out. The next hetman is the 18-year-old son of Bogdan Khmelnitsky, Yury, who has reached his legal age, who formally left Vygovsky’s care. He is by no means the continuer of the cause of the famous father, speaking, in general, against the unification of states. However, in fact, the offspring of Khmelnytsky is a protege of the Poles, then of the Ottomans, and does not pursue an independent policy.
Realizing that the hetman was not for him, he cuts himself into monks… gets to the Tatars, then the Turks… who, in the end, are executed.
In the autumn of 1663 the Polish army (plus the Crimean Tatars and detachments of the Principality of Lithuania), led by King Jan Kazimir, is making the last major operation. With heavy fighting, it takes a half dozen cities, bypassing the fortress with numerous Russian garrisons (Kiev, Pereyaslav, Chernigov). Russian commanders are awakened by a sensible initiative, competently guiding troops, they are making deceptive maneuvers, blocking enemy units, making deep raids along their rear lines. On the side of Russia, at the moment, many talented Little Russian commanders, such as Ivan Serko (author of the «letter to the Turkish sultan»), who, according to contemporaries, have remarkable paranormal abilities. There are also foreign officers in the Russian army – after the relatively recent Thirty Years’ War, the market for professional mercenaries in Europe is simply overcrowded. The Polish-Lithuanian army retreats, suffering hunger and deprivation, losing three quarters of its original composition. In 1666, right-bank hetman Peter Doroshenko raises a rebellion against Poland, already quite openly declaring himself a vassal of the Turkish sultan. To help his 15 thousand Cossacks come 20—30 thousand Crimean Tatars. The turmoil lasts five years, after all, Poland regains the status quo, but it exhausts forces completely. January 30, 1667 between Russia, without the participation of Cossacks, and Poland signed the Andrusov Truce. The Commonwealth recognizes the accession of the Left-bank Ukraine, Smolensk, the Chernihiv Province, a number of small towns, preserves the Right-Bank Ukraine and Byelorussia. To retain some large territorial acquisitions Russia is not yet able, and the king understands this.
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1. Vasily the Fourth (Shuisky), 1552—1612, the last representative of the Rurik dynasty on the throne. He died in Polish captivity, for an unknown reason, almost simultaneously with his brother Dmitry, also a prisoner.
2. Michael (Fedorovich), 1596—1645, the first monarch of the Romanov dynasty. He was elected to the tsar by the Zemsky Sobor on February 21, 1613. As the contemporary testifies, he dies of melancholy, «twisted sculls» and «many seats». There are six children from marriage with the unloved, or at least not chosen by them, Evdokia Streshneva.
3. Alexei Mikhailovich, Russian Tsar, father of Peter the Great (Velikii), 1629—1676. The monarch is completely good-natured, peacefully combining the Russian and Western orders, keen on astrology and European music, the founder of the regiments of the «new order» – the Reiters, soldiers, dragoons and hussars.
4. Peter the First, the last king, the first emperor of the Russian state, 1672—1725.
5. Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Nikon (Nikita Minin), reformer of the Russian Church, 1605—1681g. At first he is the representative of the so-called. white clergy, but, after a family drama, persuades his wife to take a monastic vows, becomes a monk himself and thus exits from a former, not presupposing church career, condition.
The first reforms, for example, the return of the church sermon from the pulpit, are clearly perceived as positive, but the subsequent cause a number of serious questions. The technical detail in essence – baptism with two or three fingers, generates a deep split in the church and flock.
The patriarch establishes in New Moscow the New Jerusalem (Resurrection) monastery, which simultaneously becomes both the personal property of Nikon and his residence.
After the final disagreement with the Quiet Tsar, the patriarch is deprived of the priesthood, sent to the Belozersky Monastery. In 1681 he, severely ill, was allowed to return to the New Jerusalem Monastery; and on the way to this monastery, Nikon dies.
6. Bogdan Mikhailovich Khmelnitsky, Hetman of the Army of Zaporozhye, statesman. Birth – 1595, the village of Subotov, Cherkassy region of Ukraine, a family under age. She studies at the Kiev fraternity school, then at the Jesuit College in Yaroslav and, probably, in Lviv, where she comprehends the art of rhetoric, works, as well as Polish and Latin. Travels to European countries. Participates in the Polish-Turkish war, falls into captivity, literally, working as a slave on galley, incidentally learns Turkish and Tatar languages. Redeemed relatives, enlisted in the registered (in the service of Poland) Cossacks. Marries, receives the rank of centurion. Participates in the siege of the Poles of Smolensk, saves King Vladislav from captivity, according to studies of some historians, awarded a gold saber for bravery. In 1648 there was a quarrel with Poland. A certain aged Chaplinsky attacks Khmelnitsky’s farm, takes away the woman Bogdan used to live after the death of his wife, and his son is marked with rods (at least, since then there have been no mention of him anywhere in the annals). The centurion seeks truth in the royal court, the Sejm, intercedes for the king, but, for this activity, still strictly in the legal line, at first ridiculed, then confined by local authorities to prison. Having been freed only thanks to the intercession of the influential patrons of the Cossack foremen, Khmelnitsky arrives in Sich (then located near the modern Nikopol), smashes the Polish garrison controlling it, and seeks the consent of the registered Cossacks for action against their mother country. Also, the new hetman sends a delegation to the Crimea, attracts to his side the Tatars of the Perekop Murza.
The Poles are used against the army Khmelnitsky registered Cossacks, but they immediately pass to his side. There are a number of defeats crowned hetmans Pototsky – under the Yellow Waters, Korsun, almost the entire regular Polish army – 20 thousand people. As a side effect of victories, the main forces of the Crimean Tatars of the Third Girey arrive in Ukraine, without fights they seize a huge amount of yasir (esir – prisoner of war), other booty, and triumphantly return to the Crimea.
In the same year, a battle will take place near Pilyavtsi. The forces of the troops of the Sich and Tatars – 80 thousand, Polish-Lithuanian noblemen and jolners (cadre infantrymen), as well as the German reytars – about 50 thousand (not counting 30 thousand of various kinds of servants). At night, the Cossacks and Tatars attack the Polish camp; there is confusion, the Poles come into battle with scattered detachments, the leadership is retired, panic flares up. The result of the battle: the loss of Cossacks and Tatars 2—3 thousand, the Crown troops – about 50 thousand, killed and captured, as well as 90 guns (equated to regimental banners) and 100 thousand supply carts. Most of the production, however, goes to more pragmatic Tatars, which causes discontent in the camp of Khmelnitsky. To, as they say, «to repel money losses», Cossacks are taken for the robbery of the local population.
The next destination is Lviv. Khmelnytsky receives solid payoffs and besieges the Polish fortress Zamosc (song «Zamoscie»), which prevents direct movement to Warsaw. Meanwhile, the fighting
