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Translated by students of Kyiv avia institute
The revolutionary explosion of 1648 year which shocked the political bases of Rich Pospolita and began the creation of the Ukrainian state had deep reasons in different spheres: political, religious, linguistic-cultural, socio-economic and psychological. Revolution began in February 1648 as a cossack revolt, and during June - November the national liberation fight overcame all without the exception Ukrainian lands found in composition the Rich Pospolita, and carried a mass character. It is necessary to mention that immediately the fight got an extraordinarily cruel character and was sometimes outpoured in the ethnic cleaning from every quarter, pulled in its whirlpool (Ukrainian, Polish, Crimean, Moscow and Turkish) which can not be acquittals. Extraordinarily active part in revolution was taken by the habitants of Podolya. On its territory there was no corner, wherever peasants and petty bourgeois did not walk up the fight. Logic of development of events put the question of choice and in front of a podolskoy gentry. Its majority passed to the side of Poland, the minority disembogued in a revolutionary army. There were the cases, when brothers, parents and sons, near relation were found in hostile camps. Age-old Ukrainian shlyahetskiy family Volodievskih can serve as a prime example of this. Representatives of its orthodox branch (Protsik, Stepan, Homits, Levko, Semen and Yarema) became the cossacks of Chernivtsi sotni of Bratslavsk regiment, and representative of the catholic branch Hedgehogs Volodievskiy, which lived in Kamenets-Podilskiy, became the Polish colonel and militated against Ukrainians. Brave warrior, he was the soul of the Kamenets defensive from Turks in August, 1672 and perished from a cannon-shot by a canister-shot in a head. It happened on August, 27 from the explosion of supplies of gunpowder in the Old lock after signing of instrument of surrenders of city. Brave Ukrainian, our countryman, became the character of courage and the best virtues of Polish knighthood for a few generations of Poland.
In the years of revolution in Podnestrove beginning from Kamenets and to Rashkov, powerful oprishkove movement (came forward the original capital of it- Medobori) which was not stopped till 1676. Exactly detachments of oprishkov were held in the Kamenets siege during August - November, 1648; then they also took Dunaevtsi, Yarmolintsi, Satanov, Gorodok, Gusyatin, Orinin, Balin and other towns. In summer in 1650 in Kamentse was executed one of the oprishkov leaders Mudrenko. In spring of next year an Ukrainian-Crimean regiment under leadership of getman Demka of Lisovtsa did an attempt to occupy Kamenets. In 1652 and 1655 surrounded him with the army B.Hmelnitskiy.
During revolution the Ukrainians showed extraordinary heroism and self-sacrifice. Losses from military operations, starvations, epidemics, capture by the Tatars of Yasira, migrations on a middle 70th made about 65-70 % populations of Ukraine, and Podole lost 90% of the population at least.
Creation of cossack Ukraine (Bratslavsk, Kiev and Chernigov provinces) became the conquest of revolution above all during 1648-1650 on territory of the national state conducting the hotshot fight for independence and inclusion in the composition of the other Ukrainian lands. By important achievements of revolution became: formulated in 1649 B.Hmelnitskyi Ukrainian state idea, pre-seeing creation of the independent cathedral state, creation of political elite and high-quality jump, in development of national consciousness of Ukrainians.
Valeri Stepankov,
Hi.D., professor,
laureate of Ukraine National Academy of Sciences price