How did military leaders assess the role of the Cossacks in the life of the Russian state? tsarist army, historians, writers, politicians who lived in exile. Statements taken from the book “Cossacks. Thoughts of contemporaries about the past, present and future of the Cossacks,” published by the Cossack Union in Paris in 1928.
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A. P. BOGAEVSKY, Don Ataman, Lieutenant General of the Tsarist Army.
...Personally, I am a natural Don Cossack, I remember with pride the glorious past of my native Cossacks and cheerfully, with bright hope, I think about its future.
The phenomenon is exclusively Russian historical life, which was not in any state in the world - the Cossacks, from violent freemen who boldly fought against warlike neighbors, are gradually turning into an inseparable part of the Russian state, but with a special way of life and their own customs, and becoming a faithful knight of Russia.
Of course, not everything in his past was good. There were times when the Don, Ural and other Cossacks caused a lot of trouble and trouble to the Russian government...
However, all this did not prevent the Cossacks from devoting all their strength to its defense during the difficult days of Russia’s life.
Vivid examples of this are the universal (from 17 years of age) participation in Patriotic War 1812 of the Don Army, which fielded over 50,000 soldiers, of whom up to 20,000 died; V Crimean War– 82,000; V Great War- up to 300,000 people, and the tension of the Cossack troops in this war was so great that, for example, Kuban already in 1916 was no longer able to field more Cossacks into formation...
Whatever the future government in Rus', the Cossack troops will exist. Common sense dictates that the state needs such a healthy, vigorous population accustomed to order. The Cossacks will submit to any new government that will give order and the opportunity to work in peace. It is not at all going to separate from Russia and form its own fantastic Cossack republics, as some of our “independents” dream about. The Cossacks understand well that, in addition to moral grounds, such a separation will cause an infinite number of all kinds of complications, not only in relations with Russia, which the Cossacks cannot consider as some kind of foreign power, but also within the army, when they have to rely only on their own strength.
But at the same time, ready to serve Russia, as an inseparable part of it, the Cossacks have the right to internal self-government and to be freed from that exclusive guardianship that manifested itself before the revolution in such, sometimes strange forms, as, for example, the closure of Cossack educational institutions in the 80s.
With its own elected circle and an ataman elected from among its Cossacks, each army will quickly reach complete order and well-being...
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A. I. DENIKIN, Lieutenant General of the Tsarist Army
1) In the old days, the Cossacks were a reliable stronghold of the Russian state borders in the wild field, in the Caucasian gorges, in the Siberian expanses and the conductor of Russian power there. The Cossack freemen caused a lot of trouble for “Moscow” (the central government) and even entered into armed clashes with it. But this internal strife, caused, in addition to socio-economic reasons, by immoderate centralization from above and sometimes immoderate love of freedom from below, does not, however, detract from the important historical growth that the Cossacks played in the formation Russian state.
2) The Cossacks entered the later history of Russia already settled and established. It lives on pacified lands, far from the theaters of war, in conditions of life different from the rest of the population, a well-established economic structure and a certain prosperity. These circumstances made the Cossacks less susceptible to revolutionary ideas. After all, in the old days it was more the arrogant Cossacks who rose up, rather than the homely Cossacks. And the Cossacks bore honestly, without knowing desertion, without exception military service, participating in all wars waged by Russia. And in its internal life it was not “a blind instrument in the hands of the government,” as the radical public believed, but a conscious state-protective principle.
3) With the beginning of the revolution, the Cossacks were confused. It did not want to “go against the people,” but the people “went mad.” Hence the fluctuations, transitions, falls...
4) In these troubled years, the Cossack masses never showed any desire to break away from Russia. The Cossack elder did not get along with all-Russian elements - this is true. Both sides - one in defending state interests, the other - Cossack liberties - more than once crossed the boundaries of what was necessary. But only a part of the Cossack elite suffered from independence - some out of delusion, others out of selfishness. Ideas such as “the Kubans are an independent branch of the Slavic tribe” ... or about the “independent Cossack nation” were born among mournful people or with a corrupt conscience and did not, cannot have a response in the Cossack masses, who recognize themselves as Russian by blood and to the bone .
5) The future of the Cossacks is presented in this form.
The state will free the Cossacks from bearing excessive burdens, but will not give them special privileges over their other sons. This last circumstance is not scary for the Cossacks, since the future structure of the Russian state is conceived as regional, based on the dispersal of power and broad local autonomies. If, according to cultural and economic conditions, the limits of autonomy are different, then the Cossacks inhabiting continuous territories have the right to the most favorable conditions of self-government. Within its boundaries, without a doubt, the Cossacks will be free to preserve those forms of power, administration, economy and life that are consecrated by historical tradition and are loved by them.
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N. D. AVKSENTIEV, former minister Provisional Government.
...Attachment to the forms of one’s social life, one’s self-government is the result of the habit of self-government and the ability to appreciate and use it. Attraction to self-organization. Ability to work, perseverance, resourcefulness and the ability to adapt to new conditions, without, however, giving up one’s individual or national identity. Finally, a great, visceral love for one’s small Motherland – the Cossack regions, combined with love for the big Motherland – Russia.
I know, of course, about the movement of independence among the Cossacks, I also know about the disagreements between some groups, and about certain failures in the field of landing on the ground. But despite this, for the majority of the Cossacks I consider my characterization to be true...
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M. A. ALDANOV, Russian writer.
...The concept of Cossacks in itself is not entirely definite. If I’m not mistaken, in Russia there were (and still are?) 11 Cossack troops - neither in anthropological terms, nor in service-class, nor even in everyday life do they form a homogeneous whole.
The future of the Cossacks, of course, is closely connected with the future of all of Russia. There is no need to prove this: centuries are very rarely erased from history.
That excellent feature of the Cossacks, which you mention and as a result of which the Cossacks were called free, is both its strongest and weakest side...
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N. I. ASTROV, public figure.
The Cossacks are a unique phenomenon of Russian history. This is a kind of effective force that participated in the construction of the Russian state...
But together with the Russian people, as an inseparable part of it, it created its borders, being a border stronghold of the Russian land, not only colonized its distant outskirts, it, together with the Russian people, created the economic well-being and power of Russia.
No matter what cunning conjectures and crafty intricacies are invented in our dark days in large and small foreign and, to our shame, Russian political kitchens, no matter how demagogues and traitors strive to tear the Cossacks away from Russia, proclaiming them a special Cossack people, the creative participation of the Cossacks in Russian history is etched in blood. And this seal is forever. “Fire will not melt it, water will not wash it away”...
The fate of the Cossacks is the fate of the Russian people. And the closer the interaction between them, the stronger the organic and spiritual connection, the sooner this fate will change and become clearer. The sooner the free Cossacks will arise in a free Russia.
Over the course of a long history, the Cossacks not only served the state. It fought for its favorite ideals of equality and self-government, which could not be realized in the general state order...
The path to deliverance is not in separatism, not in the dismemberment of Russia and in the implementation of the principles of true democracy. In these conditions, the old covenants and dear dreams of the free Cossacks will find fulfillment.
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A.F. KERENSKY, former chairman of the Provisional Government.
...In the future, internal free and federal Russia there will be no reasons for psychological alienation between individual everyday groups of the Russian people.
By including the Cossacks in the concept of the Russian people, I am by no means encroaching on the unique originality of the Cossack regions. The diversity of local political and social structures only enriches all-Russian culture, multiplies the creative capabilities of the people and thereby strengthens the state.
It is quite natural that in the new conditions of free internal state construction, the Cossacks within their regions will erase the line between themselves and the so-called non-residents. After all, some local class-military pre-revolutionary “privileges” only covered up the exceptional military hardships that the Cossacks bore and which, in fact, radically undermined their economic power...
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A. A. KIESEWETTER, former member State Duma, historian, professor.
Two conditions seem to me necessary for the Russian Cossacks to form a fruitful element in the process of internal structure of the future Russia:
- The future Russian state power will have to build political unity. Russia is not about suppressing the local characteristics of individual regions of the state, but about developing their internal initiative. Therefore, the Cossack regions will have to preserve the historically established uniqueness of their way of life.
- At the same time, the Cossacks themselves will have to prevent two currents fraught with dangerous consequences from taking root in their midst:
a) idealization of their entire historical past, in which not only the “principles of equality and brotherhood” were at work, but also a rather pronounced social struggle between the upper and lower strata of the Cossacks with all the inevitable consequences of such social division and inequality;
b) the desire to break the historical tradition, which was that the Cossacks always thought of themselves as an integral element of all-Russian statehood and an outpost of its self-defense from external enemies; this genuine historical tradition is now being distorted by those representatives of the Cossacks who, in favor of independent tendencies and contrary to historical truth, put forward absurd theories that the Cossacks are a special nation, separate from the Russian people.
Respect for genuine historical traditions, not distorted to suit preconceived tendencies, combined with sober political realism - this is what can serve as the only reliable guarantee of the further prosperity of the Cossacks, as one of the independent cells of the Russian state organism.
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General P. P. SKOROPADSKY, former hetman of Ukraine.
...Unfortunately, in natural times, currents abound that push towards strife and the destruction of the present in the name of the past or the future. These trends, negative in essence, usually give victory to the third... But the formula “Independence and Union”, which was laid down in 1918 as the cornerstone of the agreement between Independent Ukraine and the All-Great Don Army, has not lost its meaning to this day. Vice versa. The past and the present indicate that all those who want to avoid new upheavals, bloodshed and fratricide in the future should bow to this formula, because it gives breadth and flexibility for the organic resolution of national, economic, social and political antagonisms on the basis of friendly co-work and thereby promotes the tension of energies towards creativity rather than destruction.
Only this path, directed beyond extremes, can lead to community and co-work between neighbors...
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P. B. STUVE, academician, public and political figure.
For those who meaningfully look at the history of Rus' - Russia, there is no question about whether the Cossacks in this history justified their existence as a special and unique force.
The Cossack freemen played a dual role in the history of Russia.
Firstly, as the only free force of tax in the rest of Russia, as the only free “world” in the great Russian sea of tax “worlds”.
This was the case until the emancipation of Russia, which began in 1762 and was basically completed in 1861.
Secondly, as a world or worlds - freely organized, freely gathered into certain military brotherhoods among the rest of the free dispersed community of the Russian people - the Cossacks, or, more precisely, the Cossacks were and remain the only phenomenon in Russian political reality. The Cossacks are not the essence of a state, and at the same time they are not just free communities of people who came together by chance and temporarily, carried by the historical wind of dust particles.
In the future state construction of Great Russia, the Cossacks (I purposely use here plural) will, one might think, reveal their state character more strongly than before, and at the same time, having become more self-legal (“autonomous”), will even more clearly reveal their original nature as a special free people.
How this will happen, no one can say, but all Russian Cossacks and non-Cossacks need to understand and think through the great historical and at the same time living value of the Cossacks. The Cossacks have a great past, but they also have a future, and a great calling in this future.
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MM. FYODOROV, former minister (before the revolution).
...On the outskirts, the Cossacks were one of the main instillers and conductors of Russian culture, Russian language, Russian statehood, and in this sense, their historical role is undeniable. Both free and service Cossacks always served Russia with honor. During the times of great trials, the majority of the Cossacks remained faithful to the Russian state idea and defended Russian state unity...
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A.I. KUPRIN, Russian writer.
Let my eyes not see the desired happiness of Russia, but just as I unshakably believe in the future recovery and renewal of Great Russia, I believe in the future inextricable connection of the Cossacks with it. Centuries have been talking about this general history, common wars, common religion, common interests, common language. I admit: regional, private interests and the question of the form of a fraternal union are in the background for me. I only know that it will never occur to the Cossacks to rave about independence, prompted by artificial chauvinism and spoon-fed hatred. I value the old beautiful formula: “We bow to you, White Stone Moscow, and we are Cossacks on the Quiet Don.”
Cossack liberties will be cherished for our descendants. Justice requires saying that the government of pre-revolutionary times, which still remembered the past unrest and troubled years, did not take them into account particularly carefully. But an alliance with a free person is stronger than an alliance with a captive person...
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A. S. LUKOMSKY, Lieutenant General of the Tsarist Army.
The Cossacks are blood from blood, flesh from flesh of the Russian people. It often reflects in an aggravated form both positive and negative traits the character of the people who distinguished the Cossacks from their midst.
The history of the Cossacks is the history of the expansion of the Russian state, its strengthening and its construction. Having played an exceptional role in the expansion of Russia, the Cossacks, at the same time, in all periods of Russia’s life, both during external complications and during periods of internal unrest, almost always showed selfless devotion common homeland helped overcome impending disasters and contributed to the strengthening of central government power.
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P. N. MILYUKOV, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Provisional Government, historian, professor.
...The strengths are the “broad principles of democracy, brotherhood, and equality” indicated in the “questionnaire.” Obviously, these features will have to strengthen and develop in democratic-republican Russia. And one can only rejoice that these principles live in the consciousness of the Cossacks, separating them from old Russia and making it easier for them to transition to new Russia. The “weak” sides of the Cossacks, I think, are common to them with those sides of all-Russian life. The nature of class privilege that separates the Cossacks from other groups of the population, the insufficient culture of the agricultural masses, the vices inherent in this level of enlightenment, the feeling of solidarity, both local and all-Russian, that has not passed from instinct into consciousness - all this does not at all threaten the further existence of the Cossacks, but is subject to mitigation and elimination in that situation people's development, which will be given to the new Russia.
...It is also impossible to subordinate the vital interests of the Cossacks to party, political trends, the supporters of which argue approximately like this:
The Cossacks are an estate, therefore, for its existence a class system is needed, and therefore a monarchy is needed.
Let's not argue whether the Cossacks are a class. But their story is not that simple. There were Cossacks without monarchs. And there are monarchies without Cossacks. And if a monarchist is capable of state-minded thinking, then he must come to the same conclusions that are obligatory for a state-minded republican...
Bubnov - Taras Bulba
In 1907, an argot dictionary was published in France, in which the following aphorism was given in the article “Russian”: “Scratch a Russian and you will find a Cossack, scratch a Cossack and you will find a bear.”
This aphorism is attributed to Napoleon himself, who actually described the Russians as barbarians and identified them as such with the Cossacks - as did many French, who could call hussars, Kalmyks or Bashkirs Cossacks. In some cases, this word could even become synonymous with light cavalry.
How little we know about the Cossacks.
In a narrow sense, the image of a Cossack is inextricably linked with the image of brave and freedom-loving men with a stern warlike look, an earring in the left ear, a long mustache and a hat on their head. And this is more than reliable, but not enough. Meanwhile, the history of the Cossacks is very unique and interesting. And in this article we will try to very superficially, but at the same time meaningfully understand and understand - who the Cossacks are, what is their peculiarity and uniqueness, and how much the history of Russia is inextricably linked with the original culture and history of the Cossacks.
Today it is very difficult to understand the theories of the origin of not only the Cossacks, but also the word-term “Cossack” itself. Researchers, scientists and experts today cannot give a definite and accurate answer - who the Cossacks are and from whom they came.
But at the same time, there are many more or less probable theories and versions of the origin of the Cossacks. Today there are more than 18 of them - and these are only the official versions. Each of them has many convincing scientific arguments, advantages and disadvantages.
However, all theories are divided into two main groups:
- theory of the fugitive (migration) emergence of the Cossacks.
- autochthonous, that is, local, indigenous origin of the Cossacks.
According to autochthonous theories, the ancestors of the Cossacks lived in Kabarda and were descendants of the Caucasian Circassians (Cherkasy, Yasy). This theory of the origin of the Cossacks is also called Eastern. It was this that one of the most famous Russian orientalist historians and ethnologists, V. Shambarov and L. Gumilyov, took as the basis of their evidence base.
In their opinion, the Cossacks arose through the merger of the Kasogs and Brodniks after the Mongol-Tatar invasion. The Kasogs (Kasakhs, Kasaks, Ka-azats) are an ancient Circassian people who inhabited the territory of the lower Kuban in the 10th-14th centuries, and the Brodniks are a mixed people of Turkic-Slavic origin who absorbed the remnants of the Bulgars, Slavs, and also, possibly, the steppe Oguzes.
Dean of the Faculty of History of Moscow State University S. P. Karpov, working in the archives of Venice and Genoa, he discovered references there to Cossacks with Turkic and Armenian names who protected the medieval city of Tana* and other Italian colonies in the Northern Black Sea region from raids.
*Tana- a medieval city on the left bank of the Don, in the area of the modern city of Azov (Rostov region of the Russian Federation). Existed in the XII-XV centuries under the rule of the Italian trading republic of Genoa.
Some of the first mentions of the Cossacks, according to the eastern version, are reflected in the legend, the author of which was the Bishop of Russia Orthodox Church Stefan Jaworski (1692):
“In 1380, the Cossacks presented Dmitry Donskoy with an icon of the Don Mother of God and took part in the battle against Mamai on the Kulikovo Field.”
According to migration theories, the ancestors of the Cossacks are freedom-loving Russian people who fled beyond the borders of the Russian and Polish-Lithuanian states either due to natural historical reasons or under the influence of social antagonisms.
The German historian G. Steckl points out that“The first Russian Cossacks were baptized and Russified Tatar Cossacks, since until the end of the 15th century. all the Cossacks who lived both in the steppes and in the Slavic lands could only be Tatars. The influence of the Tatar Cossacks on the borderlands of Russian lands was of decisive importance for the formation of the Russian Cossacks. The influence of the Tatars was manifested in everything - in the way of life, military operations, methods of struggle for existence in the conditions of the steppe. It even extended to the spiritual life and appearance of the Russian Cossacks.”
And the historian Karamzin advocated a mixed version of the origin of the Cossacks:
“The Cossacks were not only in Ukraine, where their name became known in history around 1517; but it is likely that in Russia it is older than Batu’s invasion and belonged to the Torks and Berendeys, who lived on the banks of the Dnieper, below Kyiv. There we find the first dwelling of the Little Russian Cossacks. Torki and Berendey were called Cherkasy: Cossacks - also... some of them, not wanting to submit to either the Moguls or Lithuania, lived as free people on the islands of the Dnieper, fenced by rocks, impenetrable reeds and swamps; lured to themselves many Russians who fled oppression; mixed with them and, under the name Komkov, formed one people, which became completely Russian, all the more easily because their ancestors, having lived in the Kyiv region since the tenth century, were already almost Russian themselves. Multiplying more and more in numbers, nourishing the spirit of independence and brotherhood, the Cossacks formed a military Christian Republic in the southern countries of the Dnieper, began to build villages and fortresses in these places devastated by the Tatars; undertook to be defenders of the Lithuanian possessions on the part of the Crimeans and Turks and gained the special patronage of Sigismund I, who gave them many civil liberties along with the lands above the Dnieper rapids, where the city of Cherkassy was named after them..."
I would not like to go into details, listing all the official and unofficial versions of the origin of the Cossacks. Firstly, it’s long and not always interesting. Secondly, most theories are only versions, hypotheses. There is no clear answer about the origin and origin of the Cossacks as a distinctive ethnic group. It is important to understand something else - the process of formation of the Cossacks was long and complex, and it is obvious that at its core representatives of different ethnic groups were mixed. And it’s hard to disagree with Karamzin.
Some orientalist historians believe that the ancestors of the Cossacks were Tatars, and that supposedly the first detachments of Cossacks fought on the side against Rus' in the Battle of Kulikovo. Others, on the contrary, argue that the Cossacks were already on the side of Rus' at that time. Some refer to legends and myths about bands of Cossacks - robbers, whose main trade was robbery, robbery, theft...
For example, the satirist Zadornov, explaining the origin of the well-known children’s yard game “Cossacks-robbers,” refers to “unbridled by the free character of the Cossack class, which was “the most violent, uneducable Russian class.”
It’s hard to believe this, because in the memory of my childhood, each of the boys preferred to play for the Cossacks. And the name of the game is taken from life, since its rules imitate reality: in Tsarist Russia Cossacks were people's self-defense, guarding civilians from raids by robbers.
It is possible that the original basis of the early Cossack groups contained various ethnic elements. But for contemporaries, the Cossacks evoke something native, Russian. I remember the famous speech of Taras Bulba:
The first Cossack communities
It is known that the first Cossack communities began to form back in the 15th century (although some sources refer to an earlier time). These were communities of free Don, Dnieper, Volga and Greben Cossacks.
A little later, in the 1st half of the 16th century, the Zaporozhye Sich was formed. In the 2nd half of the same century - communities of free Terek and Yaik, and at the end of the century - Siberian Cossacks.
In the early stages of the existence of the Cossacks, their main types economic activity were trades (hunting, fishing, beekeeping), later cattle breeding, and from the 2nd half. 17th century - agriculture. War booty played a major role, and later government salaries. Through military and economic colonization, the Cossacks quickly mastered the vast expanses of the Wild Field, then the outskirts of Russia and Ukraine.
In the XVI-XVII centuries. Cossacks led by Ermak Timofeevich, V.D. Poyarkov, V.V. Atlasov, S.I. Dezhnev, E.P. Khabarov and other explorers participated in the successful development of Siberia and Far East. Perhaps these are the most famous firsts reliable references to the Cossacks, beyond doubt.
V. I. Surikov “Conquest of Siberia by Ermak” The entire history of Russia was made by the Cossacks.
Lev Tolstoy
Don steppe
Alexander Vinokurov
To the Cossack family - no translation
The steppe breathed the smell of the Don,
Drowsy spicy and thick;
Its merciless sting
The sun drank in from above...
The field jumped with tumbleweeds,
Mirages trembled somewhere;
The wind whistled solo,
The steppe eagle circled above...
Among the vast distance,
Unperturbed by the heat,
Stanichniki, from the article of the ancient Romans,
They squinted, like Razin, slyly...
Cossack
Alexander Lays
He was a rider, a warrior, a plowman.
He fought for Russia.
He cut down the enemy without fear.
IN three wars risked his life.
I remembered about the church and about God,
And he was faithful to his wife.
And here he is, like so many,
The enemies were put against the wall.
When, for the sake of order,
To write down what and how,
They asked: - Who are you, uncle?
He only said one thing: “Cossack.”
Cossack field
Alexander Lays
I go out into the Cossack field.
The wind is blowing through the grass.
How much long-standing pain is in the heart,
Heavy thoughts in my head.
A long whistle, ringing and screams
They still ring in my ears.
Again manes, checkers, spades
They fly into eternal battle.
And unfolded lavas
They are gushing blood, just like then.
The smell of that bloody grass
I remember it forever.
Both the rider and the grunt,
I live by the battle of the past.
I always have to fly to attack,
Always falling into that grass.
Where are you, black face,
A whip and a strong saddle?
Only God alone knows -
How many of us died here?
No matter how I fight or cry -
Friends won't rise.
Oh you, foal's joy,
God's share or dog's share,
Field, Cossack pole,
My eternal thought.
Field, Cossack pole,
My eternal thought.
To the Cossacks
Alexander Chenin
Horse and sword, whip, cap,
Yes, stripes on the pants.
In an open field - in mortal combat
There was a Cossack who feared his enemies.
Pike for battle, saber in hand
And they went like an avalanche!
Screams, snoring, groaning in agony; -
Horses, people, where are yours?!
Fury, courage, dexterity, strength, -
Everything was prepared for a reason!
Be calm Mother Russia; -
Life for Faith, for the Tsar!
The fight is over, the horse is covered in wounds,
They hooked themselves.
There is medicine in different herbs,
There will be scars, but so what.
Cossacks! Legends, tales.
Ilya Muromets, - hero; -
He is the beginning of your glory,
Embellished at times.
For the Tsar, or even against,
Either freedom or robbery.
But protection and support
There was always a dashing Cossack.
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They beat the reds, they beat the whites,
They even wanted to be on their own.
Songs were written about the proud and brave,
Will, freedom, like a core in the soul.
The storms have subsided, the ranks have thinned, -
Everyone was equalized in the Soviet Land,
Only from photographs they looked sternly
Faces of grandfathers who died in the war.
New time and new songs.
Nowadays the Cossack is not with a spear on horseback,
But preserved by family and honor
The image of a defender in our Country.
The seeds of tradition lived in your everyday life,
Like the gene pool of our ancient Rus'.
Free from gloss and dust,
Be an example; - you are really needed!
Cossack women
Alexander Chenin
Where do all the Cossacks come from?
Where does this blood come from?
Life left its signs
Mustaches, forelocks and proud eyebrows!
The mother blessed her sons
Then she waited anxiously.
I'm tired of running the house,
How she needs an assistant
The Cossack returned from a campaign,
We went to distant lands.
Maiden of the princely family
I brought it from there for myself.
The maiden did not grieve for long,
The Cossack gave his love.
And gradually I realized
That he became dear and sweet to her.
Family, kids, respect,
The custom, the dialect is becoming more and more familiar.
And the generation was renewed
And more beautiful and stronger.
The Cossack has his own worries, -
Hiking, training, many days.
And all the housework
And she got the honor of preserving it.
From generation to generation
The Cossack woman walked proudly next to her.
Brave, smart, patient in everything,
I prayed to God and waited.
She managed the house, didn’t complain,
Taught children; - all by myself.
I tried it on with my heart and soul
How will she live if she is a widow?
The war mowed down husbands with a scythe,
The sons did not return.
And with her Mother - Russia
Throwing on a scarf, she continued walking.
Calm, peaceful our time
And the Cossack family became stronger.
The Cossack woman carries the seed
And she, rightfully, has a pedestal!
Kozatskoe
Valery Starz
We should take some Paris.
We would have drawn sabers to attack.
Hey, monsie, it’s not for nothing that you’re trembling all over
And it was not for nothing that he shit himself out of fear.
We should take some Berlin.
It worked out every time, however.
Replacing the pikes with a carbine,
The cavalry entered after the tank.
We should take some Istanbul.
Stun with a dashing Cossack word.
The Basurman will say: “Well, he turned it down!”
We only fought near Azov."
Somewhere across the seas, Washington.
Our horses will get tired of sailing there.
But when we capture their backwater,
Nobody will drive us out of there.
We should take something else.
The horses are tearing the wicker bridle.
If by fate we are destined,
The Cossacks will fight for their faith.
Cossacks
Vladimir Kryakin 2
The horse is endowed with a beautiful mane,
A bushy tail and two pairs of hooves.
Who hasn’t seen how powerful and beautiful
The horse rushes across the open field.
He will arch his neck in a swift leap,
Trembling will take place in the overheated ground.
The Cossacks looked after me from under my arms,
Like a Cossack he raced while sitting in the saddle.
It is impossible to live in the steppe without horses,
From an early age, a guy with a saddle has been friends.
If you suddenly feel anxious,
Taking the saber, he left his house.
This is how our great-grandfathers and grandfathers lived in the old days,
Our bow to them to the very ground.
We fought with a fierce enemy until victory,
They brought peace and tranquility to their native land.
Kuban Cossack
Elena Zhukova-Zhelenina
He's still just a child
He's a kid, not tall.
He has been sitting on a horse since the cradle.
Accumulate a little strength,
He will become a “noble” Cossack.
And dressed like a Cossack:
There is a kubanka and a bashlyk*,
“Give the guy a saber in his hands,”
The village resident will shout after him...
By the fire in the Kuban choir
A funny voice is heard.
Skillfully echoing the Cossacks,
The little one leads the song to the beat.
Everyone laughs: Cossack boy,
And he plays like a big guy.
Fishing, cunning, dexterous.
Oh! Fighting boy!
Look, Cossack boy,
What a squad of Cossacks!
Instantly he rushed, little shooter,
Step equal
yours with them.
Soul of a Cossack
Elena Pankratova 3
Eh, the soul of a Cossack, a free bird,
It circles over the village, over the steppe.
Always protects the native land,
Drives away the evil hordes.
Although his soul is harder than stone,
Only a bad word will hurt.
Honor and love settled in her,
She won’t betray no matter what they promise her.
After all, his soul is marked by God
After all, the soul of a Cossack is for the Fatherland!
To the Cossacks
Elena Sergeevna Safronova
The Cossacks are a special tribe,
Where are the hands hardened by labor?
Honor is high and time is valuable,
When the earth calls for the father's house.
The blood is hot, warlike, no doubt.
The checker solves life's ailment,
There is no shame in blaming God
And boldly enter the Cossack circle.
The memory of surnames is proudly preserved,
Their roots are centuries old and deep.
While the Russian villages stand -
Blessed are our Cossacks!
Cossack woman
Elena Sergeevna Safronova
Some people say that I am proud.
Others are a girl anywhere.
The Cossack woman is alive in my blood,
My joy and misfortune.
The trouble is that I didn’t see the steppe,
She didn’t bend her back on the melon patch.
Trouble: I didn’t braid my braids
On the chaste shoulder.
I did not reap the gold of wheat,
I didn’t bake fragrant bread.
I don’t know which village
My great-grandmother lived.
Isn’t it from her that perky look,
Protected love for the earth.
And the temper is hot and persistent
Transmitted by native blood.
She will still show hers,
When I start singing.
And no one will talk about me,
That I am not related to Father Don.
Dashing Cossacks
Elena Zhukova-Zhelenina
For the dashing Cossack, it’s all about a raid and a dash.
What a burning passion such a Cossack can have!
I'm walking along the bank, carrying full buckets...
I see two people standing there, chattering, with a saber on their side.
I smile at the two of them and seem to stumble.
They both fly up quickly, I’ll walk next to them.
Oh, you eagles, Cossacks, are always easy to rise to,
Words are always crafty, but actions are cunning.
How they prance on horseback! I will see them in my dreams!
They both promised to come visit me at once...
It is not easy for a heart to choose one from two dear ones.
I’ll tell fortunes with daisies... Let them tell me who?
Cossack Cossacks
Igor Shcherban
It’s evening over the village, the scarlet color of sunset
They let loose the willow braids by the river,
And boys and girls sing songs here
The land here is rich in ripe gardens,
And the wind sways the fields - they are wide.
Boys and girls grow and grow stronger here,
Cossacks, well, that means Cossacks!
Floods of light - the windows of every hut
And the stars-moths dance in the sky
Boys and girls love the land, dear,
Cossacks, well, that means Cossacks!
Cossack
Ilchenko Nikolay 2
The sky spilled
Cloud surf.
Where I was, where I wasn’t,
It's a long way home.
The service is daring -
Don't bother melancholy
Native side
It's too far away.
Eh, the Cossack's share -
Saber, and on horseback.
Feather grass in the field
I send my regards to my relatives.
Don't be sad, mom
Don't be sad, father,
A forelock from under a Kubanka -
Life is not over.
To you, enemy devils,
I won’t forgive Likha.
I'm not afraid of death
But I'm not looking.
Where the battle was hot,
My war horse.
Let's crush the evil spirits -
And then peace.
Scorched in battles -
Angel over your shoulder.
I'm charmed -
I don't care at all.
I will throw my saber high -
And the horse gallops.
A friend will cover your back -
Will protect me.
The sky spilled
Cloud surf.
All sorrows into fiction,
Bird home...
-------------------
Why did it sting so much?
Does the sting in the chest hurt?..
Eh, bad bullet
Finished my journey...
Don Cossack!
Irina Krupinskikh
He's down to earth, he's real
Not empty and not airy
And in actions, there is no falsehood
For me he is the best
Not a romantic, very tough
And in words, not balabol
But he clearly understands
That girls are the “weaker sex”
He is neither an athlete nor an artist...
Doesn't fly in the clouds
He can do everything, it’s not scary with him
He is a simple Don Cossack!
How to hug, kiss...
There's a heady dope in my head
Everything is very clear without words
He is earthly, he is real!!!
Cossacks and Rus'
Nadezhda Vedenyapina
Anything happened to the Cossacks in Rus',
Now in honor and honor, now all around she has fallen into disgrace.
Let's face it, there is no life for a Cossack without will.
They would be racing, galloping into a field with the wind, arguing.
The Cossacks got married with a saber before they married their wives.
And sometimes in the dawn of years they lost their lives.
Hot blood boils in their Cossack veins,
A Cossack can do anything, he can do any kind of work.
True to your word, honor and oath
And not an inch of native land was given to the enemy.
The honor of Russia, like a wife, was sacredly guarded.
And they stood fiercely for their Motherland!
The Cossack lives in Rus', fulfills his duty
And he honors and observes the traditions of his fathers.
I will tell you the truth, and there is no secret in it,
There will be many long, long years for the Cossacks of Russia!
Cossacks of Russia
Nadezhda Vedenyapina
The Cossacks of Russia are valor,
Her stronghold, the desire for a better life,
Her, forever unfading pride,
Success and unbending will.
Glorious is the path of the Kuban Cossacks.
From the old days to the present day
They take care of the lands of their native hand,
How her sons take care of her.
In hard times, in stormy years
Only the motherland will call,
The Cossacks of Russia will rise up
Under the banner - to save the Motherland.
Our great-grandfathers saved her more than once,
Grandfathers defended as best they could,
And the fathers continued their feat,
So that we grow up happy.
Glorious Cossacks of Kuban,
Worthy sons of the Motherland
Creators and warriors of the state,
The strength and greatness of the country.
Cossacks
Svetlana Klinushkina-Kutepova
And you guess the Cossack right away -
After all, you can’t hide a free spirit in your pocket!
Only two give him orders -
God is in heaven, the ataman is in the village!
May faith never leave you!
through storms, through years and through battles
carry Orthodox shrines
and their proud traditions!
After all, your valor is of true quality!
And you love both fighting and living!
The Cossack army stands shoulder to shoulder,
The borders are barely ablaze!
You are the salt of the earth, and you can’t argue with that!
For you, icons - Motherland and honor!
You are the spirit of Russia, you are its support!
You are Cossacks! Thank God you exist!
Cossacks
Sergey Melnikov 62
Curly forelock, golden
plays in the wind,
Damn horse under me
Shakes his head.
We hear a clear order -
Checkers out, guys.
We caught up, marched at a trot,
Let's do it right.
And an avalanche of young people,
Shining with prowess,
Galloped across the steppe,
Overtaking the wind.
You can hear friendly - hurray,
Horse stomping.
When we are together, friends,
They are invincible.
Well, villagers, be brave,
Come on guys.
Behind you is Holy Rus'
And native houses.
Fears the enemy
Cossack scream and whistle.
Glory to the Russian land,
God, send me luck.
After the battle the Cossacks
They'll sit by the fire,
Drink bitter wine
And friends will be remembered.
Don't be sad, free Don.
See, we're laughing.
Let's defeat the enemies of Russia
And we'll come back to you.
“... the whole point is who needs all this independence, which certainly violates the unity and power of Russia, dooming it in advance to long-term internal friction, and even bloody clashes, the outcome of which, given the huge inequality in power, cannot be doubted ?
I will say frankly: it is not the Cossacks, in their mass, exhausted and humiliated, but with the entire Russian people, a bunch of convicts and murderers, who need this independence, hostile to Russia. It is useful to those of our neighbors who do not want to see our Motherland powerful and strong. Their dream is a weak, powerless Rus', torn apart by internal strife, without the Caucasus, with its outskirts cut off.”
“We, the Cossacks, don’t need all this “independence” that is being inflated with other people’s money. Its preachers are doing an evil deed, inciting hostility towards everything Russian, trying to forget everything in common that forever connects us with Russia, inventing some fantastic theories about the origin of the Cossacks, supposedly alien - hostile to it.”
From an article by A.P. Bogaevsky
= = =
“The Bolsheviks, in the words of Trotsky, declared a brutal war on the Cossacks. From February 1918 to this day, the daily extermination of the Cossacks has not stopped. In war, with reference to starvation to the northern provinces for hard work, the Bolsheviks and Cossacks finish off several hundred Cossacks deceived by the French and returning to the Don by shooting several hundred people each. There is no longer any law, right or truth here - the Cossacks are simply beaten, like Russian people who did not want to forget either their Russian blood or the saint Orthodox faith. And if the rule of the Bolsheviks continues, there will be nothing Cossack left in Russia.”
= = =
Don Cossack Nikolai Turoverov:
“Without Russia and outside Russia, the Cossacks did not, do not and cannot have roads!”
= = =
You can often hear from independent people about the hard life of the Cossacks under the kings. They sometimes cite the Nekrasov Cossacks as an example. But it’s better to read not the interpretations of the “Cossacks”, but the version THEMSELVES Nekrasovtsev:
From a letter from the Nekrasov Cossacks to Ataman Bogaevsky (1921)
“You write that our grandfathers left their native Russia, escaping persecution by cruel authorities. We consider it our duty to declare that we consider all power, legally established, to be from God and that in Russia we have not known cruelty from it, but have escaped from the insults of our own Cossack brothers, who did not agree with us in church hopes and for the most part did not sympathize with our views, the latter and forced our fathers to leave evil and create good. And now, for over two hundred years, we have found shelter in Turkey and, living here, preserving all our quests, customs and faith, we continue to be faithful sons of the Church of Christ and offer prayers for the Russian Tsar to this day, praying to the Almighty for the speedy end of the summer of the interregnum.
........................................ ........................................ ..............................
May Christ the Savior protect you and the Don army and may He send down to Russia a Sovereign Crown Bearer who is able to pacify and introduce truth and order in Holy Rus'.”
= = =
Donskoy Ataman, General Krasnov:
« One day, at the beginning of August, they came to my village. Trostenets regiment commanders said:
Can't you? Your Excellency, tell the Cossacks about the Cossack troops, their geographical location, their relationship with Russia?
And what?
Yes, among young people the dream persists of creating a separate general Cossack state, independent of Russia, governed by its own atamans, with its own senior ataman or council of atamans.
But what do you think about this yourself?
We understand that this is impossible... But it would be nice if it were. Because if this dirty trick continues, Russia will perish, and so will we. And so, perhaps, we will survive with our Cossack republic.
Okay, I said.
I scheduled a message for August 9 at the agricultural school, in the vast recreational hall. There were more Cossacks than ever before. I hung up the map Russian Empire, drew all eleven Cossack troops on the chalkboard with small squares, triangles, lines and dots, told the history of their formation, pointed out that only three troops represent a more or less compact mass: Don, Kuban and Tersk, and the rest are not only separated from each other thousands of miles from each other, but even the Cossack villages are scattered in small specks among the non-Cossack population. In the Don Army, Cossacks make up only 60%, in the Kuban Army even less. Under such conditions, it is possible for the Cossacks to live only in complete friendship with Russia, and there is no need to think about any “independence”. The Cossacks dispersed gloomily. I approached a group of Umanets, intelligent, firm Cossacks, crests.
“What can we do, Mr. General,” one of them told me. - There is no other way than for the entire Cossacks to disappear.
There was no need to be so indignant at the old regime,” I said. - You lived well under the Emperor. They took care of you and protected your rights."
= = =
Donskoy Ataman, General Kaledin:
“Russia must be united. Any separate aspirations must be stopped at the very beginning.”
= = =
Donskoy Ataman, General Krasnov:
« At the top there were thoughts of uniting. Commissioner of the Provisional Government of the Caucasian Army, member of the State Duma V.A. Kharlamov was rushing around with the creation of the South-Eastern Union from the Cossack troops and the Caucasus. Suspicious intellectuals, yesterday's swindlers, head waiters of Moscow restaurants, who sensed power and profit, clung to this idea, signed agreements to hold firm and unbreakable, argued about federation and confederation, unclearly understanding the very words, and in Novocherkassk they were already sitting at the same table with the most honest Kaledin, general from the cavalry and Knight of St. George, drunken Cossack Podtelkov from the officers' messengers of the L.-Gv. The 6th Don Battery of His Majesty, who yesterday carried firewood to the kitchen of his “master,” pounded his fist on the table and demanded that the chieftain recognize the power of the “council” formed in the village of Kamenskaya.
Kaledin shot himself, unable to bear the struggle with empty chatter. Children died defending the honor of their fathers, fathers painted themselves in the protective color of non-partyism, and sailors and Red Guards were already “walking with a sovereign step” to Novocherkassk to bring the Cossacks to the Soviet faith.”
= = =
The position of the glorious Kuban resident Shkuro regarding Russia and the independenceists:
After Pokrovsky, I spoke, greeted by shouts of “hurray” and stormy applause from the Rada. Excited and excited by the warm reception, I made a speech, pursuing the same idea as Pokrovsky, but expressed it in a softer formulation. I ended my speech with a toast to the commander in chief, to the Kuban army, the Cossacks and Russia.
........................................ ........................................ ........................................ .............................
Ryabovol asked me to nominate my candidacy for chieftain.
“You are a natural Cossack, and all our hope is in you.” “Support us,” he urged me, but I decisively rejected this proposal, citing the fact that I was still young for such a post, inexperienced in politics, and besides, enemy of the separatist tendencies of the left elements of the Rada and supporter of Veli
why Russia.Skinny.
= = =
IN Shkuro’s memories of how the descendants of the Zaporozhye Cossacks perceived themselves:
They did not share Petlyura’s separatist ideals at all and were not interested in him at all, considering him something of an eccentric, a psychopath.
— What kind of Ukrainians are we, we are Russians, they declared, only we are Cossacks.
The fact is that the left bank crests - direct descendants of the Cossacks - were proud of their nickname “Cossacks” and dreamed of restoring the Zaporozhye Cossacks.
(A. G. Shkuro. Notes of a white partisan)
It is noteworthy that the descendants of the Cossacks did not see any contradiction in the fact that they were both Cossacks and Russians. Such double identification obviously did not bother Shkuro either. But for some reason modern Cossacks pose the question in terms of either-or, as if the Cossacks are not Russians.
= = =
Donskoy Ataman, General Krasnov:
“With my departure, the southeastern union was realized, the supreme circle with its chairman V.A. Kharlamov, and the Cossacks surrendered their last positions near Novorossiysk and the Cossack troops, both independent and non-independent, were wiped off the face of the earth.
........................................ ........................................ ...................
Cossacks, who dreamed of having their own army, serve in the red Soviet cavalry and, instead of Cossack divisions, are listed in numbered cavalry divisions.
The cup of humiliation is finished.
........................................ ........................................ ....................
The Third International is methodically completing its main work: destroying the Cossacks, who for nearly four hundred years served as a support for Russia and its Sovereigns.”
= = =
Donskoy Ataman, General Krasnov:
“The Cossacks have never risen against their mother, Russia, and they will not rise now. To talk about Cossack “independence” is to do the work of Kondraty Bulavin, to teach the Cossacks to revolt, to lead them along a direct path to “... in the middle of the field, high mansions, either with two pillars or a crossbar.”
There will be no Cossacks outside Russia.”
= = =
P latestwords Ataman Donskikh Cossacks, P.N. Krasnova, a kind of testament to his nephew Nikolai (who went through 10 years of camps after Lienz...). These words help in many ways to understand Krasnov’s understanding of his entire life path, his struggles, his elections during and after the Civil War:
“...The bitter truth is always more valuable than a sweet lie. The self-praise and self-deception and self-consolation that plagued our emigration all the time were enough. Do you see where the fear of looking the truth in the eye and admitting our delusions and mistakes has brought us all? We have always overestimated our strength and underestimated the enemy. If it were the other way around, they wouldn’t end their lives this way...
Whatever happens, don’t you dare hate Russia. It is not she, not the Russian people, who are the culprits of universal suffering. The cause of all misfortunes lies not in him, not in the people. There was treason. There was sedition. Those who were the first to love and protect it did not love their homeland enough. It all started from above, Nikolai. From those who stood between the throne and the vastness of the people... Russia was and will be. Maybe not the same one, not in a boyar’s outfit, but in a homespun and bast shoes, but she will not die. You can destroy millions of people, but new ones will be born to replace them. The people will not die out. Everything will change when the time comes. Stalin and the Stalins will not live forever. They will die, and many changes will come... The resurrection of Russia will take place gradually. Not right away. Such a huge body cannot recover immediately...”
= = =
Cry of Ataman Dutov
The veche bell of the Cossacks buzzes loudly and powerfully. Its sound comes from the distant Don.
Older brother! The sons of the Urals heard your alarm; they have been waiting for it for a long time. They've been fighting for two years now for the great Mother Russia and a free Cossack will.
The Grebentsy, Sunzhentsy, Labinsky, Black Sea people, the entire stormy Terek and the glorious Kuban again occupied their watchtowers and vigilantly protect Rus'.
The Irtysh, remembering the past, sent Ermak’s descendants to strengthen Russian statehood.
And the alarm is getting stronger and stronger and its sounds are floating wider and wider in the air.
So they reached the Amur and Baikal, they responded joyfully in the hearts of the Cossacks, and the formidable regiments grow and grow.
And the alarm is still ringing.
Distant Ussuri reached out and, hearing native sounds, perked up and merged with the general flow.
And the alarm sounds...
Quiet Semirechye, pressed against China, stretches out its hands to its brothers and rejoices at the speedy rescue, having heard the calling sounds.
Astrakhan is in convulsions, but the joyful ringing of the Cossack bell inspires the sons of the Volga.
And the alarm is getting louder and louder...
You too, dear villagers, ring your veche bells, you too ring the alarm in your villages.
Light the signal markers...
The whole Cossacks stood up, stood up firmly, and there is no end to it.
From the Black Sea to the shores of the Ocean, regiments are moving menacingly. Steel peaks, like forests, sway.
The old Cossack rejoices, it is easy for him to die, seeing the friendship and power of the Cossacks, seeing that the children have not disgraced his gray hair and remember his former glory.
The young Cossack also rejoices that God brought him to take part in the defense of Cossack freedom and to give thanks Nurse Rus for her concerns.
Become tighter, Cossack.
Let the red, crimson, blue and yellow stripes show the whole world that the Cossack is still alive, his fiery heart is alive, his spirit is alive, and his free blood flows quickly, and there is no power to topple this centuries-old community.
On the blood and bones of their ancestors. free willing-common people, Cossack nests were created
Eternally free, free from machinations, Cossack communities always stand for state rights. And an eternally free Cossack cannot allow unbridled behavior, betrayal and the sale of his Motherland.
The Cossack was and is a faithful son of the Motherland and loves it more than his own life.
And the alarm goes on and on.
And the old Cossack takes his grandfather’s saber from the wall and rides out for the defense of Orthodox Rus'.
And the wild heads of the youth bow before the gray Cossacks, and their cheerful laughter fades away.
Glory to you. Quiet Don; glory to the violent Terek; the glory of beautiful Kuban; glory to the free Urals; glory to the old Irtysh; glory to the frozen Baikal; glory to Amur and Ussuri.
Free villagers hear the alarm bell, and its sounds make them happy.
Great Rus', quiet, homespun Rus', Orthodox Rus'; can you hear the Cossack alarm? Wake up, dear, and ring all the bells in your old Kremlin - Moscow, and your alarm will be heard everywhere .
Reset great people, a foreign, German yoke.
And the sounds of the veche Cossack bells will merge with your Kremlin chime, and Great Rus', Orthodox Rus' will be indivisible.
Sound the alarm, Russian people, sound harder, call your sons, and
We will all be friends for Holy Rus'...Newspaper "Russian East" (Chita),
Published according to the almanac "Cossack Circle"
I found quite interesting notes from Wrangel about the Transbaikal Cossacks on the Internet. Let me emphasize - notes. This odious personality also had such a gift as the gift of speech.
“During the campaign, I managed to take a closer look at the Cossacks. In terms of development, intelligence, great resourcefulness and initiative, the Cossack is far superior to the regular soldier. His ability to navigate is especially amazing. Once he passes through any terrain, the Cossack will pass there without hesitation, in which any fog, any dark night.
I once expressed my surprise at this ability to one of the Buryats of my hundred.
“When you go somewhere, look back more often - look back; “As the road seems, that’s how it will seem on the way back, and then you’ll never make a mistake.”, he taught me, and many times subsequently I thanked him in my soul for his advice.
Transbaikal Cossack in highest degree hardy, never loses heart, good comrade and easily becomes attached to his officer. He does not have the bearing and external discipline of a regular soldier, and it is difficult to demand it from him, taking into account his service, but, having given an order, you can rely on the Cossack: he will carry it out accurately and thoroughly. Like a cavalryman Transbaikal Cossack, with its actual preparation, leaves much to be desired. His horse care is extremely careless, or rather there is no care at all, and one can only be amazed at the endurance and unpretentiousness of the Transbaikal horses, which can sometimes endure extremely difficult service under such conditions.”
“I am often amazed at the Cossack’s ability to place an incredible amount of all sorts of objects on the saddle and in his bags. In this respect, he resembles that magician in the circus who, before your eyes, takes out chickens, rabbits and, finally, an aquarium with fish from a top hat!..
There is something you won’t find at a Cossack’s: here are Chinese uls (a type of pistons), and packs of Chinese tobacco, and “lendo” - a sickle for cutting gaoliang, and “tsauhagau” wrapped in paper - sweet cookies made with bean oil. Several chickens and ducks, and sometimes a whole pig, are tied to the saddle. The Cossack settles down surprisingly quickly with the snack; Before you have time to hurry a hundred, the water is already boiling in the pots, and the Cossack is “drinking” or cooking soup.
At crossings, I like to walk behind a hundred and watch: a hundred are drawn into some village, and you look - one or another Cossack quietly leaves the line and turns into some courtyard. From there, chickens fly out screaming, a piglet jumps out with a squeal under the gate... Upon leaving the village, order is quickly restored, and only the fluff rushing in the wind from a hundred indicates that the soup will be with a good fat. I must testify that until now I have not heard a single complaint about the appropriation of any Chinese property by the Cossacks - I mean indigestible items. As for any kind of living creatures or fodder, their gratuitous appropriation does not constitute anything reprehensible in the Cossack’s concept.
I remember how genuinely perplexed and even indignant my platoon commander was when, during foraging, I paid the Chinese for the food they took away.
Why, your honor, should we pay them, since we don’t take their property,” he convinced me, apparently blaming my extravagance in my heart. In this regard, the Cossack will not spare his officer: we took the canned food that we were saving for difficult moment lives disappeared like smoke. My hundreds commander had two bottles of red wine. One fine day, both turned out to be empty, although the bottles themselves were intact and the corks were not even unsealed.
Where is the wine! - the captain sternly asks the orderly.
I can’t know, your honor, however, has leaked,” the messenger answers calmly.
After a long, careful examination, it turns out that the bottom of the bottle has been discreetly drilled... It is true that a Cossack, having taken out something edible himself, will certainly share it with you, no matter how hungry he may be.”
Note:In the photo, preferential Cossacks of the 2nd Argun Regiment of the Transbaikal Cossack Army during the period Russo-Japanese War. The commander of the hundred mentioned is Prince Sergei Dmitrievich Obolensky. And especially for Xena history buffs. In March-April 1904, Pyotr Nikolaevich Wrangel spent some time in Transbaikalia, in particular in the city of Nerchinsk. If only someone could install a memorial plaque, he was a very worthy man, although our ancestors, and we too, sang about him." White Army, black baron, they are preparing the royal throne for us again...", because participation in itself civil war, should not cross out past merits of anyone.