Sydir Bily
| Sydir Bily Сидір Білий |
|
|---|---|
 |
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| Zaporozhian Kosh otaman | |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Sydir Dzhuliy 1735 |
| Died | June 20, 1788 Ochakiv, Ukraine |
| Nationality | (Ukrainian) |
| Spouse(s) | Maria Danylivna |
| Religion | Greek Orthodox |
Sidor Bely or Sydir Bily (1716 — 20 July 1788) — Kosh ataman of the Black Sea Cossack Host.
Bily was born in 1716 to a Cossack family near Kherson. He studied in the Kiev-Mogyla Academy after which he joined the Sich as a young man where he continued his studies in the Sich officer school.
Due to his talents he was chosen to be an osaul. He took part in numerous sea and land campaigns on the Danube and in Crimea where he gained a reputation as a fine commander and seaman.
In the 1760s he carried out special assignments for Petro Kalnyshevsky. Because of his intelligence and education he was always trusted and was popular. He travelled to St Petersburg with Kalnyshevsky and Antin Holovaty in January 1762 for the coronation of Catherine II. Bily was honoured with a gold medal and nobility status.
After his return to the Sich in 1774, Bily and Antin Holovaty once again sent to St Petersburg where he represented the rights of the cossacks and the return of confiscated lands. Their petition was ignored. The fate of the Sich was sealed on April 23, 1775 at a council meeting in the Palace to which Bily and Holovaty were not invited.
During the destruction of the Sich, Bily was in St Petersburg. On his return all he saw of the Sich were ruins. He was able to avoid repercussions and repressions by the direct intervention of G. Potemkin. Bily was retired as a major in the Russian army and tended to the management of his estates. In 1786 he headed the council of nobility in Kherson.
This period is described in various ways. Some state that he moved to the Danubian Sich, and he was labelled a traitor, that he sold out to the Empress for a gold medal. Analysis tends to lead us to the fact that Bily was a skillful politician and understood the politics of the time. He understood that the Sich could not continue within the Russian Empire and understood that it could only survive outside of the Russian Empire. As a result he moved to the Danube and started creating the "Host of Loyal Zaporozhians".
Kherson at that time had started building large sail-boats - corvettes, frigates and line boats for the future Black Sea fleet. Bily took part in the construction of these boats and also in the selection and training of future sailors from the Ukrainian population.
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