Zaporozhian Cossacks - Legacy

Legacy

Although in 1775 the Zaporozhian Host formally ceased to exist, it left a profound cultural, political and military legacy on Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Turkey and other states that came in contact with it.

The shifting alliances in the Cossacks have generated a large amount of controversy, especially during the 20th century. For Russians the Pereyaslav Rada gave Tsardom of Russia, and later Russian Empire the impulse to take over the Ruthenian lands, claim rights as the sole successor of the Kievan Rus' and for the Russian Tsar to be declared the protector of all Russias, culminating in the Pan-Slavism movement of the 19th century.

Today, most of the modern descendants of the Zaporozhians, the Kuban Cossacks, remain loyal towards Russia, many fought in the local conflicts following the dissolution of the Soviet Union and today, just like before the revolution when they made up the private guard of the Emperor, the majority of the Kremlin Presidential Regiment is made from Kuban Cossacks.

For Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Zaporozhian Cossacks, and the Khmelnytskyi Uprising effectively marked the beginning of its finale with the Deluge, which led to the gradual demise of the Commonwealth ending the Partitions of Poland in the late 18th century.

A similar fate awaited both the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire, having endured numerous raids and attacks from them both, the Zaporozhian Cossacks aided the Russian Army in ending Turkey's ambitions of expanding into northern and central Europe, and like Poland, after the loss of Crimea, the Ottoman Empire began to demise.

However the most important historical legacy of the Zaporozhian Cossacks is found in modern Ukraine. It was their independence and will, and the memory left by their demise that would in the latter half of the 19th century shape and influence the idea of Ukrainian self-determination and independence. Ukrainian historians, such as Adrian Kaschenko (1858–1921), Olena Apanovych and others go on to interpret the final abolishment of the Zaporizhian Sich in 1775, as the destruction of the Cossack historic stronghold perceived as the bastion of protection of the Ukrainians and their ways of life, was the final blow that brought Ukrainians to the total submission of the Russian Empire.

The Ukrainian aspect of the Zaporozhians would be the stimulus of the emerging Ukrainian self-awareness in the middle of the 19th century and culminate in a distinct Ukrainian nationality who would claim the Zaporozhian Cossacks as their progenitors. During the Soviet times this point of view was slightly watered down in order to prevent the rise of nationalist sentiment, but at the same time supported (and becoming official) to create a negative image of the Russian Imperialist policies, yet retaining the Russophilic tendency of the Zaporozhians to justify Ukraine being part of the Soviet Union.

Zaporozhian attire, songs and music found its way into official state dance and music ensembles, which stylized the image of Ukraine in the years to come. Since the Independence of Ukraine in 1991, attempts at regenerating the Cossack lifestyle have diverged into politics, horsemanship and cultural endeavours.