Ukrainian Cossackdom in historical perspective (07.08.2023)
A street dialogue by Vitaliy Dribnytsya on Ukrainian Cossackdom of the early modern period. The article draws on the segment about the difference between the Zaporozhian Host (the Hetmanate, a state of 1649–1764) and the Zaporozhian Sich / the Lower Zaporozhian Host (a separate territory and order, from the mid-16th c. to 1775), about the liquidation of both formations by Catherine II (the exile of Petro Kalnyshevsky to Solovki, the abolition of the hetman title under Kyrylo Rozumovskyi), and about refuting the Soviet trope that “the Cossacks were runaway serfs”: the Sich was formed above all as a noble military-estate community with elected offices.
Key moments
- 03:40 Two different territories and structures: the Zaporozhian Host (the North — the Kyiv, Chernihiv, Zhytomyr regions) and the Lower Zaporozhian Host / Zaporozhian Sich (the South)
- 04:32 The Lower Cossacks — from the mid-16th c. to 1775; the Zaporozhian Host as a state — 1649–1764; both formations were liquidated by Catherine II
- 05:24 The Sich was taken without a fight; the last kish otaman, Petro Kalnyshevsky, was exiled to Solovki and lived to ~112
- 05:58 Kyrylo Rozumovskyi — the abolition of the hetman title and the regimental-hundred structure; the documents were taken away to St Petersburg
- 06:23 Refuting the Soviet trope of "runaway serfs": the Sich was formed as a noble (military-estate) state with elected offices