Mazepa's Defection to Sweden and the Baturyn Massacre (1708)

The deployment of the regular army to physically destroy the Hetmanate's defiant capital: "On the morning of November 2, Russian troops burst into Baturyn. After a two-hour battle, the remnants of the garrison were slaughtered together with the entire civilian population"^[1][4]. The town was looted and burned on Peter's direct order - his letter to Menshikov of 5 November 1708: "and Baturyn, as a mark against the traitors (for they resisted), burn entire, as an example to others"^[5].

Total massacre of the civilian population: "Funck slaughtered more than a thousand people in the small town of Terey (Tereyska sloboda) and burned the town down, and also burned Dryhalov (Nedryhailiv)… and ordered everyone encountered to be killed, so as to instill horror in others"^[2]. "In total, about 15 thousand Ukrainians died in the Baturyn tragedy, including all the women and children"^[1][4].

The demonstrative destruction of the city as an act of intimidation for the rest of the country. Peter I personally gave the order: "and Baturyn, as a sign to the traitors (since they resisted), burn down entirely as an example to others"^[1][4]. Hrushevsky: the Muscovite army, having taken Baturyn "through the treachery of one man," "dealt terribly with the populace: the people were slaughtered, the town razed to the ground, the commanders given over to terrible tortures"^[3].

A campaign to erase the resistance leader's name (damnatio memoriae): "For two centuries the name and deeds of Mazepa were expunged… His coats of arms were knocked off the churches he had built, his name was painted over in books"^[1][4].

The anathema against Mazepa was proclaimed by the tsar's direct order - "be pleased to have him, for such a deed of his, publicly cursed in the cathedral church..."^[4]. Part of the Ukrainian clergy refused to accept the rite: a former Lokhvytsia archpriest said during the proclamation of the anathema, "Our Mazepa is holy and will be in heaven, and your sovereign will not"^[4]. The Ecumenical Patriarchate never recognized it: "the anathema was laid on Ivan Mazepa for political reasons and had no theological or canonical justification"^[6].

Large-scale looting of state arsenals and the treasury during the punitive raid on the autonomy's capital: "Menshikov managed to remove part of the artillery"^[1][4]; the remaining guns were blown up and the city burned.

Deliberate removal of intellectual and historical heritage. The imperial troops did not merely loot — they seized unique documents: "Menshikov managed to carry off... the hetman's archive and Mazepa's library"^[1][4].

The installation of a government fully controlled by Moscow after the destruction of the capital: the election of the new hetman took place in Peter's presence immediately after the execution of the Baturyn officers – "Under the circumstances, the officers simply confirmed Skoropadsky, presented by Peter"^[1]. Hrushevsky records the mechanics of dependence: "The hetman's residence was moved from Baturyn to Hlukhiv, right up against the Muscovite border, and two Muscovite regiments were garrisoned there so that the residents could arrest the hetman and the officers at once," and "everyone in Ukraine understood that power lay not with the hetman but with those residents"^[3].

The formalization of the occupation regime through sham procedures. The officers, terrorized by the massacre, were made to vote for the metropole's preferred candidate: "At the end of this spectacle came the execution of the officers captured in Baturyn, and then the formal election of a new hetman. Under the circumstances, the officers simply confirmed Skoropadsky, presented by Peter"^[1][4].