THE COSSACK
Cossack is a Tartar word. In the sixteenth century the term was used
all over Russia to designate floating labor--the kind that has no
definite occupation nor permanent abode. During the kingdom of Moscow
mercenary soldiers were called Cossacks. In southwestern Russia, Little
Russians made serfs by the Polish gentry known as Shliachta escaped
into the steppes to the so-called Ukraina. Here they organized into
bands to fight the invading Tartars, and here originated the Little
Russian Cossack.
At the end of the fifteenth century, hunters from Kiev went south
into the steppes to “Cossack,” that is, to trade in fish and game.
These hunters made most of their money by inciting raids against the
Tartars and the Turks, and this incensed these races against Poland.
Poland wished to make soldiers of the Cossacks in time of war, and
workmen in time of peace. But that displeased the unbridled Cossacks.
They established a center of their own called Zaporojie, which means
“Beyond the Rapids.” These rapids are on the River Dnieper, and there
a camp of armed traders was formed. Their number was greatly augmented
by the Cossacks of the Ukraina, when they felt the yoke of the Poles
intolerable. Eventually any malcontent or adventurer was received by
the Cossacks regardless of race or creed. There was no conception of
nationality among them. They regarded Turkey, Moldavia, and even Moscow
as sources of plunder, and they considered the Polish gentry their
worst enemies. They offered their services to the Emperor of Germany
against the Turks, to Turkey against Moscow, and had no scruples in
siding with Moscow and Crimea against the Poles.
In the Seventeenth Century the Cossacks learned that an alliance had
been entered into by the Polish king with the Polish pans (gentry) and
the Jews, and that they were all preparing to make war upon the Church
of Russia. Thereby the Cossacks, being also orthodox, were drawn into a
religious war with the Poles. In 1625, the Metropolitan of Kiev called
upon the Cossacks to defend the Russian Church.
In the middle of the Seventeenth Century the Cossack commander, Bogdan
Chmelnitzky, decided to rid his country of the Polish yoke and forever
free the Ukraina, the real home of the Little Russian. He instigated an
attack against the Poles through the Khan of Crimea, and marched into
Poland with the Crimean Tartars and Cossacks. Poland was defeated, but
the Little Russians could not rid themselves of the Poles completely.
So they appealed to the Russian Tzar Alexis, and begged him to receive
Little Russia under his protection, and asked that all Little Russians
be accepted as his subjects. In case the Tzar would refuse, they
threatened to form an alliance with the Sultan of Turkey.
Upon Alexis taking in the Cossacks, there followed a war with Poland.
At first the Russians were successful and took Smolensk and Lithuania,
but in the second war (1664) the Russians lost because of a previous
five years’ exhausting war with the Swedes.
When Nicholas I parcelled off to the Cossacks of the Ukraina certain
lands, and told them to farm them, a great many became dissatisfied,
saying they were warriors, not tillers of the soil. So they became
the warrior population, guarding the southern and eastern frontiers
of their country; hence the Kuban Cossacks, the Don Cossacks, the
Ural Cossacks, etc. They retained the privilege of electing their own
ataman, or chief, who appointed all officers, and at first they took
orders from him only, and not even the Russian War Minister had power
to dictate to them. All commands were given directly by the Tzar to the
ataman, and his subordinates executed the orders.
The Cossacks constitute the most loyal body of men the Emperor has to
this day. It was told in the last revolution that an ultimatum was
sent to the Jews by the Cossacks to the effect that if they did not
discontinue their agitation against the Tzar, the Cossacks would march
against them five hundred thousand strong, and annihilate them. This
declaration had its effect, and while some few soldiers mutinied, no
Cossack was found wanting. The Cossacks are the backbone of Russia;
take them away and she will go to pieces.
Socially, the Cossacks are delightful, big-hearted people, very
hospitable and jolly. In many ways they resemble the cowboys as they
were twenty years ago in the West. Like the cowboys, they are excellent
shots, even better riders, though they cannot handle the lasso at all.
[Illustration: KARAVAN OF AFGHANS CROSSING THE AMU DARIA RIVER AT KERKI
As no foreigner is allowed in Kerki, I risked my liberty for daring to
enter this forbidden military zone]