On August 14, 1775, by the decree of the Russian Empress Catherine II, the Zaporozhye Sich was finally abolished. After the reunification of a significant part of Little Russia with the Russian state in 1654, privileges were extended to the Zaporozhye army, which were enjoyed by other Russian Cossack troops. The Zaporozhye Cossacks played an important role. Cossacks defended the southern borders of Russia, played a prominent role in the wars with the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire. Therefore, the Cossacks retained a certain autonomy from the central government. However, the Cossacks sheltered the fugitives who were hiding in the Zaporozhye Sich from the persecution of the tsarist authorities. In addition, there was the danger of a revolt against the center, an alliance with Russia's external enemies.
So, in 1709, the koshevoy ataman Kost Gordienko and hetman Mazepa signed an allied agreement with the Swedish king Charles XII. The Zaporozhye Sich joined the alliance of Mazepa and Karl against Russia. There were several clashes between the Cossacks and the Russian troops. Peter gives the order to Prince Menshikov to move three regiments from Kiev to the Sich under the command of Colonel Yakovlev in order to "destroy the entire nest of rioters." The Sich was destroyed, and later Peter did not allow it to be rebuilt. The Cossacks founded on the lands controlled by the Turks and the Crimean Tatars, Kamenskaya (1709-1711) and Aleshkovskaya Sich (1711-1734). However, they did not last long.
In 1733, when, after the outbreak of the war between the Russian Empire and Turkey, the Crimean Khan ordered the Cossacks of the Alyoshkovskaya Sich to go to the Russian border, General Veisbakh (at that time he was engaged in the construction of the Ukrainian line of fortresses) presented the Cossacks with a certificate in the Krasny Kut tract, 4 versts from the old Chertomlytskaya Sich. The Cossacks received a letter from Empress Anna Ioannovna of pardon and acceptance into Russian citizenship. As a result, the New (Podpolnenskaya, or Pidpilnyanskaya) Sich was created, it existed until the final destruction of the Zaporozhye Sich in 1775.
The new Sich was very different from the old one. She became not only a military, but an economic, political organism. The Cossacks received full self-government and lands for settlement. New structures appeared - "palanques". These were a kind of "provinces" of the Sich in Samara, Mius, Bug, Ingulets, etc. Each palanka was ruled by a colonel, esaul and a clerk, who were subordinate to Kosh. It was the land that became the main source of income for the Cossacks, not salary. In the vicinity of the Sich "winterchaks" settled - married Cossacks, they had neither the right to vote in the parliament, nor the right to be elected to office and were obliged to pay "smoke" to the Sich treasury, that is, a kind of family tax. In addition to married Cossacks, aliens (mainly peasants, poor people who were looking for a better life), who came from the Great Russian provinces, Right-Bank Ukraine, and Turkish possessions, began to be called so. They were not considered Cossacks, but were subjects of the Sich, supplied food and paid 1 ruble a year. The inhabitants of the Sich lived off fishing, hunting, cattle breeding, agriculture and trade. The foreman received income from duties on the import of goods, ownership of land, pastures, fishing.
The Cossacks obeyed only their own laws, for minor matters they were tried in palanquets, for significant matters - at the koshevoy. The offender could be handed over to the imperial authorities, but most often they themselves were punished, up to the death penalty. The Sich quickly became one of the flourishing regions of Russia. The palanquas were covered with villages and farms.
However, in the Sich, there were also serious contradictions between the foreman and the golot. So, the tsarist government almost immediately violated the obligation to give out annually Sich 20 thousand rubles of salary. Already in 1738, they began to give only 4-7 thousand. The rest of the money was ordered to be paid from army funds, but they were empty. As a result, the authorities began to cheat - they gave out “publicly” 4 thousand rubles, the rest of the money was secretly transferred to the foremen, the atamans of the kurens. However, the Cossacks quickly found out about this: in 1739, the koshevoy Tukal and the elders overthrew, beat and plundered their property (the koshevoy was so badly beaten that he soon died). In the future, the foremen continued to grow rich. In particular, koshevoy Kalnyshevsky once sold 14 thousand horses from his herds. Ordinary Cossacks were in poverty, all the benefits went in favor of the foreman.
Ordinary Cossacks worked for the foreman, fished, and "gaidamastvo", that is, robbery, also developed. In the lower reaches of the Bug, Russian, Turkish and Polish borders converged, which helped to hide after the plunder. In the 1750s and 1760s, Gaidamache became a real disaster in this area. People were simply afraid to travel through the Bug region. Complaints about the Cossacks were pouring in from Turkey and Poland. The instructions of the imperial authorities were simply "going down on the brakes." The trade was very profitable, and many of the foremen and the administration of the palanques were in the share. When in 1760, under pressure from the Russian authorities, Koshevoy Beletsky organized a raid to capture the robbers, only 40 people were able to arrest. And even then the kuren atamans forbade them to be given out, dismantled them into kurens and, after repentance, released them. When the Russian military command established patrolling of the border with regular cavalry and suburban Cossacks, armed skirmishes began.
Another reason for the conflict between the Sich and the central government arose. During this period, there was an active development of the previously empty areas of the Wild Field and the Cossacks began to defend their "lawful" lands. They based their claims on a fake - "a copy from the letter of Stefan Batory", who allegedly gave them land near the town of Chigirin, along Samara and the Southern Bug, the left bank of the Dnieper to the Seversky Donets. And since the Russian sovereigns, starting with Alexei Mikhailovich, confirmed the "former Zaporozhye liberties," the very word "liberties" began to be interpreted in a territorial sense. The Zaporozhian Cossacks, defending their "lawful" lands, did not stop at the use of force. They burned down several new settlements, dispersed the villagers. As a result, the Cossacks simply became insolent, challenging the central government. However, under Elizabeth and Hetman Razumovsky, they got away with it.
Under Catherine II, the situation changed. She seriously took up the affairs of the loose Ukraine. In 1763, Hetman Razumovsky, who hinted at the hereditary status of his post, resigned "of his own free will." The Little Russian Collegium was restored. General P. A. Rumyantsev was appointed its president. He found a picture of complete collapse in Ukraine. The military elite, which ruled on behalf of Razumovsky, completely got out of hand. The foremen turned into almighty nobles, real local "princelings". They got to the point that they fought with each other, challenging the land, arming the Cossacks and peasants. The population was subjected to merciless exploitation. Ordinary Cossacks either went bankrupt, turning into farm laborers, or were engaged in personal farming. The decree of 1721 on the encouragement of Cossack distillation had a negative effect on the troops. Many people drank themselves to death, others drank their land plots on drink. As a result, the Little Russian army decomposed. Rumyantsev could not even organize the post office: the rich did not want to serve, the poor did not have the opportunity.
It was necessary to take measures to restore the combat capability of local troops. In 1764, they began to transform the Cossack units into regular ones. From the Ukrainian regiments, 5 hussars were created: Black, Yellow, Blue, Serbian and Ugorsky. In addition, four pikinersky regiments were created (Elisavetgradsky, Dneprovsky, Donetsk and Lugansky). Later, several more hussar regiments were created and the Landmilitia was reorganized into infantry units. On the whole, Ukraine had to lose its special status and be equalized with other Russian provinces. Sitting in these plans was a serious obstacle.
Attention was also drawn to the "state within the state" - the Zaporozhye Sich. In 1764, Kosh was subordinate to the Little Russian Collegium. The Zaporozhye administration was credited with no longer holding elections. The Cossacks were indignant and, contrary to the instructions, held new elections, electing Kalnyshevsky as koshevsky. The new koshevoy went to Petersburg without permission to demand direct subordination of the Foreign Collegium and to raise the issue of the "legal" Zaporozhye lands. Rumyantsev suggested that the Empress arrest the delegates. A draft reform of the Sich was drawn up. However, Catherine did not take tough measures, a new war with Turkey was approaching, they did not want to complicate the situation in the south. The Empress received the delegation graciously. This inspired the Cossacks, returning to the Sich they began to boast that they had "frightened" the government.
In 1767, a denunciation was received that Koshevoy Kalnyshevsky and the clerk Ivan Globa were agreeing to enter into negotiations with the Turkish Sultan if the government did not fulfill their demands. Catherine left the denunciation without consequences, but the fate of the Sich was already a foregone conclusion. The solution to the problem was only postponed until the end of the war with the Ottoman Empire.
The Sich leadership itself aggravated its precarious position. It not only challenged the Russian authorities, but also entered into contact with Crimea and Turkey. On the eve of the war, the Cossacks received letters from Bakhchisarai and Istanbul, in which they were tempted with the possibility of transferring to the service of Turkey, promising a triple salary. The French emissary Totleben visited the Sich on behalf of the Sultan. Kalnyshevsky refused the Turks, but did not interrupt the correspondence. In addition, he allowed Totleben to speak to the Cossacks and did not betray him to Rumyantsev. Confusion began among the Cossack mass. When, in December 1768, the Cossacks were instructed to start a war with Turkey, they rebelled. Kalnyshevsky had not only to suppress the rebellion, but to ask for help from the Russian garrison from the Novosechensky retrenchment. The unrest continued for several months, the Cossacks left the borders, and the Tatars broke through to Ukraine in January 1769.
In the Russian-Turkish war of 1768-1774. 10 thousand Cossacks took part (about 4 thousand more remained on the territory of the Sich). In the war, they showed high fighting qualities, distinguished themselves in reconnaissance and raids, and played an important role in the battles of Larga and Cahul. The victory in this war was another reason for the elimination of the Zaporozhye army. With the conclusion of the Kuchuk-Kainardzhiyskiy agreement, the Russian Empire gained access to the Black Sea, the Dnieper defensive line was created, the Crimean Khanate was on the verge of destruction. The second historical enemy of Russia, Catholic Poland, lost its power, and in 1772 its first partition took place. The Zaporozhye Cossacks lost their role as defenders of the southern borders.
In May 1775, the corps of General Peter Tekeli was moved to the Sich. The operation was bloodless. The elders, realizing that resistance was pointless, together with the priests, calmed down the rank-and-file Cossacks. By the decree of Catherine the Zaporizhzhya Sich was abolished. Ordinary Cossacks were not persecuted. Some remained in Ukraine and settled in villages and cities. Some of the commanders received officer ranks, the foremen became nobles. Only three Cossacks - Kalnyshevsky, military judge Pavel Golovaty and clerk Globa were convicted on charges of treason and exiled to monasteries. Kalnyshevsky lived in the Solovetsky Monastery until the age of 112 and died in 1803, taking the monastic dignity.
Part of the Cossacks went to the Danube under the rule of the Turkish Sultan and the Transdanubian Sich was created. In 1828, the Trans-Danube Cossacks went over to the side of the Russian army and were pardoned personally by Tsar Nicholas I. From them, the Azov Cossack army was created. In Russia, during the war with Turkey, Alexander Suvorov in 1787-1788. from the Cossacks of the former Sich and their descendants, he organized the "Army of the Loyal Zaporozhians". In 1790 it was transformed into the Black Sea Cossack army and then received the territory of the left-bank Kuban. Cossacks took an active part in the Caucasian War and other wars of the Russian Empire.
