The year 1648 has become of a special historiographical importance for both Poland and the Ukraine due to the fact that after ten years of relative peace (1638-1648), one of the greatest Cossacks’ uprisings in the history of Poland took place. It is often referred to as a liberating war of the Ukrainian nation, especially by the Ukrainian historians. The actions taken by Bohdan Chmielnicki in January 1648 did not indicate what was soon about to become a fact, therefore until March his activity was by and large ignored by the highest authority. The Cossacks’ uprisings of 1625, 1630, 1637, 1638 had been ruthlessly suppressed leaving the authority with a sense of power and confidence. This, however, proved to be a fatal mistake which lead to terrible consequences on the part of the Republic of Poland. Approximately on 13th March Chmielnicki established an agreement with Crimean Khanate and thus acquired Tatar cavalry’s support for his actions. The consequences of the Cossack-Tatar alliance were to be seen promptly. Not later than the end of April and the beginning of May 1648 brought the first defeat to the Polish army in their Battle of Żółte Wody (29.IV.-16.V.) against the Cossack-Tatar army. To make matters worse, the death of King Władysław IV on 20th May 1648 left the country in interregnum. A few days later, another group of the Polish army under the command of hetmans M. Potocki and M. Kalinowski were defeated in the Battle of Korsuń (25-26.V.). The losses were substantial and both hetmans were taken in captivity which left Poland in an extremely dangerous situation on its historical path. On 26th May 1648, the primate Maciej Lubieński, who as an interrex took over the responsibilities of a sovereign, informed the voivodships about the death of the monarch at the same time appointing 16th July as the date of a Seym session in Warsaw. In May and June the information on the defeats of the Polish army as well as the spreading revolt of Chmielnicki started arriving from the Ukraine. As a result, radically different positions on the means of further action towards the uprising’s leader appeared among the Polish nobility. The peace party (chancery) lead by Jerzy Ossoliński and Adam Kisiel were willing to reach a deal with Chmielnicki in order to restore order and peace in the Ukraine. The war party (hetman), however, commanded by Jeremi Wiśniowiecki, Andrzej Leszczyński, Aleksander Koniecpolski and Janusz Radziwiłł believed in the power of ruthless combat. In June 1648 the first attempt at communicating with Chmielnicki took place. Due to the fact that Chmielnicki was weakened because of the departure of Tatars to Krym and his demands were not exorbitant, some preliminary conditions on ceasing fire were agreed upon. The Seym which, as it had been planned, met on 16th July 1648, appointed the date of an election for the 6th October 1648 but also adopted a stance concerning the situation in the Ukraine and further action to be taken. The Seym supported the approach to resolve the problem with Cossacks peacefully and appointed a group of commissioners under Adam Kisiel to continue negotiations with Chmielnicki. In the matters concerning army the previous arrangements on the enlistment numbers and the commanders in charge (D. Zasławski, A. Koniecpolski, M. Ostroróg), who were assisted by 32 commissioners, were maintained. Nonetheless, before the Seym decided on who would become the next king, Poland was to experience another upheaval. In September (20-23.IX.) in the Battle of Piławce, there was yet another confrontation between the Polish army and the Cossack-Tatar forces which ended in an embarrassing flight of the major Polish commanders followed by the rest of the army. The Polish defeat let Chmielnicki progress west first to Lwów (6-26.X.) and then to Zamość (approx. 3-24.XI.). In the Seym session (6.X.-25.XI.), which took place in the atmosphere of almost a tangible threat, not without the pressure from Chmielnicki, a new monarch Jan Kazimierz, an advocate of a peaceful method of solving the Cossacks’ issue (just as J. Ossoliński), was chosen. Consequently, the royal peaceful party outnumbered the war party and during the heated discussions in Seym the matter of national defence was set aside. When Chmielnicki heard about the choice of, preferred by him, new monarch, he ceased the siege of Zamość on 24th November and via Sokal, Dubno, Ostróg and Żytomierz went back to Kiev. On 12th December 1648 in Warsaw king Jan Kazimierz issued a document informing about the end of the Polish-Cossack war. On the same day, Chmielnicki sent out the good news across the Ukraine urging at the same time the nobility to come back and the peasants to be obedient to their masters. Soon after that, on 1st January 1649, commissioners led by Adam Kisiel set off to Perejasław to hand Chmielnicki a baton and a streamer on behalf of the king and the Republic of Poland. On9th February king Jan Kazimierz withdrew the commandership conferred to duke J. Wiśniowiecki by the Seym in autumn 1648. The complete trust in, fist of all, the good intentions of Bohdan Chmielnicki and, secondly, the possibility of reaching a compromise in negotiations with him, soon proved to be only an illusion. After all, one of its results was the abandonment of any actions towards reinforcing the Polish army, which was later on cunningly used by the Poland’s opponents.
1648 г. был в польской и украинской истории особой датой. После периода относительного спокойствия (1638-1648) вспыхнуло самое большое в истории Польши казахское восстание, определённое, в частности украинскими историками освободительной войной украинского народа. Предпринятые действия Богданом Хмельницким, до месяца марта были игнорированы властями Польши. Предыдущие казацкие восстания были безжалостно подавлены армией короны, давая ощущение силы и уверенности. Это была ошибка, которая принесла фатальные последствия Польши. В марте Хмельницкому удалось установить соглашение с Крымским ханством и приобрести, путем своих действий, татарскую конную армию. Последствия казацко-татарского союза дали о себе знать очень быстро. На рубеже апреля и мая 1648 г. Польша потерпела первое поражение в сражении с коалиционной армией в Жёлтых Водах (29 апреля – 16 мая). 20 мая 1648 г., умер король Владислав IV, погружая страну в хаосе междуцарствия. Через несколько дней, вторая группа польской армии во главе гетманов М. Потоцкого и М. Калиновского была разбита под Корсунем (25-26 мая). Потери были очень серьезные, в плен попали два гетмана, а Польша оказалась в крайне опасной ситуации.
Вскоре Украина начала получать информацию о катастрофе коронной армии и увеличении силы Хмельницкого. Под их влиянием, в кругах польских магнатов появились две фракции, которые выбрали другие решения выхода из кризиса. „Мирная партия” во главе с Ежим Оссолинским приклоняющаяся к Хмельницкому. Военная партия (гетманская) Еремима Висневецкого находилась на пути, беспощадной борьбы и наводила порядок силой. В то же время, в июне 1648 г. предпринято первые попытки общения с Хмельницким и объявлено прекращение огня, на это казаки согласились, потому что в то время татары уходили на Крым за добычей.
Варшавский сейм назначил выборы и принял мирный метод разрешения кризиса. Оставлено в силе заранее высокие уловы армии, которые прошли по приказу трех командиров (Д. Заславский, А. Конецпольский, М.Остроруг), которым в дальнейшем добавлено еще 32 комиссара. Но прежде, чем сейм решил выбрать нового короля, Польша понесла еще один удар. С 20-23 сентября под Пилавцами дошло до очередной конфронтации, завершенной компромитацией побега с поля боя командиров и коронной армии. Победа открыла Хмельницкому дорогу на запад, и вскоре его армия находилась под Львовом и Замостьем. В сейме, выборы проходили под прямой угрозой казачьих сабель, был избран (не без давления Хмельницкого) новый монарха – Ян II Казимеж, сторонник мирного решения конфликта. На весть о выборе его предпочтенного кандидата, Хмельницкий вернулся в Киев. 12 декабря 1648 г. Ян Казимеж в Варшаве издал провозглашение о завершении казацкой войны. Казалось, что конфликт был решен…
