Event
Ukrainian theatre in the Great Northern War (1700–1713)
The Northern War in Ukraine (1700–1713) was a theatre of the Great Northern War, featuring factions including the Left-bank Cossack Hetmanate under Ivan Mazepa, Right-bank Cossacks under the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Zaporizhian Sich, the Tsardom of Russia, the Swedish Empire, the Crimean Khanate, and the Ottoman Empire.
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Text from the Wikipedia article “Northern War in Ukraine”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
The Northern War in Ukraine (1700–1713) was a theatre of the Great Northern War, featuring factions including the Left-bank Cossack Hetmanate under Ivan Mazepa, Right-bank Cossacks under the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Zaporizhian Sich, the Tsardom of Russia, the Swedish Empire, the Crimean Khanate, and the Ottoman Empire.
Well before the Swedish army entered Ukraine in 1708, there were widespread rebellions in both Western Ukraine (the Paliy uprising of 1700/1702–1704 against the Commonwealth for abolishing the Right-bank Cossack Regiments in 1699) and Eastern Ukraine (the Bulavin Rebellion of Don Cossacks of 1705/1707–1708 against the Tsardom of Russia).
Moreover, since the beginning of the Great Northern War in 1700, the Cossack Hetmanate had been supplying the Tsardom of Russia troops, ammunition, fodder and food. Mazepa was also directly involved in suppressing Paliy uprising in Right-bank Ukraine in 1704, officially "to aid the Commonwealth against Sweden", but in practice to prevent the Cossack rebellion from spreading to Left-bank Ukraine. Paliy and his fellow Cossack rebels were very sympathetic to Mazepa, and Right-bank Hetman Samiilo Samus even offered him his mace, but Mazepa refused to prevent war between the Commonwealth and Russia. In practice, however, the Right-bank Regiments were added to the Left-bank Cossack Hetmanate for several years, leading to a temporary reunification of Ukraine. While Paliy was exiled to Siberia in 1705, Samus and the other Cossack rebel leaders pledged their loyalty to Mazepa, and Cossacks from both banks would fight side by side in the campaign to drive the Polish gentry out of Western Ukraine up to and including Lviv in late 1705.
With the arrival of Charles XII in Ukraine in October 1708, Mazepa concluded the Ukrainian-Swedish Alliance with the King and opposed Peter I. Following the Hetman, the Zaporizhian Cossacks led by Kish otaman Kost Hordiienko also joined the Swedes. After the Baturyn tragedy and the Battle of Poltava, the Ukrainian Cossacks withdrew together with Mazepa and Charles XII to Bender, Moldova in the Ottoman Empire. As the sultan refused Peter's demand to extradite the Swedish king to Russia, which violated Ottoman territory, Istanbul declared war on Russia in 1710.
After Mazepa's death, Pylyp Orlyk was elected as hetman of Ukraine in April 1710, and he continued the fight for Ukraine's independence. In 1711 the Ukrainian Cossacks together with the Crimean Tatars launched Pylyp Orlyk's March on Right-bank Ukraine. However, because the Crimean khan retreated earlier than planned and Orlyk could not capture Bila Tserkva, the campaign ended in failure, and Orlyk fell back. All this time, King Charles XII and hetman Orlyk were conducting diplomatic work in the Ottoman Empire and many European capitals in order to organize an anti-Moscow coalition. However, these efforts were unsuccessful. Muscovy managed to avoid any large-scale military action by the Ottoman Empire through diplomatic efforts and bribing of Ottoman officials. Another peace treaty was signed on 17 April 1712. However, on 30 April 1713, Sultan Ahmed III declared a new war – though no significant fighting took place. During 1713, Muscovy and the Ottoman Empire finally ceased hostilities. Charles XII was forced to leave the Ottoman Empire in February 1713, and finally returned to Sweden.
After the start of the Russo-Swedish War, the position of the Hetmanate in the Tsardom of Russia got even more complicated. Tsar Peter I constantly demanded more and more troops, provisions and ammunition from hetman Ivan Mazepa. In addition, Ukrainian Cossacks and officers constantly complained about harassment and extortion conducted by Moscow troops. The civilian population of the Hetmanate was also subjected to looting. In April 1704, a royal order was issued for the Cossack army to fight against detachments of magnates – supporters of the Swedes. Meanwhile, starting in 1706, Mazepa corresponded with Stanislaw Lishchynski (through Princess Dolska).
In Eastern Ukraine, the prelude of the Bulavin Rebellion began when a group of rebel Don Cossacks captured the town of Bakhmut in 1705.
The Bulavin Rebellion (Russian: Булавинское восстание, romanized: Bulavinskoye vosstaniye; Восстание Булавина, Vosstaniye Bulavina) was a war which took place in the years 1707 and 1708 between the Don Cossacks and the Tsardom of Russia. Kondraty Bulavin, a democratically elected Ataman of the Don Cossacks, led the Cossack rebels. The conflict was triggered by a number of underlying tensions between the Moscow government under Peter I of Russia, the Cossacks, and Russian peasants fleeing from serfdom in Russia to gain freedom in the autonomous Don area. It started with the 1707 assassination of Prince Yury Vladimirovich Dolgorukov, the leader of Imperial army's punitive expedition to the Don area, by Don Cossacks under Bulavin's command. The end of the rebellion came with Bulavin's death in 1708.
The Battle of Grodno (Hrodna) on 7 February 1708 was a relatively small first clash, followed by the larger Battle of Holowczyn (Haloůchyn) on 14 July 1708, a costly tactical Swedish victory. The Battle of Malatitze (10 September 1708) was indecisive, but the Swedes forced the Russians to retreat. The Battle of Rajovka (20 September 1708) was a clear Swedish victory, but after the army reached Tatarsk (modern Monastyrshchinsky District) the following day, the supply convoy of Adam Ludwig Lewenhaupt had still not arrived by 25 September 1708. Charles decided it would be impossible to reach Moscow without it, and that his hungry army had to get food in fertile Ukraine instead. Some two weeks later, the supply convoy commanded by Lewenhaupt was defeated in the Battle of Lesnaya (9 October 1708, O.S. 29 September 1708).
A Swedish detachment under the command of Lagerkrun, due to the unfamiliarity with the area, was not able to occupy Starodub, which was immediately used by the Muscovite army. After the occupation of Starodub and Pochep, Moscow's troops blocked the Swedes' last chance to get the food they needed. On 21 October 1708, the Swedish army, not reaching Smolensk, headed southwards, from Kortenichi to the northern borders of Ukraine (Starodub district, crossing the Desna river).
Meanwhile, the Hetman of the Cossack Hetmanate Ivan Mazepa had been in correspondence with the Polish allies of Charles XII to explore his options. He had been loyal to his protector Peter I for over two decades, but Moscow had been encroaching on the administrative and cultural autonomy of Ukraine. Moreover, Peter's Russian armies were retreating from all of Belarus, unable to withstand the Swedish advance, except to delay it by scorched earth tactics, wreaking destruction across the land and misery for the population. Finally, when it became clear that the army of Charles was making a detour towards Ukraine, and the tsar had refused to send the Ukrainians any help, and ordered them to burn all towns and villages in Charles' path as well, just as the Russians had done in Belarus, Mazepa refused, and changed sides at the urging of his own colonels. Peter I had sent an order to Mazepa to go to Starodub immediately and unite with general Ifland. After consulting with the colonels, hetman Mazepa decided not to go to Starodub and sent an ambassador to Charles XII with a request for protection. Hetman Mazepa and the Cossack colonels considered the tsar to have violated his duty to protect the Cossack Hetmanate, as stipulated by the Pereiaslav Agreement of 1654 and many treaties ever since; instead, Mazepa and his colonels began studying the Treaty of Hadiach again, and made diplomatic overtures to Charles as he was advancing towards Ukraine.
Having learned of the hetman's transition to the Swedes' side, Peter I ordered to capture Mazepa and sent several punitive detachments to prevent mass protests against Moscow in Ukraine, while troops led by Sheremetyev were sent to lay siege to Baturyn.
After the defeat of the Livland Corps, the Swedes had 32,000 soldiers left (instead of the planned 40,000). They had little gunpowder and food, but Charles XII was hoping for a large arsenal and warehouses of hetman Mazepa in Baturyn.
On 23 October (3 November 1708), Mazepa was in Baturyn. However, on 24 October (4 November), having left an almost impregnable fortress, he crossed the Desna river and met with an advanced detachment of the Swedes. On 23 October (6 November) 1708, in the village of Orlovka (70 km from Baturyn), Mazepa arrived at the headquarters of Charles XII. At that time he had a personal court army, hundreds of elected Cossacks of the Pryluky, Lubny and Myrhorod regiments, several hundred Serdyuks, and three self-formed regiments led by Halahan, Kozhukhovsky and Andriy Malam. The total number of hetman's army was about 3.5-4 thousand soldiers. The rest of the personnel of the three above-mentioned Cossack regiments, led by the commanding Poltava colonel Hryhoriy Hertsyk, together with several Serdyuk regiments led by Chechel, remained in Baturyn.
Among the hetman's officers were Ivan Lomykovsky, Vasyl Chuykevych, Pylyp Orlyk, Mykhailo Hamalia, Dmytro Maksymovych, Fedir Myrovych and Ivan Sulyma. Among the colonels were Dmytro Gorlenko of Pryluky, Dmytro Zelensky of Lubny, Konstantin Mokievsky of Chyhyryn, Andriy Kandyba of Korsun, and Danylo Apostol of Myrhorod (the latter soon, together with Halagan, sided with Peter I).
On 28 October (8 November), the meeting between the Swedish king and the Ukrainian hetman took place. On 11 November, the Swedish army was trying to cross the Desna river, which was complicated by the actions of the Moscow's troops under General Hallart. On 13 November, the crossing to the west bank of the Desna was completed. Three regiments – Myrhorod, Lubny and Pryluky – refused to join the Muscovite army and were awaiting hetman Mazepa's orders.
Meanwhile, the siege of Baturyn had begun on 27 October O.S. (7 November N.S.). A. Menshikov had 30,000 soldiers and 20 cannons near Baturyn, and the commander of the fortress, colonel Dmytro Chechel, had 10,000 Cossacks and 40 cannons. The city was well protected, with significant supplies of weapons and food. It could withstand a long siege while waiting for the troops of the hetman and the Swedish king. However, due to the betrayal of captain Ivan Nos, the fortress fell on 2 November O.S. (13 November N.S.). All its defenders were executed, and large stocks of weapons fell to the Muscovites.
After the seizure and burning of Baturyn, Peter I sent 30,000 troops to the Zaporozhian Sich. Colonel Ivan Skoropadsky, who had initially sided with Mazepa, surrendered Starodub without a fight and joined Peter I.
Baturyn's seizure had another consequence: unrest started among the Cossacks. Peter I sent universals to all Ukrainian cities, branding Mazepa a traitor and encouraging people to rebel against the Swedish invaders. Many of those Cossacks and colonels who first followed Mazepa, left the Swedish camp and took a wait-and-see attitude.
Moscow's troops had also captured Bila Tserkva in mid-November, which housed hetman's treasury and other warehouses. The Moscow tsar ordered the execution of all supporters of the hetman, punitive detachments were sent throughout Ukraine.
On 22 November 1708, the Swedish army and Mazepa's troops approached Baturyn, but saw only ruins and fire. The allied army encamped in Romny. Here they received information about the intentions of the King of the Rzeczpospolita Stanislaus to come to their aid, and the promises of the Ottomans to sell the necessary amount of gunpowder, ammunition and lead to the Swedes.
Meanwhile, Moscow troops marched towards Hadiach, and the Swedish king was forced to direct the main convoy there to aid his troops. However, severe frosts hit in December, and as Stanislaw Poniatowski wrote: "Before reaching Hadyach, the Swedes lost more than 3,000 soldiers frozen to death, many horses and support staff in carts."
Text from the Wikipedia article “Northern War in Ukraine”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.