Kuban Cossacks
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Kuban Cossacks (
The Kuban
. The modern Kuban Cossack Host was re-established in 1990 at the fall of the Soviet Union.Formation history of the Kuban Cossack Host
Although Cossacks lived in the region prior to the late 18th century
Black Sea Cossacks
In a different part of southeastern Europe, on the middle
The Zaporozhians scattered; some (five thousand men or 30% of the host) fled to the
regiments, while most turned to local farming and trade.A decade later, the Russian administration was forced to reconsider its decision, with the escalation of tension with the Ottoman Empire. In 1778 the Turkish sultan offered the exiled Zaporozhians the chance to build a new Danubian Sich. Potemkin suggested that the former commanders Antin Holovaty, Zakhary Chepiha and Sydir Bily round the former Cossacks into a Host of the loyal Zaporozhians in 1787.[7]
The new host played a crucial role in the
On the Russian frontier (1777–1860)
During the
The end of the war and the
The Khopyor regiment was responsible for the western flank of the line. In 1778-1782, Khopyor Cossacks founded four
However, the Russian position in the Caucasus was desperate, and to ease administration in 1832 military reform united ten regiments from the mouth of the
Zaporozhets beyond the Kuban River
Many traditions of the Zaporozhian Cossacks continued in the Black Sea Cossacks, such as the formal election of the host administration, but in some cases, new traditions replaced the old. Instead of a central Sich, a defence line was formed from the Kuban River Black Sea inlet to the
In the land they left behind, the
Expansion
As the years went by, the Black Sea Cossacks continued its systematic penetrations into the mountainous regions of the Northern Caucasus. Taking an active part in the finale of the
Apogee of the Kuban Host
The new Host grew to be the second largest in Russia. The Kuban Cossacks continued to make an active part in the Russian affairs of the 19th century starting from the finale of the
The Cossacks also carried out the second strategical objective, the colonisation of the Kuban land. In total, the host owned more than six million tithes, of which 5.7 million belonged to the stanitsas, with the remaining in the reserve or in private hands of Cossack officers and officials. Upon reaching the age of 17, a Cossack would be given between 16 and 30 tithes for cultivation and personal use. With the natural growth of the population, the average land that a Cossack owned decreased from 23 tithes in the 1860s to 7.6 in 1917. Such arrangements, however ensured that the colonisation and the cultivation would be very rational.
The military purpose of the Kuban was echoed in its administration pattern. Rather than a traditional Imperial
The more liberal policy of the Kuban was directly mirrored in the living standards of the people. One of the central features of this was education. Indeed, the first schools were known to have existed since the migration of the Black Sea Cossacks, and by 1860, the host had one male high school and 30 elementary schools.[citation needed] In 1863, the first periodical Кубанские войсковые ведомсти (Kubanskiye voiskovye vedomsti) began printing, and two years later the host's library was opened in Yekaterinodar. In all, by 1870, the number of schools in rural stanitsas increased to 170. Compared with the rest of the Russian Empire, by the start of the 20th century the Oblast had a very high literacy rate of 50% and each year up to 30 students from Cossack families (again a rate unmatched by any other rural province) were sent to study in the higher education establishments of Russia.
During the early twentieth century contacts between Kuban and Ukraine were established and clandestine Ukrainian organizations appeared in Kuban.[9]
Uniform and equipment
Until 1914 the Kuban Cossack Host wore a full dress uniform comprising a dark grey/black
The 200 Kuban and 200 Terek Cossacks of the Imperial Escort (Konvoi) wore a special gala uniform; including a scarlet kaftan edged with yellow braid and a white waistcoat. Officers had silver braiding on their coats and epaulettes. A dark coloured kaftan was issued for ordinary duties together with a red waistcoat.[14]
Russian Revolution and Civil War
During the
In March 1918, after
On 6 November 1919, Denikin's forces surrounded the Rada, and with the help of Ataman
The Soviet policy of de-Cossackization repressed Cossacks and aimed to eliminate Cossack distinctness.[16] The de-Cossackization is sometimes described as an act of genocide.[17][18][19][20][21]
World War II
Collaborators in Wehrmacht and Waffen SS
The first collaborators were formed from Soviet Cossack POWs and deserters after the consequences of the Red Army's early defeats in the course of
While there were several smaller Cossack detachments in the Wehrmacht since 1941, the
Red Army Cossacks
Despite the defections that were taking place, the majority of the Cossacks remained loyal to the Red Army.
In the opening phase of the war, during the German advance towards Moscow, Cossacks became extensively used for the 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, which were mobilised from the Northern Caucasus. The raid, which in ten days covered 300 km, destroyed the hinterlands of the 9th German Army before successfully breaking out.[29] Whilst units under the command of General Pavel Belov, the 2nd Cavalry Corps made from 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. In the end, if the Germans during the whole war only managed to form two Cossack Corps, the Red Army in 1942 already had 17.[28] Many of the newly formed units were filled with ethnically Cossack volunteers. The Kuban Cossacks were allocated to the 10th, 12th and 13th Corps. However, the most famous Kuban Cossack unit would be the 17th Cossack Corps under the command of general Nikolay Kirichenko .
During one particular attack, Cossacks killed up to 1,800 enemy soldiers and officers, they took 300 prisoners, seized 18 artillery pieces and 25 mortars. The 5th and 9th Romanian Cavalry divisions fled in panic, and the 198th German Infantry division, carrying large losses, hastily departed to the left bank of the river Ei.[30]
During the opening phase of the
For the latter part of the war, although the Cossacks did prove especially useful in reconnaissance and rear guards, the war did show that the age of horse cavalry had come to an end. The famous
Modern Kuban Cossacks
Following the war, the Cossack regiments, along with remaining cavalry were disbanded and removed from the Soviet armed forces as they were thought to be obsolete.
Starting in the late 1980s, there were renewed efforts to revive Cossack traditions which went to great lengths; in 1990, the Host was once again recognised by the Supreme Ataman of the All-Great Don Host (Всевеликое Войско Донское). At this time some pro-Ukrainian sentiment emerged among some Kuban Cossack leaders. For example, when in May 1993 Cossack leader Yevhen Nahai was arrested and accused of plotting a coup, another Cossack leader (kish otaman Pyuypenko) threatened to call for support for Ukraine if Nahai's rights were violated. A march of cossack cavalry from eastern Ukraine to Kuban was met with some enthusiasm by locals.[34]
The Cossacks have actively participated in some of the more abrupt political developments following the
According to human rights reports from the 1990s, the Cossacks regularly harassed non-Russians, such as Armenians and Chechens, living in southern Russia.[36]
A contingent of Kuban Cossacks (led by Head of the All-Russian Cossack Society, Cossack General Nikolai Doluda) took part in the 2015 Moscow Victory Day Parade for the first time.[37]
Present day military units
With the help of the governor of Krasnodar Krai,
On 2 August 2012, the governor of
The Kuban Cossacks has maintained a
Culture
Because of the unique migration pattern that the original
National identity
The concept of national and ethnic identity of the Kuban Cossacks has changed with time and has been the subject of much contention.
In the 1897 census, 47.3% of the Kuban population (including extensive 19th century non-Cossack migrants from both Ukraine and Russia) referred to their native language as Little Russian (Ukrainian), while 42.6% referred to their native language as Great Russian (Russian).[44]
Most cultural productions in Kuban spanning 1890–1910, such as plays, stories, etc., were written and performed in the Ukrainian language, and one of the first political parties in Kuban was the Ukrainian Revolutionary Party. During World War I, Austrian officials received reports from a Ukrainian organization of the Russian Empire that 700 Kuban Cossacks in eastern Galicia had been arrested by their Russian officers for refusing to fight against Ukrainians in the Austrian army.
After the Bolshevik Victory in the
Additionally, more than 700 schools with Ukrainian as the language of instruction were opened, and the Kuban Pedagogical Institute had its own Ukrainian department. Numerous Ukrainian-language newspapers such as Chornomorets and Kubanska Zoria were published. According to historian A.L. Pawliczko, there was an attempt to have a referendum on the joining of Kuban to the Ukrainian SSR.
By the end of 1932, the Ukrainization programme was reversed, and by the late 1930s the majority of Kuban Ukrainians identified themselves as Russians[51] As a result, in the 1939 census, Russians in the Kuban were a majority of 2754027 or 86%[52] The 2nd edition of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia explicitly named the Kuban Cossacks as Russians.
The modern Kuban vernacular known as balachka differs from contemporary literary Russian and is most similar to the dialect of Ukrainian spoken in central Ukraine near Cherkasy[53] Some regions the vernacular includes many Northern Caucasus words and accents. The influence of Russian grammatical forms is also apparent.
Like many other Cossacks, some refuse to accept themselves as part of the standard ethnic Russian people, and claim to be a separate subgroup on par with sub-ethnicities such as the
All Russia | 145,166,731 | 140,028 |
Republic | Total population | Cossacks |
---|---|---|
Adygea
|
447,109 | 470 |
Kabardino-Balkaria | 901,494 | 307 |
Karachayevo-Cherkessia
|
439,470 | 2,501 |
Krasnodar Krai | 5,125,221 | 17,542 |
Stavropol Krai | 2,231,759 | 3,902 |
Total in Kuban | 9,145,053 | 24,722 |
Organisation
Early 20th century
Within the Empire, the Kuban land was administered through the
In peacetime the Host provided 10 horse regiments making up a Kuban Cossack division, six plastun (infantry) battalions and six horse-artillery batteries; in addition to irregular and support units. The "first" regiments were linked to the specific locales that they were recruited from, although they would often be deployed elsewhere in the Empire. In wartime, recruits were drafted from each region to form "second" regiments during the stage of initial mobilization. If further manpower was required, a "third" regiment would be formed to be dispatched as reinforcements. During World War One a total of 37 horse (cavalry) regiments were raised by the Kuban Cossack Host.
Regiments:
- 1st and 2nd Kuban Life Guard sotnias of His Imperial Majesty's personal convoy (a special unit of the Imperial Guardacting for personal protection of the monarch)
- 1st Khopyor regiment "Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna"
- 1st Kuban regiment "General Field Marshal Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich"
- 1st Zaporozhian regiment "Empress Catherine the Great"
- 1st Yekaterinodar regiment "Kosh Ataman Chepiga"
- 1st Poltavskaya regiment "Yekatrinoslav Viceroy General Field Marshal Prince Potyomkin-Tavrichesky"
- 1st Umanskaya regiment "Brigadier Golovaty"
- 1st Taman regiment "General Bezkrovny"
- 1st Laba regiment "General Zass"
- 1st Line regiment "General Velyaminov"
- 1st Black Sea regiment "Colonel Bursak"
Divisions:
- Kuban Cossack Division (after the outbreak of World War I, the Russian Army began reforming this system along modern lines, but only one division was in existence in 1914)
Plastuns:
- 1st Kuban plastun battalion "General Field Marshal Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich"
- 2nd through 6th Kuban plastun battalions
As noted the plastun units served as infantry. On mobilization an additional six battalions (numbered 7th through 12th) were added to the peacetime establishment, and a further two (13th and 14th) raised as reserve units. The effectiveness of these units was demonstrated during the war, particularly the Caucasus Front and by 1917 a total of 22 battalions, comprising one division plus four brigades, were on active service. A further three battalions were in reserve.
Horse artillery:
- 1st Kuban Cossack battery "General Field Marshal Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich"
- 2nd through 5th Kuban Cossack batteries.
In addition there four commands that were responsible for support and home front organisation in the Kuban (supplies, hospitals etc.): Ust-Labinskaya, Armavirskaya, Labinskaya and Batalpashinskaya.
From 1914 to 1917 the Kuban Cossack Host committed a total of 89 thousand men to the Russian war effort. These included 37 horse regiments, a cavalry division, 2 mounted regiments recruited from mountain peoples (Adyghe and Karachay), six convoy (Imperial Guard) escort half-sotnias, two Leib Guard HIH personal sotnias, 4 infantry plastun brigades (22 battalions), a special plastun division, nine horse artillery batteries, four reserve horse regiments and three reserve plastun battalions.
See also
- Cossacks
- Azov Cossack Host
- Black Sea Cossacks
- Caucasus Line Cossack Host
- Danubian Sich
- Don Cossacks
- Zaporozhian Cossacks
- Decossackization
- Kuban Cossack Culture
- Balachka
- Kuban bandurists
- Kuban Cossack Choir
- Cossacks of the Kuban — a color musical film, cinema of 1940s Soviet Union.
- Ukrainians in the Kuban
- Felix Sumarokov-Elston — Ataman of the Kuban Cossacks (1860s).
- Ethnic Cleansing of Circassians
- Auxiliaries
Notes and citations
- ^ Hays, Jeffrey. "COSSACKS | Facts and Details". factsanddetails.com. Archived from the original on 11 March 2018. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
- ^ See Nekrasov Cossacks
- ^ "Северный Кавказ и кочевой мир степей Евразии: V Минаевские чтения по археологии, этнографии и краеведению Северного Кавказа". annales.info.
- ^ "Новости". slavakubani.ru. Archived from the original on 11 January 2020. Retrieved 1 February 2013.
- ^ Orest Subtelny Ukraine a history History of Ukraine. Retrieved on 4 July 2008.
- ^ Chukhlib, Taras. Александр Суворов в украинской истории [Alexander Suvorov in Ukrainian history] (in Russian). Pravda.org.ua. Archived from the original on 19 December 2007 – via knsuvorov.narod.ru.
- ^ V. Golubtsky Black Sea Cossack Host from the Large Soviet Encyclopedia Retrieved on 22 April 2007.
- ^ "К 300-летию Хоперского полка – основателя и защитника нашего города – Публикации – [Невинномысскiй хронографЪ]". www.nevchronograph.ru.
- ^ a b Anna Procyk. (1995). Russian Nationalism and Ukraine: The Nationality Policy of the Volunteer Army During the Civil War Toronto: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies at University of Toronto, pg. 36
- ISBN 978-0-9889532-1-5.
- ^ Preben Kannik, page 236 "Military Uniforms of the World in Colour"
- ^ page 591 of volume 27, The Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition
- ISBN 978-0-9889532-1-5.
- ISBN 978-0-9889532-1-5.
- ^ Kubijovic, V.. (1963). Ukraine: A Concise Encyclopedia. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. pp. 790–793.
- ISBN 0-674-07608-7p. 98
- ISBN 0-14-024364-X
- ISBN 0-375-50632-2
- ^ Mikhail Heller & Aleksandr Nekrich. Utopia in Power: The History of the Soviet Union from 1917 to the Present.
- ISBN 1-56000-887-3. Retrieved 1 March 2014.
- ^ Soviet order to exterminate Cossacks is unearthed Archived 10 December 2009 at the Wayback Machine University of York Communications Office, 21 January 2003
- ^ a b ""AXIS & LEGION MILITARIA" – Axis & Legion Militaria". axis101.bizland.com.
- ^ ISBN 9780714633510. Retrieved 20 September 2007.
- ^ Stalin's Enemies "Combat Magazine" ISSN 1542-1546 Volume 03 Number 01 Winter
- ^ Lt. Gen Wladyslaw Anders and Antonio Munoz Russian Volunteers in the German Wehrmacht in WWII
- ^ Gabby de Jong, Yalta Agreement Retrieved
- ^ Burgh, Hugo de Investigative Journalism, Milton Park, Taylor & Francis 2008 p.243
- ^ ISBN 978-5-699-20121-1.
- ^ Kochetov V.N. (2005). "General Dovator". Preobrazheniye. 7.
- ^ "От А до Я – Действия казаков во время Великой Отечественной войны". ot-a-do-ya.org (in Russian).
- ^ Kuban Today, Vol.7 В годы суровых испытаний about partisan movement on the Kuban by V. Turov, 6 May 1998
- ^ Fire of war.ru — Anthology of various historians of the Partisan Activity in the Krasnodar Kray Retrieved 15 Oct 2007
- ^ "Кубанские казаки – участники парада Победы в Москве 24 июня 1945 года". www.slavakubani.ru. Archived from the original on 7 July 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
- ^ Serhiy Plokhy.(2008). Ukraine and Russia: Representations of the Past. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. p. 179.
- ^ Perov, Sergei (11 February 2004). Кубанские казаки берут Сухуми -Губернатор Александр Ткачев взялся за решение абхазской проблемы [Kuban Cossacks take Sukhumi – Governor Alexander Tkachov has taken on the solution to the Abkhazian problem] (in Russian). Krasnodar Krai: Newizv.ru. Archived from the original on 14 July 2007. Retrieved 25 April 2007.
- ^ Russia: Cossacks and their role in Sochi (Krasnodar Krai). U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services/United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. 27 August 1999.
- ^ "В Москву на парад Победы приехали кубанские казаки, ветеран из Ейска и краснодарская школьница".
- ^ Cossacks to crack down on migrants in southern Russian region that will host 2014 Olympics. The Washington Post. 6 August 2012.
- ^ "В Краснодаре наградили лучших казаков Почетного караула Кубанского казачьего войска". www.vkpress.ru. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
- ^ "В Краснодаре отметили годовщину создания Почётного караула Кубанского казачьего войска :: KRD.ru". 14 June 2016.
- ^ "Час славы Кубани: кто руководит Почетным караулом ККВ". www.vkpress.ru. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
- ^ "Почётный караул ККВ — СКМК" (in Russian). Retrieved 4 October 2020.
- ^ History of the Kuban Cossack Choir, from official website Archived 21 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Первая всеобщая перепись населения Российской Империи 1897 г.: Распределение населения по родному языку, губерниям и областям: Кубанская обл [First general census of the Russian Empire 1897: Distribution of the population by mother tongue, provinces and regions: Kuban Oblast] (in Russian). Demoscope.ru. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
- ^ Mark von Hagen. (2007). War in a European Borderland: Occupations and Occupation Plans in Galicia and Ukraine, 1914-1918. Seattle, Washington: Washington University Press. p. 57
- ^ Find articles [dead link]
- ^ "National Factors in Party and State Affairs – Theses for the Twelfth Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks), approved by the Central Committee of the Party". Retrieved
- ISBN 0-8014-8677-7 [1]
- ^ Kuban Okrug from the 1926 census demoscope.ru
- ISBN 978-0-8020-0595-3.
- ISBN 0-691-03254-8.
- ^ Krasnodar kray, 1939 census results, available at demoscope.ru
- ^ Litvinov, Nikolai. Флаг Кубани [Flag of Kuban]. Literaturnaya Rossiya (in Russian). 27. litrossia.ru. Archived from the original on 12 January 2008. Retrieved 15 October 2007.
- ^ "Russian census 2002". Retrieved 22 April 2007. [permanent dead link]
- ^ ИА REGNUM for Rustrana.ru, 21 October 2005 Retrieved on 23 April 2007 Archived 29 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- Georgi M. Derluguian and Serge Cipko; Europe-Asia Studies; December 1997 URL
External links
Media related to Kuban Cossacks at Wikimedia Commons
- Official website Archived 8 September 2020 at the Wayback Machine
- Official section about Cossackdom at the Krasnodar Kray administration's site Archived 1 January 2020 at the Wayback Machine (in Russian)
- Unofficial website (in Russian)
- Images from Krasnodar Kray, Russia.