Triumphant Return of the Cossacks, Józef Brandt, 19th century, oil on canvasThe Cossacks

Triumphant Return of the Cossacks, Józef Brandt, 19th century, oil on canvasThe Cossacks are Back!Cossacks are a group of predominantly East Slavic people who became known as members of autonomous, semi-military communities, primarily located in Ukraine and in Russia.By the end of the 18th century, Cossack nations had been transformed into a special military estate, similar to the knights of medieval Europe.  Cossack forces played an important role in Russia’s wars of the 18th–20th centuries.Tsar Nicholas II wearing a traditional Cossack uniformDuring the Russian Civil War (1917-1925), Don and Kuban Cossacks were the first nations to declare open war against the Bolsheviks.  Most, although not all, allied with Imperial Russia and Tsar Nicholas II.  Cossack troops formed the core of the anti-Bolshevik White ArmyBy 1918, Cossacks declared the independence of their nations and formed the Ukrainian State, the Don Republic, and the Kuban People’s Republic. These Cossack republics became centers for the Anti-Bolshevik White movement.Uniforms of the Tsar’s White ArmyWith the fall of Imperial Russia, between 1917 and 1933, Bolshevik policy was aimed at the elimination of the Cossacks as a separate ethnic, political, and economic entity.  The new regime divided traditional lands of the Cossacks among new Soviet republics and various autonomous republics of non-Cossack peoples.  Cossacks were banned from serving in the Red Army.  Many Cossacks were deported to serve hard labor, or they fled. The Northern Caucasus had high fatalities from starvation during the Soviet famine of 1932-33. Government officials expropriated grain and other produce from rural Cossack families, leaving them to starve and die.In 1936, under pressure and appeals from Cossack communities, the Soviet government lifted the ban on Cossacks serving in the Red Army.During the Second World War, ethnic Cossacks fought on both sides of the conflict. Cossacks who had emigrated to the UK and the USA served with their military forces. Many Cossacks joined the Resistance. Though some Cossacks joined German armed forces, they did so usually to defect either to the western allies or to the Resistance, to liberate their co-patriots and family members from Nazi work and Nazi concentration camps.[99]The vast majority of the ethnic Cossacks fought against the Nazis.Cossacks painting:https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brandt_Powrot_zwyciezcow.jpgTsar Nicolas II:http://www.deviantart.com/art/Nicolas-II-in-cossack-uniform-190860889White Army:http://greatkingpest.deviantart.com/art/WHITE-ARMY-2-258649856 -- source link

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