Who are the Cossacks in history? Cossacks and Russia - everything you need to know

Cossacks are not some special nationality, they are the same Russian people, however, with their own historical roots and traditions.

The word "Cossack" is of Turkic origin and figuratively means "free man". In Rus', Cossacks were the name given to free people living on the outskirts of the state. As a rule, in the past these were runaway serfs, serfs and the urban poor.

People were forced to leave their homes by their lack of rights, poverty, and serfdom. These fugitives were called "walking" people. The government, with the help of special detectives, tried to find those who had gone on the run, punish them and return them to their old place of residence. However, mass escapes did not stop, and gradually entire free regions with their own Cossack administration arose on the outskirts of Rus'. The first settlements of settled fugitives formed on the Don, Yaik and Zaporozhye. The government eventually had to come to terms with the existence of a special class - the Cossacks - and try to put it at its service.

Most of the “walking” people went to the free Don, where the indigenous Cossacks began to settle in the 15th century. There were no duties, no compulsory service, no governor. The Cossacks had their own elected government. They were divided into hundreds and tens, led by centurions and tens. To resolve public issues, the Cossacks gathered in meetings, which they called “circles.” At the head of this free class was a chieftain elected by the circle, who had an assistant - the captain. The Cossacks recognized the power of the Moscow government, were considered to be in its service, but were not distinguished by great loyalty and often participated in peasant uprisings.

In the 16th century there were already many Cossack settlements, whose inhabitants, in accordance with geographical principle were called Cossacks: Zaporozhye, Don, Yaitsky, Grebensky, Terek, etc.

In the 18th century, the government transformed the Cossacks into a closed military class, which was obliged to carry military service V common system armed forces Russian Empire. First of all, the Cossacks had to guard the borders of the country - where they lived. In order for the Cossacks to remain faithful to the autocracy, the government endowed the Cossacks with special benefits and privileges. The Cossacks were proud of their position; they developed their own customs and traditions that were passed on from generation to generation. They considered themselves a special people, and called residents of other regions of Russia “nonresidents.” This continued until 1917.

The Soviet government put an end to the privileges of the Cossacks and eliminated isolated Cossack regions. Many of the Cossacks were subjected to repression. The state did everything to destroy centuries-old traditions. But it could not completely make people forget about their past. Currently, the traditions of the Russian Cossacks are being revived.

Bubnov - Taras Bulba

In 1907, an argot dictionary was published in France, in which the following aphorism was given in the article “Russian”: “Scratch a Russian and you will find a Cossack, scratch a Cossack and you will find a bear.”

This aphorism is attributed to Napoleon himself, who actually described the Russians as barbarians and identified them as such with the Cossacks - as did many French, who could call hussars, Kalmyks or Bashkirs Cossacks. In some cases, this word could even become synonymous with light cavalry.

How little we know about the Cossacks.

In a narrow sense, the image of a Cossack is inextricably linked with the image of brave and freedom-loving men with a stern warlike look, an earring in the left ear, a long mustache and a hat on their head. And this is more than reliable, but not enough. Meanwhile, the history of the Cossacks is very unique and interesting. And in this article we will try to very superficially, but at the same time meaningfully understand and understand - who the Cossacks are, what is their peculiarity and uniqueness, and how much the history of Russia is inextricably linked with the original culture and history of the Cossacks.

Today it is very difficult to understand the theories of the origin of not only the Cossacks, but also the word-term “Cossack” itself. Researchers, scientists and experts today cannot give a definite and accurate answer - who the Cossacks are and from whom they came.

But at the same time, there are many more or less probable theories and versions of the origin of the Cossacks. Today there are more than 18 of them - and that's just official versions. Each of them has many convincing scientific arguments, advantages and disadvantages.

However, all theories are divided into two main groups:

• theory of the fugitive (migration) emergence of the Cossacks.
• autochthonous, that is, local, indigenous origin of the Cossacks.

According to autochthonous theories, the ancestors of the Cossacks lived in Kabarda and were descendants of the Caucasian Circassians (Cherkasy, Yasy). This theory of the origin of the Cossacks is also called Eastern. This is what they took as the basis for their evidence base some of the most famous Russian historians, orientalists and ethnologists are V. Shambarov and L. Gumilyov.

In their opinion, the Cossacks arose through the merger of the Kasogs and Brodniks after the Mongol-Tatar invasion. Kasogi (kasahi, kasaki, ka-azat) - ancient Circassian people, who inhabited the territory of the lower Kuban in the 10th-14th centuries, and the Brodniks are a mixed people of Turkic-Slavic origin who absorbed the remains of the Bulgars, Slavs, and also, possibly, the steppe Oguzes.

Dean of the Faculty of History of Moscow State University S. P. Karpov, working in the archives of Venice and Genoa, I found there references to Cossacks with Turkic and Armenian names who protected from raids medieval city Tana* and other Italian colonies in the Northern Black Sea region.

*Tana- a medieval city on the left bank of the Don, in the area of ​​​​the modern city of Azov ( Rostov region RF). Existed in the XII-XV centuries under the rule of the Italian trading republic of Genoa.

Some of the first mentions of the Cossacks, according to the eastern version, are reflected in the legend, the author of which was the Bishop of Russia Orthodox Church Stefan Jaworski (1692):

“In 1380, the Cossacks presented Dmitry Donskoy with an icon of the Don Mother of God and took part in the battle against Mamai on the Kulikovo Field.”

According to migration theories, the ancestors of the Cossacks are freedom-loving Russian people who fled beyond the borders of the Russian and Polish-Lithuanian states either due to natural historical reasons or under the influence of social antagonisms.

The German historian G. Steckl points out that“The first Russian Cossacks were baptized and Russified Tatar Cossacks, since until the end of the 15th century. all the Cossacks who lived both in the steppes and in the Slavic lands could only be Tatars. Crucial For the formation of the Russian Cossacks, the Tatar Cossacks had the influence on the borderlands of Russian lands. The influence of the Tatars was manifested in everything - in the way of life, military operations, methods of struggle for existence in the conditions of the steppe. It even extended to the spiritual life and appearance of the Russian Cossacks.”

And the historian Karamzin advocated a mixed version of the origin of the Cossacks:

“The Cossacks were not only in Ukraine, where their name became known in history around 1517; but it is likely that in Russia it is older than Batu’s invasion and belonged to the Torks and Berendeys, who lived on the banks of the Dnieper, below Kyiv. There we find the first dwelling of the Little Russian Cossacks. Torki and Berendey were called Cherkasy: Cossacks - also... some of them, not wanting to submit to either the Moguls or Lithuania, lived as free people on the islands of the Dnieper, fenced by rocks, impenetrable reeds and swamps; lured to themselves many Russians who fled oppression; mixed with them and, under the name Komkov, formed one people, which became completely Russian, all the more easily because their ancestors, having lived in the Kyiv region since the tenth century, were already almost Russian themselves. Multiplying more and more in number, nourishing the spirit of independence and brotherhood, the Cossacks formed a military Christian Republic in southern countries Dnieper, they began to build villages and fortresses in these places devastated by the Tatars; undertook to be defenders of the Lithuanian possessions on the part of the Crimeans and Turks and gained the special patronage of Sigismund I, who gave them many civil liberties along with the lands above the Dnieper rapids, where the city of Cherkassy was named after them..."

I would not like to go into details, listing all the official and unofficial versions of the origin of the Cossacks. Firstly, it’s long and not always interesting. Secondly, most theories are only versions, hypotheses. There is no clear answer about the origin and origin of the Cossacks as a distinctive ethnic group. It is important to understand something else - the process of formation of the Cossacks was long and complex, and it is obvious that at its core representatives of different ethnic groups were mixed. And it’s hard to disagree with Karamzin.

Some orientalist historians believe that the ancestors of the Cossacks were Tatars, and that supposedly the first detachments of Cossacks fought on the side against Rus' in the Battle of Kulikovo. Others, on the contrary, argue that the Cossacks were already on the side of Rus' at that time. Some refer to legends and myths about bands of Cossacks - robbers, whose main trade was robbery, robbery, theft...

For example, the satirist Zadornov, explaining the origin of the well-known children’s yard game “Cossacks-robbers,” refers to “unbridled by the free character of the Cossack class, which was “the most violent, uneducable Russian class.”

It’s hard to believe this, because in the memory of my childhood, each of the boys preferred to play for the Cossacks. And the name of the game is taken from life, since its rules imitate reality: in Tsarist Russia Cossacks were people's self-defense, guarding civilian population from raids by robbers.

It is possible that the original basis of the early Cossack groups contained various ethnic elements. But for contemporaries, the Cossacks evoke something native, Russian. I remember the famous speech of Taras Bulba:

The first Cossack communities

It is known that the first Cossack communities began to form back in the 15th century (although some sources refer to an earlier time). These were communities of free Don, Dnieper, Volga and Greben Cossacks.

A little later, in the 1st half of the 16th century, the Zaporozhye Sich was formed. In the 2nd half of the same century - communities of free Terek and Yaik, and at the end of the century - Siberian Cossacks.

On early stages existence of the Cossacks by their main types economic activity were trades (hunting, fishing, beekeeping), later cattle breeding, and from the 2nd half. 17th century - agriculture. War booty played a major role, and later government salaries. Through military and economic colonization, the Cossacks quickly mastered the vast expanses of the Wild Field, then the outskirts of Russia and Ukraine.

In the XVI-XVII centuries. Cossacks led by Ermak Timofeevich, V.D. Poyarkov, V.V. Atlasov, S.I. Dezhnev, E.P. Khabarov and other explorers participated in the successful development of Siberia and Far East. Perhaps these are the most famous firsts reliable references to the Cossacks, beyond doubt.

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IN Russian history Cossacks – unique phenomenon. This is a society that became one of the reasons that allowed the Russian Empire to grow to such enormous proportions, and most importantly, to secure new lands, turning them into full-fledged components of one great country.

There are so many hypotheses about the term “Cossacks” that it becomes clear that its origin is unknown, and it is useless to argue about it without the emergence of new data. Another debate that Cossack researchers are having is whether they are a separate ethnic group or part of the Russian people? Speculation on this topic is beneficial to the enemies of Russia, who dream of its division into many small states, and therefore are constantly fed from the outside.

History of the emergence and spread of the Cossacks

In the post-perestroika years, the country was flooded with translations of foreign children's literature, and in American children's books on geography, Russians were surprised to discover that on maps of Russia there was a huge region - Cossackia. There lived a “special people” - the Cossacks.

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

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

Also in the chronicle of 1444, “The Tale of Mustafa Tsarevich,” the Ryazan Cossacks are mentioned, who fought with the Ryazanians and Muscovites against this Tatar prince. In this case, they are positioned as guards of either the city of Ryazan, or the borders of the Ryazan principality, and came to the aid of the princely squad.

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

Free Cossacks led by atamans

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

Having formed squads and chosen atamans, they fought, either for or against those with whom they neighbored. Gradually the Zaporozhye Sich was formed. Its whole history is participation in all wars in the region, constant uprisings, concluding treaties with neighbors and breaking them. The faith of the Cossacks of this region was a strange mixture of Christianity and paganism. They were Orthodox and, at the same time, extremely superstitious - they believed in sorcerers (who were highly respected), omens, the evil eye, etc.

They were calmed down (and not immediately) by the heavy hand of the Russian Empire, which already in the 19th century formed the Azov Cossack Army from the Cossacks, which mainly guarded the Caucasian coast, and managed to show itself in the Crimean War, where the plastuns - scouts of their troops showed amazing dexterity and prowess .

Few people now remember about plastuns, but comfortable and sharp plastun knives are still popular and can be purchased today in Ali Askerov’s store - kavkazsuvenir.ru.

In 1860, the resettlement of the Cossacks to the Kuban began, where, after joining with others Cossack regiments from them the Kuban Cossack army was created. Another free army, the Don Army, was formed in approximately the same way. It was first mentioned in a complaint sent to Tsar Ivan the Terrible by the Nogai prince Yusuf, outraged by the fact that the Don people “did the cities” and his people were “guarded, taken away, beaten to death.”

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

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

Attraction to government service

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

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

They built villages, cultivated the land, defended territories from neighbors who did not want to live peacefully or from aborigines who were dissatisfied with the annexation. They lived peacefully with the civilians, partially adopting their customs, clothing, language, cuisine and music. This led to the fact that the clothes of the Cossacks different regions Russia is seriously different; the dialect, customs and songs are also different.

Most shining example This is due to the Cossacks of the Kuban and Terek, who quite quickly adopted from the peoples of the Caucasus such elements of highlander clothing as the Circassian coat. Their music and songs also acquired Caucasian motifs, for example, Cossack, very similar to mountain music. This is how a unique cultural phenomenon arose, which anyone can get acquainted with by attending a concert of the Kuban Cossack Choir.

The largest Cossack troops in Russia

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

During that period the following stood out:

• Don Cossacks.

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

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

• Khopersky.

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

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

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

• Khlynovskys.

Founded by Novgorodians back in the 10th century, the city of Khlynov on the Vyatka River gradually became a developed center large edge. The distance from the capital allowed the Vyatichi to create their own self-government, and by the 15th century they began to seriously annoy all their neighbors. Ivan III stopped this free movement, defeating them and annexing these lands to Rus'.

The leaders were executed, the nobility were resettled in towns near Moscow, the rest were assigned to serfs. A considerable part of them with their families managed to leave on ships - to the Northern Dvina, to the Volga, to the Upper Kama and Chusovaya. Later, the Stroganov merchants hired their troops to protect their Ural estates, as well as to conquer Siberian lands.

• Meshcherskys.

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

In the 14th century, they already served the Russian tsars - guarding embassies sent to Crimea, Turkey and Siberia. At the end of the 15th century they were mentioned as a military class that participated in campaigns against Azov and Kazan, guarding the borders of Rus' from the Nagais and Kalmyks. For supporting impostors during the Time of Troubles, the Meshcheryaks were expelled from the country. Some chose Lithuania, others settled in the Kostroma region and then participated in the formation of the Orenburg and Bashkir-Meshcheryak regions. Cossack troops.

• Seversky.

These are the descendants of the northerners - one of the East Slavic tribes. In the XIV-XV centuries they had self-government of the Zaporozhye type and were often subject to raids by their restless neighbors - the Horde. The battle-hardened stellate sturgeons were gladly taken into service by the Moscow and Lithuanian princes.

Their end also began Time of Troubles- for participation in the Bolotnikov uprising. The lands of the Seversky Cossacks were colonized by Moscow, and in 1619 they were generally divided between it and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Most of the stellate sturgeons became peasants; some moved to the Zaporozhye or Don lands.

• Volzhskie.

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

They helped the Donets and Cossacks fight the Turks, then served in the Caucasus, preventing the Circassians, Kabardians, Turks and Persians from raiding Russian territories. During the reign of Peter I they took part in all his campaigns. He's in early XVIII century he ordered to rewrite them and form them into one army - the Volga.

• Kuban.

After Russian-Turkish war there was a need to populate new lands and, at the same time, find a use for the Cossacks - violent and poorly governed subjects of the Russian Empire. They were granted Taman and its surroundings, and they themselves received the name - the Black Sea Cossack Army.

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

Now this is reminded by the monument to the Cossacks - the founders of the Kuban land, erected in Krasnodar Territory. Reconstruction under general standards, the change of uniform to the clothes of the highlanders, as well as the replenishment of Cossack regiments from other regions of the country and simply peasants and retired soldiers led to the creation of a completely new community.

Role and place in the history of the country

From the above historically established communities, by the beginning of the 20th century the following Cossack troops were formed:

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

In total, by that time there were almost 3 million of them (with their families), which is a little more than 2% of the country’s population. At the same time, they participated in all more or less important events countries - in protecting borders and important persons, military campaigns and accompanying scientific expeditions, in pacifying popular unrest and national pogroms.

They proved themselves to be real heroes during the First World War and, according to some historians, they stained themselves with the Lena execution. After the revolution, some of them joined the White Guard movement, while others enthusiastically accepted the power of the Bolsheviks.

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

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

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

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

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

Mentality, culture and traditions

The Cossacks are a warlike, capricious and proud people (often excessively), which is why they always had friction with neighbors and fellow countrymen who did not belong to their class. But these qualities are needed in battle, and therefore were welcomed within the communities. Strong character women also owned, on whom the entire household rested, since most of At the time, men were busy with war.

The Cossack language, based on Russian, acquired its own characteristics associated both with the history of the Cossack troops and with borrowings from. For example, the Kuban Balachka (dialect) is similar to the southeastern Ukrainian Surzhik, the Don Balachka is closer to the southern Russian dialects.

The main weapons of the Cossacks were considered to be checkers and sabers, although this is not entirely true. Yes, the Kuban people wore it, especially the Circassian ones, but the Black Sea people preferred firearms. In addition to the main means of defense, everyone carried a knife or dagger.

Some kind of uniformity in weapons appeared only in the second half of the 19th century. Before this, everyone chose themselves and, judging by the surviving descriptions, the weapons looked very picturesque. It was the honor of the Cossack, so it was always in perfect condition, in an excellent sheath, often richly decorated.

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

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

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

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

Who are the Cossacks? There is a version that they trace their ancestry to runaway serfs. However, some historians claim that the Cossacks go back to the 8th century BC.

The Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus in 948 mentioned the territory in the North Caucasus as the country of Kasakhia. Historians attached particular importance to this fact only after Captain A. G. Tumansky discovered the Persian geography “Gudud al Alem”, compiled in 982, in Bukhara in 1892.

It turns out that there is also “Kasak Land”, which was located in the Azov region. It is interesting that the Arab historian, geographer and traveler Abul-Hasan Ali ibn al-Hussein (896–956), who received the nickname of the imam of all historians, reported in his writings that the Kasakis who lived beyond the Caucasus ridge were not highlanders.
A meager description of a certain military people who lived in the Black Sea region and Transcaucasia is found in the geographical work of the Greek Strabo, who worked under the “living Christ.” He called them Kossakhs. Modern ethnographers provide data about the Scythians from the Turanian tribes of Kos-Saka, the first mention of which dates back to approximately 720 BC. It is believed that it was then that a detachment of these nomads made their way from Western Turkestan to the Black Sea lands, where they stopped.

In addition to the Scythians on the territory of the modern Cossacks, that is, between the Black and Seas of Azov, as well as between the Don and Volga rivers, the Sarmatian tribes ruled, who created the Alanian state. The Huns (Bulgars) defeated it and exterminated almost its entire population. The surviving Alans hid in the north - between the Don and Donets, and in the south - in the foothills of the Caucasus. Basically, it was these two ethnic groups - the Scythians and Alans, who intermarried with the Azov Slavs - who formed the nation called the Cossacks. This version is considered one of the basic ones in the discussion about where the Cossacks came from.

Slavic-Turanian tribes

Don ethnographers also connect the roots of the Cossacks with the tribes of northwestern Scythia. This is evidenced by burial mounds of the 3rd-2nd centuries BC. It was at this time that the Scythians began to lead a sedentary lifestyle, intersecting and merging with the southern Slavs who lived in Meotida - on east coast Sea of ​​Azov.

This time is called the era of “the introduction of the Sarmatians into the Meotians,” which resulted in the tribes of the Torets (Torkov, Udzov, Berendzher, Sirakov, Bradas-Brodnikov) of the Slavic-Turanian type. In the 5th century there was an invasion of the Huns, as a result of which part of the Slavic-Turanian tribes went beyond the Volga and into the Upper Don forest-steppe. Those who remained submitted to the Huns, Khazars and Bulgars, receiving the name Kasaks. After 300 years, they adopted Christianity (around 860 after the apostolic sermon of St. Cyril), and then, on the orders of the Khazar Kagan, drove out the Pechenegs. In 965, the Land of Kasak came under the control of Mctislav Rurikovich.

Tmutarakan

It was Mctislav Rurikovich who defeated the Novgorod prince Yaroslav near Listven and founded his principality - Tmutarakan, which extended far to the north. It is believed that this Cossack power was briefly at the peak of its power, until about 1060, but after the arrival of the Cuman tribes it began to gradually fade away.

Many residents of Tmutarakan fled to the north - to the forest-steppe, and together with Russia fought with the nomads. This is how the Black Klobuki appeared, who were called Cossacks and Cherkasy in Russian chronicles. Another part of the inhabitants of Tmutarakan received the name Podon wanderers.
Like the Russian principalities, the Cossack settlements found themselves under the control of the Golden Horde, however, conditionally, enjoying broad autonomy. In the XIV-XV centuries, they started talking about the Cossacks as an established community, which began to accept fugitives from the central part of Russia.

Not Khazars and not Goths

There is another version, popular in the West, that the ancestors of the Cossacks were the Khazars. Its supporters argue that the words “Khusar” and “Cossack” are synonymous, because in both the first and second cases we're talking about about war horsemen. Moreover, both words have the same root “kaz”, meaning “strength”, “war” and “freedom”. However, there is another meaning - it is “goose”. But even here, advocates of the Khazar trace talk about the hussar horsemen, whose military ideology was copied by almost all countries, even Foggy Albion.

The Khazar ethnonym of the Cossacks is directly stated in the “Constitution of Pylyp Orlik”, “... the ancient fighting people of the Cossacks, who were previously called Kazars, were first raised immortal glory, spacious estates and knightly honors...". Moreover, it is said that the Cossacks adopted Orthodoxy from Constantinople (Constantinople) during the era of the Khazar Khaganate.

In Russia, this version among the Cossacks causes fair criticism, especially against the backdrop of studies of Cossack genealogies, whose roots have Russian origin. So, hereditary Kuban Cossack, academician Russian Academy arts Dmitry Shmarin spoke out with anger in this regard: “The author of one of these versions of the origin of the Cossacks is Hitler. He even has separate speech on this topic. According to his theory, the Cossacks are Goths. The West Goths are Germans. And the Cossacks are Ost-Goths, that is, descendants of the Ost-Goths, allies of the Germans, close to them by blood and warlike spirit. In terms of belligerence, he compared them with the Teutons. Based on this, Hitler proclaimed the Cossacks sons great Germany. So why should we now consider ourselves descendants of the Germans?”

Ministry of General and Professional Education of the Rostov Region

State Educational Institution

Secondary Vocational Education of the Rostov Region

Rostov Technological College of Light Industry

(GOU SPO RO "RTTLP")

Coursework

in the discipline: “History of the Don Region”

on topic: " Origin of the Cossacks »

Completed:

student gr. 2-DEB-25

Goncharova A.A.

Checked by the teacher:

Litvinova I.V.

Rostov-on-Don 2011

Introduction

Chapter 1. Cossacks

1.1 Definition of Cossacks

1.2 External general characteristics Cossacks

1.3 Character of the Cossacks

1.4 Origin of the Cossacks

1.5 Cossacks in history

1.6 Cossack troops

Chapter 2. Cossacks in Russia today

3. About the Cossacks in conclusion

3.1 Cossacks in art

3.2 Commandments of the Cossacks

Conclusion

List of used literature

Application

Introduction

Everyone knows about the Cossacks, regardless of interest in history. Cossacks appear on the pages of textbooks whenever significant events in history are discussed. Russian state. But what is known about them? Where did they come from?

Textbooks, as a rule, instill in us the idea of ​​fugitive freedom-loving peasants who were tortured by serf-owners and who in the 16th-17th centuries. They fled from Russia to the south, to the Don, settled there and gradually turned into a service people. In the 19th-20th centuries, this people, having forgotten about past conflicts with the kings, became their reliable support.

There are other options in the stories of the origin of the Cossacks. The essence of these options is that instead of fugitive freedom-loving peasants, free murderers appear - robbers, who over time will acquire wives, a household, calm down and, instead of robberies, will take up the protection of state borders.

The exact origin of the Cossacks is unknown.

Chapter 1. Cossacks

1.1 Definition of Cossacks

Cossacks – This is an ethnic, social and historical group of united Russians, Ukrainians, Kalmyks, Buryats, Bashkirs, Tatars, Evenks, Ossetians, etc.

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

Cossacks (Cossacks) are a subethnic group of the Russian people living in southern steppes Eastern Europe, in particular, Russia and Kazakhstan, and earlier – Ukraine.

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

1.2 External general characteristics of the Cossacks

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

1.3 Character of the Cossacks

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

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

1.4 Origin of the Cossacks

There are many theories about the emergence of the Cossacks:

1. Eastern hypothesis.

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

Kasogi (kasahi, kasaki) – ancient Circassian people who inhabited the territory of the lower Kuban in the 10th–14th centuries.

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

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

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

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

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

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

2. Slavic hypothesis

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

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

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

1.5 Cossacks in history

Don Cossacks military commandment

Representatives of various nationalities took part in the formation of the Cossacks, but the Slavs predominated. From an ethnographic point of view, the first Cossacks were divided according to their place of origin into Ukrainian and Russian. Among both, free and service Cossacks can be distinguished. Russian service Cossacks (city, regimental and guard) were used to protect abatis and cities, receiving a salary and land for life. Although they were equated "to service people according to the instrument" (streltsy, gunners), but unlike them they had a stanitsa organization and an elective system of military government. 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.