Such a phenomenon in history, as the Cossacks, is fanned in the minds of modern people with a touch of mystery, mystery, and even some kind of mysticism. There are rumors of all kinds about these people - from ridiculous inventions to the most true legends.
Needless to say, how often do Cossacks appear on the pages of books and become movie heroes. One animated series about their adventures is worth it!
Finally, a huge amount of historical research is aimed at determining how the Cossacks lived, what they believed in, and on whose side they fought.
Who are they
There were no versions about the nature and origin of the representatives of this type of troops during their existence in the original form and after it. Some said that the first Cossacks were merely runaway serfs and Old Believers who did not want to accept the trends of the time and went to the outskirts of the state.
Others, analyzing how the Cossacks lived, ranked them among free people who united in certain communities and chose a very specific type of activity that was unusual for that time. They were called "naygaynikami", and over time they were defined behind the eyes as "dogs of the autocracy."
Trying to determine how the Cossacks lived, what they did and how they came about, historians turned to studying the peculiarities of their way of life, tried to determine the origin of these people by a certain lexicon, and studied the manuscripts in which they were mentioned. All this, however, did not give an unambiguous answer - opinions, as one would expect, were divided. Some researchers pointed to the origin of the Cossacks from the Tatar ethnic group, appealing to the active use of horses. Others (for example, in Oxford) considered them Russian runaway peasants and simply people who were persecuted for their religious beliefs.
From a linguistic point of view
Strangely enough, philologists allowed to approach the decoding of the riddle about the origin of the Cossacks more or less. It was they who determined that the words that appeared in Russian under the influence of the Cossacks did not etymologically have anything in common with Turkic roots. On the contrary, they go back to the ancient Iranian dialects characteristic of the Sarmatians and Scythians. Characteristic in this respect are toponyms that entered the Russian language under the influence of the Cossacks: Don, Danube and other river names.
The meaning of the word "Cossack" was also defined. Its very structure contains semantics: the characteristic root "az" can be equated to the modern word "free", and the suffix "ak" indicates the origin of the adjective from the noun. Thus, the word itself as a whole can be replaced for understanding by the combination "free man."
What was their task
As mentioned earlier, initially the Cossacks settled on the outskirts of the country, occupying still free lands. Forming small, and then increasingly expanding communities, they formed their own features of life, worldview, relationships with the environment. In order to understand how the Cossacks lived initially, it is enough to pay attention to this fact.
There is absolutely no doubt that, being “evicted” to the borders with another state, they had no choice but to protect their own territory from external interference. Initially, actions of this kind were a simple necessity, and only then turned into a kind of service for which the state was ready to pay.
Why it was profitable to cooperate with them
As mentioned earlier, this freedom-loving people quite successfully coped with the defense of their own space. In addition, the Cossacks in the war and in everyday life showed themselves very impressive - they mastered the steppes, becoming gradually a real force to be reckoned with. Their growing power could not but worry the government, and the desire for suppression, destruction and submission threatened with quite large losses. The only solution beneficial to both parties was the adoption of the Cossacks in the civil service, which over time was made, as history shows.
First hiring
There are a lot of facts of cooperation of this warlike, freedom-loving and proud people with government representatives. The first indication of the transition to public service is considered to be a letter written by Ivan the Terrible, according to which, the Cossacks of the Don became part of the royal army.
It is from here, with this fact, that a new era began in the matter of military cooperation. Cossacks were officially hired to guard the country's southern borders. Since then, the army began to grow rapidly, expand its possessions, forming new settlements already on the rights of full-fledged owners of the allotted lands. Cossacks of Don occupied the vast expanses of the banks of the Seversky Donets, Ursa Minor, Buzuluk and other tributaries.
Way of life
Initially, representatives of this kind of troops were granted almost absolute freedom, expressed in the autonomy of self-government, the definition of their own religion, life, language and life span. Gradually, the Cossacks of Russia began to lose their privileges, turning from civilian soldiers to ministers, obliged to obey the tsar’s decree for life.
By the reform of 1798, the differences between them and the rest of the military were almost leveled. Cossacks of Russia were actually equated with soldiers, and military ranks corresponded to generally accepted ones. So, instead of esaul, captains appeared, and the coronets were replaced by the cornets more familiar to the country.
Beginning in 1835, the history of the Cossacks received a new, rather sharp turn. On the one hand, in part this autonomy was returned to autonomy in terms of vital structure. Cossack settlements became a kind of territory closed to outsiders. On the other hand, compulsory military service lasted from that time from 18 to 43 years, but for it the royal order entrusted not only land ownership, but also the noble title, and even their own serfs.
Since then, in the history of the Cossacks there have been many changes in the positive or negative direction. Their status is constantly changing, acquiring ever new features. One thing remains unchanged - the role that these warriors played in Russian history.