In the 17th century, the Ukrainian region was the object of repeated contention between Poland, the Lithuanian Commonwealth, and Russia, the then eastern European powers. Historically, Ukraine was divided between 1654 and 1667, and the wars between Russia and Poland were inextricably linked. Since the 13th century, when the Mongol armies marched west and Kievan Rus' perished, the center of the Rus' shifted to the Grand Duchy of Moscow, centered on Moscow, later Tsarist Russia. With the exception of parts of the southern part that became the territory of the Ottoman and Turkish-dominated Crimean Khanate, most of Ukraine fell under the rule of the Polish Empire. The Polish rulers imposed oppressive colonial rule on Ukrainians within their borders, including prohibiting Ukrainian peasants from reclaiming wasteland, limiting the size of the Ukrainian population in towns, imposing heavy taxes on Ukrainians, imposing Catholicism, and treating Ukrainians who did not want to change their Orthodox beliefs as second-class citizens. The national oppression of the Polish rulers provoked a strong resistance of the Ukrainians, among which there was a group of Cossacks in the Ukrainian region known for their bravery and superb riding skills, because of the long-term battle with the Turks and Tatars, the people's style was fierce and strong, and the combat effectiveness was very strong, which became the core force of this Ukrainian national uprising.
In 1648, a great national uprising against the Polish nobility led by the Cossack leader Bogdan Hmelnyski broke out in Ukraine, which also brought the Ukrainian region into the era of Cossack regime. Bogdan Hemelniski was known as the first chief of the Cossack Emirate and was later known as the Father of the Ukrainian Nation. After six years of war, the Cossacks fought with the Polish nobility, and after several iterations, no one could help anyone. Khmelnytsky recognized that ukrainians were weak, with internal factions and external enemies, and that they had to cling to a powerful country in order to survive. So in 1654, Khmelnytsky signed the Treaty of Peryaslav with Russia, incorporating the Ukrainian region into Russia and enjoying the autonomy of an independent state, annexing Ukraine and Belarus was an important goal of the foreign expansion of successive tsars, taking advantage of the fact that the Cossacks had been at war against Poland for six years, Russia decided to launch a war against Poland to annex the Ukrainian region. The war lasted for 13 years and stirred up more than a dozen countries in the entire Eastern European region to participate in the war. Due to the pro-Russian and pro-Polish factions within the Cossacks, during the Russo-Polish War, the Cossacks repeatedly jumped between Russia and Poland.
First of all, let me explain why, under the long oppressive rule of Poland, there were still people within the Cossacks who were inclined to Poland. The Cossacks fought against the Turks and Tatars all year round, and were a very effective armed group. In order to use the control of the Cossacks for their service, the Poles introduced a registration system for the Cossacks and bribed the upper class of the Cossacks with money and privileges. Because polish rulers limited the number of registered Cossacks, the vast majority of Cossacks struggled all their lives to guess, but as long as they could register as an upper class, they would enjoy special status and rights. In fact, the Cossack leader Bogdan Hermelski, who provoked the Ukrainians to rebel against Poland, was also a registered Cossack elite, and his father sold his life for Poland for a lifetime and won an official and a half-job. And Khmelnytsky also received a pro-wave education from a young age, had a family and a job, lived a rich life, and was an out-and-out official of the second generation. It was only because he had offended a Polish nobleman, killed his son by the other side, and robbed his wife, and the Polish nobles were partial to each other, and in desperation, Khmelnytsky chose to rebel. Therefore, within the Cossacks at that time, a considerable number of Cossacks who were once again remained intellectually pro-Polish, which is the so-called vested interests.
Between 1654 and 1656, the first phase of the Russo-Polish War, the long-oppressed Ukrainian populace and ordinary Cossack soldiers were filled with hatred for the Polish rulers and formed the main body of resistance to Polish rule. At the same time, Russia also wanted to drive Poland out and annex Ukraine. The so-called enemy of the enemy is the friend, so the two sides hit it off. During this phase of the war, Russia, with the help of Cossack soldiers, not only conquered most of Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania, but even threatened the Polish capital Warsaw for a time. Later, since Sweden entered the war in 1655 and attacked Poland from the rear, in order to avoid letting Sweden reap the fruits of its victory, Russia decided to temporarily suspend military operations against Poland, and the task of annexing Ukraine and Belarus had been basically realized, so it decided to unite with Poland and turn against Sweden. The first phase of the Russo-Polish War ended. After gaining a respite during russia's two-year war against Sweden, the Polish government refused to recognize Ukraine and Belarus and reintegrated them into Russian territory.
In August 1657, the Cossack leader Bogdan Hemelnisky died of illness, and Ivan Vykhovsky took over as the commander of the Ukrainian Cossacks. Originally from an aristocratic background, he studied at the prestigious Orthodox school Kiev Moshila Academy and was long influenced by the pro-Polish policies of the Cossack elite and the Church. After being captured in 1648 by Khmelnytsky's Cossacks of the Easy Army. Only to join the Ukrainian Cossack regime. As a pro-Polish Cossack upper class, Ivan Vykhovsky pursued a pro-Polish policy after taking over, trying to break away from Russia, which caused a split among the Cossacks.
In June 1658, he sent a representative for Khowski to Warsaw to negotiate with the Polish government. On 16 September, representatives of both sides signed the Treaty of Gagachi, and Ukraine joined the Polish-Lithuanian Union in the name of the self-made Rus' Principality. The signing of this treaty immediately aroused the opposition of the pro-Russian Cossacks and the broad masses of peasants, and an uprising broke out in Ukraine to return to Khowski, and it was once again plunged into civil war. In order to avoid the newly conquered Ukraine and Belarus from falling into the hands of Poland or the Turkish and Crimean Khanates, in November 1658, Russia and Sweden signed an armistice. Subsequently, the Russian army and its Cossack army under its support launched an attack on the Cossack army that surrounded Khovsky by the Polish army, and the war between Russia resumed.
From August 1659 to January 1660, the Russians and the Polish army fought a series of battles on both sides of the Dnieper River, and won a temporary victory, the pro-Bokysaks led by Ivan Vykhovsky fled to Poland, and then Bogdan Khmelnytsky's son Yurikhmelnsky was elected as the ruler of the Ukrainian Cossacks. However, with this lesson in mind, Russia abolished Ukraine's autonomous status.
In May 1660, Poland and Sweden signed a treaty to restore the original border between the two countries, relieving the crisis of the enemy on their backs, and being able to regain their strength and concentrate on the Russian offensive.
In June 1660, the Polish army first defeated the Russian army in the Belarusian area, and then in September besieged the Russian army in Denif, west of Kiev, and the Russian army ran out of ammunition and was forced to surrender. At this point, the entire west bank of the Dnieper fell into Polish hands, except for the Russian army in Kiev, which was still holding out. Polish control of the west bank of the Nerber forced Yurikhmelski to declare his secession from Russia and allegiance to the Polish king. Nevertheless, Yurikhmelski, who had led to Poland, was not recognized by the Ukrainian Cossacks on the east bank of the Dnieper River, and this part of the people was led by Ivan Blyuhowitzki, and Ukraine was officially divided into east and west.
From the winter of 1663 to 1664, the Russo-Polish War was in full swing, and the two sides fought several fierce battles on the east bank of the Dnieper, although the two sides won and lost each other, but until 1666, the confrontation between Russia and Poland along the east and west banks of the Dnieper was never broken. The protracted war between Russia and Poland depleted the Polish treasury and was unable to fight any more.
On January 30, 1667, representatives of Russia and Poland signed an armistice agreement at Andrewsovo near Smolensk, whereby parts of Ukraine and Belarus on the east bank of the Dnieper River and the provinces of Smolensk belonged to Russia, and Ukraine and Belarus on the west bank of the Dnieper River belonged to Poland, and the Russo-Polish War ended.
From 1654 to the end of the Russian War in 1667, the Polish Empire began to decline, marking the official rise of the Russian Empire as an Eastern European power, and the Ukrainian region was divided between Russia and Poland, which was divided in two, and divided for a century until catherine II finally unified. During this period, the ideologies of Eastern and Western Ukraine were deeply divided after this and were never unified again. In the eyes of eastern Ukrainians and Russians, Bogdan Hemelnisky was the national hero of Russian Ukraine, after the destruction of the Grand Duchy of Kiev by Mongolia, the Archbishop of Kiev, who was in charge of the religious affairs of the three rus' countries, moved to Moscow, the Grand Duke of Moscow and later the Russian Tsar was the orthodox emperor of the Rus', and Bogdan Hemelniski submitted to the orthodox Rus' monarchy, promoted the merger of Russia and eastern Ukraine, and was a national hero and a national hero. In this view of history, even the Soviet era solemnly commemorates 300 years of the merger of cossacks and Russia, and the Soviet Union also issued his commemorative stamps. In the eyes of the Western Ukrainians and Poles, he is a shameless traitor who colludes with Russia, and he and the Eastern Ukrainians are shameless villains who betray their motherland Poland, drawing Ukraine closer to the abyss of Russian autocracy and away from Western civilization. It will be repeated. Today's East-West Ukraine split is really just a continuation of history. To some extent, the war between Western and Eastern Ukrainians has not yet ended.