28.08.2013 0 7399

For several centuries now, the Zaporozhye Sich has remained a symbol of unbridled prowess, dashing freemen and reckless courage. But who are they - Zaporozhye Cossacks? Where did they come from, how did they live and where did they go?

The first settlements of free people in the steppe, near the rapids of the Dnieper, appeared in the 13th-14th centuries. Gradually, the inhabitants of these places began to be called “Cossacks.” The word of Turkic origin passed into the Russian language from the Mongol-Tatars. Usually they were called robbers who hunted on the highways. And sometimes - security guards who were hired to defend against these same robbers.

Cossack is different from Cossack

In the middle of the 16th century, scattered Cossack detachments began to unite into a single force. In 1553, the Volyn prince Dmitry Vishnevetsky founded a wooden and earthen castle on the island of Malaya Khortytsia, building it at his own expense. This is how the first Sich - Khortytsia - arose. Vishnevetsky’s relationship with the Polish king did not go well. But he established close friendship with the Muscovite kingdom. Being a distant relative of Ivan the Terrible, Vishnevetsky and his Cossacks took an active part in campaigns against the Crimean Tatars. However, soon the Crimeans, together with the Turks, ravaged Khortytsia. Vishnevetsky took possession of the city of Belev (in the modern Tula region) and left the Dnieper forever. And the Cossacks again scattered into separate small settlements. And then the kings of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth drew attention to the Dnieper freemen.

The famous letter of the Zaporozhye Cossacks to the Turkish Sultan Mohammed IV, full of insults, was written in the 17th century, in response to the demand to lay down their arms.

The Poles had long dreamed that it would be nice to have a permanent army in the south, capable of repelling the Turks if necessary. Sigizmun II Augustus in 1572 issued a decree on the creation of “registered Cossacks”. 300 people were accepted into the service, who swore an oath to faithfully serve the crown, repel Tatar raids, suppress peasant unrest and participate in royal campaigns. This Cossacks was solemnly named the Army of His Royal Grace Zaporozhye. Subsequently, King Stefan Batory doubled the number of registered Cossacks.

To be called a registered Cossack was not only honorable, but also profitable. High status, honor, regular salary... But they had a very conditional relationship to the real Zaporozhye Sich.

Registered Cossacks lived not on the Dnieper, but in the town of Trakhtemirov, Kyiv Voivodeship. Their treasury, arsenal, archives and hospital were located there. They contemptuously called the real Cossacks “golyt-venny Cossacks” - from the word “golytba”. The Polish crown also did not recognize the free Cossacks of the Dnieper rapids, although it used them for military campaigns, together with the registered Cossacks. It turned out that there were two Zaporozhye Sichs at the same time: the official registered army and the wild Dnieper freemen, called the “grassroots Cossacks”. Both of them, of course, considered themselves real, and called their opponents impostors.

The Moscow state has always taken the “lower” Sich seriously: as a good ally in the fight against the Turks and Tatars, but a dangerous enemy during the Polish campaigns. After all, the Cossacks knew how to fight and loved it. The Cossacks always had the most advanced weapons of the peoples with whom they fought. Trusting the sharp saber, the Cossacks did not forget about pistols, rifles and cannons. And their light ships “seagulls” terrified the seas and rivers.

"Grassroots knighthood"

The “lower” Zaporozhye Sich was not a state. It was a community of free people, completely unique for the 16th-17th centuries, who lived as they wanted, without submitting to outside power. All decisions were made jointly, at smoking and kosheva radas (meetings). All Cossacks of the Sich were considered to be members of a kosh (community or partnership), which was divided into 38 kurens. A kuren is both a military unit (such as a battalion or a regiment) and a long wooden house (more like a barracks) in which the Cossacks lived. The entire territory on which the Sich was located was divided into 8 palanki (districts).

The most important person in the Sich was the Koshevoy Ataman, elected at the Koshevoy Rada. He had enormous power - he resolved disputes, passed death sentences and commanded the army. His closest assistants held the positions of judge, captain and clerk. And already behind them in seniority were the kuren atamans. In total, a little more than a hundred people occupied certain positions in the Sich. All others were equal.

Even the ataman could not challenge the decision of the Kosheva Rada, which met without fail once a year. Any Sich Cossack had the right to vote. But becoming a “Sich” was not so easy. It was not enough to simply come to the Sich and declare your desire to join the Cossacks. Several conditions had to be met.

Firstly, anyone wishing to join the Sich had to be free and unmarried. So it was easier for the runaway serfs to go to the Don than to the Cossacks. Although, in order to confirm their free status, it was enough to give their word, which, of course, many took advantage of. Secondly, only Orthodox Christians or those who were ready to change their faith were accepted. And finally, thirdly, it was necessary to learn “Sich knighthood.”

Only after seven years of training the candidate received the status of a “tested comrade” and was allowed to join the Sich. At the same time, he was given a nickname and surname - remember Gogol’s Taras Bulba or Mosiya Shilo.

Those who had not yet passed the test lived on the borders of the Sich and were called “winter Cossacks.” Those who decided to get married were also sent there. Moreover, they were all considered part of the “grassroots army”. But they did not participate in the rads and received only a small fraction of the spoils of war.

The laws established in the Sich were extremely harsh. Theft was considered a serious crime, which was always punishable by death. For fights, abuse of women or robbery, the Orthodox population was beaten with a whip and chained to a stake. But the most terrible punishment awaited the one who shed the blood of his fellow Cossack. The killer was placed alive in the grave, a coffin with his victim was placed on top and buried. The Cossacks especially despised deserters - they were stoned to death. Perhaps, only such harsh measures could keep this explosive mixture that had gathered on the Dnieper in check.

Union with Russia

Relations between the Zaporozhye Sich and Russia have always been difficult. Until the middle of the 17th century, the Cossacks went on campaigns against Moscow more than once. During the Time of Troubles, they fought for False Dmitry I and supported the Polish prince Vladislav, who laid claim to the Russian throne.

However, as the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth strengthened, the Orthodox Cossacks began to feel more and more uncomfortable in an alliance with the rigidly Catholic state. This resulted in the uprising of Boris Khmelnitsky in 1648. Being a Cossack colonel, he managed to unite the registered Cossacks with the “grassroots army” and jointly give battle to the Polish king. The result was the Pereyaslav Rada of 1654, which announced the transfer of the Cossacks to Russian rule. This is how a new autonomous entity arose - the Hetmanate. There, two Sichs began to exist side by side again: the Army of His Royal Majesty Zaporozhian (registered Cossacks) and the “grassroots army”.

The alliance with Russia was short-lived. During the Northern War, the fatal betrayal of Hetman Mazepa occurred. The hetman brought only a few hundred Cossacks to the Battle of Poltava. But even before this, the Cossacks launched active military operations against the Russians. True, it turned out that the “regiments of the new system” created by Peter I were too tough for the Cossacks. The Sichs lost their former dashing spirit and stopped borrowing military innovations from the enemy. They became cumbersome to climb and clumsy in battle.

As a result, in May 1709, the Zaporozhye Sich was completely defeated by three Russian regiments under the command of Pyotr Yakovlev. The fortresses were destroyed, the kurens were burned, the Cossacks were dispersed or killed, and about 400 people were captured, and many were later executed.

The further history of the Zaporozhye Cossacks is one of endless wanderings, trying to find a new home and revive their former glory. I had to ask for protection from my sworn enemies - the Turkish Sultan and the Crimean Khan. But the Cossacks did not take root there. They returned to Russia under Anna Ioannovna and founded the New, or Podpolnenskaya, Sich almost in the same place where they were defeated by Peter. They guarded the Russian border, participated in the Russian-Turkish wars, but never reached their former scale.

Catherine the Great put an end to the history of the free Cossacks, who on August 3, 1775 signed the manifesto “On the destruction of the Zaporozhye Sich and on its inclusion in the Novorossiysk province.”

Victor BANEV

5.08.1775 (18.08). – Liquidation of the Zaporozhye Sich in connection with the Pugachev rebellion

Zaporizhzhya Sich - the military and administrative center of the Little Russian Cossacks, which was located beyond the Dnieper rapids in the 16th–18th centuries. According to researchers, the first fortress beyond the Dnieper rapids (the so-called Khortitsky Castle) was built by Prince Dmitry Vishnevetsky in 1553 on the island of Malaya Khortitsa to repel the raids of the Crimean Tatars and existed until 1557. The name "Sich" comes from the word " sekti", "carve", this name is associated with the fact that the capital was surrounded by a palisade with sharp edges carved out. Inside there was a church, outbuildings and residential buildings - smoking areas. The residential kuren was a long barracks, 30 meters long and about 4 meters wide. This word also meant a military unit: there were 38 kurens in total. (The word “Kosh” was often used with the word “Sich” and the Zaporozhian Army was sometimes called the Zaporozhye Kosh. This word is of Turkic origin and means “nomadic camp”. The Cossacks, using the word “Sich”, meant the permanent capital of the Army, and by the word Kosh they meant the entire territory nomadic troops during campaigns.)

Reception of those who came to the Zaporozhye Sich was carried out, according to D.I. Yavornitsky, under the following conditions:
– status of a free and unmarried person
– good knowledge of Russian language
- belonging to the Orthodox faith
– special military training.

Newly accepted Cossacks were given new surnames in the Cossack style, for example: Ne-Ridai-mene-mati, Shmat, Lisitsya, Ne-piy-voda, etc.

In terms of national composition, the Sich mainly consisted of Little Russian Cherkasy (i.e. Russians, not to be confused with Circassians). But in addition, among those accepted there were people of different nationalities: Poles, Litvins, Tatars, Turks, Armenians, etc. The Zaporozhye army was divided into Sich and Winter Cossacks. The first were the color of the Cossacks and were called “knighthood” or “comradery”. Only these Cossacks had the right to choose a foreman from among their ranks, receive a salary and participate in government affairs. Winter Cossacks were not allowed to the Sich, but lived near it, but were also part of the Zaporozhian Army.

The Rada of Zaporizhian Cossacks was the highest administrative, legislative and judicial body. At the military councils, all the most important issues in the life of the Cossacks were discussed: about peace, about campaigns against enemies, about punishing criminals, about the division of lands and lands, about the choice of a military foreman. Military councils met without fail on January 1 (the beginning of the new year), October 1 (a temple holiday in the Sich), as well as on the 2nd or 3rd day. In addition, the Rada could be convened at any day and time at the request of the majority of the Army. The decisions of the Rada were binding on every Cossack.

The administrative and judicial authorities in the Zaporozhian Army numbered up to one and a half hundred people. The main thing in the Sich was the Koshevoy Ataman. Next came the judge, captain, clerk and kuren atamans. It was actually the government of the Zaporozhye Sich. Next came the lower command staff: signatory, podesaul, cornet, etc. The Koshevoy ataman united military, administrative, judicial and spiritual power and in wartime had the powers of a dictator. The symbol of power of the Koshe chieftain is the mace. However, without the decision of the Rada, the Koshevoy Ataman could not make a single decision on his own.

Before the court, everyone was equal - the commander and the simple Cossack. The following were considered serious criminal offenses: the murder of a Cossack by a Cossack, beating a Cossack while drunk, having sex with a woman and the “sin of Sodom,” defamation of a woman, insolence towards superiors, desertion, robbery of the population, concealing part of the loot, and drunkenness during campaigns. The judges were all military foreman. Punishments were: chained to a wooden post in the square, chained to a cannon, mounted on a wooden mare, beaten with a whip or cues, death. They were sentenced to death for theft, even petty theft. Pillorying with cues was used for thieves, adulterers, sodomites and deserters. For the murder of a Cossack by a Cossack, the killer was placed alive in a dug hole, and a coffin with the dead man was lowered on top of him and buried.

The Zaporozhye Cossacks, in addition to their favorite sabers, spears, daggers and other bladed weapons, were armed with self-propelled guns, pistols, cannons, howitzers, and mortars. The Zaporozhian army was armed with the most advanced weapons of that time, taken from all the opponents with whom the Cossacks fought. The army was divided into three types of troops - infantry, cavalry and artillery. The number of the entire army was 10,000 - 12,000 people, of which the infantry was about 6,000 people. The elite part of the army was the cavalry. The army was divided into regiments and hundreds. The hundred was a tactical unit of the army and numbered 180 people. The regiment consisted of three hundred with a total number of 540 people. A common vehicle used by the Cossacks during steppe campaigns was a camp, that is, a quadrangular or round row of carts, which could be installed in several rows and fastened with chains.

The campaigns were mainly undertaken against the Poles, Tatars, and Turks. Land campaigns always began in the spring; for this purpose, a gathering of Cossacks in the Sich was announced. Just before leaving the Sich, a prayer service was served and then the largest cannon was fired. The movement of the troops proceeded with great caution along gullies and ravines. During the hike, it was forbidden to make fires, talk loudly, or smoke cradles. Scouts walked ahead of the troops. The main task was a surprise attack on the enemy.

Sea voyages were carried out on the so-called “gulls” - large boats that could accommodate from 50 to 70 Cossacks; each had a saber, two guns, ammunition and food. Autumn time was chosen for sea voyages, especially cloudy days and dark nights. The seagulls came straight out of the Sich and descended to the Black Sea. The news of the Cossacks going to sea terrified the coastal regions of Turkey. The Cossacks viewed the Turks as infidel invaders who had come to these lands, and also as defenders and patrons of the Crimean Tatar invaders, with whom there was a continuous war. Landing on the shore, the Cossacks killed the inhabitants, took away all valuable property, weapons, money and returned to the Sich with booty.

Living near the Crimean Tatars, who considered their main occupation to be raiding Russians, the Zaporozhye Cossacks took measures to protect their borders from a sudden invasion. The Cossacks' means of security were horse patrols (bekets) of Cossacks along the eastern and southern borders. For the guard beckets, raduts were built - outposts along the left bank of the Dnieper at distances of 15 - 18 km from each other, so that one could see the other from one radut. To warn of attacking Tatars, a pillar was made of barrels stacked on top of each other, on top of which a bunch of straw was lit.

Unfortunately, the Cossacks attacked not only the Tatars and Turks. Several thousand Cossacks came to the reign. In 1606 they plundered Pronsk, Mikhailov, Zaraysk, and Ryazan. Then in 1611 they continued to attack Kozelsk, and in 1612 they attacked Vologda. In 1618 they joined the campaign of the Polish prince Vladislav against Moscow; The Cossacks were led by Koshevoy Ataman Peter Sagaidachny. The Belsk Chronicle describes the capture by the Cossacks at the beginning of this campaign of the city of Livny (at the confluence of the Livenka and Sosna rivers, a tributary of the Don, now in the southeast of the Oryol region), led by Koshevoy ataman Pyotr Sagaidachny: “...And he came, Pan Sagadachny, with Cherkassy near the Ukrainian city near Livny, and took Livny by storm, and shed a lot of Christian blood, killed many Orthodox peasants with their wives and children innocently, and committed desecration of many Orthodox Christians, and desecrated and destroyed the churches of God, and robbed all Christian houses and many wives and captured the children..."

The main sources of income in the Sich were: military booty during campaigns, foreign and domestic trade, wine sales, tribute from transportation, and later also state cash salaries. According to custom, the Cossacks gave the best part of the booty to the church, and divided the rest among themselves. As noted by foreigners who visited the Sich on trade, embassy or other business, the money remaining after the division could be drunk by the Cossacks to the last penny. Concealing part of the loot by a Cossack was considered a crime. The second significant part of the income came from the taverns located on the lands of the Zaporozhian Army and the collection from the troops of merchants, merchants, industrialists and Chumaks passing through the lands. A significant part of the income came from “smoke”, that is, a tax on housing within the Army. The last source of income was the salary received by the Cossacks from the Polish king (registered Cossacks), and then from the Moscow Tsar.

An analysis of the letters of the foremen of the Zaporozhian Army indicates that these were literate people, they wrote in Russian not only competently, but also stylistically correctly. The Cossacks had their own schools: Sich, monastery and parochial. Boys who were forcibly taken by Cossacks to the Sich or brought by their parents studied in Sich schools. The monastery school existed at the Samara Hermitage-Nicholas Monastery. Parochial schools existed at all churches on the territory of the Zaporozhian Army.

The Zaporozhye Cossacks firmly adhered to the Orthodox faith. The church sanctified all the most important stages of the life and activity of the Cossacks. Since Little Russia was occupied by the Poles, and in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth the Orthodox faith was brutally persecuted, especially after, the defense of the faith fell to the lot of the Cossacks, giving them perseverance. This circumstance, together with the strengthening of Polish-Jewish oppression, became the cause of the Cossack uprisings.

In 1648, the Cossacks began a war of liberation, led by the hetman (see the article about him). Unable to defeat the Poles on their own, the Cossacks turned to the Moscow Tsar for help. In 1654, it was convened, declaring the reunification of Little Russia with Russia. Russian troops supported the rebel Cossacks, which led to the Russo-Polish War of 1654–1667. The war ended with the Andrusevsky Truce, under the terms of which the territories lying east of the Dnieper (left-bank Ukraine), as well as Kyiv and the surrounding area on the right bank, went to Russia; right-bank Ukraine remained with Poland.

So, despite the excesses of robbery (considered a crime by the Cossacks themselves), the Little Russian Cossacks played a historically important role in preserving Russian identity and restoring the Russian territorial affiliation of Little Rus'. At first, Little Russia was only formally part of the Russian Empire; the hetmans retained all income from the cities and villages of Little Russia. However, being under the authority of the Russian Tsars inevitably led to a limitation of their omnipotence and, accordingly, to discontent among the Cossack elders. Anti-Russian intrigues, “hush-ups”, treasonous transitions to the Polish side began...

However, the state unification of the Empire required strengthening the control of the central government over the annexed territories in the south. In 1764, she appointed the illustrious governor-general of Little Russia and released
. This reform did not cause discontent among the Little Russian population, because it improved their situation. Then in 1773 the terrible period began (1773–1775), in which the core of the rebels were the Ural Cossacks - and this aroused the Empress’s suspicions regarding the loyalty of the wayward Zaporozhye Cossacks, in whom sympathy for Pugachev was noticeable and many supported him. On August 5, 1775, a manifesto “On the destruction of the Zaporozhye Sich and on its inclusion in the Novorossiysk province” followed.

The main reason for the abolition of the Zaporozhye Sich was the state uselessness of the Cossacks in this place, because the previous external threats to which it resisted had disappeared. With the conclusion (1774), Russia regained access to the Black Sea and protected Crimea from Turkish influence, preparing to annex it. In the west, weakened by the “noble democracy,” the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was on the verge of collapse and the so-called so-called. .

Thus, there was no longer any need to maintain the presence of Cossacks in their historical homeland to protect the southern Russian borders. At the same time, their traditional way of life often led to conflicts with the Russian authorities - in particular in connection with the repeated pogroms of the Serbian settlers in Novorossiya by the Cossacks.

Catherine's Manifesto stated:

“We wanted to announce throughout Our Empire... that the Zaporozhye Sich has already been completely destroyed with the extermination for the future of the very name of the Zaporozhye Cossacks... We now considered ourselves obligated before God, before Our Empire and before humanity in general to destroy the Zaporozhye Sich and the name of the Cossacks from it borrowed. As a result of this, on June 4, our Lieutenant General Tekelius, with the troops entrusted to him from us, occupied the Zaporozhye Sich in perfect order and in complete silence without any resistance from the Cossacks... Now there is no Zaporozhye Sich in its political ugliness, therefore there are no Cossacks of this name ... ".

The Zaporozhye Cossacks were dissolved without any reprisals. Former petty officers were given nobility, and lower ranks were allowed to join the hussars and dragoons. But Catherine did not forgive the three Cossacks for their previous insults: Pyotr Kalnyshevsky, Pavel Golovaty and Ivan Globa were exiled to different monasteries for treason towards Turkey, although even here their fates were varied, for example, Kalnyshevsky on Solovki was able to live up to 112 years and even after amnesty, he chose to remain in his place of exile.

In 1787, former Cossack elders submitted a petition addressed to the Empress, in which they expressed their desire to continue to serve. The "Army of Faithful Cossacks" was formed, which participated in. At the end of the war, the army was transformed into the Black Sea Cossack Army, and as a sign of gratitude they were allocated the territory of the Kuban, which it settled in 1792–1793. In 1860, the Black Sea Cossack Army was merged with the two left regiments of the Caucasian Line Army and became known as the Kuban Cossack Army.

Of the 5 thousand Cossacks who went to Turkey, the Sultan allowed the founding of the Transdanubian Sich (1775–1828). But the Cossacks had to participate in suppressing the uprisings of the Orthodox peoples of the Balkans who shared their faith. Unable to bear it, in 1828 the Transdanubian crossed over to the side of Russia and were pardoned. Of these, the Azov Cossack Army (1828–1860) was formed primarily for the coast guard and especially distinguished itself in. In 1860, the Azov Army was disbanded and the Cossacks were resettled to Kuban.

Today, when the revival of Cossack traditions has begun, it is important for us to maintain scientific and historical accuracy and to treat the history of the Cossacks honestly in an Orthodox manner. He had glorious pages and sacrificial deeds, and there were downfalls - just like in other parts of the Russian people. Our failures and sins should not be glossed over and varnished, but the right lessons should be learned from them so as not to be repeated. In addition, many anti-Russian myths have long been propagated: supposedly the Cossacks are not Russians, but a separate nation that has always been oppressed by Muscovites in every possible way. Allegedly there were “Russian-Ukrainian” and “Russian-Cossack wars”. The abolition of the Zaporozhye Sich by Catherine the Great is presented as its “destruction to the ground” - which contradicts documentary data. There was no destruction of the New Zaporozhye Sich in 1775. All buildings were preserved and continued to serve their intended purpose for the new settlers. The former last Zaporozhye Sich was turned into the city of Pokrovsk.

The most famous written monument to the history of the Zaporozhye Sich is the response of the Cossacks to the Turkish Sultan at the end of the 17th century.

“Sultan Mohammed IV - to the Zaporozhye Cossacks. I, the Sultan and ruler of the Sublime Porte, brother of the Sun and the Moon, the deputy of Allah on Earth, the ruler of the kingdoms - Macedonian, Babylonian, Jerusalem, Greater and Lesser Egypt, king over kings, lord over lords, incomparable knight, invincible warrior, owner of the tree of life , persistent guardian of the tomb of Jesus Christ, guardian of God himself, hope and comforter of Muslims, intimidator and great defender of Christians, I command you, Zaporozhye Cossacks, to surrender to me voluntarily and without any resistance and not to make me worry with your attacks. Sultan Mohammed IV."

The Cossacks responded to this letter:

“You, Sultan, are the Turkish devil, and the damned devil’s brother and comrade, the secretary of Lutseper himself. What the hell kind of knight are you if you can’t kill a dick with your bare ass. The devil is dying, and yours is being devoured. You son of a bitch, you son of a bitch, the blue Christian mothers will not be under you, we are not afraid of your army, we will fight you with land and water, forgive your mother. The Babylonian cook, the Macedonian charioteer, the Jerusalem bravirnik, the Alexandrian goatman, the pig of Great and Lesser Egypt, the Armenian villain, the Tatar sagaydak, the Kamenets kat, the whole world has a blaze, the gaspid himself has a grandson and our h... hook. You are a pig's face, a mare's ass, a breeding dog, an unchristened forehead, motherfucker... That's what the Cossacks said to you, shabby. You will not graze Christian pigs. Now it’s over, because the date is not known and the calendar is not possible, the month is in the sky, the year is in the sky, and the day is the same for us as it is for you, for this kiss on our ass! Signed: Kosh Ataman Ivan Sirko with all the Zaporozhian Kosh.” Sich Cossacks - that was the name of the Cossack border guards.
The Zaporozhye Sich is the very first state border drawn by the Romanovs (New Romans) between Muscovy Russia (Muscovy, Moscow Tartaria, etc.) occupied by them in the 18th century and the “Crimean Khanate” (the unconquered remnant of Muscovy).
Initially, the Zaporozhye Sich was on the side of the legitimate government - the Moscow Kingdom. But, subsequently, they were bribed by the promise of the Romanovs, the so-called. "Cossack freemen" i.e. allowing the Cossacks to have their own land (in Muscovy, this was forbidden to them by law) and went over to the side of the Romanovs. This moment was captured by Repin - when the Cossacks who defected write an insulting message to their Tsar (the “Turkish Sultan”). After this betrayal of the Cossacks, the Romanovs moved further south...

Very informative information, but I had some doubts. It is unlikely that the Zaporozhye Cossacks indulged in robbery and robbery under such strict discipline; most likely, the Haidamaks were guilty of such an unbecoming occupation.

The Zaporozhye Sich is a fortified cell of the unregistered Zaporozhye army (lower) from the second half of the 16th to the end of the 18th century. It was located beyond the rapids of the Dnieper. Its creation became an impetus for the consolidation of the Ukrainian Cossacks. greatly influenced the formation of the Cossacks’ self-awareness and the establishment of their organizational structure. Information has been preserved about seven Sichs, which successively replaced each other. We will try to figure out what other influence the Zaporozhye Sich had on the course of history, what it is and for what purpose it was created.

Device

Zaporozhye Sich is an island fortress, which was surrounded by ramparts with a palisade. There were cannons along the perimeter. Between the ramparts there was a wide square, on the edge of which stood the barracks-kureni, where the Cossack Cossacks lived. There were several thousand of them in the Sich. Sometimes the number reached ten thousand. The permanent composition was called kosh. On the territory there was also a church, a school, houses of senior officials, and military outbuildings. The Sich Church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and its clergy were subordinate to the Kiev-Mezhygorsk Archimandry. The open space near the church was the center of social and political life of the Zaporozhye Sich. Councils and meetings were held there.

Behind the ramparts there was a bazaar where merchants came with their goods. The Sich farmers sold their products there. As a rule, it was game, fish. Zaporozhye Sich is a territory that was initially completely free from landowner power. There were no lords or serfs there. Relations between the Sich members were not built on the basis of ordinary coercion, but on contractual terms. Every person was free. The top of the Zaporozhye Sich, of course, had privileges. Senior ranks often became owners of large winter huts, herds of livestock, etc.

Election of power

Zaporizhian Sich is a paramilitary organization with a clear hierarchy of power. Despite the fact that every Cossack was free, there were still social differences. The rich elder was subordinate to the mass of poor Sichs. Between these class groups there was a layer of small owners - the middle class. The elite were elected by universal suffrage from among the wealthy Cossacks, who concentrated administrative power in their hands. She led the army and controlled finances, and also represented the Sich in diplomatic relations.

Despite the suffrage of every Cossack, the foreman almost always achieved decisions that were beneficial to himself. Zaporozhye Sich is an entity called the Cossack Republic.

Sich society was divided into kurens. The highest authority was the Cossack Rada, where the most important issues were resolved. All Sich members took part in it. It was there that the Koshe chieftain was elected. The Rada could have removed him from office. The Sichs had their own court. There was a judicial code and a system of punishments. For theft from fellow soldiers, disobedience to orders and insolence towards higher command, for the rape of a woman during a campaign (there were no women in the Sich), sodomy and other offenses, one could lose one’s head by court decision.

Education

Zaporizhzhya Sich is a place where a lot of attention was paid to education. For Cossack children, schools operated at churches. There they were taught literacy, music, singing, etc. Another indicator of the cultural development of the Sich was the respect for books, which were considered of great value. Only wealthy Cossacks could afford to buy them. The book was considered one of the best gifts. It is believed that the origin of the word “sech” is Slavic. This is a derivative of “cutting” - with swords. The meaning of the word “sich” for the Ukrainian Cossacks was inextricably linked with their fortress on the island of Khortytsia and in other places. It has become synonymous with home.

Cossack campaigns

The Cossacks carried out sea and land campaigns against the Poles, Turks, Tatars, and Muscovites. For Russia and Poland, the Sich was for a long time a convenient counterweight and at the same time a barrier from the Turks. However, the freedom-loving Cossacks often fought with them. For the Ukrainian peasantry, which languished under the yoke of the Poles, the Sich became a symbol of the struggle against the oppressors.

The Cossacks led all the peasant uprisings against them. They were the military and driving force. In the land campaigns of the Cossacks, cavalry prevailed. They went to sea on small ships - the so-called seagulls. Each of them accommodated 50-70 warriors. Ahead was the ship of the Kosh Ataman with a flag. Each Cossack was armed with a saber, had two guns, carried six pounds of gunpowder, cannonballs for falconets, and had with him one Nuremberg quadrant for orientation.

Liquidation of the Sich

After the Russian-Turkish wars of the 18th century, in which the Cossacks also took part on the side of Russia, Crimea was annexed and the Black Sea coast was recaptured. The immediate threat from the Turks and Tatars to the empire disappeared. During the same period, something devastating happened that greatly frightened Catherine the Second. The Zaporozhye Sich, which had lost its geopolitical significance, with its freemen, was a potential source of danger for the ruler. It was these reasons that led to its liquidation. After the capture of the fortress on Khortitsa, most of the Cossacks were resettled to the Kuban and Don.

Zaporizhzhya Sich

Zaporizhzhya Sich

Zaporozhye Sich is a socio-political and military-administrative organization of the Ukrainian Cossacks, which formed at the end of the 15th century. - first half of the 16th century beyond the Dnieper rapids in the area of ​​Khortytsia Island.

The emergence of the Zaporozhye Sich was due to the colonization of the Middle Dnieper region by the feudal lords of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Russia and Samogitia, the strengthening of feudal serfdom and national oppression and the awakening of the self-awareness of the Ukrainian people. During the first decades of the 16th century, the lordship managed to subjugate a significant territory of the Middle Dnieper region and turn most of the Ukrainian population into feudal dependents or semi-dependent ones. However, some of the Cossacks, in order to get rid of feudal oppression, retreated to the southeast, to the lower reaches of the Dnieper.

The first Cossacks appeared on the rapids of the Dnieper, probably at the end of the 15th century. In 1492, Zaporozhye Cossacks attacked a Turkish naval galley near Tyaginya and freed Ukrainians captured and sold into slavery. As Professor Mikhail Grushevsky wrote, this was the first official mention in history of the actions of the Cossacks at sea and the official mention of the Cossacks in general.

Already in 1527, the Crimean Khan Sapig-Girey complained to the Lithuanian government about the Cherkassy and Kanev Cossacks, who set up “outings” (engaged in trades) near the Tatar nomads, and exported fish, furs and honey from here for sale in the “volosts” (state territory of Lithuania ). The rich lands beyond the rapids attracted Lithuanian and Ukrainian feudal lords. Lords with detachments of armed servants more than once invaded Cossack possessions. Thus, at the rapids, as before in the Middle Dnieper region, two waves of colonization collided: the master's wave, represented by the magnates, mainly the elders of the south-eastern borderland of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the people's wave, represented by the Zaporozhye Cossacks.

The threat to the Cossacks was no less from the South, from the Crimean Tatars, who continuously devastated the “departures” and captured the Cossacks. Constant attacks by enemies forced the Cossacks to build fortifications for defense. At first they founded separate towns or sichs in different places, including, probably, on the island of Bolshaya Khortytsia. Later, due to the intensification of the offensive of the lords and Crimean Tatars in Zaporozhye, the Cossacks united into one Sich to consolidate their forces.

The first written mention of the Sich was left by the Polish chronicler Marcin Bielski. According to his story, the Cossacks beyond the Dnieper rapids in the summer were engaged in trades (fishing, hunting, beekeeping), and in the winter they dispersed to the nearest cities (Kiev, Cherkassy, ​​etc.), leaving several hundred Cossacks armed with firearms and cannons in a safe place on the island in Kosh . Belsky's story about the Cossacks allows us to conclude that the unification of individual sections into the Zaporozhye Sich probably occurred somewhere in the 1530s. Tomakovka Island (later named Butsky, as well as Dnieper and Gorodishche), which towered above the surrounding area and was an excellent natural fortification, can be considered the place where the Zaporozhye Sich was founded as an organization of all the Cossacks beyond the rapids.

The Zaporozhye Sich was surrounded by high ramparts, on which there was a palisade and log buildings on which guns were placed. Between the ramparts there was a wide square, on the edge of which there were huts and houses where the Cossacks lived. The Cossack pledge in the Zaporozhye Sich, which was also called the kosh, numbered several thousand (sometimes this number reached 10 thousand) armed Cossacks. On the square there was a church, foreman's houses, a school and other economic and military buildings. The Sich Church and clergy were under the leadership of the Kiev-Mezhygorsk Archimandry. The square near the church was the center of the socio-political life of the Zaporozhye Sich, where Sich councils and the like took place.

Behind the ramparts there was the Sich bazaar, where merchants came with their goods. The Sich people sold the products of their labor here - fishing and hunting. In the Sich there was neither feudal land ownership nor serfdom. The dominant layer of the Zaporozhye Sich was not feudal lords as a privileged class, but owners of fisheries, rich cattle breeders and traders, and then, as agriculture and other branches of the economy developed, owners of large winter huts, water mills, Chumatsky rolls and the like. These rich people were opposed by the “siroma” (gol) - a mass of poor people deprived of the means of production and their own housing. Between these two opposing class groups stood a layer of small property owners.

From among the wealthy Cossacks came the ruling elite - the elders, who concentrated administrative and judicial power in their hands, led the army and managed finances. She represented the Zaporozhye Sich in relations with the outside world. The entire foreman was elected at the military Cossack Rada, and all Cossacks had the right to take part in the elections. However, despite this, the wealthy Cossack elite in most cases achieved favorable decisions from the Cossack Rada.

Noting the specific features of the political organization of the Zaporozhye Cossacks, the Sich is called the “Cossack republic”. The Zaporozhye Cossacks formed a society - a community divided into kurens. The highest authority in the Sich was the military Cossack Rada, in which all Cossacks participated. The Rada elected the chieftain, the Cossack foreman, and jointly resolved the most important issues. In the Zaporozhye Sich there was a Cossack military court, which mercilessly punished murder and theft from fellow soldiers. Bringing women to the Sich, drunkenness during campaigns, offending a woman, insolence towards superiors, and the like were also punishable. In Zaporozhye, schools operated at churches where Cossack children studied writing, church reading, singing and music.

The Zaporozhye Cossacks played an outstanding role in all the major uprisings of the people of Ukraine against feudal-serf oppression and national oppression - in the uprisings led by Kryshtof Kosinsky (1591-1593), Severin Nalyvaiko (1594-1596), Pavlyuk and Karp Skidan (1637). .), Yakov Ostryanitsa and Dmitry Gunya (1638).

With an uprising in January 1648, the Zaporozhye Cossacks marked the beginning of the liberation war of the Ukrainian people of 1648-1654. under the leadership of Bogdan Khmelnitsky. It was in Zaporozhye that the forces rallied that led a nationwide movement against the domination of gentry Poland in Ukraine, which dealt crushing blows to the Polish-gentry troops in the Battle of Zheltovodsk in 1648, the Battle of Korsun in 1648, the Battle of Pilyavetsky in 1648, the Battle of Zborov in 1649 and the Battle of Batozh. 1652

The Cossacks earned great fame for their struggle against the Turkish-Tatar invaders. Their campaigns on the coast of Crimea, Asia Minor and Thrace took place together with the registered Cossacks and Don Cossacks. More than once the Cossacks threatened Istanbul, unexpectedly appearing on its outskirts and destroying fortifications (1615, 1621, 1624, 1630). The main goal of these campaigns was not only to weaken the military forces of the aggressor. The Cossacks destroyed the estates of Tatar and Turkish feudal lords and freed slaves. It is not for nothing that the Ukrainian people sang so warmly about the Cossack campaigns in their historical songs and thoughts.

A turning point in the history of the Zaporozhye Sich was the Pereyaslav Rada of 1654. The Sich was recognized with the same rights that other Cossack troops enjoyed in the Russian state, primarily the right to self-government and to accept (albeit not officially) fugitive peasants. Subsequently, the tsarist government began to send salaries to the Zaporozhye army in money, bread, gunpowder, and the like. At the same time, tsarist troops began to appear in Zaporozhye, and subsequently government fortresses began to be built there. Under the rule of the Russian state, the position of the Sich in the fight against the aggression of the Tatar, Turkish and Polish feudal lords was strengthened, and this contributed, in particular, to the people's colonization of the Zaporozhye possessions. The borders of the Zaporozhye territory expanded (in the north to the left tributaries of the Dnieper - the city of Samara and the city of Orel), the population increased, and crafts and trade developed.

At the same time, the tsarist government used its troops and fortresses in Zaporozhye not only to defend the region, but also to establish control over the Zaporozhye Sich in the interests of the feudal state. The Zaporizhian Sich gradually lost its independence. In the 2nd half. 17th century Polish gentry, having captured Right Bank Ukraine, began to destroy the Cossacks and restore serfdom, and Crimea and Turkey launched an offensive against Ukraine. At that difficult time for the Ukrainian people, the Zaporozhye Cossacks courageously fought against the Polish, Crimean and Turkish aggressors. The campaigns of the Cossacks against Poland and Crimea under the leadership of the famous Koshe chieftain Ivan Sirko in the 60s-70s of the 17th century acquired particular significance.

The government of Tsar Peter I considered the Zaporozhye Sich as one of the centers of the liberation struggle of the Ukrainian people. After Hetman Ivan Mazepa and part of the Zaporizhian elders and Cossacks under the leadership of the Koshe chieftain Kostya Gordienko went over to the side of the Swedes, the tsarist government accused the entire Zaporizhian Cossacks of treason. By order of the tsarist government, on May 14 (25), 1709, the Zaporozhye Sich was destroyed by troops under the command of Colonel Yakovlev.

After the defeat of the Swedish army and the Ukrainian Cossacks under the command of Hetman Mazepa near Poltava, some Cossacks went south and in 1710 founded the new Sich, at the confluence of the Kamenka River (in the Kherson region) into the Dnieper. However, by order of Peter, it was destroyed by the troops of Hetman Skoropadsky and General Buturlin. The Cossacks moved even further and established the Oleshkov Sich within the Ottoman Empire. According to the Prut Peace Agreement (1711) and the Adrianople Agreement (1713), the Moscow state renounced claims to Right Bank Ukraine and Zaporozhye and recognized Turkey's jurisdiction over the Zaporozhye Sich.

The last period (1734-1775) in the history of the Zaporozhye Sich was reflected, on the one hand, by a noticeable economic rise of Zaporozhye, on the other, by a gradual decline in the autonomy of the Zaporozhye Sich and the order that was inherent in it in the early period. The strengthening of feudal-serfdom and national oppression in the central regions of Ukraine and the relative calm on the Russian-Crimean borders contributed to the people's colonization of Zaporozhye. In the 70s of the 18th century. the population of Zaporozhye was most likely 100 thousand people. In this regard, the management of the region has become more complicated. It was then that the administrative-territorial division of Zaporozhye into 8 palanki (districts) took shape.

To supervise the actions of the Koshevo foreman near the Sich in 1735, the Novosechensky retranchement was built and a garrison was placed. Measures were taken to verify Cossack computs (lists) and introduce passports. On the borders of Zaporozhye, by order of the tsarist government, a system of fortified lines was built and the military settlements of New Serbia (1752) and Slavic-Serbia (1753) were founded.

After the liquidation of the hetmanate (1764), the Zaporozhye Sich remained the only Ukrainian region where autonomy was still preserved. According to the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Peace Treaty of 1774, the borders of Russia moved to the mouth of the Southern Bug, and the Zaporozhye Sich lost its significance as an outpost in the fight against Turkish-Tatar aggression. In addition, the tsarist government, recalling the participation of the Sich in the bloody uprising on the Right Bank in 1768, better known as Koliivshchyna, feared new unrest. Moreover, Emelyan Pugachev in 1774, during the riot, was going to reunite with the Cossacks, feeling moral support from them. After the suppression of the rebellion, Zaporozhye became a reliable refuge for many participants in this uprising.

In April 1775, Grigory Potemkin spoke at a meeting of the tsarist government with a project for the liquidation of the Zaporozhye Sich. At the beginning of June 1775, tsarist troops led by General P. Tekel, returning from the Turkish front, besieged the Zaporozhye Sich on June 4-5 (15-16), 1775. Lacking the strength to defend themselves, Koshevoy Ataman Pyotr Kalnyshevsky was forced to surrender the fortress without battle. Together with the foreman, he was arrested and, at Potemkin’s suggestion, exiled for life to the Solovetsky Monastery.

The Zaporozhye army was declared disbanded. The tsarist government began to distribute the lands of the Zaporozhye Sich to landowners, and to enslave the Cossacks. This caused the escape of 5,000 Cossacks to Turkish-controlled territory at the mouth of the Danube, where they founded the Transdanubian Sich.

History of the Zaprozhian Sich

Zaporizhzhya Sich - the name of a number of successive military and administrative centers of the Dnieper grassroots Cossacks from the 16th to the 18th centuries, called “Sich” after the name of the main fortification and “Zaporozhian” after their location in the lower reaches of the Dnieper south of the difficult Dnieper rapids.
Etymology of the names Sich and Kosh
The Sich was a fortification, inside of which there were churches, outbuildings and smoking areas. The name of the location of the Cossack headquarters - Sich comes from the word "sekti", "to carve", and is associated with the palisade surrounding the settlement, which had sharp edges carved out. The Sich was the center of activity and management of all military affairs, the residence of all the chief elders who stood at the head of the lower Cossacks. The word “Kosh” was often used with the word “Sich”. The Cossacks, using the word “Sich”, meant, first of all, the permanent capital of the Army, and by the word “Kosh” - any, including a temporary camp for troops, that is, any military camp. Thus, the Zaporozhye Kosh was sometimes called the Zaporozhye Sich, and sometimes the temporary headquarters of the army during campaigns. Also, the Cossacks called the military command body “kosh”, since the Cossack camp did not cease to be military and was governed by its own laws, the main decisions in which were made by the entire camp, that is, the kosh.
Formation of Zaporozhye Sich
The formation of the Zaporozhye Sich is associated with the process of formation of the Ukrainian Cossacks and their development of the Ukrainian lands previously devastated by the Tatars between the Dnieper and the Southern Bug. The first Cossacks appeared in Zaporozhye probably at the beginning of the 16th century. Numerous detachments that were engaged in the economic development of these lands and waged a constant fight against the Tatars were forced to build fortifications from fallen trees at the exits for their own safety. The appearance behind the rapids of a large fortified A new point, which would be a permanent base for an attack on the Crimean Khanate, is associated with the name of Vishnevetsky. In the first half of the 50s. XVI century he based on Fr. Malaya Khortytsia castle, which became a Cossack stronghold and a stronghold for large-scale campaigns against the Tatars. Later, the location of the Cossack capital changed several times, and several slaughters were recorded in the history of the Cossacks: Tomakovskaya (1564-1593), Bazavlukskaya (1593-1638), Nikitinskaya (1638-1652), Chertomlykskaya (1652-1709), Kamensky (1709-1711), Oleshkovskaya (1711-1734) and Novaya Sich (1734-1775). The structures of the Sich made it a real fortress: the Cossacks dug deep ditches around it, built high earthen ramparts on which they built defensive towers with loopholes. There were cannons here, and armed Cossacks were on constant patrol.
In the middle of the Sich there was a vast square where Cossack military councils were held, which decided all issues of everyday life. The square was surrounded by Cossack dwellings - huts built from wooden logs or wicker and covered with reeds; office, gunnery, church, foreman's houses. All these structures were well adapted for defense.
Governance bodies of the Zaporozhye Sich. According to the form of government, the Zaporozhye Sich was a republic. The Zaporozhye Lower Army had certain characteristics of a democratic republic. There was no feudal land ownership or serfdom here; Formal equality reigned between all Cossacks. In the Sich, the dominant system was the electoral system of governing bodies, the activities of which were controlled by the Cossack Rada, which was the highest authority. At the Sich Council, all the most important issues of the internal life of the Sich, issues of war and peace, diplomatic relations, the election of Cossack elders, the distribution of land between barns, etc. were decided. The Zaporozhye Sich was headed by an elected hetman. The Hetman was vested with supreme judicial and executive powers, was the commander-in-chief, and represented the Zaporozhian Army in diplomatic negotiations. In addition to the hetman, the Cossack Council also elected a military foreman, who was at the hetman’s disposal. The military elders included: convoy, clerk, judge, esauls (hetman's guarantors). With the help of the kosh system, the Cossacks were placed in a basket - a field camp during military campaigns and in the Sich itself.

Military tasks and functions of the Zaporozhye Sich. Zaporozhye Sich, fulfilling the historical mission of protecting their native land and saving the Ukrainian nation from Turkish-Tatar aggression. The Cossacks strengthened cities and towns with fortifications, created a military security, reconnaissance and guard system for the defense of the borders of Ukraine, which lasted for three centuries. There were constantly operating posts with regular guard detachments that monitored the steppe roads and river crossings. With the help of original signaling, the Cossacks warned the population about the advance of the Tatar hordes and tried to organize resistance to the enemy. It was in the Zaporozhye Sich that the Zaporozhye Army was created, which became the organizational form of the Ukrainian armed forces. The Zaporozhye Army, whose constant and reliable reserve was always the entire Ukrainian Cossacks, had its own fleet, artillery, cavalry and infantry. It developed brilliant Cossack military art, superior to the strategy and tactics of feudal European armies.
Cossack law. In addition to its own governing bodies, Cossack law itself also functioned in the Sich, which was not a written law, but “ancient custom, verbal law and common sense.” If, in general, various sources of law were in effect on the territory of Ukraine at that time, then in the Zaporozhye Sich, Cossack customary law, which was based on the principles of collectivism, brotherhood and mutual assistance, acquired the most important importance. Based on customs and traditions, the rights and responsibilities of elders were clearly regulated. The norms of Cossack law approved the social relations that had developed among the Cossacks. They consolidated the military-administrative organization of the Zaporozhye Sich, established the rules of military operations, the activities of the judiciary, and the order of land laws, conclusion of contracts, determined types of crimes and punishments. Cossack law was recognized by foreign states, and the Cossacks defended it in every possible way, fearing that written law could limit Cossack liberties.
Spiritual life. At the heart of the Cossacks’ worldview, a kind of ideological foundation of the Cossack state, were freedom-loving and national-religious foundations. Deep religiosity and zealous defense of the Orthodox faith are characteristic features of the spiritual life of Zaporozhye. Suffice it to say that entry into Zaporozhye society began with the question: “Do you believe in God?” It was Orthodoxy that obviously largely influenced the formation of the romantic model of chivalry, which became the Zaporozhye Cossacks. Indeed, in the Orthodox value system, deep spirituality is opposed to selfish individualism, and material interests fade into the background. The favorable attitude of the Cossacks towards religion is evidenced by the existence of more than 60 churches within the Liberties of the Zaporozhian Grassroots Army.
The fate of the Zaporozhye Sich after the National Liberation War of the Ukrainian people
The Zaporozhye Sich played a leading role in the National Liberation War of the Ukrainian people of 1648-1657, but after its completion most of the Cossacks were not included in the Cossack register. This caused discontent among the Sich and aggravation of their relations with the hetman’s authorities, even leading to armed conflicts. During the Ruin period, the Cossacks repeatedly intervened in the struggle of various elder groups for hetman power. At the same time, they often supported candidates for hetmanship from among themselves - Ivan Bryukhovetsky, M. Khanenko, P. Sukhovy, who promised to put an end to the tyranny of the elders and the exploitation of ordinary Cossacks. The position of the Zaporozhye Sich became especially complicated after the Truce of Andrusovo in 1667, when joint control of Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was established over it. Moreover, under the terms of the truce, the Sich had to provide military assistance to both states, each of which sought to use the Cossacks to eliminate the independence of the Hetmanate. In April 1775, Russian Empress Catherine II decided to liquidate the Zaporozhye Sich.

Conditions for admission to Zaporizhzhya Sich
Reception of those who continuously came to the Zaporozhye Sich was carried out, according to D.I. Yavornitsky, after fulfilling the following conditions:
- status of a free and unmarried person
- good knowledge of Russian language
- belonging to the Orthodox faith
- availability of special training
Military and territorial division
In military terms, the Zaporozhye community was divided into 38 kurens. In military terms, kuren meant a hundred, a regiment, an independent part of the Army. The word kuren had a double meaning. It also meant the home of the Cossacks. In appearance, the residential kuren was a long barracks, 30 meters long and about 4 meters wide.
Military, kuren and palanochny Radas
The Rada of Zaporizhian Cossacks represented the highest administrative, legislative and judicial body. At the military councils, all the most important issues in the life of the Cossacks were discussed: about peace, about campaigns against enemies, about the punishment of important criminals, about the division of lands and lands, about the choice of a military foreman. Military rallies were held without fail on January 1, October 1 of the Intercession and on the 2nd or 3rd day of Easter. In addition, the Rada could be convened at any day and time at the request of the majority of the Army. The decisions of the Rada were binding on every Cossack.

Administrative and judicial authorities in the Zaporozhian Army
The total commanding staff in the Sich, according to various sources, numbered from 49 to 149 people. The main thing in the Sich was the Koshevoy Ataman. Next came the judge, captain, clerk and kuren atamans. It was actually the government of the Zaporozhye Sich. Next came the lower command staff: signatory, podesaul, cornet, etc. The Koshevoy ataman united military, administrative, judicial and spiritual power and in wartime had the powers of a dictator. He had the right to sign death sentences for Cossacks who committed crimes. The Koshevoy ataman entered into diplomatic relations with neighboring states. The symbol of power of the Koshe chieftain is the mace. At the same time, without a decision from the Rada, the Koshevoy Ataman could not make a single decision on his own.
Trials and executions in the Sich
Theft was considered the most serious crime in the Sich. Even for petty theft there was one punishment - death. The court was guided in its conduct of business by the customs of the Sich, and was fast and accessible. Before the court, everyone was equal - the commander and the simple Cossack. The following were considered serious criminal offenses: the murder of a Cossack by a Cossack, beating a Cossack while drunk, having sex with a woman and the “sin of Sodom,” defamation of a woman, insolence towards superiors, desertion, robbery of the population, concealing part of the loot, and drunkenness during campaigns. The judges were all military foreman. The punishments were: chained to a wooden post in the square, chained to a cannon, mounted on a wooden mare, beaten with a whip or cues. A terrible penalty was applied for the murder of a Cossack by a Cossack. The murderer was placed alive in a dug hole, and a coffin with the murdered man was lowered on top of him and buried. The most popular execution among the Cossacks was being beaten into a pillory with cues. This applied to thieves, adulterers, sodomites and deserters.

Armament and troops
The Zaporozhye Cossacks were armed with howitzers, mortars and mortars, self-propelled guns, pistols, spears, sabers, bows, arrows, blades and daggers. Historical and archaeological data show that the Zaporozhian Army was armed with the most advanced weapons of that time, taken from all the peoples with whom the Cossacks fought. Like true knights, the Cossacks preferred the saber to any other weapon. The army was divided into three types of troops - infantry, cavalry and artillery. The number of the entire army was 10,000 - 12,000 people, of which the infantry was about 6,000 people. The elite part of the army was the cavalry. In terms of its fighting qualities, this unit represented the most formidable force of the Cossacks. The army was divided into regiments and hundreds. The hundred was a tactical unit of the army and numbered 180 people. The regiment consisted of three hundred with a total number of 540 people.
Land and sea campaigns of the Cossacks
Campaigns on land were mainly undertaken against the Poles, Tatars, and Turks. Campaigns along rivers and seas were almost always undertaken against the Tatars and Turks. In land campaigns, cavalry always prevailed over infantry. Land campaigns always began in the spring; for this purpose, a gathering of Cossacks in the Sich was announced. Just before leaving the Sich, a prayer service was served and then the largest cannon was fired. The movement of the troops proceeded with great caution along gullies and ravines. During the hike, it was forbidden to make fires, talk loudly, or smoke cradles. Scouts walked ahead of the troops. The main objective of the land campaign was a surprise attack on the enemy. Sea voyages were of the same nature. The difference was that the Cossacks went on a campaign on the so-called seagulls - large boats. There were two types of boats - river and sea. From 50 to 70 Cossacks boarded one boat, each of whom had a saber, two guns, ammunition and food. Autumn time was chosen for sea voyages, especially cloudy days and dark nights. The seagulls came straight out of the Sich and descended to the Black Sea. The news of the Cossacks going to sea terrified the inhabitants of the coastal regions of Turkey. Landing on the shore, the Cossacks destroyed people, took away all valuable property, weapons, money and returned to the Sich with booty.
Revenues of the Zaporozhian Army
The main sources of income in the Sich were: military booty during campaigns, foreign and domestic trade, wine sales, tribute from transportation, royal grain and cash salaries. The main source was war booty. According to custom, the Cossacks gave the best part of the booty to the church, and divided the rest among themselves. As noted by foreigners who visited the Sich on trade, embassy or other business, the money remaining after the division could be drunk by the Cossacks to the last penny. Concealing part of the loot by a Cossack was considered a crime. The second significant part of the income came from the taverns located on the lands of the Zaporozhian Army and the collection from the troops of merchants, merchants, industrialists and Chumaks passing through the lands. A significant part of the income came from “smoke”, that is, a tax on housing within the Army. The last source of income was the salary received by the Cossacks from the Polish king, and then from the Moscow Tsar.
Khmelnitsky uprising and Pereyaslav Rada

In 1591-1638. A series of Cossack-peasant uprisings take place. In 1648, the Cossacks rebelled due to the increased oppression of the Cossacks by Polish magnates. The uprising was led by Cossack colonel Bogdan Khmelnytsky. Initially, the Cossacks were successful. They were supported by the Crimean Khanate, which was then ruled by Islam III Giray. At the Battle of Zheltye Vody (1648), the Cossack-Crimean army won its first victory, defeating the Polish detachment of Stepan Potocki. Victory in the Battle of Korsun soon followed. By the end of July, the entire territory of the Left Bank was liberated, and by the end of August - the Bratslav, Kiev, Podolsk voivodeships on the right bank, as well as the eastern and southern regions of the Volyn voivodeship. The liberation of the right bank is associated with the name of Maxim Krivonos. In September, a victory was won at Pilyavtsy. In the fall, Galicia becomes the scene of military action. On September 26, the siege of Lvov began. Hetman demanded that the Polish command and city authorities capitulate and hand over Y. Vishnevetsky and A. Konetspolsky to the Cossacks. Having learned that they had secretly fled, Khmelnitsky, having received a ransom to pay the Horde, lifted the siege and headed to Zamosc. In early November, the hetman began negotiations with the Polish government and concluded a truce with John II Casimir. However, in 1651, the Battle of Berestetsky took place, as a result of which the Polish army led by King John Casimir and Nikolai Potocki inflicted a crushing defeat on the Cossacks, and in August of the same year, the Lithuanian hetman Radziwill occupied Kyiv. The Cossacks were forced to ask for help from fellow believer Russia. In 1654, the Pereyaslav Rada was convened, declaring the transfer of the territories controlled by the rebels to the protectorate of Russia. Russian troops supported the rebel Cossacks, which led to the Russian-Polish War of 1654-1667. The war ended with the Andrusevsky Truce, under the terms of which the territories lying east of the Dnieper went to Russia, and those lying to the west - to Poland. The terms of the truce were later confirmed by the peace treaty of 1686.

Destruction of the Zaporozhye Sich (1709)
Already in January 1709, Peter began to receive messages that the Cossacks were planning something. Suspecting that the Cossacks might oppose him, Peter gives orders to strengthen the garrisons of the fortresses: “... Yesterday we received the true information that the Cossacks on horseback had arrived a long time ago and were expecting the Koschevoy with the infantry soon, and this gathering of them is only 5 versts from Bogoroditsky, and it is dangerous that they do something to him... not for the city, but for the artillery and ammunition, of which there are too many, but few people. For this reason, it is urgently necessary to send one cavalry regiment to Bogoroditsky, ordering it to stay there until three regiments from Kyiv are sent to Kamenny Zaton“, while pointing out to Menshikov that “... Only the essence of matter is to look and do good to the Cossacks at the most extreme opportunity; If they clearly show themselves to be nasty and it will be impossible to deal with good, then deal with them as if they were traitors...“. At the Rada, held in March, the Cossacks took the side of Charles XII and began military operations against Russian troops, both independently and together with Swedish troops. In a skirmish in the town of Tsarichevka, the Cossacks captured several Russian soldiers, whom they sent to the Swedish king, who was then stationed in the town of Budishchi. But in most cases, the Sich were defeated, so they were defeated in a skirmish with the detachment of Colonel Boltin, together with the Swedes they failed at the town of Sokolna from General Renne. After Bone G
Ordienko and Hetman Mazepa signed an allied treaty with Charles XII, Tsar Peter I gave the order to Prince Menshikov to move three regiments of Russian troops under the command of Colonel Yakovlev from Kyiv to the Zaporozhye Sich in order to “exterminate the entire nest of rebels to the ground.” Colonel Yakovlev, who approached the Sich, tried to negotiate with the Cossacks “in a good way” in order to avoid bloodshed, but knowing that Koshevo Sorochinsky with the Tatars could come to the aid of the besieged from the Crimea, he began to storm the Sich. The Cossacks managed to repulse the first assault, while Yakovlev lost up to three hundred soldiers and officers. The Cossacks even managed to capture a certain number of prisoners, whom they “shamefully and tyrannically” killed. After the battle, the following were taken prisoner: a Koshe chieftain, a military judge, 26 kuren chieftains, 2 monks, 250 ordinary Cossacks, 160 women and children. Of that number, 5 people died, 156 atamans and Cossacks were executed, and several people were hanged on rafts and the rafts themselves were sent down the Dnieper to the fear of others. In order to weaken the terrible impression made on the Ukrainian people by the extermination of the Sich Cossacks, the tsar issued a letter on May 26 in which he said that the reason for the destruction of the Sich was the treason of the Cossacks themselves, because they had relations with the enemies of Russia, the Swedes. Peter immediately ordered the Cossacks who did not give up their weapons to be seized, thrown into prison and executed.
Foundation of the new Sich
After the defeat of the Swedes near Poltava, some Cossacks went south and in 1710 founded the new Sich, at the confluence of the Kamenka River (in the Kherson region) into the Dnieper. However, by order of Peter, it was destroyed by the troops of Hetman Skoropadsky and General Buturlin. The Cossacks moved even further and made another attempt to found the Sich within Turkish borders. However, they immediately began to experience oppression from the Crimean Tatars and Nogais. Then the Cossacks tried to return to Russia, but Peter I rejected their request. The Cossacks managed to return to their homeland only in 1735 under Empress Anna Ioannovna.

The end of the Zaporozhye Sich (1775)
The fate of the Cossacks was finally decided on August 5, 1775, with the signing by the Russian Empress Catherine II of the manifesto “On the destruction of the Zaporozhye Sich and on its inclusion in the Novorossiysk province”: " We wanted to announce throughout Our Empire... that the Zaporozhye Sich has already been completely destroyed with the extermination for the future of the very name of the Zaporozhye Cossacks... We now considered ourselves obligated before God, before Our Empire and before humanity itself to destroy the Zaporozhye Sich and the name of the Cossacks borrowed from it . As a result of this, on June 4, our Lieutenant General Tekelius, with the troops entrusted to him from us, occupied the Zaporozhye Sich in perfect order and in complete silence without any resistance from the Cossacks... Now there is no Zaporozhye Sich in its political ugliness, therefore there are no Cossacks of this name..."

The reasons for this act are a combination of several actions. By the end of the 18th century, after numerous political victories of the Russian Empire, the development priorities of the lands taken from Turkey and Little Russia, which was part of the Russian Empire at that time, and the Little Russians and Cossacks of the Zaporozhye Sich living there changed radically. With the conclusion of the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Treaty (1774), Russia gained access to the Black Sea and Crimea. In the west, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, weakened by “gentry democracy,” was on the verge of the collapse of the divisions. Thus, there was no longer any need to maintain the presence of Cossacks in their historical homeland to protect the southern Russian borders. At the same time, their traditional way of life often led to conflicts with the Russian authorities. After repeated pogroms of Serbian settlers by the Cossacks, as well as in connection with the Cossacks’ support for the Pugachev uprising, Empress Catherine II ordered the disbandment of the Zaporozhye Sich, which was carried out by order of Grigory Potemkin to pacify the Zaporozhye Cossacks. On June 5, 1775, the troops of General Peter Tekeli divided into five divisions and surrounded the Sich with artillery and infantry. The absence of southern borders and enemies in recent years has dramatically affected the fighting qualities of the Cossacks, who learned about the danger only after the encirclement of the Sich. The suddenness of the action of the Russian troops had a crushing blow to the morale of the Cossacks.
Consequences. The Zaporozhye Cossacks were dissolved, many Cossacks escaped punishment. Former petty officers were given nobility, and lower ranks were allowed to join the hussars and dragoons. But Catherine did not forgive the three Cossacks for their previous insults, Pyotr Kalnyshevsky, Pavel Golovaty and Ivan Globa, for treason towards Turkey, were exiled to different monasteries, although even here the fate was varied, for example, Kalnyshevsky on Solovki was able to live up to 112 years and even after an amnesty Alexander I chose to remain in the place of “exile”. Of the 5 thousand Cossacks who went to Turkey, the Sultan allowed the founding of the Transdanubian Sich (1775-1828). But even here the conditions turned out to be more severe than in Russia, the Cossacks had to fight for their existence with the Nekrasovites, and also participate in the suppression of uprisings of the Orthodox peoples of the Balkans who shared their faith. Therefore, in 1828, the Cossacks betrayed Turkey and returned to Russia from which the Azov Cossack Army was formed. In 1787, the Cossack elders submitted a petition addressed to the Empress in which they expressed their desire to continue to serve. The “Army of Faithful Cossacks” was formed, which participated in the Russian-Turkish War of 1787-1792. At the end of the war, the army was transformed into the Black Sea Cossack Army and, as a sign of gratitude, they were allocated the territory of the Kuban, which it settled in 1792-93. In 1860, the Black Sea Cossack Army was merged with the two left regiments of the Caucasian Line Army and became known as the Kuban Cossack Army. Some of the Zaporozhye Cossacks settled in the swamps and swamps of the Belarusian Polesie, on the territory of the Mozyr district.

The Sich was a fortification, inside of which stood churches, outbuildings and smoking areas.