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>Cossack uprising, known as Khmelnytsky Uprising (1648–1657), under the premise that the Poles had sold them as slaves "into the hands of the accursed Jews."
All strata of the Ukrainian population, excepting the magnates & their retainers, participated in the uprising, an indication of how deep was resentment against the Polish regime in Ukraine… Khmelnytsky & his lieutenants did not at first envision secession from the Commonwealth. Their original objectives focused on redress of Cossack & Orthodox grievances, & on winning for Ukraine some form of limited autonomy. But no compromise solution was possible, because the magnates would not acquiesce to the loss of their latifundia, seized by insurgent Cossacks & peasants. From about 1650 on, Khmelnytsky’s policy aimed at a complete break with Poland. But neither side was able to achieve a decisive military victory, & the destructive war dragged on. Thus Khmelnytsky was obliged to seek foreign support, first from Turkey & afterwards from Muscovy. By the memorable Treaty of Pereiaslav (1654), Ukraine accepted the protectorate of the Russian tsar. Hegemony in Eastern Europe shifted to the Tsardom of Muscovy, soon to be transformed into the Russian Empire, & the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth lost forever its stature as a great power.