According to unconfirmed reports (during the years of the revolution and the Civil War, no accurate population registration was made), the number of the Russian Cossacks varied from 4 to 6 million. The most numerous among the Russian Cossacks, according to the 1897 census, was the Don Army - over a million people (about a third of the total number of Cossacks at that time). Taking into account the directive of L. D. Trotsky about the Cossacks as the only population capable of self-organization and therefore subject to total destruction, the "Donets" ultimately drank more from the Soviets than others.
At first, the Bolsheviks tried to flirt with the Cossacks, publishing literally in the first days after the establishment of their power, on December 7, 1917, "An Appeal to the Labor Cossacks." In tsarist Russia, the Cossacks served the sovereign for 20 years, and the full equipment before being sent to the army (weapons, uniforms, horse, etc.) had to be prepared by the conscripts themselves. The Soviet government, according to the decree, introduced compulsory military service for the Cossacks liable for military service instead of long-term, full equipment, weapons and other support at the expense of the state, freedom of movement.
However, already in April 1919, after it became clear that the majority of the Cossacks, to put it mildly, did not actively welcome the Soviet power, the Don Bureau of the RCP (b) made a decision according to which the very existence of the Don Cossacks constituted a counterrevolutionary threat and “the greatest danger "for the Soviet regime. The decision clearly states the need for "quick and decisive" neutralization of the self-organizing Cossacks. Repression, mass terror are the most effective methods for this. Plus dispossession of land, confiscation of fishing funds, predatory taxation.
According to the research of the doctor of historical sciences, historian of the Cossacks L.I. Historians cite different data on the victims of this confrontation. The author of the book "Mironov" Yevgeny Fedorovich Losev cites a figure exceeding a thousand people who became victims of the Red Terror unleashed by the Soviets against the Don Cossacks. RG Babichev, associate professor of the Russian State University (hereditary Cossack), in his historical research, claims that the troops of the white general Krasnov, during their stay on the Don, shot and hanged 45 thousand Cossacks who had taken Soviet power.
According to historians, most of the Cossack troops for a long time tried to adhere to neutrality when choosing between the white and red movements, but the fierce Red Terror prompted the Cossacks to join the active opponents of Soviet power.
Cossacks are a people, and a federal people. But at the same time, we are closely intertwined with Russian history, the Russian state and are connected with the Russian people. There are ancestral Cossacks - they know perfectly well who their grandfather and great-grandfather were, they inherit the traditions and culture of their ancestors. And then there are typesetters, that is, people without roots who are accepted into this community.
Cossacks are a legacy of the early 1990s, when, instead of reviving traditions, everyone rushed to revive the Cossack service, and this ended up as a quasi-service and quasi-military units. In pursuit of a formal number, the Cossack Union made up all those who wanted to get into this organization. There was a huge number of people who decided to show. There were those who came, typeset, made interesting shoulder straps for themselves, and then left to play something else. They were not really explained what to do. Most of the Cossacks spent a year and a half, and after that they moved away from it.
Cossacks are making up the layout now. Each organization has its own procedure.
According to Russian law, any three people can create their own public organization, call it a Cossack organization and take there everyone who has adopted the charter. Often people just buy themselves Cossack clothes and wear them. We do not typeset anyone in our organization. I don't understand this: I know my ancestors, and for some reason I have no desire to become a part of some other people.
About real Cossacks
How to tell whether you have a real Cossack in front of you or not? And how to distinguish a Chechen from a non-Chechen? Sometimes on the street you can meet a person in full uniform with orders and medals. Unfortunately, the legal status of these icons is not entirely clear. You can create your own "Organization of Road Transport Lovers" and give its members a badge of honor for lovers of steam locomotives of the 1st and 2nd degree. Order badges with gold or diamond and solemnly present to everyone. Cossacks can receive a badge of honor for a year in a Cossack organization, but there are many such people with orders, and society laughs at this. Therefore, officers who honestly served for ten years do not hang their awards on the national costume. I think so: if you want to have an honest military order - go to the war zone, there you have a chance to earn your reward. And to draw medals for ourselves is a little embarrassing. A formal costume should be worn for a specific purpose, and not just as an excuse to ring out with what is hung on it.
I think so: if you want to have an honest military order - go to the war zone, there you have a chance to earn my reward
About life in Moscow
There are several tens of thousands of Cossacks in Moscow. Precisely no one counted, because not everyone calls themselves Cossacks by nationality during the census. Last year, almost 50 thousand people gathered at the traditional Cossack festival in Luzhniki. It was mid-September, and I think that not all of the Cossacks came there.
I myself am from the Kuban, but now I live in Moscow. By education - a lawyer and an economist, I work in the field of jurisprudence. In our Cossack organization there are self-employed citizens, government officials, businessmen. Our people are gathered not according to the professional principle, but according to the principle of unity of origin.
In Moscow, the Cossacks are not much different from other residents: the city erases national differences. We live in apartments, buy fast food and heat it up in microwaves. There are no national costumes in the city, everyone is wearing jackets made according to European fashion. Women buy dresses that are sold in Milan, Moscow, Paris and London. We use the Internet, we have several Cossack sites and groups in the main social networks. The Moscow Cossacks also have their own magazine, which can be read through the app in the AppStore. In one of the last issues they wrote about national costumes.
We usually gather in those places that are convenient for everyone. It is quite difficult to get around in the city: in my small homeland, it is faster for me to get from the village to Krasnodar than from home in Moscow to work. True, there used to be one Cossack seat at Sportivnaya, but then it was closed. In principle, there are a lot of places associated with the Cossacks, because there are many Cossacks here.
Sometimes we walk around the city in national clothes - just because we like it. Although, on the one hand, it can be inconvenient, but on the other hand, wearing such a suit is perceived as shocking. Sometimes I feel a negative attitude from others: they look at me as if I decided to show off and say that I am not like the rest. I made my costume myself, but you can buy it. As a rule, they sell stage options made of cheap fabric. A good suit is expensive. It needs to be ordered from a natural cloth from the master, adjusted to the shape. It will cost at least 30 thousand rubles. Boots can also be bought - in special workshops. True, they do not make them as strong as before.
Cossacks are not a blinkered crowd that does not perceive anything. Quite normal, cultured people
About the national dialect
The Cossacks, of course, did not have their own language, but they had different dialects. Moreover, in each page there are local words. Over the past few years, our guys have traveled around the villages and have collected 8 thousand words that are not in the Russian language. This allows us to say that the language of the Cossacks was different from Russian. In everyday speech, we still use some words: I am from the Kuban, so we are balachka. Although a couple of years ago I lived on the Don, and when the locals spoke quickly, I understood hardly a third of the words.
About music
I listen to all kinds of music, but mostly rock. From foreign countries I like Metallica, AC / DC. From ours - classic Sverdlovsk and St. Petersburg rock, for example Viktor Tsoi. There are collectives in the communities that sing national songs. Cossacks realize themselves in different genres: there is, for example, Cossack rap and rock, and performances by Cossack bands can be found on the Internet. So the Cossacks are not a blinkered crowd that does not perceive anything. Quite normal, cultured people.
About the army
I myself did not serve in the army - I studied, but I know that there are no special conditions for the Cossacks there. Formally, back in 1993, Boris Yeltsin signed a decree on the creation of several Cossack units as part of the Russian armed forces. It was assumed that the Cossacks would be summoned there in priority order. But then the question arose: how to check if you are a Cossack or not a Cossack? And then, to serve in a special unit, you need good health. The fact that the Cossacks once dodged bullets and ran across the ceiling are beautiful fairy tales. When orders and medals are hung on a body weighing 200 kilograms, which it is not clear how they were obtained, the question arises: is this a warrior? As a result, the Cossacks are called up as ordinary citizens in ordinary units.
About weapons
According to the 1997 law, Cossacks, like representatives of the peoples of the Caucasus, can carry traditional edged weapons without permission, that is, a dagger and a saber. But I do not think that someone will just wave a 150-year-old silver dagger for 3-4 thousand dollars. Indeed, now in any souvenir or hunting store you can buy virtually any weapon if you look over 18 years old.
About politics
There is no unified Cossack code, but there is a federal program for the development of the Cossack society, which, among other things, implies that in a couple of years 80% of the Cossacks should be concentrated in the border regions of Russia. I am skeptical about this idea. Maybe, of course, there will be a certain number of real patriots who can move to the border with Kazakhstan to guard the border for a beggarly salary. But I wonder what their wives have to say about that?
Can we join parties? Of course, after all, according to the law, it is impossible to restrict a person from joining this or that organization. I have been a member of United Russia since 2004 and vote for Putin, this is my civilizational choice. I believe that Russian citizens should be ready to work with the government. If you become in opposition to the current government, then you are trying to prove that your position is more interesting. Why do this? We do not discuss politics in our Cossack organization.
About Cossack patrols
Now sometimes the Cossacks participate in patrolling the streets together with the police. The more volunteers, the more people keep order. The more patrols, the quieter it is in the city. In the Krasnodar Territory, such outings are regular, and not once every two years on holidays: they waved flags, took pictures and dispersed. There, the Cossack patrol is the norm. But there are also problems: any public aide can be misunderstood. He may exceed his authority, and then he will have to be held accountable. Therefore, it seems to me that it is easier to recruit professionals, rather than doing demonstration raids.
I am a member of United Russia since 2004 and vote for Putin, this is mine civilizational choice
I don't like how the Cossacks are now perceived in society. One gets the impression that these are poorly educated guys swinging checkers, shouting that they are for Russia, living in their own world in isolation from everything else. In our community there are a lot of people with higher education, candidates of science. Many of them served, they are officers who are honest with their homeland. The Cossacks have always strived for education, although they were limited in this.
About financing
Our Cossack organization is not sponsored by the state. In the 1990s, the state made large contributions to the rehabilitation of the rights of repressed peoples, including the Cossacks. Then there was confusion, the chieftains came, shook stacks of applications, and they were given some money.
We drop off for all our events ourselves. If we all want to go to the theater together, we buy tickets for ourselves, our wives and children. I will be ashamed to go up to someone like a beggar and say: "Listen, give me money." In addition, since the 1990s, we have been carrying out activities to revive Cossack traditions: teaching children, collecting our dialects, creating national costumes, preserving our own cuisine, recipes. We have been conducting ethnic Cossack games for more than ten years. These are 17 types of competitions: equestrian, team, individual. There are several sports championships with checkers, knife throwing competition, archery championship. We erected several monuments on our own and with the help of private donations - for example, an Orthodox cross in the Moscow region.
What Cossacks once dodged bullets and ran across the ceiling - it's the same beautiful fairy tales
Communication with Ukrainian Cossacks
Now almost every person is faced with a political choice: you are for this or that. Few remain indifferent to what is happening. In Ukraine, the Cossacks are doing what the ruling party told them to do. For example, the Cossack citizens in Crimea are pro-Russian, while in Ukraine they are against us, of course. With those Cossacks who began to fight in volunteer battalions, communication came to naught, politics divided us. But we communicate with some Ukrainian Cossacks more or less calmly.
About family
Our main family tradition is to bring up children. Now the general mass of people for some reason believes that the school should educate, and its task is to educate. If the parents sent their children to kindergarten, then they, of course, remain blood Cossacks, but their culture is kindergarten. We talk with children about patriotism, and through love for their small homeland, for their family, they move on to love for their big homeland. In a traditional Cossack family, a boy must remain a boy and a girl a girl. You can't leave your own people here, you need to take care of your parents, and a family deserves the greatest respect, where the words from Scripture are observed: "Be fruitful, multiply and replenish the earth." There are certain patterns of behavior that we try to preserve: you go into the house - you need to take off your shoes, the elders come in - you need to get up. When the elder speaks, the younger does not speak.
On the role of women in the Cossacks
A normal Cossack woman is similar to Nonna Mordyukova: she obeys her man, but, if anything, she can whack him with a rolling pin. Cossacks in the old days were always on campaigns, fought and did not appear at home for years. If a woman were weak, she might not have waited for her man, so the Cossacks are strong, fighting. In addition, in the absence of their husband, they used to carry duties that were distributed to the village. So we have a woman - a deputy husband, we treat her with respect. In the house, the woman is the mistress, and in the family, the man is the boss. Now men do not go on any hikes, so in the relationship between a man and a woman, everything comes to a common denominator. Although the wife still should not scold her husband in public, because everyone will laugh at her: if he is a muddler, why did she marry a muddler?
Our weddings are traditional, I married my nephew - we walked for three days.
Not everyone was wearing national clothes. Not everyone had their costumes, because in Soviet times, for wearing inappropriate uniforms, they could easily grab and hang provocative activities. Sometimes people will dress in national costumes in the style of a hundred-year-old wedding and do not know what to do with it. But the tradition of singing Cossack songs at weddings has been preserved. That is, the content of the wedding remained old.
A normal Cossack woman looks like Nonna Mordyukova: she obeys her man, but if anything, can heat him with a rolling pin
About gay marriage
Traditional values are characteristic of the Cossacks: this is a matter of ideological culture, which is formed in the Christian tradition. Cossacks are probably the only Christian warrior people. All other Christian peoples are farmers. Historically, the Cossacks are Orthodox people, and unlike the Russians, we did not have pre-Christian traditions, for example, paganism. We have a negative attitude towards representatives of non-traditional families - just like Catholics, Orthodox Christians and Muslims do not welcome non-traditional marriages, because this is a violation of what is written in Scripture. The family is created for the natural procreation.
If people unite in a family and naturally cannot continue the race, the question arises: what kind of family is this? In all religions, divorce is possible if one of the spouses cannot have children. Another may file for divorce and re-marry in order to fulfill his natural function. Another question is why healthy people unite in unviable unions?
It is not the very fact that gays exist that annoys us, but the shocking and obsession with which people of non-traditional orientation demonstrate themselves. If they were at home - what people do there does not concern us. But they go out into the street, start waving flags, shouting, shocking and causing bad emotions in other citizens. Why should a hundred citizens put up with two?
In America, in one city, gays populated an entire block. There was minimal crime, everyone was gentle, did not offend anyone, hugged and kissed when they met. But normal Americans did not want to be friends with them, so in that area the cost of a house was one third lower than in neighboring ones. Then migrants from the Soviet Union flocked there. Our guys were all indifferent, and they bought houses where it was cheaper. I asked several of them: “Listen, does it bother you that your children live next to such neighbors? Are you not afraid that your children, when they grow up, will follow in their footsteps? " I believe that the shocking gay people put pressure on the minds of the younger generation from early childhood.
Illustrations: Nastya Grigorieva
From the beginning of the 15th century, trade navigation began between Ustyug and Kholmogory. The fair was attended by Germans, Poles, Greeks, Italians, Lithuanians, Persians. From Kholmogory the industrialists reached the Irtysh. Precious metals in bars, products and coins. Siberia. The work of Anastasia Tychinskaya. The treasury also traded in wax, bread, rhubarb. The salt was sold to Sweden and Lithuania. Holland and Flemish bought potash. In the 16th century, Kitay-Gorod became the center of trade in Moscow.
"Cossack World" - Allied with Lithuania. Legend of the Zaporozhye army. Emelyan Pugachev. Checker. The art of horse riding. Cossacks. A story that has become a legend. Allied with Russia. Bulavin Kondraty Afanasyevich. Thank God that we are Cossacks. Don. Under the rule of the Horde. Gumilyov. Chief Officer. People. Insects. Cossacks in the war. The right of the Cossacks. Stepan Timofeevich Razin. Lovely letters. The main enemy of the Don Cossacks. Theft. Serfs. Cossack general.
"Zaporizhzhya Sich" - Conditions for the rapprochement of Zaporozhye with the Crimea. The signing of a peace treaty. The root of all evil. Significant character. Bessarabia. The existence of Zaporozhye. Household pursuits. Zaporizhzhia. Zaporizhzhya Sich. Zaporozhye and Peter I. Independent position. Military Chancellery. The internal structure of the Zaporizhzhya Sich. Relations between Secheviks and Nekrasovites. Relations with Russia. Gordienko. Contract. Peasants. Economic growth.
"The annexation of Siberia" - In September 1557 the envoys returned with 1000 sables. 540 people Volga Cossacks. Ivan IV was interested in only one thing - to receive as much tribute as possible. In 1572, he finally broke off vassal relations with Moscow. In July 1581 an attack was made. Ambassadors of the Siberian Khan Ediger came to Moscow. In what year Ediger was killed. The game. An ambassador and tribute collector was sent to Siberia from Moscow.
"History of the Zaporizhzhya Sich" - Preconditions of the liberation war. The first information about the Ukrainian Cossacks. Dmitry Ivanovich Vishnevetsky. Military and territorial division. Sich. Bohdan Khmelnytsky. Weapons of the Cossacks. Liquidation of the Cossack self-government. Coat of arms of the Zaporozhye Army. General Petty Officer. Military belongings. Organization of the state. Driving forces. Zaporizhzhya Sich. The number of the Cossacks. Ukrainian lands. Senior's Council.
"Cossack associations" - Principles of the Cossack democratic system. Cossack self-government. Village self-government. Cossack Circle. Historical memory. Cossack horizontal. Characteristics of pre-revolutionary societies. Colonel. The phenomenon of Cossack self-government. Combination of horizontal and vertical control. Classifying signs. Factors. Collective memory. People. Baron Taube. Ataman rule. Contradictions of Cossack democracy.
Cossacks ... A completely special social stratum, estate, class. Its own, as experts would say, subculture: the manner of dressing, speaking, behaving. Peculiar songs. A heightened concept of honor and dignity. Pride in your own identity. Courage and daring in the most terrible battle. For some time now the history of Russia has been unimaginable without the Cossacks. Here are just the current "heirs" - for the most part, "mummers", impostors. Tragically, the Bolsheviks "tried very hard" to root out real Cossacks even in the civil war. Those who were not destroyed were rotted away in prisons and camps. Alas, the destroyed cannot be returned. To honor traditions and not become Ivan, who does not remember kinship ...
History of the Don Cossacks
Don Cossacks Oddly enough, even the exact date of birth of the Don Cossacks is known. It became January 3, 1570. Ivan the Terrible, having defeated the Tatar khanates, in fact, provided the Cossacks with every opportunity to settle in new territories, settle down and put down roots. The Cossacks were proud of their freedom, although they took an oath of allegiance to one or another king. The kings, in turn, were in no hurry to enslave this dashing gang completely.
During the Time of Troubles, the Cossacks were very active and active. However, they often took the side of this or that impostor, and by no means stood on the guard of statehood and the law. One of the famous Cossack chieftains, Ivan Zarutsky, was not even averse to reigning in Moscow himself. In the 17th century, the Cossacks actively developed the Black and Azov Seas.
In a sense, they became sea pirates, corsairs, terrifying merchants and merchants. Cossacks often found themselves next to the Cossacks. Peter the Great officially included the Cossacks in the Russian Empire, obliged them to serve as the sovereign, and canceled the election of atamans. The Cossacks began to take an active part in all the wars that Russia waged, in particular, with Sweden and Prussia, as well as in the First World War.
Many of the donors did not accept the Bolsheviks and fought against them, and then went into exile. Famous figures of the Cossack movement - P.N. Krasnov and A.G. Shkuro - actively collaborated with the Nazis during the Second World War. In the era of Gorbachev's perestroika, they started talking about the revival of the Don Cossacks. However, on this wave there was a lot of muddy foam, following fashion, outright speculation. To date, almost none of the so-called. Don Cossacks and even more so atamans by origin and rank are not such.
History of the Kuban Cossacks
Kuban Cossack The emergence of the Kuban Cossacks dates back to a later time than the Don one - only to the second half of the 19th century. The place of deployment of the Kuban was the North Caucasus, Krasnodar and Stavropol Territories, Rostov Region, Adygea and Karachay-Cherkessia. The center was the city of Yekaterinodar. The seniority belonged to the koshev and kuren atamans. Later, one or another Russian emperor began to appoint the supreme atamans personally.
Historically, after the dissolution of the Zaporozhye Sich by Catherine II, several thousand Cossacks fled to the Black Sea coast and tried to restore the Sich there, under the auspices of the Turkish Sultan. Later, they again turned to face the Fatherland, made a significant contribution to the victory over the Turks, for which they were awarded the lands of Taman and Kuban, and the lands were given to them for eternal and hereditary use.
The Kubans can be described as a free militarized association. The population was engaged in agriculture, led a sedentary lifestyle, and fought only for state needs. Newcomers and fugitives from the central regions of Russia were willingly accepted here. They mixed with the local population and became "their own".
In the fire of the revolution and civil war, the Cossacks were forced to constantly maneuver between the red and the white, looking for a "third way", trying to defend their identity and independence. In 1920, the Bolsheviks finally abolished both the Kuban army and the Republic. Mass repressions, evictions, famine and dispossession of kulaks followed. Only in the second half of the 30s. the Cossacks were partially rehabilitated, the Kuban Choir was restored. During the Great Patriotic War, the Cossacks fought on an equal basis with others, mainly together with the regular units of the Red Army.
History of the Terek Cossacks
The Tersk Cossacks The Tersk Cossacks arose at about the same time as the Kuban Cossacks, in 1859, by the date of the defeat of the troops of the Chechen Imam Shamil. In the Cossack power hierarchy, Tertsy were the third in seniority. They settled along such rivers as Kura, Terek, Sunzha. The headquarters of the Terek Cossack army is the city of Vladikavkaz. The settlement of the territories began in the 16th century.
The Cossacks were in charge of the protection of border territories, but they themselves sometimes did not hesitate to raid the possessions of the Tatar princelings. Cossacks often had to defend themselves against mountain raids. However, the close proximity to the highlanders brought not only negative emotions to the Cossack. The Tertsy adopted from the mountaineers some linguistic expressions, and in particular the requisites of clothing and ammunition: cloaks and hats, daggers and sabers.
The established cities of Kizlyar and Mozdok became the centers of concentration of the Terek Cossacks. In 1917, the Tertsy self-proclaimed independence and established a republic. With the final establishment of Soviet power, the Tertsy suffered the same dramatic fate as the Kuban and Don people: massive repressions and evictions.
Interesting Facts
In 1949, the lyrical comedy "The Kuban Cossacks" directed by Ivan Pyriev appeared on the Soviet screen. Despite the obvious varnishing of reality and the smoothing out of socio-political conflicts, she fell in love with the mass audience, and the song "What You Were" is performed from the stage to this day.
It is interesting that the very word "Cossack" in translation from the Turkic language means a free, freedom-loving, proud person. So the name stuck to these people, you know, is far from accidental.
The Cossack does not bow before any authorities, he is fast and free like the wind.
In ancient times, states on our land did not touch their borders as they do now. Between them there were giant spaces in which no one lived - it was either impossible due to the lack of living conditions (no water, land for crops, you cannot hunt if there is little game), or it was simply dangerous because of the raids of the nomadic steppe dwellers. It was in such places that the Cossacks were born - on the outskirts of the Russian principalities, on the border with the Great Steppe. In such places, people gathered who were not afraid of a sudden raid of the steppe inhabitants, who knew how to survive and fight without outside help.
The first mentions of Cossack detachments date back to Kievan Rus, for example, Ilya Muromets was called an “old Cossack”. There are references to the participation of Cossack detachments in the Battle of Kulikovo under the command of the governor Dmitry Bobrok. By the end of the XIV century, two large territories were formed in the lower reaches of the Don and Dnieper, on which many Cossack settlements were created, and their participation in the wars waged by Ivan the Terrible is already indisputable. The Cossacks distinguished themselves in the conquest of the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates and in the Livonian War. The first Russian charter of the stanitsa guard service was drawn up by the boyar M. I. Vorotynsky in 1571. According to it, the stanitsa (guard) Cossacks or stanitsa men carried out the guard service, while the city (regimental) Cossacks defended the cities. In 1612, together with the Nizhny Novgorod militia, the Don Cossacks liberated Moscow and expelled the Poles from the Russian land. For all these merits, the Russian tsars approved for the Cossacks the right to own the Quiet Don for ever and ever.
At that time, the Ukrainian Cossacks were divided into the register in the service of Poland and the grassroots, which created the Zaporizhzhya Sich. As a result of political and religious pressure from the Rzecz Pospolita, the Ukrainian Cossacks became the basis of the liberation movement, raised a series of uprisings, the last of which, led by Bogdan Khmelnitsky, achieved its goal - Ukraine was reunited with the Russian kingdom of the Pereyaslav Rada in January 1654. For Russia, the agreement led to the acquisition of part of the lands of Western Russia, which justified the title of the Russian tsars - the sovereign of All Russia. Muscovite Rus became a gatherer of lands with a Slavic Orthodox population.
Both the Dnieper and Don Cossacks at that time were at the forefront of the struggle against the Turks and Tatars, who constantly raided the Russian lands, devastating crops, driving people into captivity and bleeding our lands. Countless feats were accomplished by the Cossacks, but one of the most striking examples of the heroism of our ancestors is the Azov seat - eight thousand Cossacks, capturing Azov - one of the most powerful fortresses and an important communication center - were able to fight off the two hundred thousand Turkish army. Moreover, the Turks were forced to retreat, having lost about one hundred thousand soldiers - half of their army! But over time, Crimea was liberated, Turkey was pushed out from the shores of the Black Sea far to the south, and the Zaporizhzhya Sich lost its importance as an advanced outpost, finding itself several hundred kilometers inland in peaceful territory. On August 5, 1775, by the signing of the Russian Empress Catherine II of the manifesto "On the destruction of the Zaporizhzhya Sich and its reassignment to the Novorossiysk province", the Sich was finally disbanded. The Zaporozhye Cossacks then split into several parts. The most numerous moved to the Black Sea Cossack army, which carried border guards on the shores of the Black Sea, a significant part of the Cossacks was resettled to protect the southern borders of Russia in the Kuban and Azov. The Sultan allowed five thousand Cossacks who left for Turkey to found the Transdanubian Sich. In 1828, the Trans-Danube Cossacks with Koshev Yosip Gladky went over to the side of Russia and were pardoned personally by Emperor Nicholas I. Throughout the vast territory of Russia, the Cossacks began to carry out border guards. It is not without reason that Tsar-peacemaker Alexander III once aptly remarked: "The borders of the Russian state lie on the archak of the Cossack saddle ..."
Donets, Kuban, Tertsy, and later their brothers-in-arms, the Urals and Siberians, were the permanent combat vanguard in all the wars in which Russia fought for centuries almost without respite. The Cossacks especially distinguished themselves in the Patriotic War of 1812. The memory of the legendary commander of the Don Ataman Matvey Ivanovich Platov, who led the Cossack regiments from Borodino to Paris, is still alive. The very regiments about which Napoleon would say with envy: "If I had Cossack cavalry, I would have conquered the whole world." Patrols, reconnaissance, security, distant raids - all this daily hard military work was carried out by the Cossacks, and their battle formation - Cossack lava - showed itself in all its glory in that war.
In the popular mind, the image of the Cossack as a natural equestrian warrior was formed. But there was also the Cossack infantry - scouts - who became the prototype of modern special-purpose units. It originated on the coast of the Black Sea, where the scouts carried a difficult service in the Black Sea floodplains. Later, the plastuns' divisions also operated successfully in the Caucasus. Even their opponents paid tribute to the fearlessness of the scouts - the best guards of the cordon line in the Caucasus. It was the highlanders who preserved the story of how the plastuns besieged at the Lipkin post chose to burn alive - but not surrender to the Circassians, who even promised them life.
However, the Cossacks are known not only for military exploits. They played no less a role in the development of new lands and their annexation to the Russian Empire. Over time, the Cossack population moved forward into uninhabited lands, expanding the state boundaries. Cossack troops took an active part in the development of the North Caucasus, Siberia (Ermak's expedition), the Far East and America. In 1645, the Siberian Cossack Vasily Poyarkov sailed along the Amur, entered the Sea of Okhotsk, discovered Northern Sakhalin and returned to Yakutsk. In 1648 the Siberian Cossack Semyon Ivanovich Dezhnev sailed from the Arctic Ocean (the mouth of the Kolyma) to the Pacific (the mouth of the Anadyr) and opened the strait between Asia and America. In 1697-1699 the Cossack Vladimir Vasilievich Atlasov explored Kamchatka.
Cossacks during the First World War
On the very first day of the First World War, the first two regiments of the Kuban Cossacks went to the front from the Yekaterinodar railway station. On the fronts of the First World War, eleven Cossack troops of Russia fought - Donskoe, Ural, Terskoe, Kubanskoe, Orenburg, Astrakhan, Siberian, Transbaikal, Amur, Semirechenskoe and Ussuriyskoe - not knowing cowardice and desertion. Their best qualities were especially clearly manifested on the Transcaucasian front, where 11 Cossack regiments of the third order were formed only in the militia - from the Cossacks of older ages, who sometimes could give a head start to cadre youth. Thanks to their incredible stamina in the heavy battles of 1914, it was they who prevented the breakthrough of the Turkish troops - far from the worst at that time! - to our Transcaucasia and together with the Siberian Cossacks who arrived they threw them back. After a grand victory in the Battle of Sarykamysh, Russia received congratulations from the allied commanders-in-chief, Joffre and French, who highly appreciated the power of Russian weapons. But the pinnacle of martial art in Transcaucasia was the capture of the mountain fortified region of Erzurum in the winter of 1916, in the assault of which the Cossack units played an important role.
The Cossacks were not only the most dashing cavalry, but also served in intelligence, artillery, infantry and even aviation. Thus, the indigenous Kuban Cossack Vyacheslav Tkachev made the first long-distance flight in Russia along the route Kiev - Odessa - Kerch - Taman - Yekaterinodar with a total length of 1,500 versts, despite unfavorable autumn weather and other difficult conditions. On March 10, 1914, he was seconded to the 4th aviation division after its formation, and on the same day, Tkachev was appointed commander of the 20th aviation detachment attached to the headquarters of the 4th army. In the initial period of the war, Tkachev made several reconnaissance flights, very important for the Russian command, for which, by order of the army of the Southwestern Front of November 24, 1914, No. 290, he was awarded the Order of the Holy Great Martyr and Victorious George, IV degree (the first among the pilots).
The Cossacks showed themselves very well in the Great Patriotic War. In this most severe and difficult time for the country, the Cossacks forgot the past grievances, and together with the entire Soviet people rose to defend their homeland. The 4th Kuban, 5th Don Volunteer Cossack Corps passed with honor until the end of the war, participating in major operations. 9th Plastun Red Banner Krasnodar Division, dozens of rifle and cavalry divisions formed at the beginning of the war from the Cossacks of the Don, Kuban, Terek, Stavropol, Orenburg, Urals, Semirechye, Transbaikalia and the Far East. Guards Cossack formations often performed a very important task - while mechanized formations formed an inner ring of numerous "cauldrons", Cossacks, as part of mechanized cavalry groups, burst out into the operational space, disrupted enemy communications and created an outer encirclement ring, preventing the release of enemy troops. In addition to the Cossack units recreated under Stalin, there were many Cossacks among famous people during the Second World War, who fought not in the "branded" Cossack cavalry or Plastun units, but in the entire Soviet army or distinguished themselves in military production. For example: tank ace # 1, Hero of the Soviet Union D.F. Lavrinenko - Kuban Cossack, a native of the village of Fearless; Lieutenant General of Engineering Troops, Hero of the Soviet Union D.M. Karbyshev - ancestral Ural Cossack, a native of Omsk; Commander of the Northern Fleet, Admiral A.A. Golovko is a Terek Cossack, a native of the village of Prokhladnaya; gunsmith designer F.V. Tokarev - Don Cossack, a native of the village of Yegorlyk Region of the Don Cossack; Commander of the Bryansk and 2nd Baltic Front, General of the Army, Hero of the USSR M.M. Popov is a Don Cossack, a native of the village of Ust-Medveditskaya Oblast of the Don Cossacks, the commander of a squadron of the guard, Captain K.I. Nedorubov is a Hero of the Soviet Union and a full Knight of St. George, as well as many other Cossacks.
All the wars of our time, which the Russian Federation has already had a chance to wage, also did not go without the Cossacks. In addition to the conflicts in Transnistria and Abkhazia, the Cossacks took an active part in the Ossetian-Ingush conflict and in the subsequent protection of the administrative border of Ossetia with Chechnya and Ingushetia. During the First Chechen Campaign, the Russian Ministry of Defense formed a motorized rifle battalion named after General Yermolov from volunteer Cossacks. Its effectiveness was so high that it scared the pro-Kremlin Chechens, who saw in the appearance of Cossack units the first step towards the revival of the Terek region. Under their pressure, the battalion was withdrawn from Chechnya and disbanded. During the second campaign, the 205th motorized rifle brigade, as well as commandant companies serving in the Shelkovsky, Naursky and Nadterechny regions of Chechnya, were equipped with Cossacks. In addition, significant masses of Cossacks, having signed a contract, fought in "ordinary", that is, non-Cossack units. More than 90 people from Cossack units received government awards as a result of hostilities, all Cossacks who participated in hostilities and clearly fulfilled their duties received Cossack awards. For 13 years, the Cossacks in the south of Russia have been annually holding field training camps, within the framework of which command-staff trainings with unit commanders and officers, fire, tactical, topographic, mine and medical training are organized. Cossack units, companies and platoons are headed by officers of the Russian army with combat experience who took part in operations in hot spots in the Caucasus, Afghanistan and other regions. And the Cossack mounted patrols became reliable assistants to the Russian border guards and the police.
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