Liquidation of the Zaporozhian Sich (1709)
A military operation of Muscovite troops to completely destroy the Zaporozhian (Chortomlyk) Sich as an autonomous military center in revenge for its support of Charles XII: "Having lost the proxy battle for Zaporizhzhia, Peter decided to follow the path of Baturyn — to destroy the Sich"[1]. Contemporaries recorded the empire's goal directly – Orlyk wrote that Moscow intended "to eradicate the Zaporozhian Host of the Lower Dnipro and to efface its very name forever"[2].
Actors
| ID | Name | Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| G0008 | Tsardom of Muscovy | 7 |
Instruments Applied
| ID | Name | Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| S0010 | Regular Army | 5 |
| S0008 | Government | 1 |
| S0011 | Moscow Patriarchate | 1 |
Procedures Carried Out
A punitive expedition against the Sich to physically annihilate the Lower Dnipro Cossacks: "Three infantry regiments led by Colonel P. Yakovlev were sent there. Keleberda was the first to be taken and burned on April 16. A stubborn battle was fought for Perevolochna"[1]. The assault on the Sich itself lasted four days. The punitive force was guided by mercenary colonel Hnat Galagan: in "1709 he took part in the destruction of the Zaporozhian Sich, for which he received four villages on the Right Bank"[3].
Total extermination of the defenders: when Perevolochna was taken, "All the Zaporozhians and inhabitants were killed (only 12 people were taken alive), and the neighboring kurins were also burned and slaughtered"[1].
Destruction of the military-economic base of the Lower Dnipro Cossacks. The Sich "was a kind of military base housing the fleet, artillery, and arsenal"[4] – all of this infrastructure was destroyed or seized during the assault.
Complete destruction of the Sich's buildings and neighboring fortifications: "the neighboring kurins were also burned and slaughtered"; "All the buildings were destroyed, as Menshikov wrote: 'To lay waste all their places, so that this treasonous nest be utterly uprooted'"[1].
The use of the church as an instrument of punishment: the anathema 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..."[2]. No theological grounding was supplied for it, and 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"[2].