7_Hetmanate

This is the seventh #generalhistory note, following 6_Religious Interlude.

Khmelnytsky Revolt

• Like Kosynsky before him, Bohdan Khmelnytsky was disowned by a magnate—this time after serving as a Cossack officer in the royal army. When he took the matter to court, he was imprisoned.
• After escaping, he fled to the Zaporizhian Sich, where he was elected Hetman in March 1648.
• Breaking from previous patterns, he forged an alliance with the Crimean Tatars—who, wary but intrigued, accepted. This gave him the cavalry needed to challenge the Polish army directly.
• The alliance proved devastating: by May 1648, they had defeated two Polish armies, captured their commanders, and gained the allegiance of 6,000 registered Cossacks.
• Even Khmelnytsky was taken aback by the success and paused for the summer. But the rebellion spread uncontrollably: peasants across Ukraine rose up, targeting landlords and Jewish intermediaries, wiping out entire communities.
• Khmelnytsky did not prioritize attacks on Jews, but the broader uprising did. Between 14,000–20,000 Jews were killed, driven by economic (e.g., merchant rivalries, Jewish leaseholder roles) and religious tensions (culminating in mass conversions).
• By autumn 1648, the rebellion had reached Lviv and Kamianets, eradicating Jews, nobles, and Catholic clergy along the way.
• The Commonwealth’s attempt to halt the uprising was crushed at Pyliavtsi. By year’s end, Lviv was under siege. Yet Khmelnytsky chose not to proceed, for political reasons.

Hetmanate

• In light of his victories, Khmelnytsky’s goals evolved. No longer content with defending Cossack rights, he aimed to establish himself as ruler of a Cossack-led Rus’.
• This vision was evident in Kyiv in 1648, where he was welcomed by the Metropolitan and even the Patriarch of Jerusalem as a princely figure, receiving their blessing for the war.
• The Kyivan College went as far as calling him a second Moses—praise they hadn’t even given to Metropolitan Mohyla.
• Khmelnytsky was now fighting not for Cossack privileges, but to create a state capable of defending a national idea.
• At Zboriv (1649), he secured concessions from the Commonwealth:
  • Royal recognition of Cossack autonomy
  • De facto independence within the Commonwealth
  • Expansion of the Cossack register to 40,000 (though ~100,000 fought at Zboriv)
  • Control over Kyiv, Bratslav, and Chernihiv palatinates
• This marked the birth of a proto-state—named after its highest office: the Hetmanate. While Polish structures nominally remained, real power rested with the Hetman and his general staff.
• The administration was militarized, with the country divided into regiments.

Alliances

• The Tatar alliance, while vital, pulled the Hetmanate into Ottoman orbit. Khmelnytsky even accepted Ottoman suzerainty in exchange for protection—but the Ottomans, preoccupied elsewhere, delegated support to the unreliable Tatars.
• The Tatars’ duplicity became obvious in 1649 (Zboriv) and again in 1651, when they abandoned the Cossacks. The result: a tenuous truce with the Commonwealth, which the Cossacks soon disregarded.
• Seeking more dependable partners, Khmelnytsky allied with Moldavia in 1650. This helped boost his international stature, but the alliance collapsed in 1653 after his son died in battle against Wallachia and Transylvania.
• That same year, the Tatars betrayed him again at Zhvanets, forcing a return to the unfavorable Zboriv terms.
• Desperate, Khmelnytsky faced a deadlock: the Tatars were untrustworthy, the Ottomans were disengaged, and the Commonwealth was unwilling to compromise—especially on territorial demands.
• On January 8, 1654, he found a new path at Pereiaslav. There, the Cossacks swore allegiance to Tsar Aleksei Romanov of Muscovy.
• Khmelnytsky framed the alliance in religious terms—Orthodox unity—but the need for interpreters underscored deep linguistic and cultural divergence, despite a shared Kyivan Rus heritage.
• Crucially, the two sides interpreted the deal differently:
  • The Cossacks saw it as a mutual treaty between equals, trading loyalty for guaranteed autonomy
  • The Tsar viewed it as new subjects being granted privileges—with no expectation of reciprocity
• Regardless, the initial terms favored the Cossacks:
  • Recognition of their state
  • A Cossack register of 60,000
  • Privileged legal status for the Cossack estate
• The alliance was military at its core. With no set western border, expansion would be decided on the battlefield.
• By late 1655, joint Muscovite-Cossack forces were attacking Lviv and Vilnius.
• But in 1656, alarmed by Sweden’s entrance into the war, Muscovy made peace with the Commonwealth—excluding the Cossacks. Khmelnytsky saw this as a betrayal of Pereiaslav.
• He responded by allying with Transylvania (a Swedish ally), and tried to conclude a Cossack-Swedish pact. It never materialized—he died in 1657.

Continuation

Continues in 8_Downfall of the Hetmanate.

Sources

This information was gathered from The Gates of Europe_A History of Ukraine (Pages 97-107).