This left the Host and the Ukrainians in a relatively advantageous position. Besides that, there was still the Sultan of Turkey who could play a hand in the game, for we must never forget that at this moment the Turkish tide was still running strongly. It was still twenty years before it would reach its height outside the walls of Vienna and all of Europe would be terrorized at the thought that a victorious Islam might push its way further into the heart of the continent. Everything depended upon the successor of Khmelnitsky. Would he be able to continue the task of welding the Host and the Ukrainian population into a strong whole which would be able to speak unhesitatingly and firmly to both friend and foe? Would he be able to heal the rifts that were already evident in the organization, which had been evident for a century and which awaited only a strong and continued effort to mend, or would he allow them to increase and destroy what had been already accomplished? Unfortunately disorder and blind passion were destined to be the guiding forces of the next half century. None of the successors of Khmelnitsky possessed his political acumen or the ability to control the unruly bands of Kozaks and to continue his work of turning a purely military order of fighters into a modern state. All the disruptive tendencies which had existed from the beginning appeared again with renewed force now that the Kozak question was pitched on international lines and formed a part of the European struggle for power.