The history of the Cossacks concerns the development of semi autonomous, militarised communities that emerged in the steppe regions north of the Black and Caspian seas from the late medieval period onwards. Composed largely of fugitives, frontier settlers, adventurers, these groups distinctive socio political organizations characterised by elective leadership, military proficiency and a strong tradition of personal liberty over time the Cossacks played a significant role in the political and military affairs of Eastern Europe, particularly in relation to the Polish Lithuanian commonwealth, the Ottoman empire and the expanding Russian state. while they at times incorporated into imperial structure of frontier troops, they also periodically resisted central authority, before their autonomy was progressively curtailed under imperial law.
Early history
Several theories speculate about the origins of the Cossacks. According to one theory, Cossacks have Slavic origins, while another theory states that the Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk of 1710 attests to Khazar origins.The connection is in part supported by old Cossack ethnonyms such as kazara (), kazarla (), kozarlyhi (), kazare (); cf. N. D. Gostev, "About the use of "Kazarа" and other derivative words", Kazarla ethnic magazine, 2010, No.1. (link) The name of the Khazars in Old Russian chronicles is kozare (). Modern scholars believe that Cossacks have both Slavic and Turkic origins.In the 19th century, Peter V. Golubovsky of Kiev University explained that the Severians made up a significant part of early-medieval Russians and Khazars. He described the Khazar state as the "Slavic stronghold in the East". Many Khazars, like Cossacks, as described in The Cossacks by Leo Tolstoy, could be Slavic-Turkic bilinguals. * Golubovsky Peter V. (1884) Pechenegs, Torks and Cumans before the invasion of the Tatars. History of the South Russian steppes in the 9th-13th Centuries (Печенеги, Торки и Половцы до нашествия татар. История южно-русских степей IX—XIII вв.); available at Runivers.ru in DjVu format. Later Mikhail Artamonov and his school confirmed many of Golubovsky's conclusions. The Academician Ivan Zabelin mentioned that peoples of the prairies and of the woods had always needed "a live frontier", and even ancient Borisphenites (Dnieper Scythians) and Tanaites could be the predecessors of the Cossacks,Ivan Zabelin. The history of Russian life. http://az.lib.ru/z/zabelin_i_e/text_0050.shtml not only the Khazars who may have assimilated, but this also includes the Severians, Goths, Scythians, and other ancient inhabitants, as insisted by Cossack folklore, by the Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk, and by numerous Cossack historians. Because of the need of both the Soviet and the anti-Bolshevik forces to deny any separate Cossack ethnicity, the traditional post-imperial historiography dates the emergence of Cossacks to the 14th-15th centuries. Non-mainstream theories, however, have borrowed the date 948 from imperial historiography, and ascribe an earlier Cossack existence to the tenth century, but deny Cossack links both to "the old people" (Khazars) and to "the new people" (Russians and Ukrainians; the very terms "old people" and "new people" being coined by the 11th-century Metropolitan Ilarion of Kiev),Vasili Glazkov (Wasili Glaskow), History of the Cossacks, p. 3, Robert Speller & Sons, New York, Vasili Glazkov claims that the data of Byzantine, Iranian, and Arab historians support that. According to this view, by 1261, Cossacks lived in the area between the rivers Dniester and the Volga, as described for the first time in Russian chronicles. specifically mentioning 948 as the year when the inhabitants of the steppe under a leader named Kasak or Kazak routed the Khazars in the area of modern Kuban and organized a state called Kazakia or Cossackia.Newland, Samuel J.(1991), Cossacks in the German army, 1941-1945, p. 65. Routledge,
Cossacks were mainly East Slavs. In the 15th century, the term originally described semi-independent Tatar groups which lived on the Dnieper River, which flows through Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus.
Some historians suggest that the Cossack people had mixed ethnic origins, descending from Russians, Khazars, Ukrainians, Tatars, and others who settled or passed through the boundless Pontic–Caspian steppeland that stretches from central Asia to southeastern Europe.Samuel J Newland, Cossacks in the German Army, 1941-1945, Routledge, 1991,
Some Turkologists argue that Cumania's Cossacks descend from Kipchaks, who partly originated near the northern Chinese borders and soon moved to Western Siberia. Afterwards they migrated further west into the trans-Volga region (present-day western Kazakhstan). In the 11th century they finally arrived in the steppe area north of the Black Sea in southern Russia and eastern Ukraine. They are closely related to modern Kazakhs.
Genetic studies conducted on Zaporozhian, Don and Kuban Cossack groups showed low levels to absence of Caucasian and Asian component. Y-chromosomal genetic makeup of these groups forms southern fragment of East Slavic population.
Early Russian military greatly admired Cossacks for their equestrian skills. Many were hired as cavalry by Russian and Ukrainian warlords, in much the same way that they hired Black Klobuks as personal guards.
After 1400, the Cossacks emerge as an established and identifiable group in historical accounts. Rulers of the Grand Duchy of Moscow and of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth employed Cossacks as mobile guards against Tatar raids from the south in the territories of present-day southern Russia and eastern Ukraine. Judging by the records of their names, these early Cossacks seem to have included a significant number of Tatar descendants. From the mid-15th century, Cossacks are mostly mentioned with Slavic names.Philip Longworth, The Cossacks, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1970,
All historical records of that period describe Cossack society as a loose federation of independent communities, often merging into larger units of a military character, entirely separate from, and mostly independent of other nations (such as Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, or the Tatars).
In the 16th century, Cossack societies created two relatively independent territorial organisations:
Zaporizhia, on the lower bends of the river Dnieper in Ukraine, between Russia, Poland, and the Tatars of the Crimea, with their centre as the Zaporozhian Sich the Don Cossack State, on the river Don, separated from the Russian state by rebel Nogai and Tatar tribes.
Don Cossacks Numerous historical documents of that period refer to the Don Cossacks in Russia as a sovereign ethno-cultural people with a unique warrior culture. Cossacks conducted raids and pillaging against their neighbours as important sources of income. Already in 1444 Cossacks of Ryazan were mentioned as defenders of Pereslavl-Zalessky against the units of Golden Horde and in a letter of Ivan III of Russia in 1502. The area around the Don River was divided between the Crimean west side and the Nogai east side after the Golden Horde fell in 1480. The vast steppe of the Don region was populated by runaway serfs, by those who longed for freedom, by people who were not satisfied with the existing social order. Over time, the culture of the Don Cossacks was formed into a united community and were called "the Cossacks".
The Don Cossacks known for their attacks on the Ottoman Empire and its vassals (like the Tatars), although they did not shy away from pillaging other neighbouring communities. Their actions exacerbated the tension at the southern border of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (Kresy), resulting in almost constant low-level warfare in those territories for almost the entire existence of the Commonwealth. Their first recorded naval raid into the Black Sea dates to 1538, with an attack on the fortress of Ochakiv. This was followed by more frequent and better-organised raids elsewhere, the freeing of Christian slaves being one of the chief aims, as well as the acquisition of plunder. Their success was such that they attracted the attention of the western European powers, including the Papacy, who made diplomatic overtures in the hope of launching joint ventures against the Turks. In 1539, Grand Prince Vasili III of Russia asked the Ottoman Sultan to curb the Cossacks and the Sultan replied: "The Cossacks do not swear allegiance to me, and they live as they themselves please." In 1549, the Tsar of Russia, Ivan the Terrible, replied to a request of the Turkish Sultan to stop the aggressive actions of the Don Cossacks, stating, "The Cossacks of the Don are not my subjects, and they go to war or live in peace without my knowledge."
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
Similar exchanges passed between Russia, the Ottomans and the Commonwealth; each of which often tried to use the Cossacks' warmongering for his own purposes. The Cossacks for their part were happy to plunder everybody more or less equally. Between the 16th to the 17th century, the Zaporoijan Cossacks became subjects first of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and later of the Union of Lublin of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Using small, shallow-draft, and highly manoeuvrable galleys known as chaiky, they moved swiftly across the Black Sea. According to the Cossacks' own records, these vessels, carrying a 50- to 70-man crew, could reach the Anatolian coast of Asia Minor from the mouth of the Dnieper River in forty hours. The chaiky were often accompanied by larger galleys that served as command and control centres. The raids also acquired a distinct political purpose after Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachny became hetman in 1613, intending to turn the host into the nucleus of a Ukrainian nation with the support of the European states.
By 1618, the Zaporozhians were members of the Anti-Turkish League, as Schaidachny transferred his seat of power to Kiev, the Polish Crown's regional capital.
The fighting qualities of the sea-going Cossacks were even admired in the Ottoman chronicles: "One can safely say that in the entire world one cannot find a people more careless for their lives or having less fear of death; persons versed in navigation assert that because of their skill and boldness in naval battles these bands are more dangerous than any other enemy."
In 1615, the raiders even sailed to the walls of Tsarhorod, as they referred to the Turkish capital, plundering the ports of Mizevna and Archioca. An attempt by the Turks to blockade the Berezan Island, and deny Cossacks access to the sea, was defeated in the spring of 1616. The raiders went on to capture Kaffa, which was burned down after all the slaves were freed. That same year Trebizond, in eastern Anatolia, was captured and destroyed. Sultan Ahmed I sent his fleet to the Dnieper in pursuit; but instead of going home the Cossacks once more sailed to Constantinople, where they raided at leisure, even rampaging through the Topkapı Palace, according to one account. The city was raided four more times, once in 1620 and no fewer than three times in 1624.