Many people may be unfamiliar with Zaporozhye, but would it be an impression to mention that this is the place where the story of the famous historical painting "Zaporozhye's Reply to the Turkish Sultan" exhibited by the Russian painter Ilya Yefimovich Repin in 1891?
- Past: Zaporizhian Cossacks
Zaporozhian Cossacks (Ukrainian: Військо Запорозьке) are also called "Zaporozhians" (Ukrainian: Запоожці), no one knows when the first Cossacks to come to the lower reaches of the Dnieper River arrived, but legend has it that there were similar stories of human activity in the Eurasian steppe as early as the 12th century - but they may not have been called "Cossacks" at that time.
Because according to the theory of some historians, the name "Cossack", like the name of the "Kazakh" people, comes from the same Turkic word etymologically, and later developed into a synonym for "robber" and "robber".
Of course, historians have different accounts – because the steppes on the north shore of the Black Sea were inhabited by nomadic tribes such as the Cumans, Pechenegs, and Khazars, and some historians believe that the Cossacks may have been descendants of the nomadic Khazars.
Portrait of Dimitro Vishnevsky
According to this part of the historians, the origin of the "Cossacks", which is now more widely recognized, is that the nomadic tribal cultures from Kievan Rus' who escaped arrest or peasant serfs who escaped oppression gradually gathered and merged with the culture of the nomadic tribes in the regions of the steppe, forming a new tribe that mainly relied on hunting, fishing, and plundering the horses and food of the nomadic tribes, and in the 16th century, by Dimitro Vishnevsky (Ukrainian: Дмитро Вишневецький) was organized and integrated into a relatively large military organization.
This group of Zaporozhian Cossacks had different social and ethnic backgrounds and strange beliefs, but they were mainly composed of fugitive serfs, who chose to take the risk of coming to the free steppes rather than continuing to live under the rule of the Polish nobility. However, there were also a few city dwellers and nobles, and even Crimean Tatars who joined the Cossacks. Later they gradually embraced Orthodoxy and adopted Orthodox prayers and rituals.
In the 16th century, as the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth expanded and controlled the southern region, these Zaporozhian Cossacks, who had become independent military forces, also began to be regarded as part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and by 1699, these Cossacks were already an important part of the military power of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Just around the time, relations between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Ottoman Empire, which had not been friendly, deteriorated again for some reason — beginning in the second half of the 16th century, the Cossacks began to attack and plunder some of the ottoman hinterland's wealthy commercial port cities, and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which was happy to see it, said it was responsible for these attacks.
In response, the Ottoman Tatars would also retaliate against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, but the destinations were often sparsely populated southeastern Ukraine.
In 1615 and 1625, the increasingly bold Zaporizhian Cossacks even twice razed the towns outside Constantinople to the ground and forced the Ottoman Sultan Murad IV out of the palace for refuge, and Murad IV's nephew Mohammed IV wrote to the Cossacks to stop plundering and submit to the Ottoman Empire.
Since then, there has been this scene painted by Rabin: the Cossacks, under the leadership of the leader of the time, Ivan Selko, wrote a corresponding reply to the arrogant letter from Murad IV (Note: The content of the letter will be listed at the end of this article, the content of which is very special, also known as "the most in the history of the world's scolding street").
Ivan Selko is also the one who wears fur and smokes a pipe in the painting "Zaporozhy Cossacks Reply to the Sultan of Turkey"
It can also be seen from this that these Zaporozhian Cossacks were known in the 16th and 17th centuries for their unruly, admiring their way of life and even being unreasonable, while the Zaporozhian Cossacks were proud of their lifestyle of attack and robbery. It was precisely because of this characteristic that the Zaporizhian Cossacks changed hands several times in the days that followed, and many wars broke out with the Russian Empire that followed, and finally in 1775 they were suppressed by Empress Catherine II, and the members either fled, exiled, or were included in the Russian army.
A photograph taken by the Ukrainian army in 2021, its composition and even the posture of the figures undoubtedly imitate Repin's famous painting
After we understand the antecedents and consequences of the Zaporozhian Cossacks, looking back at this imitation photo of the Ukrainians now, one cannot help but wonder:
Are these Ukrainian soldiers envious of the way of life of the people in the picture, longing for the life of a bandit like the Zaporozhian Cossacks who could gather in the steppes and plunder freely hundreds of years ago?
Or are the Ukrainian soldiers envious of the alliance ability of the people in the picture, eager to change hands in just a few decades, as the Zaporozhian Cossacks did hundreds of years ago, and influence the political situation of Fengyuan?
Or maybe the Ukrainian soldiers simply felt that they would be as strong as the Zaporozhyzy Cossacks pictured in the picture, and could easily repel and plunder Putin and his Russian army – just as the Cossacks could rush into the Ottoman Empire at will and plunder.
Whatever the attitude of these soldiers, some of the more important missions in the Zaporizhia region have already begun their work.
Daily News news on March 2, titled to the effect that the Russian Army takes control of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine.
Screenshot of the original news report to the effect that he (referring to the head of the Zaporozhia nuclear power plant) pointed out in a letter sent by the Russian side that the Russians in the nuclear power plant are continuing to work hard to ensure nuclear safety and monitor radiation during normal operations.
The news quoted a statement by the spokesperson and head of the Zaporižiye nuclear power plant, which explicitly mentions that the backbone levels of radiation had not changed and that the Radiogenesis security had been secured
It can be seen that the Russian army has maintained a relatively restrained attitude after conquering the two gateways of the city of Zaporozhye, Tokmak and Vasilievka.
But I don't know, what kind of expression and mentality will the Ukrainian army in the photo face this army that maintains restraint and carries out its due duties? Is it still laughing so wildly? Or do you feel remorseful? Or is it expressionless? Or crying and drooling?
The process of the Russo-Ukrainian war is still continuing, and I believe that time will soon give us the answer.
Additional Supplements:
Reply of the Zaporozhyzy Cossacks to the Sultan of Turkey (English version)
Zaporozhian Cossacks to the Turkish Sultan!
O sultan, Turkish devil and damned devil’s kith and kin, secretary to Lucifer himself. What the devil kind of knight are thou, that canst not slay a hedgehog with your naked arse? The devil shits, and your army eats. Thou shalt not, thou son of a whore, make subjects of Christian sons; we have no fear of your army, by land and by sea we will battle with thee, fuck you mother.
Thou Babylonian scullion, Macedonian wheelwright, brewer of Jerusalem, goat-fucker of Alexandria, swineherd of Greater and Lesser Egypt, pig of Armenia, Podolian thief, catamite of Tartary, hangman of Kamyanets, and fool of all the world and underworld, an idiot before God, grandson of the Serpent, and the crick in our dick. Pig’s snout, mare’s arse, slaughterhouse cur, unchristened brow, screw thine own mother!
So the Zaporozhians declare, you lowlife. You won’t even be herding pigs for the Christians. Now we’ll conclude, for we don’t know the date and don’t own a calendar; the moon’s in the sky, the year with the Lord, the day’s the same over here as it is over there; for this kiss our arse!
– Koshovyi otaman Ivan Sirko, with the whole Zaporozhian Host.