Hladky, Yosyp

Hladky, Yosyp [Hladkyj, Josyp], b 1789 in Melnyky, Zhytomyr voivodeship, d 17 July 1866 in Oleksandrivske (now Zaporizhia). The last otaman of the Danubian Sich, elected in 1827. During the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–9, he and a group of 1,500 Danube Cossacks joined the Russian side in May 1828 at Izmail. In revenge the Turks destroyed the Danubian Sich and scattered the remaining inhabitants. Hladky and his followers were settled between Berdiansk and Nohaisk, where they founded the Azov Cossack Host; Hladky was made acting otaman of the host in 1832. In 1853 he retired with the rank of major general.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 2 (1989).]