Císař Ferdinand III., Bohdan Chmelnyckyj a podunajská knížectví : neznámá kapitola v dějinách habsbursko-ukrajinských vztahů v padesátých let 17. století

The author focuses at the little known part of early modern history - the relationship between Habsburg emperor Ferdinand III and the Cossack leader Bohdan Khmelnytskyi in 1653/1654. The problem of relations between the Habsburgs and the Cossacks during the first half of the 17thg century seems to be neglected in recent as well as in older historical writings. The only exceptions are two works of young Ukrainian historian Jaroslav Fedoruk. Imperial "eastern" policy followed two courses during the 1650s, which intersected again and again during the time and their development of had been tightly connected to one another. First of these courses focused at Poland; the second at the area of southern Danube, which constituted a buffer between Habsburg possessions and the Ottoman Empire. And the southern Danube area was the reason for the imperial courťs interest in Cossacks in those years, because Ukrainian Cossacks pushed hard the countries of Wallachia, Transylvania and Moldavia during the 1650s and it was Count Rakoczi who was considered by the Vienna court to be the real threat to Habsburg interests on southern Danube. Thus, the troubles and war with Cossacks in the Danube area fit well to the Austrian politics and created an ideal opportunity to intervene. This situation brought troubles to the Ottoman Empire, which suspected the emperor of anti-Turkish intrigues. Rulers of Danubian principalities, complaining to Istanbul about Habsburg effort to create tensions in Central Europe, were subsequently exploiting this Turkish fear. In 1654 a rumor spread throughout the area about coming of Wallachian Count Nicolae Patrascu to Khmelnytskyi. Patrascu, according to this rumor, supposedly prompted Khmelnytskyi to make alliance with Tartars and invade both Transylvania and Poland. In the opinion of historian and foremost expert on Ukrainian foreign policy of this era, Jaroslav Fedoruk, a serious consideration of Ferdinand III's goal to provoke war is necessary here. The goal of this war would be Habsburg army conquering Transylvania. The Cossack army, actively influencing politics in the Danubian states, especially in Moldavia, was an ideal ally and to some extent also a perfect executioner. However, author of this study argues with Fedoruk's interpretation and considers it to be unlikely, for a number of reasons. Military and economic situation of the imperial court was a very difficult one after the Thirty Years War. Any new war would create an unbearable burden. Thus it seems very problematic to argue that the court would seek to support Cossacks in a war with Rzeczpospolita which was moreover the only Habsburg ally in Central - Eastern Europe.