Sword of Yur Victorious
We'll be aided by St. Yuri and the Mother Holy
To defeat the evil wholly.
Two ways only: win or die,
Twice you cannot die.
Get ready, comrades, for battle!
When Predslav Lantskoronosky died, there were many good words said about him by his comrades-at-arms. He was a warrior first and a diplomat... never. However, his achievements on the diplomatic battlefield won him as much praise as his victories over Turks in Asia Minor, Greece and the Balkans. To make the story short, Predslav was the first and the last hetman to see his Zaporozhian Lowlands Army a subject to a foreign power.
Right after the victory over Tatars, the hetman informed the Lithuanian Duke that Cossacks do not get paid enough to do all the diry work for Lithuanians and, while remaining good friend and allies of the Lithuania Duke, Cossacks will keep their gold to themselves.
Since Cossack treasury was far from being the richest in the world, the Lithuanians acted as if nothing happened, but the later events showed they were good students, even if not good rulers. Following Cossack declaration of independence, King of Poland and Duke of Lithuania, Zygimantas the Old went mad and declared denounced himself as his own vassal (while traditional history attributes this fact to the King's illness, a more recent study tends to consider the possibility of nobles' against King's authority in Lithuania).
Back in the Borderlands, Yevstakhiy Dashkovych is elected a hetman. He is a good leader and a good diplomat. He is not a bad Cossack either. But he will have a hard time filling in Lantskoronsky's shoes.
He starts off with trying to get his little country back on the trail. The war with Turkey forced Cossacks to take a loan from the Jews in Kiev. Many argued that the loan should never be returned - since Jews probably got a lot of interest since the death of Christ for their thirty silver pieces. Dashkovych, however, believes Jews might still be useful - and quite annoying and dangerous, if denied their money. He manages to pay the loan back in 1517 and proceeds to finish building of Donetsk - the town in Donetsk province, which by the end of the decade reaches the population of three thousand.
New hetman intends to keep Cossacks on a short leash. He senses the danger and but does not know where it is supposed to come from. With relief he watches White Sheep Turks and the Ottomans attack Dulkadir and Crimean Tatars. Two worst Cossack enemies fight each other to the death - and it is pleasing to Dashkovych that the death is not his own.
In 1519 Georgia takes advantage of recent developments and wraps up its own private war with Crimea, getting Azov. Khan is desperate to end the war with Turkey, but Suleyman the Magnificent is only willing to do it on his own terms. Tatars have to cede Kalmyk to the Ottomans, Kouban' to the White Sheep Turks and the Khan has to become a vassal of the Turkish Sultan.
While numerous enemy armies pass across the steppe (as hetman grants military access to anybody who bothers to ask, in hope to keep his country at peace), Cossack garrison in Zaporozhye remains at twelve hundreed men.
Four years pass. The chronicles don't record much during these years, and yet, for Cossacks it was full four years. The warriors went back to farming, hunting, visiting their wives in the north and causing little mischield across the borders. Alliance with Poland, Lithuania and Muscowy expires and the Poles and Muscowites fight for the honor of being the leader. Lithuanian nobles decide to ally themselves with Hungary - a Devil's work, if Cossacks ever see one. Finally, Zygimantas proposes to the Czar that Zaporozhian Host, being the smallest in the alliance, should be the leader - to avoid the hostility between two larger part of alliance.
Dashkovych is certain that he secured peace for generations. But, as people say, in the quite pond the devils lurk. In 1523 Georgia, Ukraine's southern Orthodox neighbor, again finds itself in unequal fight against the Ottomans, Crimeans and White Sheep Turks. Georgians fight like mountain lions, like true Christians that they are, they embrace death in combat, while still praying for victory. A year later, when all of their provinces are overan by the enemy, they manage to defeat Crimean Khan and annex the Khanate.
Impressed with a such heroic defense, Cossacks beg their hetman to aid their Orthodox brothers. Dashkovych offers Georgians to enter the alliance, promising that if they survive this war, they won't have to fight another alone.
Georgians fight for another seven years. Finally, overan by tens of thousands of Turks and Crimeans rebels, they succumb to the infidel demands. Turkey receives Crimea and Sochi, while the Tatars found a new Khanate in Azov.
The defeat of the fellow Christian nation could not have passed unnoticed in Zaporozh'e. On a gathering in one of the siches, hetman was forced to mobilize a 6,000-strong Cossack force and, after arranging the right to pass through Lithuanian territory, Cossacks invaded Tatar lands. Khan's insults did not slow their advance, but gave Cossack army a sense of legitimacy of their mission.
The opposing armies were more or less equal - Tatars had a slight advantage in cavalry, while a larger number of Cossacks fought on foot. They clashed at the walls of Azov and in a fierce fighting Khan's army was anihilated.
Sâhîb I locked himself in Azov, but even the stone walls of this fortress could not save him from Cossacks.
They burned the countryside around the city and forced the defendants to starve. Khan build a warship to bring food from Turkey, but Cossack navy was already blockading the city, by the time it was finished.
Finally, Azov fell to victories Zaporozhians. Khan offered 139,000 ducats in tribute, by remembering two previous occasions, on which Cossack leaders were fooled by the treacherous Tatars, Dashkovych decides to play smart and declines. Azov becomes Cossack province. Tatars, who are willing to join Cossack army are left alive. The rest is either killed or expelled. A few still wonder around the steppe, causing trouble to both hetman in Azov and Sultan in Crimea.
A year later, Dashkovych, who still remains a hero of Azov to his people, is replaced with Samiylo Kishka, a more aggressive otaman (captain, leader). He braggs to Cossacks that he found a magic saber, or rather a sword, in the kurgan of the ancient Scythian warlord. He claims this is the sword of St. Yuri and it's owner will never know the taste of defeat. Samiylo promises his comrades a short life, yet full of glory and victory. And the events around the Borderlands seem to echo his words with the roar of cannons.
Turkish Sultan Suleyman Kanuni, known among the followers of Christ as Magnificent, declares war on János I Zápolya, ruler of Hungary. Lithuania joins on the side of Zapolya. Thousands of troops pass the Wild Fields south to north and north to south. The crows gather from all the corners of the steppe to feed on the dead bodies of Turks and Lithuanians.
In 1536, thanks to the unselfish sacrifices of the Lithuanian people, Suleyman's attack on Hungary is stopped and then turned back. Samiylo asks the elder Cossacks whether they think the time is right to avenge the blood of the Christians and re-take Constantinople from Turks. The elders being drunk, recalled the days of the first hetman, true lytzar' and lucky Cossack Predslav, and told Samiylo that they see nothing impossible in his plans. Hetman immediately gathered Zaporozhian Host and invaded Crimea, marching on the former Tatar capital of Bakchi-Sarai. Whatever reserves he had left, he sent east of Don River.
The Sultan sends his the largest fleet the waters of the Black Sea has ever seen to the shores of Crimes. Almost eighty Ottoman ships start the blockade of Ochakiv. Cossacks laugh at the Turks from the walls of the fortress and beg the enemy to come ashore "to taste the steel of the Cossack sabers". Georgians invade the Turkish province of Trabizond, while Cossack
sotni (hundreeds) occupy Kalmyk and Kouban' steppes... The fortune smiles to true Christians... and then, in an instant, turns its face away. Lucifer's devious plan is set in motion.
In the beginning of 1537, as if following the advice of the Devil himself, János Zápolya makes peace with the Sultan and declares war on the Cossack alliance. The trap was perfect. Ottoman feint against Hungary was nothing more than a trick to provoke Samiylo and his men to attack Turkey. Georgians are badly beaten at Trabizond and retreat north of the Caucasian mountains. Lithuanians raise more armies and attack from the north. Hungarians threaten the Host from the west and Turks advance from the south.
Samiylo looks at the Cossack camp at the walls of Bakchi-Sarai and a sense of helplessness overcomes him. Like any Cossack, this old warrior is a child at his heart. He does not see the world in the same light as adults may. He fears not the mighty power of the Sultan. He scorns the treacherous King of Hungary and dares his Lithunian foes to come forth and do battle. And yet, it is not mortal armies that he sees around, but the hordes of the Lucifer himself, sent to enslave the ancient lands of Rus' and rule over the Christians. He looks at the old, rusty saber in his hand and wonders whether there truly is magic in this piece of metal.
His comrades pray to St. Yuri and Holy Mother of Christ to deliver them from fear and grant the Cossacks of the Lowland Zaporozhian Host the strength to conquer evil. Soon the prayer forms into a song, that from now on will serve as the military hymn of the Zaporozhian Army:
We'll be aided by St. Yuri and the Mother Holy
To defeat the evil wholly.
Two ways only: win or die,
Twice you cannot die.
Get ready, comrades, for battle!
