In the foreseeable retrospect, the roots of such a phenomenon as the Cossacks are clearly Scythian-Sarmatian, then the Turkic factor was strongly superimposed, then the Horde. In the Horde and post-Horde periods, the Don, Volga and Yaitsky Cossacks became greatly Russified due to massive influx new fighters from Rus'. For the same reason, the Dnieper Cossacks not only became Russified, but also became heavily sinned due to the influx of new fighters from the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. A kind of ethnic cross-pollination took place. The Cossacks of the Aral region and from the lower reaches of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya could not become Russified by definition, by religious and geographical reasons, therefore, the Kara-Kalpaks (translated from Turkic as Black Cowls) were preserved. They had very little contact with Russia, but diligently served Khorezm, the Central Asian Genghisids and Timurids, about which there is a lot of written evidence. The same applies to the Balkhash Cossacks, who lived along the shores of the lake and along the rivers flowing into Balkhash. They greatly expanded due to the influx of new fighters from Asian lands, strengthening the military power of Moghulistan and creating the Cossack khanates. Thus, history has de facto separated the Cossack ethnic group into different ethno-state and geopolitical apartments. In order to divide de jure the Cossack subethnic groups, only in 1925, by Soviet decree, the non-Russianized Central Asian Cossacks (called tsarist time Kyrgyz-Kaisaks, i.e. Kyrgyz Cossacks) were renamed Kazakhs. Strange as it may seem, the Cossacks and Kazakhs have the same roots, the names of these peoples are pronounced and written in Latin (until the recent past and in Cyrillic) absolutely the same, but the ethnohistorical pollination is very different.
****
In the 15th century, the role of the Cossacks in the areas bordering Russia sharply increased due to the continuous raids of nomadic tribes. In 1482, after the final collapse of the Golden Horde, the Crimean, Nogai, Kazan, Kazakh, Astrakhan and Siberian khanates arose.
Rice. 1 Collapse of the Golden Horde
These fragments of the Horde were in constant hostility among themselves, as well as with Lithuania and the Moscow state. Even before the final collapse of the Horde, during intra-Horde strife, the Muscovites and Litvins brought part of the Horde lands under their control. The anarchy and unrest in the Horde was especially well used by the Lithuanian prince Olgerd. Where by force, where by intelligence and cunning, where by bribery he included many Russian principalities into his possessions, including the territories of the Dnieper Cossacks (former black hoods) and set himself broad goals: to put an end to Moscow and the Golden Horde. The Dnieper Cossacks formed the armed forces until four topics or 40,000 well-trained troops and turned out to be significant support for the policies of Prince Olgerd. And it was in 1482 that a new, three-century period of Eastern European history began - the period of the struggle for the Horde inheritance. At that time, few could have imagined that the provincial, although dynamically developing, Moscow principality would ultimately emerge victorious in this titanic struggle. But less than a century after the collapse of the Horde, under Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible, Moscow would unite all the Russian principalities around itself and conquer a significant part of the Horde. IN late XVIII V. under Catherine II, almost the entire territory of the Golden Horde would come under Moscow rule. Having defeated Crimea and Lithuania, the victorious nobles of the German queen put an end to the centuries-old dispute over the Horde inheritance. Moreover, in the middle of the 20th century, under Joseph Stalin, for a short time the Muscovites would create a protectorate over the entire territory of the Great Mongol Empire, created in the 13th century. the labor and genius of the Great Genghis Khan, including China. And in this entire post-Horde history, the Cossacks took a very lively and active part. And the great Russian writer L.N. Tolstoy believed that “the entire history of Russia was made by the Cossacks.” And although this statement, of course, there is an exaggeration, but, taking a careful look at the history of the Russian state, we can state that all significant military and political events Russia could not do without the active participation of the Cossacks. But all this will happen later.
And in 1552, Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible launched a campaign against the most powerful of these khanates - the heirs of the Horde - Kazan. Up to ten thousand Don and Volga Cossacks took part in that campaign as part of the Russian army. Reporting about this campaign, the chronicle notes that the Emperor ordered Prince Peter Serebryany to go from Nizhny Novgorod to Kazan, “... and with him the boyar children and archers and Cossacks...”. Two and a half thousand Cossacks under the command of Sevryuga and Elka were sent from Meshchera to the Volga to block transportation. During the storming of Kazan, the Don Ataman Misha Cherkashenin distinguished himself with his Cossacks. And Cossack legend tells that during the siege of Kazan, a young Volga Cossack Ermak Timofeev, disguised as a Tatar, entered Kazan, inspected the fortress, and, returning, pointed out the places most advantageous for blowing up the fortress walls.
After the fall of Kazan and the annexation of the Kazan Khanate to Russia, the military-political situation changed sharply in favor of Muscovy. Already in 1553, Kabardian princes arrived in Moscow to beat the king with their foreheads, so that he would accept them as citizenship and protect them against Crimean Khan and Nogai hordes. With this embassy, ambassadors from the Greben Cossacks, who lived along the Sunzha River and neighboring the Kabardians, also arrived in Moscow. In the same year, the Siberian Tsar Edigei sent two officials to Moscow with gifts and pledged to pay tribute to the Moscow Tsar. Next, Ivan the Terrible set the task for the governors to take Astrakhan and conquer the Astrakhan Khanate. The Moscow state had to strengthen itself along the entire length of the Volga. The next year, 1554, was eventful for Moscow. With the help of the Cossacks and Moscow troops, Dervish-Ali was placed on the throne of the Astrakhan Khanate with the obligation to pay tribute to the Moscow state. After Astrakhan, he entered the service of the Moscow Tsar from Dnieper Cossacks Hetman Vishnevetsky. Prince Vishnevetsky came from the Gediminovich family and was a supporter of Russian-Lithuanian rapprochement. For this he was repressed by King Sigismund I and fled to Turkey. Returning from Turkey, with the permission of the king, he became the headman of the ancient Cossack cities of Kanev and Cherkassy. Then he sent ambassadors to Moscow and the tsar accepted him into service with “casualty,” issued him a safe conduct letter and sent him a salary.
Despite the betrayal of the Russian protege Dervish-Ali, Astrakhan was soon conquered, but navigation along the Volga was in the complete power of the Cossacks. The Volga Cossacks were especially numerous at this time and “sat” so firmly in the Zhiguli Mountains that practically not a single caravan passed by without a ransom or was plundered. Nature itself, having created the Zhigulevskaya loop on the Volga, took care of the extreme convenience of this place for such a fishery. It is in connection with this Russian chronicles for the first time, the Volga Cossacks are especially noted - in 1560 it was written: “... Cossacks thief along the Volga... The pious Sovereign sent his governors with many military men and commanded them to be imprisoned and hanged...” The Volga Cossacks consider the year 1560 to be the year of seniority (formation) of the Volga Cossack Army. Ivan IV the Terrible could not jeopardize all eastern trade and, driven out of patience by the Cossacks’ attack on his ambassador, on October 1, 1577, he sent the steward Ivan Murashkin to the Volga with the order “... to torture, execute and hang the thieves’ Volga Cossacks.” In many works on the history of the Cossacks, there is a mention that, due to government repression, many Volga free Cossacks left - some to the Terek and Don, others to the Yaik (Ural), others, led by Ataman Ermak Timofeevich, to the Chusovsky towns to serve to the merchants Stroganov, and from there to Siberia. Having thoroughly destroyed the largest Volga Cossack army, Ivan IV the Terrible carried out the first large-scale decossackization in Russian history (but not the last).
VOLZHSKY ATAMAN ERMAK TIMOFEEVICH
The most legendary hero of Cossack atamans XVI century, undoubtedly, is Ermolai Timofeevich Tokmak (Cossack nickname Ermak), who conquered the Siberian Khanate and laid the foundation for the Siberian Cossack Army. Even before joining the Cossacks, in his early youth, this Pomeranian resident Ermolai son Timofeev for his remarkable strength and fighting qualities received his first and rather sickly nickname Tokmak (tokmak, tokmach - a massive wooden mallet for compacting earth). And Ermak, apparently, has also been among the Cossacks from a young age. No one knew Ermak better than his comrades - veterans of the “Siberian capture”. In their later years, those who were spared by death lived in Siberia. According to the Esipov chronicle, compiled from the memoirs of Ermak’s still living comrades and opponents, before the Siberian campaign, the Cossacks Ilyin and Ivanov already knew him and served with Ermak in the villages for at least twenty years. However, this period of the ataman’s life is not documented.
According to Polish sources, in June 1581, Ermak, at the head of the Volga Cossack flotilla, fought in Lithuania against the Polish-Lithuanian troops of King Stefan Batory. At this time, his friend and associate Ivan Koltso fought in the Trans-Volga steppes with Nogai Horde. In January 1582, Russia concluded the Yam-Zapolsky Peace Treaty with Poland and Ermak was given the opportunity to return to his native land. Ermak’s detachment arrives on the Volga and in Zhiguli unites with the detachment of Ivan Koltso and other “thieves’ Atamans”. To this day there is a village called Ermakovo. Here (according to other sources on Yaik) they are found by a messenger from the rich Perm salt industrialists Stroganovs with an offer to go to their service. To protect their possessions, the Stroganovs were allowed to build fortresses and maintain armed detachments in them. In addition, within the Perm land there was always a detachment of Moscow troops in the Cherdyn fortress. The appeal of the Stroganovs led to a split among the Cossacks. Ataman Bogdan Barbosha, who had previously been the chief assistant of Ivan Koltso, resolutely refused to be hired by the Perm merchants. Barbosha took several hundred Cossacks with him to Yaik. After Barboscha and his supporters left the circle, the majority in the circle went to Ermak and his villages. Knowing that for the destruction of the Tsar's caravan Ermak has already been sentenced to quartering, and Koltso to hanging, the Cossacks accept the Stroganovs' invitation to go to their Chusovsky towns for protection from raids Siberian Tatars. There was another reason. At that time, a grandiose uprising of the Volga peoples had been raging on the Volga for several years. After the end of the Livonian War, in April 1582, royal ship troops began to arrive on the Volga to suppress the uprising. The free Cossacks found themselves between a rock and a hard place. They did not want to participate in actions against the rebels, but they did not take their side either. They decided to leave the Volga. In the summer of 1582, a detachment of Ermak and the atamans Ivan Koltso, Matvey Meshcheryak, Bogdan Bryazga, Ivan Alexandrov nicknamed Cherkas, Nikita Pan, Savva Boldyr, Gavrila Ilyin in the amount of 540 people climbed along the Volga and Kama on plows to the Chusovsky towns. The Stroganovs gave Ermak some weapons, but they were insignificant, since Ermak’s entire squad had excellent weapons.
Taking advantage of the opportune moment when the Siberian prince Alei with the best troops went on a raid on the Perm fortress of Cherdyn, and the Siberian Khan Kuchum was busy at war with the Nogai, Ermak himself undertakes a daring invasion of his lands. It was an extremely daring and bold, but dangerous plan. Any miscalculation or accident deprived the Cossacks of any chance of return and salvation. If they had been defeated, contemporaries and descendants would have easily attributed it to the folly of the brave. But the Ermakovites won, and the winners are not judged, they are admired. We will admire it too. Stroganov's merchant ships had been plying the Ural and Siberian rivers for a long time, and their people knew the regime of these waterways very well. During the autumn floods, the water in mountain rivers and streams rose after heavy rains and mountain passes became accessible for transportation. In September, Ermak could have crossed the Urals, but if he had hesitated there until the end of the floods, his Cossacks would not have been able to drag their ships back through the passes. Ermak understood that only a swift and sudden attack could lead him to victory, and therefore he hurried with all his might. Ermak’s people more than once overcame the many miles of transportation between the Volga and Don. But overcoming the Ural mountain passes was fraught with incomparably greater difficulties. With an ax in their hands, the Cossacks made their own way, cleared rubble, felled trees, and cut a clearing. They did not have the time and energy to level the rocky path, as a result of which they could not drag the ships along the ground using rollers. According to the participants of the campaign from the Esipov chronicle, they dragged the ships up the mountain “on themselves,” in other words, in their arms. Along the Tagil passes, Ermak left Europe and descended from the “Stone” ( Ural mountains) to Asia. In 56 days, the Cossacks covered more than 1,500 km, including about 300 km upstream along Chusovaya and Serebryanka and 1,200 km downstream of the Siberian rivers and reached the Irtysh. This turned out to be possible thanks to iron discipline and solid military organization. Ermak categorically forbade any minor skirmishes with the natives on the way, only forward. In addition to the atamans, the Cossacks were commanded by foremen, pentecostals, centurions and esauls. There were three with the squad orthodox priest and one pop defrocked. During the campaign, Ermak strictly demanded the observance of all Orthodox fasts and holidays.
And now thirty Cossack plows are sailing along the Irtysh. At the front, the wind flutters a Cossack banner: blue with a wide red border. The red cloth is embroidered with patterns, and there are fancy rosettes at the corners of the banner. In the center on a blue field are two white figures standing opposite each other on their hind legs, a lion and an Ingor horse with a horn on its forehead, the personification of “prudence, purity and severity.” Ermak fought with this banner against Stefan Batory in the West, and came with it to Siberia. At the same time, the best Siberian army, led by Tsarevich Aley, unsuccessfully stormed the Russian fortress of Cherdyn in the Perm region. The appearance of Ermak’s Cossack flotilla on the Irtysh was a complete surprise for Kuchum. He hastened to gather Tatars from nearby uluses, as well as Mansi and Khanty princes with detachments, to defend his capital. The Tatars quickly built fortifications (zasek) on the Irtysh near the Chuvashev Cape and placed many foot and horse soldiers along the entire coast. On October 26, a grandiose battle broke out on the Chuvashov Cape, on the banks of the Irtysh, which was led by Kuchum himself from the opposing side. In this battle, the Cossacks successfully used the old and favorite “rook army” technique. Some of the Cossacks with stuffed animals made of brushwood, dressed in Cossack dress, sailed on plows clearly visible from the shore and continuously exchanged fire with the shore, and the main detachment quietly landed on the shore and, on foot, quickly attacked Kuchum’s horse and foot army from the rear and overturned it . The Khanty princes, frightened by the volleys, were the first to leave the battlefield. Their example was followed by the Mansi warriors, who took refuge after the retreat in the impenetrable Yaskalba swamps. In this battle, Kuchum’s troops were completely defeated, Mametkul was wounded and miraculously escaped capture, Kuchum himself fled, and his capital Kashlyk was occupied by Ermak.
Rice. 2 Conquest of the Siberian Khanate
Soon the Cossacks occupied the towns of Epanchin, Chingi-Tura and Isker, bringing the local princes and kings into submission. The local Khanty-Mansi tribes, burdened by the power of Kuchum, showed peacefulness towards the Russians. Just four days after the battle, the first prince Boyar and his fellow tribesmen came to Kashlyk and brought with them a lot of supplies. The Tatars, who fled from the outskirts of Kashlyk, began to return to their yurts with their families. The dashing raid was a success. Rich booty fell into the hands of the Cossacks. However, it was premature to celebrate the victory. At the end of autumn, the Cossacks could no longer set out on the return journey. The harsh Siberian winter has begun. Ice bound the rivers that served as the only means of communication. The Cossacks had to pull the plows ashore. Their first difficult winter began.
Kuchum carefully prepared to deal a mortal blow to the Cossacks and liberate his capital. However, he, willy-nilly, had to give the Cossacks more than a month’s respite: he had to wait for the return of Aley’s troops from behind the Ural ridge. The question was about the existence of the Siberian Khanate. Therefore, messengers galloped to all ends of the vast “kingdom” with an order to collect military forces. Everyone who was able to bear arms was drafted under the khan’s banners. Kuchum again entrusted command to his nephew Mametkul, who had dealt with the Russians more than once. Mametkul set out to liberate Kashlyk, having at his disposal more than 10 thousand soldiers. The Cossacks could defend themselves from the Tatars by settling in Kashlyk. But they preferred attack to defense. Ermak attacked the advancing Tatar army 15 versts south of Kashlyk in the area of Lake Abalak. The battle was difficult and bloody. Many Tatars died on the battlefield, but the Cossacks also suffered heavy losses. With the onset of darkness the battle stopped on its own. The countless Tatar army retreated. Unlike the first battle at Cape Chuvashev, this time there was no panicky flight of the enemy at the height of the battle. There was no talk of capturing their commander-in-chief. Nevertheless, Ermak achieved the most glorious of his victories over the combined forces of the entire Kuchumov kingdom. The waters of Siberian rivers were covered with ice and impassable snow. The Cossack plows had long been pulled ashore. All escape routes were cut off. The Cossacks fought fiercely with the enemy, realizing that either victory or death awaited them. For each of the Cossacks there were more than twenty enemies. This battle showed the heroism and moral superiority of the Cossacks; it meant the complete and final conquest of the Siberian Khanate.
To notify the Tsar about the conquest of the Siberian kingdom in the spring of 1583, Ermak sent a detachment of 25 Cossacks led by Ivan Koltso to Ivan IV the Terrible. This was not a random choice. According to the Cossack historian A.A. Gordeeva, Ivan Koltso is the nephew of the disgraced Metropolitan Philip who fled to the Volga and the former royal guard Ivan Kolychev, a scion of the numerous but disgraced boyar family of the Kolychevs. The embassy sent gifts, tribute, noble captives and a petition in which Ermak asked for forgiveness for his previous guilt and asked to send a governor with a detachment of troops to Siberia to help. Moscow at that time was deeply affected by the failures of the Livonian War. Military defeats followed one after another. The success of a handful of Cossacks who defeated the Siberian kingdom flashed like lightning in the darkness, striking the imagination of their contemporaries. The embassy of Ermak, headed by Ivan Koltso, was received in Moscow very solemnly. According to contemporaries, there has not been such joy in Moscow since the conquest of Kazan. “Ermak and his comrades and all the Cossacks were forgiven by the tsar for all their previous guilts, the tsar presented Ivan the Ring and the Cossacks who arrived with him with gifts. Ermak was granted a fur coat from the tsar’s shoulder, battle armor and a letter in his name, in which the tsar granted Ataman Ermak to write as the Siberian Prince...” Ivan the Terrible ordered a detachment of 300 archers, led by Prince Semyon Bolkhovsky, to be sent to help the Cossacks. Simultaneously with the Koltso detachment, Ermak sent ataman Alexander Cherkas with the Cossacks to the Don and Volga to recruit volunteers. After visiting the villages, Cherkas also ended up in Moscow, where he worked long and hard and sought to send help to Siberia. But Cherkas returned to Siberia with a new large detachment, when neither Ermak nor Koltso, who had returned to Siberia earlier, were alive. The fact is that in the spring of 1584, big changes took place in Moscow - Ivan IV died in his Kremlin palace, and unrest occurred in Moscow. In the general confusion, the Siberian expedition was forgotten for a while. Almost two years passed before the free Cossacks received help from Moscow. What allowed them to stay in Siberia with small forces and resources for such a long time?
Ermak survived because the Cossacks and atamans had experience of long wars both with the most advanced European army of that time, Stefan Batory, and with nomads in the “wild field”. For many years, their camps and winter huts were always surrounded by the gentry or the Horde from all sides. The Cossacks learned to defeat them, despite the numerical superiority of the enemy. An important reason The success of Ermak's expedition was due to the internal fragility of the Siberian Khanate. Since Kuchum killed Khan Edigei and seized his throne, many years have passed, filled with continuous bloody wars. Where, by force, where by cunning and deceit, Kuchum humbled the rebellious Tatar murzas (princes) and imposed tribute on the Khanty-Mansi tribes. At first, Kuchum, like Edigei, paid tribute to Moscow, but after coming into power and receiving news of the failures of Moscow troops in western front, took a hostile position and began to attack the Perm lands that belonged to the Stroganovs. Surrounding himself with a guard of Nogais and Kyrgyz, he strengthened his power. But the very first military failures immediately led to the resumption of internecine struggle among the Tatar nobility. The son of the murdered Edigei, Seid Khan, who was hiding in Bukhara, returned to Siberia and began to threaten Kuchum with revenge. With his help, Ermak restored the former trade links between Siberia and Yurgent, the capital of the White Horde, located on the shores of the Aral Sea. Kuchum's close murza Seinbakht Tagin gave Ermak the location of Mametkul, the most prominent of the Tatar military leaders. The capture of Mametkul deprived Kuchum of a reliable sword. The nobles, who were afraid of Mametkul, began to leave the khan’s court. Karachi - the main dignitary of Kuchum, who belonged to a powerful Tatar family, stopped obeying the khan and migrated with his warriors to the upper reaches of the Irtysh. The Siberian kingdom was falling apart before our eyes. The power of Kuchum was no longer recognized by many local Mansi and Khanty princes and elders. Some of them began to help Ermak with food. Among the allies of the ataman were Alachey, the prince of the largest Khanty principality in the Ob region, the Khanty prince Boyar, the Mansi princes Ishberdey and Suklem from the Yaskalbinsky places. Their help was invaluable for the Cossacks.
Rice. 3.4 Ermak Timofeevich and the oath of Siberian kings to him
After much delay, governor S. Bolkhovsky arrived in Siberia with a detachment of 300 archers, very late. Ermak, burdened by the new noble captives led by Mametkul, hastened to send them immediately, despite the approaching winter, to Moscow with the Streltsy head Kireev. The replenishment did not please the Cossacks much. The archers were poorly trained, they wasted their supplies along the way, and difficult trials lay ahead of them. Winter 1584-1585 in Siberia was very harsh and was especially difficult for the Russians; supplies ran out and famine began. By spring, all the archers, along with Prince Bolkhovsky and a significant part of the Cossacks, died of hunger and cold. In the spring of 1585, Kuchum's dignitary, Murza Karacha, fraudulently lured a detachment of Cossacks led by Ivan Koltso to a feast, and at night, attacking them, he cut them all sleepy. Numerous Karachi detachments kept Kashlyk in a ring, hoping to starve the Cossacks to death. Ermak patiently waited for the moment to strike. Under the cover of night, the Cossacks sent by him, led by Matvey Meshcheryak, secretly made their way to the Karachi headquarters and defeated it. Karachi's two sons were killed in the battle, he himself barely escaped death, and his army fled away from Kashlyk that same day. Ermak won another brilliant victory over numerous enemies. Soon, messengers from Bukhara merchants arrived to Ermak with a request to protect them from the tyranny of Kuchum. Ermak with the rest of the army - about a hundred people - set off on a campaign. The end of the first Siberian expedition is shrouded in a dense veil of legends. On the banks of the Irtysh near the mouth of the Vagai River, where Ermak’s detachment spent the night, they were attacked by Kuchum during a terrible storm and thunderstorm. Ermak assessed the situation and ordered to get into the plows. Meanwhile, the Tatars had already broken into the camp. Ermak was the last to retreat, covering the Cossacks. The Tatar archers fired a cloud of arrows. The arrows pierced the broad chest of Ermak Timofeevich. Swift icy waters The Irtysh swallowed him up forever...
This Siberian expedition lasted three years. Hunger and deprivation, severe frosts, battles and losses - nothing could stop the free Cossacks, break their will to victory. For three years, Ermak’s squad did not know defeat from numerous enemies. In the last night skirmish, the thinned squad retreated, suffering minor losses. But he lost a proven leader. The expedition could not continue without him. Arriving in Kashlyk, Matvey Meshcheryak gathered a Circle, in which the Cossacks decided to go to the Volga for help. Ermak led 540 fighters to Siberia, but only 90 Cossacks survived. With ataman Matvey Meshcheryak they returned to Rus'. Already in 1586, another detachment of Cossacks from the Volga came to Siberia and founded the first Russian city there - Tyumen, which served as the basis for the future Siberian Cossack Army and the beginning of the incredibly sacrificial and heroic Siberian Cossack epic. And thirteen years after the death of Ermak, the tsarist commanders finally defeated Kuchum.
The history of the Siberian expedition was rich in many incredible events. The destinies of people underwent instant and incredible changes, and the zigzags and twists of Moscow politics never cease to amaze even today. The story of Prince Mametkul can serve as a striking example of this. After the death of Ivan the Terrible, the nobility ceased to take into account the orders of the weak-minded Tsar Fedor. The boyars and nobles of the capital started local disputes on any occasion. Everyone demanded higher positions for themselves, citing the “breed” and service of their ancestors. Boris Godunov and Andrei Shchelkalov eventually found a way to bring the nobility to reason. By their order, the Rank Order announced the appointment of serving Tatars to the highest military posts. On the occasion of the expected war with the Swedes, a list of regiments was drawn up. According to this painting, Simeon Bekbulatovich took the post of first governor of a large regiment - commander-in-chief of the field army. The commander of the left-hand regiment was ... “Tsarevich Mametkul of Siberia.” Twice beaten and defeated by Ermak, captured and put in a pit by the Cossacks, Mametkul was treated kindly at the royal court and appointed to one of the highest posts in the Russian army.
The Cossacks are a military class in Russia in the 18th - early 20th centuries, which began to take shape on the southern and southeastern outskirts of the Russian state from freedom-loving peasants who fled from serfdom. Along the banks of the Don, Volga, Dnieper, Terek, Yaik (Ural) free Cossack communities arose, which short term conquered vast areas up to the Black and Caspian seas, Caucasus Mountains. Cossacks also actively participated in the advancement of Russian explorers to Siberia and the Far East.
In the XIV-XVII centuries, free people - city guards and guard Cossacks - served on the Russian borders. In the XV - early XVI centuries. On the Dnieper, Don, Volga, Terek, Yaik, self-governing communities of the so-called free Cossacks (mainly from runaway peasants) arose. These were communities of Don, Volga, Dnieper (Cherkasy), Greben and Yaik Cossacks. In the first half of the 16th century. Zaporozhye Sich arises in the second half of the 16th century. - communities Terek Cossacks and serving Siberian Cossacks. In the middle of the 17th century. On the territory of the eastern part of Ukraine, which was transferred to Russia, the Sloboda Cossacks were formed.
At first, the basis of the economic life of the Cossacks was crafts - hunting, fishing, cattle breeding; from the second half of the 17th century. Agriculture began to spread.
In the XVI-XVII centuries. The main sources of livelihood for the Cossacks were military booty and salaries from the state.
In the 16th - first half of the 17th century Russian government used Cossacks to defend the southern borders, and from the 17th century - as an armed force in wars. At the beginning of the 18th century, Cossack communities were transformed into irregular Cossack troops. In 1721 they came under the jurisdiction of the military department; The election of military atamans and foremen, who began to be appointed by the government, was gradually eliminated.
By the 18th century The Cossacks turned into a special privileged military class.
For service to the state, each Cossack army was assigned the land it occupied, which the army transferred for use to the Cossack villages.
At the beginning of the 20th century. in Russia there were 11 Cossack troops: Don, Kuban, Terek, Astrakhan, Ural, Orenburg, Semirechenskoe, Siberian, Transbaikal, Amur and Ussuri. In addition, there were a small number of Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk Cossacks, who in 1917 formed the Yenisei Cossack Army and the Yakut Cossack Regiment of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
All Cossack troops and regions inhabited by Cossacks were militarily and administratively subordinate to the Main Directorate of Cossack Troops, and since 1910 - Cossack department The main headquarters of the War Ministry, headed by the ataman of all Cossack troops, who from 1827 was the heir to the throne.
At the head of each army was a “mandatory” (appointed) ataman, and with him a military headquarters, which managed the affairs of the army through appointed atamans of departments or district atamans (in the Don and Amur armies). Village and farm atamans were elected at assemblies. All the most important matters were discussed by a general meeting of Cossacks (rada, circle), on the decisions of which the ordinary mass had some influence. The highest manifestation of democracy was and remains the decisions of the Cossacks in the field of internal construction of Cossack societies, the election of their leaders (atamans) with unconditional subordination to the decisions of the majority. What the Great Cossack Circle decided is subject to strict execution by all members of the Cossack society.
The male Cossack population from the age of 18 was obliged to carry military service for 20 years.
The Cossacks have always served their Fatherland faithfully, seeing in this main meaning of its existence. Due to a number of historical and political reasons, they perceived the Fatherland, first of all, as serving the Tsar: the Cossacks entered the service of the Tsar, and not the state in general.
In 1916, in the Russian Empire, the Cossacks numbered 4 million 434 thousand people, of which about 480 thousand were military personnel. National composition Cossacks were heterogeneous: in addition to the Russians who formed its basis, it included Ukrainians, Tatars, Bashkirs, Kalmyks, peoples of the Caucasus, Kazakhs, Buryats, Yakuts and many other peoples of Russia.
Thanks to their combat training and military traditions, Cossack units played a significant role in the wars of Russia in the 18th-19th centuries, especially in the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), the Patriotic War of 1812, the Caucasian War (1817-1864), and the Crimean War (1853-1856). ), Russian-Turkish War (1877-1878).
During the civil war, the Cossacks mainly acted on the side of the white movement, but there were Cossack units and formations that fought on the side of the Soviet regime.
In Soviet Russia, Cossack formations were abolished in 1917. In 1920, the Cossacks were abolished as an estate, and at the same time a policy of “de-Cossackization” was carried out, accompanied by repressions.
In 1936, Don cavalry Cossack units and formations were formed, which fought as part of the Soviet Army during the Great Patriotic War. Patriotic War.
Abolished in 1920, the Cossacks retained their traditions, customs and original culture of their ancestors.
Old men acted as guardians of Cossack customs and traditions, so the veneration of old men among the Cossacks was limitless. Showing disrespect to the elderly was regarded as a betrayal of Cossack ideals and was severely punished by society.
Admiration for elders was reinforced not only by customs, but also by official Cossack laws. The old men did not hold official positions in the structure of Cossack self-government, but they always played a large role in public opinion and had a significant influence on the decisions of village fees.
Younger people never approached older people without prior permission. Even the ataman did not sit down without the permission of the elders, and young people generally had no right to sit down in their presence. In front of the old men, Cossacks of combat age, with shoulder straps, stood at attention, not of combat age and without uniform - having taken off their hats. The orders of the elders were carried out unquestioningly. All old people, including parents, were addressed only as “You”. The younger one, even after marriage, had no right to smoke in front of the older one.
In Cossack families at the table, the eldest in the family had the right to be the first to scoop from a common bowl. Only the owner of the house cut the bread. There were cases when an elderly man could punish adult sons who might already have grandchildren. And if an adult son raised his voice against his father, the latter could file a complaint with the village assembly.
The gathering approved the decision to teach disobedient sons flogging with rods according to the number of years the culprit had lived. The “scientist” stood up and, together with his father, thanked the world for science.
Honoring elders in Cossack society went along with the veneration of children - the successors of the Cossack family. Children, growing up and creating a family, also took care of their offspring and taught them to respect their elders, surrounded the elderly with attention and care.
Violators of this tradition were punished, up to expulsion from Cossack communities and anathematization (at the same time, public flogging of the offender was the lightest of punishments). In Cossack tradition, flogging is prescribed for only three offenses: rape, desertion and theft.
Other methods of influence were inherited from our ancestors, for example, the repeatedly described “cold” (something like a temporary detention center), where brawlers and drunkards were imprisoned. The offender was also sentenced to a fine - public works in full view of the entire village.
Cossacks carefully preserve their traditional songs and folklore. Musicality and choral culture were a natural, distinctive feature of Cossack families. The traditions of Cossack chants are still alive.
The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources
Cossacks
COSSACKS -A; Wed
1. Cossack class.
2. collected Cossacks. K. settled along the Don.
Cossacksmilitary class in Russia in the 18th - early 20th centuries. In the XIV-XVII centuries. free people who worked for hire, persons who performed military service in the border areas (city and guard Cossacks); in the XV-XVI centuries. beyond the borders of Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian state (on the Dnieper, Don, Volga, Ural, Terek), self-governing communities of the so-called free Cossacks (mainly from runaway peasants) arose, which were the main driving force of the uprisings in Ukraine in the 16th-17th centuries. and in Russia in the 17th-18th centuries. The government sought to use the Cossacks to protect borders, in wars, etc. in the 18th century. subjugated it, turning it into a privileged military class. At the beginning of the 20th century. there were 11 Cossack troops (Don, Kuban, Orenburg, Transbaikal, Terek, Siberian, Ural, Astrakhan, Semirechenskoe, Amur and Ussuri). In 1916, the Cossack population was over 4.4 million people, over 53 million acres of land. About 300 thousand people fought in World War I. In 1920, the Cossacks were abolished as a class. In 1936, Don, Kuban and Terek Cossack cavalry formations were created and took part in the Great Patriotic War (disbanded in the second half of the 40s). Since the late 1980s. The revival of traditions, culture and life of the Cossacks began, Cossack organizations appeared.
COSSACKSCOSSACKS, ethnic, social and historical community (group), united by virtue of its specific features all Cossacks, primarily Russians, as well as Ukrainians, Kalmyks, Buryats, Bashkirs, Tatars, Evenks, Ossetians, etc., as separate subethnic groups of their peoples into a single whole. Until 1917, Russian legislation considered the Cossacks as a special military class that had privileges for performing compulsory service. The Cossacks were also defined as a separate ethnic group, an independent nationality (the fourth branch of the Eastern Slavs) or even as a special nation of mixed Turkic-Slavic origin. Latest version
was intensively developed in the 20th century by Cossack emigrant historians.
Origin of the Cossacks, life, culture, ideology, ethnopsychic structure, behavioral stereotypes, folklore of the Cossacks have always been noticeably different from the practices established in other regions of Russia. The Cossacks originated in the 14th century in the uninhabited steppe spaces between Muscovite Russia, Lithuania, Poland and the Tatar khanates. Its formation, which began after the collapse of the Golden Horde (cm. GOLDEN HORDE), took place in constant struggle with numerous enemies far from developed cultural centers. About the first pages Cossack history no reliable records have survived written sources. Many researchers tried to find the origins of the Cossacks in the national roots of the ancestors of the Cossacks among the most different nations(Scythians, Polovtsians, Khazars (cm. KHAZARS), Alan (cm. ALANS), Kyrgyz, Tatars, Mountain Circassians, Kasogs (cm. KASOGI), brodniks (cm. BRODNIKI), black hoods (cm. BLACK hoods), torques (cm. TORQUAY (people)) etc.) or considered the original Cossack military community as the result of genetic connections 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 constant presence of the Slavs in the regions that became the cradle of the Cossacks. The original concept was put forward by the emigrant historian A. A. Gordeev, who believed that the ancestors of the Cossacks were the Russian population of the Golden Horde, settled by the Tatar-Mongols in the future Cossack territories. The long-dominant official point of view that Cossack communities arose 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 confirmed by serious sources. The question of the origin of the Cossacks still remains open.
There is no unanimity among scientists on the question of the origin of the word “Cossack” (“Kozak” in Ukrainian). Attempts were made to derive this word from the name of the peoples who once lived near the Dnieper and Don (Kasogi, Kh(k)azars), from the self-name of modern Kyrgyz people - Kaysaks. There were other etymological versions: from the Turkish “kaz” (i.e. goose), from the Mongolian “ko” (armor, protection) and “zakh” (frontier). Most experts agree that the word “Cossacks” came from the east and has Turkic roots. In Russian, this word, first mentioned in Russian chronicles in 1444, originally meant homeless and free soldiers who entered service to fulfill military obligations.
History of the Cossacks
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. In Ukraine, the free Cossacks were represented by the Zaporozhye Sich (cm. ZAPORIZHIA SECH)(existed until 1775), and the service ones were “registered” Cossacks who received a salary for their service in the Polish-Lithuanian state. Russian service Cossacks (city, regimental and guard) were used to protect abatis and cities, receiving a salary and land for life in return. 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 the emergence of the free Cossacks were the coasts 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.” Great value war played a role in the life of the Cossack communities: they were in constant military confrontation with hostile and warlike nomadic neighbors, therefore one of the most important sources of livelihood for them was military booty (as a result of campaigns “for zipuns and yasyr” in the Crimea, Turkey, Persia, 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 (cm. DUVAN).
The main feature of Cossack social life was military organization with an electoral 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 (cm. MILITARY CIRCLE), or Radakh, which were higher authorities management. The main executive power belonged to the annually replaced military (koshevoy) (cm. KOSHEVY ATAMAN) in Zaporozhye) ataman. During military operations, a marching ataman was elected, whose obedience was unquestioning.
Diplomatic relations with the Russian state were supported by sending winter migrants to Moscow (cm. WINTER STATION) and light villages (embassies) with an appointed chieftain. 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 most strong point. In addition, the Cossack Troops were interested in receiving monetary and military assistance. Cossack territories fulfilled important role buffers on the southern and eastern borders of the Russian state, protected it from the attacks of 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 (cm. AMBASSADOR'S ORDER), 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 side, 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 courageous people from Russian lands. Russia’s fears turned out to be far from unfounded - throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, the Cossacks were at the forefront of powerful anti-government protests, and the leaders of Cossack-peasant uprisings emerged from its ranks - Stepan Razin (cm. RAZIN Stepan Timofeevich), Kondraty Bulavin (cm. BULAVIN Kondraty Afanasyevich), Emelyan Pugachev (cm. PUGACHEV Emelyan Ivanovich). The role of the Cossacks was great during the events of the Time of Troubles (cm. TIME OF TROUBLES) at the beginning of the 17th century. Supporting False Dmitry I (cm. FALSE DMITRY I), they made up a significant part of his military detachments. Later free Russian and Ukrainian Cossacks, as well as Russian service Cossacks took an active part in the camp of the most different 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 Mikhail Fedorovich (cm. MIKHAIL Fedorovich) Romanova. The ambiguous role played by the Cossacks during the Time of Troubles forced the government in the 17th century to pursue a policy of sharply reducing the 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 citizens. With the inclusion of the southeastern territories into Russia, the Cossacks remained only a special part 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 of the administrative system of the Russian Empire.
Since 1721, Cossack units were under the jurisdiction of the Cossack expedition of the Military Collegium (cm. MILITARY COLLEGE). In the same year Peter I (cm. PETER I the Great) 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 (cm. PAVEL I Petrovich) 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.
The role of the Cossacks in the history of Russia
For centuries, the Cossacks were a universal branch of the armed forces. They said about the Cossacks that they were born in the saddle. At all times, they were considered excellent riders who had no equal in the art of horse riding. Military experts assessed the Cossack cavalry as the best light cavalry in the world. Military glory Cossacks fortified themselves on the battlefields of the Northern (cm. NORTHERN WAR 1700-1721) and the Seven Years' War (cm. SEVEN YEARS' WAR), during the Italian (cm. ITALIAN CAMPAIGN OF SUVOROV) and Swiss campaigns of A.V. Suvorov (cm. SUVOROV'S SWISS CAMPAIGN) in 1799. The Cossack regiments especially distinguished themselves in the Napoleonic era. Headed by legendary chieftain M. I. Platov (cm. PLATOV Matvey Ivanovich) 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 (cm. ERMOLOV Alexey Petrovich), “The Cossacks became the surprise of Europe.”
Not a single Russian-Turkish war of the 18th-19th centuries could have happened without Cossack sabers; they took part in the conquest of the Caucasus, the conquest of Central Asia, and the development of Siberia and the Far East. The successes of the Cossack cavalry were explained by the skillful use in battles of ancient tactical techniques that were not regulated by any regulations: lava (enveloping the enemy in a loose formation), an original system of reconnaissance and guard service, etc. These Cossack “turns” inherited from the steppe people turned out to be especially effective and unexpected in clashes with armies European countries.
“For this reason, a Cossack is born so that he can be useful to the Tsar in the service,” says an old Cossack proverb. His service under the law of 1875 lasted 20 years, starting at the age of 18: 3 years in the preparatory ranks, 4 in active service, 8 years on benefits and 5 in the reserve. Each one came to duty with his own uniform, equipment, bladed weapons and riding horse. For preparation and carrying military service answered the Cossack community (stanitsa). The service itself, a special type of self-government and the land use system, 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, allocated to the Cossack army the land conquered by the blood of their ancestors on the basis of collective (community) ownership. The army, leaving some for military reserves, divided the received land between the villages. The village community, on behalf of the army, periodically redistributed land shares (ranging from 10 to 50 dessiatines). For the use of the plot and exemption from taxes, the Cossack was obliged to perform military service. The army also allocated land plots to Cossack nobles (the share depended on the officer rank) as hereditary property, but these plots could not be sold to persons of non-military origin. In the 19th century, the main economic occupation of the Cossacks became agriculture, although different troops had their own characteristics and preferences, for example, the intensive development of fishing as the main industry in the Ural, as well as in the Don and Ussuri Troops, hunting in the Siberian, winemaking and gardening in the Caucasus, Don .
Cossacks in the 20th century
At the end of the 19th century, projects for the liquidation of the Cossacks were discussed within the tsarist administration. On the eve of the First World War (cm. FIRST WORLD WAR 1914-18) in Russia there were 11 Cossack Troops: Don (1.6 million), Kuban (1.3 million), Terek (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 regiment. They occupied 65 million dessiatines of land with a population of 4.4 million people. (2.4% of the Russian population), including 480 thousand service personnel. Among the Cossacks in nationally Russians predominated (78%), Ukrainians were in second place (17%), Buryats were in third (2%). The majority of Cossacks professed Orthodoxy, there was a large percentage of Old Believers (especially in the Ural, Terek, Don Troops), and national minorities professed Buddhism and Islam.
More than 300 thousand Cossacks took part on the battlefields of the First World War (164 cavalry regiments, 30 foot battalions, 78 batteries, 175 separate hundreds, 78 fifty, not counting auxiliary and spare parts). The war showed the ineffectiveness of using large masses of cavalry (Cossacks made up 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 ones formed from Cossack volunteers. partisan detachments, who successfully operated behind enemy lines while carrying out sabotage and reconnaissance missions. Cossacks as a significant military and social force participated in the Civil War (cm. CIVIL WAR in Russia).
The combat experience and professional military training of the Cossacks was again used to solve acute internal problems. social conflicts. By the decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of November 17, 1917, the Cossacks as a class and Cossack formations were formally abolished. During the Civil War, 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 Volunteer Army (cm. VOLUNTEER ARMY) in the fight against Bolshevism. The Cossacks were pushed to this by the Reds’ policy of decossackization ( mass shootings, taking hostages, burning villages, inciting non-residents 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 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) declared unacceptable “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 subject to restrictions on their rights, in particular, the ban on serving in the Red Army was lifted only in 1936, when several Cossack units were created cavalry divisions(and then corps), which performed well during the Great Patriotic War. Since 1942, Hitler's command also formed units of Russian Cossacks (15th Wehrmacht Corps, 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 handed over the disarmed Cossacks and members of their families (about 30 thousand people) 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 birth to the modern Cossack movement. Initially (in 1988-1989) it arose 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 cultural and ethnographic boundaries, began to become politicized. The intensive creation of Cossack organizations and unions began, both in places of former compact residence and in large cities, where a large number of descendants escaping political repression settled during the Soviet period. The massive scale of the movement, as well as the participation of paramilitary Cossack detachments in conflicts in Yugoslavia, Transnistria, Ossetia, Abkhazia, and Chechnya, forced government structures and local authorities to pay attention to the problems of the Cossacks. Further growth Cossack movement contributed to the resolution of the Supreme Council 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 Cossack Troops was created, and a number of measures to create regular Cossack units were taken by the power ministries (Ministry of Internal Affairs, Border Troops, Ministry of Defense).
encyclopedic Dictionary. 2009 .
Synonyms:Exercise 6. Switching attention . The teacher gives commands:
visual attention - object is far away (door),
COSSACKS: ORIGIN, HISTORY, ROLE IN THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA.
The Cossacks are an ethnic, social and historical community (group), which, due to their specific characteristics, united all Cossacks, primarily Russians, as well as Ukrainians, Kalmyks, Buryats, Bashkirs, Tatars, Evenks, Ossetians, etc., as separate subethnic groups of their peoples into a single whole. Until 1917, Russian legislation considered the Cossacks as a special military class that had privileges for performing compulsory service. The Cossacks were also defined as a separate ethnic group, 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 emigrant historians.
was intensively developed in the 20th century by Cossack emigrant historians.
The social organization, life, culture, ideology, ethnopsychic structure, behavioral stereotypes, and folklore of the Cossacks have always been noticeably different from the practices established in other regions of Russia. The Cossacks originated in the 14th century in the uninhabited steppe spaces between Muscovite Russia, Lithuania, Poland and the Tatar khanates. Its formation, which began after the collapse of the Golden Horde, took place in constant struggle with numerous enemies far from developed cultural centers. There are no reliable written sources preserved about 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 a variety of peoples (Scythians, Cumans, Khazars, Alans, Kyrgyz, Tatars, Mountain Circassians, Kasogs, Brodniks, Black Klobuks, Torks, etc.) or considered the original Cossack military community as a result of genetic connections 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 constant presence of the Slavs in the regions that became the cradle of the Cossacks. The original concept was put forward by the emigrant historian A. A. Gordeev, who believed that the ancestors of the Cossacks were the Russian population of the Golden Horde, settled by the Tatars - the Mongols in the future Cossack territories. The long-dominant official point of view that Cossack communities arose 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 confirmed by serious sources. The question of the origin of the Cossacks still remains open.
There is no unanimity among scientists on the question of the origin of the word “Cossack” (“Kozak” in Ukrainian). Attempts were made to derive this word from the name of the peoples who once lived near the Dnieper and Don (Kasogi, Kh(k)azars), from the self-name of modern Kyrgyz people - Kaysaks. There were other etymological versions: from the Turkish “kaz” (i.e. goose), from the Mongolian “ko” (armor, protection) and “zakh” (frontier). Most experts agree that the word “Cossacks” came from the east and has Turkic roots. In Russian, this word, first mentioned in Russian chronicles in 1444, originally meant homeless and free soldiers who entered service to fulfill military obligations.
History of the Cossacks
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. In Ukraine, the free Cossacks were represented by the Zaporozhye Sich (lasted until 1775), and the service ones were represented by “registered” Cossacks who received a salary for their service in the Polish-Lithuanian state. Russian service Cossacks (city, regimental and guard) were used to protect abatis and cities, receiving a salary and land for life in return. 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. The 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 courageous 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. The ambiguous role played by the Cossacks during the Time of Troubles forced the government in the 17th century to pursue a policy of sharply reducing the 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 of the administrative system of the 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.
The role of the Cossacks in the history of Russia
For centuries, the Cossacks were a universal branch of the armed forces. They said about the Cossacks that they were born in the saddle. At all times, they were considered excellent riders who had no equal in the art of horse riding. Military experts assessed the Cossack cavalry as the best light cavalry in the world. The military glory of the Cossacks was strengthened on the battlefields of the Northern and Seven Years' Wars, during the Italian and Swiss campaigns of A. V. Suvorov in 1799. The Cossack regiments especially distinguished themselves 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 18th-19th centuries could have happened without Cossack sabers; they took part in the conquest of the Caucasus, the conquest of Central Asia, and the development of Siberia and the Far East. The successes of the Cossack cavalry were explained by the skillful use in battles of ancient tactical techniques that were not regulated by any regulations: lava (enveloping the enemy in a loose formation), an original system of reconnaissance and guard service, etc. These Cossack “turns” inherited from the steppe people turned out to be especially effective and unexpected in clashes with armies European states. “For this reason, a Cossack is born so that he can be useful to the Tsar in the service,” says an old Cossack proverb. His service under the law of 1875 lasted 20 years, starting at the age of 18: 3 years in the preparatory ranks, 4 in active service, 8 years on benefits and 5 in the reserve. Each one came to duty with his own uniform, equipment, bladed weapons and riding horse. The Cossack community (stanitsa) was responsible for the preparation and performance of military service. The service itself, a special type of self-government and the land use system, 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, allocated to the Cossack army the land conquered by the blood of their ancestors on the basis of collective (community) ownership. The army, leaving some for military reserves, divided the received land between the villages. The village community, on behalf of the army, periodically redistributed land shares (ranging from 10 to 50 dessiatines). For the use of the plot and exemption from taxes, the Cossack was obliged to perform military service. The army also allocated land plots to Cossack nobles (the share depended on the officer rank) as hereditary property, but these plots could not be sold to persons of non-military origin. In the 19th century, the main economic occupation of the Cossacks became agriculture, although different troops had their own characteristics and preferences, for example, the intensive development of fishing as the main industry in the Ural, as well as in the Don and Ussuri Troops, hunting in the Siberian, winemaking and gardening in the Caucasus, Don etc.
Cossacks in the 20th century
At the end of the 19th century, projects for the liquidation of the Cossacks were discussed within the tsarist administration. On the eve of the First World War, there were 11 Cossack Troops in Russia: Don (1.6 million), Kuban (1.3 million), Terek (260 thousand), Astrakhan (40 thousand), Ural (174 thousand), Orenburg (533 thousand), Siberian (172 thousand), Semirechenskoye (45 thousand), Transbaikal (264 thousand), Amur (50 thousand), Ussuriysk (35 thousand) and two separate Cossack regiments. They occupied 65 million dessiatines of land with a population of 4.4 million people. (2.4% of the Russian population), including 480 thousand service personnel. Among the Cossacks, Russians predominated in national terms (78%), Ukrainians were in second place (17%), Buryats were in third (2%). The majority of Cossacks professed Orthodoxy, there was a large percentage of Old Believers (especially in the Ural, Terek, Don Troops), and national minorities professed Buddhism and Islam.
More than 300 thousand Cossacks took part on the battlefields of the First World War (164 cavalry regiments, 30 foot battalions, 78 batteries, 175 separate hundreds, 78 fifty, not counting auxiliary and spare parts). The war showed the ineffectiveness of using large masses of cavalry (Cossacks made up 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, which successfully operated behind enemy lines while carrying out sabotage and reconnaissance missions. The Cossacks, as a significant military and social force, participated in the Civil War. The combat experience and professional military training of the Cossacks were again used to resolve acute internal social conflicts. By the decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of November 17, 1917, the Cossacks as a class and Cossack formations were formally abolished. During the Civil War, 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 pushed to this by the Reds' policy of decossackization (mass executions, hostage-taking, burning of villages, pitting 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 found themselves 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) declared unacceptable “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 subject to restrictions in their rights, in particular, the ban on serving in the Red Army was lifted only in 1936, when several Cossack cavalry divisions (and then corps) were created, which performed well during the Great Patriotic War. Patriotic War. Since 1942, Hitler's command also formed units of Russian Cossacks (15th Wehrmacht Corps, 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 handed over the disarmed Cossacks and members of their families (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 birth to the modern Cossack movement. Initially (in 1988-1989) it arose 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 cultural and ethnographic boundaries, began to become politicized. The intensive creation of Cossack organizations and unions began, both in places of former compact residence and in large cities, where a large number of descendants escaping political repression settled during the Soviet period. The massive scale of the movement, as well as the participation of paramilitary Cossack detachments in conflicts in Yugoslavia, Transnistria, Ossetia, Abkhazia, and 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 Council 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 Cossack Troops was created, and a number of measures to create regular Cossack units were taken by the power ministries (Ministry of Internal Affairs, Border Troops, Ministry of Defense).
In the development of any nation, moments arose when a certain ethnic group separated and thereby created a separate cultural layer. In some cases such cultural elements coexisted peacefully with their nation and the world as a whole, in others they fought for an equal place in the sun. An example of such a warlike ethnic group can be considered such a stratum of society as the Cossacks. Representatives of this cultural group have always been distinguished by a special worldview and very keen religiosity. Today, scientists cannot figure out whether this ethnic stratum is Slavic people a separate nation. The history of the Cossacks dates back to the distant 15th century, when the states of Europe were mired in internecine wars and dynastic revolutions.
Etymology of the word "Cossack"
Many modern people have general idea that a Cossack is a warrior or a type of warrior who lived in a certain historical period and fought for their freedom. However, such an interpretation is quite dry and far from the truth, if we also take into account the etymology of the term “Cossack”. There are several main theories about the origin of this word, for example:
Turkic (“Cossack” is a free person);
The word comes from obliques;
Turkish (“Kaz”, “Cossack” means “goose”);
The word comes from the term "kozars";
Mongolian theory;
The Turkestan theory is that this is the name of nomadic tribes;
In the Tatar language, “Cossack” is a vanguard warrior in the army.
There are other theories, each of which explains this word in completely different ways, but the most rational grain of all definitions can be identified. The most common theory says that a Cossack was a free man, but armed, ready for attack and battle.
Historical origin
The history of the Cossacks begins in the 15th century, namely in 1489 - the moment the term “Cossack” was first mentioned. The historical homeland of the Cossacks is Eastern Europe, or rather, the territory of the so-called wild field(modern Ukraine). It should be noted that in the 15th century the named territory was neutral and did not belong to either the Russian Kingdom or Poland.
Basically, the territory of the “Wild Field” was subject to constant raids. The gradual settlement of immigrants from both Poland and the Russian Kingdom into these lands influenced the development of a new class - the Cossacks. In fact, the history of the Cossacks begins from the moment when ordinary people, peasants, begin to settle in the lands of the Wild Field, while creating their own self-governing military formations in order to fend off the raids of the Tatars and other nationalities. Already by early XVI centuries, Cossack regiments turned into a powerful military force that created great difficulties neighboring states.
Creation of the Zaporozhye Sich
According to historical data that are known today, the first attempt at self-organization by the Cossacks was made in 1552 by the Volyn prince Vishnevetsky, better known as Baida.
He created at his own expense military base, Zaporozhye Sich, which was located on it. The whole life of the Cossacks took place on it. The location was strategically convenient, since the Sich blocked the passage of the Tatars from the Crimea, and was also located in close proximity to the Polish border. Moreover, the territorial location on the island created great difficulties for the assault on the Sich. The Khortytsia Sich did not last long, because it was destroyed in 1557, but until 1775, similar fortifications were built according to the same type - on river islands.
Attempts to subjugate the Cossacks
In 1569, a new Lithuanian-Polish state was formed - the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Naturally, this long-awaited union was very important for both Poland and Lithuania, and the free Cossacks on the borders of the new state acted contrary to the interests of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Of course, such fortifications served as an excellent shield against Tatar raids, but they were completely uncontrolled and did not take into account the authority of the crown. Thus, in 1572, the king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth issued a universal, which regulated the hiring of 300 Cossacks for the service of the crown. They were recorded in a list, a register, which determined their name - registered Cossacks. Such units were always in full combat readiness in order to quickly repel Tatar raids on the borders of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, as well as suppress periodic uprisings of peasants.
Cossack uprisings for religious-national independence
From 1583 to 1657, some Cossack leaders raised uprisings in order to free themselves from the influence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and other states that were trying to subjugate the lands of the yet unformed Ukraine.
The strongest desire for independence began to manifest itself among the Cossack class after 1620, when Hetman Sagaidachny, together with all Zaporizhian army joined the Kiev Brotherhood. Such an action marked the cohesion of Cossack traditions with the Orthodox faith.
From that moment on, the battles of the Cossacks were not only liberating, but also religious in nature. Increasing tension between the Cossacks and Poland led to the famous national liberation war of 1648 - 1654, led by Bohdan Khmelnytsky. In addition, no less significant uprisings should be highlighted, namely: the uprising of Nalivaiko, Kosinsky, Sulima, Pavlyuk and others.
Decossackization during the Russian Empire
After the unsuccessful national liberation war in the 17th century, as well as the outbreak of unrest military power Cossacks was significantly undermined. In addition, the Cossacks lost support from the Russian Empire after going over to the side of Sweden in the battle of Poltava, in which the Cossack army was led by
As a result of this sequence historical events In the 18th century, a dynamic process of decossackization began, which reached its peak during the time of Empress Catherine II. In 1775, the Zaporozhye Sich was liquidated. However, the Cossacks were given a choice: to go their own way (live an ordinary peasant life) or join the hussars, which many took advantage of. Nevertheless, there remained a significant part Cossack army(about 12,000 people), which did not accept the offer of the Russian Empire. To ensure the former safety of the borders, as well as to somehow legitimize the “Cossack remnants,” the Black Sea Cossack Army was created in 1790 on the initiative of Alexander Suvorov.
Kuban Cossacks
The Kuban Cossacks, or Russian Cossacks, appeared in 1860. It was formed from several military Cossack formations that existed at that time. After several periods of decossackization, these military formations became a professional part of the armed forces of the Russian Empire.
The Kuban Cossacks were based in the North Caucasus region (the territory of modern Krasnodar region). The basis of the Kuban Cossacks was the Black Sea Cossack army and the Caucasian Cossack army, which was abolished due to the end Caucasian war. This military formation was created as a border force to control the situation in the Caucasus.
The war in this territory was over, but stability was constantly under threat. Russian Cossacks became an excellent buffer between the Caucasus and the Russian Empire. In addition, representatives of this army were involved during the Great Patriotic War. Today, the life of the Kuban Cossacks, their traditions and culture have been preserved thanks to the formed Kuban Military Cossack Society.
Don Cossacks
The Don Cossacks are the most ancient Cossack culture, which arose in parallel with the Zaporozhye Cossacks in the middle of the 15th century. Don Cossacks were located in the Rostov, Volgograd, Lugansk and Donetsk regions. The name of the army is historically associated with the Don River. The main difference between the Don Cossacks and other Cossack formations is that it developed not just as a military unit, but as an ethnic group with its own cultural characteristics.
The Don Cossacks actively collaborated with the Zaporozhye Cossacks in many battles. During October revolution the Don army founded its own state, but the centralization of the “White Movement” on its territory led to defeat and subsequent repressions. It follows that a Don Cossack is a person who belongs to a special social formation based on the ethnic factor. The culture of the Don Cossacks has been preserved in our time. On the territory of the modern Russian Federation there are about 140 thousand people who record their nationality as “Cossacks”.
The role of the Cossacks in world culture
Today, the history, life of the Cossacks, their military traditions and culture are actively studied by scientists all over the world. Undoubtedly, the Cossacks are not just military formations, but a separate ethnic group that has been building its own special culture for several centuries in a row. Modern historians are working to reconstruct the smallest fragments of the history of the Cossacks in order to perpetuate the memory of this great source of a special Eastern European culture.
