To Serenissimus such tribes as the Cossacks of the Don or those ex-bandits the Zaporogian Cossacks ( in whose islands along the lower Dnieper the Polish novelist Sienkiewicz would one day place With Fire And Sword ) were just elements for enforced resettlement in, say, Bessarabia, where, as `` the faithful of the Black Sea borders '', he could use their presence as bargaining points in the Czarina's territorial claims against Turkey.

Initially, the Cossacks were commanded by Colonel Filon Dzhalalii, but after a few days he was replaced by Ivan Bohun.

There were cavalry variations for individual nations as well: France had the chasseurs à cheval ; Germany had the Jäger zu Pferd ; Bavaria had the Chevaulegers ; and Russia had Cossacks.

Between 1881 and 1910 all Russian cavalry ( other than Cossacks and Imperial Guard regiments ) were designated as dragoons ; reflecting an emphasis on dismounted action in their training and a growing acceptance of the impracticality of employing historical cavalry tactics against modern firepower.

Cossacks were warriors organized into military communities, resembling pirates and pioneers of the New World.

Later, in 1670 – 71 the Don Cossacks led by Stenka Razin initiated a major uprising in the Volga Region, but the Tsar's troops were successful in defeating the rebels.

Later battery towers were often used by the Ukrainian Cossacks.

Although the Cossacks were defeated in 1651 in the battle of Beresteczko, Khmelnytsky sought help from Russian tsar, and by the Treaty of Pereyaslav Russia dominated and partially occupied the eastern lands of the Commonwealth since 1655.

The main target of the inhabitants of Zaporizhian Sich who called themselves " Cossacks " were rich settlements at the Black Sea shores of Ottoman Empire and Crimean Khanate.

Already on October 8 the fort was unsuccessfully attacked by joint forces of Achans and Duchers ( who had good reasons to hate the Cossacks, due to their rather heavy-handed tribute-extraction tactics ), while many Russians were out fishing.

Because of their skills in horsemanship and mounted combat, many were enlisted into the Amur Cossacks host.

Cossacks (, ) are a group of predominantly East Slavic people who originally were members of democratic, semi-military communities in Ukraine and Southern Russia.

By the end of the 18th century, Cossacks were transformed into a special social estate ( Sosloviye ); they served as border guards on national and internal ethnic borders ( as was the case in the Caucasus War ) and regularly supplied men to conflicts such as the numerous Russo-Turkish Wars.

At the end of the sixteenth century, the commanders of the Zaporizhian Cossacks were called Koshovyi Otaman or Hetmans ( for example: Christof Kosynsky-first zaporizhian hetman ).

The Siberian Cossack Army was headquartered in Omsk after 1808 and contributed to the development of the city, by the beginning of the 20th century the Cossacks were a dominant component in the society of both the city of Omsk and the surrounding lands, having reached a population of 174 thousand and holding title to five million hectares of agricultural land.

Later in 1852, a Russian military expedition under Muravyov explored the Amur, and by 1857 a chain of Russian Cossacks and peasants were settled along the whole course of the river.

The Don Cossacks, who settled the fertile valley of the river in the 16th and 17th centuries, were named for the river.

Tens of thousands of Jews were massacred by Cossacks in Ukraine during the Khmelnytsky Uprising of 1648 – 1657, and thousands more during the Koliyivshchyna in 1768-1769.

As most of the residents there were Terek Cossacks, the town grew slowly until the development of oil reserves in the early 20th century.

In the Russian Empire higher-ranking cavalry officers often chose Cossacks for these roles as they could be reasonably depended on to survive combat, and were also known for resourcefulness on campaign.

There were 10, 000 Cossacks as well as 33, 000 Russian militiamen in the area who did not participate in the battle.

The Socialist-Revolutionary ( SR ) Directory leader and members were arrested on November 18 by a troop of Cossacks under ataman Krasilnikov.

The Russian Terek Cossack Host was established in lowland Chechnya in 1577 by free Cossacks who were resettled from the Volga to the Terek River.

Following the defeat of the White Army, a policy of Decossackization ( Raskazachivaniye ) took place on the surviving Cossacks and their homelands since they were viewed as a potential threat to the new regime.

Following the defeat of the White Army in the Russian Civil War, a policy of decossackization (" Raskazachivaniye ") took place on the surviving Cossacks and their homelands, since they were viewed as a threat to the new Soviet regime.

Because of their past loyalty to the Russian Emperor and the White Army, the new Soviet Government viewed all Cossacks as a threat to its still fragile power.

The Treaty of Hadiach was, however, viewed by many Cossacks as ' too little, too late ', and they especially opposed the agreement to return land property to the szlachta.

Unfortunately for Vyhovsky, his service on behalf of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and his willing surrender of power did not protect him, and in 1664, another Cossack hetman, Pavlo Teteria, seeing in Vyhovsky a potential rival, accused him of treason and betrayal ( reconciliation with Russia and Russian followers amongst the Cossacks ) before the Polish authorities.

As for the poor and plain folk, I shall treat them as brothers .” However, when Razin sailed by Tsartisyn, Unkovsky did not attack ( possibly either because Unkovsky felt that Razin posed a threat or the guards of Tsaritsyn sympathized with Razin ’ s Cossacks ).

Hence, the rivalry between Turkey and Persia became more and more abstract and meaningless as the threat of conquest by Russia and being pushed out of their lands or even annihilated by the Cossacks grew and grew.

While the Chechens and Ingush primarily backed the anti-Tsarist forces in the Russian Revolution, because of this, and the threat to the Decossackization policies of the Bolsheviks, the Terek Cossacks almost universally filed into the ranks of Anton Denikin's anti-Soviet, highly nationalistic Volunteer Army.

By Potemkin's death, the Cossacks were well controlled, ending the threat of anarchic revolt.

The Central Committee recognizes that the international position of the Russian revolution ( the revolt in the German navy which is an extreme manifestation of the growth throughout Europe of the world Socialist revolution ; the threat of conclusion of peace by the imperialists with the object of strangling the revolution in Russia ) as well as its military position ( the indubitable decision of the Russian bourgeoisie and Kerensky and Co. to surrender Petrograd to the Germans ), and the fact that the proletarian party has gained a majority in the Soviets – all this, taken in conjunction with the peasant revolt and the swing of popular confidence towards our Party ( the elections in Moscow ), and, finally, the obvious preparations being made for a second Kornilov affair ( the withdrawal of troops from Petrograd, the dispatch of Cossacks to Petrograd, the surrounding of Minsk by Cossacks, etc.

The Cossacks, ravaging the environs of Moscow, acknowledged him as Tsar on March 2, 1612, and under threat of vengeance in case of non-compliance, the gentry of Pskov also " kissed the cross " ( i. e., swore allegiance ) to the thief of Pskov, as he was usually nicknamed.

During the filming of Cossacks of the Kuban, the Soviet Union was going through a postwar famine.

The Don Cossacks used the shashka, which also saw military and police use in the Russian Empire and early Soviet Union.

In particular, Russian Cossacks of XVth SS Cossack Cavalry Corps of Waffen-SS with their relatives were forcibly repatriated from Austria to the Soviet occupation zones of Austria and Germany.

This was done despite the official statement of the British Foreign Office policy after the Yalta Conference that only Soviet citizens, who had been such after September 1, 1939, were to be compelled to return to the Soviet Union or handed over to Soviet officials in other locations ( for example see the Repatriation of Cossacks after World War II ).

The FCS was then broken up by the Chairman of the Conservative Party, Norman Tebbit, after one of its members had accused previous Tory PM Harold McMillan of war crimes in extraditing Cossacks to the Soviet Union.

It should be pointed out that most of the collaborators, who some say numbered over 250, 000 ( although current figures claim the true number was not even a third of that ) were the Don Cossacks, who, formerly the largest and strongest host, suffered the worst under Soviet collectivization policies.

Many of the collaborators fled the Soviet advance ( often chased by Soviet Cossacks ) but under Soviet-Allied agreements thousands of them were handed back to the USSR.

In the Soviet historical school as a part of Soviet ideology view on Cossacks was focused only as on a peasants fleeing the bonds of serfdom as a part of class war based on Karl Marx theories and may be partly true in case of NonRegistered Cossacks of Zaporozhian host in the 16th and 17th centuries.

A great part of the Cossacks were former Russian citizens who elected to fight not so much for Germany as against the Soviet Union.

The FCS was then broken up by the Chairman of the Conservative Party, Norman Tebbit, after one of its members had accused previous former Prime Minister Harold Macmillan of war crimes in extraditing Cossacks to the Soviet Union.

* During the Russian Civil War, Karl Lander was named Plenipotentary of the Northern Caucasus and the Don by the Soviet government to exercise this power for prosecution of rebellious Cossacks.

During the Soviet famine of 1932-1934, many Cossacks died of starvation.

Many Soviet Kuban Cossacks chose to switch to the German side either when in POW camps or on active service in the Soviet Army.

The high professionalism that the Cossacks under Dovator and Belov ( both generals would later be granted the title Hero of the Soviet Union and their units raised to a Guards ( elite ) status ) ensured that many new units would be formed.

The Cossacks have actively participated in some of the more abrupt political developments following the dissolution of the Soviet Union: South Ossetia, Crimea, Kosovo, Transnistria and Abkhazia.