Left-Bank uprising

The Left-Bank uprising or Bryukhovetsky uprising was an uprising of Cossacks dissatisfied with the Andrusov truce against the Russian government. A series of military failures of the Crimean–Cossack army led to the entry of the Left-bank Ukraine into the Russian Tsardom, on the rights of autonomy

Left-Bank uprising
Part of The Ruin
Date January 1668 – winter 1669 Location Left-bank Ukraine, Russian Tsardom (modern Ukraine) Result Uprising suppressed (See § Aftermath)
Belligerents
Tsardom of Russia	Cossack Hetmanate Sirko's Cossacks (Until mid 1669)	Sukhoviy's Cossacks [a] Crimean Khanate (Also supported Doroshenko)
Commanders and leaders
Grigory Romodanovsky Fyodor Repka † Andrei Romodanovsky (POW)	Ivan Bryukhovetsky  Petro Doroshenko Demian Mnohohrishny Ivan Sirko (Until mid 1669)	Petro Sukhoviy Krim Giray Murza Batyrcha (WIA)

Background

A number of external and internal reasons led to the uprising. In 1665, Hetman Ivan Bryukhovetsky signed an agreement with Moscow, according to which the number of Russian troops on the territory of Ukraine was increased, and also the local population had to pay taxes to the Russian treasury. The Andrusovo truce caused discontent, concluded between Russian Tsardom and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, which cemented the split of Ukraine along the Dnieper.

Uprising

Hetman of Left-bank Ukraine, Ivan Bryukhovetsky

In early January 1668, Bryukhovetsky with general officers and colonels of various ranks, decided to free themselves from the Russian power by swearing allegiance to the Turkish Sultan. They soon rebelled, killed or handed over Russian civil servants to the Tatars as prisoners, marking the beginning of the struggle.^[1]

In January, Samoilovich's Cossacks besieged Chernigov [ru], where there was a small garrison. As a result of the assaults, the Cossacks were able to take part of the city, but not the citadel. In mid-September, Grigory Romodanovsky's field army defeated Samoilovich and unblocked the garrison.^[2] As soon as news of the rebellion reached Tsar Alexei, he sent an army under the command of Romadanovsky to Ukraine. Most of the Zaporozhian Cossacks were then in Kotelve. Romodanovsky laid siege to this settlement and took the city, having received many captives. Evidence suggests that Ivan Sirko could’ve been among instigators of the uprising, planning it during late 1667.^[3] Sirko launched a number of revolts during his campaign in Sloboda and Dnieper Ukraine, however, he was unable to transfer the uprising to the political centers.

Petro Sukhovy rose to power in the right bank, supported by Krim-Giray, getting into conflict with Petro Doroshenko, who was supported by Ivan Sirko. Sukhovy and Doroshenko ultimately clashed at Chyhyryn from December 1668 to January 1669, ending with Doroshenko's victory after his ally Sirko defeated Sukhovy and his Tatar allies at the town of Olkhovets.

Petro Doroshenko

Invasion of Left-Bank Ukraine

After the murder of Bryukhovetsky, Petro Doroshenko declared himself hetman and led a united Cossack–Tatar army against Romadanovsky. The Russians did not want to give a field battle right away, so they began to retreat hastily, almost completely leaving Ukraine. The Tatars and Cossacks overtook Romodanovsky's army at Akhtyrka and forced a three-day battle on it, their attacks were repulsed and the Russians continued to retreat according to plan, with only a couple of cities remaining under their control, but of paramount importance.^[4] Doroshenko, being euphoric from his successes, decided to move the war to the territory of Russia, he attacked the city of Sevsk, but to his surprise, a new army of Prince Grigory Kurakin was waiting for him there, which completely defeated the Cossacks and the Crimeans in a two-day battle on July 3–5, which led to a rift in their camp, suffering significant losses, Doroshenko returned to the right bank, leaving behind only a small force.^[5][6] Romodanovsky and Kurakin staged a new campaign, unblocking the besieged Moscow garrisons, the most important siege was Nezhin, where the besieged garrison was located for almost the whole year, which lost 150 people as a result of the siege. The Ukrainian historian Zhelezko R. A. believes that the losses of the Cossacks amounted to 2,500, but Russian researchers Vladimir Velikanov and Yakov Lazarev consider this to be overestimated.^[7] iIn general, by the end of the autumn of 1668, the uprising was practically suppressed.^[8]

Aftermath

The uprising was completely defeated from a military point of view.^[9][10] Bryukhovetsky was killed and Doroshenko failed to seize Left-bank Ukraine. Politically, Tsar Alexis had to make concessions to Hetman Mnohohrishny and Otaman Sirko, revising some provisions of previous laws, granting a higher degree of autonomy for Left-bank Hetmanate and Zaporozhian Sich as part of Hlukhiv articles [ru].^[11] The Cossacks were not satisfied with the content of these articles, which provoked unarmed resistance from the Ukrainian authorities, which was soon broken.^[12] Moscow still held the left bank with an iron grip because it could keep its garrisons in key cities, for example, in 1672, Hetman Mnohohrishny was overthrown in the Baturyn coup [ru] and replaced with a more compliant Samoylovych. The publication of Hlukhiv articles did not solve the Cossacks' task of increasing autonomy, they were still on a "short leash" from Moscow.^[13] The main task for which the uprising was launched was the complete withdrawal of the Muscovites from the territory of Ukraine,^[14] but this failed, Romodanovsky strongly rejected this request, agreeing to other ways of granting autonomy that did not prevent the Russians from controlling the region.^[15] Availability Russian garrisons in the most important cities of Ukraine, as well as the Belgorod razryad. stationed nearby, completely controlled the region. In order for Samoilovich to be elected exactly as the Moscow government wanted, 20,000 Russian troops gathered in 1672 during the Election Council, and as a result, Samoilovich was unanimously elected.^[16] Trying to justify his rights to Ukraine, Romodanovsky, in negotiations with the Cossacks, stated:^[15]

Bohdan Khmelnytsky became the subject of the Great Sovereign and served him faithfully to his death. But what happened after him? You had hetmans Ivashka Vyhovsky, Iuraska Khmelnytsky, Ivashka Briukhovetskyi - and they all compiled treaty articles, signed them in their own hands, and pledged their souls upon them... and then betrayed them.

Notes

1. Went over to Sirko’s side