A la Cossack
A LA KAZAK*à la casaque. In a Cossack way, without ceremony, rudely. Nicholas, animated by the devotion of Kleinmichel and his executors, thought to introduce this arbitrariness into European law, cracking down on Turkey and disposing of the principalities à la casaque. K. N. Lebedev Zap. // RA 1900 3 249. || Like a Cossack. She dresses a little strange à la casaque, that is, she mostly wears a shirt made of a dark pink foulard girded with a belt at home. Rastopchina Falling star. // РВ 1886 10 716.
Historical Dictionary of Gallicisms of the Russian Language. - M.: Dictionary publishing house ETS http://www.ets.ru/pg/r/dict/gall_dict.htm. Nikolay Ivanovich Epishkin [email protected] . 2010 .
See what "a la Cossack" is in other dictionaries:
COSSACK- husband. or a Cossack (probably from the Central Asian kazmak, to wander, wander like a haiduk, haidamaka, from a guide; jump from run away, run; a tramp from wander, etc. The Kyrgyz call themselves a Cossack), a military inhabitant, a settled warrior belonging to ... ... Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary
COSSACK- Cossack, serf in the Kholmsk region. 1495. Scribe. II, 850. Vasco the Cossack, a peasant in Paozerye. 1498. Scribe. IV, 15. Cossack, serf in the Kotor region. 1498. Scribe. IV, 95. Cossack Skripitsyn, rumor, St. 15th century A. K. II, 5. Cossack Zakharov, Starodub peasant. ... ... Biographical Dictionary
Cossack Vasyl- Ivan Mykolaichuk as Cossack Vasyl Appearance Missing letter (1829 1831) Creator ... Wikipedia
COSSACK- (Cossack is outdated), Cossack, pl. Cossacks and (obsolete) Cossacks, husband. (Turk. kazak bean). 1. A representative of a taxable or taxable class, who evaded heavy state duties and sought an easier life or in free settlements along ... ... Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov
Cossack- free Cossack .. Dictionary of Russian synonyms and expressions similar in meaning. under. ed. N. Abramova, M .: Russian dictionaries, 1999. Cossack Cossack, Kuban, stanitsa, Cossack, Cossack, Cossack, rubak, terets, plastun, serviceman, Serdyuk, White Cossack, ... ... Synonym dictionary
Kazak FM- Radio Rocks Region City Krasnodar Country ... Wikipedia
COSSACK- KAZAK, a, pl. and, ov and and, ov, husband. 1. In the old days in Ukraine and Russia: a member of the military agricultural community of free settlers on the outskirts of the state. Zaporozhye k. Donskoy k. 2. On the Don, in the Kuban, Terek, Amur and in other military areas: ... ... Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov
COSSACK- (tur.). 1) irregular cavalry in Russia. 2) a kind of women's outerwear, similar to the Cossack. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910. COSSACK women's costume, a kind of raincoat. Dictionary of foreign words included ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language
KAZAK (Kasack) German- (1896 1966) German writer. In the mystical symbolic novel City Beyond the River (1947), existentialist criticism of the leveling of the individual in capitalist society... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
Cossack Lugansk- pseudonym Vl. Iv. Dalia... Biographical Dictionary
Cossack (free man in Russia)- Cossack, Cossack (Turk. Daredevil, free man), a person who broke with his social environment (14th-17th centuries); from the end of the 15th century K. began to call the free people of the outskirts of the Russian state (see Cossacks) ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Books
- , Kundryutskov B.. Description: Cossack epic in the setting of the Russian diaspora. Literature of Russian Cossacks. From the book: ʻI had an acquaintance, Ivan Ilyich Gamorkin, only, what villages and all that, to tell ... Buy for 1848 UAH (only Ukraine)
- Cossack Ivan Ilyich Gamorkin. Simple notes about him, his godfather, Kondrat Evgrafovich Kudryavov, B. Kundryutskov. This book will be produced in accordance with your order using Print-on-Demand technology. Description: Cossack epic in the context of the Russian diaspora. Literature of Russian Cossacks. From the book: "I had ...
In ancient times, on our land, the states did not touch their borders as they do now. Between them there were gigantic spaces where no one lived - it was either impossible due to the lack of living conditions (no water, land for crops, you can’t hunt if there is little game), or simply dangerous because of the raids of the steppe nomads. It was in such places that the Cossacks were born - on the outskirts of the Russian principalities, on the border with the Great Steppe. In such places, people gathered who were not afraid of a sudden raid by the steppes, who knew how to survive and fight without outside help.
The first mention of the Cossack detachments dates back to Kievan Rus, for example, Ilya Muromets was called the "old Cossack". There are references to the participation of Cossack detachments in the Battle of Kulikovo under the command of the governor Dmitry Bobrok. By the end of the XIV century, two large territories were formed in the lower reaches of the Don and the Dnieper, on which many Cossack settlements were created, and their participation in the wars waged by Ivan the Terrible is already undeniable. The Cossacks distinguished themselves in the conquest of the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates and in the Livonian War. The first Russian charter of the village guard service was compiled by the boyar M. I. Vorotynsky in 1571. According to it, the guard service was carried out by the village (guard) Cossacks or villagers, while the city (regimental) Cossacks defended the cities. In 1612, together with the Nizhny Novgorod militia, the Don Cossacks liberated Moscow and expelled the Poles from the Russian land. For all these merits, the Russian tsars approved for the Cossacks the right to own the Quiet Don forever and ever.
The Ukrainian Cossacks at that time were divided into registered in the service of Poland and grassroots, which created the Zaporozhian Sich. As a result of political and religious pressure from the Commonwealth, the Ukrainian Cossacks became the basis of the liberation movement, raised a series of uprisings, the last of which, led by Bohdan Khmelnitsky, achieved its goal - Ukraine was reunited with the Russian kingdom by the Pereyaslav Rada in January 1654. For Russia, the agreement led to the acquisition of part of the lands of Western Russia, which justified the title of Russian tsars - the sovereign of All Russia. Moscow Rus became a collector of lands with a Slavic Orthodox population.
Both the Dnieper and the Don Cossacks at that time were at the forefront of the struggle against the Turks and Tatars, who constantly went on raids on Russian lands, devastating crops, driving people into captivity and bleeding our lands. Innumerable feats were accomplished by the Cossacks, but one of the most striking examples of the heroism of our ancestors is the Azov seat - eight thousand Cossacks, having captured Azov - one of the most powerful fortresses and an important communications junction - were able to fight off the two hundred thousandth Turkish army. Moreover, the Turks were forced to retreat, losing about a hundred thousand soldiers - half of their army! But over time, Crimea was liberated, Turkey was forced out of the Black Sea shores far to the south, and the Zaporizhzhya Sich lost its significance as an advanced outpost, finding itself several hundred kilometers deep in peaceful territory. On August 5, 1775, by the signing by the Russian Empress Catherine II of the manifesto "On the destruction of the Zaporizhzhya Sich and on its inclusion in the Novorossiysk province," the Sich was finally disbanded. Zaporizhzhya Cossacks then divided into several parts. The most numerous moved to the Black Sea Cossack army, which carried border guards on the shores of the Black Sea, a significant part of the Cossacks was resettled to protect the southern borders of Russia in the Kuban and Azov. Five thousand Cossacks who went to Turkey, the Sultan allowed the founding of the Transdanubian Sich. In 1828, the Transdanubian Cossacks with the koshev Yosip Gladkiy went over to the side of Russia and were pardoned personally by Emperor Nicholas I. Throughout the vast territory of Russia, the Cossacks began to carry out border service. No wonder the Tsar-peacemaker Alexander III once aptly remarked: “The borders of the Russian state lie on the archak of the Cossack saddle ...”
Donets, Kuban, Terts, and later their brothers-in-arms, the Urals and Siberians, were the permanent military vanguard in all wars in which Russia fought almost without respite for centuries. The Cossacks especially distinguished themselves in the Patriotic War of 1812. The memory of the legendary commander of the Don Ataman Matvey Ivanovich Platov, who led the Cossack regiments from Borodino to Paris, is still alive. The very regiments about which Napoleon would say with envy: "If I had a Cossack cavalry, I would have conquered the whole world." Patrols, reconnaissance, security, distant raids - all this everyday hard military work was carried out by the Cossacks, and their battle order - Cossack lava - showed itself in all its glory in that war.
In the popular mind, the image of the Cossack as a natural equestrian warrior has developed. But there was also the Cossack infantry - scouts - which became the prototype of modern special forces. It originated on the Black Sea coast, where the scouts carried out a difficult service in the Black Sea floodplains. Later, units of scouts also successfully operated in the Caucasus. The fearlessness of the scouts - the best guards of the cordon line in the Caucasus - was paid tribute to even by their opponents. It was the highlanders who preserved the story of how the scouts, besieged at the Lipka post, preferred to burn alive - but not surrender to the Circassians, who even promised them life.
However, Cossacks are known not only for military exploits. They played no lesser role in the development of new lands and their annexation to the Russian Empire. Over time, the Cossack population moved forward to the uninhabited lands, expanding the state boundaries. Cossack troops took an active part in the development of the North Caucasus, Siberia (Yermak's expedition), the Far East and America. In 1645, the Siberian Cossack Vasily Poyarkov sailed along the Amur, entered the Sea of Okhotsk, discovered Northern Sakhalin and returned to Yakutsk. In 1648, the Siberian Cossack Semyon Ivanovich Dezhnev sailed from the Arctic Ocean (the mouth of the Kolyma) to the Pacific Ocean (the mouth of the Anadyr) and opened the strait between Asia and America. In 1697-1699 the Cossack Vladimir Vasilyevich Atlasov explored Kamchatka.
Cossacks during the First World War
On the very first day of the First World War, the first two regiments of the Kuban Cossacks went to the front from the Yekaterinodar railway station. Eleven Cossack troops of Russia fought on the fronts of the First World War - Donskoy, Ural, Terskoye, Kuban, Orenburg, Astrakhan, Siberian, Transbaikal, Amur, Semirechenskoye and Ussuriisk - not knowing cowardice and desertion. Their best qualities were especially clearly manifested on the Transcaucasian front, where 11 Cossack regiments of the third stage were created only in the militia - from Cossacks of older ages, who at times could give odds to young cadres. Thanks to their incredible stamina in the heavy battles of 1914, it was they who did not allow the Turkish troops to break through - far from the worst at that time! - to our Transcaucasia and, together with the arrived Siberian Cossacks, threw them back. After the grandiose victory in the Battle of Sarykamysh, Russia received congratulations from the allied commanders-in-chief, Joffre and French, who highly appreciated the strength of Russian weapons. But the pinnacle of martial art in Transcaucasia was the capture of the mountainous fortified region of Erzerum in the winter of 1916, in the storming of which the Cossack units played an important role.
The Cossacks were not only the most dashing cavalrymen, but also served in intelligence, artillery, infantry and even aviation. So, the native Kuban Cossack Vyacheslav Tkachev made the first long-distance flight in Russia along the route Kyiv - Odessa - Kerch - Taman - Ekaterinodar with a total length of 1500 miles, despite the unfavorable autumn weather and other difficult conditions. On March 10, 1914, he was seconded to the 4th aviation company for its formation, and on the same day the lieutenant Tkachev was appointed commander of the XX aviation detachment attached to the headquarters of the 4th Army. In the initial period of the war, Tkachev made several very important reconnaissance flights for the Russian command, for which, by Order of the Army of the Southwestern Front dated November 24, 1914, No. 290, he was awarded the Order of the Holy Great Martyr and Victorious George IV degree (the first among pilots).
The Cossacks showed themselves very well in the Great Patriotic War. In this most severe and difficult time for the country, the Cossacks forgot past grievances, and together with the entire Soviet people rose to defend their homeland. With honor passed until the end of the war, participating in major operations, the 4th Kuban, 5th Don Cossack Volunteer Corps. The 9th Plastun Red Banner Krasnodar Division, dozens of rifle and cavalry divisions formed at the beginning of the war from the Cossacks of the Don, Kuban, Terek, Stavropol, Orenburg, the Urals, Semirechye, Transbaikalia and the Far East. Guards Cossack formations often performed a very important task - while the mechanized formations formed the inner ring of numerous "cauldrons", the Cossacks as part of the cavalry-mechanized groups broke into the operational space, disrupted the enemy's communications and created an outer ring of encirclement, preventing the release of enemy troops. In addition to the Cossack units recreated under Stalin, there were many Cossacks among famous people during the Second World War who fought not in the "branded" Cossack cavalry or plastun units, but in the entire Soviet army or distinguished themselves in military production. For example: tank ace No. 1, Hero of the Soviet Union D.F. Lavrinenko - Kuban Cossack, a native of the village of Fearless; Lieutenant General of the Engineering Troops, Hero of the Soviet Union D.M. Karbyshev - a generic Ural Cossack, a native of Omsk; Commander of the Northern Fleet Admiral A.A. Golovko - Terek Cossack, a native of the village of Prokhladnaya; weapons designer F.V. Tokarev - a Don Cossack, a native of the village of the Yegorlyk Region of the Don Army; Commander of the Bryansk and 2nd Baltic Fronts, General of the Army, Hero of the USSR M.M. Popov is a Don Cossack, a native of the village of the Ust-Medveditskaya Region of the Don Army, the commander of the squadron of the guard, Captain K.I. Nedorubov - Hero of the Soviet Union and full Knight of St. George, as well as many other Cossacks.
All the wars of our time, which the Russian Federation has already had a chance to wage, also could not do without the Cossacks. In addition to the conflicts in Transnistria and Abkhazia, the Cossacks took an active part in the Ossetian-Ingush conflict and in the subsequent protection of the administrative border of Ossetia with Chechnya and Ingushetia. During the First Chechen campaign, the Ministry of Defense of Russia formed a motorized rifle battalion named after General Yermolov from volunteer Cossacks. Its effectiveness was so high that it frightened the pro-Kremlin Chechens, who saw the appearance of the Cossack units as the first step towards the revival of the Terek region. Under their pressure, the battalion was withdrawn from Chechnya and disbanded. During the second campaign, the 205th motorized rifle brigade was equipped with Cossacks, as well as commandant companies serving in the Shelkovsky, Naursky and Nadterechny regions of Chechnya. In addition, significant masses of Cossacks, having concluded a contract, fought in "ordinary", that is, non-Cossack units. More than 90 people from the Cossack units received government awards as a result of the hostilities, all Cossacks who participated in the hostilities and clearly fulfilled their duties received Cossack awards. For 13 years now, the Cossacks in the south of Russia have been annually holding field training camps, within the framework of which command and staff training with unit commanders and officers, classes in fire, tactical, topographic, mine and medical training are organized. Cossack units, companies and platoons are led by officers of the Russian army with combat experience who took part in operations in hot spots in the Caucasus, Afghanistan and other regions. And the Cossack horse patrols became reliable assistants to the Russian border guards and the police.
In the development of any nation, there were moments 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 under 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 acute religiosity. To date, scientists cannot figure out whether this ethnic stratum of the Slavic people is a separate nation. The history of the Cossacks dates back to the distant XV century, when the states of Europe were mired in internecine wars and dynastic upheavals.
Etymology of the word "Cossack"
Many modern people have a 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 rather 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 the word, for example:
Turkic (“Cossack” is a free man);
The word comes from kosogs;
Turkish (“kaz”, “cossack” means “goose”);
The word comes from the term "goats";
Mongolian theory;
Turkestan theory - 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 it is possible to single out the most rational grain from all definitions. The most common theory says that the Cossack was a free man, but armed, ready to attack and fight.
Historical origin
The history of the Cossacks begins in the 15th century, namely from 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 both the Russian Tsardom and Poland.
Basically, the territory of the "Wild Field" was subjected to constant raids. The gradual settlement of immigrants from both Poland and the Russian Kingdom on these lands influenced the development of a new estate - 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 fight off the raids of the Tatars and other nationalities. By the beginning of the 16th century, the Cossack regiments had become a powerful military force, which created great difficulties for neighboring states.
Creation of the Zaporozhian Sich
According to the historical data that are known today, the first attempt at self-organization by the Cossacks was made in 1552 by the prince of Volyn Vyshnevetsky, better known as Baida.
At his own expense, he created a military base, the Zaporizhzhya Sich, which was located on it. The whole life of the Cossacks flowed on it. The location was strategically convenient, since the Sich blocked the passage of the Tatars from the Crimea, and was also in close proximity to the border of Poland. Moreover, the territorial location on the island created great difficulties for the assault on the Sich. The Khortitskaya Sich did not last long, because in 1557 it was destroyed, but until 1775, such fortifications were built according to the same type - on river islands.
Attempts to subdue the Cossacks
In 1569, a new Lithuanian-Polish state was formed - the Commonwealth. Naturally, this long-awaited union was very important for both Poland and Lithuania, and free Cossacks on the borders of the new state acted against the interests of the Commonwealth. Of course, such fortifications served as an excellent shield against Tatar raids, but they were completely out of control and did not take into account the authority of the crown. Thus, in 1572, the king of the Commonwealth issued a universal, which regulated the employment of 300 Cossacks in the service of the crown. They were recorded in the list, the register, which led to their name - registered Cossacks. Such units were always in full combat readiness in order to repel Tatar raids on the borders of the Commonwealth as quickly as possible, as well as to suppress periodically arising peasant uprisings.
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 Commonwealth and other states that tried to subjugate the lands of the still unformed Ukraine.
The strongest desire for independence began to manifest itself among the Cossack class after 1620, when Hetman Sahaidachny, together with the entire Zaporozhian army, joined the Kiev Brotherhood. Such an action marked the cohesion of the Cossack traditions with the Orthodox faith.
From that moment on, the battles of the Cossacks carried not only a liberation, but also a religious character. The growing tension between the Cossacks and Poland led to the famous national liberation war of 1648-1654, headed by Bohdan Khmelnitsky. In addition, no less significant uprisings should be singled out, 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 unrest that began, the military power of the Cossacks was significantly undermined. In addition, the Cossacks lost support from the Russian Empire after switching to the side of Sweden in the battle of Poltava, in which the Cossack army was led by
As a result of this series of historical events, a dynamic process of decossackization begins in the 18th century, which reached its peak during the time of Empress Catherine II. In 1775, the Zaporozhian Sich was liquidated. However, the Cossacks were given a choice: to go their own way (to live an ordinary peasant life) or join the hussars, which many took advantage of. Nevertheless, a significant part of the Cossack army (about 12,000 people) remained, which did not accept the offer of the Russian Empire. In order to ensure the former safety of the borders, as well as in some way to legitimize the "Cossack remnants", on the initiative of Alexander Suvorov, the Black Sea Cossack Host was created in 1790.
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 Cossacks of the Kuban were based in the region of the North Caucasus (the territory of the modern Krasnodar Territory). The basis of the Kuban Cossacks was the Black Sea Cossack army and the Caucasian Cossack army, which was abolished as a result of the end of the 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. To date, the life of the Cossacks of the Kuban, their traditions and culture have been preserved thanks to the formed Kuban military Cossack society.
Don Cossacks
The Don Cossacks is the most ancient Cossack culture, which arose in parallel with the Zaporozhye Cossacks in the middle of the 15th century. Don Cossacks were located on the territory of 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 Zaporizhian Cossacks in many battles. During the October Revolution, the Don army founded its own state, but the centralization of the White Movement on its territory led to the defeat and subsequent repressions. It follows that the 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. About 140 thousand people live on the territory of the modern Russian Federation, who write down their nationality as "Cossack".
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 around the world. Undoubtedly, the Cossacks are not just military formations, but a separate ethnic group that has built its own special culture for several centuries in a row. Modern historians are working on recreating 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.
Bubnov - Taras Bulba
In 1907, an argot dictionary was published in France, in which the following aphorism was cited in the article "Russian": "Scratch a Russian - and you will find a Cossack, scratch a Cossack - and you will find a bear."
This aphorism is attributed to Napoleon himself, who indeed described the Russians as barbarians and identified them as such with the Cossacks - like many Frenchmen, who could call both hussars and 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, with an earring in their left ear, long mustaches and a hat on their heads. 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 the history of Russia is inextricably linked with the original culture and history of the Cossacks.
Today it is very difficult to understand the theories of the origin of not only the Cossacks, but also the very word-term "Cossack". Even today, researchers, scientists and experts cannot give a definite and precise answer - who are the Cossacks and from whom did they come.
But at the same time, there are many more or less probable theories-versions of the origin of the Cossacks. Today there are more than 18 of them - and these are only official versions. Each of them has many convincing scientific arguments, advantages and disadvantages.
However, all theories fall into two main groups:
- theory of the runaway (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, were the descendants of the Caucasian Circassians (Cherkas, Yases). This theory of the origin of the Cossacks is also called eastern. It was she who was taken as the basis of their evidence base by one of the most famous Russian historians, orientalists and ethnologists V. Shambarov and L. Gumilyov.
In their opinion, the Cossacks arose through the merger of Kasogs and Brodniks after the Mongol-Tatar invasion. The Kasogs (Kasakhs, Kasaks, Ka-azats) are an 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 remnants of the Bulgars, Slavs, and also, possibly, the steppe Oghuz.
Dean of the Faculty of History of Moscow State University S. P. Karpov, working in the archives of Venice and Genoa, found there references to the Cossacks with Turkic and Armenian names, who guarded the medieval city of Tana* and other Italian colonies in the Northern Black Sea region from raids.
*Tana- a medieval city on the left bank of the Don, in the area of \u200b\u200bthe modern city of Azov (Rostov Region of the Russian Federation). It existed in the XII-XV centuries under the rule of the Italian trading republic of Genoa.
One of the first mentions of the Cossacks, according to the Eastern version, are displayed in the legend, the author of which was Stefan Yavorsky, Bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church (1692):
“In 1380, the Cossacks presented Dmitry Donskoy with the icon of Our Lady of the Don and participated in the battle against Mamai on the Kulikovo field.”
According to migration theories, the ancestors of the Cossacks were 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. Of decisive importance for the formation of the Russian Cossacks was the influence of the Tatar Cossacks on the border of the Russian lands. The influence of the Tatars was manifested in everything - in the way of life, military operations, ways of fighting for existence in 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 from history around 1517; but it is likely that in Russia it is older than the Batu invasion and belonged to Torki and Berendei, who lived on the banks of the Dnieper, below Kyiv. There we find the first dwelling of the Little Russian Cossacks. Torki and Berendei were called Cherkasy: Cossacks - also ... some of them, not wanting to submit to either the Mughals or Lithuania, lived as free people on the islands of the Dnieper, fenced with rocks, impenetrable reeds and swamps; lured to themselves many Russians who fled from oppression; mixed with them and under the name Komkov made up one people, which became completely Russian all the easier 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 the southern countries of the Dnieper, began to build villages, fortresses in these places devastated by the Tatars; undertook to be the defenders of the Lithuanian possessions from the Crimeans, Turks and won special patronage of Sigismund I, who gave them many civil liberties along with lands above the Dnieper rapids, where the city of Cherkasy is named after them ... "
I would not like to go into details, listing all the official and unofficial versions of the origin of the Cossacks. Firstly, it is long and not always interesting. Secondly, most theories are only versions, hypotheses. There is no unambiguous 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 representatives of different ethnic groups were mixed at the core of it. And it's hard to disagree with Karamzin.
Some oriental historians believe that the Tatars were the ancestors of the Cossacks, and that, allegedly, the first detachments of the Cossacks fought on the side against Russia in the Battle of Kulikovo. Others, on the contrary, argue that the Cossacks were already on the side of Russia at that time. Some refer to legends and myths about gangs of Cossacks - robbers, whose main trade was robbery, robbery, theft ...
For example, the satirist Zadornov, explaining the term for the emergence of the well-known children's yard game "Cossacks-robbers", refers to "unbridled by the free character of the Cossack class, which was" the most violent, uneducable Russian class.
It's hard to believe, because in the memory of my childhood, each of the boys preferred to play for the Cossacks. And the name of the game is taken from life, since its rules imitate reality: in tsarist Russia, the Cossacks were people's self-defense, protecting the civilian population from the raids of robbers.
It is possible that in the original basis of the early groups of the Cossacks there were various ethnic elements. But for contemporaries, the Cossacks evokes something native, Russian. I recall the famous speech of Taras Bulba:
The first communities of the Cossacks
It is known that the first communities of Cossacks began to form as early as the 15th century (although some sources refer to an earlier time). These were communities of free Don, Dnieper, Volga and Grebensky Cossacks.
A little later, in the first half of the 16th century, the Zaporozhian 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.
In the early stages of the existence of the Cossacks, the main types of their economic activities were crafts (hunting, fishing, beekeeping), later cattle breeding, and from the 2nd floor. XVII century - agriculture. An important role was played by military booty, later - by the state salary. 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 the Far East. Perhaps these are the most famous first reliable references to the Cossacks, beyond doubt.
V. I. Surikov "Conquest of Siberia by Yermak" Found an error? Select it and left click Ctrl+Enter.
KAZAK (Kasack) Herman (1896-1966) - German writer. In the mystical-symbolic novel "The City Beyond the River" (1947) - criticism from the positions of existentialism of the leveling of the individual in a capitalist society. Big encyclopedic dictionary
