The story of the UkraineManning, Clarence Augustus
History
The story of the Ukraine
Manning, Clarence Augustus
Kievan Rus -- History; Ukraine -- History
At the beginning of the seventeenth century nearly all of Ukraine was
within the borders of Poland and the Polish King and the magnates were
able to feel that Ukraine offered a purely Polish internal question.
They were to be disillusioned. The formation of the Church Union and
the Ukrainian cultural revival, together with the actions of the Kozak
Host, proved that the Polish state as then constituted could not master
the problem. The revolt of Khmelnitsky and his placing of the Host
under the supremacy of the Tsar definitely established Ukraine as an
international problem, perhaps the greatest in Eastern Europe.
Poland had a last chance at the time of the Union of Hadiach in 1658,
when it seemed for a moment as if Ukraine would enter along with Poland
and Lithuania into a new tripartite form of government. It was not to
be. The Kozaks were not willing to back Vyhovsky in his undertaking,
the Polish King and magnates had learned nothing, and the scheme fell
through. Instead there was made between the King and the Tsar the
Treaty of Andrusivo in 1667 whereby Ukraine was definitely divided
along the Dnyeper and Kiev passed into Muscovite hands.
As we have seen, the struggle continued and Ukraine was cruelly
devastated. More and more the Kozak Host was driven to the eastward and
a large part of the Ukrainian lands in Poland lost contact with it. The
last endeavor of the Kozaks came during the hetmanship of Mazepa, when
Paly had endeavored to unite what was left of it in Poland with the
main forces of the Kozaks.
Poland was steadily falling into ruin. The Kings were no longer able to
govern, except on paper, and during the eighteenth century, Russian and
Swedish armies were constantly marching across her territory. The King
and the magnates were only too ready to be peaceful, provided they were
not asked to fight for themselves or for any else. It might have seemed
an ideal time for a Kozak movement, but the main body of the Host had
been so punished after the defeat of Mazepa, that it could give no
support to the Kozaks in Poland. Step by step the Host vanished from
the Polish lands. It was consistently deprived of its possible supports
and from the early part of the eighteenth century, it ceased to play
any role in Polish affairs.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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