of the Ukrainian hetman with the Swedish King Charles XII. The manifestation of this alliance was the participation of the allied troops of Hetman Mazepa and Sweden in the Battle of Poltava against the troops of Peter.

Ukrainian hetmans, of course, could not solve the question of the country's complete independence, but there was a union with the kindred peoples - Russians and Byelorussians. The hetman is a person who embodies the national aspirations of the Ukrainian people. It was with the advent of the hetmans that the national liberation movement in the territory of modern Ukraine became more active.