Zaporizhian Sich is a phenomenal phenomenon in our historical space. Many confuse Sich with the Hetmanate. Absolutely in vain. Sich is an extreme form of manifestation of the thirst of the collective unconscious of the Russian people. Thirst for freedom. Unlimited freedom, up to robbery and tyranny. On the other hand, the harsh suppression of Sich is also a manifestation of another thirst of the collective unconscious - a thirst for order. Not the order that the Romans had (praetorian justice), but the one that is simpler, harsher: to prohibit, crush, not to let in. These are two mutually exclusive thirsts that live simultaneously in the heads - schizophrenia of the collective unconscious - eternal abuse. The narrative of the song covers more than a century: the 18th-19th centuries. Chertomlyk Sich in the sixth decade of its existence does not give in to the persuasion of Peter I and signs a separate agreement with Charles XII. The Sich Cossacks leave with the Swedish army for the summer military campaign of 1709. Although they numbered several thousand people, they did not represent a serious military force against the soldiers of the European order, the Russians or the Swedes. Charles did not use the Cossacks in battle. The Cossacks guarded the supply trains and conducted reconnaissance. Even before the general battle near Poltava, the enraged Peter sent an order to Kyiv - to advance to the cavalry colonel Yakovlev, descend with the regiments along the Dnieper and destroy the Cossacks' "base" left without protection. This could not be done immediately. Other Cossacks came to the rescue, who went over to the side of the Russian Tsar. Everyone was executed, everything was burned in the Chertomlyk Sich. Peter forbade the organization of a new Sich until the end of his life. However, immediately after the Swedish army was defeated, the fleeing Cossacks organized the Kamensk Sich (1709 - 1711). The new hetman Skoropadsky is already sent to destroy/disperse it. The Cossacks flee even further downstream along the Dnieper and organize the Oleshkovskaya Sich, which neither the hetman nor the Russian Tsar can reach. There the Cossacks successfully outlive Peter. And in 1734 they return back - the gracious Empress Anna Ioannovna granted them all forgiveness and accepted them into Russian citizenship. The wise empress understood that the will of the people cannot be broken by force. She went another way - by soft power. The new (Podpolnenskaya) Sich was put on the tsar's support. Over 40 years, the Cossacks were corrupted/quarreled with easy government money. At the court of Catherine the Great, rare delegations of petitioning Cossacks played the roles of outlandish savages (this is clearly shown by the same Gogol), for the amusement of Her Highness, to whom it was possible to show leniency. However, in 1775, when Catherine, in the course of successful wars, annexed the vast territories of Taurida and Novorossiya, the Cossack Sich found itself not on the outskirts, but in the very center of the empire. The tsarina gave the previously free lands of the Cossacks to her nobles along with the Cossacks who lived there, and annulled the Sich (which had been in the tsarina's pocket for many years, on the government's subsidy) and its liberties. Formally free, they became serfs of specific masters. Naturally, not all Cossacks accepted this. Some of them fled beyond the Danube. The Transdanubian Sich existed until 1828. When Russia, in the course of its brilliant victories, received the Transdanubian Principalities into its possession, Emperor Nicholas I pardoned the Cossacks and formed the Azov Cossack Army from them, settling them in new places near Mariupol. You will not rot from fire. You will not perish from the blow of a Cossack saber. No, villain! In the hands of Moscow executioners On the rack, writhing in suffering, In blood and futile denials You will curse both the day and the hour When you baptized our daughter… A.S. Pushkin ________________________________________ 1709 There was a year on the calendar: In Ukraine the sworn enemy Has been caressed. And there will be war… Peter's rage is strong: The Cossacks are with the Swedes! And now, casting aside pity, The regiments are coming out to the Dnieper. Chorus. Off with your heads! Bring me my sword! The Cossack Sich is alive! Off with your heads! Destroy and burn The robber islands! Apogee: Chertomlyk blood and ashes, For the White Tsar was angry! The reprisal was terrible All the kurens were burned. The Cossack will and glory Are forbidden by decree! But the years flew by - And the Great Tsar died, And that land of freedom is alive - Zaporizhian Sich, as of old! Chorus. Off with your heads! Bring my sword! The Cossack Sich is alive! Off with your heads! Destroy and burn the Bandit Islands! Off with your heads! Get the grapeshot ready! The Cossack Sich is alive! Off with your heads! Destroy and burn the Bandit Islands! Freedom! Order! E