How the Cossacks lived. History of Russia: Cossacks

This phenomenon in history, like the Cossacks, is fanned in the minds of modern man with a light flair of mystery, mystery, and even in some way mysticism. About these people there are rumors of very different persuasions - from ridiculous fancies to the most real legends.

Needless to say, how often the Cossacks appear on the pages of books, become heroes of films. One animated series about their adventures is worth!

Finally, a huge amount of historical research is aimed at determining how the Cossacks lived, what they believed, and on which side they fought.

Who are they

What are the only versions of the nature and origin of representatives of this type of troops was not available during their existence in the original form and after it. Some said that the first Cossacks were only fugitive serfs and Old Believers who did not want to accept the tide of time and left on the outskirts of the state.

Others, analyzing how the Cossacks lived, ranked them as free people who united in certain communities and chose a very specific type of activity unusual for that time. They were called "nagachniki", and for the time they were defined as "the dogs of the autocracy".

Trying to determine how the Cossacks lived, what they did and how they arose, the historians turned to studying the peculiarities of their 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 might be expected, were divided. Some researchers pointed to the origin of the Cossacks from the Tatar ethnos, appealing to the active use of horses. Others (for example, in Oxford) considered them to be Russian runaway peasants and simply people persecuted for their religious beliefs.

From a linguistic point of view

More or less to approach the decoding of the riddle about the origin of the Cossacks allowed, oddly enough, philologists. It was they who determined that the words that appeared in the Russian language under the influence of the Cossacks, etymologically, have nothing to do with the Turkic roots. On the contrary, they go back to the ancient Iranian dialects, characteristic of the Sarmatians and Scythians. Characteristic in this respect are the toponyms, which entered the Russian language under the influence of the Cossacks: Don, Danube and other names of rivers.

The meaning of the very word "Cossack" was also defined. In its very structure semantics is laid: the characteristic root "az" can be equated to the modern word "free", and the suffix "ak" speaks about the origin of the adjective from the noun. Thus, the word itself as a whole can be replaced for understanding by a combination of "free man".

What was their task

As mentioned earlier, initially the Cossacks settled on the outskirts of the country, occupying as yet free lands. Forming small, and then more and more expanding communities, they formed their own peculiarities of life, world outlook, relationships with the environment. In order to understand how the Cossacks lived from the very beginning, 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 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 beneficial to cooperate with them

As mentioned earlier, this freedom-loving people coped quite successfully with the defense of their own space. In addition, the Cossacks in the war and at home showed themselves very impressive - they mastered the steppes, gradually becoming a real force, which had to be reckoned with. Increasing their power could not help but worry the board, and the desire to suppress, destroy and subordinate threatened with quite large losses. The only solution beneficial to both sides was the acceptance of the Cossacks for public service, which in time was done, as history shows.

First hire

The facts of cooperation of this militant, freedom-loving and proud people with the representatives of the board are many. The first indication of the transfer to the civil service is the letter written by Ivan the Terrible, according to which the Cossacks of the Don became part of the royal army.

It was from here, from this fact, that a new era began in the issue of military cooperation. Cossacks were officially hired to protect the southern borders of the country. Since then, the army began to grow rapidly, expand its holdings, forming new settlements already on the rights of full-fledged owners of the allocated lands. Cossacks of the Don took the expanse of the shores of the Seversky Donets, Medveditsa, Buzuluk and other tributaries.

Lifestyle

Initially representatives of this kind of troops were given almost absolute freedom, expressed in the autonomy of self-government, the definition of one's own religion, the peculiarities of life, language and service life. Gradually, the Cossacks of Russia began to lose their privileges, turning from civilian soldiers into ministers who were 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 practically eliminated. The Cossacks of Russia were in fact equated with soldiers, and military ranks were in line with the generally accepted. So, instead of the captain, captains appeared, and the coroners replaced the more common cornets.

Since 1835, the history of the Cossacks has received a new, rather steep turn. On the one hand, part of this kind of troops was returned to autonomy in terms of the life system. Cossack settlements became a kind of closed territory for outsiders. On the other hand, compulsory military service lasted from 18 to 43 years from now, but for her royal order was entrusted not only landed property, but also noble title, and even its own serf peasants.

Since then, in the history of the Cossacks, there have been many changes in the positive or negative side. Their status has been constantly changing, acquiring all the new features. One thing will remain unchanged - the role that these warriors played in the history of Russia.