Cossack
From Wikinfo
Cossack (Russ. Kazak; plural, Kazaki, Polish Kozak; plural, Kozacy, from the Turkish quzzaq, "adventurer, free-booter"), was the name given to a portion of the population of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Russian Empire. Traditionally endowed with certain special privileges they were bound in return to give military service, all at a certain age, under special conditions.
Main article on their history: History of Cossacks
The Cossacks were famous as great warriors, but the developement of modern warfare made their horse-backed fighting techniques obsolete. The Cossacks have a long history of anti-Jewish pogroms, both in Poland (Chmielnicki Massacres) and in Imperial Russia. The Cossacks, ever loyal to the Tsar, fought against Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War of 1919, both within the White Army and as partisans. Yet many poor Cossacks joined the Red Army. But still, after the victory of the Soviet Communists, the Cossack culture and way of life was repressed. During the Nazi Germany invasion of the USSR the Cossacks were once again joining the opposing sides of the conflict. Since the Collapse of the Soviet Union, efforts to revive the cossack traditions are underway.
References
- Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Cossack" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cossack, used under the GNU Free Documentation License
