Запорожские казаки в борьбе за Прибалтику
Zaporozhian Cossacks in the struggle for the Baltic.

Summary/Abstract: The Zaporozhian Cossacks lived in the lands at the Black Sea and they often organized military expeditions against Turkey and the Crimean Khanate. The article examines an episode of their military history when the Polish kingdom tried to use Cossacks as a naval force in the Baltic region. They were supposed to fight here against Sweden that threatened the Baltic possessions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth during the reign of the kings Sigismund III and Wladyslaw IV. There exists not a little source evidence on their staying at the Baltic Sea and their military actions. A special fleet of ships called «chaikas» was built for the Cossacks. It was based in Konigsberg and in 1635 it dealt a blow to the Swedish fleet near the fortress of Pillau. However, this success has not been developed because the appearance of an unusual enemy at the Baltic impelled Sweden to be more compliant in negotiations and conclude the truce of Sturmsdorf that was profitable for Poland. As a result, the Cossack campaign to the Baltic remained only as an episode in the naval history of the Zaporozhian Cossacks.

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