The Poles, having become involved in a war with the Turks, proposed to the Russians, or Muscovites as they were often called, that they should aid them in an attempt to conquer the Crimea. In this war occurred the incident relating to the famous Mazeppa, whose frightful ride through the tangled thickets of a wild country, bound naked to an untamed horse, was so graphically described by the poet Byron. Mazeppa was a Polish gentleman, and having offended a Polish nobleman, he was thus cruelly punished by his enemy. Some Cossack peasants rescued the poor Mazeppa from his terrible position, and he afterwards became a chieftain amongst them. He distinguished himself in these campaigns in the Crimean war, fought by the Muscovites against the Turks and Tartars during the regency of the Princess Sophia. This war was not successful, and Prince Golítsyn, who led the Russian forces, was obliged to retreat; but fearing to have the state of the case known, he sent word to Moscow that he had been successful, and was received by Sophia upon his return with great honors. But the young Peter, who had been studying military tactics, was so displeased and disgusted with the military operations of Golítsyn that, when that general was received by Sophia at Moscow with great state, the rewards could not then be read, as Peter had refused to sign them. He, however, was afterwards persuaded to grant them. But this unfortunate campaign of Golítsyn’s was the turning point in the struggle between the aristocratic party which espoused the side of Peter, and the government of Sophia. Now there was formed a dark and wicked plot, and some historians accuse Sophia of being a party to it, if she did not even propose it. This was the assassination of the young Czar Peter.