11 Cossack troops. How many Cossack troops were there in pre-revolutionary Russia?

Cossacks have been known in Rus' since the 14th century. Initially, these were settlers who fled from hard work, court or hunger, and developed the free steppe and forest expanses of Eastern Europe, and later reached the vast Asian expanses, crossing the Urals.

Kuban Cossacks

The Kuban Cossacks were formed by the “faithful Cossacks” who moved to the right bank of the Kuban. These lands were granted to them by Empress Catherine II at the request of military judge Anton Golovaty through the mediation of Prince Potemkin. As a result of several campaigns, all 40 kurens of the former Zaporozhye army moved to the Kuban steppes and formed several settlements there, while changing the name from Zaporozhye Cossacks to Kuban Cossacks. Since the Cossacks continued to be part of the regular Russian army, they also had a military task: to create a defensive line along all the borders of the settlement, which they successfully accomplished.
In essence, the Kuban Cossacks were militarized agricultural settlements, in which all men in peacetime were engaged in peasant or craft labor, and during war or by order of the emperor they formed military detachments that acted as separate combat units within the Russian troops. At the head of the entire army was an appointed ataman, who was chosen from among the Cossack nobility by voting. He also had the rights of governor of these lands by order of the Russian Tsar.
Before 1917 total number The Kuban Cossack army consisted of more than 300,000 sabers, which was a huge force even at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Don Cossacks

From the beginning of the 15th century, people began to settle in wild lands that did not belong to anyone along the banks of the Don River. These were different people: escaped convicts, peasants who wanted to find more arable land, Kalmyks who came from their distant eastern steppes, robbers, adventurers and others. Less than fifty years had passed before the sovereign Ivan the Terrible, who reigned in Rus' at that time, received complaints from the Nogai prince Yusuf that his ambassadors began to disappear in the Don steppes. They became victims of Cossack robbers.
This was the time of the birth of the Don Cossacks, which got its name from the river near which people set up their villages and farms. Until the suppression of the uprising of Kondraty Bulavin in 1709, the Don Cossacks lived a free life, not knowing the kings or any other government over them except their own, however, they also had to submit Russian Empire and join the great Russian army.
The main heyday of the glory of the Don Army occurred in the 19th century, when this huge army was divided into four districts, in each of which regiments were recruited, which soon became famous throughout the world. The total service life of a Cossack was 30 years with several breaks. So, at the age of 20, the young man went to serve for the first time and served for three years. After which he went home to rest for two years. At the age of 25 he was again called up for three years, and again after serving he was at home for two years. This could be repeated up to four times, after which the warrior remained in his village forever and could be drafted into the army only during the war.
The Don Cossacks could be called a militarized peasantry that had many privileges. The Cossacks were freed from many taxes and duties that were imposed on peasants in other provinces, and they were initially freed from serfdom.
It cannot be said that the Don residents got their rights easily. They long and stubbornly defended every concession of the king, and sometimes even with weapons in their hands. There is nothing worse than a Cossack rebellion, all rulers knew this, so the demands of warlike settlers were usually satisfied, albeit reluctantly.

Khopyor Cossacks

In the 15th century in the river basins. Khopra, Bityuga, fugitives appear from the Ryazan principality and call themselves Cossacks. The first mention of these people dates back to 1444. After the annexation of the Ryazan principality to Moscow, people from the Moscow state also appeared here. Here fugitives escape from serfdom, persecution by boyars and governors. The newcomers settle on the banks of the rivers Vorona, Khopra, Savala and others. They call themselves free Cossacks and are engaged in animal hunting, beekeeping, and fishing. Even monastery grounds appear here.

After the church schism in 1685, hundreds of schismatic Old Believers flocked here who did not recognize the “Nikonian” corrections of church books. The government is taking measures to stop the flight of peasants to the Khoper region, demanding that the Don military authorities not only not accept fugitives, but also return those who had previously fled. Since 1695, there were many fugitives from Voronezh, where Peter I created Russian fleet. Craftsmen from shipyards, soldiers, and serfs fled. The population in the Khopersky region is growing rapidly due to Little Russian Cherkassy who fled from Russia and resettled.

In the early 80s of the 17th century, most of the schismatic Old Believers were expelled from the Khoper region, many remained. When the Khopersky regiment moved to the Caucasus, several dozen families of schismatics were among the settlers on the line, and from the old line their descendants ended up in the Kuban villages, including Nevinnomysskaya.

Until the 80s of the 18th century, the Khoper Cossacks obeyed the Don military authorities little and often simply ignored their orders. In the 80s, during the time of Ataman Ilovaisky, the Don authorities established close contact with the Khopers and considered them integral part Donskoy troops. In the fight against the Crimean and Kuban Tatars, they are used as an additional force, creating detachments of Khoper Cossacks on a voluntary basis - hundreds, fifty - for the duration of certain campaigns. At the end of such campaigns, the detachments dispersed to their homes.

Zaporizhian Cossacks

The word “Cossack” translated from Tatar means “free man, vagabond, adventurer.” Initially this was the case. Beyond the Dnieper rapids, in the wild steppe, which did not belong to any state, fortified settlements began to emerge, in which armed people, mostly Christians, who called themselves Cossacks, gathered. They raided European cities and Turkish caravans, without making any distinction between the two.
At the beginning of the 16th century, the Cossacks began to represent a significant military force, which was noticed by the Polish crown. King Sigismund, then ruling the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, offered service to the Cossacks, but was rejected. However, such a large army could not exist without any command, and therefore gradually formed separate shelves, called kurens, which were united into larger compounds - koshas. Above each such kosh there was a kosh chieftain, and the council of kosh chieftains was the supreme command of the entire Cossack army.
A little later, on the Dnieper island of Khortitsa, the main stronghold of this army was erected, which was called “sich”. And since the island was located immediately beyond the rapids of the river, it received the name – Zaporozhye. By the name of this fortress and the Cossacks who were in it began to be called Zaporozhye. Later, all warriors were called this way, regardless of whether they lived in the Sich or in other Cossack settlements of Little Russia - the southern borders of the Russian Empire, on which the state of Ukraine is now located.
Later, the Polish crown nevertheless received these incomparable warriors into its service. However, after the rebellion of Bogdan Khmelnitsky, the Zaporozhye army came under the rule of the Russian tsars and served Russia until its disbandment on the orders of Catherine the Great.

Khlynovsky Cossacks

In 1181, the Novgorod Ushkuiniki founded a fortified camp on the Vyatka River, the town of Khlynov (from the word khlyn - “ushkuinik, river robber”), renamed Vyatka at the end of the 18th century, and began to live in an autocratic manner. From Khlynov they undertook their trade travels and military raids in all directions of the world. In 1361, they entered the capital of the Golden Horde, Saraichik, and plundered it, and in 1365, beyond the Ural ridge to the banks of the Ob River.

By the end of the 15th century, the Khlynovsky Cossacks became terrible throughout the Volga region, not only for the Tatars and Mari, but also for the Russians. Upon overthrow Tatar yoke Ivan III drew attention to this restless and uncontrollable people, and in 1489 Vyatka was taken and annexed to Moscow. The defeat of Vyatka was accompanied by great cruelty - the main national leaders Anikiev, Lazarev and Bogodayshchikov were brought in chains to Moscow and executed there; zemstvo people were resettled to Borovsk, Aleksin and Kremensk, and merchants to Dmitrov; the rest were converted into slaves.

Most of the Khlynovo Cossacks with their wives and children left on their ships:

Some are on the Northern Dvina (according to the research of the ataman of the village of Severyukovskaya V.I. Menshenin, the Khlynovo Cossacks settled along the Yug River in the Podosinovsky district).

Others went down the Vyatka and Volga, where they took refuge in the Zhiguli Mountains. Trade caravans provided an opportunity for these freemen to acquire “zipuns,” and the border towns of the Ryazans hostile to Moscow served as places to sell booty, in exchange for which the Khlynovites could receive bread and gunpowder. In the first half of the 16th century, this freemen moved from the Volga to Ilovlya and Tishanka, which flow into the Don, and then settled along this river all the way to Azov.

Still others to the Upper Kama and Chusovaya, to the territory of the modern Verkhnekamsk region. Subsequently, huge estates of the Stroganov merchants appeared in the Urals, to whom the tsar allowed to hire detachments of Cossacks from among the former Khlynovites to guard their estates and conquer the border Siberian lands.

Meshchera Cossacks

Meshchersky Cossacks (aka Meshchera, aka Mishar) - residents of the so-called Meshchera region (presumably the southeast of modern Moscow, almost all of Ryazan, partly Vladimir, Penza, northern Tambov and further to the middle Volga region) with a center in the city of Kasimov, who made up later the people of the Kasimov Tatars and the small Great Russian sub-ethnic group of Meshchera. The Meshchersky camps were scattered throughout the forest-steppe of the upper reaches of the Oka and the north of the Ryazan principality, they were even in the Kolomensky district (the village of Vasilyevskoye, Tatarskie Khutora, as well as in the Kadomsky and Shatsky districts. . The Meshchersky Cossacks of that time were free daredevils of the forest-steppe zone, who later joined the Horse Don Cossacks, Kasimov Tatars, Meshchera and the indigenous Great Russian population of the southeast of Moscow, Ryazan, Tambov, Penza and other provinces.The term “Meshchera” itself supposedly has a parallel with the word “Mozhar, Magyar” - i.e. in Arabic “a fighting man." The villages of the Meshcherya Cossacks also bordered on the villages of the Northern Don. The Meshcheryaks themselves were also willingly attracted to the sovereign's city and guard service.

Seversk Cossacks

They lived on the territory of modern Ukraine and Russia, in the basins of the Desna, Vorskla, Seim, Sula, Bystraya Sosna, Oskol and Seversky Donets rivers. Mentioned in written sources from the end XV to XVII centuries.

In the 14th-15th centuries, the stellate sturgeon were constantly in contact with the Horde, and then with the Crimean and Nogai Tatars; with Lithuania and Muscovy. Living in constant danger, they were good warriors. The Moscow and Lithuanian princes willingly accepted stellate sturgeons into service.

In the 15th century, stellate sturgeon, thanks to their stable migration, began to actively populate the southern lands of the Novosilsk principality, which was then in vassal dependence on Lithuania, depopulated after the Golden Horde devastation.

In the 15th-17th centuries, the stellate sturgeon were already a militarized border population guarding the borders of adjacent parts of the Polish-Lithuanian and Moscow states. Apparently, they were in many ways similar to the early Zaporozhye, Don and other similar Cossacks, they had some autonomy and a communal military organization.

In the 16th century they were considered representatives of the (ancient) Russian people.

As representatives of the service people, Sevryuks were mentioned at the beginning of the 17th century, during the Time of Troubles, when they supported Bolotnikov’s uprising, so that this war was often called “Sevryuk”. The Moscow authorities responded with punitive operations, including the destruction of some volosts. After the end of the Time of Troubles, the Sevryuk cities of Sevsk, Kursk, Rylsk and Putivl were subject to colonization from Central Russia.

After the division of the Severshchina under the agreements of the Deulin truce (1619), between Muscovy and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the name of the Sevryuks practically disappears from the historical arena. The western Severshchina is subject to active Polish expansion (servile colonization), the northeastern (Moscow) region is populated by service people and serfs from Great Russia. Most of the Seversky Cossacks became peasants, some joined the Zaporozhye Cossacks. The rest moved to the Lower Don.

Volga (Volga) army

Appeared on the Volga in the 16th century. These were all kinds of fugitives from the Moscow state and immigrants from the Don. They “stole”, delaying trade caravans and interfering with proper relations with Persia. Already at the end of the reign of Ivan the Terrible there were two Cossack towns on the Volga. The Samara Luka, at that time covered with impenetrable forests, provided a reliable shelter for the Cossacks. The small Usa River, crossing the Samara Luka in the direction from south to north, gave them the opportunity to warn caravans traveling along the Volga. Noticing the appearance of ships from the tops of the cliffs, they swam across the Usa in their light canoes, then dragged them to the Volga and attacked the ships by surprise.

In the current villages of Ermakovka and Koltsovka, located on the Samara Bow, they still recognize the places where Ermak and his comrade Ivan Koltso once lived. To destroy the Cossack robberies, the Moscow government sent troops to the Volga and built cities there (the latter are indicated in historical essay Volga).

In the 18th century the government begins to organize a proper Cossack army on the Volga. In 1733, 1057 families of Don Cossacks were settled between Tsaritsyn and Kamyshenka. In 1743, it was ordered to settle immigrants and captives from Saltan-Ul and Kabardian who were being baptized into the Volga Cossack towns. In 1752, separate teams of Volga Cossacks who lived below Tsaritsyn were united into the Astrakhan Cossack Regiment, which marked the beginning of the Astrakhan Cossack Army, formed in 1776. In 1770, 517 families of Volga Cossacks were transferred to the Terek; from them the Mozdok and Volgsky Cossack regiments were formed, which were part of the Cossacks of the Caucasian line, transformed in 1860 into the Terek Cossack army.

Siberian army

Officially, the army led and dates back to December 6, 1582 (December 19, new style), when, according to chronicle legend, Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible, as a reward for the capture of the Siberian Khanate, gave Ermak’s squad the name “Tsar’s Service Army.” Such seniority was granted to the army by the Highest Order of December 6, 1903. And it, thus, began to be considered the third most senior Cossack army in Russia (after the Don and Terek).

The army as such was formed only in the second half of the 18th - first half of the 19th centuries. a whole series of orders from the central government at different times, caused by military necessity. The Statute of 1808 can be considered a milestone, from which the history of the Siberian Linear Cossack Army itself is usually counted.

In 1861, the army underwent a significant reorganization. The Tobolsk Cossack Cavalry Regiment, the Tobolsk Cossack Foot Battalion and the Tomsk City Cossack Regiment were added to it, and a set of troops was established from 12 regimental districts, which fielded a hundred in the Life Guards Cossack Regiment, 12 horse regiments, three foot half-battalions with rifle half-companies, one a horse artillery brigade of three batteries (later the batteries were converted into regular ones, one was included in the Orenburg artillery brigade in 1865 and two in the 2nd Turkestan artillery brigade in 1870).

Yaik army

At the end of the 15th century, free communities of Cossacks were formed on the Yaik River, from which the Yaik Cossack Army was formed. According to the generally accepted traditional version, like the Don Cossacks, the Yaik Cossacks were formed from migrant refugees from the Russian kingdom (for example, from the Khlynovsky land), as well as due to the migration of Cossacks from the lower reaches of the Volga and Don. Their main activities were fishing, salt mining, and hunting. The army was controlled by a circle that gathered in the Yaitsky town (on the middle reaches of the Yaik). All Cossacks had a per capita right to use land and participate in the elections of atamans and military foreman. From the second half of the 16th century, the Russian government attracted Yaik Cossacks to guard the southeastern borders and military colonization, initially allowing them to receive fugitives. In 1718, the government appointed ataman of the Yaitsky Cossack army and his assistant; Some of the Cossacks were declared fugitives and were to be returned to their previous place of residence. In 1720, there were unrest among the Yaik Cossacks, who did not obey the order of the tsarist authorities to return the fugitives and replace the elected ataman with an appointed one. In 1723, the unrest was suppressed, the leaders were executed, the election of atamans and foreman was abolished, after which the army was divided into the elder and military sides, in which the former adhered to the government line as guaranteeing their position, the latter demanded the return of traditional self-government. In 1748, a permanent organization (staff) of the army was introduced, divided into 7 regiments; the military circle finally lost its significance.

Subsequently, after the suppression of the Pugachev uprising in which the Yaitsky Cossacks took an active part, in 1775 Catherine II issued a decree that in order to completely oblivion the unrest that had happened, the Yaitsky army was renamed the Ural Cossack army, the Yaitsky town was renamed Uralsk (an entire row settlements), even the Yaik River was named the Ural. The Ural army finally lost the remnants of its former autonomy.

Astrakhan army

In 1737, by decree of the Senate, a three-hundred-strong Cossack team was formed from Kalmyks in Astrakhan. On March 28, 1750, on the basis of the team, the Astrakhan Cossack Regiment was established, to complete it to the required number of 500 people in the regiment, Cossacks from commoners, former Streltsy and city Cossack children, as well as Don horsemen were recruited from the Astrakhan fortress and the Krasny Yar fortress Cossacks and newly baptized Tatars and Kalmyks. The Astrakhan Cossack Army was created in 1817, and included all the Cossacks of the Astrakhan and Saratov provinces.

Definition of Cossacks

The Cossacks are an ethnic, social and historical group of united Russians, Ukrainians, Kalmyks, Buryats, Bashkirs, Tatars, Evenks, Ossetians and others.

Cossacks - (from Turkic: Cossack, Cossack - daredevil, free man) - military class in Russia.

Cossacks (Cossacks) are a sub-ethnic group of the Russian people living in the southern steppes of Eastern Europe, in particular Russia and Kazakhstan, and previously Ukraine.

In a broad sense, the word “Cossack” meant a person belonging to the Cossack class and state, which included the population of several regions of Russia, who had special rights and obligations. In a narrower sense, the Cossacks are part armed forces Russian Empire, mainly cavalry and horse artillery, and the word “Cossack” itself means lower rank Cossack troops.

External General characteristics Cossacks

Comparing the characteristics developed separately, we can note the following features characteristic of the Don Cossacks. Straight or slightly wavy hair, thick beard, straight nose with a horizontal base, wide eyes, large mouth, light brown or dark hair, gray, blue or mixed (with green) eyes, relatively tall stature, weak subbrachycephaly, or mesocephaly, relatively wide face. Using the latter features, we can compare the Don Cossacks with other Russian nationalities, and they, apparently, are more or less common to the Cossack population of the Don and other Great Russian groups, allowing, on a broader scale of comparison, to attribute the Don Cossacks to one, predominant on the Russian plain to an anthropological type, characterized in general by the same differences.

Character of the Cossacks

A Cossack cannot consider himself a Cossack if he does not know and observe the traditions and customs of the Cossacks. Over the years of hard times and the destruction of the Cossacks, these concepts were fairly weathered and distorted under alien influence. Even our old people, born in Soviet time, the unwritten Cossack laws are not always interpreted correctly.

Merciless to their enemies, the Cossacks in their midst were always complacent, generous and hospitable. There was some kind of duality at the core of the Cossack’s character: sometimes he was cheerful, playful, funny, sometimes he was unusually sad, silent, and inaccessible. On the one hand, this is explained by the fact that the Cossacks, constantly looking into the eyes of death, tried not to miss the joy that befell them. On the other hand - they are philosophers and poets at heart - they often thought about the eternal, about the vanity of existence and about the inevitable outcome of this life. Therefore, the basis for the formation of the moral foundations of Cossack societies was the 10 Commandments of Christ. Accustoming children to observe the commandments of the Lord, parents, according to popular perception, taught: do not kill, do not steal, do not fornicate, work according to your conscience, do not envy others and forgive offenders, take care of your children and parents, value maiden chastity and female honor, help the poor , do not offend orphans and widows, protect the Fatherland from enemies. But first of all, strengthen the Orthodox faith: go to Church, keep fasts, cleanse your soul - through repentance from sins, pray to the one God Jesus Christ and added: if something is possible for someone, then we are not allowed - we are Cossacks.

Origin of the Cossacks

There are many theories about the emergence of the Cossacks:

1. Eastern hypothesis.

According to V. Shambarov, L. Gumilyov and other historians, the Cossacks arose through the merger of the Kasogs and Brodniks after the Mongol-Tatar invasion.

Kasogi (Kasakhs, Kasakis) are an ancient Circassian people who inhabited the territory of the lower Kuban in the 10th–14th centuries.

Brodniks are a people of Turkic Slavic origin, formed in the lower reaches of the Don in the 12th century (then the border region Kievan Rus.

There is still no single point of view among historians about the time of the emergence of the Don Cossacks. So N.S. Korshikov and V.N. Korolev believe that “in addition to the widespread point of view about the origin of the Cossacks from Russian fugitives and industrialists, there are other points of view as hypotheses. According to R. G. Skrynnikov, for example, the original Cossack communities consisted of Tatars, which were then joined by Russian elements. L.N. Gumilyov proposed to lead the Don Cossacks from the Khazars, who, having mixed with the Slavs, formed the Brodniks, who were not only the predecessors of the Cossacks, but also their direct ancestors. More and more experts are inclined to believe that the origins of the Don Cossacks should be seen in the ancient Slavic population, which, according to archaeological discoveries of recent decades, existed on the Don in the 8th–15th centuries.”

The Mongols were loyal to the preservation of their religions by their subjects, including the people who were part of their military units. There was also the Saraysko-Podonsky bishopric, which allowed the Cossacks to maintain their identification.

After the split of the Golden Horde, the Cossacks who remained on its territory retained their military organization, but at the same time found themselves in complete independence from the fragments of the former empire - the Nogai Horde and the Crimean Khanate; and from the Moscow state that appeared in Rus'.

In Polish chronicles, the first mention of Cossacks dates back to 1493, when the Cherkassy governor Bogdan Fedorovich Glinsky, nicknamed “Mamai,” having formed border Cossack detachments in Cherkassy, ​​captured the Turkish fortress of Ochakov.

The French ethnographer Arnold van Gennep in his book “Traite des nationalites” (1923) expressed the idea that the Cossacks should be considered a separate nation from the Ukrainians, since the Cossacks were probably not Slavs at all, but Byzantinized and Christianized Turks.

2. Slavic hypothesis

According to other points of view, the Cossacks were originally from the Slavs. Thus, the Ukrainian politician and historian V. M. Lytvyn, in his three-volume “History of Ukraine,” expressed the opinion that the first Ukrainian Cossacks were Slavs.

According to his research, sources speak of the existence of Cossacks in Crimea as early as the end of the 13th century. In the first mentions, the Turkic word “Cossack” meant “guard” or vice versa – “robber”. Also - “free man”, “exile”, “adventurer”, “tramp”, “defender of the sky”. This word often denoted free, “nobody’s” people who lived with weapons. In particular, according to old Russian epics dating back to the reign of Vladimir the Great, the hero Ilya Muromets is called “old Cossack”. It was in this meaning that it was assigned to the Cossacks

The first memories of such Cossacks date back to 1489. During the campaign of the Polish king Jan-Albrecht against the Tatars, Christian Cossacks showed the way to his army in Podolia. In the same year, detachments of atamans Vasily Zhila, Bogdan and Golubets attacked the Tavanskaya crossing in the lower reaches of the Dnieper and, having dispersed the Tatar guards, robbed the merchants. Subsequently, the khan's complaints about Cossack attacks became regular. According to Litvin, given how habitually this designation is used in documents of that time, we can assume that the Russian Cossacks were known for more than one decade, at least from the middle of the 15th century. Considering that evidence of the phenomenon of the Ukrainian Cossacks was localized on the territory of the so-called “Wild Field”, it is possible that the Ukrainian Cossacks borrowed not only the name, but also many other words, signs of appearance, organization and tactics, mentality from their neighbors from the Turkic-speaking (mainly Tatar) environment . Litvin V. believes that in ethnic composition Among the Cossacks, the Tatar element occupies a certain place.

Cossacks in history

Representatives of various nationalities took part in the formation of the Cossacks, but the Slavs predominated. From an ethnographic point of view, the first Cossacks were divided according to their place of origin into Ukrainian and Russian. Among both, free and service Cossacks can be distinguished. Russian service Cossacks (city, regimental and guard) were used to protect abatis and cities, receiving a salary and land for life. Although they were equated “to service people according to the apparatus” (streltsy, gunners), unlike them they had a stanitsa organization and an elected system of military administration. In this form they existed 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 emergence of the free Cossacks were the coasts of large rivers (Dnieper, Don, Yaik, Terek) and 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 an Army. The main economic occupations of the free Cossacks were hunting, fishing, and animal husbandry. For example, in the Don Army, until the beginning of the 18th century, arable farming was prohibited under penalty of death. As the Cossacks themselves believed, they lived “from grass and water.”

War played a huge role in the life of Cossack communities: they were in constant military confrontation with hostile and warlike nomadic neighbors, so one of the most important sources of livelihood for them was military booty (as a result of campaigns “for zipuns and yasir” in the Crimea, Turkey, Persia , to the Caucasus). River and sea trips on plows, as well as horse raids, were carried out. Often several Cossack units united and carried out joint land and sea operations, everything captured became common property - duvan.

The main feature of Cossack social life was a military organization with an elected system of government and democratic order. Major decisions (issues of war and peace, elections of officials, trial of the guilty) were made at general Cossack meetings, village and military circles, or Radas, which were the highest governing bodies. The main executive power belonged to the annually replaced military (koshevoy in Zaporozhye) ataman. During military operations, a marching ataman was elected, whose obedience was unquestioning.

Diplomatic relations with the Russian state were maintained by sending winter and light villages (embassies) to Moscow with an appointed ataman. From the moment the Cossacks entered the historical arena, their relationship with Russia was characterized by duality. Initially, they were built on the principle of independent states that had one enemy. Moscow and the Cossack Troops were allies. Russian state acted as the main partner and played a leading role as the strongest party. In addition, the Cossack Troops were interested in receiving monetary and military assistance from the Russian Tsar. Cossack territories played an important role as a buffer on the southern and eastern borders of the Russian state, protecting it from attacks by the steppe hordes. Cossacks also took part in many wars on the side of Russia against neighboring states. To successfully perform these important functions, the practice of the Moscow tsars included annual sendings of gifts, cash salaries, weapons and ammunition, as well as bread to individual Troops, since the Cossacks did not produce it. All relations between the Cossacks and the Tsar were conducted through the Ambassadorial Prikaz, i.e., as with a foreign state. It was often beneficial for the Russian authorities to present the free Cossack communities as completely independent of 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 dissatisfaction was also caused by the constant departure of citizens to the Cossack regions. Democratic orders (everyone is equal, no authorities, no taxes) became a magnet that attracted more and more enterprising and brave people from Russian lands.

Russia’s fears turned out to be far from unfounded - throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, the Cossacks were in the vanguard of powerful anti-government protests, and from its ranks came the leaders of Cossack-peasant uprisings - Stepan Razin, Kondraty Bulavin, Emelyan Pugachev. 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, in the second militia the nobles already predominated, but at the council of 1613 it was the word of the Cossack atamans that turned out to be decisive in the election of Tsar Michael Fedorovich Romanov.

In the 16th century, under King Stefan Batory, the Cossacks were formed into regiments of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to serve as border guards and as auxiliary troops in the wars with Turkey and Sweden. These Cossack detachments were called registered Cossacks. They were widely used as light cavalry in the wars waged by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Among the registered Cossacks, armored Cossacks also stand out, occupying the niche of medium cavalry - lighter than the Winged Hussars, but heavier than ordinary registered Cossack troops.

Cossack communities (“troops”, “hordes”) began to form on the territory of the Moscow kingdom in the 16th and 17th centuries. from the guard and village services that protected the border territories from the devastating raids of hordes Crimean Tatars and Nogai. However, the oldest of all Cossack formations official version considered to be the Zaporozhye Sich, founded in the second half of the 16th century on the territory of present-day Ukraine, which was then part of Polish state. After a long period of nominal dependence on the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, it became part of the Russian Empire in the mid-17th century, and was destroyed by Catherine II in the 18th century. Some of the Cossacks went beyond the Danube, to the territory then belonging to Turkey, and founded the Transdanubian Sich, some retained their Cossack status, but were resettled to the Kuban, as a result of which the Kuban Cossack Army arose.

In the Moscow state of the 16th and 17th centuries, Cossacks were part of the guard and stanitsa services, protecting the border territories from the devastating raids of the Crimean Tatars and Nogais. The central administration of the city Cossacks was first the Streletsky Order, and then the Rank Order. The Siberian Order was in charge of the Siberian Cossacks, and the Little Russian Order was in charge of the Zaporozhye and Little Russian Cossacks.

The Don Cossacks swore allegiance to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in 1671, and since 1721 the army was subordinated to the St. Petersburg Military Collegium. By the end of the reign of Peter the Great, following the Don and Yaik Cossacks, the rest of the Cossack communities came under the authority of the military college. Their internal structure was transformed, a hierarchy of government authorities was introduced. Having subjugated the Cossacks, numbering 85 thousand people, the government used them to colonize the newly conquered lands and protect state borders, mainly the southern and eastern ones.

In the first half of the 18th century, new Cossack troops were created: Orenburg, Astrakhan, Volga. At the end of the 18th century, the Ekaterinoslav and Black Sea Cossack troops were created.

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), 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.

The ambiguous role played by the Cossacks in Time of Troubles, forced the government in the 17th century to pursue a policy of sharply reducing detachments of serving Cossacks in the main territory of the state. But in general, the Russian throne, taking into account the most important functions of the Cossacks as a military force in the border regions, showed long-suffering and sought to subordinate them to its power. To consolidate loyalty to the Russian throne, the tsars, using all levers, managed to achieve the oath of all Troops by the end of the 17th century (the last Don Army - in 1671). From voluntary allies, the Cossacks turned into Russian subjects.

With the inclusion 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 gains. Since the 18th century, the state has constantly regulated the life of the Cossack regions, modernized traditional Cossack governance structures in the right direction, turning them into an integral part administrative system Russian Empire.

Since 1721, 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 mandated atamans appointed by the supreme authority. The Cossacks lost their last remnants of independence after the defeat of the Pugachev rebellion in 1775, when Catherine II liquidated the Zaporozhye Sich. In 1798, by decree of Paul I, all Cossack officer ranks were equal to the general army ranks, and their holders received the rights to nobility. In 1802, the first Regulations for the Cossack troops were developed. Since 1827, the heir to the throne began to be appointed as the august ataman of all Cossack troops. In 1838, the first combat regulations for Cossack units were approved, and in 1857 the Cossacks came under the jurisdiction of the Directorate (from 1867 Main Directorate) of irregular (from 1879 - Cossack) troops of the Ministry of War, from 1910 - to the subordination of the General Staff.

From the 19th century until the October Revolution, the Cossacks mainly played the role of defenders of Russian statehood and the support of tsarist power.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Russian Guard included three Cossack regiments. The Cossack Life Guards Regiment was formed in 1798. The regiment distinguished itself in the battles of Austerlitz and Borodino, in the campaign against Paris in 1813–1814 and across the Danube in 1828. The Life Guards Ataman Regiment was formed as part of the Don Army in 1775; in 1859 he became a member of the Guards; was considered exemplary among the Cossack regiments. The Combined Cossack Life Guards Regiment was formed in 1906, it included one hundred each from the Ural and Orenburg Cossack troops, fifty each from the Siberian and Transbaikal Cossack troops, and a platoon from the Astrakhan, Semirechensk, Amur and Ussuri Cossack troops. In addition, His Imperial Majesty’s Own Convoy was formed from the Cossacks.

During the civil war, most Cossacks opposed Soviet rule. The Cossack regions became the support of the White movement. The largest anti-Bolshevik armed formations of the Cossacks were the Don Army in the south of Russia, the Orenburg and Ural armies in the east. At the same time, some of the Cossacks served in the Red Army. After the revolution, the Cossack troops were disbanded.

During the civil war, the Cossack population was subjected to massive repressions in the process, according to the wording of the Central Committee directive of January 24, 1919, merciless mass terror against the top of the Cossacks “through their wholesale extermination,” and Cossacks “who took any direct or indirect part in fight against Soviet power,” initiated by the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee in the person of its Chairman Ya. M. Sverdlov.

In 1936, restrictions on the service of Cossacks in the Red Army detachments were lifted. This decision received great support in Cossack circles, in particular, the Don Cossacks sent the following letter to the Soviet government, published in the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper on April 24, 1936:

“Let only our Marshals Voroshilov and Budyonny call out, we will fly like falcons to defend our Motherland... Cossack horses in a good body, blades sharp, Don collective farm Cossacks are ready to fight with their breasts for the Soviet Motherland...”

In accordance with the order of the People's Commissar of Defense K.E. Voroshilov No. 67 of April 23, 1936, some cavalry divisions received Cossack status. On May 15, 1936, the 10th Territorial Cavalry North Caucasus Division was renamed the 10th Terek-Stavropol Territorial Cossack Division, the 12th Territorial Cavalry Division stationed in the Kuban was renamed the 12th Kuban Territorial Cossack Division, the 4th Cavalry Leningrad Red Banner Naya The division named after Comrade Voroshilov was renamed into the 4th Don Cossack Red Banner Division named after K. E. Voroshilov, the 6th Chongar Red Banner Cavalry named after Comrade Budyonny was renamed into the 6th Kuban-Tersk Cossack Red Banner Division named after. S. M. Budyonny, the 13th Don Territorial Cossack Division was also formed on the Don. Kuban Cossacks served in the 72nd Cavalry Division, 9th Plastun Rifle Division, 17th Cossack Cavalry Corps (later renamed the 4th Guards Kuban Cavalry Corps), Orenburg Cossacks served in the 11th (89th) , then the 8th Guards Rivne Order of Lenin, Order of Suvorov Cossack Cavalry Division and Militia Cossack Division in Chelyabinsk.

The detachments sometimes included Cossacks who had previously served in the White Army (such as K.I. Nedorubov). A special act restored the wearing of the previously prohibited Cossack uniform. The Cossack units were commanded by N. Ya. Kirichenko, A. G. Selivanov, I. A. Pliev, S. I. Gorshkov, M. F. Maleev, V. S. Golovskoy, F. V. Kamkov, I. V. Tutarinov , Ya. S. Sharaburko, I. P. Kalyuzhny, P. Ya. Strepukhov, M. I. Surzhikov and others. Also, such commanders include Marshal K.K. Rokossovsky, who commanded the Kuban brigade in battles on the Chinese Eastern Railway back in 1934. In 1936, a dress uniform for Cossack units was approved. The Cossacks wore this uniform at the Victory Parade on June 24, 1945. The first parade in the Red Army with the participation of Cossack units was supposed to take place on May 1, 1936. However, for various reasons, participation in the Cossack military parade was canceled. Only on May 1, 1937, Cossack units as part of the Red Army held a military parade along Red Square.

With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, Cossack units, both regular, as part of the Red Army, and volunteers, took an active part in the fighting against the Nazi invaders. On August 2, 1942, near the village of Kushchevskaya, the 17th Cavalry Corps of General N. Ya. Kirichenko, consisting of the 12th and 13th Kuban, 15th and 116th Don Cossack divisions, stopped the advance of large Wehrmacht forces advancing from Rostov to Krasnodar . In the Kushchevskaya attack, the Cossacks destroyed up to 1,800 soldiers and officers, captured 300 people, captured 18 guns and 25 mortars.

On the Don, a Cossack hundred from the village of Berezovskaya under the command of a 52-year-old Cossack, senior lieutenant K. I. Nedorubov, in the battle near Kushchevskaya on August 2, 1942, in hand-to-hand combat, destroyed over 200 Wehrmacht soldiers, of which 70 were destroyed by K. I. Nedorubov, who received title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

In most cases, the newly formed Cossack units and volunteer Cossack hundreds were poorly armed; the Cossacks, as a rule, came to the detachments with edged weapons and collective farm horses. Artillery, tanks, anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons, communications units and sappers in the detachments, as a rule, were absent, and therefore the detachments suffered huge losses. For example, as mentioned in the leaflets of the Kuban Cossacks, “they jumped from their saddles onto the armor of tanks, covered the viewing slots with cloaks and overcoats, and set fire to cars with Molotov cocktails.” Also, a large number of Cossacks volunteered in the national parts of the North Caucasus. Such units were created in the fall of 1941, following the example of the experience of the First World War. These cavalry units were also popularly called "Wild Divisions". For example, in the fall of 1941, the 255th separate Chechen-Ingush cavalry regiment was formed in Grozny. It included several hundred Cossack volunteers from among the natives of the Sunzha and Terek villages. The regiment fought at Stalingrad in August 1942, where in two days of fighting, on August 4-5, at the station (crossing) Chilekovo (from Kotelnikovo to Stalingrad) it was lost in battles against units of the 4th tank army Wehrmacht 302 soldiers led by the regimental commissar, Art. political instructor M.D. Madayev. There were 57 Russian Cossacks among the dead and missing of this regiment in these two days. Also, volunteer Cossacks fought in all national cavalry units from the other republics of the North Caucasus.

Since 1943, the unification of Cossack cavalry divisions and tank units took place, in connection with which cavalry-mechanized groups were formed. Horses were used more for organization fast travel, in battle the Cossacks were involved as infantry. Plastun divisions were also formed from the Kuban and Terek Cossacks. From among the Cossacks, 262 cavalrymen received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, 7 cavalry corps and 17 cavalry divisions received guards ranks.

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 No. 1, Hero of the Soviet Union D. F. Lavrinenko - Kuban Cossack, native of the village of Besstrashnaya; lieutenant general engineering troops, Hero of the Soviet Union D. M. Karbyshev - ancestral Ural Cossack-Kryashen, native of Omsk; Commander of the Northern Fleet Admiral A. A. Golovko - Terek Cossack, native of the village of Prokhladnaya; designer-gunsmith F.V. Tokarev - Don Cossack, native of the village of Yegorlyk Region of the Don Army; Commander of the Bryansk and 2nd Baltic Front, Army General, Hero of the Soviet Union M. M. Popov - Don Cossack, native of the village of Ust-Medveditsk Region of the Don Army, etc.

The Cossacks took an active part in the suppression Warsaw Uprising in August 1944.

Cossack troops

By the beginning of the First World War, there were eleven Cossack troops:

1. Don Cossack Army, seniority – 1570 (Rostov, Volgograd, Kalmykia, Lugansk, Donetsk);

2. Orenburg Cossack army, 1574 (Orenburg, Chelyabinsk, Kurgan in Russia, Kustanay in Kazakhstan);

3. Terek Cossack army, 1577 (Stavropol, Kabardino-Balkaria, S. Ossetia, Chechnya, Dagestan);

4. Siberian Cossack Army, 1582 (Omsk, Kurgan, Altai Territory, North Kazakhstan, Akmola, Kokchetav, Pavlodar, Semipalatinsk, East Kazakhstan);

5. Ural Cossack army, 1591 (until 1775 - Yaitskoe) (Ural, former Guryev in Kazakhstan, Orenburg (Ilek, Tashlinsky, Pervomaisky districts) in Russia;

6. Transbaikal Cossack army, 1655 (Chitinskaya, Buryatia);

7. Kuban Cossack army, 1696 (Krasnodar, Adygea, Stavropol, Karachay-Cherkessia);

8. Astrakhan Cossack army, 1750 (Astrakhan, Volgograd, Saratov);

9. Semirechensk Cossack army, 1852 (Almaty, Chimkent);

10. Amur Cossack army, 1855 (Amur, Khabarovsk);

11. Ussuri Cossack army, 1865 (Primorsky, Khabarovsk);

During the collapse of the Russian Empire and the Civil War, several Cossack state entities were proclaimed:

· Kuban People's Republic;

· Don Cossack Republic;

· Terek Cossack Republic;

· Ural Cossack Republic

· Siberian-Semirechensk Cossack Republic;

· Transbaikal Cossack Republic;

In addition to the differences in uniform between the various Cossack troops, there were also differences in the color of uniforms, trousers and stripes with cap bands:

1. Amur Cossacks - dark green uniforms, yellow stripes, green shoulder straps, dark green cap with a yellow band;

2. Astrakhan Cossacks - blue uniforms, yellow stripes, yellow shoulder straps, blue cap with a yellow band;

3. Volga Cossacks - blue uniforms, red stripes, red shoulder straps with red edging, blue cap with a red band;

4. Don Cossacks - blue uniforms, red stripes, blue shoulder straps with red edging, blue cap with red band;

5. Yenisei Cossacks - khaki uniform, red stripes, red shoulder straps, khaki cap with a red band;

6. Transbaikal Cossacks - dark green uniforms, yellow stripes, yellow shoulder straps, dark green cap with a yellow band;

7. Kuban Cossacks - black or so-called lilac Circassian with gazyrs, black trousers with a crimson half stripe, a papakha or kubanka (among Plastuns) with a crimson top, crimson shoulder straps and a hood. The same is true for the Terek Cossacks, only the colors are light blue;

8. Orenburg Cossacks - dark green uniforms (chekmen), gray-blue trousers, light blue stripes, light blue shoulder straps, dark green cap crown with light blue piping and band;

9. Siberian Cossacks - khaki uniform, scarlet stripes, scarlet shoulder straps, khaki cap with a scarlet band;

10. Terek Cossacks - black uniform, light blue piping, light blue shoulder straps, black cap with a light blue band;

11. Ural Cossacks - blue uniforms, crimson stripes, crimson shoulder straps, blue cap with a crimson band;

12. Ussuri Cossacks - dark green uniforms, yellow stripes, yellow shoulder straps with green edging, dark green cap with a yellow band;



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In Russian history, the Cossacks are a unique phenomenon. This is a society that became one of the reasons that allowed the Russian Empire to grow to such enormous proportions, and most importantly, to secure 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 emergence of new data. Another debate that Cossack researchers are having is whether they are a separate ethnic group or part of the Russian people? Speculation on this topic is beneficial to Russia’s enemies, who dream of its dismemberment into many small states, and therefore is constantly fed from the outside.

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 discover that on maps of Russia there was a huge region - Cossackia. There lived a “special people” - the Cossacks.

They themselves, in the overwhelming majority, consider themselves the most “correct” Russians and the most ardent defenders of Orthodoxy, and the history of Russia is the best confirmation of this.

They were first mentioned in the chronicles of the 14th century. It is reported that in Sugdey, present-day Sudak, a certain Almalchu died, stabbed to death by the Cossacks. Then Sudak was the center of the slave trade of the Northern Black Sea region, and if not for the Zaporozhye Cossacks, much more captured Slavs, Circassians, and Greeks would have ended up there.

Also in the chronicle of 1444, “The Tale of Mustafa Tsarevich,” the Ryazan Cossacks are mentioned, who fought with the Ryazanians 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 princely squad.

That is, already the first sources show the duality of the Cossacks. This term was used to describe, firstly, free peoples who settled on the outskirts of Russian lands, and secondly, service people, both city guards and border troops.

Free Cossacks led by atamans

Who explored the southern outskirts of Rus'? These are hunters and runaway peasants, people who were looking for a better life and fleeing hunger, as well as those who were at odds with the law. They were joined by all the foreigners who also could not sit in one place, and perhaps by the remnants that inhabited this territory - the Khazars, Scythians, Huns.

Having formed squads and chosen atamans, they fought, either for or against those with whom they neighbored. Gradually the Zaporozhye Sich was formed. Its whole history is participation in all wars in the region, constant uprisings, concluding treaties with neighbors and breaking them. The faith of the Cossacks 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, which already in the 19th century formed the Azov Cossack army from the Cossacks, which mainly guarded the Caucasian coast, and managed to show itself in Crimean War, where the plastuns - scouts of their troops showed amazing dexterity and daring.

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. Another free army, the Don Army, was formed in approximately the same way. It was first mentioned in a complaint sent to Tsar Ivan the Terrible by the Nogai prince Yusuf, outraged by the fact that the Don people “did the cities” and his people were “guarded, taken away, beaten to death.”

People who, for various reasons, fled to the outskirts of the country, gathered into bands, elected atamans and lived as best they could - by hunting, robberies, raids and serving their neighbors when the next war happened. This brought them closer to the Cossacks - they went on hikes together, even on sea trips.

But the participation of the Cossacks in popular uprisings forced the Russian tsars to begin establishing order in their territories. Peter I included this region into the Russian Empire, obliging its inhabitants to serve in tsarist army, and ordered the construction of a number of fortresses on the Don.

Attraction to government service

Apparently, almost simultaneously with the free Cossacks, Cossacks appeared in Rus' and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as a branch of the army. Often these were the same free Cossacks, who at first simply fought as mercenaries, guarding borders and embassies for pay. Gradually they turned into a separate class that performed the same functions.

The history of the Russian Cossacks is eventful and extremely complicated, but in short - first Rus', then the Russian Empire expanded its borders almost throughout its history. Sometimes for the sake of land and hunting grounds, sometimes for self-defense, as in the case of the Crimea and, but Cossacks were always among the selected troops and they settled on the conquered lands. Or did they first settle on free lands, and then the king brought them to obedience.

They built villages, cultivated the land, defended territories from neighbors who did not want to live peacefully or from aborigines who were dissatisfied with the annexation. They lived peacefully with the civilians, partially adopting their customs, clothing, language, cuisine and music. This led to the fact that the clothes of the Cossacks of 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 quite quickly adopted from the peoples of the Caucasus such elements of highlander clothing as the Circassian coat. Their music and songs also acquired Caucasian motifs, for example, Cossack, very similar to mountain music. This is how a unique cultural phenomenon arose, which anyone can get acquainted with by attending a concert of the Kuban Cossack Choir.

The largest Cossack troops in Russia

By the end of the 17th century, the Cossacks in Russia gradually began to transform into those associations that forced the whole world to consider them the elite of the Russian army. The process ended in the 19th century, and the whole system was put to an end by the Great October Revolution and the one that followed Civil War.

During that period the following stood out:

• Don Cossacks.

How they appeared is described above, and their sovereign service began in 1671, after the oath of allegiance to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. But only Peter the Great transformed them completely, prohibited the choice of atamans, and introduced his own hierarchy.

As a result, the Russian Empire received, although at first not very disciplined, but at least a brave and experienced army, which was mainly used to guard the southern and eastern border of the country.

• Khopersky.

These inhabitants of the upper reaches of the Don were mentioned back in the days of the Golden Horde, and were immediately positioned as “Cossacks”. Unlike the free people who lived lower along the Don, they were excellent business executives - they had well-functioning self-government, built fortresses, shipyards, raised livestock, and plowed the land.

Joining the Russian Empire was quite painful - the Khopers managed to take part in uprisings. They were subjected to repression and reorganization, and were part of the Don and Astrakhan troops. In the spring of 1786, they strengthened the Caucasian line, forcibly relocating them to the Caucasus. At the same time they were replenished with baptized Persians and Kalmyks, of whom 145 families were assigned to them. But this is already the history of the Kuban Cossacks.

It is interesting that more than once they were joined by representatives of other nationalities. After the Patriotic War of 1812, thousands of French former prisoners of war who accepted Russian citizenship were assigned to the Orenburg Cossack Army. And the Poles from Napoleon’s army became Siberian Cossacks, as only the Polish surnames of their descendants now remind us of.

• Khlynovskys.

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 distance from the capital allowed the Vyatichi to create their own self-government, and by the 15th century they began to seriously annoy all their neighbors. Ivan III stopped this free movement, defeating them and annexing these lands to Rus'.

The leaders were executed, the nobility were resettled in towns near Moscow, the rest were assigned to serfs. A considerable 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 troops to protect their Ural estates, as well as to conquer Siberian lands.

• Meshcherskys.

These are the only Cossacks who were not originally of Slavic origin. Their lands - Meshchera Ukraine, located between the Oka, Meshchera and Tsna, were inhabited by Finno-Ugric tribes mixed with the Turks - Polovtsy and Berendeys. Their main activities are cattle breeding and robbery (Cossacking) of neighbors and merchants.

In the 14th century, they already served the Russian tsars - guarding embassies sent to Crimea, Turkey and Siberia. At the end of the 15th century they were mentioned as a military class that participated in campaigns against Azov and Kazan, guarding the borders of Rus' from the Nagais and Kalmyks. For supporting impostors during the Time of Troubles, the Meshcheryaks were expelled from the country. Some chose Lithuania, others 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 subject to raids by their restless neighbors - the Horde. The battle-hardened stellate sturgeons were gladly taken into service 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 Seversky Cossacks were colonized by Moscow, and in 1619 they were generally divided between it and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Most of the stellate sturgeons became peasants; some moved to the Zaporozhye or Don lands.

• Volzhskie.

These are the same Khlynovites who, having settled in the Zhiguli Mountains, were robbers on the Volga. The Moscow tsars were unable to calm them down, which, however, did not prevent them from using their services. A native of these places, Ermak, with his army, conquered Siberia for Russia in the 16th century; in the 17th century, the entire Volga army defended it from the Kalmyk Horde.

They helped the Donets and Cossacks fight the Turks, then 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 his campaigns. At the beginning of the 18th century, he ordered them to be rewritten and formed into one army - the Volga.

• Kuban.

After the Russian-Turkish War, the need arose 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 and its surroundings, and they themselves received the name - the Black Sea Cossack Army.

Then, after long negotiations, Kuban was given to them. It was an impressive resettlement of the Cossacks - about 25 thousand people moved to their new homeland, began creating a defensive line and managing the new lands.

Now the monument to the Cossacks - the founders of the Kuban land, erected in the Krasnodar Territory, reminds us of this. Reorganization to general standards, changing the uniform to the clothes of the highlanders, as well as 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:

1. Amurskoe.
2. Astrakhan.
3. Donskoe.
4. Transbaikal.
5. Kuban.
6. Orenburg.
7. Semirechenskoe.
8. Siberian.
9. Ural.
10. Ussuriysk.

In total, by that time there were almost 3 million of them (with their families), which is a little more than 2% of the country’s population. At the same time, they participated in all more or less important events countries - in protecting borders and important persons, military campaigns and accompanying 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, they stained themselves with the Lena execution. After the revolution, some of them joined the White Guard movement, while others enthusiastically accepted the power of the Bolsheviks.

Probably, not a single historical document will be able to retell as accurately and poignantly what was going on among the Cossacks then, as the writer Mikhail Sholokhov was able to do in his works.

Unfortunately, the troubles of this class did not stop there - the new government began to consistently pursue a policy of decossackization, taking away their privileges and repressing those who dared to object. The merger into collective farms also could not be called smooth.

In Great Patriotic War Cossack cavalry and Plastun divisions, which were returned to their traditional uniforms, showed good training, military ingenuity, courage and true heroism. Seven cavalry corps and 17 cavalry divisions were awarded guards ranks. Many people from the Cossack class served in other units, including as volunteers. In just four years of war, 262 cavalrymen were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Cossacks are heroes of the Second World War, they are General D. Karbyshev, Admiral A. Golovko, General M. Popov, tank ace D. Lavrinenko, weapons designer F. Tokarev and others, known throughout the country.

A considerable part of those who previously fought against Soviet power, seeing the misfortune that threatened their homeland, leaving political views aside, took part in World War II on the side of the USSR. However, there were also those who sided with the fascists in the hope that they would overthrow the communists and return Russia to its previous path.

Mentality, culture and traditions

The Cossacks are a warlike, capricious and proud people (often excessively), 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 household, also had a strong character, since most of the time the men were busy with war.

The Cossack language, 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 it, especially the Circassian ones, 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 this, everyone chose themselves and, judging by the surviving descriptions, the weapons looked very picturesque. It was the honor of the Cossack, so it was always in perfect condition, in an excellent sheath, often richly decorated.

The rituals of the Cossacks, in general, coincide with all-Russian ones, but they also have their own specifics caused by their way of life. For example, at a funeral a war horse was led behind the coffin of the deceased, followed by relatives. In the widow's house, under the icons lay her husband's hat.

Special rituals accompanied the seeing off of men to war and their meeting; their observance was taken very seriously. But the most magnificent, complex and joyful event was the wedding of the Cossacks. The action was multi-step - bridesmaid, matchmaking, celebration in the bride's house, wedding, celebration in the groom's house.

And all this to the accompaniment of special songs and in the best outfits. The man's costume necessarily included weapons, the women wore bright clothes and, which was unacceptable for peasant women, had their heads uncovered. The scarf only covered the knot of hair at the back of her head.

Now Cossacks live in many regions of Russia, unite in various communities, actively participate in the life of the country, and in places where they live compactly, children are optionally taught the history of the Cossacks. Textbooks, photos and videos introduce young people to customs and remind them that their ancestors from generation to generation gave their lives for the glory of the Tsar and the Fatherland.

True story Russia. Notes of an amateur [with illustrations] Guts Alexander Konstantinovich

What types of Cossacks are there?

What types of Cossacks are there?

“Eastern (Don) Cossacks were called Horde, Azov, western (Dnieper) Zaporozhye, Little Russian, Lithuanian. This caused the researchers to get confused, find Cossacks where there were none, and were at a loss. The Dnieper Cossacks were sometimes called Circassians, or Cherkasy. This name probably came from the city of Cherkasy. This city was located beyond the Dnieper, below Kanev, for the settlements of the Cossacks, when Poland began to accept and patronize them, were originally on the right side of the Dnieper. Not far from Cherkasy, the oldest main Cossack camp, Chigirin was later founded by the Cossacks, which was their main city. The name Cherkasy... this name of the Cossack city made many people think that the Cossacks were migrants from the Caucasus, and specifically the Circassians were mountain... The beginning of the Cossack Dnieper city of Cherkasy can be attributed to the last 20 years of the 15th century, and Bogdan, the governor of Cherkasy, could have been the same leader of the Cossacks, what Dashkovich was like later. Consider his campaign to Ochakov: this is a real Cossack raid, repeated by Dashkovich in 1516! - On the Don, subsequently, the city of Chekrassk, or Cherkasskaya, was also built by immigrants from the Dnieper, Cossacks who joined the Don. This name seemed precious to them, like the name of Moscow to a Russian, who was called a Muscovite and a Muscovite” (Polevoy, T.Z.S. 665).

« Gorodetsky Cossacks were the name given to free people who lived near Kasimov (Meshchersky town, from which the name also came Meshchersky Cossacks), and further near the Volga (hence the name Volga Cossacks)” (Polevoy, T.Z.S. 684).

These are not all Cossacks. Let's look for others too.

The year is 1496. “That same spring, the Maya received news to Grand Duke Ivan Vasilyevich from the Kazan Khan Mahamet-Amen that the Shiban Khan Mamuk was coming against him with much force, and they were committing treason Kazan Cossacks Kalimet, Urak, Sadyr, Agish” (Tatishchev, T. 6, p. 86).

“In Asia to this day the entire Turkish Horde is called Cossacks (Kyrgyz-Kaysaks). In the 15th century, Tatars and Russians adopted the name Cossack in the sense of a homeless, wandering daredevil warrior” (Polevoy, T.Z.S. 663). These daredevils were united into Hordes!

“It is unknown... exactly when Dashkov left Rus'. In 1515, he already ruled autocratically over the Trans-Dnieper Cossacks, and plundered Rus' together with the Crimeans” (Polevoy, T.Z.S. 666). In other words, Trans-Dnieper Cossacks, led by the fugitive from Rus', governor Evstafiy Dashkovich, participated in military campaigns against the Moscow Russian state.

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