Unit 8: Zaporizhian Sich

This theme is dealt with in a lot of historical sources. The following citation is to illustrate this:

“The first Zaporizhian Sich was established on the Isle of Little Khortytsia in 1552 by Dmytro Vyshnevetsky when the Ruthenian prince built a fortress at Nyz Dnieprovsky (Lower Dnieper) and placed a cossack garrison there. In 1558, however, that fortress was destroyed by Tatar forces. Soon another Sich was created on the now-flooded island of Tomakivka as a fortified encampment 40 miles south near the modern city of Marhanets. That Sich also was razed by Tatars already in 1593. With the destruction of the Tomakivka Sich the third Sich was created on the Bazavluk island in 1593 that today is flooded as well. It manage to stay until 1638 when it was destroyed by a Polish expeditionary force against a cossack uprising. There also was another Sich which was first mentioned in 1628 at Mykytyn Rih near the today's city of Nikopol and was captured by Bohdan Khmelnytsky in 1648. And, of course, there was the Chortomlyk Sich that was mercilessly razed by the Russian forces right after the Battle of Poltava to extinguish separatist tendencies among cossacks. Then another Sich was built at the mouth of the Kamianets River, which also was destroyed by Russians in 1711. The cossacks then fled to the Crimean Khanate to avoid persecutions and founded the Oleshky Sich in 1711 (today it is the city of Tsuryupinsk). In 1734, however, they were allowed to return back to the Russian Empire. Being discriminated in the Khanate cossacks gladly accepted the offer to return and build another Sich in close proximity to the former Chortomlyk Sich. That was the last Sich which was destroyed in 1775.

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 а massive abatis made from entire trees. Hence the term "Sich" — a noun derived from the verb in Ukrainian sikty (сікти) "to chop" or "cut", meaning to clear a forest for an encampment, or to build a fortification with the trees that have been chopped down.

The remoteness of the location and rapids on the Dnieper River provided effective protection from attack. …”

The complete version of this text is at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaporizhian_Sich

Assignments

1) Give Ukrainian equivalents to the following:

Isle, fortress, garrison, flooded, razed, discriminated, rapids

2) Give definitions to the following:

Dnieper rapids, encampment, separatist, abatis, fortification

3) Answer the questions on the text:

1. Where was the first Sich established?

2. What reason motivated the establishing of Sich?

3. Why did Cossacks build their strongholds mainly on the islands or behind the rapids?

4. What does the term “Sich” mean?

5. Why did Cossacks go to the Crimean Khanate in 1711?

4) Speak on this issue adding extra information from other sources.

5) What can you say about the Sich fortress?

Unit 9: Destruction of Zaporizhian Sich

This theme is dealt with in a lot of historical sources. The following citation is to illustrate this:

“In May 1775, General Pyotr Tekeli received orders to occupy the main Zaporizhian fortress, the Sich, and to destroy it. The order was given by Grigory Potemkin, who was formally admitted into Cossackdom a few years earlier. Potemkin was given direct orders from Empress Catherine.

On June 5 1775, General Tekeli surrounded the Sich with artillery and infantry. He postponed the assault and even allowed visits while the head of the Host, Petro Kalnyshevsky, was deciding how to react to the Russian ultimatum. Under the guidance of the starshyna Lyakh, a conspiracy was formed among a group of 50 Cossacks to pretend to go fishing in the river Inhul next to the Southern Buh in the 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 travelled to the Danube Delta where they formed a new Danube Sich, as a protectorate of the Ottoman Empire.

When Tekeli realised the escape, the remaining Cossacks were nothing left but to surrender. The Sich was razed to the ground. Petro Kalnyshevsky was arrested and exiled to the Solovetsky Islands (where he reputedly lived to the age of 112 in the Solovetsky Monastery). All high level starshynas were repressed or exiled. Lower level starshynas who remained and went over to the Russian side were given Army ranks and all the privileges that accompanied them, and allowed to join Hussar and Dragoon regiments. Most of the ordinary Cossacks were made state peasants and serfs. The Ukrainian writer Adrian Kaschenko (1858-1921) and historian Olena Apanovich note that the final abolition of the Zaporizhian Sich, the historic Cossack stronghold perceived as the bastion of the protection of the Ukrainians and their ways of life, had such a strong symbolic effect that the memories of the event remained for the long time in local folklore. …”

The complete version of this text is at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaporizhian_Sich

Assignments

1) Give Ukrainian equivalents to the following:

Orders, Empress, to surround, conspiracy, pretext, surrender, razed, regiment, stronghold

2) Give definitions to the following:

Formally admitted, direct orders, assault, symbolic effect

3) Answer the questions on the text:

1. Can you say that Potemkin betrayed theCossacks?

2. Who were the direct orders to destroy the Sich given by?

3. What happened on June 5 1775?

4. How old was Kalnyshevsky before his death?

5. What happened to the elite of Cossacks after the destruction of the Sich?

4) Speak on this issue adding extra information from other sources.

5) What can you say about this well-known painting?

Unit 10: Legion of Ukrainian Sich Riflemen

This theme is dealt with in a lot of historical sources. The following citation is to illustrate this:

“The unit was formed in 1914 at the initiative of the Supreme Ukrainian Council in August 1914. The unit was composed of members of different Ukrainian paramilitary organizations in Galicia. It participated in hostilities on the Russian front and later with Austria's disintegration became the regular military unit of the West Ukrainian People's Republic. During German and Austrian occupation of Ukraine in 1918 the unit was stationed in Southern Ukraine. Former soldiers of the unit participated in the formation of Sich Riflemen — military unit of the Ukrainian People's Republic. In 1919 the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen expanded into Ukrainian Galician Army. They participated in the Polish–Ukrainian War around Lviv and suffered heavy losses.

A number of Ukrainian paramilitary and youth organizations appeared in Galicia as early as 1894 and were the expression of growing national consciousness of Galicia's Ukrainians.

The pro-Austrian faction prevailed as only units loyal to the Habsburg monarchy were allowed to exist. From the inception the Sich Riflemen saw Russia as their main enemy and were preparing for "liberation of Ukrainian lands" in the Russian Empire. In Galicia and Bukovyna Sich Riflemen were also circulating a magazine "Vidhuk" (Review). In 1914 a statute of USS was published, which outlined the order of service, uniforms of the units and provided military terminology and commands in the Ukrainian language. That same year ammunition and rifles were bought for a first 10,000 men-strong company of the Sich Riflemen that paraded through Lviv on June 28, 1914.

In two months the First World War broke out and the newly established Supreme Ukrainian Council published in the Lviv newspaper "Dilo" a call on Galician Ukrainians to form volunteer units for the war with the Russian Empire. The Austrian war ministry was not prepared for this initiative of the Supreme Ukrainian Council and allowed creation only of a unit with 5,000 men. The first volunteers were mainly members of Ukrainian patriotic organizations such as Sich, Sokil and Plast. …”

The complete version of this text is at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_People%27s_Republic

Assignments

1) Give Ukrainian equivalents to the following:

military unit, expanded, youth organization, to prevail, faction, to broke out, outlined, to compose, heavy losses

2) Give definitions to the following:

volunteer, circulating, paramilitary

3) Answer the questions on the text:

1. When and where was the legion of USR formed?

2. Which member did the USR consist of?

3. Which units were loyal to the Habsburgs?

4. Did the USR have a statute?

5. Whom did the USR include?

4) Speak on this issue adding extra information from other sources.

5) Describe this picture

Date: 2015-02-28; view: 1158