Bohdan Khmelnytsky led an uprising against the Commonwealth and its magnates that resulted in the creation of an independent Cossack state in Ukraine.
34 Facts About Bohdan Khmelnytsky
2.
Bohdan Khmelnytsky was probably born in the village of Subotiv, near Chyhyryn in the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland at the estate of his father Mykhailo Bohdan Khmelnytsky.
3.
Bohdan Khmelnytsky identified as a noble, and his father's status as a pidstarosta of Chyhyryn helped him to be considered as such by others.
4.
Bohdan Khmelnytsky completed his schooling by 1617, acquiring a broad knowledge of world history and learning Polish and Latin.
5.
Bohdan Khmelnytsky married Hanna Somkivna, a sister of a rich Pereyaslavl Cossack; the couple settled in Subotiv.
6.
Bohdan Khmelnytsky's first son Tymish was born in 1632, and another son Yuriy was born in 1640.
7.
Bohdan Khmelnytsky spent the next two years in captivity in Constantinople as a prisoner of an Ottoman Kapudan Pasha.
8.
Bohdan Khmelnytsky had to do it because some of the elders either joined Pavlyuk or were killed by him.
9.
Bohdan Khmelnytsky laid claim to Khmelnytsky's estate, claiming it as his.
10.
Bohdan Khmelnytsky promptly remarried, to Motrona, by that time wife of Daniel Czaplinski, the so-called "Helen of the steppe".
11.
Bohdan Khmelnytsky was less successful in real estate, and was unable to regain the land and property of his estate or financial compensation for it.
12.
All through the autumn of 1647 Bohdan Khmelnytsky travelled from one regiment to another, and had numerous consultations with Cossack leaders throughout Ukraine.
13.
Bohdan Khmelnytsky's activity raised suspicion among the local Polish authorities already used to Cossack revolts; he was promptly arrested.
14.
Koniecpolski issued an order for his execution, but the Chyhyryn Cossack polkovnyk, who held Bohdan Khmelnytsky, was persuaded to release him.
15.
Not willing to tempt fate any further, Bohdan Khmelnytsky headed for the Zaporozhian Sich with a group of his supporters.
16.
Bohdan Khmelnytsky used his diplomatic and military skills: under his leadership, the Cossack army moved to battle positions following his plans, Cossacks were proactive and decisive in their manoeuvrers and attacks, and most importantly, he gained the support of both large contingents of registered Cossacks and the Crimean Khan, his crucial ally for the many battles to come.
17.
Bohdan Khmelnytsky's leadership was demonstrated in all areas of state-building: military, administration, finance, economics and culture.
18.
Bohdan Khmelnytsky made the Zaporozhian Host the supreme power in the new Ukrainian state and unified all the spheres of Ukrainian society under his authority.
19.
Bohdan Khmelnytsky built a new government system and developed military and civilian administration.
20.
In search of a protectorate, Bohdan Khmelnytsky approached the Ottoman sultan in 1651, and formal embassies were exchanged.
21.
Historians have not come to consensus in interpreting the intentions of the tsar and Bohdan Khmelnytsky in signing this agreement.
22.
Bohdan Khmelnytsky needed the treaty to gain a legitimate monarch's protection and support from a friendly Orthodox power.
23.
Bohdan Khmelnytsky stormed out of the church and threatened to cancel the entire treaty.
24.
Bohdan Khmelnytsky wrote an irate letter to the tsar accusing him of breaking the Pereyaslav agreement.
25.
Bohdan Khmelnytsky compared the Swedes to the tsar and said that the former were more honourable and trustworthy than the Russians.
26.
Bohdan Khmelnytsky had a crucial influence on the history of Ukraine.
27.
In Ukraine, Bohdan Khmelnytsky is generally regarded as a national hero.
28.
Bohdan Khmelnytsky's image is prominently displayed on Ukrainian banknotes and his monument in the centre of Kiev is a focal point of the Ukrainian capital.
29.
Bohdan Khmelnytsky is criticised for his union with Russia, which in the view of some, proved to be disastrous for the future of the country.
30.
Bohdan Khmelnytsky has been a subject to several works of fiction in the 19th century Polish literature, but the most notable treatment of him in Polish literature is found in Henryk Sienkiewicz's With Fire and Sword.
31.
The official Russian historiography stressed the fact that Bohdan Khmelnytsky entered into union with Moscow's Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich with an expressed desire to "re-unify" Ukraine with Russia.
32.
Bohdan Khmelnytsky's role was presented as a model for all Ukrainians to follow: to aspire for closer ties with Great Russia.
33.
Bohdan Khmelnytsky was praised not only for re-unifying Ukraine with Russia, but for organizing the class struggle of oppressed Ukrainian peasants against Polish exploiters.
34.
The Bohdan Khmelnytsky Uprising led to the deaths of at least a couple thousands of Jews living in the territory.