Hetman Ivan Mazepa, who united Ukraine's left bank from 1687 to 1709, later divided Soviet and post-Soviet society into two diametrically opposed camps.
To some, he became the eternal dissident, an incarnation of cunning and deceit. To others,
he is the image of saintly dedication to the Ukrainian homeland.
Communist ideologues view him as a dissident, which also made him a traitor of 18th century vintage. If he were ever rehabilitated, it would mean final and true recognition of Ukraine's independence by Russia.
But Mazepa's so-called acts of treachery, which appear even contradictory at first glance, were actually provoked by Russia's violation of treaties signed with Ukraine.
At the ripe age of 70, Mazepa had not only become incredibly rich from Czarist grants and rewards, but had proven himself a wise and able statesman. Thus, the decision he later took cannot simply be explained as
a cheap attempt to increase his personal welfare.
So why did he sacrifice all this as well as his spotless reputation and good relations with Peter the Great by allying himself with Russia's most immediate threat, Charles the 12th of Sweden?
We all know the outcome of his desperate decision. In July 1709, in a battle fought near the Ukrainian city of Poltava, the forces of Charles the 12th, assisted by Mazepa's Cossacks, were defeated by a Russian army.
So what made Mazepa take such a political risk? His critics accuse him of attempting to take Ukraine away from Russia and give it to the Swedes. But why would he do this? He was hardly looking for a financial reward.
It seems that the great Hetman's reasoning is clear: After learning of secret plans by Moscow to annul Ukraine's autonomy, cancel its diplomatic privileges and restrict its rights to foreign trade, Mazepa decided to radically change Ukraine's historical development.
The international situation at the time gave Mazepa a window of opportunity that he couldn't pass up. The Swedish king had dealt Peter several defeats in the Baltics, after bringing the Danes, Prussians and Poles to their knees. Now he was in Ukraine. Mazepa was not about to defend Russia's foreign interest on his own territory by fighting against Sweden. So he declared an alliance with Charles, who was at his zenith of power. Thus, Mazepa chose to ally himself with the forces he thought would win the regional conflict.
Mazepa died on October 3, in the then-Turkish province of Moldova, where he had fled with the remnants of Charles's army. Peter ordered Mazepa's capital, Baturyn, burned to the ground, and most of its population slaughtered.
Since then, Mazepa has been labeled as a Judas. The KGB slightly altered the story in the 20th century, referring to him as a Ukrainian bourgeois nationalist. Tens of thousands of other Ukrainians were likewise tagged by the Soviet authorities in the 20th century.
At Peter's urging, Mazepa was anathematized by the Russian Orthodox Church. This particularly bothered the deeply religious Hetman, since he had personally financed the construction of dozens of the churches where his anathema was being read. Ironically, after his death, the faithful at these same churches were asked to pray for Mazepa's soul - in accordance with Orthodox cannon.
Europe was also shocked by Peter's revenge. According to the diplomacy of the time, it was normal practice for a vassal to swap sovereigns, and anathemas were only handed out to blasphemers and heretics.
Today, the Russian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate is aware of the political and non-canonical circumstance behind Mazepa's anathema, but has remained silent. His Soviet critics have been more vocal.
At the beginning of the 1990s, the old Hetman was partially rehabilitated when the National Bank of Ukraine, headed by a so-called nationalist, put his picture on the Hr 10 banknote.
Now Russia's political elite and Ukraine's pro-Russian political elite say the days of Mazepa are over and the days of Bogdan Khmelnytsky are beginning. What is behind this political slogan? 2004 marks the 350th anniversary of the Pereyaslav Council, during which Khmelnytsky initiated the signing of a treaty unifying Ukraine and Russia. According to the official version, in January 1654, Ukrainians representing all levels of society approved the treaty.
Critics of Mazepa never tire of comparing him unfavorably to Khmelnytsky. And in order to solidify this image in the minds of the next generation, a single history textbook for Ukrainian and Russian schoolchildren has been proposed in which the Ukrainian view of the old Hetman would be rejected as subjective.
Nevertheless, the friendship of the two nations started much later than the way the dramatic version of events would have it.
After Khmelnytsky's death (under mysterious circumstances) in 1658, Ivan Vygovsky became Cossack Ukraine's next Hetman. When he learned that Moscow was plotting with Poland to divide up Ukraine, Vygovsky crushed a regiment from Moscow near Konotop.
In 1712, Hetman Pilip Orlyk wrote a constitution for the Cossack republic. It included countermeasures envisioned by Khmelnytsky and Mazepa against Moscow's infringement on Ukrainian sovereignty.
Almost 50 years after Mazepa's death, Kyril Rozumovsky, Ukraine's last Hetman and the only one who simultaneously belonged to the Russian and Ukrainian elite, almost repeated his fate. Rozumovsky was a count, a general and one of Ukraine's richest landowners. Yet in the mid 18th century he entered into a plot with France, which saw Ukraine as the Russian empire's Achilles heel. Fortunately for Rozumovsky and his family, the French abruptly broke off negotiations in 1664. As a result, one of his sons became a Russian education minister, another became a diplomat and a third a prominent geologist.
What did these famous Cossack leaders have in common?
Just before the fateful battle against Russian troops near Poltava, Mazepa said, "Not for my benefit but for the good of my poor mother Ukraine, I want to enter this battle with the help of God."
Neither Bogdan Khmelnytsky or any other Ukrainian Hetman after him ever made such a statement before a Cossack army. Today, Mazepa's principles are preached by modern Ukrainian patriots, though they are labeled nationalists, Mazepites and even neo-facists by their critics.
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