The various Cossack groups organized along military lines, with large autonomous groups called hosts. Each host was responsible for protecting a territory consisting of affiliated villages called stanitsas.

Nov 15, 2025 · Cossack, (from Turkic kazak, “adventurer” or “free man”), member of a people dwelling in the northern hinterlands of the Black and Caspian seas. They had a tradition of independence and …

The meaning of COSSACK is a member of any of a number of autonomous communities drawn from various ethnic and linguistic groups (such as Slavs, Tatars, and Circassians) that formed in Ukraine, …

Cossack troops formed the effective core of the anti-Bolshevik White Army, and Cossack republics became centers for the anti-Bolshevik White movement. With the victory of the Red Army, Cossack …

Under Cossack rule, Indigenous beliefs and customs were brutally suppressed through acts of extreme violence. Groups such as the Sakha (Yakut) were among those brutalized, robbed, forced to convert …

The term Cossack comes from a Turkish word meaning “free man.” Their origins are disputed, but most scholars agree that they were a multiethnic group formed from tribes living in the area, as well as …

In the West, the term Cossack came to colloquially refer to hired soldiers or law enforcement units, often indicating a derogatory connotation of barbaric and cruel intimidation and fighting techniques.