Petro Doroshenko

Petro Dorofeyevych Doroshenko (1627–1698) was a Cossack political and military leader, Hetman of Right-bank Ukraine (1665–1672) and a Russian voyevoda.

Biography

Petro Doroshenko was born in Chyhyryn to a noble Cossack family with a strong leadership background. Where his father a Registered Cossack held the rank of a colonel, and his grandfather Mykhailo held the bulava in the 1620s as hetman of the Registered Cossack Army.

Though it is not known where Doroshenko studied nonetheless he received an excellent education. Doroshenko became fluent in Latin and Polish and had a broad knowledge of history. In 1648 Doroshenko joined the forces of Bohdan Khmelnytsky in the uprising against the Polish domination of Ukraine. In the earlier stages of the uprising Doroshenko served in both military and diplomatic capacity. He primarily served in the Chyhyryn regiment, where he held the rank of artillery secretary. Until eventually being appointed colonel of the Pryluky regiment in 1657. When Khmelnytsky's death occurred in 1657 Doroshenko supported the election of general chancellor Ivan Vyhovsky as Khmelnytsky's successor. Between 1657 and 1658 he helped Hetman Vyhovsky to suppress pro-Russian uprising of Iakiv Barabash and Martyn Pushkar a bloody fratricidal conflict, resulting in some 50,000 deaths.

Hetman Pavlo Teteria promoted Doroshenko to the rank of his chief (general) yesaul in 1663. Doroshenko became the leader of the Cossack starshyna (senior officers) and elements within the ecclesiastical authorities who opposed 1654 Treaty of Pereyaslav. Supported by Crimean Tatars and Ottoman Turkey in 1665, Doroshenko crushed the pro-Russian Cossack bands and eventually became Hetman of Ukraine (Right-bank Ukraine).

Hetman

As Poland withdrew from the right-bank Ukraine due to numerous peasants and cossacks uprisings whose rebels sought military support other than from Poland and Moscow in order to secure their liberties. They found it in the realm of the Ottoman Empire, the Crimean Khanate. In the beginning the first Hetman recognized by Crimea was Sotnyk (captain) Stepan Opara from the Medvedesky company. However, the same summer of 1665 he was replaced by Doroshenko. In order to strengthen his newly position, Doroshenko introduced new reforms in hope of winning the respect of the rank and file Cossacks. Doroshenko would often organize general councils where he would listen to the lower classes opinions. And in order to rid himself of the dependence on the starshyna, the hetman created the Serdiuk regiments which consisted of 20,000 mercenary infantry units who took orders directly only from him. Once his hetmancy began, Doroshenko like all Right-bank hetmans, followed a pro-Polish line. But this policy was quickly changed upon hearing the signing of the 1667 Treaty of Andrusovo. The treaty officially divided Ukraine between Russia and Poland, with Russia gaining sovereignty over Left-bank Ukraine and Poland acquiring Right-bank Ukraine. Once the news reached Doroshenko, he reportedly suffered a seizure upon learning of Ukraine's partitioning. Doroshenko quickly deserted his pro-Polish position and decided to seek aid from the Ottoman Empire. The Council of Officers were willing to support an alliance with the Turks, and in the fall of 1667 Cossack emissaries were sent to Istanbul to present a proposal for an Ottoman protectorate over Ukraine. The alliance was eventually approved by the council and proclaimed by the sultan Mehmed IV on May 1, 1669. In the fall of 1667 Doroshenko aided with Ottoman support defeated the Polish forces in Podolia, and expelled them from the Right-Bank. With the Right-Bank seemingly secured, Doroshenko and his men crossed into Left-bank Ukraine and supported an uprising against Ivan Briukhovetsky. Following Briukhovetsky's execution the Left-bank regiments proclaimed Doroshenko the hetman of all Ukraine on June 9, 1668. As Doroshenko was reaching his highest hour of triumph in succeeding the re-uniting of Ukraine, his numerous enemies united against him. The Poles began supporting rivals for the hetmancy, eventually proclaiming the colonel of the Uman Regiment Mykhailo Khanenko as hetman of Right-bank Ukraine. Soon after the Poles recognized his hetmancy, Khanenko and Jan Sobieski launched a massive invasion onto the Right-bank. Turning to advance against the invaders, Doroshenko appointed Demian Mnohohrishny acting hetman of the Left-bank. While Doroshenko was away, the Muscovite army invaded the Left-bank and took advantage of his absence. The troops forced Mnohohrishny to renounce all ties with Doroshenko and recognize the sovereignty of the tsar. This led to Doroshenko's defeat of Left-bank Ukraine led by Ivan Sirko and voyevoda Grigory Romodanovsky.

As his forces were weakened from the ongoing wars, Doroshenko was forced to rely increasingly on the Ottomans. This was very unpopular with the majority of deeply Orthodox Christian Cossacks. As the Turks were considered the hated infidels of Europe. This would later on prove to be a serious mistake on the part of the hetman.

In 1672, with a force of 12,000 he aided the 100,000 strong Ottoman Army which invaded Poland and laid sieges to Kamenets (it has been captured and sacked) and Lviv. The war ended with the capture of Podolia and the signing of the Peace of Buchach. According to the terms of the treaty, the Podolia voivodeship was turned into an Ottoman province. And the Bratslav Voivodeship and the southern portion of the Kyiv Voivodship were to be recognized as Cossack territory administered by Doroshenko under a Turkish protectorate. But the war left consequences for Doroshenko, it devastated his country the most damage of all. The vast Ukrainian territory was laid waste, cities were burned down, and hundreds of people were taken into captivity by the Crimean Tatars.

As the Right-bank faced devastation by the Turkish influence, Doroshenko's respect began to deteriorate among his loyal civilians for his collaboration with the hated infidels. Although the alliance did perform an integral part in his successes, the rest of the population suffered in the hands of the Turks. The situation worsened when in 1674 an invasion was launched by Muscovite and Ukrainian forces under the commands of the hetman of Left-bank Ukraine Ivan Samoylovych and Romodanovsky. The joint forces besieged Dorosenko's capital at Chyhyryn in June 1674 but he was protected by a Turkish army.

The invasion brought the downfall of Doroshenko because the majority of his officers refused to support the Muslim Ottomans against their fellow Orthodox countrymen. Which resulted in most of Doroshenko's regiments to abandon him and join Samoylovych. After a second siege of Chyhyryn Doroshenko decided to abdicate (September 19, 1676) and surrender his insignia to Samoylovych, who in return proclaimed himself the new Hetman of Ukraine. Doroshenko was arrested and brought to Moscow where he was kept in honorary exile, never to return to Ukraine.