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The Cossacks (Russian: ; Ukrainian: , Polish: Kozacy) are a traditional community of people living in the southern Steppe regions of Eastern Europe (primarily Ukraine and southern Russia) and Asia n Russia . They are famous for their self-reliance and military skills, particularly Horsemanship . "Cossack" may also refer to a member of a Cossack military unit. Originally Cossacks were runaway Ruthenian peasants who escaped Polish and Russian Feudal pressure and settled in the southern steppes. Different Cossack groups are identified with different Hosts , or regions. The Cossacks of the Zaporozhian , Don , Terek and Ural hosts, as well as areas of Siberia (such as the Baikal Cossacks ) are the best known. Cossacks first became widely known in western Europe in the mid-17th century as a result of the great revolt of Bohdan Khmelnytsky and the Zaporozhians against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in what is now Ukraine , which shook the geopolitical foundations of eastern Europe.1234 Their numbers grew during late medieval times, joined by numerous Russian and Ukrainian serfs fleeing from their owners. Eventually Cossacks became guardians of ethnic and state boundaries. In the 19th century Cossacks in Europe became known for the numerous Wars with Russia and contributed to the stereotypical portrayal of Russia. Cossacks served in the Russian regular army in various wars throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. During the Russian Civil War they fought for both the Red Army and White Army . The Don Cossack Host were one of the main military forces resisting the Bolshevik s. Cossack military regiments were, however, reformed prior to the Second World War. Currently in Russia, Cossacks are seen as either ethnic descendants or by their active military service and often both. The latter category was listed as a separate group in the census and there are currently up to 150,000 Cossacks in military service in Russia and up to several million descendants aware of their Cossack heritage, which is now experiencing a revival, particularly in the south of Russia. The Cossacks () of the Zaporozhian Host , who lived on the steppes of Ukraine, are another well known group of Cossacks. Their numbers increased greatly between the 15th to 17th centuries, fed by poor Ruthenian Boyar -nobility, merchants and runaway peasants from Poland-Lithuania . The Zaporozhian Cossacks played an important role in European geopolitics, undergoing a series of conflicts and alliances with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Russia , and the Ottoman Empire . As a result of the Khmelnytsky Uprising in the middle of the 17th century Zaporozhian Cossacks managed to briefly create an independent state, which later became the autonomous Cossack Hetmanate , a Suzerainty under protection of the Russian Tsar but ruled by the local Hetmans for half a century. In the later half of the 18th century the Zaporozhian Host was dissolved by the Russian authorities. Some of Cossacks' descendants have moved to the Danube delta region and Kuban , although after 1828 most of the Danubians have moved to Russia as well, first to the Azov and later to the Kuban. Although today the Kuban Cossacks do not consider themselves Ukrainians, many historians consider their predecessors, the Dnieper Cossacks, as founders of what became a modern Ukrainian nation. Less well-known are the Polish Cossacks (''Kozacy'') and the Tatar Cossacks ('' Nağaybäk lär''). The name 'Cossacks' was also given to a kind of Light Cavalry in the army of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. ETYMOLOGY The name entered the English language from the French ''Cosaque'', in turn, probably via Polish from the Ukrainian ''Kozak'' rather than the modern Russian ''Kazak''. It is ultimately derived from a Turkic social term ''qazaq'' meaning "adventurer" or "free man". This term is first mentioned in a Ruthenia n chronicle dated 1395. Cossacks (''Qazaqlar'') were also border keepers in the Khanate Of Kazan . HISTORY See Also: History of the Cossacks Origins It is not clear when the Slavic People started settling in the lower reaches of the Don and the Dnieper . It is unlikely it could have happened before the 13th century, when the Mongol hordes broke the power of the Cumans and other Turkic tribes on that territory. Proto-Cossack groups most likely came into existence within the territories of today's Ukraine in the mid-13th century. In 1261 some Slavic people living in the area between the Dniester and the Volga were mentioned in Ruthenian chronicles. Historical records of the Cossacks before the 16th century are scant. In the 15th century, the Cossack society was described as a loose Federation of independent communities, often forming local armies, entirely separate from the neighbouring states (of, e.g, Poland, Grand Duchy of Moscow or the Khanate Of Crimea ). By the 16th century these Cossack societies merged into two independent territorial organisations as well as other smaller, still detached groups.
Some historical documents of that period refer to those states as sovereign nations with unique warrior cultures, whose main source of income was derived from the pillaging of their neighbours. They were renowned for their raids against the Ottoman Empire and its Vassal s, although they did not shy away from pillaging other neighbours. Their actions increased tension along the southern border of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth ('' Kresy ''), which resulted in almost a constant low-level warfare taking place in those territories for almost the entire existence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Conflicts with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to Sultan Mehmed IV of Ottoman Empire''. Painted by Ilya Repin from 1880 to 1891.]] After being asked in 1539 by the Grand Duke replied to a request of the Turkish Sultan to stop the attacks of the Don Cossacks, stating, "The Cossacks of the Don are not my subjects, and they go to war or live in peace without my knowledge." Similar exchanges passed between Russia, the Ottoman Empire and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, each of which tried to exploit Cossack warmongering for its own purposes. Cossacks for their part were mostly happy to plunder everybody more or less equally, although in the 16th century, with the dominance of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth extending south, the Zaporozhian Cossacks were mostly, if tentatively, regarded by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as their subjects. Registered Cossacks were a part of the Commonwealth army until 1699. Around the end of the 16th century, relations between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Ottoman Empire, which were not cordial to begin with, were further strained by increasing Cossack aggressiveness. From the second part of the 16th century, Cossacks started raiding Ottoman territories. The Polish government could not control the fiercely independent Cossacks, but since they were nominally subjects of the Commonwealth, it was held responsible for the raids by their victims. Reciprocally, the Tatars living under Ottoman rule launched raids into the Commonwealth, mostly in the sparsely inhabited south-east territories. Cossack pirates, however, were raiding wealthy merchant port cities in the heart of the Ottoman Empire, which were just two days away by boat from the mouth of the sometimes covertly employed Cossack raiders to ease Ottoman pressure on their own borders. Many Cossacks and Tatars shared an animosity towards each other due to the damage done by raids from both sides. Cossack raids followed by Tatar retaliation, or Tatar raids followed by Cossack retaliation were an almost regular occurrence. The ensuing chaos and string of retaliations often turned the entire south-eastern Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth border into a low-intensity war zone and led to escalation of Commonwealth-Ottoman warfare, from the Moldavian Magnate Wars to the Battle Of Cecora and Wars in 1633–1634. with Toğay Bey at Lwow ", oil on canvas, 1885, National Museum in Warsaw . Painted by Jan Matejko .]] Cossack numbers expanded with Peasants running from Serf dom in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Attempts by the Szlachta to turn the Zaporozhian Cossacks into serfs eroded the Cossacks' once fairly strong loyalty towards the Commonwealth. Cossack ambitions to be recognised as equal to the szlachta were constantly rebuffed, and plans for transforming the Polish-Lithuanian Two-Nations Commonwealth into Three Nations (with the Ruthenian Cossack people) made little progress due to the Cossacks' unpopularity. The Cossack's strong historic allegiance to the Eastern Orthodox Christianity put them at odds with the Catholic -dominated Commonwealth. Tensions increased when Commonwealth policies turned from relative tolerance to suppression of the Orthodox church, making the Cossacks strongly anti-Catholic, which at the time was synonymous with anti-Polish. The waning loyalty of the Cossacks and the szlachta's arrogance towards them resulted in several Cossack uprisings against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the early 17th century. Finally, the King's adamant refusal to cede to the Cossack's demand to expand the that started in 1648. The uprising became one of a series of catastrophic events for the Commonwealth known as The Deluge , which greatly weakened the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and set the stage for its disintegration 100 years later. The rebellion ended with the 1654 Treaty Of Pereyaslav in which Cossacks pledged their loyalty to the Russian Tsar with the latter guaranteeing Cossacks his protection, recognition of Cossack '' Starshyna '' (nobility) and the autonomy under his rule, freeing the Cossacks from the Polish sphere of influence."In 1651, in the face of a growing threat from Poland and forsaken by his Tatar allies, Khmelnytsky asked the tsar to incorporate Ukraine as an autonomous duchy under Russian protection... the details of the union were negotiated in Moscow. The Cossacks were granted a large degree of autonomy, and they, as well as other social groups in Ukraine, retained all the rights and privileges they had enjoyed under Polish rule.5 The last, ultimately unsuccessful, attempt to rebuild the Polish-Cossack alliance and create a Polish-Lithuanian-Ruthenian Commonwealth was the 1658 Treaty Of Hadiach , which was approved by the Polish King and Sejm as well as by some of the Cossack starshyna, including Hetman Ivan Vyhovsky .6 The starshyna were, however, divided on the issue and the treaty had even less support among Cossack rank-and-file; thus it failed. .]] Under Russian rule the Cossack nation of the Zaporozhian Host was divided into two semiautonomous republics of the Grand Duchy of Moscow: the Cossack Hetmanate , and the more independent Zaporizhia. A Cossack organisation was also established in the Russian colony of Sloboda Ukraine . These organisations gradually lost their independence, and were abolished by Catherine II by the late 18th century. The Hetmanate became the governorship of Little Russia , Sloboda Ukraine the Kharkiv Province , and Zaporizhia was absorbed into New Russia . In 1775 the Zaporozhian Host was dissolved and high ranking Cossack leaders were granted titles of nobility ('' Dvoryanstvo ''). Most of the Zaporozhians resettled to colonise the Kuban steppe which was a crucial foothold for Russian expansion in the Caucasus . Some however ran away across the Danube (territory under the control of the Ottoman Empire) to form a new host before rejoining the others in the Kuban. During their stay there, a new host was founded which by the end of 1778 numbered around 12000 Cossacks. Their settlement at the border with Russia was approved by the Ottoman Empire after the Cossacks officially vowed to serve the Sultan. Yet the conflict inside the new host of the new loyalty, and the political manoeuvres used by the Russian Empire, led to a split in the Cossacks. After a portion of the runaway Cossacks returned to Russia they were used by the Russian army to form new military bodies that also incorporated Greek Albanians and Crimean Tatars. However after the Russo-Turkish War Of 1787–1792 , most of them were incorporated into the Black Sea Cossack Host which moved to the Kuban steppes. The remaining Cossacks that stayed in the Danube delta returned to Russia in 1828 and created the Azov Cossack Host between Berdyansk and Mariupol . In 1864 all of them were resettled to the North Caucasus and merged into the Kuban Cossack Host . In the Russian Empire From the start, relations of Cossacks with Muscouvy were very much varied, at times this involved combined military operations, and at others there were famous Cossack uprisings. One particular example was the dissolution of the Zaporozhian Host, which took place at the end of the 18th century. The divisions of the Cossacks within was clearly visible between those that chose to stay loyal to the Russian Monarch and continue the service (who later moved to the Kuban) and those that chose to continue their pro-mercenary role and ran off the Danube delta. Nevertheless by the 19th century, the Russian Empire managed to fully annex all the control over the hosts and instead rewarded the Cossacks with privileges for their service. At this time the Cossacks were actively participating in many Russian wars. Although Cossack tactics in open battles were generally inferior to those of regular soldiers such as the Dragoon s, nevertheless Cossacks were excellent for scouting and reconnaissance duties, as well as undertaking ambushes. oil fields, 1905]] The Cossack sense of being a separate and elite community gave them a strong sense of loyalty to the Tsarist government and Cossack units were frequently used to suppress domestic disorder, especially during the widespread worker and peasant unrest of 1905–06. The Imperial Government depended heavily on the perceived reliability of the Cossacks, although by the early twentieth century their separate communities and semi-feudal military service were increasingly being seen as obsolete. In strictly military terms the Cossacks were not highly regarded by the Russian Army Command, who saw them as less well disciplined, trained and mounted than the Hussar s, dragoons and Lancer s of the regular cavalry.7 The Cossack qualities of initiative and rough-riding skills were not always fully appreciated. As a result, Cossack units were frequently broken up into small detachments for use as scouts, messengers or picturesque escorts. When revolution came in February 1917, the Cossacks appear to have shared the general disillusionment with Tsarist leadership and the Cossack regiments in Saint Petersburg joined the uprising. While only a few units were involved, their defection (and that of the ''Konvoi'') came as a stunning psychological blow to the Government of Nicholas II and sped his abdication. At the end of the 19th century, the Cossack communities enjoyed a privileged tax-free status in the Russian Empire , although having a military service commitment of twenty years (reduced to eighteen years from 1909). Only five years had to be spent in full time service, the remainder of the commitment being spent with the reserves. In the beginning of the twentieth century Russian Cossacks counted 4.5 million and were organised into separate regional Hosts, each comprising a number of regiments. After the Russian Revolution In the Civil War that followed the Russian Revolution, the Cossacks found themselves on both sides of the conflict. Many officers and experienced Cossacks fought for the White Army, and some of the other ones joined the Red Army. Following the defeat of the White Army, a policy of .Pavel Polyan - Forced migrations in USSR - Retrieved on 5 February 2007 Nevertheless, in 1936, under pressure from former Cossack descendants, it was decided to reintroduce Cossack forces into the Red Army. During the Second World War Cossacks found themselves on both sides of the conflict again, as most of the Nazi collaborators came from former White Army refugees. Red Army Cossacks fought on the Southern theatre of the front, where open steppes made them ideal for frontal patrols and logistics. A Cossack detachment marched on Red Square during the famous victory parade in 1945. regiments marching. 24 June 1945, Victory Parade after the Great Patriotic War .]] One notable group of those who fought for the Germans in the Wehrmacht was the XVth SS Cossack Cavalry Corps under the German General Helmuth Von Pannwitz in combat against the Partisans in Yugoslavia . They surrendered to the British Army in Austria in 1945, hoping to join the British to fight Communism. There was little sympathy at the time for a group who were seen as Nazi collaborators and who were reported to have committed atrocities against resistance fighters in Eastern Europe. They were accordingly Handed Over to the Soviet Government. At the end of the war, British commanders "repatriated" between 40 to 50 thousand Cossacks, including their families, to the Soviet Union. An unknown number were subsequently executed or imprisoned. Reportedly many of those punished had never been Soviet citizens. This event is widely known as the Betrayal Of The Cossacks or the Secret Betrayal. Following the war, Cossack units, along with cavalry in general, were rendered obsolete and released from the Soviet Army. In the post-war years many Cossack descendants were thought of as simple peasants, and those who lived inside an autonomous republic usually gave way to the particular minority and migrated elsewhere (notably, to the Baltic region). In the , Abkhazia , South Ossetia , Kosovo and Chechnya . While their impact on the outcome of the conflict rarely by-passed mass-media attention, and were immediately recognised for their high morale and bravery. At the same time many attempts were made to increase the Cossack impact on Russian society and throughout the 1990s many regional authorities agreed to hand over some local administration and policing duties to the Cossacks. However in April 2005, Russian President Vladimir Putin introduced a bill "On the State Service of the Russian Cossacks" () to the State Duma, which was passed in the first reading on May 18 , 2005 . For the first time in decades the Cossacks were recognised as not only a distinct ethnocultural entity but also as a potent military service. Although their full ambition to administer wholly the territory stretching from Transdniester all the way along the Steppe to the Ural River might be distant, the bill made a significant step towards achieving it. RUSSIAN COSSACKS The native land of the Cossacks is defined by a line of the Russian/Ruthenian town-fortresses located on the border with the steppe and stretching from the middle Volga to Ryazan and Tula, then breaking abruptly to the south and extending to the Dnieper via Pereyaslavl. This area was settled by a population of free people practicing various trades and crafts. These people, constantly facing the Tatar warriors on the steppe frontier, received the Turkic name ''Cossacks'' which was then extended to other free people in northern Russia. The oldest reference in the annals mentions Cossacks of the Russian city of Ryazan taking part in the city's service in the battle against the Tatars in 1444. In the 16th century, the Cossacks (firstly those of Ryazan) were grouped in military and trading communities on the open steppe and started to migrate into the area of the Don (source Vasily Klyuchevsky , ''The course of the Russian History, vol.2''). Kruzhilinsky, Rostov Oblast ]] Cossacks served as border guards and protectors of towns, forts, settlements and trading posts, performed policing functions on the frontiers and also came to represent an integral part of the Russian Army . In the 16th century, to protect the borderland area from Tatar Invasions , Cossacks carried out sentry and patrol duties, observing Crimean Tatars and nomads of the Nogai Horde in the steppe region. Russian Cossacks played a key role in the expansion of the Russian Empire into Siberia (particularly by Yermak Timofeyevich ), the Caucasus and Central Asia in the period from the 16th to 19th centuries. Cossacks also served as guides to most Russian expeditions formed by civil and military geographers and surveyors, traders and explorers. In 1648 the Russian Cossack Simeon Dezhnev discovered a passage between America and Asia. Cossack units played a role in many wars in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries (such as the Russo-Turkish Wars and the Russo-Persian Wars , annexation of Central Asia). During Napoleon's Invasion Of Russia , Cossacks were the Russian soldiers most feared by the French troops. Napoleon himself stated "Cossacks are the best light troops among all that exist. If I had them in my army, I would go through all the world with them."8 Cossacks also took part in the Partisan war deep inside French-occupied Russian territory attacking communications and supply lines. These attacks, carried out by Cossacks along with Russian light cavalry and other units, were one of the first developments of Guerrilla Warfare tactics and, to some extent, special operations as we know them today. Western Europeans had had few contacts with Cossacks before the Allies occupied Paris in 1814. As the most exotic of the Russian troops seen in France, Cossacks drew a great deal of attention and notoriety for their alleged excesses during the Napoleon's 1812 campaign. ORGANISATION In early times, Cossack bands were commanded by an ataman (later called ''. After the split of Ukraine along the Dnieper River by the Polish-Russian Treaty Of Andrusovo , 1667, Ukrainian Cossacks were known as Left-bank Cossacks and Right-bank Cossacks. The ataman had Executive Power s and at time of war he was the supreme commander in the field. Legislative Power was given to the Band Assembly (''Rada''). The senior officers were called ''starshyna''. In the absence of written Law s, the Cossacks were governed by the "Cossack Traditions," the common, unwritten law. Cossack society and government were heavily militarized. The nation was called a host (''vois’ko'', translated as 'army'), and subdivided into Regiment al and company districts, and village posts (''polky'', ''sotni'', and ''stanytsi''). Each Cossack settlement, alone or in conjunction with neighbouring settlements, formed one or more military units and regiments of light cavalry (or mounted infantry, for Siberian Cossacks) ready to respond to a threat on very short notice. Settlements Russian Cossacks founded numerous settlements (called '' Stanitsa s'') and fortresses along "troublesome borders" such as forts Verny ( Almaty , Kazakhstan ) in south Central Asia, Grozny in North Caucasus, Fort Alexandrovsk ( Fort Shevchenko , Kazakhstan), Krasnovodsk ( Turkmenbashi , Turkmenistan ) Novonikolayevskaya stanitsa ( Bautino , Kazakhstan), Blagoveshchensk , towns and settlements at Ural , Ishim , Irtysh , Ob , Yenisei , Lena , Amur , Anadyr ( Chukotka ), and Ussuri River s. A group of Albazin Cossacks settled in China as early as 1685. Although Cossacks are sometimes regarded as xenophobic, some Cossacks readily adapted to the cultures and customs of nearby peoples (for example, the Terek Cossacks, who were heavily influenced by the culture of North Caucasian tribes) and frequently married local residents (other non-Cossack settlers and natives) regardless of race or origin, sometimes setting aside religious restrictions. "Сопредельные с ними (поселенцами - Ред.) по "Горькой линии" казаки ... поголовно обучались Киргизскому наречию и переняли некоторые, впрочем, безвредные привычки кочевого народа". Генерал-губернатор Казнаков в докладе Александру III, 1875. " Among - Edit. neighbouring (to settlers -Edit.) in Gor'kaya Liniya Cossacks ... everyone learnt Kyrgys language and adopted some, harmless though, habits of nomadic folks" quoted Report of Governor-General Kaznakov to Tzar Alexander III, 1875. War brides brought from distant lands were also common in Cossack families. One of the Russian Volunteer Army commanders, General Bogaevsky mentions in his book one of his Cossacks unit's servicemen, sotnik Khoperski, who was Chinese by origin and brought from Manchuria during the Russian-Japanese War 1904-1905 as a child, adopted and raised by a Cossack family.Богаевский А.П. Ледяной поход. Воспоминания 1918 г. POPULAR IMAGE Cossacks have long appealed to romantics as idealizing freedom and resistance to external authority, and their military exploits against enemies of the Russian people have contributed to this favourable image. For others they have been a symbol of repression because of their role in suppressing popular uprisings in the Russian Empire, as well as their assaults against Jews. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, many have begun seeing Cossacks as defenders of Russian sovereignty. Cossacks not only reestablished all of their hosts, they also took over police and even administrative duties in their homelands. The Russian military also took advantage of the patriotic feelings amongst the Cossacks and as the hosts become increasingly larger and more organised, has in past overturned some of its surplus technology to them. On par with that the Cossacks also play a large cultural role in the South of Russia. Since the whole rural population of the Rostov , Krasnodar and Starvropol territories as well as the Autonomous republics of the Northern Caucasus consists almost exclusively of Cossack descendants (amongst the ethnic Russian population) the region was always known, even in the Soviet times for its high discipline, low crime and conservative sentiments, like having one of the highest rates of religious attendance and literacy rates. The result was that, amongst Russian youth, Cossacks began to represent order and, in some cases, hope, especially when compared with the presently unpopular Russian Army. on an Old Market in Poznań wearing the traditional cossack outfit.]] In Ukraine where the Cossackdom represents historical and cultural heritage, some people have been attempting to recreate the images of Ukrainian Cossacks, that survived through Soviet times via various propaganda images, like the glorification of the Pereyaslvl Rada. Presently traditional Ukrainian culture is often tied in with these images and a result the Ukrainian government actively supports this, like having the ''Bulava'' club as its national symbolism and the restoration of the Hortytsia island, where the famous Zaporozhian Sech once dwelled. Literary reflections of Cossack culture abound in Russian and Ukrainian Literature s, particularly in the works of Nikolai Gogol , Taras Shevchenko and Mikhail Sholokhov . Moreover, they were portrayed in the Henryk Sienkiewicz 's book With Fire And Sword , where Bohun , bold and desperate Cossack, is one of the main characters. Cossacks are also portrayed in Tennyson's " The Charge Of The Light Brigade ," and Richard Connell 's short story, " The Most Dangerous Game ." Because of their long history as important soldiers in the employ of Russia, Cossacks feature as prominent special military units in various strategy games, including and its expansions. TERMINOLOGY Russian Cossacks In the Russian Empire, the Cossacks were organised into several ''voiskos'' (hosts), which lived along Russian borderland, or internal borders between Russian and non-Russian peoples. Each host had its own leadership and regalia as well as uniforms as well as ranks. However by the late 19th century the latter were standardised of the example of the Imperial Russian Army. Following the 1988 law, which allowed the hosts to reform and the 2005 one that legally recognised the hosts as a combat service the ranks and insignia were kept but on all military tickets that are standard for the Russian Army they are given bellow.
The same can be said about the colonel ranks as they are given to atamans of regional and district status. The lowest group—stanitsa, is commanded by Yesaul. If the region or district lacks any other stanitsas then the rank polkovnik is applied automatically but with no stars on the shoulder. As the host continue to grow, starless shoulder batches are becoming increasingly rare. In addition to all that, the Supreme Ataman of the largest Don Cossack Host, is officially titled as Marshal and consequently wears insignia that is derived from the Russian/Soviet Marshal ranks, including the diamond Marshal Star. This is because the Don Cossack Supreme Ataman is recognised as the official head of all Cossack armies (including those outside the present Russian borders). He also has the authority to recognise and dissolve new hosts. UNIFORM Each Host had its own distinctive uniform colourings. Cossacks were expected to provide their own uniforms. While these were sometimes manufactured in bulk by factories owned by the individual Host, garments were often handed down or cut out within a family. Individual items might accordingly vary from those laid down by regulation or be of obsolete pattern. , with a Shashka at his side]] For most Hosts the basic uniform comprised the standard loose fitting tunics and wide trousers typical of Russian regular troops during the period 1881-1908. However the Caucasian Hosts (Kuban and Terek) wore the very long, open fronted, cherkesska coats with ornamental cartridge loops and coloured beshmets (waistcoats), that epitomise the popular image of the Cossacks. Most Hosts wore fleece hats with coloured cloth tops in full dress with peaked caps for ordinary duties. The two Caucasian Hosts however appear to have worn high fleece caps on most occasions. Until 1909 white blouses and cap covers of standard Russian army pattern were worn by the Cossack regiments in summer. The shoulder straps and cap bands were in the Host colour as detailed below. From 1910 to 1918 a khaki-grey jacket was worn for field wear with the blue or green breeches and coloured stripes of the dress uniform. While most Cossacks served as cavalry, there were infantry and artillery units in several of the hosts. Three regiments of Cossacks formed part of the Imperial Guard, as well as the Konvoi—the tsar's mounted escort. The Imperial Guard regiments wore tailored Government issue uniforms which were of spectacular and colourful appearance. As an example, the Konvoi wore scarlet cherkesskas, white beshmets and red crowns on their fleece hats.
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