page_title: Cossacks
section_title: Russian Cossacks
hierarchical_section_title: Cossacks / Russian Cossacks
context_page_description: The Cossacks, a group of predominantly East Slavic-speaking Orthodox Christian people, became known as members of democratic, self-governing, semi-military communities, originating in the Pontic steppe. They inhabited sparsely-populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper, Don, Terek and Ural river basins and played an important role in the historical and cultural development both of Ukraine and of Russia.
  After World War II the Soviet Union disbanded the Cossack units in the Soviet Army. During the Perestroika era in the Soviet Union in the late 1980s, descendants of Cossacks moved to revive their national traditions. In 1988 the Soviet Union passed a law allowing the re-establishment of former Cossack hosts and the formation of new ones. During the 1990s many regional authorities agreed to hand over to these Cossack hosts some local administrative and policing duties.
  In the 2002 Russian Census, 140,028 people claimed Cossack ethnicity, with 67,573 people identifying as ethnic Cossack in the Russian Census of 2010.
context_section_description: The native land of the Cossacks is defined by a line of Russian town-fortresses located on the border with the steppe, and stretching from the middle Volga to Ryazan and Tula, then breaking abruptly to the south and extending to the Dnieper via Pereyaslavl. This area was settled by a population of free people practicing various trades and crafts.
  These people, constantly facing the Tatar warriors on the steppe frontier, received the Turkic name Cossacks (Kazaks), which was then extended to other free people in Russia. Many Cumans, who had assimilated Khazars, retreated to the Principality of Ryazan (Grand Duchy of Ryazan) after the Mongol invasion. The oldest mention in the annals is of Cossacks of the Russian principality of Ryazan serving the principality in the battle against the Tatars in 1444. In the 16th century, the Cossacks (primarily of Ryazan) were grouped in military and trading communities on the open steppe, and began to migrate into the area of the Don.
  Cossacks served as border guards and protectors of towns, forts, settlements, and trading posts. They performed policing functions on the frontiers, and also came to represent an integral part of the Russian army. In the 16th century, to protect the borderland area from Tatar invasions, Cossacks carried out sentry and patrol duties, guarding against Crimean Tatars and nomads of the Nogai Horde in the steppe region.
  The most popular weapons of the Cossack cavalrymen were the sabre, or shashka, and the long spear.
  From the 16th to 19th centuries, Russian Cossacks played a key role in the expansion of the Russian Empire into Siberia (particularly by Yermak Timofeyevich), the Caucasus, and Central Asia. Cossacks also served as guides to most Russian expeditions of civil and military geographers and surveyors, traders, and explorers. In 1648, the Russian Cossack Semyon Dezhnyov discovered a passage between North America and Asia. Cossack units played a role in many wars in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, including the Russo-Turkish Wars, the Russo-Persian Wars, and the annexation of Central Asia.
  Western Europeans had a lot of contact with Cossacks during the Seven Years' War, and had seen Cossack patrols in Berlin. During Napoleon's Invasion of Russia, Cossacks were the Russian soldiers most feared by the French troops. Napoleon himself stated, "Cossacks are the best light troops among all that exist. If I had them in my army, I would go through all the world with them." Cossacks also took part in the partisan war deep inside French-occupied Russian territory, attacking communications and supply lines. These attacks, carried out by Cossacks along with Russian light cavalry and other units, were one of the first developments of guerrilla warfare tactics and, to some extent, special operations as we know them today.
  Frenchmen had had few contacts with Cossacks before the Allies occupied Paris in 1814. As the most exotic of the Russian troops seen in France, Cossacks drew a great deal of attention. Bistrots appeared at some point after the Cossack occupation of Paris. While some folk etymologies claim that the French word "bistro" dates from this period, when Russian troops supposedly shouted "Bystro!" ("quickly!") at their dilatory wine waiters, most French linguists dispute this derivation.
caption: Imperial Russian Cossacks (left) in Paris in 1814
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