Editing Cossacks (section)

====Suppression of Cossack autonomy in the Russian Empire====

Historian Gary Dean Peterson writes: "With all this unrest, Ivan Mazepa of the Ukrainian Cossacks was looking for an opportunity to secure independence from Russia and Poland".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Peterson, Gary Dean.|title=Warrior kings of Sweden: the rise of an empire in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries|date=2007|publisher=McFarland & Co|isbn=978-0-7864-2873-1|oclc=237127678}}</ref> In response to Mazepa's alliance with [[Charles XII of Sweden]], [[Peter the Great|Peter I]] ordered the sacking of the then capital of the Hetmanate, [[Baturyn]]. The city was burnt and looted, and 11,000 to 14,000 of its inhabitants were killed. The destruction of the Hetmanate's capital was a signal to Mazepa and the Hetmanate's inhabitants of severe punishment for disloyalty to the Tsar's authority.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ukrweekly.com/uwwp/excavations-at-baturyn-in-2016-2017-ceramic-decorations-of-the-hetmans-palaces-and-offices/|title=Excavations at Baturyn in 2016-2017: ceramic decorations of the hetman's palaces and offices|last1=Mezentsev|first1=Volodymyr|website=The Ukrainian Weekly|date=27 October 2017 |language=en-US|access-date=2020-02-17|archive-date=2020-02-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200217143143/http://www.ukrweekly.com/uwwp/excavations-at-baturyn-in-2016-2017-ceramic-decorations-of-the-hetmans-palaces-and-offices/|url-status=live}}</ref> The Zaporizhian Sich at [[Chortomlyk Sich|Chortomlyk]], which had existed since 1652, was also destroyed by Peter I's forces in 1709, in retribution for decision of its otaman [[Kost Hordiyenko]], to ally with Mazepa.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CZ%5CA%5CZaporozhianSich.htm|title=Zaporozhian Sich|website=www.encyclopediaofukraine.com|access-date=2020-02-17|archive-date=2018-06-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180623033138/http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CZ%5CA%5CZaporozhianSich.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

Under Russian rule, the Cossack nation of the Zaporozhian Host was divided into two autonomous republics of the Russian Tsardom: the [[Cossack Hetmanate]], and the more independent [[Zaporozhian Sich|Zaporizhia]]. These organizations gradually lost their autonomy, and were abolished by [[Catherine the Great|Catherine II]] in the late 18th century. The Hetmanate became the governorship of [[Little Russia]], and Zaporizhia was absorbed into [[New Russia]].