Cossack

For the ghost town in Western Australia, see Cossack, Western Australia.

Cossack is the common name that has been independently shared by several population groups and military units throughout the history of Eastern Europe and adjacent territories. The most prominent and numerous ones are Ukrainian Cossacks (Козаки) and Russian Cossacks (Казаки) of Don, Terek, Ural. Russian Cossacks were considerably involved in colonizing of Siberia. In the middle of the 17th century, Russian Cossacks reached the coast of the Pacific Ocean.

Less known are Polish Cossacks (Kozacy) and Tatar Cossacks (Nağaybäklär).

Cossacks were considered famous for their military skill and self-reliance. Cossack cultures were mostly exterminated during the time of the Soviet Union and now are in the process of revival.

Ukrainian Cossacks formed the state of Zaporozhian Host in 1649. They are considered the progenitors of the modern Ukrainian nation, before many resettled into the Kuban steppe, after the Host was dismissed.

Don Cossacks at one point formed the Don Cossack State. During the time of the Russian Empire Don Cossacks were joined by numerous Russian serfs fleeing from their owners. Don Cossacks were one of the main military forces resisting the Bolsheviks.

Cossacks was also a name given to kind of light cavalry in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

The name is derived from the Turkic word quzzaq, "adventurer", "freeman". This term is first mentioned within a Ruthenian document dated 1395. Cossack (Qazaqlar) were also a border keepers in Khanate of Kazan.

Cossacks should not be confused with the Kazakhs (people of Kazakhstan) (Kazakh is spelled Qazaq (Казак) in their native language).

History

It is not clear when the Slavic people started settling in the lower reaches of the Don and the Dnieper. It is unlikely it could have happened before the 13th century, when the Mongol hordes broke the power of Cumans and other Turkic tribes on that territory.

Proto-Cossacks most likely came to existence within the territories of today's Ukraine in the mid-13th century, when many Slavs fled south to escape the Tatar yoke. In 1261 some Slavic people living in the area between Dniester and Volga were mentioned in Ruthenian chronicles. More peasants escaped to the vicinities of the Don and Dnieper waterfalls in the following centuries, when the system of Serfdom started to develop in Poland and Muscovy.

Historical records of the Cossacks before the 16th century are scant. In the 15th century, the Cossack society was described as a loose Federation of independent communities, often forming local armies, entirely separate from the neighboring states (of, e.g, Poland, Grand Duchy of Moscow or the Khanate of Crimea).

By the 16th century these Cossack societies merged into two independent territorial organizations:

• The Cossacks of Zaporizhia, centered around the lower bends of Dnieper, inside the territory of modern Ukraine, with the fortified capital of Zaporizhian Sich. They were formally recognized as a state, the Zaporozhian Host, by a treaty with Poland in 1649.

• The Don Cossack State, on the river Don, separating Grand Duchy of Moscow from the Nogai states, vassals of the Ottoman Empire. The capital of the Don Cossack State was Cherkassk, later moved to Novocherkassk.

Some historical documents of that period refer to those states as sovereign nations with unique warrior cultures, whose main source of income was derived from the the pillaging of their neighbors. They were renowned for their raids against the Ottoman Empire and its vassals, although they didn't shy away from pillaging other neighbours. Their actions increased tension along the southern border of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Kresy), which resulted in almost a constant low-level warfare taking place in those territories for almost the entire existence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

In 1539 the Grand Duke Vasili III of Russia asked the Ottoman Sultan to curb the Cossacks and the Sultan replied "The Cossacks do not swear allegiance to me, and they live as they themselves please." In 1549, Czar Ivan the Terrible, replied to a request of the Turkish Sultan to stop the aggressive actions of the Don Cossacks, stating, "The Cossacks of the Don are not my subjects, and they go to war or live in peace without my knowledge." Similar exchanges passed between Russia, the Ottoman Empire and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, each of which tried to exploit Cossack warmongering for its own purposes. Cossacks for their part were mostly happy to plunder everybody more or less equally, although in the 16th century, with the dominance of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth extending south, the Zaporozhian Cossacks were mostly, if tentatively, regarded by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as their subjects. Registered Cossacks were a part of Commonwealth army until 1699.

Around the end of 16th century, the relations between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Ottoman Empire, which were not very cordial to begin with, further worsened with the growing number of independent actions by the Cossacks. From the second part of the 16th century, Cossacks started raiding territories under Ottoman rule. Although subjects of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Polish government could not control the fiercely independent Cossacks, and so was held responsible for the raids by their victims. Reciprocally, the Tatars living under Ottoman rule launched raids into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, mostly in the sparsely inhabited south-east territories. Cossacks pirates, however, were raiding the heart of Ottoman Empire, its wealthy merchant port cities, which were just two days away by boat from mouth of river Dnieper. By 1615, Cossacks had even manage to raze the townships on the outskirts of Istanbul. Consecutive treaties between Ottoman Empire and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth called for both parties to curb Cossacks and Tatars, but its enforcement was almost non-existent on both sides of the border. In internal agreements, forced by the Polish side, Cossacks agreed to burn their boats and stop raiding. However, boats could be rebuilt fast, and the Cossack lifestyle glorified raids and booty. During this time, the Habsburg Empire sometimes covertly empoyed Cossack raiders to ease Ottoman pressure on their own borders. Many Cossacks and Tatars shared an animosity towards each other due to the damage done by raids from both sides. Cossack raids followed by Tatar retaliation, or Tatar raids followed by Cossack retaliation were an almost regular occurrence. The ensuing chaos and string of retaliations often turned the entire south-eastern Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth border into a low-intensity war zone and led to the escalation of the Commonwealth-Ottoman warfare, from the Moldavian Magnate Wars to the Battle of Cecora and Wars in 1633-1634.

Cossacks numbers expanded with peasant immigration from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Attempts by Szlachta to turn Zaporozhian Cossacks into serfs eroded the Cossacks' once fairly strong loyalty towards the Commonwealth. Cossack ambitions to be recognized as equal to Szlachta were constantly rebuffed, and plans for transforming the Two-Nations Commonwealth (Polish-Lithuanian) into Three Nations (with the Cossack and Ruthenian people) were limited to a small minority. Waning loyalty of the Cossacks and the Szlachta's arrogance towards them resulted in several Cossack uprisings against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the early 17th century. The largest and most successful of these was the Khmelnytsky rebellion, which, as part of a series of events known as The Deluge, led to the disintegration of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. This uprising freed Cossacks from the Polish sphere of influence, who then allied with Russian Empire with the signing of the Treaty of Pereyaslav. The last, ultimately unsuccessful, attempt to rebuild the Polish-Cossack alliance and create a Polish-Lithuanian-Ruthenian Commonwealth was the 1658 Treaty of Hadiach.

After this point, the Cossack nation of the Zaporozhian Host was divided into two semiautonomous republics of the Grand Duchy of Moscow: the Cossack Hetmanate, and the more independent Zaporozhia. A Cossack organization was also established in the Russian colony of Sloboda Ukraine. These organizations gradually lost their independence, and were abolished by Catherine II by the late 18th century. The Hetmanate became the governorship of Little Russia, Sloboda Ukraine the Kharkiv province, and Zaporozhia was absorbed into New Russia. In 1775 the Zaporozhian Host was abolished and high ranking cossack leaders were granted titles of nobility (Dvoryanstvo). Some Cossacks resettled to colonise the Kuban steppe which was a crucial foothold for Russian expansion in the Caucasus.

Russian Cossacks played a key role during the expansion of the Russian Empire into Siberia (particularly by Yermak Timofeyevich), Caucasus and Central Asia in the 17th to 19th centuries. They also served as guides to most Russian expeditions of civil geographers, traders, explorers and surveyors.

Cossacks served as border guards and protectors of towns, forts, settlements and trading posts, and also came to represent an integral part of the Russian army. Cossack units played a role in many wars in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries (such as Russo-Turkish Wars and the Russo-Persian Wars).

During Napoleon's Invasion of Russia, Cossacks were the Russian soldiers most feared among the French troops. Cossacks also took part in the Partisan war deep inside French-occupied Russian territory, carrying out attacks on communications and supply lines. These attacks, carried out by Cossacks along with Russian light cavalry and other units, were one of the first developments of the tactics of guerilla warfare and, to some extent, special operations as we know them today.

Western Europeans had had few contacts with Cossacks before the Allies occupied Paris in 1814. As the most exotic of the Russian troops seen in France, Cossacks drew a great deal of attention and notoriety for their alleged excesses during the 1812 campaign.

Following the Russian Revolution, in the Civil War most of the Cossacks found themselves on both sides of the conflict. Many officers and experienced Cossacks fought for the White Army, some poorer ones joined the Red Army, including notable commanders like Semyon Budennyi. Following the defeat of the White Army, a policy of Decossackanization (Razkazachivanye) took place on the surviving Cossacks and their homelands since they were viewed as potential threat to the new regime. This mostly involved deviding their territory amongst other devisions and giving it to new autonomous republics of minorities, and then actively encouraging settlement of these territories with those peoples, this is especially true for the Terek Cossacks land. The Cossack homelands were often very fertile, and during the collectivization campaign many Cossacks shared the fate of Kulaks. The famine of 1933 hit the Don and Kuban territory the hardest.

Nevertheless in 1936, under pressure from former Cossack descendents like Budenny, it was decided to reintroduce Cossack forces into the Red Army. During the Second World War Cossacks found themselves on both sides of the conflict again, as most of the Nazi collaborators came from former White Army refugees. Red Army Cossacks fought on the Southern theatre of the front, where open steppes made them ideal for frontal patrols and logistics. A Cossack detachment walked on the Red Square during the famous victory parade in 1945.

Following the war the Cossacks, along with cavalry were rendered obsolete and released from the Soviet Army. In the postwar years many Cossack descendants thought of themselves as simple peasents, and those who lived inside an Autonomous republic usually gave way to the particular minority and migrated elsewhere (notably the Baltic)

In the late 1980's a perestroika-enlightened USSR many successors of the Cossacks became enthusiastic about reviving their national traditions. In 1988 finally the USSR passed a law which allowed formation of former voisko's (along with new ones). The largest Don voisko's Ataman was granted the Marshal rank and the star, and the right to recognize a new voisko. Since then the Cossacks took active part in many of the conflicts that took place afterwards: Transdniestr, Abkhazia, South Osetia,Kosovo and Chechnya. Whilst the impact of them on the outcome of the conflict rarely scratched the mass-media attention, Cossacks, just as before became known for their high morale and bravery.

In 2005, more rights were given to the Cossacks, and their ambition to create an autonomous territory streching from Transdnestr all the way along the steppe to the Ural river may well become met one day.

Cossack Settlements

Russian Cossacks founded numerous settlements (called stanitsa) and fortresses along "troublesome borders" such as forts Verniy (Almaty, Kazakhstan) in south Central Asia, Grozny in North Caucasus, Fort Alexandrovsk (Fort Shevchenko, Kazakhstan), Krasnovodsk (Turkmenbashi, Turkmenistan) stanitsa Novonikolaevskaya (Bautino, Kazakhstan), Blagoveschensk, towns and settlements at Ural, Ishim, Irtysh, Ob, Yenissei, Lena, Amur, Anadyr (Chukotka) and Ussury rivers, just to name a few.

Although Cossacks are sometimes regarded as being xenophobic (especially by contemporary Jewish historians, who accuse them (Ukrainian Cossacks of Zaporizhia) of massacaring Jews during the Khmelnytsky rebellion and participating in anti-Jewish pogroms), this perception is largely unjustified and unfair. Cossacks readily adapted the cultures and customs of nearby peoples (particularly the Terek Cossacks, who were heavily influenced by the culture of North Caucasian tribes), and they frequently married local residents (other non-Cossack settlers and natives) regardless of race or origin, and sometimes setting aside religious restrictions. War brides brought from distant lands were also not uncommon in Cossack families.

Each Cossack settlement alone or in conjunction with neighbouring settlements, formed a military unit(s) and regiments of light cavalry (or mounted infantry) ready to respond to a threat at very short notice.

Cossacks during the final years of Tsarist Rule

At the end of the 19th Century the Cossack communities enjoyed a privileged tax free status in the Russian Empire, although having a military service commitment of twenty years (reduced to eighteen years from 1909). Only five years had to be spent in full time service, the remainder of the commitment being spent with the reserves. The Cossacks were organised into separate regional Hosts, each comprising a number of regiments. In 1914 the Hosts were those of the Don, Orenburg, Ural, Astrakhan, Transbaikal, Ussuri, Siberia, Semiretshensk, Amur, Kuban and Terek. Each Host had its own distinctive uniform.While most Cossacks served as cavalry, there were infantry and artillery units in several of the Hosts. Three regiments of Cossacks formed part of the Imperial Guard, as well as the Konvoi - the Tsar's mounted escort.

The Cossack sense of being a separate and elite community gave them a strong sense of loyalty to the Tsarist government and Cossack units were frequently used to suppress domestic disorder, especially during the wide spread worker and peasant unrest of 1905-06. The Imperial Government depended heavily on the perceived reliability of the Cossacks, although by the early twentieth century their separate communities and semi-feudal military service were increasingly being seen as obsolete conceptions. The Cossacks were not highly regarded by the Russian Army who saw them as lacking the discipline and training of regular troops. As a result Cossack units were frequently broken up into small detachments for use as scouts, messangers or picturesque escorts. When revolution came in February 1917 the Cossacks appear to have shared the general disillusionment with Tsarist leadership and the Cossack regiments in Saint Petersburg joined the uprising. While only a few units were involved their defection (and that of the Konvoi) came as a stunning psychological blow to the Government of Nicholas II and speeded his abdication.

Cossacks After the Revolution

Valuing the relative freedom they enjoyed in Imperial Russia, the Cossacks mainly fought against Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War of 1919, both within the White Army and as partisans. At the same time, many poor Cossacks also joined the Red Army. This notwithstanding, after the victory of the Soviet Communists, the new regime repressed the Cossack culture and way of life. During the Nazi invasion of the USSR the Cossacks once again joined opposing sides of the conflict. One notable group was the Lienz Cossacks, who worked for the Nazis during World War Two. They surrendered to the British Army in Austria in 1945, hoping to join the British to fight Communism. There was little sympathy at the time for what were seen as Nazi collaborators and they were handed over to the Soviet Government, to be executed or imprisoned. At the end of the war, American and British commanders "repatriated" more than 150,000 Cossack men, women, and children to the Soviet Union. Many of these people had never been Soviet citizens.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, efforts to revive the Cossack traditions have grown. In April 2005, Russian President Putin introduced a bill "On the State Service of the Russian Cossacks" (О государственной службе российского казачества) to Duma, which was passed in the first reading on May 18, 2005.

Cossack organization

In early times, Cossack tribes were commanded by an Ataman (later called Hetman). He was elected by the tribe members at a Cossack rada, as were the other important tribe officials: the judge, the scribe, the lesser officials, and even the clergy. The ataman's symbol of power was a ceremonial mace, called bulava.

The Ataman had executive powers and at time of war he was the supreme commander in the field. Legislative power was given to the Tribal Assembly (Rada). The senior officers were called starshyna. In the absence of written laws, the Cossacks were governed by the "Cossack Traditions," the common, unwritten law.

Cossack society and government were heavily militarized. The nation was called a host (vois’ko, translated as "army"), and subdivided into regimental and company districts, and village posts (polky, sotni, and stanytsi).

After the split of Ukraine along the Dnieper River by the Polish-Russian Treaty of Andrusovo 1667, Ukrainian Cossacks are known as Left-bank Cossacks and Right-bank Cossacks.

Cossacks and religion

Popular image of Cossacks

Literary reflections of Cossack culture abound in Russian literature, particularly in the works of Nikolai Gogol, Leo Tolstoy and Mikhail Sholokhov.

Terminology

Ukrainian Cossacks

• Hetman - a Ukrainian Cossack supreme military leader
• Bulava - a Ceremonial mace, a symbol of Hetman's authority
• Starshyna - officers
  • polkovnyk - Colonel
  • oboznyi
  • osavul
  • khorunzhyi
  • Otaman - Lieutenant
• tabor - a tactic using a set of horse-drawn wagons, mastered by Cossacks in 16-17th century

Russian Cossacks

• Voisko ("army") - a major cossack military and administrative unit.
• Ataman - a Russian cossack military leader or subordinate leader (derived from the Turkic "ataman")
• Sotnia ("hundred") - a military unit.
• Stanitsa - cossack settlement, a village.
• Cossack, Prikazny, Uryadnik (minor and major), Podkhorunzhiy, Khorunzhiy, Sotnik, Podyesaul, Yesaul, Voiskovoy starshina, -- cossack military ranks (from lowest up)

In 1988 a Soviet law allowed Cossacks to form again. All voiskos are independent of each other, but for a voisko to be recongnized as "official" it needs to have the permission of the Supreme Ataman of the All-Mighty Donsokoye Voisko (and even allowed him to wear the Marshal Star). Since most of the modern Cossack organisations (even those that found themselves outside the Russian Federation after 1991) were formed shortly after the law was passed, all of them exist in a loose "confederation" with each other.

Tatar Cossacks

• Nağaybäk

See also

• Cossack motorcycle
• Kosiński Uprising
• Hetmans of Ukrainian Cossacks