The city became one of the centers of the Cossack movement. Citizens took part in the Khmelnychchyna of 1648-1657 and in the Koliyivschyna of 1768–1769. The city was influenced by the cruel social and economical experiments of Soviet authorities and by World War II. In 1954 Cherkasy became the administrative center of Cherkasy Oblast (province), the youngest oblast of Ukraine.