The Cossacks were most upset by demands that they return fugitives, which they viewed as a violation of their traditional freedoms. In the late 17th century the Russian government tried to limit Cossack freedom and privileges. The Cossacks remained dependent on the tsar militarily and politically but were allowed to more or less run their territories as independent states. Many industrial towns in Siberia and of northern Kazakhstan, including Alma Altay, began as fortified Cossack forts. They conquered all of Siberia in less than 70 years. The Cossacks played a crucial roles in exploring the Siberian and Alaskan frontiers. The tsar often placed Cossacks on the front line in wars or military campaign that necessitated ruthless warriors. The Cossacks helped expand and define the borders of the Russian empire and then helped protect them.
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Even though Russian nobles and tsarist soldiers were frequently preyed upon by Cossacks, Ivan the Terrible set the trend in 1570 by hiring them as mercenaries in exchange for gunpowder, lead and money (three things the steppe didn't produce) to free Russian prisoners enslaved by the Tartars and Turks. The Cossacks were stationed in Imperial Guard camps on the Don River, the Urals, Siberia and the Black Sea. The tsars offered the Cossacks autonomy in return for military assistance. Although a few Cossacks joined the fighting legions, they have traditionally played a passive role.ĬOSSACKS BLACK SEA AND SEA OF AZOV AREAS OF RUSSIA: BEACHES, WINE, COSSACKS AND DOLMEN DON RIVER, COSSACKS AND ROSTOV-ON-DON STAVROPOL KRAI: COSSACKS, MEDICINAL BATHS AND DUELS Cossacks Help the Tsars A lauded Cossack feat was to attack a wedding party and make off with the bride. Their wives were often kidnapped in raids. They attacked merchant vessels that traveled on the Don and Volga river as well as Turkish ships that plied the Black Sea.Ī shortage of women was a problem among the Cossacks. They raided Slavic hunters, fisherman and traders and caravans that entered the no-man's land where they made their home. The early Cossacks were bandits and mercenaries who traveled on horses in warrior bands that were for all intents and purposes "lordless, womanless, propertyless" egalitarian societies. The Mongol empire that once controlled them had collapsed in Central Asia and Europe and the Russian government was weak and small.
In the late 1400s, no government controlled the Russia steppes.
In the early days the steppes of Ukraine were regarded as the equivalent of the Wild West and the Cossacks were the equivalent of the Indians. The early Cossack made a homeland for themselves on the rich, grassy steppes of Russia, the Ukraine and Central Asia described by Gogol as "an ocean of green and gold, sprinkled with millions of different flowers." Most Cossacks were runaway serfs, hunters, freebooters and fugitives who lived in the frontiers beyond the reach of Russian authorities. Even today, Cossack speech is filled with words of Mongol origin. According to legend they evolved from mythical beings, but are believed to have originally been descendants of Tatars (Mongols in Russia) or maybe Scythians (fierce nomads who migrated from Central Asia in the 7th century B.C.) or ancient Scythian-like people called the Kossaraka in Greek inscriptions from the Black Sea area. Cossacks trace their origins at least back to the 1400s.
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