page_title: Danubian Sich
section_title: End
hierarchical_section_title: Danubian Sich / End
caption_attribution_description: Задунайский запорожець. Акварель. 1900 р. Cossack from the en:Danubian Sich
context_page_description: The Danubian Sich was an organization of the part of former Zaporozhian Cossacks who settled in the territory of the Ottoman Empire after their previous host was disbanded and the Zaporizhian Sich was destroyed.
  In 1863 Semen Hulak-Artemovsky wrote his libretto Zaporozhets za Dunayem in Saint Petersburg to commemorate the exodus of Zaporizhian Cossacks to the Danube, an area of Silistra Eyalet. The Cossacks were protecting the Metropolitan bishop of Braila who serviced the area of Budjak and Yedisan and was titled as Metropolitan bishop of all Ukraine.
context_section_description: In 1825 Kosh otaman Lytvyn promised to send another expedition to Greece but fled the Sich without any trace. The events in Greece once again affected relations between Turkey and Russia, and a new Russo-Turkish War broke out. Among the Danubian Cossacks there was as ever a pro-Russian and a pro-Turkish split. The former were willing to return to Russia if a pardon was given. Learning of this, the head (Hradonachalik) of Izmail S.A. Tuchkov entered into secret negotiations with Kosh Vasily Nezmayevsky (1827). The conditions were set to allow the whole Host to return to Russia. Despite being a Russophile, Nezmayevsky was not ready to accept such a move.
  With the outbreak of the new Russo-Turkish War (1828–1829), the Russian Army under command of Field-Marshal Peter Wittgenstein advanced. Threatening to overrun the Sich, the Sultan wished to relocate it to Adrianopol (modern Edirne, Turkey) and ordered the Kosh to rally the Dunubian Army to Silistra (modern Bulgaria).  The new Kosh was Osyp Hladky, originally from a rich landowner family from Poltava who in 1820 had left his home to earn a living, but after a few failed business attempts in Crimea and Odessa, had left Russia and joined the Sich in 1822. He took part in the campaign against Messolonghi and afterwards was elected to be a Kuren Ataman of the Platnyrovsky Kuren. After the failed negotiations with Nezmayevsky, Tuchkov approached Hladky, who upon the Kosh elections held on Pokrov (1 October) was elected to be the Kosh Ataman.
  Gladky only gathered those that he suspected of having a pro-Turkish allegiance (about two thousand men) and set out for Silistra. After reaching there, he asked to return to the Sich to gather more. When he returned, he instead called for a Cossack Rada and announced his decision to side the whole Sich with Russia. On 10 May 1828, Hladky along with 218 Cossacks and 578 Rayah crossed the Danube with all the Sich regalia, treasury and prized possessions. After landing on the left bank, they were taken to the Russian headquarters where they knelt before Emperor Nicholas I himself, who was quoted saying: 
  God will forgive you, the Motherland forgives you, and I too forgive
  — 
  The Danubian Cossacks were fully pardoned for their past, and managed to win over the Tsar's trust, which was confirmed when the Russian Army Crossed the Danube, as Nicholas was in the same boat that Hladky had initially came over in, with Kosh Polkovnyks rowing. The Tsar let the Danubians form a new Special Zaporozhian Host (Отдельное Запорожное Войско), with Hladky as the appointed Ataman. The new Host was small with only a five infantry sotnias (~100 men each) and came under the control of the Danube flotilla. Despite the small number of men, they soon became a prized asset due to their knowledge of the complicated Danube Delta. They proved themselves in combat in the storming of Isaccea, and 10 Cossacks were awarded the Cross of St. George.
  For those Danubian Sich Cossacks who refused to follow Hladky, their fate was tragic. Learning of Hladky's betrayal, the Sultan called upon the Janissary corps to raze the Sich, massacre its population and burn down its church. Even those that were in Silistra were disarmed and sent to forced labour deep in Turkey.
caption: Serhiy Vasilkivsky's painting of a Danubian Sich Cossack.
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