Ukraine

The territories of formerly very rich Kiev Rus were desolated by Tatar invasion and then fell under the rule of Poland. As oppression grew, peasant slaves were fleeing from their masters and became cossacks. A number of rebellions broke out on polish territory. Some of the should be noted, such as polish-cossack war in 1625, rebellion lead by Ivan Tryasylo in 1630. Then a great war for liberation of Ukrainian people was started in 1648 under command of Bohdan Khmelnitsky. Russia joined that war against Poland in 1654. The war ended in 1657 with a liberation of several regions of Ukraine. A union treaty was signed between Ukraine and Russia. Hetman Mazepa tried to separate the country from Russia with support from Sweden. But as Carl XII was defeated near Poltava, Ukraine steadily fell under the complete rule of its northern neighbor and later turned into one of Russia's regions - Malorossia ("Ukraine" literally means "land on the outskirts"). The core of Ukrainian army was built of the Cossacks, mobile irregular troops. They successfully solved military missions in the struggle against Poland as well as with Turks and Tatars. In the twenties and thirties of the 17 century Zaporizhdzhia Cossacks became dominant across the Black Sea which happened due to their constant brave sea faring. Cossacks were also taking part in the Thirty year war as hired troops. In the fifties and seventies they successfully countered attacks of Turks and Tatars. The Cossack armies played a dramatically significant role in the first (1676 - 1681) and the second (1686 - 1682) Russian-Turkish wars.

Unique units - Peasants, Serdiuks, Sich Cossack, Register Cossack, Hetman