Historically,
Cossacks were a semi-
nomadic and semi-militarized people, who, while under the nominal
suzerainty of various
Eastern European kingdoms at the time, were allowed a great degree of self-governance in exchange for their
military service. Although numerous linguistic and religious groups came together to form the Cossacks, most of them coalesced and became
East Slavic–speaking Orthodox Christians. Starting with the
Russian Revolution of 1905, Cossacks became increasingly employed by
Tsarist officials for internal security due to their perception of not being tainted by revolutionary ideals, unlike the average Russian foot-soldier. The Russian Army Command centralized and modernized Cossack institutions and placed them firmly under the command of the
Russian monarchy. These institutions became resentful due to overconscription and lack of compensation for the heavy Cossack presence in
Manchuria during the
Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905). When the
February Revolution began (1917), Cossack troops notably deserted from
Tsarist ranks, and the
Russian Provisional Government gave the Cossacks autonomy to self-govern themselves through assemblies called
krugs or
radas led by an
Ataman. These Cossack autonomies refused to recognize the
new Soviet Federative government after the
October Revolution (1917), and became
de-facto independent in the form of the
Don Republic and the
Kuban People's Republic that nominally sided with the
White movement to fight the
Bolsheviks and preserve their autonomy. A significant number of Cossacks also fought for the Bolsheviks as so called "
Red Cossacks". From 1919 to 1933, the Soviet Union underwent an official policy of "
De-Cossackization" to destroy the Cossack way of life due to their leadership's support for the White movement. Thousands of Cossacks were killed, their institutions destroyed, and their remaining people either deported and or forcefully integrated into the "Russian" identity over the subsequent decades. Thousands of Cossacks would flee Russia during and immediately after the civil war as
émigrés living in
Bulgaria,
Czechoslovakia,
Yugoslavia, and
France. This also included the entire
Transbaikal Cossack Host, whose Ataman
Grigory Semyonov was able to flee to
Japanese-controlled Manchukuo and assisted the
Kwantung Army. During
World War II, as with other White Russian émigrés, Cossack leaders and officers would be
recruited by
Nazi Germany's armed forces to serve as auxiliaries in their
war against the Soviet Union. The Germans organized the
1st SS Cossack Cavalry Division to consist of these émigrés as well as Cossack POWs. Starting in 1943 the German government continually promised that they would create an independent "Cossack Central Administration" led by
Pyotr Krasnov, former Ataman of the Don Republic. At the end of the war these Cossack units fought towards Western Allied lines, and surrendered to
British forces, in order to avoid looming death sentences in Russia. This resulted in the "
Betrayal of the Cossacks" where the British repatriated all Cossack POWs, who were executed or sentenced to hard labor, including the mass execution of the 2,479 Cossack POWs at
Lienz. Despite this the remaining Cossack diaspora would continue to call for an independent "Cossack Nation" throughout the
Cold War, with
Nikolai Nazarenko becoming a leading figure as the President of the "
World Federation of the Cossack National Liberation Movement of Cossackia" a
New York based pressure and cultural group for Cossacks, that called for an independent Cossack state dubbed "
Cossackia" which they argued was a "
captive nation." Time was not on the exiled Cossacks side, as with each generation that passed the Cossack identity was further suppressed in Russia until it was all but destroyed, existing only in fringe exile organizations across the west led by increasingly aged elders.
Cossack revivalism During the
collapse of the Soviet Union in the late 80s and early 90s, thousands of Russian-speaking Orthodox Slavs in border regions, especially the
North Caucasus, sought to revive a Cossack identity. Although these "Cossacks" and their institutions bare no continuity with the historical
Cossack hosts these Cossack-revivalists "re-created" many historic Cossack "circles", crowned "atamans", and even attempted to form pro-Russian secessionists efforts in independence seeking nations, like
Checnya. In 1992, 11 of these revived circles met on the issue of prospective independence and support for Nazarenko's proposal of an independent "Cossackia". All 11 of them rejected the proposal and instead called for a "United Russia." A growing and militant paramilitary supportive of Russian Neo-Imperalistic ambitions across the Caucasus and Eastern Europe, the Russian government quickly sought to subordinate these "circles" first in 1995 and 1997 via Presidential decrees, and again in 2005 through an official law that passed through the Duma. ==History==