Wild EAST: The Cossack World

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interesting that the cossacks were basically the pirates of the east, the cowboys of the east and the revolutionaries of the east all at once.

the "Wild East" moniker fits perfectly since the Soviets even made their own Wild West movies called "Osterns" or "Red Westerns" which had Cossacks, Turks, and Caucasians (as in from the Caucuses) people playing stereotypes and stock characters the same as America had cowboys, indians, miners/gold rushers, and railroad/cattle tycoons.

Only an armed man can be free. I am from Ukraine and I can add something about the Cossacks. The most important thing to understand is that the Cossacks differed from each other in customs and laws. The most canonical Cossacks are Zaporozhian Cossacks. Cossack associations can be compared with knightly orders, one knightly order differs from others in laws and orders. The Cossack fortress was a training camp, barracks, blacksmiths, military warehouses, it had everything to prepare for the war. Women were not allowed into the Cossack fortress. There were bazaars around the fortress, as well as craft shops and taverns. Merchants travel to fortresses knowing that there is a safe place to trade. For example, during the campaign, the Cossacks chose the hetman and he had full unconditional power, his word was law. But after the campaign, the Cossacks held a trial against Hetman and discussed his actions and decisions, and collectively decided by voting what to do with him. Many hetmans were sentenced to death because of their abuses or heavy losses during the war. The most dangerous position was considered by the Hetman, since more than half of them were sentenced to death, many Cossacks refused the position of Hetman, knowing that with unlimited power, responsibility would come later. There were three main types of punishment, exile, severe physical beatings and death. For example, if one Cossack caused the death of another person, the guilty person is tied up, thrown into a pit, and a coffin with the dead is placed on top of him and buried. Also, the Cossacks had freedom of religion, or rather, their area of ​​religion was Orthodoxy, but at the same time there were many Muslims and Jews among the Cossacks. Basically, the Cossacks agreed that God is one, but different peoples give him different names and understand his teachings in different ways. Your faith was free, but here are the customs and orders you had to observe the habit for the Cossacks.

wild west lore: “omg gold!” wild east lore: somebody that i used to know starts playing

The Cossack letter to the Sultan had me belly laughing and endeared them to me even more.

That honestly is a fantastic setting for an adventure story. I especially like how deep ships and horses are implemented into it

In Poland when we call someone Cossack we think that this person is daring, brave, but in reckless way. Usually it is connected with bothering and provoking someone who you should not bother, cause he is stronger than you.

Cossacks boats you've mentioned and called them Chaiki is just multiple for Chaika. And Chaika literally means a seagull.

In polish, the word cosac (kozak) in slang is used to describe someone cool, daring and impressive. Similarly used to the word badass in english. Interesting how the awe of the cosacs freedom and bravery has remained in the culture and language of surounding coutries after so many houndreds of years

"We don't actually know when and how women were introduced to the Cossack communities" - no, we do. Women were always part of the Cossack communities because Cossack communities were founded not by "looters, freebooters, and escapees" emulating the nomadic way of life, but by actual sedentary Eastern Slavic peoples colonizing the riverbanks of the Pontic Steppes as early as 1250's. If you go even further back in time you could even notice that there were slavic tribes of the ancient Kievan Rus living partially in the steppes - Tyverians and Ulychi. In the historical sources, you can also find slavic peoples in the steppes performing other kinds of activities - trading in salt along the rivers (Chumaks), or helping nomadic armies cross rivers (Brodnici), or leaving their homes for a couple of months to fish and hunt along the riverbanks (Uchodniki). You may notice that rivers are far more important to Cossacks then the steppes, that's cause Cossacks were not nomads, they lived mostly in small settlements. Their way of life was more nomadic then their slavic cousins up in Kyiv, sure, but to liken them to pastoralist Tatars is a mistake. They mostly lived with Tatars in peace because both groups inhabited different parts of the steppes - Cossacks lived along the rivers to fish and hunt, and Tatars lived out in the grass fields to feed their herds. That's why on many maps, you will find some Cossack Host's administrative divisions (palankas) overlapping rather crudely the Tatar Khanate administrative divisions (ordas). The whole "looters, freebooters, frontiersmen, and escapees" narrative is an imperialist fabrication to justify conquering the lands owned by the Cossacks. Easters Slavic peoples lived there for many centuries before the first Cossack Host was founded, they just were not organized politically. There were, of course, many looters, freebooters, frontiersmen, and escapee serfs among the Cossacks, but even combined these groups were REALLY unlikely to have been the majority of the Cossack population at any given time. If you check the historical sources about who lived in the steppes and what they mostly did, you will notice a far more complex picture with far less banditry. As soon as the Zaporozhian Host was founded, though, we can speak of a semi-militarized decentralized Cossack state run by local soldiers elected from among the military-trained men. This state often clashed with various Tatar Khanates and the Ottomans, and otherwise served as a source of official Cossack mercenaries to whatever employer was willing to pay and share the loot (be they Christian or Muslim).

Very nice. It ought to be noted the painting 18:47 took the artist, Ilya Repin, 10 years to paint (1880-1891) during which time Repin studied the Cossacks. It commemorates the Cossacks' writing the insulting letter to Ottoman Sultan. According to some historians, when Europe truly feared the advances of the Ottoman empire, the Cossacks dared to attack the Sultan at his capital, Constantinople. The sheer boldness of the Cossacks made them heroic throughout Europe (this is when multiple copies of the original letter were created) even the Roman Catholic Pope sent Cossacks a diplomatic envoy.

We need more films and series about Cossack, I love their spirits Heroiam Slava

Good job covering such a fractured topic in detail. I wouldn't have expected a full documentary video from you, but it's very welcome and appreciated!

I think you somewhat mix up the Don and the Zaporozian cossacks. There also were the so-called Burgher/City cossacks (Horodovi Kozaky) in the PLC. And they were the largest kind of Cossacks. They didn't belong to any host and most often either went to the steppes for the usual stuff or served as a hired muscle for some magnate. The registered cossacks were an alternative to serving in the PLC crown army or serving a magnate. They mostly consisted of the Orthodox Ruthenians and sometimes Jews and maybe Catholics. Just like with the crown army, the number of the registered cossacks was limited. By serving a magnate one could earn fairly big salary, but couldn't hope to get some land after service or pension. Both of these were guaranteed to those serving in the crown army or in the registered cossacks. The majority of people that joined the crown army or the registered Cossacks were the lesser or "medium" nobility. Most of the nobility in PLC were rather humble people, wealth-wise. Owning a house, some little land and maybe having 1-2 servants or none at all. There was also a rather big chunk of really poor szlachta - "holota" that would work as a hired muscle, servants or sometimes would even beg on the streets(szlachta brukowa/the street szchlata). Folks who went to the Zaporozian Host were mostly burghers, free peasants and the nobility. Not only from the PLC, but also to a lesser extent from the Crimean Khanate(after joining, Crimeans would convert to Orthodoxy and take up an Orthodox Christian name). For many, it was a way to quickly get rich, by joining the raiding expeditions against the Crimean Khanate or the High Porte. Zaporozians were among the main allies(and after all the powerful Ruthenian houses became Poles by converting to Catholicism, Zaporozians became the most significant ones) and patrons of the Orthodox church in the PLC. "Cossacking" was generally a Ruthenian thing, not Lithuanian or Polish(although those did occasionally join as well). Hence it was dominated by the Ruthenian culture, language and faith. After the Union of Brest happened, the Zaporozians became pretty extreme and everyone that joined them had to become Orthodox. It's not uncommon for people that were found(or were highly suspected of) practicing another form of Christianity to be executed. Attacks on the Uniate clergy that attempted to convert Orthodox churches into Uniate ones or push Uniate Christianity onto population were also commonplace. The serfs in the Zaporozian Cossack host probably existed, but they were not as common as it's often portrayed. There were even cases of feeling serfs being sent back to their masters by the Zaporozians. At least that's how it was until the 18th century. Before the 18th century, the Zaporozian host was mostly dominated by the lesser Orthodox nobility, free peasants and burghers. The higher strata of the Cossack society (starshyna), its ruling class, consisted mostly of the wealthy nobility and burghers. You'll have a hard time finding a single peasant or serf among the Hetmans, Otamans or officers. I'm not sure if there even exist any documented ones. But the majority of the Zaporozians were "holota" - nobles and commoners that were dirt poor. Officially, females were forbidden on Sich. When the winter came, the Cossacks usually went back to their homes, to cities or khutir. During the 18th century, when the right-bank Ukraine came fully under control of the PLC again, that's when a large number of serfs from there started swarming to the Zaporozian Sich and an image of a poor free serf Cossack became a thing. Yet still, at those times, you won't find known serfs among the Sich's ruling class. It should also be mentioned that the Hetmanate/Ukraine/Vis'ko Zaporozke and the Zaporozian Host are two different things. Kish otaman(also sometimes called a hetman) ruled in the Zaporozian Host, while a hetman ruled the Vis'ko Zaporozke. The Zaporozian Host existed as a sort of autonomy within the Vis'ko Zaporozke, having its own rulers, army and land. After the Hetmanate was established, a large part of the Zaporozian ruling strata went there and the Orthodox szlahlta almost completely merged with starshyna(there were those that preferred to stay as szlachta and retained their titles and rights; somewhere around 1200 families, if I remember right). In Vis'ko Zaporozke, de jure everyone was equal(de facto it was different; just like it was for szlachta in PLC) and the Cossacks generally were supposed to see each other as equals regardless of the background(obviously that's not the case and those of higher birth most likely looked down upon those of lower). The absolute majority of the nobility(szlachta) surrendered their noble rights and sort of became like the commoners(putting their genealogies and coats of arms in dusty storage chests till the day when the Russian Tsar would offer to turn all those Cossacks, and not only the starshyna ones, into nobles again; many even forged the documents proving their nobility, successfully acquiring a title). In the Hetmanate, every Cossack was supposed to be sort of like a szlachcic and considered himself as such. Duels and court cases because someone's "szlachcic honour" was offended were pretty common. The government and the society of the Hetmanate generally mirrored that of the PLC. But the serfdom was abolished and everyone enjoyed freedom. At least for a time. Slowly, but surely, starshyna was reinstalling it. Vis'ko Zaporozke existed until 1782 (eventually turning into Little Russia Governorate) and the Zaporozian Sich until 1775. Also, Czaplinsky didn't bully Khmelnitsky because he was a "Cossack". It was pretty commonplace for the PLC nobles, especially in Ukraine(during the 15-17th centuries), to raid other nobles. Just hire some horodovi kozaky and send them to beat up ass of another noble and take away his property. Magnates, which had private armies (Yarema Vyshnevetsky and Constantine Ostrozky had pretty big ones), often engaged in squabbles between each other which turned into local wars. They also often took away (by force) land from the less strong nobles. Those nobles would sometimes preach about oppression of the common man among the peasants, calling them to rebel, maybe summon some of their cossack buddies, and start a rebellion against a local magnate that wronged them. The clothes were not borrowed from the Tatars. Tatars, just like the Ruthenians, adopted them. And so did the Ottomans and many others. Later on developing their own, somewhat unique styles. I really like the Muscovite fashion and I'd say that it was even more "exotic" than the Ottoman one, which for a time served as a fashion inspiration in the region. The Eastern Europe, the Central Asia and the Middle East generally had many similarities in fashion since the Middle Ages, due to trade and many other things. During the times of the PLC, clothes such as kaftan, kontusz and zhupan, among many others, were worn all over those areas differing only by having a different name and a slightly different design. Fashion of the Ottoman Empire also influenced how the richer folk from the neighboring states(and even Western Europe) around it dressed. The cossacks didn't really wear anything that'd make them stand out in a city crowd. Hungarians, Greeks, Poles, Lithuanians, Ruthenians, Muscovites, Balkan people, Turks, Tatars, Kurds and other folks shared many elements of their dress(especially the nobility) because of a shared cultural zone.

What an outstanding presentation of history! Thankyou very much for putting it together. My family emigrated from southern Ukraine in the early 1900's and I'm sure they had first hand experiences with these noble individuals.

I had no idea the Cossacks had such a vibrate and interesting history. Thank you for showcasing this to the world. Excellent video.

Who needs Caribbean when you got the steppe...Land pirates don’t!

Cossack hood is the example of East European mindset. Freedom is more important than anything. And everybody for himself. As long as there are Cossacks alive, there is hope for the free spirit of the East!

There was different cossack groups of different nationalities, but Zaporizian cossacks are mostly ukrainians, they just share common name with others as a sort of an armed force. Actually ukrainian cossacks are the most famous ones as they took part in history of most surounding states and couple important battles, some of them was Polish or Lithuanian nobility, barroque and romantisict autors has wrote a couple novels about them, they was THE ones who fought with Otaman Empire as they invaded steps and would take people into slavery from ukrainian villages, and cossack rebelions was hugely impacted the ethnic role as they were fighting for their religion and as an opposition to supression of rusyn people by Polish and Moskow empires, who actually was ancestors of ukrainians, before ukraine actually become a state, as it lands was occupied from medieval times. Zaporizhian cossaks actually tried to make ukrainian state in late XVII century but Russian Empire destroyed them, they become a symbol of ukrainian warrior and will to create a state already in XIX century when philosophy of nation become popular in europe. Yes, u was trying to tell us about common traits of cossacks, but also from your narrative people wont get that cossak wasnt just different ethnic group in whole place where they was formed, but actually they was just like vikings, they wasnt mixed army but in different lands they comes from they was warriors of ancestors of different nations like denmark or norway, but also cossacks in territory of ukraine was a lot different from cossacks in teritory of turkic lands, they just share common turkic name for themselves. The problem is just that u share the traits of all cossak to a specific cossack group or while speaking about specific group u say just "cossacks" without specification. Cossack is just a term. You can tell us about knights, thier lifes etc. without specifying but u cant say knights took Paris in 1600, without telling kingdom of their origin.