Petro Doroshenko

Petro Dorofiiovych Doroshenko (Old Ukrainian: Петро / Петръ Дорошен(ъ)ко, modern ; 1627–1698) was a Cossack political and military leader, hetman of Right-bank Ukraine (1665–1672) and Russian voivode. His frequent change of allegiances between neighbouring powers has made the hetman a controversial figure in Ukrainian history.

Background and early career Petro Doroshenko was born in Chyhyryn into a noble Zaporozhian Cossack family with a strong tradition of leadership. His father, a Registered Cossack, held the rank of colonel, and his grandfather Mykhailo held the bulava ( to 1628) as the hetman of the Registered Cossack Army.

To rid himself of the dependence on the starshyna (senior officers), the hetman created the Serdiuk regiments which consisted of 20,000 mercenary infantry units, which took orders only from him. however in the fall of 1667 he lost the Battle of Podhajce. After the battle, Doroshenko's opposition, led by the Kosh Otaman Ivan Sirko and Tatars stopped his further advance against Poles. Sukhoviy challenged Doroshenko, but he was defeated at the battle of Olkhivets Soon after the Poles recognized his hetmancy, Khanenko and Jan Sobieski launched a massive invasion onto the right bank.

War against Poland and Russia

In 1672, with a force of 12,000, Doroshenko aided the 100,000-strong Ottoman Army, which invaded Poland and defeated the Polish army at the Battle of Chertvenivka According to the terms of the treaty, the Podolia Voivodeship was turned into an Ottoman province and the Bratslav Voivodeship and the south of the Kiev Voivodship were to be recognized as Cossack territory administered by Doroshenko under an Ottoman protectorate.

Meanwhile, in the summer of 1672, Demian Mnohohrishny was replaced by Ivan Samoylovych at the 1672 Cossack general council near Konotop. As the right bank faced devastation by the Ottoman power, Doroshenko began to lose the respect of his previously loyal civilians because of his collaboration with the "hated infidels." Although the alliance had been an integral part in his successes, the rest of the population suffered at the hands of the Turks. As his forces were weakened from the ongoing wars, Doroshenko was forced to rely increasingly on the Ottomans, which was very unpopular with most of the deeply Orthodox Christian Cossacks. At the 1674 Council of Officers in Pereyaslav (17 March) Samoylovych was proclaimed the Hetman of all Ukraine. In the summer of 1674 Samoylovych, along with the Russian voivode Grigory Romodanovsky, launched an expedition against Doroshenko and besieged Chyhyryn. in Chyhyryn, Doroshenko already abdicated and pledged his allegiance to Russia, with Ivan Sirko witnessing it.

In the 1959 novel Angélique and the King by Anne Golon, Doroshenko serves as an antagonist wholeads a force of Ukrainian Cossacks during a fictional capture of Budapest on the tsar's order.

In 2013, with the support of a museum, Muzei Hetmanstva, the Hetman Petro Doroshenko Fund was created. The fund carries out research activity about Hetmans Mykhailo and Petro Doroshenko, shares information about them and researches the genealogy of the Doroshenko family.