Cossacks: Difference between revisions

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[[Cossacks]] were groups of professional warriors first recorded as a separate group of society around late 15th century.

'''Cossacks''' were groups of professional warriors first recorded as a separate group of society around late 15th century.

Russian Cossacks are typically seen as agile cavalry armed with lances and sabres, while Ukrainian Cossacks mostly fought on feet and were notorious for their mastery of musketeer tactics.

There were two main groups of cossacks:

* Zaporozhian Cossacks, named so because their stronghold (Zaporozhian Sich) was located on an island beyond ("Za") the rapids ("porogi") of the river Dnieper. For a while the Zaporozhians helped (for Sich Cossacks) or served (for Registered Cossacks) Poland fighting off Crimean ~~Tatars -- not~~ that Poland had much control over them. They played a big role in the history of Ukraine, at one point liberating it from Poland and creating the Cossack Hetmanate - a Ukrainian state in 1648-1764, a vassal of Muscovy and later Russian Empire during most of its history. Russian government, while seeing the value of mighty Zaporozhian Cossack troops, barely tolerated Sich's and Hetmanate's existence, as their regions were free of serfdom and too autonomous for [[The Empire]]. Considering it to be a separatist element, Russian Empire under Catherine II annexed Cossack Hetmanate in 1764, then ordered to destroy the Sich in 1775. After the fall of Sich, many Zaporozhian cossacks migrated to the Kuban river valley, and these ones became the Black Sea Cossack Host, later known as Kuban Cossacks. Other Cossacks either intermingled with other parts of Ukrainian society, or escaped to the Osman Empire where they were organised into the Danube Cossack Host (Zadunays'ka Sich), which later returned to Russian-ruled Ukraine and became the Azov Cossack Host, that existed until 1866.

* Zaporozhian Cossacks, named so because their stronghold (Zaporozhian Sich) was located on an island beyond ("Za") the rapids ("porogi") of the river Dnieper. For a while the Zaporozhians helped (for Sich Cossacks) or served (for Registered Cossacks) Poland fighting off Crimean Tatars—not that Poland had much control over them. They played a big role in the history of Ukraine, at one point liberating it from Poland and creating the Cossack Hetmanate - a Ukrainian state in 1648-1764, a vassal of Muscovy and later Russian Empire during most of its history. Russian government, while seeing the value of mighty Zaporozhian Cossack troops, barely tolerated Sich's and Hetmanate's existence, as their regions were free of serfdom and too autonomous for [[The Empire]]. Considering it to be a separatist element, Russian Empire under Catherine II annexed Cossack Hetmanate in 1764, then ordered to destroy the Sich in 1775. After the fall of Sich, many Zaporozhian cossacks migrated to the Kuban river valley, and these ones became the Black Sea Cossack Host, later known as Kuban Cossacks. Other Cossacks either intermingled with other parts of Ukrainian society, or escaped to the Osman Empire where they were organised into the Danube Cossack Host (Zadunays'ka Sich), which later returned to Russian-ruled Ukraine and became the Azov Cossack Host, that existed until 1866.

* Don Cossacks, named because of the river Don. Gradually formed after Brodnici ("ford men", a large multi-ethnic group in southern Ruthenia) intermingled with Mongols and Cumans (traditional seminomad rivals and allies of Ruthenian princes) in the Steppe and thus adopted independent steppe-wandering style of life, as well as their name (the word "Cossack" has Turkic origins, usually reffering to "free men", who could not find their place in society and went into the steppes, where they acknowledged no authority - some other Turkic names have the same etymology - the [[Kazakhstan|Kazakh]] people for example) from these nomads. Joined by adventorous Russian nobles and runaway peasants, the Don Host became an important part of Muscovite Tsarsdom's politics, while staying independent from the Tsar until the beginning of 18th century. After the suppression of Bulavin's revolt by the Russians, the Don Host was absolutely incorporated into Russia as an irregular military organization with some privileges, but less autonomy.