The history of the development of the Cossacks in Rus' is complex and contradictory. Associated with it is the expansion of the country's territory, the strengthening of its borders, and the transformation of the Moscow Principality into the Russian Empire. The time and conditions of the birth of the Cossacks go back to ancient times, and for more than two centuries, questions about the origin of the Russian Cossacks and the social nature of early Cossack communities have been discussed in the scientific community. These questions are still among the controversial topics in Russian historical science - the main problematic issue is the origin of the Cossacks and their early formation and development (ethnogenesis).

The inexhaustibility of this controversial topic is associated with the paucity and contradictory nature of the historical sources that have reached us about that ancient era, and specifically the beginning of our era, the first centuries after the Nativity of Christ. It was at this time that the Azov region and the Don steppes became a platform for active ethnic processes of various origins - Iranian (Scythians, Sarmatians), Slavic, Germanic (Goths) and others. The territory was constantly subject to invasions, so it is not possible to identify the indigenous ethnic element that existed before these invasions.

Russian history was dominated by the theory of the Slavic and Russian origin of the Cossacks. This version was adhered to by many, both pre-revolutionary historians of the 18th-19th centuries and historians of the 20th century. Disagreements exist on the question of which ethnic or class groups of Slavs the Cossacks descended from. Thus, V.D. Sukhorukov argued that “the origins of the Don Cossacks should be seen in the ancient Slavic population, which, according to archaeological discoveries of recent decades, existed on the Don in the 8th-15th centuries.” 1

From runaway Russian peasants (the so-called theory of “servile” origin) the origins of the Cossack genealogy were traced by S.M. Solovyov and V.O. Klyuchevsky. The historian N.I. Kostomarov differed from them only in the originality of his interpretation of the reason for the appearance of the Cossacks. In his opinion, the Cossacks are “the people’s opposition to the state system, which did not satisfy all the people’s feelings, ideals and needs. The Russian people, breaking out of the state framework, looked for a new, different social system in the Cossacks” 2.

Scientists who claim that the Cossacks are the Russian population of Russia by origin argue their position by the constant presence of the Slavs in the regions that became the cradle of the Cossacks. In folklore, the predecessors of the Cossacks are the ancient Russian heroes who served on the steppe border under the command of the “seasoned Cossack” Ilya Muromets. Folklore evidence is not always taken seriously, but it has unconditional historical value

Many Don historians considered the assumption of the servile-peasant origin of the Cossacks humiliating. Evgraf Savelyev wrote on this occasion that “peoples called upon to carry out great historical tasks could not be formed somehow by themselves, peoples and states do not fall from the sky, but prepare to enter the historical field for many centuries, and that never in history have there was and could not be an example that from the fugitives, and such in Moscow Rus' of the 16th century. there could only be criminals or homeless, wandering people who involuntarily left their homeland, a people could be formed, an entire democratic republic, with unique morals and customs...” 3 .

We see the continuation of the arguments of the historian who lived at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries in modern literature. V. Shambarov in his book “Cossacks: the path of the soldiers of Christ” writes: “Is it plausible that those who suffered and were offended in Russia showed such loyalty to it, gave their lives for it? Rather, they would have joined forces with her enemies, as emigrants did in the era of Ivan the Terrible, Nekrasovites, etc. Finally, try to imagine whether brotherhood and common cohesion between variegated bandits of robbers is possible? But among the Cossacks this was a unifying principle - the Cossacks of the Don, Dnieper, Yaik, Terek considered each other brothers” 4. Scientists who claim that the Cossacks are the Russian population of Russia by origin argue their position by the constant presence of the Slavs in the regions that became the cradle of the Cossacks. This hypothesis is also supported by the fact that Russian believers (Orthodox and Old Believers) numerically dominated the Cossacks, which originated in Russia. The phrase “Russian Cossack” did not cause rejection among his contemporaries. The image of the “Russian Cossack” who came to fight the Golden Horde has been preserved in the folklore of North-Eastern Siberia. In folklore, the predecessors of the Cossacks are the ancient Russian heroes who served on the steppe border under the command of the “seasoned Cossack” Ilya Muromets. Folklore evidence is not always taken seriously, but it has unconditional historical value. Regardless of whether Ilya Muromets really was a “seasoned Cossack,” the folklore story about him captures an important point: in the Russian popular consciousness, Ilya Muromets remained a Cossack, a people’s defender. The folklore definition of a Cossack as a people's defender from all foreign evil spirits corresponds to historical ideas about the Cossacks as part of the Russian people, as a people's detachment advanced forward, protecting Russian lands and increasing them with their military daring and courage. It is also certain that the population of the Cossack regions was formed by people from Russian principalities - those who did not want to put up with the difficult life of Russian reality and were looking for a better life and more favorable conditions on the outskirts of Rus', within the Wild Field.

This theory is opposed by the exact opposite theory - the hypothesis of the “Horde” origin of the Cossacks, which claims that the Cossacks by origin have nothing in common with the Russian people, in the past they belonged to the peoples who came from Aria, Russified and adopted the Russian language and religion 5. Thus, the author of the said book mentions General Rigelman, who collected materials on the history of the Cossacks, who wrote that at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries, the Don Cossacks believed that they were not Russian people, but descended from the Cherkasy and other mountain peoples, but Russified. And if someone calls them Muscovites, they would answer: “I am not a Muscovite, but a Russian, and that according to the law and Orthodox faith, and not by nature” 6 .

Some experts - supporters of the “Horde” hypothesis - believe that the Turkic origin of the word “Cossack” also indicates the origin of the Cossacks themselves: they are of Tatar (“Horde”) origin. In defense of the hypothesis of the “Horde” origin of the Cossacks, which boils down to the fact that the ancestors of the Russian Cossacks were an integral part of the military forces of the Tatar-Mongols, a variety of arguments are given: historical evidence of the participation of the Cossack Tatars in military operations dating back to the period of the birth of the Cossacks; facts of borrowing by Russian people of the military culture existing in the Tatar-Mongol horde, etc. Supporters of the hypothesis of the Tatar origin of the Cossacks point to the participation of light cavalry in the Mongolian troops, which performed auxiliary tasks: guarded the borders, conducted reconnaissance, started battles, and it was for them that the name was established "Cossacks". After the collapse of the Golden Horde, parts of this light cavalry found themselves on the borders of the Russian principalities and gradually began to merge with the Russian people. According to R.G. Skrynnikov, the original Cossack communities consisted of Tatars, who were joined by Russian elements. Among the Tatars, Cossacks were the familyless warriors who served as the vanguard during the campaigns and movements of the Tatar hordes. They paved the way for the Tatar troops, carried out reconnaissance and carried out guard duty. Over time, the Tatar Cossacks served under the Baskaks (representatives of the Mongol Khan in the conquered lands who came to Rus' to collect tribute), and later began to enter the service of the Russian princes. In the 15th century Tatar Cossacks (Meshchersky or Gorodets) settled in the Murom land along the tributaries of the Oka River and carried out guard duty there.

Some researchers of the emergence of the Cossack community believed that not only the Slavs, but also various non-Slavic tribes took part in its formation: Iranian Scythians and Alans, Turkic Huns and Khazars, Pechenegs, Torci, Cumans, Bulgars, Tatars, Finnish Meshcheryaks, German Goths. At the same time, the Russians played the main role in the education of the Cossacks

“Among the various theories about the origin of the Cossacks, the more reliable one can be accepted as the one that Cossack settlements were formed outside Russia and in conditions independent of it. Cossack detachments are a barrier on the southern Russian borders. The relations of the Cossacks with Moscow changed successively: 1) completely independent; 2) served under an agreement with the Moscow princes; 3) served under oath; 4) became part of the Russian state as its integral part” 7.

As stated in the book “Russian Cossacks” 8, “... the emergence of the Cossacks was due to the establishment of the borders of the Ryazan principality, the formation of sentry patrols, guards, and the establishment of parking lots, which turned into the 14th century. to border fortified towns (on the rivers Khoper, Don, Bystraya, Tikhaya Sosna, etc.).” Some researchers of the emergence of the Cossack community believed that not only the Slavs, but also various non-Slavic tribes took part in its formation: Iranian Scythians and Alans, Turkic Huns and Khazars, Pechenegs, Torques, Cumans, Bulgars, Tatars, Finnish Meshcheryaks, German Goths. At the same time, the Russians played the main role in the education of the Cossacks 9.

Since ancient times, the basis of their social life was the military organization characteristic of nomadic peoples. The Cossacks did not belong to the nomadic peoples, but their internal life took shape under the influence of the nomads. They lived on the distant outskirts of the Russian principalities, were surrounded on all sides by hordes of nomads and therefore were constantly ready for war, to defend their land, to repel the attacks of their neighbors, greedy and greedy for easy prey.

The exact time of the appearance of the Cossacks has not been established. Some researchers attribute it to the 14th century, others to the 16th century, others believe that the Cossacks (or groups similar to them) appeared at a much earlier time - in the 10th century, and maybe even in the 6th century. True, the first information about the Cossacks in the chronicles dates back to the middle of the 15th century: these are military actions in 1444, when the Ryazan Cossacks took part in the battle with the Tatars. In the second half of the 16th century. The Cossacks were already a force that was concentrated on the borders of the Russian state and protected it from nomads.

Some researchers view the Cossacks as a separate part of the Russian people - a subethnic formation within it. Others recognize them as an independent ethnic community - a separate Slavic people. The end to this dispute has not yet been reached. All we can say is that the Cossacks were an ethnic class community that developed at the southern borders of the Russian state and for centuries served as the country’s defensive shield 10 .

Some researchers believe that the Cossacks form not one, but several ethnic class communities (mostly corresponding to the existing Cossack troops). The unconvincingness of this point of view is due to the fact that “new Cossack troops that were periodically formed were largely created from Cossacks from previously established troops who moved to newly developed territories. Zaporozhye, Don and Volga Cossacks took part in the formation of the Kuban Cossacks; Orenburg and Astrakhan - Volga Cossacks; Siberian - Yaik (Ural), Don and Volga Cossacks; Semirechensky - Ural Cossacks; Amur - Transbaikal, Don, Kuban, Orenburg Cossacks; Ussuri - Amur, Don, Ural, Kuban Cossacks; Yenisei - Siberian and Don Cossacks. Thus, virtually all Cossacks are more or less connected to each other by a common origin. Nevertheless, there are certain, and sometimes even significant, differences between the Cossacks of different troops, and, while forming a single social entity, they are at the same time separate subethnic entities” 11.

As the initial one, which took shape by the 12th century. The southern Russian subethnic group is usually considered the Tmurakans and Brodniks, the Russian inhabitants of the Azov region - the closest ancestors of the Cossacks. During the existence of the Mongolian ulus and during its collapse, the culture of the Russian population of the South was influenced by the traditions of the nomads of Central Asia: the speech of the Cossacks included borrowings from the Mongolian and Turkic languages; Some customs were adopted.

The Cossacks developed, changed, adapted to new conditions of existence, each time responding to the historical challenge in a new way. Cossacks occupied a special position within the Russian Empire: there were Cossack regions, the internal life of which differed from the living conditions of the population of other parts of the country.

“There were 12 Cossack regions within the Russian Empire, eight of which were created for the purpose of state defense by artificial means of the government. Their population consisted of part of the Cossacks, withdrawn from the former regions, replenished with service people and hunters. Only four regions developed historically, without government intervention. These are the areas of the Don, Greben (Terek), Yaik (after the Pugachev revolt - Ural) and Dnieper Cossacks. The Dnieper army ceased to exist under Peter I, and parts of it were subsequently used to organize the Kuban army” 12.

Sometimes the opinion is expressed that the Cossacks were not ethnic, but only class in nature: representatives of peoples sharply different in origin from the main - Slavic core of the Cossacks - Ossetians, Kumyks, Nogais, Kalmyks, Tatars, Bashkirs, Buryats, Evenks and etc. But, despite some admixture of non-Slavic elements in various Cossack troops, the Cossacks, apparently, should be considered an ethnic class formation of Russian and, to some extent, Ukrainian origin. Apparently, the opposition between ethnic and class in the nature of the Cossacks should be removed. Indeed, the Cossacks have fairly clear ethnic and social characteristics, but they are not opposed or interchangeable, but simply in certain periods one or the other dominates. Thus, ethnicity dominated during the formation of the Cossacks as a developing system (which led to the formation of a special ethnic character). Class characteristics dominated when Russia, open from the south, did not have natural borders there and created Cossack settlements as a social barrier against the invasion of warlike neighbors and for its own expansion - a kind of buffer was erected.

First of all, historians of the Soviet period insisted on the class definition of the Cossacks. The Cossacks were recognized as part of the Russian people, formed from the fugitive population from Central Russia, and then attracted by the state to serve for the benefit of Russia. In the process of development, the class becomes privileged, moves away from the common people, and ceases to express their interests. The fight against the Cossacks after 1917 was based precisely on the thesis that the Cossacks belonged to the exploiting classes, because the Cossacks owned the land and refused to share it with the peasants on an equal basis, resisting the policies of the Soviet regime.

The most justified may be an intermediate point of view, according to which the Cossacks are viewed as an ethnic community that forcibly entered Russian society with the rights of a military class. That is why - with the equalization of estates in 1917 - the Cossacks did not disappear, did not dissolve, but survived with special features of material, spiritual culture and self-awareness 13.

The predominance of ethnic or class traits was predetermined by the specific historical and cultural situation. There was a “convergence of the most diverse ethnic and social ingredients while maintaining a single military-economic organization, constant feeding of more and more new groups of aliens, the ethnic and social appearance of which is also very different...” 14.

It is necessary to dwell on such theories of the origin of the Cossacks as autochthonous and migration. In Soviet historical science, the migration (“fugitive peasant”, “Moscow”) hypothesis, according to which the Cossacks are fugitive serfs, has become most widespread. This idea was also supported by G.N. Troshev, who wrote about “democratic magnetism” that attracted runaway peasants to the Cossacks: “Democratic orders (all are equal: no authorities, no taxes) became a magnet that attracted more and more enterprising and brave people from Russian lands"15. In the migration theory, the fact of the flight of peasants from the Moscow state, fleeing serfdom, is used as the main argument in favor of the fact that the Cossacks originated from peasant migrants, whom the living conditions in the Wild Field made Cossacks. The migration (“Moscow”) hypothesis can also include other “regional” versions of the origin of the Cossacks - the “Ryazan” (the Cossacks were formed by immigrants from the Ryazan principality), the “Novgorod” (the free Novgorod people, especially the Ushkuiniks, brought the trade to the Wild Steppe, where it became the basis for the formation of the Cossacks).

Many historians reject the version of the formation of the Cossacks from runaway peasants. Indeed, at the level of identification, the Cossacks oppose themselves to the peasants, and in the “runaway” people (for Christian reasons) they see rebels who are not submissive to God, the Tsar, or the Fatherland. The chronicles described conflicts between the Cossacks and newcomer peasants - the Cossacks refused to recognize them as equals. At the same time, other sources confirm the presence of fugitives among the Cossacks.

Cossacks are not some special nationality, they are the same Russian people, albeit 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 were 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 the 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 perform military service in the general system of the armed forces of the 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 liquidated the separate 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.

In ancient times, states on our land did not touch their borders the way they do now. Between them there remained gigantic spaces in which 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 due to raids by nomadic steppe dwellers. It was in such places that the Cossacks originated - 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 steppe inhabitants, who knew how to both survive and fight without outside help.

The first mentions of Cossack detachments date 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 governor Dmitry Bobrok. By the end of the 14th century, two large territories were formed in the lower reaches of the Don and 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 during the conquest of the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates and in the Livonian War. The first Russian statute of the village guard service was drawn up 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 the Cossacks’ right to own the Quiet Don forever and ever.

The Ukrainian Cossacks at that time were divided into the registered ones in the service of Poland and the grassroots ones, who created the Zaporozhye Sich. As a result of political and religious pressure from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Ukrainian Cossacks became the basis of the liberation movement and raised a number 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 Rus', which justified the title of the Russian tsars - Sovereign of All Rus'. Muscovite Rus' became a collector of lands with a Slavic Orthodox population.

Both the Dnieper and Don Cossacks at that time were at the forefront of the fight against the Turks and Tatars, who constantly raided Russian lands, ruining crops, driving people into captivity and bleeding our lands. Countless feats were accomplished by the Cossacks, but one of the most striking examples of the heroism of our ancestors is the Sea of ​​Azov - eight thousand Cossacks, having captured Azov - one of the most powerful fortresses and an important junction of communication routes - were able to fight off the two hundred thousand strong Turkish army. Moreover, the Turks were forced to retreat, losing about one hundred thousand soldiers - half of their army! But over time, Crimea was liberated, Turkey was driven out from the shores of the Black Sea far to the south, and the Zaporozhye Sich lost its significance as an advanced outpost, finding itself several hundred kilometers inland on peaceful territory. On August 5, 1775, with the signing of the manifesto “On the destruction of the Zaporozhye Sich and its inclusion in the Novorossiysk province” by the Russian Empress Catherine II, the Sich was finally disbanded. The Zaporozhye Cossacks then split into several parts. The most numerous moved to the Black Sea Cossack Army, which carried out border guards on the shores of the Black Sea; a significant part of the Cossacks were resettled to guard the southern borders of Russia in the Kuban and Azov. The Sultan allowed the five thousand Cossacks who went to Turkey to found the Transdanubian Sich. In 1828, the Transdanubian Cossacks, together with Koshevoy Josip Gladky, went over to the side of Russia and were personally pardoned by Emperor Nicholas I. Throughout the vast territory of Russia, Cossacks began to carry out border service. No wonder Tsar-peacemaker Alexander III once aptly remarked: “The borders of the Russian state lie on the arch of a Cossack saddle...”

The Donets, Kuban, Terets, and later their brothers in arms, the Urals and Siberians, were the permanent combat vanguard in all the 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 Don commander Ataman Matvey Ivanovich Platov, who led the Cossack regiments from Borodino to Paris, is still alive. Those same regiments about which Napoleon would say with envy: “If I had Cossack cavalry, I would conquer the whole world.” Patrols, reconnaissance, security, distant raids - all this everyday hard military work was carried out by the Cossacks, and their battle formation - the Cossack lava - showed itself in all its glory in that war.

In the popular consciousness, the image of the Cossack as a natural mounted warrior has developed. But there was also Cossack infantry - plastuns - which became the prototype of modern special forces units. It originated on the Black Sea coast, where plastuns carried out difficult service in the Black Sea floodplains. Later, Plastun units also operated successfully in the Caucasus. Even their opponents paid tribute to the fearlessness of the plastuns - the best guards of the cordon line in the Caucasus. It was the mountaineers who preserved the story of how the plastuns, besieged at the Lipka post, chose to burn alive - rather than surrender to the Circassians, even who promised them life.

However, the Cossacks are known not only for their military exploits. They played no less a role in the development of new lands and their annexation to the Russian Empire. Over time, the Cossack population moved forward into uninhabited lands, expanding the state boundaries. Cossack troops took an active part in the development of the North Caucasus, Siberia (Ermak's expedition), 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, 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 left the Ekaterinodar station for the front. Eleven Russian Cossack troops fought on the fronts of the First World War - Don, Ural, Terek, Kuban, Orenburg, Astrakhan, Siberian, Transbaikal, Amur, Semirechensk and Ussuri - without knowing cowardice and desertion. Their best qualities were especially clearly demonstrated on the Transcaucasian Front, where 11 Cossack regiments of the third stage were created in the militia alone - from older Cossacks, who could sometimes give a head start to the cadre youth. Thanks to their incredible resilience in the heavy battles of 1914, it was they who prevented the breakthrough of the Turkish troops - far from the worst at that time! - to our Transcaucasia and, together with the arriving Siberian Cossacks, drove 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 mountain fortified area of ​​Erzurum in the winter of 1916, in the assault of which Cossack units played an important role.

Cossacks were not only the most dashing cavalrymen, but also served in reconnaissance, artillery, infantry and even aviation. Thus, 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 1,500 miles, despite unfavorable autumn weather and other difficult conditions. On March 10, 1914, he was seconded to the 4th Aviation Company upon its formation, and on the same day, 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 performed 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 Motherland. The 4th Kuban and 5th Don Cossack Volunteer Corps passed with honor until the end of the war, participating in major operations. 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, Urals, Semirechye, Transbaikalia and the Far East. Guards Cossack formations often performed a very important task - while mechanized formations formed the inner ring of numerous “cauldrons,” Cossacks as part of cavalry-mechanized groups broke into 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 is a Kuban Cossack, a native of the village of Besstrashnaya; Lieutenant General of the Engineering Troops, Hero of the Soviet Union D.M. Karbyshev - ancestral Ural Cossack, native of Omsk; Commander of the Northern Fleet Admiral A.A. Golovko - Terek Cossack, native of the village of Prokhladnaya; gunsmith designer F.V. Tokarev is a Don Cossack, a native of the village of Yegorlyk Region of the Don Army; Commander of the Bryansk and 2nd Baltic Front, Army General, Hero of the USSR M.M. Popov is a Don Cossack, a native of the village of Ust-Medveditsk Region of the Don Army, commander of the guard squadron, 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 had to wage, also could not have happened 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 Russian Ministry of Defense formed a motorized rifle battalion named after General Ermolov from volunteer Cossacks. Its effectiveness was so high that it frightened the pro-Kremlin Chechens, who saw the appearance of 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, Cossacks staffed the 205th motorized rifle brigade, 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 “regular”, that is, non-Cossack units. More than 90 people from Cossack units received government awards based on the results of military operations; all Cossacks who participated in military operations and accurately fulfilled their duties received Cossack awards. For 13 years now, the Cossacks in the south of Russia have annually held field training camps, within the framework of which command and staff training with unit commanders and officers, classes in fire, tactical, topographical, mine and medical training have been organized. Cossack units, companies and platoons are led by Russian army officers with combat experience who took part in operations in hot spots in the Caucasus, Afghanistan and other regions. And Cossack horse patrols became reliable assistants to Russian border guards and police.

There are probably not so many inventions, legends, lies and fairy tales about any Russian ethnic group as about the Cossacks.
Their very origin, existence, role in history serve as the object of all kinds of political speculation and pseudo-historical machinations.

Let's try calmly, without emotions and cheap tricks, to figure out who the Cossacks are, where they came from, and what they represent today...

In the summer of 965, the Russian prince Svyatoslav Igorevich moved his troops to Khazaria.
The Khazar army (reinforced by detachments of various Caucasian tribes), together with its kagan, came out to meet him.

By that time, the Russians had already defeated the Khazars more than once - for example, under the command of the Prophetic Oleg.
But Svyatoslav posed the question differently. He decided to eliminate Khazaria completely, without a trace.
This man was no match for today's rulers of Russia. Svyatoslav set global goals for himself; he acted decisively, quickly, without delay, hesitation or regard for anyone’s opinion.

The troops of the Khazar Khaganate were defeated and the Russians approached the capital of Khazaria, Sharkil (known as Sarkel in Greek-Byzantine historical documents), located on the banks of the Don.
Sharkil was built under the leadership of Byzantine engineers and was a serious fortress. But apparently the Khazars did not expect that the Russians would move deeper into Khazaria, and therefore were poorly prepared for defense. Speed ​​and onslaught did their job - Sharkil was taken and defeated.
However, Svyatoslav appreciated the advantageous location of the city - so he ordered the founding of a Russian fortress on this place.
The name Sharkil (or, in Greek pronunciation, Sarkel) means “White House”. The Russians, without further ado, simply translated this name into their language. This is how the Russian city of Belaya Vezha was born.

Aerial photograph of the former Belaya Vezha fortress taken in 1951. Now this territory is flooded by the waters of the Tsimlyansk Reservoir.

Having passed through the entire North Caucasus with fire and sword, Prince Svyatoslav achieved his goal - the Khazar Khaganate was destroyed.
Having conquered Dagestan, Svyatoslav moved his troops to the Black Sea.
There, in part of the Kuban and Crimea, there existed the ancient Bosporan kingdom, which fell into decay and fell under the rule of the Khazars. Among others, there was a city there, which the Greeks called Hermonassa, the Turkic nomadic tribes called Tumentarkhan, and the Khazars called Samkerts.
Having conquered these lands, Svyatoslav transferred a certain amount of the Russian population there.
In particular, Hermonassa (Tumentarkhan, Samkerts) turned into the Russian city of Tmutarakan (modern Taman, in the Krasnodar Territory).

Modern excavations underway in Tmutarakan (Taman). 2008

At the same time, taking advantage of the fact that the Khazar danger had disappeared, Russian merchants founded the Oleshye fortress (modern Tsyurupinsk, Kherson region) at the mouth of the Dnieper.

This is how Russian settlers appeared on the Don, Kuban and in the lower reaches of the Dnieper.

The exclaves of Oleshye, Belaya Vezha, and Tmutarakan on the map of the Old Russian state of the 11th century.

Subsequently, when Rus' broke up into different principalities, the Tmutarakan principality became one of the most powerful.
The princes of Tmutarakan took an active part in the internal princely feuds of Rus', and also pursued an active expansionist policy. For example, in alliance with the North Caucasian tribes dependent on Tmutarakan, they organized, one after another, three campaigns against Shirvan (Azerbaijan).
That is, Tmutarakan was not just a remote fortress on the edge of the Russian world. It was a fairly large city, the capital of an independent and fairly strong principality.

However, over time, the situation in the southern steppes began to change for the worse for the Russians.
In place of the defeated and destroyed Khazars (and their allies), new nomads began to penetrate into the deserted steppes - the Pechenegs (the ancestors of the modern Gagauz). At first, little by little, then more and more actively (does this remind contemporaries of anything?..). Year after year, step by step, Tmutarakan, Belaya Vezha and Oleshye found themselves cut off from the main territory of Rus'.
Their geopolitical situation has become more complicated.

And then, the Pechenegs were replaced by much more warlike, numerous and wild nomads, who in Rus' were called Polovtsians. In Europe they were called Cumans, or Comans. In the Caucasus - Kipchaks, or Kypchaks.
And these people have always called themselves, and still call themselves, COSSACKS.

Take an interest in the CORRECT name of the republic today, which we Russians know as Kazakhstan.
For those who are not in the know, let me explain - KAZAKSTAN.
And the Kazakhs themselves are called COSSACKS. We call them Kazakhs.

Here on the map is the territory of the Kazakh (Polovtsian, Kipchak) nomadic camps, at the end of the 11th - beginning of the 12th centuries.

The territory of modern Kazakhstan (correctly - Kazakstan)

Cut off by nomads from the main territory of Rus', Oleshye and Belaya Vezha began to gradually decline, and the Tmutarakan principality eventually recognized the sovereignty of Byzantium over itself.
It should be especially taken into account that in that era, no more than 10% of the total population lived in cities. The bulk of the population, even in the most developed states at that time, consisted of peasants. Therefore, the desolation of cities did not entail the death of the entire population, completely - especially since none of the nomadic peoples ever set out to arrange genocide for the Russians.
Russians, as an ethnic group, on the Don, Kuban, and Dnieper (especially in remote, secluded places) never completely disappeared - although, of course, they mixed with different peoples and partially adopted their customs.

Plus, it should be taken into account that the Pechenegs and Cumans sometimes drove into slavery the inhabitants of the border Russian lands - and mixed with them.
And subsequently, having become relatively civilized, the Polovtsy began to slowly adopt Orthodoxy and entered into various agreements with the Russians. For example, Prince Igor (about whom “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” tells) was helped to escape from captivity by a baptized Polovtsian named Ovrul.

A certain number of Russian vagabonds, people with a dubious past, always flowed in thin streams into the Polovtsian steppes. There, the fugitives tried to settle in an area where a certain number of Russians were present.
Such an escape was made easier by the fact that it did not require knowledge of the road - it was enough to simply walk along the Don or Dnieper.

Of course, this was not done in one day. But as they say, a drop wears away a stone.

Gradually, there were so many such marginalized vagabonds that they began to allow themselves organized attacks on certain areas. For example, in 1159 (note - this was still the PRE-MONGOL period) Oleshye was attacked by a strong detachment of such vagabonds (at that time they were called “berladniks” or “wanderers”; what they called themselves is unknown) who captured the city and struck serious damage to merchant trade. The Kiev prince Rostislav Mstislavovich, as well as the governors Georgy Nesterovich and Yakun, were forced to go down the Dnieper with a navy to return Oleshye to princely rule...

Of course, that part of the Polovtsians who roamed east of the Volga (in the area of ​​modern Kazakhstan) had much less contact with the Russians, and therefore better preserved their national traits...

In 1222, on the eastern borders of the Polovtsian nomads, immeasurably more savage and formidable conquerors appeared - the Mongols.
By that time, the relations of the Polovtsians with the Russians were already such that the Polovtsians called the Russians for help.

On May 31, 1223, the Battle of the Kalka River (modern Donetsk region) took place between the Mongols and the united Russian-Polovtsian forces. Due to disagreements and rivalry between the princes, the battle was lost.
However, then the Mongols, tired of the long and difficult campaign, turned back. And nothing was heard about them for 13 years...

And in 1237 they returned. And they remembered everything about the Polovtsians, who were subjected to a form of genocide.
If on the territory of modern Kazakhstan, the Mongols were relatively tolerant towards the Cumans (and therefore the Cumans, also known as Kazakhs, survived as a nation), then in the southern Russian steppes, between the Volga, Don and Dnieper, the Cumans were subjected to total massacres.
At the same time, the Russians (all these berladnik wanderers) were of little concern to the events that took place, because such wanderers lived mainly in hard-to-reach places that were simply uninteresting to nomads - for example, in floodplains, on islands, among swamps, floodplain thickets...

One more detail should be noted: after the invasion of Rus', the Mongols themselves sometimes resettled a certain number of Russian people to places where there were important roads and crossings. These people were given certain benefits - and the settlers, in turn, were required to maintain roads and crossings in good condition.
It happened that Russian peasants were resettled to some fertile area so that they could cultivate the land there. Or they didn’t even resettle, but simply gave benefits and protected from harassment. In return, the peasants supplied a certain part of the harvest to the Mongol khans.

Below I quote verbatim an excerpt from the 15th chapter of the book “Travel to the Eastern Countries of William de Rubruck”
in the Year of Grace 1253. Message from William de Rubruck, Louis IX, King of France."

“So, with great difficulty, we wandered from camp to camp, so that not many days before the feast of blessed Mary Magdalene we reached the great river Tanaid, which separates Asia from Europe, like the river of Egypt Asia from Africa. At the place where we landed, Batu and Sartakh ordered to build a settlement (casale) on the eastern shore of the Russians, who transport ambassadors and merchants on boats. They first transported us, and then the carts, placing one wheel on one barge, and the other on the other, they moved, tying the barges to each other; and so rowing. There our guide acted very stupidly. It was he who believed that they should give us horses from the village and released the animals on the other side that we brought with us, so that they would return to their owners, and when we demanded the animals from the inhabitants; villages, they answered that they had a privilege from Batu, namely: they were not obliged to do anything other than transport those traveling there and back, even from the merchants they received a large tribute. So there, on the bank of the river, we stood for three days. On the first day they gave us a large fresh fish - chebak (borbotam), on the second day - rye bread and some meat, which the village manager collected, like a sacrifice, in various houses, on the third day - dried fish, which they had there in a large quantity. This river there was the same width as the Seine in Paris. And before we got to that place, we crossed many rivers, very beautiful and rich in fish, but the Tatars do not know how to catch them and do not care about the fish unless it is so big that they can eat its meat like the meat of a ram. So, we were in great difficulty there, because we could not find either horses or bulls for money. Finally, when I proved to them that we were working for the common benefit of all Christians, they gave us bulls and people; We ourselves had to go on foot. At that time they were reaping rye. Wheat did not grow well there, but they have millet in large quantities. Russian women dress their heads in the same way as ours, and decorate the front side of their dresses with squirrel or ermine furs from the legs to the knees. Men wear epanches, like the Germans, and on their heads they have felt hats, pointed at the top with a long point. So we walked for three days, finding no people, and when we ourselves, as well as the bulls, were very tired, and did not know in which direction we could find the Tatars, two horses suddenly came running to us, which we took with great joy, and on them Our guide and interpreter sat down to find out in which direction we could find the people. Finally, on the fourth day, having found people, we were happy, as if we had landed in the harbor after a shipwreck. Then, taking horses and bulls, we rode from camp to camp until, on July 31, we reached the location of Sartakh."

As we see, according to the testimony of European travelers, it was quite possible to find completely legal Russian settlements in the southern steppes.

By the way, this same Rubruk testifies that those Russians whom the Mongols drove away from Russia were often forced to graze cattle in the steppes. This is understandable - such institutions as hard labor, prisons, or mines did not exist among the Mongols. Slaves did the same thing as their owners - grazed livestock.
And of course, such shepherds often fled from their owners.
And sometimes they didn’t even run away - they were simply left without owners when the Mongols began to slaughter each other during civil strife...
And these strife occurred - the further, the more often.
The companions of civil strife were often all kinds of epidemics. Medicine, of course, was in its infancy. The birth rate was high, but children often died.
As a result, there were fewer and fewer nomads in the steppe.
And the Russians kept coming. After all, the stream of fugitives from Russian lands never dried up.

It is clear that the fugitives themselves, after looking around a little, began to navigate the local realities. Of course, they found a common language with the remnants of the surviving Cumans. We became related to them - after all, men predominated among the fugitives.
And they quickly learned that in fact, there are no Polovtsians - there are COSSACKS.
Even those Russians who did not mix with the Cossacks (Polovtsy) still actively used the word Cossack.
This was, after all, the land of the Cossacks, even if they were subjected to genocide, even if they mixed with the Russians.
They went to the Cossacks, they lived among the Cossacks, they became related to the Cossacks, they themselves eventually, albeit not immediately, began to call themselves Cossacks (at first - in a figurative sense).

Gradually, over time, the Russian element in the Don and Dnieper basins began to predominate. The Russian language, which was already familiar to the Polovtsians in pre-Mongol times, began to dominate (not without distortions and borrowings, of course).

It makes no sense today to argue where exactly the “Cossacks” originated: On the Dnieper, or on the Don. This is a pointless debate.
The process of development of the lower reaches of the Dnieper and Don by a new ethnic group occurred almost simultaneously.

It is equally pointless to argue who the Cossacks are: Ukrainians or Russians.
Cossacks are a separate ethnic group that was formed as a result of the mixing of people from the territory of Rus' (however, people from other countries were also present) with the peoples with whom they neighbored (for example, through mutual abductions of women). At the same time, some groups of Cossacks could move from the Dnieper to the Don, or from the Don to the Dnieper.

A little slower, but also almost simultaneously, the formation of such groups of Cossacks as the Terek and Yaik Cossacks took place. It was somewhat more difficult to get to the Terek and Yaik than to the lower reaches of the Don and Dnieper. But little by little we got there. And there they mixed with the surrounding peoples: on the Terek - with the Chechens, on the Yaik - with the Tatars and the same Polovtsians (Cossacks).

Thus, the Polovtsians, who were present in the vast expanses of the great steppe, from the Danube to the Tien Shan, gave their name to those Slavic settlers who settled on the former Polovtsian lands, west of the Yaik River.
But to the east of Yaik, the Polovtsians as such survived.
This is how two very different groups of people appeared, calling themselves the same, COSSACKS: the Cossacks themselves, or Polovtsy, whom we call today the Kazakhs - and the Russian-speaking ethnic group mixed with the surrounding peoples, called the Cossacks.

Of course, the Cossacks are heterogeneous. In different territories, mixing occurred with different peoples and with varying degrees of intensity.
So the Cossacks are not so much an ethnic group as a group of related ethnic groups.

When modern Ukrainians try to call themselves Cossacks, it brings a smile.
Calling all Ukrainians Cossacks is the same as calling all Russians Cossacks.

At the same time, it makes no sense to deny a certain kinship between Russians, Ukrainians and Cossacks.

So, gradually, from different groups of the mixed population of the outskirts (with a clear predominance of Russian blood and the Russian language), different hordes were formed, so to speak, which partly copied the lifestyle of neighboring Asians and Caucasians. Zaporozhye Horde, Don, Terek, Yaitsk...

Meanwhile, Russia recovered from the Mongol invasion and began to expand its borders - which eventually came into contact with the borders of the Cossack hordes.
This happened during the reign of Ivan the Terrible - who came up with the idea as simple as anything ingenious - to use the Cossacks as a barrier against Asian raids on Russian lands. That is, half-Asians, close to Russia in language and faith, were used as a safety net against real Asians.

Thus began the gradual domestication of the Cossack freemen by the Russian state...

After the Black Sea region was annexed and the danger of Crimean Tatar raids disappeared, the Zaporozhye Cossacks were resettled to Kuban.

After the suppression of the Pugachev rebellion, the Yaik River was renamed the Ural - although, in general, it has almost nothing to do with the Urals as such (it only originates in the Ural Mountains).
And the Yaik Cossacks were renamed Ural Cossacks - although they live, for the most part, not in the Urals. This leads to some confusion - sometimes residents of the Urals, who have no relation to the Cossacks, are considered Cossacks.

When Russian possessions expanded to the east, some of the Cossacks were resettled in Transbaikalia, Ussuri, Amur, Yakutia, and Kamchatka. However, in those places, sometimes purely Russian people who had nothing to do with the Cossacks were included in the category of Cossacks. For example, the pioneers, comrades-in-arms of Semyon Dezhnev, who came from the city of Veliky Ustyug (that is, from the Russian North) were dubbed Cossacks.

Sometimes representatives of some other peoples were included in the category of Cossacks.
For example, Kalmyks...

In Transbaikalia, the Cossacks mixed quite a bit with the Chinese, Manchus and Buryats, and adopted some of the habits and customs of these peoples.

In the photo there is a painting by E. Korneev “GREBENSK COSSACKS” 1802. The Grebenskys are a “branch” of the Terek.

Painting by S. Vasilkovsky "ZAPOROZHETS ON WATCH".

“Enlistment of captured Poles in Napoleon’s army as Cossacks, 1813.” The drawing by N. N. Karazin depicts the moment of the arrival of the captured Poles in Omsk after they, already deployed among the Cossack regiments, under the supervision of the Siberian army of the Cossack captain (esaul) Nabokov, one by one change into Cossack uniforms.

Officers of the Stavropol and Khoper Cossack regiments. 1845-55

"BLACK SEA COSSACK". Drawing by E. Korneev

S. Vasilkovsky: "GARMASH (COSSACK ARTILLERIST) IN THE TIME OF HETMAN MAZEPA."

S. Vasilkovsky: "UMAN CENTURY IVAN GONTA".

Cossacks of the Life Guards of the Ural Cossack Hundred (this is, of course, a photograph, not a drawing).

Kuban Cossacks in May 1916.

It must be said that gradually, with the development of progress, wars became more and more man-made. In these wars, the Cossacks were assigned a purely secondary, or even tertiary, role.
But the Cossacks began to be increasingly involved in the dirtiest, “police” work - including suppressing uprisings, dispersing demonstrations, terrorizing potentially dissatisfied people, even repressive actions against unfortunate Old Believers.

And the Cossacks fully met the expectations of the authorities.
The descendants of those who escaped from captivity became the king's lackeys. They zealously slashed the dissatisfied with whips and hacked them with sabers.

There's nothing you can do - by mixing with Caucasians and Asians, the Cossacks absorbed some features of the Asian-Caucasian mentality. Including such things as cruelty, meanness, cunning, deceit, corruption, hostility towards Russians (or as the Cossacks say - “non-residents”), passion for robbery and violence, hypocrisy, duplicity.
Genetics is a merciless thing...

As a result, the population of Russia (including Russians) began to look at the Cossacks as foreigners, bashi-bazouks in the service of the autocracy.
And the Jews (who generally do not know how to forgive and in terms of cruelty will surpass any Cossacks) hated the Cossacks until their knees trembled.

It is believed that after the October Revolution of 1917, the Cossacks decisively sided with the autocracy and were the support of the white movement.
But much is exaggerated here.
In fact, the Cossacks were not at all eager to fight for the interests of the whites. There were strong separatist sentiments in the Cossack regions.
However, when the Bolsheviks came to the Cossack lands, they instantly turned the Cossacks against themselves with the wildest repressions and extreme cruelty. It quickly became clear that the Cossacks could not expect mercy from the Bolsheviks. Jewish commissars, who in other situations feared Great Russian chauvinism like hell, in this case, on the contrary, actively fueled the hostility of Russian peasants towards the Cossacks.
If the Bolsheviks willingly gave autonomy to other peoples (even those who did not ask for it at all), proclaiming a bunch of all sorts of national republics (however, the heads of all these republics, as a rule, were, again, Jews) - then no one spoke to the Cossacks about this topic didn't even try to talk.
That is why and only why, the Cossacks WERE FORCED to support the white movement. At the same time, they brought as much benefit to the White Guards as much harm.
Cossack intrigues behind the backs of the Russian leaders of the white movement never stopped.

Ultimately, White was defeated.
Repression fell on the Cossacks. To the point that in other areas the entire male population over 16 years of age was shot.
Until 1936, Cossacks were not drafted into the Red Army.

Cossack regions were carefully renamed. No Transbaikalia - only the Chita region! No Kuban - only Krasnodar region. There is no Don region, or Don region - only the Rostov region. There is no Yenisei province - only the Krasnoyarsk region. Instead of the Ussuri Territory - the Primorsky Territory (although Primorye can be called any territory located near the sea - for example, the Murmansk or Kaliningrad region).
The lands of the Semirechensk and Ural Cossacks generally became part of other republics (Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan).

But the most terrible fate befell the Terek and Greben Cossacks. First, with the full approval of the Soviet government, they were slaughtered by neighboring peoples (primarily the Chechens and Ingush, whom, by the way, Trotsky loved very much), and then the miraculously surviving remnants of the Cossack population were evicted by the Bolsheviks from their places of permanent residence - so that, according to Bolsheviks, "liquidate through the strip."
Of all the peoples of the North Caucasus, only the Ossetians objected to this decision.
This is somehow forgotten today by those Chechens, Ingush, and other Karachais who later, already during the time of Stalin, themselves were evicted from the Caucasus - including from those houses that they once took from the Terek and Greben Cossacks.. .

For some time the word “Cossack” itself was excluded from use. Cossacks in the media and literature were called purely Kazakhs.
Attitudes towards the Cossacks warmed only in the thirties, after Stalin strengthened his power and firmly stood on his feet, defeating all his enemies...

Later, under the late Soviet regime, the Cossacks were completely loyal to it and, along with the Ukrainians, were one of its most faithful lackeys.
But the standard of living, under the late Soviet regime, in traditionally Cossack regions, was quite high.
In Kuban they lived immeasurably more prosperously than in Tver or Ryazan...

Today it is generally accepted that the Cossacks are assimilated into the Russian environment.
In reality - nothing like that. If an ethnic group does not have national-political autonomy, this does not mean that the ethnic group does not exist.
Cossacks are clearly different from Russians - both in mentality and appearance.

Often some costumed clowns pretend to be Cossacks, who seriously think that Cossacks are just a military class. Therefore, they say, it’s enough to put on a uniform, a bunch of orders (it’s unclear why you received them) and take a certain oath - that’s it, you’ve already become a Cossack.
Nonsense of course. It is impossible to “become” a Cossack, just as it is impossible to “become” a Russian or an Englishman. You can only be born a Cossack...

The role of the Cossacks in Russian history is often exaggerated.
And sometimes, on the contrary, the troubles brought to our country by the Cossacks are exaggerated.
In fact, the Cossacks brought significant benefits to Russia at a certain stage of its development. But even without them, Russia would not have perished at all.
There was harm from the Cossacks, but there was also benefit.

Cossacks are not heroes or monsters - they are simply a separate ethnic group, with their own advantages and disadvantages. More precisely, a group of closely related ethnic groups.
And it would be nice if the Cossacks had their own state - say, somewhere in Asia, Africa, Latin America, or maybe in Australia. If they all moved to this state, I would wish them happiness and prosperity in their new homeland.
Still, we are different from them. Very different...

P.S. Above is a painting by I. Repin “COSSACKS WRITING A LETTER TO THE TURKISH SULTAN”. 1880

Modern scientifically based data tell us that the Cossacks in the past were a complex socio-cultural unit, developing according to their own laws and rules. By the beginning of the 20th century, the Cossacks had absorbed many of the features of the Russian people, but they were not without their own, exclusively individual characteristics. The Cossacks were a subethnic group of the Great Russian people, as well as a special military service class.

The origin of the term "Cossack" is not completely clear. There are two main versions of the origin: ethnic (Cossack is a derivative of the name of the descendants of Kasogs or Torks and Berendeys, Cherkas or Brodniks) or social (the word Cossack is of Turkic origin, it was called either a free, free, independent person, or a military guard on the border) . At various stages of existence, the Cossacks included different nationalities, Russians, Ukrainians, some steppe peoples and many others, but already at the beginning of the 20th century the overwhelming majority of Cossacks were of the East Slavic ethnic group.

Cossacks lived in the Don, the North Caucasus, the Urals, the Far East, and Siberia.
Certain Cossack communities were part of a specific Cossack army.
The language of the Cossacks is Russian. Among the Cossacks there are a number of dialects: Don, Kuban, Ural, Orenburg and others.

The Cossacks used Russian writing.

The term “Cossack” was first mentioned in sources of the 13th century, in particular in the “Secret History of the Mongols” (1240), and, according to various versions, is of Turkic, Mongolian, Adyghe-Abkhazian or Indo-European origin. The meaning of the term “Cossack” is also defined in different ways: a free man, a lightly armed horseman, a fugitive, a lonely person, and more.

The origin of the Cossacks and the time of their appearance on the historical stage have not been fully clarified to this day. There are many scientific theories of the origin of the Cossacks (only the main ones - 18). All theories of the origin of the Cossacks are divided into two large groups: theories of fugitive and migration, that is, newcomers, and autochthonous, that is, local, indigenous origin of the Cossacks. Each of these theories has its own evidence base, various convincing or not fully convincing scientific arguments, advantages and disadvantages.

According to autochthonous theories, the ancestors of the Cossacks lived in Kabarda, were descendants of the Caucasian Circassians (Cherkas, Yasov), a conglomerate of Kasags, Circassians (Yasov), “black hoods” (Pechenegs, Torks, Berendeys), Brodniks (Yasy and groups of Slavic-Russian and nomadic peoples) and more.

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 (the provisions of the theory of colonization), or under the influence of social antagonisms (the provisions of the theory of class struggle). The first reliable information about the Cossacks who lived in Chervleny Yar is contained in the chronicles of the Don Monastery (“Grebenskaya Chronicle”, 1471), “The Known Word ... of Archimandrite Anthony”, “Brief Moscow Chronicle” - a mention of the participation of the Don Cossacks in the Battle of Kulikovo, contained in the chronicles from 1444 Having arisen in the southern expanses of the so-called “Wild Field”, the first communities of free Cossacks were truly democratic social entities.
The fundamental principles of their internal organization were the personal freedom of all their members, social equality, mutual respect, the opportunity for each Cossack to openly express their opinion in the Cossack circle, which was the highest power and administrative body of the Cossack community, to elect and be elected by the highest official, the ataman, who was first among equals. The bright principles of freedom, equality and brotherhood in the early Cossack social formations were universal, traditional, and self-evident phenomena.

The process of formation of the Cossacks was long and complex. During it, representatives of different ethnic groups united. It is possible that the original basis of the early Cossack groups contained various ethnic elements. Ethnically, the “old” Cossacks were subsequently “overshadowed” by Russian elements.