Bohdan Khmelnytsky

Bohdan Khmelnytsky was a Cossack hetman who led the uprising against the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth beginning in 1648. His victories created the Cossack Hetmanate, drew in Crimean Tatar and Muscovite power, and unleashed a prolonged conflict marked by social revolt, religious violence and mass suffering.

Bohdan Khmelnytsky also held the offices or ranks of Hetman of Zaporizhian Host. Bohdan Khmelnytsky belonged to the House of Chmielnicki and operated within Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth; Cossack Hetmanate. Bohdan Khmelnytsky was born in Subotiv and died in Chyhyryn.

In Henryk Sienkiewicz’s With Fire and Sword, in 1648 the Polish officer Jan Skrzetuski returns from a mission in the southern borderlands and unknowingly saves Bohdan Khmelnytsky, who is preparing a Cossack revolt against the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In Henryk Sienkiewicz’s With Fire and Sword, Book II, the Cossack uprising expands into a struggle involving the armies of the Commonwealth, Khmelnytsky’s forces and Crimean Tatar cavalry. Jan Skrzetuski serves under Prince Jeremi Wiśniowiecki while trying to learn whether Helena has survived the destruction around Rozłogi. Bohun continues to pursue her, and Zagłoba’s schemes become essential to keeping her beyond his control as towns, estates and military camps change hands. In Henryk Sienkiewicz’s With Fire and Sword, Book III, Polish forces withdraw into the fortified camp at Zbarazh as Khmelnytsky and his Tatar allies surround them with a much larger army. Jan Skrzetuski and his companions endure hunger, bombardment and repeated assaults while the defenders wait for relief from King John II Casimir. Outside the siege, Helena remains in danger and Bohun’s determination to possess her continues to drive a second, more personal conflict. Skrzetuski undertakes a desperate journey through enemy lines to carry news of the garrison’s condition, placing duty to the Commonwealth ahead of his own survival.