No period in Bohdan Khmelnytsky's hetmancy was as rich in international
and dynastic plans as the years 1650 to 1653. After the Zboriv Agreement
of 1649, when the hetman resolved to find a way to break forever with
the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, he set out to create the military
and political conditions to achieve his goal. From Venice to Moscow the
wily hetman spun his diplomatic and military plans. In his search for
allies and in pursuit of his goal of establishing a political system
that secured the Ukrainian Hetmanate, he looked above all to the
Ottomans and their Danubian vassal states. Fusing the interests of his
new state to those of his own family, the hetman aspired to found a new
dynasty by marrying his son into the ruling house of Moldavia. And as
Khmelnytsky was pursing these goals and aspirations, the Cossacks'
military victories and defeats were shaping the fate of a new Ukraine.
The book also covers the dramatic development of Ukrainian-Moldavian
relations in the years 1650-53, beginning with the Cossacks' victorious
campaign against Moldavia. The period witnessed the marriage of Tymish
Khmelnytsky to Roksanda Lupu, the daughter of the Moldavian hospodar,
and it ended with Tymish's tragic death during the siege of Suceava by
allied Polish, Wallachian, and Moldavian forces--a major blow not only
to Khmelnytsky's policy in the Danube region, but also to his dynastic
aspirations. In covering these events, Hrushevsky again proved himself
an outstanding researcher with scrupulous attention to detail. His
portrait of Tymish, whom Bohdan Khmelnytsky was grooming to become his
successor, remains the most complete in the literature. The book
concludes on the eve of the Battle of Zhvanets (1653) and the Pereiaslav
Council of 1654, events crucial to the future of Ukraine.
This volume was translated by Bohdan Struminski and edited by Serhii
Plokhy (consulting editor) and Frank E. Sysyn (editor in chief) with the
assistance of Uliana M. Pasicznyk.
The volume includes an extensive historical introduction, a full
bibliography of the sources used by Hrushevsky, 3 maps, and an index.
The preparation of this volume for publication was generously sponsored
by Mrs. Sofiia Wojtyna of Hamilton, Ontario, in memory of Vasyl Bilash,
Mykhailo Charkivsky, and Mykhailo Wojtyna.
