c. 1582–1622
Petro Sahaidachnyi
Hetman, victor at Khotyn
About 4,000 Cossacks took Kaffa, a fortress and a great slave market in Crimea, and freed many captives. They were led by Petro Sahaidachnyi, the hetman who turned the Cossacks into a disciplined army that helped stop the Ottomans at Khotyn in 1621.
Key accomplishments
- Reformed the Cossack forces into a regular, disciplined army
- Successful naval campaigns against Kaffa (1616) and other Ottoman fortresses
- Decisive role in the Battle of Khotyn (1621) against the Ottoman Empire
- Joined the Kyiv Brotherhood with the entire Zaporozhian Host; helped restore the Orthodox hierarchy (1620)
The raid on Kaffa
In the summer of 1616 about 4,000 Cossacks landed near Kaffa in Crimea. It was a strong Turkish fortress and a great slave market. The Cossacks took the city, home to some 80,000 people, and freed many Christian captives. They were led by their newly elected hetman, Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachnyi.
He was born in the village of Kulchytsi near Sambir in the Lviv region; the exact date is unknown, and about 1582 is usually given. He studied at the Ostroh school and then left for the Zaporozhian Sich.
From a free host to an army
Sahaidachnyi reformed the Cossack forces: he divided them into companies and regiments, imposed strict discipline and banned drinking on sea campaigns. In 1618 he led a 20,000-strong army to support Prince Władysław’s campaign against Moscow.
In 1621 at Khotyn about 40,000 Cossacks under Sahaidachnyi, together with the Polish-Lithuanian army, stopped the Ottoman forces. This wrecked Sultan Osman II’s offensive against the Commonwealth. The hetman was badly wounded in the war and died in Kyiv the following year.
Debates and assessments
Sahaidachnyi kept a moderate course towards the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and tried to win rights for the Cossacks through agreements rather than uprisings. Some Cossacks resented this: in 1620 they removed him and briefly elected Yatsko Borodavka as hetman. Before the Khotyn war the mace was returned to Sahaidachnyi.
Why it matters today
Sahaidachnyi combined military strength with care for education and the church. He joined the Kyiv Brotherhood together with the entire Zaporozhian Host, supported the brotherhood school that later grew into the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, and left a large fortune to education in his will. The National Army Academy bears his name.
