THE MILITARY COOPERATION BETWEEN THE CRIMEAN KHANATE AND THE ZAPOROIZHIAN HOST IN THE SECOND QUARTER OF THE 17th CENTURY

Abstract

The purpose of the study ‒ analysis of the historical events associated with the development of the formation process of the military and political alliance which was in force from the time of the end of the Khotyn War till the 40s of the 17t h century. The set up aim has been achieved on the base of observing the general theoretical and methodological principles of sources studying, so as to provide identification of the typical features of the above said historical events. The study methodology is based on keeping in line with the principles of historism and historical sources-studying, those ones of objectiveness and specific historical systematicity, as well as on the principles of interdisciplinary approach, identification of the truth and informational value of the identified data and facts. While carrying this study, there have been applied the general historical methods of the historiographic, terminological and typological analyses, as well as the comparativistics method. The academic novelty of the study is a civilisational сcomprehension of the Historiography of Ukraine in the context of a renovation and development of its statehood, and the application of the author’s methodology for the interpretation of the respective historical events with taking into account the information available in Turkish-Ottoman written sources. Conclusions. The sources-based study we have carried out of contents of the Turkish Ottoman written documents, where there are available data about the Cossack-Hetmanic Ukraine in the first half of the 17th century and about its relationships with the Ottoman Empire, gives us grounds to make the following conclusions: 1) the Khotyn Military Campaign became a historical event, which noticeably changed the correlation between the military and political forces in Eastern Europe and in the Northern Black-Sea Area, while the consequences of that campaign were as follows: а) destabilisation of the domestic situation in the Ottoman Empire, hence − a further decrease in the capabilities of that state to keep holding its military and political positions in the above said regions; b) emergence of tendencies to making actions in the foreign policy of the Crimean Khanate against the central power; c) a further rise of the military power of the Zaporozhian Sich and transformation of the «Cossack factor» into an important component of the international relations in Eastern Europe and in the Northern Black-Sea Area; 2) a crisis in the domestic situation, which was one of the most negative consequences for the Ottoman Empire after the defeats of its military forces in the Khotyn Military campaign, resulted in incapability of this state to provide help to the Crimean Khanate in suppressing by that the protesting movement of the population, and that made the ruling circlers of the Crimean Khanate search a political union with the Zaporozhian Sich, that in the second quarter of the 17th century turned into one of the most powerful at that time military force, which both the Ottoman Empire and the Polish and Lithuanian Commonwealth had to think of in their activities. It was this fact that became a pre-condition for strengthening the military and political cooperation between the Cossack-Hetmanic Ukraine and the Crimean Ulus. However, such a scenario of the events made it possible a development of the cultural relations between these countries which require making further studies.