Left-bank Cossacks join Russia

Timeline

1. 1654Pereyaslav · UkraineOn 8 January 1654 (Old Style) Khmelnytsky convened the Great Cossack Rada (general council) at Pereyaslav, publicly declaring the Cossack host's willingness to accept the protection of the Russian tsar, and leading chiefs of all ranks to swear allegiance to the tsar's envoys, formally creating the Pereyaslav Agreement.
2. 1654Cities of Left-Bank Ukraine · UkraineAfter the Rada, the Russian mission presided over oath ceremonies in the major Left-Bank cities (except Kiev), where some 100,000 Cossack officers, men, and residents swore allegiance. Khmelnytsky then sent representatives to Moscow to negotiate, ultimately producing the 'March Articles,' which granted the Cossacks autonomy and a registered army of 60,000.
3. 1654Eastern European theater · Eastern EuropeAfter the Pereyaslav Agreement, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth regarded it as a Russian infringement of Polish sovereignty, and the Russo-Polish War broke out in 1654. Russian and Cossack forces advanced west, capturing Smolensk and other key towns; the war lasted until the Treaty of Andrusovo in 1667.