Yuri Khmelnitsky: short biography, politics, years of government

One of the most controversial personalities in Ukrainian history is Yuri Khmelnitsky. The son of the great Bogdan received an estimate from historians, which was highly divergent, depending on their ideological position. But all of them agree that the son in terms of his abilities was much inferior to his father. The biography of Yuri Khmelnitsky will be the subject of our consideration.

Childhood

Yuri Khmelnitsky was born around 1641 on the Subot farm near Chigirin in the family of the small Ukrainian nobleman Bogdan (Zinoviy) Khmelnitsky and Anna Semyonovna Somko, the sister of the future hetman, Yakov Sokko. Besides him, there were seven other children in the family: 3 boys and 4 girls.

About Yuri's early years of life, practically nothing is known, except that he lived with his father and mother in his native farm.

The life of the Khmelnytsky family and the whole Rzecz Pospolita radically changed after 1647, when the personal enemy of Bogdan Shlyachtich Danilo Chaplinsky committed a robber raid on Subotov. He ruined the estate when the head of the family was absent at home, and half-deadly flogged one of his sons.

Liberation war

Not finding a legitimate government on the disembodied gentry, B. Khmelnitsky in early 1648, ignited a popular uprising in Ukraine against the Polish domination. The main driving force of the uprising was the Zaporozhye Cossacks, whose hetman was elected Bogdan-Zinovy in the same year.

The initial successes of the uprising impressed, as the Cossack army, in alliance with Crimean Tatars, managed to control most of modern Ukraine. But still politician Bogdan Khmelnitsky was not so sophisticated, and due to the game and a series of betrayals betrayed in 1651 to conclude an unprofitable Belotserkovsky world, which meant the loss of a significant part of the territories.

Bogdan Khmelnitsky realized that without a powerful ally, he could not win the war. At the Pereyaslav Rada in January 1654, a decision was agreed on the acceptance of citizenship by the Russian Tsar. After that Russia entered the war with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Yuri Khmelnitsky, unlike his elder brother Timosh, because of his young age, did not take direct part in military campaigns. After Timos was killed in 1653 during a campaign in Moldova, Yuri remained the only son of Bogdan Khmelnitsky, as his brothers died even earlier. He was sent by his father to study at the Kiev Collegium.

After graduation at the age of sixteen with the participation of his father, Yuri Khmelnytsky was declared a hetman. That is, Bogdan was the one who was preparing to inherit power after his death, which happened in 1657 from a stroke.

After the death of his father

Sixteen-year-old Yury, after the sudden death of his father, was not ready to take over the administration of the state. Although some of the Cossacks proclaimed him a hetman, but the Chigirinsky Rada elected the head of the general clerk (analogue of the European Chancellor) Ivan Vygovsky. Yuri Bogdanovich was forced to abandon power in favor of a more experienced candidate.

Ivan Vygovsky from the first days led an independent from the Russian state policy. He believed that the Russian Tsar violated the original arrangements for an alliance. Vygovsky went on rapprochement with the Commonwealth, which was embodied in the conclusion of the Treaty of Hadiach in 1658. It provided for the inclusion of Ukraine (the Grand Duchy of Russia) in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth on equal terms with Poland and Lithuania.

This treaty led to a split in the Cossack ranks. A significant number of representatives of the sergeant-major and simple Cossacks were opposed to rapprochement with Poland and remained faithful to the Russian tsar. The split led to a thirty-year civil war in Ukraine, the period of which was called the Ruin. During the fighting between the Russian army, which was supported by a loyal part of the Cossacks and the troops of Vygovsky, the latter was defeated and forced in 1659 to flee to Poland.

The second hetman

After Vygovsky's flight, the Cossack sergeant decided to elect a new hetman. One of the most active supporters of the deposition of Vyhovsky was Uncle Yuri's mother - Colonel Yakov Somco, who himself took the place of the head of the Cossacks. But the main contender was the son of the great Bogdan - eighteen-year-old Yuri. The glory of his father was his trump card. And on the verge of 1659 in the White Church on the hetman's post was approved by Yuri Khmelnitsky. The years of the reign of this hetman (1659 - 1685) coincided with the bloodiest period of the Ruin. It should be noted that in order to secure his election, Yuri sent a trusted man his father, Ivan Bryukhovetsky, to the White Church for the blessing of the White Church, who in future will become a hetman in the Left Bank Ukraine.

At the new Rada, a resolution was passed to petition the Russian Tsar concerning the expansion of Cossacks' rights. In particular, questions were raised about the strengthening of the power of the hetman and the autonomy of the Ukrainian church. But the petition was rejected by the tsarist voivode Trubetskoi. He also demanded a new welcome, at which the rights of the Cossacks were even more limited in comparison with the time of Bogdan Khmelnitsky.

Split of Little Russia

In 1660, Russian troops led by boyar Sheremetyev opposed the forces of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The governor was to join Yuri Khmelnitsky with his Cossacks, but hesitated because of cowardice. He was late and himself was surrounded by Polish troops, before that already had time to besiege Sheremetyev.

Under the pressure of the foreman, Yuri was forced to sign a new treaty with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. At the place of its composition, it was called Slobodyshchensky tract. This agreement was in many respects similar to Gadyachsky, but already provided fewer freedoms to the Ukrainian population, in particular, did not provide for autonomy. Yuri Khmelnitsky was forced to recognize himself as a subject of the Polish king.

This fact did not appeal to a significant part of the sergeant-major and the Cossacks. They refused to obey Yuri and chose Colonel Somko as the hetman, who was supported by the Russian kingdom. Under the control of Yuri Khmelnitsky, only Pravoberezhnaya Ukraine remained. Thus, for a hundred years, Little Russia actually split into two parts: the right-bank part alternately recognized Polish and Ottoman domination, and left-bank - the power of the Russian tsar.

New setbacks

Trying to regain power over the entire territory of Little Russia and relying on the support of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Yuri Khmelnytsky began a campaign on the Left Bank. At first he was partially successful, but after the reinforcements arrived in the form of Russian troops under the leadership of boyar Romodanovsky, the right-bank hetman suffered a crushing defeat at Kanev in the summer of 1662.

Khmelnitsky was able to stop Russian troops only by concluding an alliance with the Crimean Khan. So in the victory was not his merit. As the commander showed his complete failure Yuri Khmelnitsky, his policy was defeated, the glory of his father could no longer provide authority to the right-bank hetman. Therefore, at the end of 1662, he was forced to abandon power in favor of Colonel Pavel Teteri, and he took his monastic vows as Gideon's brother.

Sharpening

But on this the misadventures of Bogdan Khmelnitsky's son did not end. Pavel Teteria began to suspect him of the desire to again take the place of the hetman and therefore imprisoned Yuri in 1664 in the Lviv fortress. Only after the death of the hetman in 1667 Khmelnitsky was released and began to live in the Uman monastery.

Having taken part in the Cossack Rada in 1668, Yuri Khmelnytsky initially supported the pro-Turkish orientation of the new right-bank hetman Peter Doroshenko, who accepted Ottoman citizenship, but then sided with his rival Mikhail Khanenko.

In one of the battles with the Tatars, Yuri was captured and sent to Istanbul. However, the Turkish imprisonment for the former hetman was relatively comfortable.

Again the hetman

After Peter Doroshenko abandoned the hetman and moved to Russian citizenship, it became clear why the Turks were loyal to Yuri Khmelnitsky. The Sultan regarded him as a reserve candidate for the post of hetman. Indeed, from the point of view of the Turks, Bogdan's son suited this post perfectly. Characteristic of Yuri Khmelnitsky allowed to say that this weak-willed person will fully operate in the way in which the Turks were required, because it was hardly possible to expect any independent actions from him.

So, in 1876 Yuri was again appointed hetman, this time the Turkish sultan. He participated in the campaign of the Turks to Chigirin, and then made his residence the city of Nemyriv.

Execution

Unable to actually manage Ukrainian lands, Yuri Khmelnytsky began to execute his own subjects. These events display in an unattractive light the portrait of Yuri Khmelnytsky. A short period of the hetman's rule ended in 1681, when the Turks exiled him to one of the islands of the Aegean Sea.

There is a version according to which Yuri Khmelnitsky was appointed by the Turks hetman one more time - in 1683. But he also continued the outrages, as before. This outraged the Turkish pasha, who brought Yuri to Kamenets-Podolsky, where he executed in 1685.

general characteristics

Yuri Khmelnitsky lived a rather complicated and tragic life. A brief biography of this personality was considered by us. It must be said that most historians agree that it was a weak-willed, unhappy man who had long been in prison. We can say that Yuri Khmelnytsky became a toy of foreign political interests. This could not but affect his psyche, which resulted in the end of life in the unjustified execution of subjects.

At the same time, it must be said that we still know relatively little about the motives of this man's actions. Even regarding his death among historians there are disagreements.