Pereyaslavl Rada on January 8, 1654. Reunification of Little Russia with Russia at the Rada in Pereyaslav

Almost 360 years ago, in 1648, an outbreak broke out in the Little Russian lands, which were then under Polish rule. Cossack uprising under the leadership of the Hetman of the Zaporozhye Army Bohdan Khmelnytsky, directed against the numerous and varied oppressions that the Polish lords inflicted on the Little Russian population, and above all, against the oppression of the Orthodox faith and Orthodox Church. Soon the uprising turned into a real one people's war, because the Little Russian peasantry also followed the Cossacks. However, to wage war against regular Polish army it was hard, and by 1653 the rebels were already losing city after city, fortress after fortress. All that remained was to either die, surrender to the mercy of the winner, or call for help. The rebels did not want to die or surrender, and therefore turned to the Russian kingdom neighboring Poland. And who else could you turn to for help?! Only to the Ottoman Empire. But then, Little Russian residents would have to forget about their faith and their traditions altogether...

But the peoples of Great and Little Rus', despite several centuries of political division, continued to maintain their unity. First of all, a single spiritual space was preserved, because both there and there the population was Orthodox, moreover, fervently preserving the faith of their ancestors. Church unity was preserved, because despite all Catholic encroachments, the bulk of the Little Russian population remained within the Orthodox Church. The cultural space remained unified, and it was not without reason that in the second half of the 17th century. Little Russian culture began to penetrate so actively into Great Russian culture, and Great Russian culture became the property of all of Little Russia, and thus both were enriched, restoring their root unity. Even the linguistic space was largely unified, for both Great and Little Rus' spoke the same language, distinguished only by dialectal peculiarities. The unity of historical memory was also preserved; it was not for nothing that the inhabitants of the right bank of the Dnieper called themselves “Rusyns” and their land “Russian”, while the left bank was called “Moscow”... So now the matter remained only for the restoration of political unity...

Bogdan Khmelnitsky several times turned to the Russian sovereign Alexei Mikhailovich with a request to accept the Zaporozhye Army into Russian citizenship. But Moscow was in thought. In fact, the return of Little Russia to the Russian kingdom- this is the execution of an important part political program several generations of Moscow sovereigns. However, Moscow’s decision to accept the citizenship of Little Russia also meant a new war with Poland, which, of course, did not want to part with such rich lands. Finally, on the day of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, October 1, 1653, a Zemsky Sobor was held in Moscow, which decided to break the “eternal peace” with Poland and “sentenced” “that great sovereign king and Grand Duke Alexey Mikhailovich of All Rus' deigned to accept that Hetman Bogdan Khmelnitsky and the entire Zaporozhye Army with their cities and lands under his sovereign high hand for the Orthodox Christian faiths and the holy churches of God..."

And soon, on January 8, 1654, in the ancient Russian city of Pereyaslavl, often called Pereyaslavl-Russian in chronicles, the Rada of the Zaporozhye Army was held, which decided to transfer Little Russia (the Zaporozhye Army with lands and cities) to the citizenship of the Russian sovereign. And then the Zaporozhye hetman Bogdan Khmelnytsky, the Cossack foreman and all the inhabitants of Little Russia took an oath of allegiance to the Russian sovereign Alexei Mikhailovich and all his heirs “forever.” And it is not without reason that, addressing Alexey Mikhailovich on behalf of the Rada, Bogdan Khmelnitsky already (for the first time!) calls the Russian Tsar, the sovereign of “Great and Little Russia”...

So the Zemsky Sobor of 1653 and Pereyaslavl Rada The year 1654 fulfilled the centuries-old aspirations of a people divided during the years of Mongol-Tatar rule - the reunification of Little Rus' with Great Russia began.

Of course, the decision of the Pereyaslav Rada, soon approved by the Russian sovereign Alexei Mikhailovich, who accepted the Little Russian lands under his “high hand,” did not mean the immediate entry of Little Russia into the Russian kingdom. And more than a hundred years of struggle lay ahead. So, Russian-Polish war 1653–1667 led to the fact that the Russian kingdom managed to secure only the left bank of the Dnieper. And the Right Bank of the Dnieper became part of the now Russian Empire only end of the XVIII centuries after Russian-Turkish wars from the time of Empress Catherine II.

But the matter began then - in mid-17th century century, in Moscow and Pereyaslavl...

Today we present some historical documents that laid that very beginning...

S.V. Perevezentsev

***
MESSAGE OF THE RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR V.V. BUTURLINA ABOUT PEREYASLAV RADA
...Was at the Hetman's (B. Khmelnitsky - Ed.) secret council with colonels and judges and military yasauls; and the colonels and judges and yasauls bowed under the sovereign's high hand. And according to the secret council that the hetman had with his colonels, and from the morning of the same day, in the second hour of the day, the drum was beaten at one o'clock for a meeting of all the people to hear advice about the matter that wanted to be accomplished. And as a great multitude of all ranks of people gathered, they made a large circle about the hetman and about the colonels, and then the hetman himself came out under the horsetail, and with him the judges and yasauls, the clerk and all the colonels. And the hetman stood in the middle of the circle, and the military yasaul ordered everyone to pray. Then, everyone fell silent. The hetman began his speech to all the people saying:

“Gentlemen colonels, esauls, centurions and all the Zaporozhian Army and all Orthodox Christians! You all know how God freed us from the hands of enemies who are persecuting the Church of God and embittering all Christianity of our Eastern Orthodoxy. That for six years we have been living without a sovereign in our land in constant battles and bloodshed, our persecutors and enemies want to eradicate the Church of God, so that the Russian name will not be remembered in our land, which has already bothered us all, and we see that we cannot live without a king. to all the people, so that you can choose with us the sovereign from among the four, whom you want. The first king is the Turk, who many times through his ambassadors called us to his region; the second is the Crimean Khan; now he can still accept us into his former affection; the fourth is the Orthodox Sovereign of Great Russia, Tsar and Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich, the autocrat of all Eastern Russia, whom we have been asking ourselves for six years with our incessant prayers. Here, choose whoever you want! The Tsar of Tours is a busurman: you all know how our brethren, Orthodox Christians and Greeks suffer misfortune and the essence of oppression from the godless. The Crimean Khan is also an infidel, whom we accepted out of need and friendship, what unbearable troubles we accepted. What captivity, what merciless shedding of Christian blood from the Polish lords of oppression - no one needs to tell you, it was better to honor a Jew and a dog than a Christian, our brother. And the Orthodox Christian great sovereign, the Tsar of the East, is with us the same piety of the Greek law, the same confession, we are one body of the Church with the Orthodoxy of Great Russia, the head of which is Jesus Christ. That great sovereign, the Christian king, taking pity on the unbearable bitterness of the Orthodox Church in our Little Russia, did not despise our six years of incessant prayers, now inclining his merciful royal heart to us, deigned to send his great neighbors to us with his royal mercy, whom he had with With zeal we will love, except for the royal high hand, we will not find the most gracious refuge. And if anyone doesn’t agree with us now, where he wants is a turbulent road.”

To these words, all the people cried out: “We will, under the Eastern Orthodox Tsar, die with a strong hand in our pious faith, rather than the hater of Christ get enough of the filth!” Then Colonel Teterya of Pereyaslavl, walking in a circle, asked us in all directions: “Do you all deign to do this?” All the people shouted: “All with one accord.” Then the hetman said: “Be it so! May the Lord our God strengthen him under his royal strong hand!” And the people according to him, all unanimously, cried out: “God, confirm! God strengthen! So that we may all be one forever!”

(Reunification of Ukraine with Russia. Documents and materials in three volumes. T. 3, M., 1954. P. 373.)

***
MESSAGE OF BOGDAN KHMELNITSKY TO TSAR ALEXEY MIKHAILOVICH
March 21, 1654

...By the grace of God, to the Great Sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich) of all Great and Lesser Russia, to the autocrat of your royal majesty, Bogdan Khmelnitsky, hetman of your royal majesty's Zaporozhye army, and all of your royal majesty's Zaporozhye army to the face of the earth, we beat your royal majesty with our foreheads.

We receive the true news from the Poles about their wickedness and hostility towards you, our great sovereign, your royal majesty, from the general Prince Radivil, hetman of the full principality of Lithuania, that they belittle and dishonor all the God-given honor to your royal majesty and are at enmity with your royal majesty to all ends. At that hour we, Bogdan Khmelnytsky Hetman of the Troops of Your Royal Majesty Zaporozhian, the same universal Radivilov, with our military certificate, release to you, our great sovereign, to your royal majesty, so that your royal majesty would better understand and be informed about such dishonor, their great and bad deed . That they are insane and hostile to your royal majesty, like fierce enemies, attacking and inciting those not confirmed in the faith from the Zaporozhian Army and the entire Russian people, seeking to turn them away from the faith, which, according to the immaculate commandment of Christ, they inflicted on you, your great royal sovereign majesty, and to the Polish king and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth believes that God will not help them in this flattering, crafty, and hostile matter.

And may Bogdan Khmelnytsky, Hetman of Your Royal Majesty of Zaporozhye, and the entire Zaporozhye Army, and all the Orthodox Russian people strengthen and confirm the persistent ones in the same faith that they instilled in Your Royal Majesty. And don’t let us think cunningly and develop such malice.

We precisely pray to you, our great sovereign, your royal majesty: grant us the rights, privileges, freedoms and all the good things of our fathers and forefathers, bestowed from pious princes and queens for centuries, confirm and strengthen them with our royal charters forever. And our ambassadors and those of our messengers will soon be released to us with all of them, without detaining them, so that we, Bogdan Khmelnytsky Hetman of the Troops of Your Royal Majesty Zaporozhian, that is, the ineffable state mercy of your Royal Majesty to the entire Zaporozhye Troops and the entire Christian Russian world, will announce and rejoice they were established, and in the faith established by your royal majesty, unshakable. If your royal majesty does not cheer them up and does not favor them all, they will be taught to think evil, due to Radivilova’s charm. But we, Bogdan Khmelnytsky Hetman of the Troops of Your Royal Majesty Zaporozhye, the entire Army of Your Royal Majesty Zaporozhye and the whole Christian Russian world, affirm and strengthen with hope the ineffable mercy of Your Royal Majesty and do not command us to doubt in any way.

And what else our foolish enemies will teach and forge, at that hour we will truly inform your royal majesty. Now they are uniting the army into 3 parts: in Pluskirevo, in Polochny and in Lithuanian land. And we, hearing about this, ordered the whole army to be ready. And your Tsar's Majesty ordered the Don army not to go to sea and to be ready to be ready, lest the Tatars retreat and want to help us with the Poles, otherwise they would replace them from the Don and the Dnieper. If only the Tatars would remain in good friendship with us, otherwise they would be Don Cossacks to help us, but by His inscrutable mercy, may the merciful God correct us. And we rely on the right hand of the Highest and on the strong hand of your royal majesty, and we usually take in many of the generosity of your royal majesty.

And under that write: to you, our great sovereign, your royal majesty, direct and faithful servants and subjects, Bogdan Khmelnytsky, hetman with the Army of your royal majesty of Zaporozhye.

(TSGADA, f. Posolsky Prikaz, Little Russian Affairs, 1654, d. 37, l. 5–11. Copy. Publ. Acts of the South-Western Republic, vol. X, pp. 547–550)

***
"ARTICLES OF BOGDAN KHMELNITSKY", APPROVED BY THE TSAR AND THE BOYAR DUMA
March 21, 1654

In a letter, they sent the Great Sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of all Great and Lesser Russia, the autocrat and many states, the sovereign and owner of His Tsar's Majesty, to the neighboring boyars, to the boyar and governor of Kazan, to Prince Alexei Nikitich Trubetskoy, to the boyar and governor of Tver, to Vasily To Vasilyevich Buturlin, to the district governor of Koshir, to Pyotr Petrovich Golovin, to the Duma deacon to Almaz Ivanov of the Tsar's Majesty of the Zaporozhye Troops, envoys of Samoilo Bogdanov and Pavel Teterya with comrades in the current year of March 162 on the 12th day it is written: they beat the great sovereign Tsar and the great to Prince Alexei Mikhailovich of all Great and Lesser Russia, the autocrat and many states, the sovereign and owner of His Tsar's Majesty's subjects Bogdan Khmelnytsky, hetman of the Zaporozhian Army, and the entire Zaporozhian Army and the whole Christian Russian world, so that His Tsar's Majesty would grant them with what their envoys asked about they will teach, and they will serve His Royal Majesty in all his sovereign commands forever. And whatever the article of the Tsar’s Majesty has the will of, and that is signed under the articles.

1. So that in the cities the police officers should be selected from their people to those worthy, who will have to reduce the subjects of the Tsar's Majesty and really give all kinds of income to the treasury of the Tsar's Majesty, so that the Tsar's Majesty's governor will come and teach them the rights to break them and what statutes to repair. , and that would have been a great annoyance to them. And like their local people, where there are elders, they will teach the correctional officer against their rights.

And the royal majesty granted this article and ordered it to be according to their petition. And if I were to be a police officer in the towns of a voyt, a mayor, a paradise, a storekeeper, I would collect all sorts of cash and grain income for the Tsar's Majesty and give it to his sovereign treasury to those people whom the Tsar's Majesty would send. Yes, the same people sent, whom the Tsar’s Majesty will send to collect the treasury, and supervise those collectors so that they do the truth...

2. To the military clerk, to give, by the grace of the Tsar's Majesty, 1000 Polish gold for subscriptions, and for military judges 300 Polish gold, and for a judge's clerk 100 Polish gold, for a clerk and for a regimental cornet 50 gold, for a sotnitsky cornet 30 gold , for the Bunchy Hetman 50 gold.

The Tsar's Majesty granted orders to comply with their petition, and to give that money from local income.

3. For a clerk, and for military judges for 2 people, and for every colonel, and for military and regimental yasauls, so that there is a mill for food, which has a great expense.

The Tsar's Majesty granted orders to comply with their petition.

4. For the crafts along with the military, and for the gunners, and for all the working people who are along side, so that the Tsar’s Majesty deigns to show his royal mercy, both in winter and for the camps, also for the baggage train, 400 gold, ; and for the reinforced cornet 50 gold.

The Tsar's Majesty granted and ordered to give from the local income

5. Ambassadors who have long come to the Zaporozhian Army from foreign lands, so that the hetman and the Zaporozhian Army, which were for good, are freely received, but only if they are contrary to the Tsar's Majesty, they must notify the Tsar's Majesty.

According to this article, the Tsar's Majesty indicated: ambassadors about good deeds should be accepted and released. And about what matters they came and with what they will be released, write about that to the Tsar’s Majesty authentically and soon. And those ambassadors sent from anyone to the Tsar's Majesty with a contrary matter, detain those ambassadors and envoys in the Army and write about them about the decree to the Tsar's Majesty soon, and do not let them go back without the decree of the Tsar's Majesty. And with the Turk Saltan and the Polish king, without the decree of the Tsar's Majesty, there is no exile.

6. The envoy gave an oral order regarding the Metropolitan of Kiev. And in their speeches the envoys beat with their foreheads so that the Tsar's Majesty would grant him his state's letter of commendation.

The Tsar's Majesty granted: the metropolitan and all the clergymen in their rank, whom they now own, ordered to give their state letter of salary.

7. So that the Tsar's Majesty deigns to send his army straight to Smolensk soon, without delaying anything, so that the enemy cannot reform and copulate with others, so that the troops are now forced, so that they do not believe any of their flattery, if only they had something to do.

The Tsar's Majesty deigned to go against his enemy, the Polish king, himself, and the boyars, and the governor, to send with many armies on dry ground, as horse sterns learn to be.

8. So that the hired people here along the line from the Poles for any fearlessness from 3000 or, as the will of the Tsar's Majesty will be, although more.

Tsar's Majesty military men There are always precautions for Ukraine at the border and they will take into account how to stand forward.

There was a custom that the Zaporozhian Army was always paid. They also beat the Tsar's Majesty with their foreheads, so that for a colonel 100 efimki, for regimental yasauls 200 gold, for military yasauls 400 gold, for centurions 100 gold, for Cossacks 30 gold Polish.

And in the past years, Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky and the entire Zaporozhian Army sent to the Tsar's Majesty and beat them with their foreheads many times, so that His Tsar's Majesty would favor them, for the Orthodox Christian faith and the holy churches of God he stood up for them, and accepted them under his sovereign high hand, and on made their enemies help them. And our great sovereign, his royal majesty, at that time could not accept you under his sovereign high hand, because his royal majesty had an eternal end with the kings of Poland and the great princes of Lithuania. And what about their royal sides to the Tsar's Majesty the Father, blessed in memory of the Great Sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke Mikhail Fedorovich of All Russia, the autocrat and many states, Sovereign and Possessor, and his Sovereign's grandfather, blessed in memory of the Great Sovereign, His Holiness Patriarch Filaret Nikitich of Moscow and All Russia, and the great Our sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of all Russia, the autocrat of His Royal Majesty, suffered many dishonors and reproaches. And according to the royal charters, and according to the Sejm Code, and according to the Constitution, and according to the ambassadorial agreements, the Tsar's Majesty expected correction. And Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky and the entire Zaporozhye Army wanted to reconcile with the Polish king through his sovereign great ambassadors in this way: if King John Casimer makes peace with them according to the Treaty of Zborov, and he will not persecute the Orthodox Christian faith, and he will bring out all the Uniats, and the royal Majesty the wine people, who suffered the death penalty for his sovereign honor, wanted to give away their guilt. And about this he sent his sovereign great and plenipotentiary ambassadors, the boyar and governor of Great Perm, Boris Alexandrovich Repnin-Obolensky and his comrades, to the king.

And those great and plenipotentiary ambassadors of the Tsar's Majesty spoke about this to the world and about the actions of the king and the lord's council in all sorts of ways. And King Jan Casimer and the lords of the Rada did not go to any lengths, and they treated that great matter as nothing, and those royal majesty great and plenipotentiary ambassadors were released without work. And our great sovereign, his royal majesty, seeing such many incorrections, rudeness, and untruths on the royal side, and although the Orthodox Christian faith and all Orthodox Christians from persecutors and who want to destroy the Church of God and the Christian faith, defend from the Latins, under your sovereign high took your hand. And for your defense he gathered many Russian, German, and Tatar armies. Our great sovereign himself, his royal majesty, is marching against the Christian enemies and his boyars, and the commander is sending with many armies. And for that military formation, according to his sovereign decree, his sovereign treasury was distributed a lot. And now they, the envoy, did not have the chance to talk about salaries for the Zaporozhye Army, seeing such mercy from the Tsar’s Majesty and defense towards them. And how the hetman Bogdan Khmelnitsky had the neighboring boyar and the governor of Tver Vasily Vasilyevich Buturlin with his comrades, and the hetman spoke with them in conversations about the number of the Zaporozhye Army in order to create 60,000. And even if that number were greater, the sovereign would There will be no loss in that, because they will not ask the sovereign for a salary. Yes, and they, Samoil and Pavel, and other people who were with the hetman at that time, knew about this. And what income there is in the cities and places of Little Russia is unknown to the Tsar’s Majesty, and our great sovereign, His Tsarist Majesty, sends the income to describe the nobles. And how those Tsar's Majesty's nobles will describe and sweep away all sorts of income, and at that time there will be a decree regarding the salary for the Zaporozhian Army, according to the review of the Tsar's Majesty. And now the royal majesty, favoring the hetman and the entire Zaporozhian Army, wants to send his sovereign’s salary, according to the ancient customs of his ancestors, the great sovereigns of the tsars and the great princes of Russia, to the hetman and the entire Zaporozhye Army in gold.

10. If the Crimean Horde were to attack, then it would be necessary to attack them from Astrakhan and Kazan. That's how it is Don Cossack be ready to be, and now even in the brotherhood, give it time and not bully them.

The Tsar's Majesty's decree and command were sent to the Don to the Cossacks: if the Crimean people don't make any kind of fuss, they are not ordered to go against them and make any fuss. And if the Crimeans get excited, and at that time the Tsar’s Majesty will order them to repair the craft.

11. Kodak is a city on the border from the Crimea, in which the hetman always keeps 400 people and gives them all sorts of feed, so that even now the Tsar’s Majesty would grant feed and gunpowder, to build a side. Also on those who keep the cat behind the thresholds, so that the royal majesty deigns to show his mercy: since it is impossible to leave him without people.

The Tsar’s Majesty’s gracious decree will be forthcoming regarding that article, as soon as it is known how much supplies are sent to those places and how much income will be collected for the Tsar’s Majesty.

And what is it written in your letter: as our great sovereign, His Royal Majesty Hetman Bohdan Khmelnitsky and the entire Zaporozhye Army, grants his state charters to give your liberties, then you will look among yourselves to see who will be a Cossack or a peasant, and so that the number of the Army There were 60,000 Zaporozhian. And our great sovereign, his royal majesty, deigned to do this and ordered them to be listed Cossacks. And as you, envoys, will be with the hetman at Bogdan Khmelnitsky, and you would tell him that he would order the Cossacks to be dismantled soon and make a list of them. Yes, he soon sent the list with his own hand to the Tsar’s Majesty.

This letter was given by the messenger. Written on the columns in Belarusian script without a sexton's inscription. Written by Stepan, yes Timofey, and Mikhailo.

(TSGADA, f. Posolsky Prikaz, Little Russian Affairs, 1654, d. 4. l. 328–347a. Vacation. Publ. Acts of the South-Western Republic, vol. X, pp. 477–184. Complete collection of laws of the Russian Empire, 1st collection , vol. X, no. 119, pp. 311–314.)

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Pereyaslavl Rada

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8.01.1654 (21.01). - Reunification of Little Russia with Russia at the Rada in Pereyaslav The western lands of Rus', torn away from it by the Poles after, never ceased to consider themselves Russian. And as Polish and Jewish oppression intensified, their desire for reunification in Moscow resulted in a whole insurrectionary movement. Ukraine - that is Little Russia, Carpathian Rus', Novorossiya (developed under Catherine II, Dnepropetrovsk, Zaporozhye, Kherson, Nikolaev, Odessa regions),, Cossack lands Don Troops Slobozhanshchina(Kharkov region)

Most of this territory of present-day Ukraine, only by decision of the Bolshevik government, which fought against Russian great power, became part of this state that had never existed before (with the exception of fake independence under German occupation in 1918). The history of Ukrainian separatism, encouraged by the enemies of Russia (Poland, Austria-Hungary and Germany, the Vatican, the USA) is described in the book “The Secret of Russia”. Chapter III of this book [“To the Leader of the Third Rome”] also spoke about forced Ukrainization in the 1920s. After 1945, the Carpathian-Rusyns, who were annexed to the Ukrainian SSR, were also Ukrainized. .

The Yeltsin government unconditionally recognized the results of the Ukrainian referendum on independence on December 1, 1991, the ballots of which did not even mention the alternative possibility of unified statehood with Russia, but stated that it would pose a “mortal danger.” “Independent” Ukraine was allowed to renounce its part of the Soviet debt (20 billion dollars) and seize part of the armed forces of the USSR, which was a violation of even the conditions that Kravchuk initially did not intend to fulfill, but used only for destruction single state and seizure of power.

Even if separatists seized power in Ukraine, Russian authorities could have retained at least Russian Crimea in 1991 - there were sufficient international legal, democratic (plebiscite) and economic instruments for this. But the Yeltsin government recognized all Bolshevik borders. Moreover, for some reason, Ukraine was given even the remainder of the Tuzla Spit, which extended from the Taman Peninsula, and thereby the navigable fairway of the Kerch Strait, for the passage of which Russian ships now they pay tens of millions of dollars to Ukraine every year. There is still controversial issue with division Azov waters, which the Russian Federation proposes to fraternally make into a common inland sea, and Ukraine to divide on the basis international law, turning it into international waters to open the Sea of ​​Azov to NATO ships.

Of course, the United States is doing everything possible to make the separation of Little Russia from Russia irreversible. The CIA directive for 1994–1998 stated that the United States should not allow Ukraine and Belarus to reunite with Russia; this is determined by the American goal of “establishing and defending a new world order”, for which the use of force is not excluded .

The United States provides a guarantee of the integrity of Ukraine, provides assistance with money ($200 million annually), advisers (including Brzezinski’s son), and joint military exercises (in particular, to suppress the “separatist rebellion” in Crimea). The staff of the US Embassy in Kyiv is 15 times greater than the Russian one. Brzezinski Sr. praises the Ukrainian leadership: “To hinder Russia’s attempts to use the CIS as an instrument of political integration, by the mid-90s, a secretly Ukraine-led bloc was unofficially formed, including Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and sometimes Kazakhstan, Georgia and Moldova... Ukraine supported the efforts Georgia, aimed at ensuring that Azerbaijani oil is transported to the West through its territory. In addition, Ukraine has partnered with Turkey to weaken Russia's influence in the Black Sea and has supported its [Turkey's] efforts to divert oil flows from Central Asia to Turkish terminals." The pressure on Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol, for which the Russian Federation pays Ukraine 100 million dollars a year.

The leadership of Ukraine is speeding up its entry into NATO. President Kuchma announced the beginning of this process on May 23, 2002, on the eve of the US President’s visit to the Russian Federation. European countries NATO is not eager to take over the dilapidated economy of Ukraine (its GDP per capita, according to the CIA, is half that of Russia), but the United States will not fail to take advantage of this to advance its structures to the borders of Russia - the world behind the scenes does not need Ukraine in any other capacity.

The US fed in the years played a huge influence in the propagation of anti-Russian ideology. Cold War Ukrainian emigrants as advisers, journalists, and textbook authors. The head of the Ukrainian branch of the Soros Foundation said that it has published dozens of textbooks with an “anti-colonial orientation”, in which Ukraine is treated as a “colony” conquered by Russia during four Russian-Ukrainian wars. even encourages the Tatars, who are expanding their structures with Turkish money - just to reduce Russian influence.

For the Ukrainian ruling layer, the historiosophical alignment of forces in the world presented in our book is even less known than for the ruling layer of the Russian Federation. After all, independentists can justify their power only by starting from a common history with Russia. By distorting it in an anti-Russian spirit, closing Russian schools (in Kyiv in 1990 there were 150 schools, only 10 remain), limiting access to Russian-language media, independent leaders are replacing the true spiritual culture of their people with Ukrainianized Western pop culture. With this, the independentists are trying to complete the murder of the people’s memory of the Little Russians, which the Austrians began in the 19th century, in order to create new people. They tear Little Russia away from the mission, although it is its original part. (Let us recall the origin of the name: Little Russia means the small, central core of the state of Kievan Rus, in contrast to Great Rus', that is, expanding to the northeast.) This is the real tragedy of Ukraine: it is deprived of understanding the meaning of history and forced to participate in the world battle on the side "secrets of iniquity." Orthodox Little Russians are fully aware of this.

The population of Ukraine is mainly Orthodox, most of it belongs to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (9 thousand parishes, about 150 monasteries) - these are Little Russians who do not separate themselves from the all-Russian destiny. Therefore, they are subject to government pressure; about a thousand churches have been taken away from them. There are also non-canonical Ukrainian-language “churches”: the self-sacred autocephalous one (about a thousand parishes, mainly in Galicia) and the government-supported “Kiev Patriarchate” of the excommunicated Denisenko (3 thousand parishes).

The Russian language is considered native by 54% of the population of Ukraine, the rest speak it, but it is not only not recognized as one of the state languages, but is also being forced out official life, media and education systems. The Ukrainian language exists in two versions: Kiev-Poltava and Galician, the latter is imposed as the norm. Many speak a mixture of Russian and Ukrainian.

At the same time, the Russian government has done nothing to support the desire for reunification among a huge part of the Ukrainian population (and the corresponding political movements), not to mention the Russian Crimea. Moreover: in 1998, ratified (with the support of the opposition represented by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation) by the State Duma, it legalized anti-Russian tyranny on lands illegally owned by it and opened the way for it to join NATO.

In relation to Ukraine, the leader of the Third Rome will be faced with a dilemma: whether to show fundamental firmness in solving the listed problems, which will be associated with their aggravation by independentists, or to apply a patient and benevolent approach, working to awaken in the people of Ukraine conscience and pride in the Russian birthright of Kyiv , awareness of the need to resist the world behind the scenes and restore our joint holding role. From our point of view, one should not contradict the other, but the second approach is not only a means, but also the main objective. Even with honest ones Ukrainian nationalists one can find common interests in resistance to the New World Order, which threatens them much more than the “imperial machinations of the Muscovites.”

* The "Orange Revolution" in Ukraine at the end of 2004 was a coup d'état to advance US influence to the east - against Russia. Congressman Ron Paul emphasized that $65 million was illegally spent on American financing of the coup in Ukraine; blatant facts about the same were published by P. Buchanan and Western publications (eg: Guardian, 11/26/2004). To this, the US State Department said: “We did not finance Yushchenko, but the triumph of democracy.”

The new President of Ukraine Yushchenko and his associate Tymoshenko were previously accused of financial fraud; in the Russian Federation there is a lot of criminal evidence on them. However, both the “world community” and Putin recognized their power as legitimate. Yushchenko celebrated his victory by visiting the synagogue wearing a yarmulke, where he lit a Hanukkah candle, then began purges government agencies from "Muscovites". Yushchenko's new wife, a US citizen, participated in the emigrant Bandera organization from a young age.

The coup was successful for three reasons:

1) the corrupt, and therefore vulnerable to blackmail, Kuchma’s regime (similar to Yeltsin’s) was unable to take legal measures to counter the revolutionaries (the Americans blackmailed Kuchma by exposing his unseemly acts); and in the eyes of a significant part of the people this regime turned out to be unworthy of protection;

2) the pro-Russian part of the Ukrainian population expressed their will spontaneously, without proper organizational structures, because she hoped for the actions of law enforcement agencies;

3) the Russian authorities, equally corrupt and vulnerable (the Russian Ambassador to Ukraine Chernomyrdin again played a treacherous role) did not take advantage of the moment to support the attempt of the south-eastern regions of Ukraine, feeding it, to separate from the illegitimate coup d'etat. This could only be done by the people themselves, in person, which requires appropriate structures of self-government and mobilization action, which, unfortunately, was not created in advance (see Chapter VIII-3). Let's hope that this is still possible, since the majority of the population of Ukraine does not agree to be citizens of an anti-Russian state. – Approx. to the 2nd edition.

Discussion of the Ukrainian topic on our

Discussion: 14 comments

Where was the Moscow Principality at that time?

By this time, the Moscow principality had long ago turned into Muscovite Rus', a powerful state with the ideology of the Third Rome. This was the most healthy and Orthodox period in Russian history.

I approve, but it’s a bit soft, I need to be tougher

KATSAPS, KHOKHOLS, BULBASHES, WE ARE ONE RUSSIAN PEOPLE!!!

During the time of Bogdan Khmelnitsky, the name was Little Rus', but not Little Russia.
---Ukraine(Ukraine) popular name Rus' (Kievan) (Before White, Lesser and Muscovy). Found in writing in the Kyiv Chronicle of the 12th century. what kind of outskirts or near the edge of what? What kind of Poland (16th century)? What kind of Tatars (14th century)? What is Russia like (18th century)? Derived from the ancestral foundation Land-Earth, Land-Country. The name Ukraine was used only to designate native land. To the question where do you live? They answered U or In Krajina (Krayina). The prepositions U and V in the Ukrainian language are equivalent in meaning, so Ukraine - In the Native Land, Land, In the Native Country.
--- The Ukrainian SSR, like the RSFSR, had equal rights to secede from the USSR through a referendum, which is what happened in 91. and only this made it possible to destroy the Jewish CPSU. What kind of separatism are we talking about?
--- There is gossip about Russian in Ukraine. Only there is not a single channel on the language and a book or magazine cannot be found, unfortunately (Mosizdat is everywhere). There are more Russian-language schools than Ukrainian-language ones. But separatists in Crimea and the South-East of Ukraine are not welcome in these regions, because do not reflect the opinion of the majority.
------Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians-Russian people.

Muscovy and Russia were never associated with Russia; in the 17th century, only the territory of Ukraine was understood, Ukrainians were called Rusyns, Bogdan Khmelnitsky called himself Hetman Rus, and the lands of Ukraine (Chernigov, Kiev and Pereyaslavl) were the Russian Principality, which in 1654 became a protectorate of the Muscovite kingdom, French engineer Boplan clearly calls the Ukrainians Rusyns, and the people of Muscovy are Muscovites; Muscovy will begin to communicate with the Russian people only in the middle of the 18th century, so you are no fucking Russians!

Your Majesty. Where do you think Princess Olga came to Kyiv from? And where is Ilya Muromets from? And from which cities did the Grand Dukes come in accordance with the order? In other words: look at the map of Kievan Rus, which Russian lands were included in it - and do not demonstrate your ignorance. I would like to advise the Slavic Aryan the same regarding etymology and the so-called. "referendum" of 1991

Yes.. They have powdered the brains of the Little Russians. Such a mess in the head and chaos from the pseudo-historical nonsense of modern Ukrainian universities and pseudo-scientific brochures of amateurs who imagine themselves to be scientists. Slavic Aryan and “horizon” are typical examples of such reformatting of self-awareness. And there are more and more of them. The worst thing is that they believe in all this nonsense and nonsense written by sick people. What do they do to people? I feel sorry for them...

Slavic Aryan, “what outskirts or at the edge of what?” - at the edge of Kievan Rus (border territory), was first found in the chronicle of 1187 and designated the Pereyaslavl principality, which bordered the lands of nomads in the south.

too harsh and a lot of lies, the history was rewritten many times, you don’t need to trust it, read the chronicles, and look at ancient maps, not from textbooks, and if Kyiv was restored as an ancient capital, then there could be rights to all territories outside Kievan Rus, and if by nationality, then 75% of those who call themselves Great Russians come from Little Russia, look at the migration of peoples to the desert lands of the north and Siberia from Little Russia, and who in Russia indigenous people, and all the Cossacks come from Little Russia, and Muscovy was also founded by the same princes from the same Kyiv and other cities, and look, even in our time, more than every second person in Russia is related to Ukrainians, in our microdistrict I’m the only Russian, probably because I’m from an orphanage, all others who consider themselves Russian admit that their grandmothers and great-grandfathers came from Ukraine, during the Patriotic War since 1941, more than 50 million Ukrainians did not return to their indigenous lands, they raised Siberia, so there is no division in the Russian people, all provocations - divide and conquer, and the current Russia was supposed to be fragmented into 150 specific states at the end of Yeltsin’s rule, and you won’t believe who we are grateful to that this did not happen - the Chinese - they lay claim to very large territories of Siberia right up to the Urals, well, they don’t want to give Siberia to the Chinese, that’s why They are afraid of ruining Russia, they hope to buy up all the real estate by the private sector. r.z. do not succumb to the provocations of national discord and enmity, you are being deceived, I was in Lvov and it was, the Rukh is not Ukraine, these are Poles and they are not real, and they are sowing enmity against Russia, and few people succumb, and you do not give in, maybe we will stand, there was something else.

New Russia (developed under Catherine II, Dnepropetrovsk, Zaporozhye, Kherson, Nikolaev, Odessa regions. But what about the Kirovograd region? After all, the development of the Black Sea steppes began with it. The fortress of St. Elizabeth was founded there, and later - the cities of Elisavetgrad and Alexandria, which before the revolution they were district centers of the Kherson province. Why are we always Russians when the borders of Novorossiya are mentioned?

And what, under Catherine they already knew and revered the name of the future Bolshevik Kirov?

“And what, under Catherine they already knew and revered the name of the future Bolshevik Kirov?” Sorry, but I still don’t understand this passage. I didn’t speak for Kirov, one of the authors of the law of 5 ears of corn. I mean that the Nine Korovograd region is a fragment of the Kherson lips, and therefore part of Novorossiya. Why this annoying tone?

the lands that you proudly call “Novorossiya” belonged to you for centuries Zaporozhye army. And then royal power liquidated the Zaporozhye Sich and created its own Novorossiya! Ukraine will not bend under you!

Nathan Rybak.

PEREYASLAV RADA

Bogdan Khmelnitsky devoted his life to solving two main problems: the liberation of Ukraine from foreign yoke and the unification of Ukraine with Russia. He achieved this goal with all the strength of his mighty will and his inexhaustible energy. He put his brilliant talent as an organizer, his outstanding qualities as a commander and military leader, and his skill as a remarkable diplomat at the service of his great idea.

...The pinnacle of Bohdan Khmelnytsky’s activity was the decision made by the Ukrainian people in 1654 at the council in Pereyaslav...

"Pravda", 11 X 1943

Be glorious forever, O chosen man,

Liberties Father, hero Bogdan!

Grigory Skovoroda

Chapter 1

Standing up in the stirrups, the rider leaned his hand on the high pommel of the saddle.

Kyiv opened up to his gaze, which slid over the bluish strip of forest.

The solemn ringing of the bells of Sofia and the Pechersk Monastery floated in the frosty air. Above the towers of the Golden Gate and on the walls of the fortress, the keen eye of the horseman caught a barely noticeable waving of the banners.

The horse neighed and hit the frost-bound ground with its hoof. The rider ruffled the horse's mane, bent down and whispered in his ear (as if it were a secret):

- Be patient!

And immediately the rider felt that this word “be patient” referred to himself. And it’s true, maybe for the first time this year his heart was beating so fast, freezing. He looked down. In the lowland, under the steep slope, they were waiting for him.

Cossacks were moving along the entire wide road. The snow creaked. The cheerful ringing of tulumbas scattered all around. Bunchuks and heavy scarlet-velvet banners floated overhead.

Seeing the horseman on the steep slope, the Cossacks began to make noise. A thousand voices exploded and rolled:

- Glory!..

The rider touched his horse's spurs and rode down.

It was the twenty-third day of the month of December 1648.

From the Golden Gate good horses They were carrying wide sleighs, in which sat Patriarch Paisius of Jerusalem and Metropolitan of Kiev Sylvester Kossov.

Surrounded by horsemen, the sleigh slid along the well-worn road. From under his shaggy gray eyebrows, the patriarch’s stern eyes peered carefully into the distance.

Sylvester Kossov leaned over and said:

“His plans are unknown and his actions are unstoppable. He imagined that, like an apostle, he had the right to decide the destinies of people. I trust in you and in your ability to turn a lion into a lamb, and replace the gall in the heart of the serpent with oil.

The Patriarch did not listen to Kossov. He hastily continued:

– The mob rose up against worthy and respectable persons, not only against Catholics, but also Orthodox. In his station wagon he wrote: “Everyone will be equal...” A blasphemer and a foul speaker...

Kossov spat on the road. I looked around. A multi-voiced hubbub swayed over the crowd.

“Like a prince is being met,” he thought and once again condemned the behavior of Patriarch Paisius: despite his advanced age and high rank, the patriarch himself went to meet Bogdan Khmelnitsky, and even got him, Kossov, involved in this dangerous whim.

Rows of Cossacks were already visible. Several horsemen separated from them and galloped towards the sleigh.

About a hundred paces from the sleigh, Khmelnitsky stopped his horse and dismounted. Jura<Джура – оруженосец.>picked up the occasion. Ivan Vygovsky, Lavrin Kapusta, Matvey Gladky and Siluyan Muzhilovsky dismounted. The hetman with quick steps, stepping elastically on the snow and taking off his hat, approached the sleigh. Even in the evening, Kapusta told him that Patriarch Paisiy was in Kyiv and expressed a desire to personally meet the hetman.

And Khmelnitsky immediately appreciated how significant such an event was and how it would affect the attitude of the people and the clergy towards him, seeing next to a gray-haired old man, in whom he unmistakably guessed the patriarch, round as church bell, Sylvester Kossov, the hetman frowned. Siluyan Muzhilovsky and Lavrin Kapusta looked at each other. There were a few steps left to the sleigh.

Paisiy, supported by the elbow by Metropolitan Kossovo and the monks, rose from the sleigh to meet the hetman. But Khmelnitsky did not let him get out of the sleigh, fell to his knees and pressed his lips to a sinewy, small, cold hand. He didn’t kiss Kossov’s hand right away; inquisitively, as if studying, he looked into the eyes and barely touched his hand with his mustache. The Metropolitan moved over and gave him a place in the sleigh, on his right hand. The crowd shouted enthusiastically:

- Glory! Glory to Hetman Bogdan!

- Glory to Hops!

He grinned. So they shouted to him under the Yellow Waters after the victory; that's how the Polish-Lithuanian people shouted<Посполитые – крестьяне.>with scythes and pitchforks in their hands, ready to follow him into fire and water. So he led them from the Dnieper to the Vistula, returned Kyiv to them and achieved victory. He did not put on a hat, and the wind moved his hair, cooling his head. And I needed to freshen up. Yesterday, all day long at Muzhilovsky’s estate, the foreman and the Cossacks drank to his health, drank to the victory, to the defeat of the king and khan, to the death of the Turkish Sultan.

The old patriarch said something to him in a weak voice, but he could not hear anything - everything was drowned out by the endless wave of exclamations rolling over the crowd of Kievites, over the Cossack ranks.

The sleigh had to stop at the Golden Gate. Voight, heavenly people<Войт – городской судья; райцы (или радцы) – выборные из горожан члены городского совета.>and the elected Kyiv guilds greeted him with bread and salt. Pushing them aside, an old woman in shabby clothes squeezed towards the sleigh. No one even remembered how she took off her copper cross on a gray cord and put it around the hetman’s neck. He grabbed her hands with both hands and brought them to his lips.

The Patriarch nodded his head approvingly. Sylvester Kossov turned away.

They shouted again: “Glory!” Then the students of the Kyiv Collegium came forward. Khmelnitsky immediately recognized them by their long black scrolls. One of them, a tall, hefty young man with a voice reminiscent of a trumpet, read ornate Latin verses in which he compared the hetman with Alexander the Great and called him the bravest knight in the world. Then the short, portly tradesman climbed onto the barrel and in a thin voice congratulated the hetman on behalf of the Kyiv magistrate.

“We have been waiting for you, great hetman, like Moses, our savior and deliverer!” - he shouted in a thin voice. “We prayed for you day and night.”

Someone interrupted the speaker with a laugh:

– You shouldn’t have tried so hard... I would have gone to Zheltye Vody!

The tradesman was embarrassed. Sylvester Kossov said reproachfully:

- A demon that has taken possession of the rabble leads the evil one to self-thinking...

“This mob, Metropolitan, went through the entire region with swords in their hands, drove the gentlemen-Polyakhs beyond the Vistula and is worthy of your blessing in every possible way...

Decided to accept the Hetmanate into the citizenship of the Russian state. After this decision, a large embassy headed by boyar Vasily Buturlin was sent from Moscow to conduct the negotiation process in the Pereyaslav region. The Russian embassy also included okolnichy Ivan Alferyev, clerk Leonty Lopukhin and representatives of the clergy.

The city of Pereyaslavl was chosen as the venue for the General Military Council, where the embassy arrived on December 31, 1653 (January 10). Bogdan Khmelnitsky, together with the general foreman, arrived on January 6 (16) of the year.

General Military Council in Pereyaslav

After the hetman read out the royal letter, the elder and the ambassadors headed to the Assumption Cathedral, where the clergy were to take the oath of office. B. Khmelnitsky expressed the wish that the ambassadors be the first to take the oath on behalf of the Russian Tsar. However, V. Buturlin refused to take the oath on behalf of the tsar, saying that the tsar does not swear allegiance to his subjects.

After which the Cossacks took the oath. In total, 284 people took the oath on the day of the Pereyaslav Rada. On behalf of the Tsar, the hetman was presented with a letter and signs of the hetman's power: a banner, a mace and a hat.

Treaty of Pereyaslavl

After Buturlin’s departure, the Cossack elders and the hetman began to work out the conditions under which they would like to transfer to the citizenship of the Russian Tsar. In the form of a petition (“petition”), the Tsar wrote a list of 11 points (Martovsky Article), which was brought to Moscow in March 1654 by Pavel Teterya and military judge Samoilo Bogdanovich and his comrades. In Moscow, ambassadors announced additional points. As a result, a treaty was considered that included 23 articles.

Taking the oath of allegiance to the Tsar in the Hetmanate

Nevertheless, according to the Russian embassy, ​​127,328 Cossacks, townspeople and free military villagers took the oath (women and serfs were not sworn in).

Among the Orthodox, only supporters of the former punishable hetman Barabash, appointed by the Polish government, who was drowned by the registered Cossacks along with other noble chiefs, supporters of the lord's power, in the Battle of Zheltye Vody, from whom Khmelnitsky had previously managed to lure out a royal charter, which he used as a cover for gathering troops. Barabash himself, as well as a number of representatives of the Cossack elders - Bratslav, Kropivyansky, Poltava, Uman Cossack regiments, was blocked in Chernobyl and ordered to be mercilessly soldered and entertained in every possible way, so that they would not complain about the loss to the Polish king. The enmity with Barabash arose from the fact that Barabash hoped, in exchange for using the Cossacks in the war with the Istanbul Sultanate in the interests of the Polish crown, to receive some magnate privileges and a financial sum, which Bogdan Khmelnitsky prevented. In total, Barabash’s supporters numbered about two to three hundred, mostly wealthy representatives of Barabash’s inner circle. What Khmelnitsky did with those who disagreed is not known for certain, since in the documentary sources of both all interested parties and outside observers nothing is known about their fate, except that during the swearing-in they refused to take the oath on behalf of their regiments. However, already in 1655 - three months after the refusal of its leadership - the Poltava regiment is mentioned as having sworn allegiance in full force. And the Bratslav regiment entered, according to the Gadyach Treaty of 1658, into the third new sovereign of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Grand Duchy of Russia, but in 1659, almost in full force, with the exception of the elders, did not show up for the Battle of Konotop. The remaining regiments were also understaffed, which led to the recruitment of Polish mercenaries and the addition of “armored Cossacks”, Catholics and Uniates by religion, as well as to the fact that the main burden and losses in this battle were borne by the royal troops. Including the elite Krakow Hussars, as follows from the number of assigned pensions, 268 people were lost. According to one of the non-academic legends, they were commanded by Colonel Pan Stanislav Khmelevsky, the half-brother of Bohdan Khmelnitsky, with whom they studied at the Jesuit college. However, this legend does not find academic confirmation of a non-new-made nature.

Consequences of the Pereyaslav Rada

For Russia, the Pereyaslav Agreement led to the acquisition of part of the lands of Western Rus' (including the city of Kyiv), which justified the title Russian tsars, - sovereign of all Rus'. Russian tsars began to call themselves collectors of lands with a Slavic Orthodox population.

For the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, this agreement marked the beginning of the processes of disintegration and dismemberment, which ultimately led to the complete loss of independence in the city.

On October 27, 1659, the second Pereyaslav Agreement was concluded between Yuri Khmelnitsky, the son of Bogdan Khmelnitsky, and representatives of the Russian Tsar. This agreement limited the independence of the hetmans and was a consequence of Hetman Vygovsky's defection to the side of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

From a 300-year distance, the Russian historian Gumilev, Lev Nikolaevich wrote about the events of that time:

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Notes

1. Klyuchevsky V. O. Book 2
2. Okolsky S. Dyaryusz transactiey wojennej między wojskiem koronnem i zaporoskiem w r. 1637 miesiąca Grudnia przez Mikołaja Potockiego zaczętej i dokończonej (Polish) (Diary of military actions between royal army and the Cossacks in January 1637) - Zamość, 1638.;
   Diary of Simeon Okolsky //
3. Papkov, A.I. Border region of the Russian kingdom and Ukrainian lands of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth: the end of the 16th - first half of the 17th century. Publishing house "Constant", 2004
4. Grekov I., Korolyuk V., Miller I. Reunification of Ukraine with the Muscovite kingdom in 1654 - M.: Gospolitizdat, 1954. -
6. Reunification of Ukraine with Russia. Documents and materials in three volumes. (Collection of documents and materials from 1620−1654, dedicated to the liberation war of B. Khmelnitsky and the Pereyaslav Rada) - M.: Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1953. - 621+557+649 pp. -
7. Rigelman A. I.
8. Smoliy V. A., Stepankov V. S. Ukrainian national revolution XVII century. (1648−1676). - K.: “Alternatives”, 1999. - P. 182. (Ukrainian)
9. , .
10. Gumilev L. From Rus' to Russia - ISBN 5-17-012201-2. This point of view of Gumilyov is supported in detail by extensive text in the book

Literature

• Kostomarov N. I. Russian history in the biographies of its main figures.- M.: Mysl, 1993; AST, Astrel, 2006 - 608 p. - 5000 copies. - ISBN 5-17-033565-2, ISBN 5-271-12746-X; Eksmo, 2007. - 596 pp.; Eksmo-Press, 2008. - 1024 p. - ISBN 978-5-699-25873-4; Eksmo, 2009, 2011. - 1024 p. - 5000 copies each - ISBN 978-5-699-33756-9;

Links

• Myakotin V. A... - Prague, 1930.
• Sokolov Leonid.

An excerpt characterizing the Pereyaslav Rada

One of the doctors, in a bloody apron and with bloody small hands, in one of which he held a cigar between his little finger and thumb (so as not to stain it), came out of the tent. This doctor raised his head and began to look around, but above the wounded. He obviously wanted to rest a little. After moving his head to the right and left for a while, he sighed and lowered his eyes.
“Well, now,” he said in response to the words of the paramedic, who pointed him to Prince Andrei, and ordered him to be carried into the tent.
There was a murmur from the crowd of waiting wounded.
“Apparently, the gentlemen will live alone in the next world,” said one.
Prince Andrei was carried in and laid on a newly cleaned table, from which the paramedic was rinsing something. Prince Andrei could not make out exactly what was in the tent. Piteous moans with different sides, the excruciating pain of his hip, stomach and back entertained him. Everything that he saw around him merged for him into one general impression of a naked, bloody human body, which seemed to fill the entire low tent, just as a few weeks ago on this hot August day the same body filled a dirty pond. Smolensk road. Yes, it was that same body, that same chair a canon [fodder for cannons], the sight of which even then, as if predicting what would happen now, aroused horror in him.
There were three tables in the tent. Two were occupied, and Prince Andrei was placed on the third. He was left alone for some time, and he involuntarily saw what was happening on the other two tables. On the nearby table sat a Tatar, probably a Cossack, judging by his uniform thrown nearby. Four soldiers held him. The bespectacled doctor was cutting something into his brown, muscular back.
“Uh, uh, uh!..” it was as if the Tatar was grunting, and suddenly, raising his high-cheekboned, black, snub-nosed face, baring his white teeth, he began to tear, twitch and squeal with a piercing, ringing, drawn-out squeal. On another table, around which a lot of people were crowding, a large, plump man with his head thrown back lay on his back (the curly hair, its color and the shape of the head seemed strangely familiar to Prince Andrei). Several paramedics leaned on this man's chest and held him. The white, large, plump leg twitched quickly and frequently, without ceasing, with feverish tremors. This man was sobbing convulsively and choking. Two doctors silently - one was pale and trembling - were doing something on the other, red leg of this man. Having dealt with the Tatar, on whom an overcoat had been thrown, the doctor in glasses, wiping his hands, approached Prince Andrei. He looked into the face of Prince Andrei and hastily turned away.
- Undress! What are you standing for? – he shouted angrily at the paramedics.
Prince Andrei remembered his very first distant childhood, when the paramedic, with his hasty, rolled-up hands, unbuttoned his buttons and took off his dress. The doctor bent low over the wound, felt it and sighed heavily. Then he made a sign to someone. And the excruciating pain inside the abdomen made Prince Andrei lose consciousness. When he woke up, the broken thigh bones had been removed, chunks of flesh had been cut off, and the wound had been bandaged. They threw water in his face. As soon as Prince Andrei opened his eyes, the doctor bent over him, silently kissed him on the lips and hurriedly walked away.
After suffering, Prince Andrei felt a bliss that he had not experienced for a long time. All the best, happiest moments in his life, especially his earliest childhood, when they undressed him and put him in his crib, when the nanny sang over him, lulling him to sleep, when, burying his head in the pillows, he felt happy with the sheer consciousness of life - he imagined to the imagination not even as the past, but as reality.
Doctors were fussing around the wounded man, the outline of whose head seemed familiar to Prince Andrei; they lifted him up and calmed him down.
– Show me... Ooooh! O! oooooh! – one could hear his groan, interrupted by sobs, frightened and resigned to suffering. Listening to these moans, Prince Andrei wanted to cry. Was it because he was dying without glory, was it because he was sorry to part with his life, was it because of these irretrievable childhood memories, was it because he suffered, that others suffered, and this man moaned so pitifully in front of him, but he wanted to cry childish, kind, almost joyful tears.
The wounded man was shown a severed leg in a boot with dried blood.
- ABOUT! Ooooh! - he sobbed like a woman. The doctor, standing in front of the wounded man, blocking his face, moved away.
- My God! What is this? Why is he here? - Prince Andrei said to himself.
In the unfortunate, sobbing, exhausted man, whose leg had just been taken away, he recognized Anatoly Kuragin. They held Anatole in their arms and offered him water in a glass, the edge of which he could not catch with his trembling, swollen lips. Anatole was sobbing heavily. “Yes, it’s him; “Yes, this man is somehow closely and deeply connected with me,” thought Prince Andrei, not yet clearly understanding what was in front of him. – What is this person’s connection with my childhood, with my life? - he asked himself, not finding an answer. And suddenly a new, unexpected memory from the world of childhood, pure and loving, presented itself to Prince Andrei. He remembered Natasha as he had seen her for the first time at the ball in 1810, with a thin neck and thin arms, ready for delight, frightened, happy face, and love and tenderness for her, even more alive and stronger than ever, awoke in his soul. He now remembered the connection that existed between him and this man, who, through the tears that filled his swollen eyes, looked dully at him. Prince Andrey remembered everything, and enthusiastic pity and love for this man filled his happy heart.
Prince Andrei could no longer hold on and began to cry tender, loving tears over people, over himself and over them and his delusions.
“Compassion, love for brothers, for those who love, love for those who hate us, love for enemies - yes, that love that God preached on earth, which Princess Marya taught me and which I did not understand; That’s why I felt sorry for life, that’s what was still left for me if I were alive. But now it's too late. I know it!"

The terrible sight of the battlefield, covered with corpses and wounded, combined with the heaviness of the head and with the news of the killed and wounded twenty familiar generals and with the awareness of the powerlessness of his previously strong hand, made an unexpected impression on Napoleon, who usually loved to look at the dead and wounded, thereby testing his mental strength(as he thought). On this day, the terrible sight of the battlefield defeated the spiritual strength in which he believed his merit and greatness. He hastily left the battlefield and returned to the Shevardinsky mound. Yellow, swollen, heavy, with dull eyes, a red nose and a hoarse voice, he sat on a folding chair, involuntarily listening to the sounds of gunfire and not raising his eyes. With painful melancholy he awaited the end of that matter, which he considered himself to be the cause of, but which he could not stop. Personal human feeling for a brief moment took over that artificial ghost of life which he had served for so long. He endured the suffering and death that he saw on the battlefield. The heaviness of his head and chest reminded him of the possibility of suffering and death for himself. At that moment he did not want Moscow, victory, or glory for himself. (What more glory did he need?) The only thing he wanted now was rest, peace and freedom. But when he was at Semenovskaya Heights, the chief of artillery suggested that he place several batteries at these heights in order to intensify the fire on the Russian troops crowded in front of Knyazkov. Napoleon agreed and ordered news to be brought to him about what effect these batteries would produce.

The autumn of 1653 arrived. The sixth year was drawing to a close. liberation war Ukrainian people under the leadership of Bogdan Khmelnytsky. During this time Cossack army won a number of outstanding victories: on May 6, 1648, at Zheltye Vody, the Polish vanguard under the command of Stefan Pototsky was completely defeated; 10 days later, on May 16, the main Polish forces were defeated near Korsun, while the Cossacks captured huge trophies and captured both crown hetmans - Nikolai Pototsky and Martin Kalinovsky; in September 1648, near Pilyavtsy, in Volyn, the same fate befell a large Polish army under the command of Zaslavsky, Konetspolsky and Ostrorog.

But not only victories accompanied the Ukrainian people in the struggle against the rule of Polish feudal lords. Ally of Bohdan Khmelnitsky - Crimean Khan betrayed the Cossacks more than once. In August 1649, in the battle of Zborov, at the most critical moment for the Poles, he went over to their side and thereby snatched victory from the hands of the Cossacks. He acted in the same insidious manner in June 1651 near Berestechko: he not only fled from the battlefield with the entire horde, but also forcibly took Khmelnitsky with him. Because of this, the Cossacks suffered a heavy defeat. The Tatar khans, in addition, mercilessly plundered Ukraine and took the population captive en masse.

The Polish feudal lords inflicted terrible disasters on the Ukrainian people: they burned entire cities and villages, and subjected the population to torture and death. The devastation of the country led to economic ruin and famine.

Noble Poland was a strong state. It had large funds and enjoyed the support of Western European states. Under such conditions, it was possible to free oneself from its yoke only with the help of Russia, under whose protection various layers of Ukrainian society had long sought. Ukraine was connected with the Russian people by its historical past, closeness of culture, unity of faith and general tasks fight against aggressive neighbors: lordly Poland, Turkey and the Crimean Khanate.

Already on June 8, 1648, immediately after the first victories, Bogdan Khmelnitsky addressed a letter to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. “They wanted (wanted) bykhmo sobi,” wrote the Ukrainian hetman, “an autocrat and ruler in his land like your royal highness.” Khmelnitsky also asked the tsar for military assistance. Six months after this, Khmelnitsky sent his ambassador to Moscow, Colonel Muzhilovsky, who repeated the contents of this letter. However, the tsarist government for almost six years refrained from taking Ukraine under its rule and the inevitable war with Poland. There were many reasons for this.

From the first days of the liberation war in Ukraine, mass demonstrations began: peasants declared themselves Cossacks - free from serfdom, killed or expelled landowners and introduced Cossack orders - elected atamans, judges, clerks and decided all public affairs at village meetings (radas). At the same time, armed detachments were created, joining the main Cossack army. Information about this constantly arrived in Moscow. Diplomat Kunakov, who visited Ukraine, reported, for example, to the government: “And many willful and arable men gathered in regiments for Bogdan Khmelnitsky, having beaten their lords on their estates (estates).” Kunakov advised to better protect the borders of the Russian state from Ukrainian rebels.

But what frightened the Russian serf owners even more was the flight of their peasants to Ukraine to participate in the war of liberation. Moreover, such fugitives often dealt with their landowners beforehand. In June 1648, a formidable popular uprising broke out in Moscow itself, which then spread to other cities. Having suppressed the uprising, the tsarist government convened a Zemsky Sobor, at which the Code of 1649 was adopted, which finally enslaved the peasants (see art. “ Moscow uprising 1648"). It is clear that the Moscow boyars and nobles were wary of providing direct assistance to the liberation war of the Ukrainian people.

In addition, Russia was not ready for a war with Poland and was experiencing great financial difficulties. Finally, the Russian government feared a blow from Sweden in the event of a war with Poland. Sweden, which seized access to the Baltic Sea from Russia (at the beginning of the 17th century), tried to secure it for itself and took a hostile wait-and-see position.

Nevertheless, the Russian government established diplomatic relations with the Ukrainian hetman and began to provide assistance to Ukraine. Duty-free export of food and other goods to Ukraine, including weapons - guns, was allowed. Russian government did not prevent participation in the liberation war Don Cossacks, allowed in a number of cases the transfer of Ukrainian troops through Russian territory, concentrated on Polish border their troops in order to alleviate the situation of the Ukrainian Cossack army in this way. The Russian government accepted Ukrainian peasants and Cossacks who fled their homeland from the revenge of Polish feudal lords. The fugitives received land, help to set up a household, and settled as free people, most often Cossacks. During the liberation war, these settlers formed an entire region, called Sloboda Ukraine (the main part of it is the modern Kharkov region). This policy strengthened the sympathy of the Ukrainian people for Russia.

Seal of the Zaporozhye army.

By the summer of 1653 gentry Poland, despite previous heavy defeats, gathered enormous forces. She hoped to crush the liberation movement in Ukraine and restore cruel national-religious oppression and serfdom there. King Jan Casimir, at the head of a 60,000-strong army, headed through Lviv to Kamenets-Podolsky and near it, near Zhvanets, he set up a camp. The Polish-Lithuanian Rushenie (gentry militia) came to the aid of the king. At the same time, Hetman Radziwill was ordered to invade Ukraine from Lithuania, capture Kiev and go to Zhvanets to unite. At the end of September, a Ukrainian army led by Bohdan Khmelnitsky and his ally, the Crimean Khan with a horde, approached Zhvanets. A decisive battle lay ahead.

At this moment, on October 1, 1653, the Zemsky Sobor in Moscow made a historic decision: to declare war on Poland and “take Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky and the entire Zaporozhye Army with their cities and lands under ... the sovereign’s high hand.” Immediately after this, great ambassadors were sent to Ukraine: boyar V. Buturlin, okolnichy I. Alferyev and clerk L. Lopukhin.

Military operations began near Zhvanets. The Tatars surrounded the royal camp. Khan was already preparing for a decisive blow to the Polish camp, when near Zhvanets they learned about the decision of the Zemskgr Cathedral. The situation has changed dramatically. The Khan and the King, both enemies of Russia, made peace (December 15, 1653). However, they have so far refused to take active action against Ukraine, since powerful Russia was already behind it.

Hetman Bohdan Khmelnitsky.

Meanwhile, Pereyaslav was already approaching Russian embassy. It carried the hetman with the royal letter, as well as signs of the hetman's dignity: a banner, a mace, a cap and a hat. On December 31, five miles from Pereyaslav, the embassy was solemnly greeted by a local colonel, with whom, as an eyewitness recorded, there were “centurions and atamans and Cossacks with six hundred people or more, with banners and trumpets, and kettledrums.” The Cossacks lined up at the entrance to the city greeted the ambassadors with rifle shots. The entire population of the city came out to meet the embassy. Church bells were ringing.

It was January 8, 1654. At about 2 o'clock in the afternoon, drumming and the sounds of timpani were heard, calling people to the city square. When “a great multitude of all ranks of people” gathered, a kolo (circle) was formed. Despite wartime, representatives of almost all Ukrainian regiments, cities and residents of the surrounding area arrived in Pereyaslav. Many, unable to fit in the square, stood on the roofs of houses.

Forever with Moscow, forever with the Russian people. Painting by M. Khmelko.

The hetman appeared under the bunchuk, surrounded by a foreman. Stopping in the middle of the circle, Bogdan Khmelnitsky addressed those present with a speech. He recalled the suffering of the Ukrainian people under the yoke of the Polish gentry and the need to come under the authority and protection of a strong power. Such a power, Khmelnitsky emphasized, can only be Russia. The hetman’s words were covered with a roar of approval: “We will force a strong hand under the Eastern, Orthodox king...”. Two colonels, going around the ranks, asked if everyone agreed to this. The answer was: “Everyone is unanimous.”

As the Ukrainian chronicler S. Velichko noted later in his chronicle, the Cossacks also welcomed the reunification.

From Pereyaslav, the Tsar's ambassador V. Buturlin sent the stewards, solicitors and nobles who were with him to all the regiments (districts), to the cities and towns of Ukraine to swear in the population. The Ukrainian people were filled with hope that reunification would bring them peace and prosperity. The masses of the people - peasants, Cossacks, townspeople - hoped that as part of Russia they would retain freedom from serfdom and various oppressions, obtained at the cost of heavy sacrifices during the war. These hopes were supported by the fact that there were vast regions in Russia - the Don, Yaik and others - that did not yet know serfdom and enjoyed self-government. As for the Cossack elders, the nobility, and landowners, they hoped to restore, with the help of tsarism, the serfdom that had been shaken during the war and strengthen their position ruling class.

The position of Ukraine within the Russian state was formalized by the so-called “Articles of Bogdan Khmelnitsky”. They were submitted to the Tsar by the hetman in March 1654 and approved, with some changes, by special charters. These letters preserved the election of the hetman and the military, administrative and judicial structure that developed in Ukraine during the liberation war. Military strength Ukraine consisted of a 60,000-strong Cossack army. The hetman, the head of the army and administration, had the right to receive and release ambassadors from all states except Poland and Turkey. Thus, Ukraine received political autonomy. The position of the ruling class was assigned to the Cossack elders and the Ukrainian nobility. The tsarist government began to strictly protect his privileges: the right to own estates and exploit the peasants.

The reunification of Ukraine with Russia was of great historical significance. Unlike Poland, where feudal anarchy reigned, where large feudal lords not only fought with each other, but often took up arms against the king, Russia was a state with a strong central government.

Joining Russia saved Ukraine from feudal wars, ravaged the population and undermined economic life countries. At the same time, the restrictions and oppression to which Ukrainian townspeople were subjected under Polish rule were abolished. All this created more favorable conditions for the economic development of the country.

Recognition of autonomy for Ukraine contributed to its political and cultural development. For cultural development Ukraine great value had the influence of progressive Russian culture. The reunification of Ukraine with Russia united the forces of both peoples to protect the country from dangerous enemies - the Crimean Khanate and Sultan Turkey. Having reunited with Russia, the Ukrainian people preserved themselves as a nation. He was no longer in danger of being absorbed into gentry Poland and Sultan Turkey. At the same time, he found in the Russian people a powerful friend and ally in the struggle against the autocracy, landowners, and capitalists.