Early history More than two thousand years ago the
Scythians lived on the banks of the river Don. Many Scythian tombs have been found in this area. Subsequently, the area was inhabited by the
Khazars and the
Polovtsians. From the 16th to the 18th centuries the steppes of the Don River were part of
"the Wild Field" (). In the late Middle Ages the area was under the general control of the
Golden Horde, and numerous
Tatar (especially
Crimean Tatar) armed groups roamed there, attacking and enslaving merchants and settlers. The first
Christians to settle on the territories around the Don were the
Jassi and
Kosogi tribes of the
Khazar Kaghanate of the 7th to 10th centuries. After the fall of the
Golden Horde in 1480, more colonists started to expand onto this land from the
Novgorod Republic after the
Battle of Shelon (1471), and from the neighboring
Principality of Ryazan. Until the end of the 16th century, the Don Cossacks inhabited independent free territories.
15th–17th centuries , during the
Ottoman–Safavid War (1578–1590).
Secaatname (1586) Cossacks of
Ryazan are mentioned in 1444 as defenders of
Pereslavl-Zalessky against the units of
Golden Horde and in a letter of
Ivan III of Russia from 1502. After the Golden Horde fell in 1480, the area around the
Don River was divided between the
Crimean west side and the
Nogai east side. On their border since the 14th century the vast steppe of the Don region was populated by those people who were not satisfied with the existing social order, by those who did not recognize the power of the land-owners, by runaway serfs, by those who longed for freedom. In the course of time they turned into a united community and were called "the Cossacks". At first the main occupation of these small armed detachments was hunting and fishing—as well as the constant struggle against the Turks and the Tatars who attacked them. Only later they began to settle and work on the land.
16th century The first records relating to the Cossack villages: the "
stanitsas", date back to 1549. In the year 1552 Don Cossacks under the command of Ataman
Susar Fedorov joined the Army of
Ivan the Terrible during the
Siege of Kazan in 1552. On 2 June 1556 the Cossack regiment of Ataman
Lyapun Filimonov, together with the Army of Moscovits comprising
strelets, conquered and annexed the
Astrakhan Khanate. During the reign of
Ivan the Terrible (Ivan IV), the ataman
Yermak Timofeyevich went on an expedition to conquer
Siberia. After defeating Khan Kuchum in the fall of 1582 and occupying
Isker, the capital of the
Siberian Khanate, Yermak sent a force of Cossacks down the
Irtysh in the winter of 1583. The detachment, led by Bogdan Bryazga (according to other sources, the Cossack chieftain Nikita Pan) passed through the lands of the Konda-Pelym
Voguls and reached the walls of the town of Samarovo. Surprised by the Cossack attack, the
Ostyaks surrendered. In the autumn of 1585, shortly after Yermak's death, Cossacks led by voevoda (army commander) Ivan Mansurov founded the first Russian fortified town in Siberia,
Obskoy, at the mouth of the Irtysh river on the right bank of the
Ob river. The Mansi and Khanty lands thus became part of the Russian state, finally secured by the founding of the cities of
Pelym and
Berezov in 1592 and
Surgut in 1594. As a result of Yermak's expedition, Russia was able to annex Siberia.
17th century 1715 In the 17th century Cossacks waged war against the
Ottomans and the
Crimean Khanate. In 1637 the Don Cossacks, joined by the
Zaporozhian Cossacks, captured the strategic Ottoman fortress of
Azov, which guarded the Don. The defense of the
Azov Fortress in 1641 was one of the key actions in Don Cossack history. After total taking of the Free Territories of Don Cossacks under the Moscovy control, Don Cossack history became more intertwined with the history of the rest of Russia. In exchange for protection of the Southern borders of medieval Russia, the Don Cossacks were given the privilege of not paying taxes and the tsar's authority in Cossack lands was not as absolute as in other parts of Russia. During this period, three of Russia's most notorious rebels,
Stenka Razin,
Kondraty Bulavin and
Emelian Pugachev, were Don Cossacks.
18th–19th centuries After 1786, the territory of the Don Cossacks was officially called Don Host Land, and was renamed
Don Host Oblast in 1870 (presently part of the
Rostov,
Volgograd, and
Voronezh regions of the
Russian Federation as well as part of the
Luhansk region of
Ukraine). In 1805 the Don Cossack capital was shifted from
Cherkassk to
Novocherkassk (New Cherkassk). Don Cossacks are credited with playing a significant part in repelling
Napoleon's
Invasion of Russia. Under the command of Count
Matvey Ivanovich Platov, the Don Cossacks fought in a number of battles against the
Grande Armée. In the
Battle of Borodino, Don Cossacks made raids to the rear of the French Army. Platov commanded all the Cossack troops and successfully covered the retreat of the Russian Army to Moscow. The Don Cossacks distinguished themselves in subsequent campaigns, and took part in the
capture of Paris. Napoleon is credited with declaring, "Cossacks are the finest light troops among all that exist. If I had them in my army, I would go through all the world with them." In the general census of 1884, the male population of the Don Cossacks was reported to number 425,000. The Don Cossacks were the largest of the ten cossack hosts then in existence, providing over a third of total cossack manpower available for military service.
20th century World War I On the eve of World War I, the Don Cossack Host comprised 17 regular regiments plus 6 detached
sotnias (squadrons). In addition two regiments of the Imperial Guard were recruited from the Don territory. By 1916 the Don Host had expanded to 58 line regiments and 100 detached sotnias. The central location of the Don territories meant that these units were employed extensively on both the German and Austro-Hungarian fronts, though less so against the Ottoman Turks to the south. The continued value of the Don and other Cossacks as mounted troops was illustrated by the decision taken in 1916 to dismount about a third of the regular Russian cavalry, but to retain the cossack regiments in their traditional role.
February 1917 Revolution At the outbreak of the February 1917 Revolution, three regiments of Don Cossacks (the 1st, 4th and 14th) formed part of the garrison of St. Petersburg. Consisting partly of new recruits from the poorer regions of the Host territory, these units were influenced by the general disillusionment with the Tsar's government. They did not act effectively when ordered to disperse the growing demonstrations in the city. Reports that the historically loyal Don Cossacks could no longer be relied upon were a significant factor in the sudden collapse of the Tsarist regime.
Bolshevik persecution The Don Cossack Host was disbanded on Russian soil in 1918, after the
Russian Revolution, but the Don Cossacks in the
White Army and those who emigrated abroad, continued to preserve the traditions, musical and otherwise, of their host. Many found employment as
trick riders in various
circuses throughout Europe and the United States. Admiral
Aleksandr Vasiliyevich Kolchak, one of the leaders of the
White movement during the
Russian Civil War, was of Don Cossack descent. Following the defeat of the White Army in the
Russian Civil War, a policy of
decossackization ("Raskazachivaniye") took place on the surviving Cossacks and their homelands, since they were viewed as a threat to the new Soviet regime. The Cossack homelands were often very fertile, and during the
collectivisation campaign many Cossacks shared the fate of the
kulaks. According to historian Michael Kort, "During 1919 and 1920, out of a population of approximately 1.5 million Don Cossacks, the
Bolshevik regime killed or deported an estimated 300,000 to 500,000". Others, such as Peter Holquist, estimate a figure of 10,000 deaths during this period, while a far greater number died during the engineered
Soviet famines of 1932–33 and the
Holodomor.
Don Cossacks in World War II In April 1936, the earlier ban on Cossacks serving in the
Red Army was lifted. Later in 1936, two existing Red Army cavalry divisions were re-designated as Don Cossacks. In 1939, a number of these regiments were issued with traditional Cossack uniforms, in ceremonial and field service versions. The dress of the Don Cossack units included dark-blue breeches with broad red stripes which had distinguished them prior to the Revolution. The Don Cossack Cavalry Corps saw extensive active service until 1943, after which its role diminished, as did that of the other remaining horse-mounted units in the Red Army. However Don Cossack cavalry was still in existence in 1945 and participated in the Victory Parade in
Moscow. During World War II, the Don Cossacks mustered the largest single concentration of Cossacks within the German Army, the
XVth SS Cossack Cavalry Corps, a great part of them former Soviet citizens. The XVth SS Cossack Cavalry Corps included the
1st Cossack Division and the
2nd Cossack Division. The majority of the Cossacks remained loyal to the Red Army. In the earliest battles, particularly the
encirclement of Belostok, Cossack units such as the 94th Beloglisnky, 152nd Rostovsky and 48th Belorechensky regiments fought to their death. In the opening phase of the war, during the German advance towards Moscow, Cossacks were extensively used for raids behind enemy lines. The most famous of these took place during the
Battle of Smolensk under the command of
Lev Dovator, whose 3rd Cavalry Corps consisted of the 50th and 53rd Cavalry divisions from the
Kuban and
Terek Cossacks mobilised from the Northern Caucasus. The raid in ten days covered 300 km and destroyed the hinterlands of the 9th German Army before successfully breaking out. Whilst units under the command of General Pavel Belov, the 2nd Cavalry Corps of Don, Kuban and Stavropol Cossacks spearheaded the counter-attack onto the right flank of the 6th German Army, delaying its advance towards Moscow. The high professionalism that the Cossacks under Dovator and Belov (both generals would later be granted the title
Hero of the Soviet Union and their units raised to a
Guards (elite) status) ensured that many new units would be formed. The Germans during the whole war only managed to form two Cossack Corps, while the Red Army in 1942 alone had 17. During the opening phase of the
Battle of Stalingrad, when the Germans overran the Kuban, the majority of the Cossack population, long before the Germans began their agitation with Krasnov and Shkuro, became involved in
Partisan activity. Raids on the German positions from the Caucasus mountains became commonplace. After the German defeat at
Stalingrad, the 4th Guards Kuban Cossack Corps, strengthened by tanks and artillery, broke through the German lines and liberated
Mineralnye Vody, and
Stavropol.
21st century Modern Don Cossacks The Don Cossacks were revived in the early 1990s and were officially recognised by the Russian Government in 1997, its Ataman holding the rank, insignia and uniform of a full Marshal. In 1992 they joined the separatist forces during the
Transnistria War. Don Cossacks volunteered by hundreds to fight in
South Ossetia during the 2008
Russo-Georgian war. In 2009, the Ukrainian Security Service banned a leader of the Don Cossacks from entering Ukraine in order to prevent the creation of an illegal parliamentary formation on Ukrainian territory. Since 2014, members of Don Cossacks have participated in the
war in Eastern Ukraine as independent volunteers for the pro-Russian Donbass militias. Reportedly several military formations were formed though most of these groups were subsequently disbanded and integrated into the armed forces of the
DPR and
LPR. ==National symbols of Don Cossacks==