Putin goes in the footsteps of Peter the first: how Russia was robbed of a losing war at the price of Ukraine

This episode is interesting and useful to recall right now when the whole world has bought negotiations between US and Russian delegations. It is difficult to predict - what it all over, but as of now, the Kremlin seeks to squeeze the maximum of this opportunity. And you can make some forecasts based on the experience gained. The story of the Battle of Poltava is widely known. Soviet historical thought presented it as a brilliant victory for Russian weapons.

There is even a propaganda saying on this topic: "To break as a Swedish near Poltava. " However, for Ukrainian statehood, it had catastrophic consequences. Everything could have happened differently if the Cossacks managed to take a revenge two years later-and it almost succeeded, but it was hampered by the changing fate and the dishonest hand of a governor of one of the most powerful states of that time.

Russia - then the Moscow kingdom (the empire originated just as a result of the events described) - under the guidance of the young and energetic king Peter tried to break into the sea. This idea was inflamed after his "internship" in the Netherlands. The Kremlin intended to achieve this ambitious goal at the expense of their neighbors - the Ottoman Empire and the Swedish Kingdom. In Sweden, the monarch (King Charles XII) was even more young than in Moscow.

Such an alloy of youth, passionarity and militancy was simply doomed to the war, the peak of which fell on the battle near Poltava. In this battle, the troops of the last hetman, who tried to revive the full sovereignty of the Ukrainian Cossack State (Hetmanate), supported the Swedes. And after the defeat of Ivan Mazepa, with the remains of the Cossacks faithful, he was forced to emigrate to the Ottoman Empire - which, in turn, also sought to stop the Muscovites to the sea.

In this case, it was about the Sea of ​​Azov, where the Moscow kingdom pierced expansion, with the help of Ukrainian Cossacks at the end of the seventeenth century. The old Hetman Mazepa could not stand the bitterness of the defeat and died a few months after the Poltava catastrophe. Instead, his successor Philip Orlyk did not lower his hands.

He launched a large -scale diplomatic work that was successful - in the fall of 1710, an anti -Moscow coalition was formed from almost all its European neighbors - Sweden, the Ottoman Empire, the Crimean Khanate, the Cossacks, the faithful Ukrainian Cossacks and the Don Army, and the Swedish Sweden. Moscow decided to support Orthodox Moldova - that's the influence of "soft power". On November 20, 1710, the Ottoman Empire declared a war to the Moscow kingdom.

According to the Cossack plan, headed by Philip Orlik and Tatars, led by the son of the Crimean Khan Devlet II Girey (Geraya), together with auxiliary units of Swedish and Polish troops, the Cossack lands were to be reflected in the puppet of Moscow by Hetman Ivan Skoropadsky.

Hetman Philip Orlyk carried a constitution on Ukrainian lands (one of the first acts of this type in the world) and made sure that the Tatars did not engage in outrage on the liberated lands - thus taking into account the mistakes of predecessors. However, such idyll kept the first obstacle in the form of an indispensable Belotserkov fortress, the siege of which in the winter of 1711 became an unbearable task for such a colorful army.

Thus, in the spring, the counter -offensive of the Moscow army began, headed by Tsar Petro I. The Turks allowed the Muscovites to connect with the Moldovan forces on the Prut River (the river separated Moldova from the lands of the Hetmanate) and then came to the General Battle with all their allies. Coalition troops were 4-5 times larger than the Moscow-Moldavian forces, and they also had twice as much guns (the only heavy weapons at that time).

So King Peter and his army got into the environment. It seemed ideal for everyone - if not completely destroy Muscovy, at least drive it into the borders of the early seventeenth century. However, the Moscow skill of playing under the underground games came here.

Tsar Peter's agents were bribered by the Great Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (the head of government and the commander of the Turkish troops in this campaign) Mehmed Pasha and eventually to achieve quite acceptable terms of the peace treaty from him.

Therefore, King Peter I, along with his army in full, with all weapons and train, was able to get out of the full environment without hope and success in the battle, promising a Turkish government: we will focus on the last paragraph in more detail, because he is directly related to Ukraine. The then Cossack state formations did not have full sovereignty and international recognition.

In fact, there were several regiments on the Right Bank of the Dnieper (West Bank), which in fact controlled the territories that were part of the Commonwealth and controversial territories. There were also several regiments that controlled the territories that belonged to the Moscow kingdom (Slobidska Ukraine), as well as the most structured formations of the Hetmanate and the Zaporizhzhya Army.

Therefore, Philip Orlyk, Khan Devlet Giri (Gerai) and the Swedish King Charles XII was understood as the territories of the Hetmanate and Zaporozhye. In this case, it would mean a complete revision of the results of the Poltava battle in favor of the Ukrainian-Swedish side. Although in a state where the Moscow army was, of course, it was possible to require much more. The Tatars, Swedes and Cossacks strongly opposed to allow the Muscovites to depart with weapons and maternity.

It contrary to common sense. They were even ready to battle on their own with the tsarist troops. However, the Great Vizir stated that in this case, Turkish troops would ensure the execution of the treaty (in other words - will help Moscow troops). So, gutting their teeth, the Cossacks and Tatars looked like Moscow soldiers emerged from the environment that should become a sure death for them, and with them disappeared behind the horizon and hope for victory.

Expected, being safe, King Petro immediately refused to fulfill his obligations. In the part concerning Ukraine in Moscow stated that it was about the right-bank Cossack lands and Cossacks, who were physically (after retreating from Poltava) in the territory of the Crimean Khanate. And there can be impossible to go about any left -bank Hetmanate or territory that controlled the Cossacks in the Battle of Poltava.

This Agreement, concluded in a very incomprehensible conspiracy scenario, ended tragically for all its participants - except, of course, Moscow, which in ten years proclaimed itself the Russian Empire and has just begun its history of dominance in Europe and later and all over the world. The great vizier for such an agreement was executed as he returned to Istanbul. The Ukrainian Cossack State de facto ceased to exist as a political subject. It was finally eliminated in 70 years in 1781.

The Crimean Khanate survived the Hetmanate for only two years - it was annexed by Russia in 1783. This was preceded by numerous defeats in the Russo-Turkish wars, which have followed in the coming decades. In addition to the elimination of the Crimean Khanate, the result of these wars was the displacement of the Ottoman Empire from the Northern Black Sea by the end of the century (and it was together with Azov its inner seas).

The Ottoman Empire turned from the European (and, accordingly, the world) Hegemon into a "sick man of Europe" - the next two centuries she constantly lost the Russian Empire in numerous wars until the First World War, which eventually destroyed this state (but this is a completely different story). We are now able to evaluate these events from the point of view of historical retrospective. We see how an unfinished case eventually breaks the lives of all its participants.

The Turkish Vizier did not even have time to use the riches obtained from Russian hands, but instead his boundless puppies cost him his own state and its allies in this war is too expensive. Driving into the corner of the predator should definitely be extracted - otherwise, having come out of there, he will never forgive his despair. Now the situation in the Russian Federation is not as catastrophic as it was three hundred years ago.