In writing volume 8 of his History of Ukraine-Rus’, the second in the subseries The History of the Ukrainian Cossacks, Mykhailo Hrushevsky undertook to study the second quarter of the seventeenth century. Calling these years ‘a great and crucial epoch in the history of our nation,’ he established a new periodization for the development of Ukrainian Cossackdom.

Originally published in three parts, volume 8 sets forth the first complete account of the Ukrainian Cossacks from their defeat at Lake Kurukove (1625), which shattered the plans and hopes they had formed in the first quarter of the century, to their resurgence at the end of the 1640s as the ‘elemental force’ in Ukrainian history. Here Hrushevsky deals with the various attempts of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to reach an accommodation with the Orthodox Church, giving his own interpretation of the era of Metropolitan Petro Mohyla (1632–47). He goes on to examine the causes and outbreak of the Khmelnytsky Uprising, the personality of Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky, and the uprising’s early phase and climactic years of 1648–49, when it represented the interests of the Cossack and peasant masses. Hrushevsky concludes with a discussion of the Crimean khan’s withdrawal of support for Khmelnytsky, the ensuing military stalemate, the failure of the Zboriv Agreement, and the Cossacks’ decision to make a complete break with the Commonwealth.

Based on a thorough examination of the sources and scholarly literature, volume 8 of Hrushevsky’s work is unsurpassed as a comprehensive account of this dramatic period in Ukrainian history. As many of Hrushevsky’s manuscript sources were destroyed in World War II, his citations and discussions often constitute the only testimony now extant about important events of the period. Hrushevsky’s own masterful analysis of these sources in his appended bibliographic Notes is supplemented by editorial additions noting the substantial body of scholarly literature that has appeared since the publication of volume 8. Even today, Hrushevsky’s work remains essential to anyone studying Ukraine in the Cossack period. The central role of Ukraine in the international politics of the time also makes the volume essential reading for specialists in East-Central European, Russian, and Ottoman history. It presents a broad context for the study of Jewish history in Ukraine and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Hrushevsky’s examination of the socio-political crisis of the Commonwealth, the factors underlying the Khmelnytsky Uprising, and the Cossacks’ aspirations to establish a Ukrainian state also provides important comparative material for the study of revolution and state-building in early modern Europe.

This volume was translated by Bohdan Struminski and edited by Serhii Plokhy (consulting editor) and Frank E. Sysyn (editor in chief) with the assistance of Uliana M. Pasicznyk.