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Zaporizhian Sich or Zaporozhian Sech (Template:Lang-ua, Zaporiz'ka Sich) original Slavonic name "Zaporizhska Sich'" was the center of the Cossacks of Zaporizhzhia. The term has also been metonymically used as an informal reference to the whole Zaporizhzhia or to the Zaporozhian Host.

Initially the Zaporizhian Sich was a fortified military camp, the foundation for which was laid out on the Isle of Khortytsia (Mala Khortytsia, Khortytsia Minor) in 1556 by D.I. Vyshnevetsky. But only in 1618 did Hetman Petro Konashevych Sahaidachny order his Cossacks to build the earthen perimeter with the log walls on top of it. The log fort was surrounded with the massive abatis made from entire trees. Hence the term "Sich": it is a noun derived from the verb "to cut" and denotes the abatis type of fortification: by cutting the forest.

The Sich as a pirate republic

From the social and economic point of view, the Sich originated as a typical pirate republic of the 16th century. Its population was quite international. It included Russian, Ukrainian, and Polish peasants that ran away from their feudal masters, outlaws of every sort, destitute gentry, run-away slaves from Turkish galleys, etc. The remoteness of the place and rapids on the Dnepr river effectively guarded the place from invasions of revenge-seeking powers. The natural business of this motley crowd was robbery. The main target: rich settlements on the Black Sea shores of the Ottoman Empire.

Defence from Crimean Tatars

From other point of view, Zaporizhian Sich emerged as a natural way of defence of Ukrainian people from frequent devastating raids of Crimean Tatars, who captured to slavery not only hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians, but also Russians, Belarusians and Poles. Such operations were called "the harvesting of steppe".

With Tatars permanent interfering, Ukrainians found it hard to get a life, let alone make a living. So they created self-defense forces, the Cossacks, fierce enough to stop the Tatar hordes.

Some researchers say, that mainly a constant threat from Crimean Tatars supported the appearance of cossackdom. During the revenge raids to the Black Sea shores of the Ottoman Empire and Crimean Khanate cossacks not only robbed rich settlements, but liberated their compatriots from slavery.

Further development

In later years Sich become the center of Cossack dwellings situated to the south of the borders of Muscovy (in the so called "borderland", or Template:Lang-ru). Zaporozhian Host, was governed by the Sichova Rada and sometimes the term Zaporizhian Sich is applied to the "Cossack state". After the Treaty of Pereyaslav (1654), the Host split into two, the Hetmanate with its capital at Chyhyryn, and the more autonomous region of Zaporizhzhia which continued to be based at the Sich (although the Sich changed location several times).

At the time of the Russian Tsar Peter, Ukrainian cossacks were compulsively used for channel and fortification lines construction by Moscow Government. About 20 - 30 thousands of them were transfered each year to Nothern Russia for channels building at Ladoga Lake. Such a hard labour in cold and unfamiliar climate caused a large level of mortality among cossacks. Only about 40% of them were able to come back home from these "missions".

The period after 1654, before it sided with Mazepa and was disbanded in 1709, soon after the Baturyn was razed, is sometimes referred to as the Old Sich (Stara Sich). From 1734 to 1775 the New Sich (Nova Sich) existed.

Having fear of too independent formation as was Sich, Moscow Tsar Government first abolished Zaporizhzhya Hetmanate in 1764 and finally destroyed Zaporizhian Sich itself by military force in 1775.

By the late 18th century, much of the Cossack officer class in Ukraine was incorporated into the Imperial Russian nobility (Dvoryanstvo), but many of the rank and file Cossacks, including a substantial portion of the old Zaporozhians, were reduced to peasant status. They were able to maintain their freedom and continued to provide refuge for those fleeing serfdom in Russia and Poland, including followers of the Russian cossack Yemelyan Pugachev, which aroused the anger of the Russian empress Catherine II. Also tension rose after the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca, when the need for a further southern frontier was gone after the annexation of Crimea. However as the colonisation of New Russia began, this created tensions with the Cossacks, and numerous Serbian colonisers were attacked by the Cossacks.

In May 1775, General Pyotr Tekeli received orders to occupy the main Zaporozhian fortress, the Sech, and liquidate it. The order was given by a "Zaporozhian Cossack" Hrytsko Nechesa, more famously known as Grigory Potemkin, who was formally admitted into Cossackdom a few years prior. Potemkin, from his side, was given direct order from Empress Catherine.

On June 5 1775, General Tekeli surrounded the Sech with artillery and infantry. He postponed the storming, and even allowed joint visits, whilst the head of the Host, Petro Kalnyshevsky was deciding on how to approach the Empress's ultimatum. Under the guidance of a starshyna Lyakh, behind Kalnyshevky's back a conspiracy was formed with a group of 50 Cossacks to go fishing in the river Ingul next to the Southern Buh in Ottoman provinces. The pretext was enough to allow the Russians to let the Cossacks out of the siege, who were joined by numerous others. The fleeing Cossacks did go to the Danube Delta where they formed the new Danube Sich, under the protectorate of the Ottoman Empire.

When Tekeli realised of the escape, there was little left for the remaining Cossacks. The Sich was razed to the ground. However, the operation was bloodless, and even though Petro Kalnyshevsky was arrested and exiled to the Solovki (and lived to 112 years of age to his death despite a latter pardon from Emperor Alexander), most of the Cossacks were spared from sanctions or repressions. High ranking starshynas were given Army ranks and all the privileges that accompany them. Poorer level ones were allowed to join Husar and Dragoon regiments.

The abolishment of the Zaporizhian Sich remained a tragic event in the Ukrainian folklore and peoples memory, where frequently expressed negative attitude towards Empress Catherine and Moscovites (moskal), who ruined the stronghold of the Ukrainian dignity and independence. Ukrainian historian A.Kaschenko states, that "Ukrainian people, which for several centuries had a powerfull defender of its rights and reliable asylum , bitterly mourned the abolishment of Sich:

"Not yet a light, not yet a light, too early for a sunrise, But Moscovite is already surrounding Zaporizhia...", "Moscovites did not sleep, but took all the reserves. Moscovites seniors robbed the Church. They took silver, they took gold, wax candles. Oh, there cried koshovyi with starshyna in Sich." (excerpts of peoples songs)

See also

• Cossackdom
• History of the Cossacks
• Zaporozhian Host
• Black Sea Cossack Host formed a few years after the destruction of the Zarporozhiya.
• Danubian Sich, formed by some of the escapees of the Zaporozhian Cossacks in the delta of Danube, under the protectorate of the Ottoman Empire.
• Dmytro Yavornytsky, historian of the Zaporozhian Cossacks who mapped the locations of the various Siches.

External links

• Zaporizhia - Encyclopedia of Ukraine
• Story about Zaporizhean Cossaks by A.Kaschenko, ukrainian language
• Article on Zaporizhian Sich in "Welcome to Ukraine" Magazine

• Ukrainian Cossacks
• Forts in Ukraine