Petro Doroshenko

Petro Dorofiyovich Doroshenko (; ; ; 1627–1698) was a Cossack political and military leader, Hetman of Right-bank Ukraine (1665–1672) and a Russian voivode. Background and early career Petro Doroshenko was born in Chyhyryn into a noble Cossack family with a strong tradition of leadership. His father, a Registered Cossack, held the rank of colonel, and his grandfather Mykhailo held the bulava ( to 1628) as hetman of the Registered Cossack Army. Though it is not known where Doroshenko studied, there is no doubt that he received an excellent education. Doroshenko became fluent in Latin and Polish and had a broad knowledge of history. In 1648 Doroshenko joined the forces of Bohdan Khmelnytsky in the 1648-1657 uprising against the Polish domination of Ukraine. In the earlier stages of the uprising Doroshenko carried out both military and diplomatic roles. He primarily served in the Chyhyryn regiment, where he held the rank of artillery secretary, eventually being appointed colonel of the Pryluky regiment in 1657. When Khmelnytsky died in 1657 Doroshenko supported the election of General Chancellor () Ivan Vyhovsky as Khmelnytsky's successor. Between 1657 and 1658 he helped Hetman Vyhovsky (in office: 1657-1659) to suppress the pro-Russian uprising of Iakiv Barabash and Martyn Pushkar, a bloody fratricidal conflict which resulted in some 50,000 deaths.