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 counter-revolutionary 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, the 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.
Cossack army:
The Azov Cossack army (unlike the Azov Cossack regiment that existed from 1696 to 1775) is a Cossack military formation in the 19th century. Created by the Russian government in 1832 from the former Zaporozhye Cossacks of the Transdanubian Sich, who passed from Turkish to Russian citizenship. Placed between Berdyansk and Mariupol. In 1852-1864, the army was partially relocated to the Kuban. In 1865, the army was abolished.
Composition:
The composition of the army, due to its small number, included the Petrovsky bourgeois posad, the Novospasovskoe village of state peasants and the Starodubovskaya stanitsa, formed from the settlers of the Chernigov province. Indigenous Cossacks inhabited two villages - Nikolaevskaya and Pokrovskaya. Part of the Cossacks, dissatisfied with Gladky, went back to Turkey. The main service of the Azov Cossacks was cruising on military longboats off the eastern shores of the Black Sea in order to catch Turkish smuggling.
Astrakhan Cossack army - In 1737, by a decree of the Senate in Astrakhan, a three-hundred Cossack team was formed from Kalmyks. In 1750, on the basis of the team, the Astrakhan Cossack regiment was established, for the replenishment of which up to the regular number of 500 people put in the regiment, Cossacks were recruited in the Astrakhan fortress and the Krasny Yar fortress from commoners, former riflemen and city Cossack children, as well as Don riding Cossacks and newly baptized Tatars and Kalmyks. Seniority from March 28, 1750, the capital - Astrakhan, military holiday (military circle) - August 19, the day of the icon of the Donskoy Mother of God. The Astrakhan Cossack army was created in 1817.
Composition: As part of the first regiment under the command of the Kalmyk Derbet noyon (prince) Jombo Taisha Tundutov, the Astrakhanians from 8 to 18 August 1812 participated in skirmishes with the French, opposing their crossing of the Bug River. In September 1812, the enemy was pursued from the Styr River to Brest-Litovsk. In the campaign of 1813, they made a campaign against Warsaw and from March 17 to August 28 were at the siege of the Modlin fortress.
The second regiment under the command of the Kalmyk Torgut noyon Serebjab Tyumen on July 18 shot the Saxon dragoon squadron, showing the ability of the irregular cavalry to successfully fight the enemy's heavy cavalry. During 1813, the Tyumen regiment pursued the French as far as Krakow; On October 4-7, he took part in the "Battle of the Nations" at Leipzig, and then drove the enemy to the Rhine. Moving in the vanguard of the allied forces, the regiment entered Paris in 1814, and the streets of the French capital saw not only Kalmyk soldiers, but also Astrakhan Cossacks. All participants in the war were awarded the medal "In Memory of the Patriotic War of 1812".
Bug Cossack army - Cossack army, located along the Southern Bug river.
Composition: from the Cossacks, four settlement Uhlan regiments (Olviopolsky, Bugsky, Voznesensky and Odessa) were formed, consolidated into the Bug Uhlan division. Many of the former Cossacks of the Bug Cossack army were subsequently ranked among the Danube, Azov and Caucasian Cossack troops, where they merged with the local Cossack population.
Volga Cossack army - military Cossack formation on the middle and lower Volga. It was officially formed in 1734 by the decree of Empress Anna Ioannovna. For participation in the uprising, Yemelyan Pugachev was abolished in 1777 by the decree of Empress Catherine II.
Composition: The new army did not last long in its place. In 1770, 517 families from its composition were resettled to Mozdok and placed in five villages along the left bank of the Terek, between Mozdok and the Greben army, to protect the region from the Kabardians. They formed the Mozdok regiment, at the head of which a regimental commander was put in place of the military ataman. In 1777, the regiment included 200 families of Kalmyks who converted to Orthodoxy, who soon returned to Buddhism, and in 1799 - the Russian militia of the Mozdok Fortress, which until then existed separately under the name of the Moscow Legion Cossack Team.
In 1777, with the continuation of the line of fortresses in the Caucasus to the west from Mozdok to Azov, the rest of the Volga army was sent here, settled in five villages, from the Catherine to the Alexander fortress, for about 200 versts. Retaining their former name, the Cossacks made up the Volga Cossack regiment of five hundred in the ranks. Gradually, the Cossack villages moved forward. To reinforce the strength of the troops, already in 1832, 4 civilian villages along Qom with a population of up to 4050 persons of "both sexes" were assigned to it.
In 1832, the Mozdok and Volga regiments became part of the newly formed Caucasian line of the army, in 1860 - Tersky.
The Cossacks who remained on the Volga in 1802 formed two villages: Aleksandrovskaya (now Suvodskaya Volgograd region) and Krasnolinskaya (now Pichuzhinskaya Volgograd region), which became part of the Astrakhan Cossack regiment.
Danube army - in 1775, after the destruction of the Zaporozhye Sich, part of the Zaporozhye Cossacks withdrew to Turkey and settled on the banks of the Danube, between the fortress Ruschuk and Silistria, forming a new Sich.
Composition: By January 1, 1856 in the Danube Cossack army, 2,811 people were on active service (according to the lists, 2,858). In the same year, the army was renamed Novorossiysk, under which name it did not last long. Due to the lack of land, it could not receive further development through population growth; its service staff was extremely small, and, instead of 2 complete regiments with regular shifts, the army barely formed a regiment, and even then with the help of constant leave of money from the military capital for military equipment. In addition, according to the Paris treatise of 1856, the southern border of the Russian Empire was changed and part of the lands of the Novorossiysk army went to the Moldavian principality; land scarcity increased even more.
Don Army - the most numerous of the Cossack troops of the Russian Empire.
It was located on a separate territory called the Don Cossack Region, which occupied part of the modern Luhansk and Donetsk regions of Ukraine, as well as the Rostov and Volgograd regions of the Russian Federation.
Composition: The first Donskoy district with a district center in the village of Konstantinovskaya,
2nd Donskoy with a district center in the village of Nizhne-Chirskaya,
Rostov with a district center in the city of Rostov-on-Don,
Salsky with a district center in the village of Velikoknyazheskaya,
Taganrog with the district center in the city of Taganrog,
Ust-Medveditsky district with a district center in the village of Ust-Medveditskaya,
Khopersky with a district center in the village of Uryupinskaya,
Cherkassky with a district center in the city of Novocherkassk.
In 1918, the Verkhne-Donskoy was formed from parts of the Ust-Medveditsky, Donetsk and Khopyorsky districts]. The Verkhne-Don district was planned to be created at the end of 1917 by the decision of the Big Circle of the Don Army (the original name was supposed to be the Third Don District).
Kuban Cossack army - part of the Cossacks of the Russian Empire in the North Caucasus, inhabiting the territory of the modern Krasnodar Territory, the western part of the Stavropol Territory, the south of the Rostov Region, as well as the Republics of Adygea and Karachay-Cherkessia. The military headquarters is the city of Yekaterinodar (modern Krasnodar). The army was formed in 1860 on the basis of the Black Sea Cossack army, with the addition to it of a part of the Caucasian Linear Cossack army, which was "simplified as unnecessary." As a result of the end of the Caucasian War.
By the beginning of the reign of Emperor Nicholas II, the Kuban army was divided into 7 departments:
Ekaterinodar,
Tamansky,
Caucasian,
Labinsky,
Maikop,
Batalpashinsky.
Composition: by 1860, the army numbered 200 thousand Cossacks and fielded 12 cavalry regiments, 9 foot (plastun) battalions, 4 batteries and 2 guards squadrons.
They made up most of the Cossacks in the Yeisk, Yekaterinodar and Temryuk departments of the Kuban region.
Yeisk Cossack Department of KKV
Caucasian Cossack Department KKV
Taman Cossack department KKV
Ekaterinodar Cossack Department of KKV
Maikop Cossack Department of KKV
Labinsk Cossack Department of KKV
Batalpashinsky Cossack Department of KKV
Black Sea Cossack District KKV
Abkhazian special Cossack department KKV
Semirechye army - a group of Cossacks living in Semirechye, in the southeast of modern Kazakhstan and northern Kyrgyzstan. In the past, they were united into a separate Cossack army.
Composition: was scattered in four counties of this area, in 28 villages. By January 1, 1894, its number was 32772 people, including 25369 military (13141 men and 12,228 women) and 7403 nonresident: 30340 people of the Orthodox faith, 15 Christians of other confessions, 68 Jews, 2339 Mohammedans and 10 pagans.
As of the beginning of 1914, as part of Semirechye Cossack Host there were 19 villages and 15 settlements, with a population of 22473 military classes (of which 60 officers and 5767 Cossacks were ready for service, with 3080 horses).
Tersk Cossack army - Cossacks who live along the Terek, Sunzha, Assa, Kura, Malka, Kuma, Podkumok rivers in the North Caucasus.
The Terek Cossack army is the third oldest in the Cossack troops since 1577, when the Terek Cossacks first operated under the tsarist banners.
Composition:
1) district Cossack societies created (formed) by combining district Cossack societies and stanitsa Cossack societies that are not part of the district Cossack societies;
2) regional Cossack societies created (formed) by combining urban, village and farm Cossack societies;
3) village Cossack societies, which are part of the district Cossack societies, or regional Cossack societies, which are the primary association of citizens of the Russian Federation and members of their families - residents of one or more rural or urban settlements or other settlements entered in the state register of Cossack societies in the Russian Federation.
Ussuri Cossack army - ethnic group of Cossacks in the Ussuri region. Other definitions are an ethnic group, a military estate-nationality.
Composition: In 1916, the number of Ussuriysk Cossacks was 39,900. They owned 6740 km² of land. Ussuriysk Cossacks performed border, postal and police services, took part in the Russian-Japanese war. During the First World War, the Ussuri Cossacks deployed a cavalry regiment and six hundred. During the civil war, a split occurred among the Ussuriysk Cossacks at the place of resettlement, part of the Cossacks (natives of the Don) supported the Bolsheviks' policy of eliminating the Cossacks as an estate and merging them with the peasantry. The rest acted under the command of Ataman Kalmykov mainly on the side of the Whites. After the civil war, the army ceased to exist.
Ural Cossack army - (before 1775 and after 1917 - Yaik Cossack army) - a group of Cossacks in the Russian Empire, II in seniority in the Cossack troops. They are located in the west of the Ural region (now the northwestern regions of Kazakhstan and the southwestern part of the Orenburg region), along the middle and lower reaches of the Ural River (until 1775 - Yaik). The seniority of the army since July 9, 1591, in this month the Yaik Cossacks took part in the campaign of the Tsar's troops against Shamkhal Tarkovsky. The military headquarters is Uralsk (until 1775 it was called Yaitsky town). Religious affiliation: the majority are Orthodox Christians, but there are fellow believers, Old Believers, Muslims (up to 8%) and Buddhists (Lamaists) (1.5%) Army holiday, military circle on November 8 (21 in a new style), St. Archangel Michael.
Composition: By the beginning of 1825, the Ural Cossack Host counted up to 28,226 souls of both sexes in its population. According to data at the beginning of 1900, the number of Ural Cossacks with family members was just over 123 thousand people. During the First World War, the army deployed 9 cavalry regiments (50 hundreds), an artillery battery, a hundred of guards, 9 special and reserve hundreds, 2 teams (in total for 1917, more than 13 thousand people). For valor and courage 5378 Ural Cossacks and officers were awarded with St. George's crosses and medals.
Black Sea Cossack army - military Cossack formation in the XVIII-XIX centuries. Created by the Russian government in 1787 from units of the Troops of the Loyal Cossacks, which were based on the former Cossacks of Zaporozhye. The territory between the Southern Bug and the Dniester, with the center in the city of Slobodzia, was allocated for the army.
Composition: In 1801, a military chancellery was created by a letter from Emperor Paul, which included the ataman and two members from the army, special members appointed by the government and the government prosecutor; while the entire army was divided into 25 (according to other sources 20) regiments. At the time of Paul I, the army was headed by the ataman Kotlyarevsky, who was not loved by the army (in 1797 there was a riot). In 1799, he was replaced by ataman Bursak. By a decree of February 25, 1802, the military government was again restored, consisting of an ataman, two permanent members and 4 assessors; the division into shelves has been retained.
Transbaikal Cossack army - an irregular army in the 17th-20th centuries in the Russian Empire, on the territory of Transbaikalia. The military headquarters is in Chita.
Composition: In 1916, the Cossack population of the Trans-Baikal Cossack army was 265 thousand people, 14.5 thousand were in military service. The army took part in the suppression of the Ikhetuan uprising of 1899-1901, in the Russo-Japanese 1904-05 and the First World War.
During the Civil War of 1918-20, part of the Cossacks actively fought against the Bolsheviks under the leadership of Ataman G.M. Semyonov and Baron Ungern. Some Cossacks supported the Reds.
In 1920, the Transbaikal Cossack army, like other Cossack troops in Soviet Russia, was liquidated. After the defeat of Semyonov, about 15% of the Cossacks, together with their families, went to Manchuria, where they settled, creating their own villages (Three Rivers). In China, at first, they disturbed the Soviet border with raids, and then closed themselves off and lived their way of life until 1945 (the offensive of the Soviet Army). Then some of them emigrated to Australia (Queensland). Some returned to the USSR in the 1960s and settled in Kazakhstan. Descendants of mixed marriages stayed in China
Exercise 6. Switching attention . The teacher gives commands:
Visual attention - an object far away (door),
COSSACKS: ORIGIN, HISTORY, ROLE IN THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA.
The Cossacks are an ethnic, social and historical community (group) that, by virtue of their specific characteristics, united all Cossacks, primarily Russians, as well as Ukrainians, Kalmyks, Buryats, Bashkirs, Tatars, Evenki, Ossetians, etc., as separate sub-ethnoses of their peoples into a single whole. Until 1917, Russian legislation considered the Cossacks as a special military class, which had privileges for performing compulsory service. The Cossacks were also defined as a separate ethnos, an independent nationality (the fourth branch of the Eastern Slavs), or even as a special nation of mixed Turkic-Slavic origin. The latest version was intensively developed in the 20th century by Cossack historians-emigrants.
The origin of the Cossacks
Public organization, everyday life, culture, ideology, ethnopsychic way of life, behavioral stereotypes, folklore of the Cossacks have always significantly differed from the order established in other regions of Russia. The Cossacks originated in the 14th century in the uninhabited steppe expanses between Moscow Russia, Lithuania, Poland and the Tatar khanates. Its formation, which began after the collapse of the Golden Horde, took place in a constant struggle with numerous enemies far from developed cultural centers. No reliable written sources have survived on the first pages of Cossack history. Many researchers tried to discover the origins of the Cossacks in the national roots of the ancestors of the Cossacks among various peoples (Scythians, Polovtsians, Khazars, Alans, Kirghiz, Tatars, Mountain Circassians, Kasogs, Brodniks, black hoods, Torks, etc.) or considered the original Cossack military community as a result of the genetic ties of several tribes with the Slavs who came to the Black Sea region, and this process was counted from the beginning of the new era. Other historians, on the contrary, proved the Russianness of the Cossacks, emphasizing the constancy of the presence of the Slavs in the regions that became the cradle of the Cossacks. The original concept was put forward by the émigré historian A.A.Gordeev, who believed that the ancestors of the Cossacks were the Russian population in the Golden Horde, settled by the Tatar-Mongols in the future Cossack territories. For a long time, the dominant official point of view that the Cossack communities emerged as a result of the flight of Russian peasants from serfdom (as well as the view of the Cossacks as a special class), were subjected to reasoned criticism in the 20th century. But the theory of autochthonous (local) origin also has a weak evidence base and is not supported by serious sources. The question of the origin of the Cossacks is still open.
There is no unanimity among scientists on the origin of the word "Cossack" ("Cossack" in Ukrainian). Attempts were made to derive this word from the name of the peoples who once lived near the Dnieper and Don (Kasogi, x (k) Azars), from the self-name of the modern Kirghiz - Kaisaks. There were other etymological versions: from the Turkish "kaz" (that is, goose), from the Mongolian "ko" (armor, protection) and "zakh" (line). Most experts agree that the word "Cossacks" came from the east and has Turkic roots. In Russian, this word, first mentioned in the Russian chronicles of 1444, originally meant homeless and free soldiers who entered the service with the fulfillment of military obligations.
History of the Cossacks
Representatives of various nationalities participated in the formation of the Cossacks, but the Slavs prevailed. From an ethnographic point of view, the first Cossacks were divided according to the place of origin into Ukrainian and Russian. Among both those and others, free and service Cossacks can be distinguished. In Ukraine, the free Cossacks were represented by the Zaporozhye Sich (existed until 1775), and the servicemen were represented by “registered” Cossacks, who received a salary for service in the Polish-Lithuanian state. Russian service Cossacks (policemen, regimental and sentry) were used to protect the notch lines and cities, receiving for this salary and land for life. Although they were equated with "service people by the device" (archers, gunners), in contrast to them, they had a stanitsa organization and an elective system of military control. They existed in this form until the beginning of the 18th century. The first community of Russian free Cossacks arose on the Don, and then on the Yaik, Terek and Volga rivers. In contrast to the service Cossacks, the centers of the emergence of the free Cossacks became the coasts of large rivers (Dnieper, Don, Yaik, Terek) and the steppe expanses, which left a noticeable imprint on the Cossacks and determined their way of life.
Each large territorial community as a form of military-political unification of independent Cossack settlements was called the Voisk. The main economic occupation of the free Cossacks was hunting, fishing, and animal husbandry. For example, in the Don Host until the beginning of the 18th century, arable farming was prohibited on pain of death. As the Cossacks themselves believed, they lived "from grass and water." War was of great importance in the life of the Cossack communities: they were in constant military confrontation with hostile and militant nomadic neighbors, therefore, one of the most important sources of livelihood for them was war booty (as a result of the campaigns "for zipuns and yasyrs" in Crimea, Turkey, Persia , to the Caucasus). River and sea trips on plows were made, as well as horse raids. Often several Cossack units united and carried out joint land and sea operations, everything captured became common property - duvan.
The main feature of public Cossack life was a military organization with an elective system of government and democratic order. The main decisions (questions of war and peace, the election of officials, the court of the guilty) were made at general meetings of the treasury, stanitsa and military circles, or Rada, which were the highest governing bodies. The main executive power belonged to the ataman, who was replaced annually by the military (koshevoy in Zaporozhye) chieftain. At the time of hostilities, a marching chieftain was elected, whose submission was unquestioning.
Diplomatic relations with the Russian state were maintained by sending winter and light villages (embassies) to Moscow with an appointed chieftain. From the moment the Cossacks entered the historical arena, their relations with Russia were distinguished by ambivalence. Initially, they were built on the principle of independent states with one enemy. Moscow and the Cossack Troops were allies. The Russian state acted as the main partner and played the leading role as the strongest side. In addition, the Cossack Troops were interested in receiving monetary and military assistance from the Russian Tsar. The Cossack territories played an important role as a buffer on the southern and eastern borders of the Russian state, covering it from the raids of the steppe hordes. Cossacks also took part in many wars on the side of Russia against neighboring states. For the successful fulfillment of these important functions, the practice of the Moscow tsars included the annual sending of gifts, cash salaries, weapons and ammunition to individual Troops, as well as bread, since the Cossacks did not produce it. All communications between the Cossacks and the tsar were conducted through the Ambassadorial Prikaz, that is, as with a foreign state. It was often beneficial for the Russian authorities to represent the free Cossack communities as completely independent from Moscow. On the other hand, the Moscow state was dissatisfied with the Cossack communities, which constantly attacked Turkish possessions, which often ran counter to Russian foreign policy interests. Often periods of cooling occurred between the allies, and Russia stopped all assistance to the Cossacks. Moscow's discontent was also caused by the constant departure of its subjects to the Cossack regions. The democratic order (all are equal, no authorities, no taxes) became a magnet that attracted more and more enterprising and courageous people from the Russian lands. The fears of Russia turned out to be by no means groundless - during the 17-18 centuries the Cossacks were at the forefront of powerful anti-government uprisings, the leaders of the Cossack-peasant uprisings - Stepan Razin, Kondraty Bulavin, Emelyan Pugachev - emerged from its ranks. The role of the Cossacks was great during the events of the Time of Troubles at the beginning of the 17th century. Having supported False Dmitry I, they made up a significant part of his military detachments. Later, the free Russian and Ukrainian Cossacks, as well as Russian service Cossacks, took an active part in the camp of various forces: in 1611 they participated in the first militia, nobles already prevailed in the second militia, but at the council of 1613 it was the word of the Cossack atamans that was decisive in the election of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov. The ambiguous role played by the Cossacks in the Time of Troubles forced the government in the 17th century to pursue a policy of drastic reduction of the Cossack service units in the main territory of the state. But on the whole, the Russian throne, taking into account the most important functions of the Cossacks as a military force in the border areas, showed patience and sought to subordinate it to its rule. In order to consolidate loyalty to the Russian throne, the tsars, using all the levers, managed to achieve by the end of the 17th century the acceptance of the oath by all the Troops (the last Don Army was in 1671). From voluntary allies, the Cossacks turned into Russian subjects. With the incorporation of the southeastern territories into Russia, the Cossacks remained only a special part of the Russian population, gradually losing many of their democratic rights and conquests. Since the 18th century, the state has constantly regulated the life of the Cossack regions, modernized the traditional Cossack management structures in the right direction for itself, turning them into an integral part of the administrative system of the Russian Empire.
Since 1721, the Cossack units were under the jurisdiction of the Cossack expedition of the Military Collegium. In the same year, Peter I abolished the election of military atamans and introduced the institution of order atamans appointed by the supreme power. The Cossacks lost the last remnants of independence after the defeat of the Pugachev revolt in 1775, when Catherine II liquidated the Zaporozhye Sich. In 1798, by the decree of Paul I, all the Cossack officer ranks were equated to the general army, and their owners received the rights to the nobility. In 1802, the first Regulations for the Cossack troops were developed. In 1827, the heir to the throne was appointed the most august ataman of all Cossack troops. In 1838, the first drill regulations for the Cossack units were approved, and in 1857 the Cossacks came under the jurisdiction of the Directorate (from 1867 the Main Directorate) of the irregular (from 1879 - the Cossack) troops of the War Ministry, from 1910 - into the subordination of the General Staff.
The role of the Cossacks in the history of Russia
For centuries, the Cossacks have been a universal branch of the armed forces. It was said about the Cossacks that they were born in the saddle. At all times, they were considered excellent riders who knew no equal in the art of horse riding. Military experts rated the Cossack cavalry as the best light cavalry in the world. The military glory of the Cossacks strengthened on the battlefields in the Northern and Seven Years Wars, during the Italian and Swiss campaigns of A. V. Suvorov in 1799. The Cossack regiments were especially distinguished in the Napoleonic era. Led by the legendary ataman M. I. Platov, the irregular army became one of the main culprits in the death of the Napoleonic army in Russia in the campaign of 1812, and after the foreign campaigns of the Russian army, according to General A. P. Ermolov, "the Cossacks became the surprise of Europe." Not a single Russian-Turkish war of the 18-19 centuries did not do without Cossack sabers, they participated in the conquest of the Caucasus, the conquest of Central Asia, the development of Siberia and the Far East. The successes of the Cossack cavalry were explained by the skillful use of grandfather's tactical techniques that were not regulated by any statutes in battles: lava (coverage of the enemy in loose formation), the original system of reconnaissance and guard service, etc. These Cossack "turns" inherited from the steppe dwellers turned out to be especially effective and unexpected in clashes with armies European states. “For this, a Cossack will be born, so that the tsar will be useful in the service,” says an old Cossack proverb. His service under the 1875 Act lasted 20 years, starting at the age of 18: 3 years in the preparatory category, 4 in active service, 8 years on relief, and 5 in the reserve. Each came to the service with his own uniform, equipment, melee weapons and a riding horse. The Cossack community (stanitsa) was responsible for the preparation and performance of military service. Service itself, a special type of self-government and the system of land use, as a material basis, were closely interconnected and ultimately ensured the stable existence of the Cossacks as a formidable fighting force. The main owner of the land was the state, which, on behalf of the emperor, assigned the land won by the blood of their ancestors to the Cossack army on the basis of collective (communal) property. The army, leaving a part for the military reserve, divided the received land between the villages. The village community on behalf of the army was periodically engaged in the redistribution of land shares (ranged from 10 to 50 dessiatines). For the use of the allotment and exemption from taxes, the Cossack was obliged to carry out military service. The army also allocated land plots to the Cossack noblemen (the share depended on the officer's rank) as hereditary property, but these plots could not be sold to persons of non-military origin. In the 19th century, agriculture became the main economic occupation of the Cossacks, although different troops had their own characteristics and preferences, for example, the intensive development of fishing as the main industry in the Urals, as well as in the Don and Ussuriysk Troops, hunting in Siberia, winemaking and gardening in the Caucasus, Don etc.
Cossacks in the 20th century
At the end of the 19th century, in the depths of the tsarist administration, projects for the elimination of the Cossacks were discussed. On the eve of the First World War, there were 11 Cossack Troops in Russia: Donskoe (1.6 million), Kuban (1.3 million), Terskoe (260 thousand), Astrakhan (40 thousand), Ural (174 thousand), Orenburg (533 thousand), Siberian (172 thousand), Semirechenskoe (45 thousand), Transbaikal (264 thousand), Amur (50 thousand), Ussuriysk (35 thousand) and two separate Cossack regiments. They occupied 65 million acres of land with a population of 4.4 million people. (2.4% of the population of Russia), including 480 thousand service personnel. Among the Cossacks, ethnic Russians prevailed (78%), in second place were Ukrainians (17%), in third place were Buryats (2%). Most of the Cossacks professed Orthodoxy, there was a large percentage of Old Believers (especially in the Ural, Tersk, Donskoy Troops), and national minorities professed Buddhism and Islam.
More than 300 thousand Cossacks took part in the battlefields of the First World War (164 cavalry regiments, 30 foot battalions, 78 batteries, 175 individual hundreds, 78 fifty, not counting auxiliary and spare parts). The war showed the ineffectiveness of using large horse masses (the Cossacks accounted for 2/3 of the Russian cavalry) in conditions of a continuous front, high density of infantry firepower and increased technical means of defense. The exceptions were small partisan detachments formed from Cossack volunteers, who successfully operated behind enemy lines when performing sabotage and reconnaissance missions. The Cossacks, as a significant military and social force, took part in the Civil War. Combat experience and professional military training of the Cossacks was again used in solving acute internal social conflicts. By decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of November 17, 1917, the Cossacks were formally abolished as an estate and Cossack formations. During the Civil War, the Cossack territories became the main bases of the White movement (especially the Don, Kuban, Terek, Ural) and it was there that the most fierce battles were fought. The Cossack units were numerically the main military force of the Volunteer Army in the fight against Bolshevism. The Cossacks were prompted to this by the policy of decossackization carried out by the Reds (mass shootings, taking hostages, burning villages, inciting nonresidents against the Cossacks). The Red Army also had Cossack units, but they represented a small part of the Cossacks (less than 10%). At the end of the Civil War, a large number of Cossacks ended up in exile (about 100 thousand people).
In Soviet times, the official policy of decossackization actually continued, although in 1925 the plenum of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) recognized inadmissible "ignoring the peculiarities of Cossack life and the use of violent measures in the fight against the remnants of Cossack traditions." Nevertheless, the Cossacks continued to be considered "non-proletarian elements" and were subjected to restrictions in their rights, in particular, the ban on serving in the ranks of the Red Army was lifted only in 1936, when they created several Cossack cavalry divisions (and then corps), which showed themselves excellently during the Great World War II. Since 1942, the Hitlerite command also formed units of Russian Cossacks (15th corps of the Wehrmacht, commander General G. von Panwitz) numbering more than 20 thousand people. During hostilities, they were mainly used to protect communications and fight against partisans in Italy, Yugoslavia, and France. After the defeat of Germany in 1945, the British transferred the disarmed Cossacks and their family members (about 30 thousand people) to the Soviet side. Most of them were shot, the rest ended up in Stalin's camps.
The very cautious attitude of the authorities towards the Cossacks (which resulted in the oblivion of their history and culture) gave rise to the modern Cossack movement. Initially (in 1988-1989) it emerged as a historical and cultural movement for the revival of the Cossacks (according to some estimates, about 5 million people). By 1990, the movement, having gone beyond the cultural and ethnographic framework, began to politicize. The intensive creation of Cossack organizations and unions began, both in the places of former compact residence, and in large cities, where a large number of descendants settled during the Soviet period, fleeing political repression. The massive nature of the movement, as well as the participation of militarized Cossack detachments in the conflicts in Yugoslavia, Transnistria, Ossetia, Abkhazia, Chechnya, forced government structures and local authorities to pay attention to the problems of the Cossacks. The further growth of the Cossack movement was facilitated by the resolution of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation "On the rehabilitation of the Cossacks" of June 16, 1992 and a number of laws. Under the President of Russia, the Main Directorate of the Cossack Troops was created, a number of measures to create regular Cossack units were taken by the power ministries (the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Border Troops, the Ministry of Defense).
Bubnov - Taras Bulba
In 1907, the Argo dictionary was published in France, in which the following aphorism was given in the article "Russian": "Scratch a Russian - and you will find a Cossack, scratch a Cossack - and you will find a bear."
This aphorism is attributed to Napoleon himself, who indeed described the Russians as barbarians and identified them in this capacity with the Cossacks - like many Frenchmen, who could call both hussars, Kalmyks or Bashkirs Cossacks. In some cases, this word could generally become synonymous with light cavalry.
How little we know about the Cossacks.
In a narrow sense, the image of a Cossack is inextricably linked with the image of brave and freedom-loving men with a stern, warlike look, with an earring in his left ear, a long mustache and a hat on his head. And this is more than reliable, but not enough. Meanwhile, the history of the Cossacks is very unique and interesting. And in this article we will try to very superficially, but at the same time meaningfully understand and understand - who the Cossacks are, what are their peculiarities and uniqueness, and how the history of Russia is inextricably linked with the original culture and history of the Cossacks.
Today it is very difficult to understand the theories of the origin of not only the Cossacks, but also the very word-term "Cossack". Researchers, scientists and experts today cannot give a definite and precise answer - who are the Cossacks and from whom they came.
But at the same time, there are many more or less probable theories-versions of the origin of the Cossacks. Today there are more than 18 of them - and these are only the official versions. Each of them has many convincing scientific arguments, advantages and disadvantages.
However, all theories fall into two main groups:
- the theory of the fugitive (migratory) origin of the Cossacks.
- autochthonous, that is, local, indigenous origin of the Cossacks.
According to autochthonous theories, the ancestors of the Cossacks lived in Kabarda, were the descendants of the Caucasian Circassians (Cherkas, Yases). This theory of the origin of the Cossacks is also called Eastern. It was this that was taken as the basis of their evidence base by some of the most famous Russian historians-orientalists and ethnologists V. Shambarov and L. Gumilyov.
In their opinion, the Cossacks arose through the merger of Kasogs and Brodniks after the Mongol-Tatar invasion. Kasogi (Kasakhi, Kasaki, Ka-Azaty) are an ancient Circassian people who inhabited the territory of the lower Kuban in the X-XIV centuries, and the Brodniks are a mixed people of Turkic-Slavic origin, who absorbed the remnants of the Bulgars, Slavs, and also, possibly, the steppe Oguzes.
Dean of the Historical Faculty of Moscow State University S.P. Karpov While working in the archives of Venice and Genoa, I found there mentions of Cossacks with Turkic and Armenian names who were guarding the medieval city of Tana * and other Italian colonies in the Northern Black Sea region from raids.
* Tana- a medieval city on the left bank of the Don, in the area of the modern city of Azov (Rostov region of the Russian Federation). It existed in the XII-XV centuries under the rule of the Italian commercial republic of Genoa.
One of the first mentions of the Cossacks, according to the eastern version, are displayed in the legend, the author of which was the bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church Stefan Yavorsky (1692):
"The Cossacks in 1380 presented Dmitry Donskoy with the icon of the Don Mother of God and took part in the battle against Mamai on the Kulikovo field."
According to migration theories, the ancestors of the Cossacks are freedom-loving Russian people who fled beyond the borders of the Russian and Polish-Lithuanian states either for natural historical reasons, or under the influence of social antagonisms.
German historian G. Steckl points out that“The first Russian Cossacks were baptized and Russified Tatar Cossacks, since until the end of the 15th century. all the Cossacks who lived both in the steppes and in the Slavic lands could only be Tatars. The influence of the Tatar Cossacks on the borderlands of the Russian lands was of decisive importance for the formation of the Russian Cossacks. The influence of the Tatars manifested itself in everything - in the way of life, military actions, the ways of struggle for existence in the steppe conditions. It even extended to the spiritual life and appearance of the Russian Cossacks "
And the historian Karamzin advocated a mixed version of the origin of the Cossacks:
“The Cossacks were not in Ukraine alone, where their name became known from history around 1517; but it is likely that in Russia it is older than Batu's invasion and belonged to the Torks and Berendeys, who lived on the banks of the Dnieper, below Kiev. There we also find the first dwelling of the Little Russian Kozaks. Torki and Berendei were called Cherkasy: Cossacks - also ... some of them, not wanting to submit to either the Mughals or Lithuania, lived as free people on the Dnieper islands, enclosed by rocks, impassable reeds and swamps; lured to themselves many Russians who fled from oppression; mingled with them and, under the name Komkov, formed one people, which became completely Russian all the easier because their ancestors, having lived in the Kiev region from the tenth century, were already almost Russian themselves. Multiplying more and more in number, feeding the spirit of independence and brotherhood, the Cossacks formed a military Christian Republic in the southern countries of the Dnieper, began to build villages, fortresses in these places devastated by the Tatars; undertook to be the defenders of the Lithuanian possessions from the Crimeans, Turks and won the special patronage of Sigismund I, who gave them many civil liberties, along with the lands above the Dnieper rapids, where the city of Cherkassy was named after them ... "
I would not like to go into details, listing all the official and unofficial versions of the origin of the Cossacks. Firstly, it is long and not always interesting. Secondly, most theories are only versions, hypotheses. There is no unequivocal answer about the origin and origin of the Cossacks as an original ethnic group. It is important to understand something else - the process of the formation of the Cossacks was long and complex, and it is obvious that at the heart of it were mixed representatives of different ethnic groups. And it's hard to disagree with Karamzin.
Some orientalist historians believe that the Tatars were the ancestors of the Cossacks, and that, supposedly, the first detachments of the Cossacks fought on the side against Russia in the Battle of Kulikovo. Others, on the contrary, argue that the Cossacks were already on the side of Russia at that time. Some refer to legends and myths about gangs of Cossack robbers, whose main occupation was robbery, robbery, theft ...
For example, the satirist Zadornov, explaining the term for the emergence of the well-known children's yard game "Cossacks-robbers", refers to “Unbridled by the free nature of the Cossack class, which was“ the most violent Russian class that did not lend itself to education ”.
It's hard to believe in this, because in the memory of my childhood, each of the boys preferred to play for the Cossacks. And the name of the game is taken from life, since its rules imitate reality: in tsarist Russia, the Cossacks were the people's self-defense, protecting the civilian population from the raids of robbers.
It is possible that various ethnic elements were in the initial basis of the early groups of the Cossacks. But for contemporaries, the Cossacks evoke something native, Russian. I remember the famous speech of Taras Bulba:
The first communities of the Cossacks
It is known that the first Cossack communities began to form in the 15th century (although some sources refer to an earlier time). These were the communities of free Don, Dnieper, Volga and Grebensky Cossacks.
A little later, in the first half of the 16th century, the Zaporozhye Sich was formed. In the second half of the same century - the communities of free Terek and Yaik, and at the end of the century - Siberian Cossacks.
In the early stages of the existence of the Cossacks, the main types of their economic activities were crafts (hunting, fishing, bee-keeping), later cattle breeding, and from the 2nd half. XVII century - agriculture. War booty played an important role, and later the state salary. Through military-economic colonization, the Cossacks quickly mastered the vast expanses of the Wild Field, then the outskirts of Russia and Ukraine.
In the XVI-XVII centuries. Cossacks, led by Ermak Timofeevich, V.D. Poyarkov, V.V. Atlasov, S.I. Dezhnev, E.P. Khabarov and other explorers participated in the successful development of Siberia and the Far East. Perhaps these are the most famous first reliable mentions of the Cossacks that defy doubts.
V. I. Surikov "The Conquest of Siberia by Yermak" Found a bug? Highlight it and press left Ctrl + Enter.
Cossacks are a unique phenomenon in Russian history. This is a society that has become one of the reasons that allowed the Russian Empire to grow to such a huge size, and most importantly - to consolidate new lands, turning them into full-fledged components of one great country.
There are so many hypotheses about the term "Cossacks" that it becomes clear that its origin is unknown, and it is useless to argue about it without the appearance of new data. Another dispute that researchers of the Cossacks are waging is a separate ethnic group or a part of the Russian people? Speculations on this topic are beneficial to Russia's enemies, who dream of dividing it into many small states, and therefore are constantly fueled from outside.
The history of the emergence and spread of the Cossacks
In the post-perestroika years, the country was flooded with translations of foreign children's literature, and in American children's books on geography, Russians were surprised to find that there is a huge area on the maps of Russia - Cossackia. There lived a "special people" - the Cossacks.
The overwhelming majority of them themselves consider themselves the most "correct" Russians and the most ardent defenders of Orthodoxy, and the history of Russia is the best confirmation of this.
For the first time they were mentioned in the chronicles of the XIV century. It is reported that in Sugdey, present-day Sudak, a certain Almalchu, who was stabbed to death by the Cossacks, died. Then Sudak was the center of the slave trade of the Northern Black Sea region and if it were not for the Zaporozhye Cossacks, then much more captured Slavs, Circassians, and Greeks would have got there.
Also in the chronicle of 1444 "The Tale of Mustafa Tsarevich" Ryazan Cossacks are mentioned, who fought with Ryazan and Muscovites against this Tatar prince. In this case, they are positioned as guards of either the city of Ryazan, or the borders of the Ryazan principality, and came to the aid of the prince's squad.
That is, already the first sources show the duality of the Cossacks. This term was called, firstly, the free peoples who settled on the outskirts of the Russian lands, and secondly, the service people, both the city guards and the border troops.
Free Cossacks led by atamans
Who mastered the southern outskirts of Russia? These are hunters and fugitive peasants, people who were looking for a better life and fleeing from hunger, as well as those who were at odds with the law. They were joined by all foreigners who also could not sit in one place, and possibly the remnants that inhabited this territory - the Khazars, Scythians, Huns.
Having formed squads and choosing chieftains, they fought, sometimes for, then against those with whom they were neighbors. The Zaporozhye Sich was gradually formed. Its entire history is participation in all wars in the region, incessant uprisings, the conclusion of treaties with neighbors and their violation. The Cossack faith of this region was a strange mixture of Christianity and paganism. They were Orthodox and, at the same time, extremely superstitious - they believed in sorcerers (who were highly respected), omens, the evil eye, etc.
They were calmed down (and not immediately) by the heavy hand of the Russian Empire, already in the 19th century, which formed the Azov Cossack army from the Cossacks, which mainly guarded the Caucasian coast, and managed to show itself in the Crimean War, where the scouts - scouts of their troops showed amazing dexterity and prowess ...
Few people now remember about plastuns, but comfortable and sharp plastun knives are still popular and can be purchased today in Ali Askerov's store - kavkazsuvenir.ru.
In 1860, the resettlement of the Cossacks to the Kuban began, where, after joining with other Cossack regiments, the Kuban Cossack army was created from them. Around the same time, another free army was formed - the Don. For the first time it is mentioned in a complaint sent to Tsar Ivan the Terrible by the Nogai prince Yusuf, outraged by the fact that the Donets and “cities have done” and his people are “guarded, taken away, beaten to death”.
People, for various reasons, fled to the outskirts of the country, huddled in mobs, elected chieftains and lived as best they could - hunting, robbery, raids and serving neighbors when the next war happened. This brought them closer to the Cossacks - they went on campaigns together, even on the sea.
But the participation of the Cossacks in popular uprisings, forced the Russian tsars to start putting things in order in their territories. Peter I included this land in the Russian Empire, obliged its inhabitants to serve in the tsarist army, and ordered to build a number of fortresses on the Don.
Involvement in the sovereign service
Apparently, almost simultaneously with the free Cossacks, Cossacks appeared as a branch of the army in Russia and the Commonwealth. Often these were the same free Cossacks, who at first simply fought as mercenaries, guarding borders and embassies for a fee. Gradually they turned into a separate class performing the same functions.
The history of the Russian Cossacks is rich in events and extremely confusing, but in short - first Russia, then the Russian Empire, almost throughout its history, expanded its borders. Sometimes for the sake of land and hunting grounds, sometimes for self-defense, as in the case of Crimea and, but always Cossacks were among the elite troops and they also settled on the conquered lands. Or first they settled on free lands, and then the king brought them to obedience.
They built villages, cultivated the land, defended territories from neighbors unwilling to live peacefully or, dissatisfied with the annexation, aborigines. They lived peacefully with the peaceful, partially adopting their customs, clothing, language, cuisine and music. This led to the fact that the clothes of the Cossacks from different regions of Russia are seriously different, and the dialect, customs and songs are also different.
The most striking example of this is the Cossacks of the Kuban and Terek, who rather quickly adopted from the peoples of the Caucasus such elements of the clothing of the highlanders as the Circassian. Their music and songs also acquired Caucasian motives, for example, the Cossack, very similar to the mountain one. This is how a unique cultural phenomenon arose, which anyone can get acquainted with by going to a concert of the Kuban Cossack Choir.
The largest Cossack troops of Russia
By the end of the 17th century, the Cossacks in Russia gradually began to transform into those associations that made the whole world consider them the elite of the Russian army. The process ended in the 19th century, and the Great October Revolution and the Civil War that followed it put an end to the entire system.
During that period, the following stood out:
- Don Cossacks.
How they appeared is described above, and their sovereign service began in 1671, after taking the oath to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. But only Peter the Great transformed them completely, banned the choice of chieftains, introduced his own hierarchy.
As a result, the Russian Empire received, although at first not very disciplined, but a brave and experienced army, which was mainly used to guard the southern and eastern borders of the country.
- Khoperskie.
These inhabitants of the upper reaches of the Don were mentioned during the time of the Golden Horde, and were immediately positioned as "Cozats". In contrast to the free people who lived downstream of the Don, they were excellent business executives - they had well-functioning self-government, built fortresses, shipyards, raised livestock, plowed the land.
The accession to the Russian Empire was quite painful - the Khopers managed to take part in the uprisings. They were subjected to repression and reorganization, to visit the Don and Astrakhan troops. In the spring of 1786, they strengthened the Caucasian line, forcibly resettling it to the Caucasus. Then they were replenished with baptized Persians and Kalmyks, of which 145 families were attributed to them. But this is already the history of the Kuban Cossacks.
It is interesting that representatives of other nationalities have joined them more than once. After the Patriotic War of 1812, thousands of former prisoners of war, who had taken Russian citizenship, were attributed to the Orenburg Cossack army. And the Poles from Napoleon's army became Siberian Cossacks, which now only the Polish surnames of their descendants remind of.
- Khlynovsky.
Founded by Novgorodians back in the 10th century, the city of Khlynov on the Vyatka River gradually became a developed center of a large region. The remoteness from the capital allowed the Vyatichi to create their own self-government, and by the 15th century they began to seriously annoy all neighbors. Ivan III stopped this freeman, defeating them and annexing these lands to Russia.
The leaders were executed, the nobility settled in towns near Moscow, the rest were assigned to slaves. A large part of them with their families managed to leave on ships - to the Northern Dvina, to the Volga, to the Upper Kama and Chusovaya. Later, the Stroganov merchants hired their detachments to protect their estates near the Urals, as well as to conquer Siberian lands.
- Meshchersky.
These are the only Cossacks not originally of Slavic origin. Their lands - Meshcherskaya Ukraine, located between the Oka, Meshchera and Tsnoy were inhabited by the Finno-Ugric tribes, mixed with the Turks - Polovtsy and Berendei. Their main activity is cattle breeding and robbery (Cossacking) - neighbors and merchants.
In the XIV century, they already served the Russian tsars - guarding embassies sent to the Crimea, Turkey and Siberia. At the end of the 15th century, they are mentioned as a military estate that participated in the campaigns to Azov and Kazan, protecting the borders of Russia from the Nagays and Kalmyks. For the support of the impostors in the Time of Troubles, the Meshcheryaks were expelled from the country. Part chose Lithuania, the other settled in the Kostroma region and then participated in the formation of the Orenburg and Bashkir-Meshcheryak Cossack troops.
- Seversky.
These are the descendants of the northerners - one of the East Slavic tribes. In the XIV-XV centuries they had self-government of the Zaporozhye type and were often raided by their restless neighbors - the Horde. The sevryuk, hardened in battles, were gladly hired by the Moscow and Lithuanian princes.
The beginning of their end was also marked by the Time of Troubles - for participation in the Bolotnikov uprising. The lands of the Seversk Cossacks were colonized by Moscow, and in 1619 they were generally divided between it and the Commonwealth. Most of the stellate sturgeon passed into the position of the peasantry, some moved to the Zaporozhye or Don lands.
- Volzhskys.
These are the same Khlynovites who settled in the Zhigulevsky mountains and plundered on the Volga. The Moscow tsars could not calm them down, which, incidentally, did not prevent them from using their services. A native of these places, Ermak with his army in the 16th century conquered Siberia for Russia, in the 17th century the entire Volga army defended it from the Kalmyk Horde.
They helped the Donets and Cossacks to fight the Turks, then they served in the Caucasus, preventing the Circassians, Kabardians, Turks and Persians from raiding Russian territories. During the reign of Peter I, they took part in all of his campaigns. At the beginning of the 18th century, he ordered to rewrite them, and make them into one army - the Volga.
- Kuban.
After the Russian-Turkish war, it became necessary to populate new lands and, at the same time, find a use for the Cossacks - violent and poorly governed subjects of the Russian Empire. They were granted Taman with the surroundings, and they themselves received the name - the Black Sea Cossack army.
Then, after long negotiations, the Kuban was also given to them. It was an impressive resettlement of the Cossacks - about 25 thousand people moved to their new homeland, started creating a defensive line and managing new lands.
Now the monument to the Cossacks - the founders of the Kuban land, erected in the Krasnodar Territory, reminds of this. Reorganization to the general standards, the change of uniform for the clothes of the mountaineers, as well as the replenishment of Cossack regiments from other regions of the country and simply peasants and retired soldiers led to the creation of a completely new community.
Role and place in the history of the country
From the above, historically established communities, by the beginning of the 20th century, the following Cossack troops were formed:
- Amurskoe.
- Astrakhan.
- Donskoe.
- Transbaikal.
- Kubanskoe.
- Orenburg.
- Semirechenskoe.
- Siberian.
- Ural.
- Ussuriyskoye.
There were almost 3 million of them (with their families) by that time, which is just over 2% of the country's population. At the same time, they participated in all the more or less important events of the country - in the protection of borders and important persons, military campaigns and accompaniment of scientific expeditions, in pacifying popular unrest and national pogroms.
They proved themselves to be real heroes during the First World War and, according to some historians, stained themselves with the Lena execution. After the revolution, some of them joined the White Guard movement, some enthusiastically accepted the power of the Bolsheviks.
Probably not a single historical document will be able to retell so accurately and piercingly what was happening in the environment of the Cossacks, as the writer Mikhail Sholokhov could do it in his works.
Unfortunately, this did not stop the troubles of this estate - the new government began to consistently pursue a policy of decossackization, taking away their privileges and repressing those who dared to object. Consolidation into collective farms was also not smooth.
In the Great Patriotic War, the Cossack cavalry and Plastun divisions, which were returned to their traditional uniforms, showed good training, military ingenuity, courage and real heroism. Seven cavalry corps and 17 cavalry divisions were given guards ranks. Many people from the Cossack estate served in other units, including as volunteers. In just four years of the war, 262 cavalrymen were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Cossacks - heroes of the Second World War, they are known throughout the country General D. Karbyshev, Admiral A. Golovko, General M. Popov, tank ace D. Lavrinenko, weapons designer F. Tokarev, etc.
A considerable part of those who previously fought against Soviet power, seeing what kind of trouble threatened their homeland, leaving political views aside, took part in World War II on the side of the USSR. However, there were those who sided with the fascists in the hope that they would overthrow the communists and return Russia to its former path.
Mentality, culture and traditions
Cossacks are a warlike, wayward and proud people (often unnecessarily), which is why they always had friction with neighbors and fellow countrymen who did not belong to their class. But these qualities are needed in battle, and therefore were welcomed within the communities. The women, who supported the entire economy, also had a strong character, since most of the time the men were busy with the war.
The language of the Cossacks, based on Russian, acquired its own characteristics associated both with the history of the Cossack troops and with borrowings from. For example, the Kuban balachka (dialect) is similar to the southeastern Ukrainian surzhik, the Don balachka is closer to the southern Russian dialects.
The main weapons of the Cossacks were considered to be checkers and sabers, although this is not entirely true. Yes, the Kuban people wore, especially the Circassians, but the Black Sea people preferred firearms. In addition to the main means of defense, everyone carried a knife or dagger.
Some kind of uniformity in weapons appeared only in the second half of the 19th century. Before that, everyone chose himself and, judging by the surviving descriptions, the weapons looked very picturesque. It was the honor of the Cossack, therefore it was always in perfect condition, in an excellent scabbard, often richly decorated.
The rituals of the Cossacks, in general, coincide with the general Russian ones, but they also have their own specifics, caused by the way of life. For example, at the funeral, a war horse was led behind the coffin of the deceased, and his relatives followed. In the widow's house, under the icons lay the husband's hat.
Special rituals were accompanied by seeing the men off to war and meeting them, and they were taken very seriously. But the most magnificent, complex and joyful event was the wedding of the Cossacks. The action was multi-pass - a bride, matchmaking, a celebration at the bride's house, a wedding, a celebration at the groom's house.
And all this accompanied by special songs and in the best outfits. The man's costume necessarily included weapons, women in bright clothes and, which was unacceptable for peasant women, with bare heads. The scarf only covered the knot of hair at the back of the head.
Now the Cossacks live in many regions of Russia, unite in various communities, actively participate in the life of the country, in the places of their compact residence, children are optionally taught the history of the Cossacks. Textbooks, photos and videos introduce young people to customs, remind that their ancestors from generation to generation gave their lives for the glory of the Tsar and the Fatherland.
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