Презентація англійською мовою "Zaporizhzhia Sich"

Zaporizhzhia Sich

According to the definition, the Zaporizhzhya Sich is a socio-political and military-administrative organization of the Ukrainian Cossacks beyond the thresholds, formed in the first half of the 16th century. behind the Dnieper rapids near the island of Khortytsia.

Value. Broadly speaking - all the lands that were under the control and possession of the Cossacks. In narrow-central settlement, where the administrative office of Sich was located.

The complexity of the question about the location and time of the first Sich is that the Cossacks spontaneously arrived in Zaporizhzhia and built so-called "forts" and fences from fallen trees in various places to protect against enemy attacks. However, such improvised settlements were weakly fortified and therefore, under the pressure of the enemy, ceased to exist quite quickly, leaving behind no mention recorded in historical sources.

Historians usually associate the founding of the first Zaporizhzhia Sich with the name of the Cossack leader D. Vyshnevetskyi.

Dmytro Vyshnevetskyi (Bayda) (1516—1563) is one of the first known hetmans in the history of the Ukrainian Cossacks, a descendant of the Grand Duke Olgerd of Lithuania. Under his leadership during 1552-1556 a fortress was built in Mala Khortytsia, the walls of which not only guaranteed security, but also became a kind of base for expeditions to the Crimea, a rallying point for the Zaporizhzhia Cossacks.

The highest legislative, administrative and judicial body of Sich was the Sich council. As a rule, the council considered the most important issues of domestic and foreign policy, carried out the division of lands and territories, tried criminals who committed the most serious crimes.

An important function of the council was the election of the Sich Government - a military officer. This group of Cossacks included: a military foreman — a basket chieftain, a military judge, a military osavul, a military scribe, and kurinny chieftains; military officers: khorunzhy, bunchuzhny, dovbysh, clerks; subordinate and palanquin chiefs — colonel, scribe, osavul.

Cossack law recorded the relations that were formed in Sich: it approved the military-administrative organization determined the rules of military operations, the activities of administrative and judicial bodies, the order of land use, conclusion of contracts, determined the types of crimes and punishments .

So, we are talking about a kind of original form of statehood, the essence of which experts see in the self-governing structure of the people's self-defense and the economic form of self-survival under the vacuum of state power and constant war danger. There was neither feudal land ownership nor serfdom here; formal equality reigned between all Cossacks. An elected system of governing bodies prevailed in Sich, whose activities were controlled by the Cossack Council.

The rite of election of the elder testified to the deep-rooted democracy of the Cossack community. In order for him not to forget his place, not to disrespect the ordinary Cossacks and to remember where he came from, the old Sichovs sprinkled his head with sand or smeared it with mud. And the basket maker had to thank for the favor and trust and bow to all four sides. At the same time, having sworn an oath to the chieftain, the Cossacks obeyed him in everything and treated him respectfully.

The favorable attitude of the Cossacks to religion is evidenced by the existence of more than 60 churches within the boundaries of the liberties of the Lower Zaporizhzhya Army. Cossacks constantly attended religious services and various prayer meetings. Characteristically, during the reading of the Gospel, all the Cossacks straightened up and half drew their sabers from their scabbards. Every Cossack, dying, wrote an icon, a medal, an ingot of gold, silver to the church.

The Cossack form of statehood had its own characteristics: First, it arose not on an ethnic basis, but on a moral and psychological basis. People were united not by the power of state power, but by spiritual kinship. Secondly, Zaporizhzhia Sich was a deformed version of statehood: intensive development of the military sphere — a powerful army and weapons and a primitive economic sector (lack of its own financial system, money, cities, developed infrastructure).