Bohdan Khmelnytsky

Bohdan Zynovii Mykhailovych Khmel'nyts'kyi (Богдан Зиновій Михайлович Хмельницький in Ukrainian, commonly transliterated as Khmelnytsky; known in Polish as Bohdan Zenobi Chmielnicki; in Russian as Bogdan Khmel'nitsky) (c. 1595 – August 6, 1657) was a Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth noble of probable Ruthenian origin, leader of the Zaporozhian Cossack Hetmanate, hetman of Ukraine, noted for his revolt against Poland (1648 – 1654) and the Treaty of Pereyaslavl which eventually led to the annexation of Ukraine by the Russian Empire.

Biography

Early life

Khmelnytsky was probably born in Chyhyryn, in Ukraine in an inbred family of Ruthenian peasant stock. Khmelnytsky was educated by the Jesuits in Lviv. Unlike many of their other pupils, he did not embrace Roman Catholicism but early in life became indifferent to the faith. Later he seemed to belong to the Greek Orthodox faith, to which most of the Cossacks and the Ruthenian peasants belonged. He had two sons - Yuriy and Tymofiy (Tymish). He was deprived of his estate of Subotiv by Daniel Czapliński, the bailiff of Chyhyryn. At this time he was still in the subordinate position of a "sotski" (an officer over a sotnia, or hundred cavalrymen) of the Registered Cossacks, subject to the Polish magnate Stanisław Koniecpolski. With Koniecpolski he took part in the disastrous Battle of Cecora (1620). Czapliński availed himself of Khmelnytsky's absence to raid the estate, during which Khmelnytsky's young son Yuriy received injuries from which he ultimately died, and Khmelnytsky's second wife was carried off.

Cossack leader

As one of Czyhrynian and Zaporozhian Cossacks, he fought against Turks and Crimean Tatars in 1625-1630. He also participated in the Cossack rebellions of 1632 and 1637. In October 1645 he was invited to France by Cardinal Jules Mazarin with two regiments of Cossacks to participate in the war against Spain. Due to his military skills Dunkirk was taken by assault in two days.

The Uprising

Main article: Chmielnicki Uprising

For centuries after the creation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Orthodox people of Ruthenia had felt oppressed by the Polish nobles, Catholic priests and Jewish traders. Although Ruthenian nobility enjoyed full rights, they were quickly polonized and therefore were alienated from the common people; the advent of the Counter-Reformation worsened the relationship between the Orthodox and Catholic churches. Unwilling to attend to the details of administration themselves, Polish magnates made Jewish traders their go-betweens in transactions with the peasants of Ukraine. The magnates sold and leased certain privileges to the Jews for a lump sum and, while enjoying themselves at their courts, left it to the Jewish leaseholders and collectors to become objects of hatred to the oppressed and long-suffering peasants. Although Khmelnytsky's personal resentment influenced his ultimate decision to rid Ukraine of Polish domination, it seems that his ambition to secure the Nobles' privileges and the Cossacks' independence, was the main motive that led him to instigate an uprising of the Ruthenian people against them, known after him as the Chmielnicki Uprising.

Khmelnytsky told the people that the Poles had sold them as slaves "into the hands of the accursed Jews". With this as their battle-cry, the Cossacks killed a large number of Jews during the years 1648–1649. The precise number of dead may never be known, but the decrease of the Jewish population during that period is estimated at 100,000 to 200,000, which also includes deaths from diseases and Tatar imprisonment.

These events also initiated a series of campaigns (which began the period in Polish history known as The Deluge) that temporarily freed Ukraine from Polish domination but in time subjected it to Russian domination. Successes at Zhovti Vody, Battle of Korsun and Battle of Pilavtsi (respectively, in Polish, Żółte Wody, Korsuń, and Piławce) against Hetman Mikołaj Potocki led to the Polish king giving royal recognition for the contentious privileges under the Treaty of Zborov. Hostilities resumed when the Sejm refused to recognise the provisions of the treaty. After Khmelnytsky's forces were betrayed by their former allies, the Crimean Tatars, they suffered a massive defeat in 1651 at the Battle of Beresteczko, and were forced at Bila Tserkva to accept a loser's treaty. A year later, the Cossacks had their revenge at the Battle of Batoh. Ukraine was still perilously weak, and in 1654 Khmelnytsky persuaded the Cossacks to ally with the Russian tsar in the Treaty of Pereyaslav, which eventually led to the incorporation of the Left-bank Ukraine into Russia.

Khmelnytsky in Fiction

Sholem Asch wrote about Kmelnytsky's cossack war in his book A Novel of 1648 which describes the massacres of the Jews in horrific detail.

In Poland, Khmelnytsky's war was described in the 19th century by Henryk Sienkiewicz in his famous novel, With Fire and Sword (Ogniem i mieczem). This book was written with a clearly stated intent of raising the national spirit in partitioned Poland, and shows the story of Khmelnytsky and the Cossacks from the point of view of the Polish nobles (szlachta), thus glorifying the Polish side while vilifying the rebels. After Poland was subsumed within the Russian empire, attempts were made to recast Khmelnytsky as an archetype of the freedom loving Pole. Similar efforts to claim Khmelnytsky's heritage were made under the Soviet Union, where Khmelnytsky was recast as a historical leader of proletarian revolution. In 1999 a Polish movie was made based on With Fire and Sword (Ogniem i mieczem), which portrayed a more realistic image of Khmelnytsky, as a complex man and Ukrainian leader with a deep personality who sought justice for the wrongs committed against him. Thus the movie tried to overcome somewhat negative views presented in the original book. It was well received by both Polish and Ukrainian audience.

External links

Cossack State after 1649 (map)

Jewish history | Cossacks | Hetmans of Ukrainian Cossacks | 1657 deaths | Anti-Semitic people