Statements about the Cossacks and the Cossacks. Quotes and aphorisms about the Cossacks Sayings of the Cossacks about their homeland

I found on the net quite interesting notes by Wrangel about the Trans-Baikal Cossacks. I emphasize - notes. This odious personality also had such a gift as the gift of words.

“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 striking. any fog, any dark night.

I once again 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, it will seem like that on the way back, and then you will never make a mistake. he taught me, and many times afterwards I thanked him in my heart for his advice.

The Trans-Baikal Cossack is extremely hardy, never loses heart, is a 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 the passage of his service, but, having given an order, you can rely on the Cossack: he will execute it accurately and thoroughly. Like a cavalryman Transbaikal Cossack, with its real preparation, leaves much to be desired. His horse care is extremely careless, or rather, there is no care, and one should only be surprised at the endurance and unpretentiousness of the Transbaikal horses, which can endure sometimes extremely difficult service under such conditions.

“I am often amazed at the ability of a Cossack to place an incredible amount of all sorts of objects on a saddle and in a bag. In this respect, he resembles that magician in a circus who takes out chickens, rabbits and, finally, an aquarium with fish from a cylinder before your eyes! ..

You won’t find anything at the Cossack: here are Chinese uls (a kind of pistons), and packs of Chinese tobacco, and “lendo” - a sickle for cutting kaoliang, and “tsauhagau” wrapped in paper - sweet cookies in bean oil. Several chickens and ducks are strapped to the saddle, and sometimes a whole piglet. The Cossack surprisingly quickly settles down with a snack; before you have time to rush a hundred, the water is already boiling in the pots, and the Cossack "cheats", or cooks soup.

At the crossings, I like to walk behind a hundred and watch: a hundred is drawn into some village, you look - one, another Cossack quietly leaves the ranks and turns into some courtyard. From there, hens fly out screaming, a pig jumps out with a squeal under the gate ... Upon leaving the village, order is quickly restored, and only fluff rushing from a hundred downwind 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 by the Cossacks of any Chinese property - I mean indigestible items. As for any kind of livestock or fodder, their gratuitous appropriation does not constitute anything reprehensible in the concept of a Cossack.

I remember how genuinely perplexed, even indignant, my platoon officer when I paid the Chinese for food taken away during foraging.

Why, your honor, pay them, because we don’t take their property, ”he convinced me, apparently condemning my extravagance in my soul. In this regard, the Cossack will not spare his officer either: we took canned food, which we saved for a difficult moment of life, disappeared like smoke. My Hundred Commander had two bottles of red wine. One fine day, both were empty, although the bottles themselves were intact and the corks were not even opened.

Where is the wine! - strictly asks the orderly captain.

I can’t know, your high nobility, however, has leaked out - the messenger calmly answers.

After a long, careful examination, it turns out that the bottom of the bottle is imperceptibly drilled ... It is true that the Cossack, having taken out something edible himself, will certainly share it with you, no matter how hungry he himself is.

Note:The photo shows privileged Cossacks of the 2nd Argun Regiment of the Transbaikal Cossack Army during the Russo-Japanese War. The mentioned commander of the hundred is Prince Sergei Dmitrievich Obolensky. And especially for fans of Xena history. 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 person, although our ancestors, and we, sang about him "The White Army, the black baron, they are again preparing the royal throne for us ...", because participation in the civil war in itself is not should cross out the past merits of anyone.

Essays on the history of the Cossacks of the Don and the Lower Volga. "The border gave birth to the Cossacks, and the Cossacks created Russia." L.N. Tolstoy Volgograd region is the cradle of three Cossack troops: Don, Astrakhan and Volga. Each Cossack army has its own path, its own history, but there is much in common. The Russian Cossacks played an outstanding role in the formation, territorial expansion, protection and strengthening of the Russian state. Over the centuries-old history, the Cossacks have done a huge creative work, filled with numerous feats and victories, as well as hardships and losses that fell on the heroic and tragic fate of the Russian Cossacks. As a special ethno-cultural community, the Cossacks managed to create a unique system of organization and management, which was based on the democratic principles of democracy. The experience of the Cossack social life is of great value and worthy of deep and lengthy study. In chronological order, this publication includes the most important historical periods and events of the formation, development, decline and new revival of the ethno-cultural community of the Cossacks within the country and the Volgograd region. Therefore, the presentation of local material is given in close connection with the history of the Russian state. Based on specific historical events and examples, the outstanding role of Cossack societies and individuals in serving the Fatherland is shown, the military-patriotic traditions of the Cossacks of the Don and the Lower Volga, the richest layer of spiritual culture, the life and way of life of the Cossacks from its inception to the present day are highlighted. The study of the history of the Cossacks of their native land within the time frame of Part I of the Essays is intended to ensure the formation among young people, including Cossacks, of feelings of patriotism, love for the Fatherland, tolerance, respect for the history and culture of all ethnic groups of Russia, strengthening friendship and cooperation between the peoples of our country. The publication includes an introduction and eight chapters, as well as a list of literature used in the preparation of the manual and recommended for further study of the history of the Cossacks. After each chapter, questions and tasks are formulated, aimed at consolidating the material covered, strengthening cognitive activity students by involving additional sources in the study, including archival documentaries, Cossack folklore, works of art and living testimonies. In all chapters of the publication, the authors tried to pay special attention to personalities, give their brief biographical information, give explanations for incomprehensible words and terms, and illustrate the presentation of the material with appropriate maps. The publication is intended primarily for young students, as well as for all those interested in the history of the Cossacks. These Essays represent the first part, covering the historical period of the birth of the Cossacks of the Don and the Lower Volga and ending with the events of World War I. I. Tolstopyatov, Ph.D., Assoc. worker of the RSFSR

How the role of the Cossacks in the life of the Russian state was assessed by the military leaders of the tsarist army, historians, writers, politicians who lived in exile. The statements are 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, Donskoy Ataman, lieutenant general of the tsarist army.

... Personally, I, a natural Don Cossack, proudly recall the glorious past of my native Cossacks and cheerfully, with bright hope, think about its future.
The phenomenon of exclusively Russian historical life, which was not in any state of the world - the Cossacks from violent freemen, who boldly fought with warlike neighbors, gradually turns into an inseparable part of the Russian state, but with a special way of life and its customs, and becomes a faithful knight Russia.
Of course, not everything in his past was good. There were times when the Don, Ural and other Cossacks brought a lot of trouble and trouble to the Russian government...
However, all this did not prevent the Cossacks in the difficult days of Russia's life from giving all their strength not to its defense.
Vivid examples of this are the universal (from the age of 17) participation in Patriotic War 1812 of the Don Army, which fielded over 50,000 fighters, of whom up to 20,000 died; in the Crimean War - 82,000; in the Great War - up to 300,000 people, and the tension of the Cossack troops in this war was so great that, for example, the Kuban already in 1916 was no longer able to put more Cossacks into service ...
Whatever the future power in Russia, the Cossack troops will exist. Common sense suggests that the state needs such a healthy, vigorous population accustomed to order. The Cossacks will submit to any new power 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 of this. The Cossacks are well aware that, in addition to moral grounds, such a separation will cause an infinite number of all sorts of complications, not only in relations with Russia, which the Cossacks cannot consider some kind of foreign power, but also within the army, when you have to rely only on your 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 free it 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 achieve complete order and prosperity ...
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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 brought a lot of trouble to "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 detract, however, from the important historical growth that the Cossacks played in the formation of the Russian state.
2) In the later history of Russia, the Cossacks are already settled, settled. It lives on the lands of peace, far from the theaters of war, in conditions different from the rest of the population of life, a well-established economic structure and a certain well-being. These circumstances made the Cossacks less receptive to revolutionary ideas. After all, even in the old days, more slanderous, and not homely Cossacks, rose. And the Cossacks carried honestly, not knowing desertion, the general military service, participating in all the wars waged by Russia. And in its inner life it was not a “blind tool 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”, and the people “became mad”. Hence - fluctuations, transitions, falls ...
4) In these troubled years, the Cossack mass never and nowhere showed a desire to break away from Russia. The Cossack foremen did not get along with the all-Russian elements - this is true. Both sides - one in defending state interests, the other - Cossack liberties - more than once crossed the boundaries of the necessary. But only a part of the Cossack leaders were sick of independence - some out of delusion, others - selfishly. Ideas such as “Kubans are an independent branch of the Slavic tribe” ... or about “an independent Cossack nation” were born among people with mournful heads or with a corrupt conscience and did not have, cannot have a response in the Cossack mass, who recognizes himself by blood and to the bones Russian .
5) The future of the Cossacks is presented in this form.
The state will free the Cossacks from bearing excessive hardships, but will not endow them with special privileges against their other sons. This last circumstance is not terrible for the Cossacks, since the future structure of the Russian state is conceived as a regional one, on the basis of dispersal of power and broad local autonomies. If, according to cultural and economic conditions, the limits of autonomies will be different, then the Cossacks inhabiting continuous territories have the right to the most favorable conditions for self-government. Within its limits, no doubt, the Cossacks will freely 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. AVKSENT'EV, 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, inner love for their small Motherland - the Cossack regions, combined with love for the great Motherland - Russia.
I know, of course, about the movement of independence among the Cossacks, I also know about the disagreements between certain 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 the Cossacks in itself is not quite definite. If I am not mistaken, in Russia there were (and still are?) 11 Cossack troops - neither in anthropological terms, nor in the service class, nor even in everyday life, they do not constitute 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 deleted from history.
That excellent feature of the Cossacks, which you mention and, as a result, which the Cossacks were called free, is both its strongest and weakest side ...
______________

N. I. ASTROV, public figure.

The Cossacks are a peculiar 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 indivisible part of it, it created its borders, being the frontier stronghold of the Russian land, not only colonized its distant outskirts, it, together with the Russian people, created both the economic well-being and power of Russia.
No matter how cunning conjectures and cunning intricacies are invented in our gloomy 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 it a special Cossack people, the creative participation of the Cossacks in Russian history is sealed with blood. And this seal is forever. Her "fire will not melt, water will not wash 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 clear. The sooner will a free Cossacks arise in a free Russia.
Throughout a long history, the Cossacks not only served the state. It fought for its beloved ideals of equality and self-government, which did not find their realization in the general state orders ...
The way to deliverance is not in separatism, not in the dismemberment of Russia and in the implementation of the principles of true democracy. Under these conditions, the old covenants will find their way into the dear dreams of the free Cossacks.
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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 reason for psychological alienation between individual everyday groups of the Russian people.
By including the Cossacks in the concept of the Russian people, I by no means encroach on the peculiar originality of the Cossack regions. The diversity of local political and social structures only enriches the All-Russian culture, multiplies the creative possibilities of the people, and thereby strengthens the state.
It is quite natural that in the new conditions of free internal state building, 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 carried and which in fact radically undercut their economic power ...
________________

A. A. KIZEVETTER, former member of the State Duma, historian, professor.

Two conditions seem to me necessary for the Russian Cossacks to be a fruitful element in the process of internal organization of the future Russia:
The future Russian state power will have to build political unity. Russia is not about the suppression of local characteristics of individual regions of the state, but on the development of their internal initiative. Therefore, the Cossack regions will also have to preserve the historically established originality 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) the idealization of their entire historical past, in which not only the “principles of equality and brotherhood” acted, but also a rather pronounced social struggle between the upper and lower strata of the Cossacks, with all the inevitable consequences of such social dismemberment and inequality;
b) the desire to break the historical tradition, which consisted in the fact that the Cossacks have always thought of themselves as an integral element of the 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, for the sake 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 for the sake of biased 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 elemental times, currents abound, pushing for strife and for the destruction of the present in the name of the past or the future. These currents, negative in their essence, usually give victory to the third ... But the formula "Independence and Union", laid in 1918 as the cornerstone of the agreement between the Independent Ukraine and the Great Don Army, has not lost its significance to this day. Vice versa. The past and present indicate that all those who want to avoid new upheavals, bloodshed and fratricide in the future should lean towards this formula, because it gives breadth and flexibility for the organic resolution of national, economic, social and political antagonisms on the basis of friendly cooperation and thereby contributes to the tension of energies towards creativity, not destruction.
Only this path, directed beyond extremes, can lead to fellowship and cooperation between neighbors...
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P. B. STRUVE, academician, public and political figure.

For someone who meaningfully peers into the history of Russia - Russia, there is no question of whether the Cossacks in this history justified their existence as a special and peculiar force.
Cossack freemen played a double role in the history of Russia.
Firstly, as the only free force taxable in the rest of Russia, as the only free “world” in the great Russian sea of taxable “worlds”.
So it was before the emancipation of Russia, which began in 1762 and was completed in its essence in 1861.
Secondly, as a world or worlds - freely organized, freely gathered into some kind of military brotherhoods among the rest of the free dispersed bulk 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 the state and at the same time they are not just free communities of randomly and temporarily converged, dust-people carried by the historical wind.
In the future state-building of Great Russia, the Cossacks (I deliberately use the plural here) will more clearly than before reveal their state character, and at the same time, having become more self-lawful ("autonomous"), they will even more clearly reveal their original nature as a special freemen.
How this will happen, no one can say, but all Russian Cossacks and non-Cossacks need to understand and think over the great historical, at the same time, living value of the Cossacks. The Cossacks have a great past, but they also have a future, and a great vocation in this future.
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MM. FYODOROV, former minister (before the revolution).

... On the outskirts, the Cossacks were one of the main planters and conductors of Russian culture, the Russian language, Russian statehood, and in this sense, its historical role is undeniable. Both free and service Cossacks always carried out the service of Russia with honor. In times of great trials, the majority of the Cossacks remained true 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 hoped-for happiness of Russia, but just as I unshakably believe in the coming recovery and renewal of Great Russia, I believe in the future inextricable link between the Cossacks and her. Centuries of common history, common wars, common religion, common interests, common language speak for this. I confess: regional, private interests and the question of the form of a fraternal union are in the background for me. I only know that it would never occur to the Cossacks to rave about independence, prompted by artificial chauvinism and hatred instigated by a spoon. The old beautiful formula is valuable to me: “We bow to you, White Stone Moscow, and we are Cossacks, on the Quiet Don.”
Cossack liberties will be cherished for our descendants. Justice demands to say that the government of pre-revolutionary times, which still remembered past troubles and troubled years, was not particularly careful with them. But an alliance with a free man is stronger than an alliance with a slave…
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A. S. LUKOMSKY, lieutenant general of the tsarist army.

The Cossacks are blood from blood, flesh from the flesh of the Russian people. It often reflects both positive and negative traits the nature of the people who singled out 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 the life of Russia, both in external complications and in periods of internal unrest, almost always, with selfless devotion to the common Motherland, helped to overcome impending disasters and contributed to the strengthening of the central state power.
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P. N. MILYUKOV, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Provisional Government, historian, professor.

... The strong side is the "broad principles of democracy, brotherhood, equality" indicated in the "questionnaire". Obviously, these features will have to be strengthened and developed in a democratic-republican Russia. And one can only rejoice that these principles live in the consciousness of the Cossacks, separating them from the old Russia and facilitating their transition to the new Russia. The "weak" sides of the Cossacks, I think, are common to him with those aspects of all-Russian life. The nature of the class privilege that separates the Cossacks from other groups of the population, the lack of 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 threaten the further existence of the Cossacks, but is subject to mitigation and elimination in the environment of national development, which will be given to the new Russia.
... It is also impossible to subordinate the vital interests of the Cossacks to party, political tendencies, whose supporters argue something like this:
- The Cossacks are an estate, therefore, for its existence, an estate system is needed, and therefore, a monarchy is needed.
We will not argue whether the Cossacks are an estate. But their history is not so simple. There were Cossacks without monarchs. And there are monarchies without Cossacks. And if a monarchist is able to think stately, then he must come to the same conclusions that are obligatory for a state-minded republican ...

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A. P. BOGAEVSKY, Donskoy Ataman, lieutenant general of the tsarist army.

... Personally, I, a natural Don Cossack, proudly recall the glorious past of my native Cossacks and cheerfully, with bright hope, think about its future.

The phenomenon of exclusively Russian historical life, which was not in any state of the world - the Cossacks from violent freemen, who boldly fought with warlike neighbors, gradually turns into an inseparable part of the Russian state, but with a special way of life and its customs, and becomes a faithful knight Russia.

Of course, not everything in his past was good. There were times when the Don, Ural and other Cossacks brought a lot of trouble and trouble to the Russian government...

However, all this did not prevent the Cossacks in the difficult days of Russia's life from giving all their strength not to its defense.

Vivid examples of this are the total (from the age of 17) participation in the Patriotic War of 1812 of the Don Army, which fielded over 50,000 fighters, of whom up to 20,000 died; in the Crimean War - 82,000; in the Great War - up to 300,000 people, and the tension of the Cossack troops in this war was so great that, for example, the Kuban already in 1916 was no longer able to put more Cossacks into service ...

Whatever the future power in Russia, the Cossack troops will exist. Common sense suggests that the state needs such a healthy, vigorous population accustomed to order. The Cossacks will submit to any new power 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 of this. The Cossacks are well aware that, in addition to moral grounds, such a separation will cause an infinite number of all sorts of complications, not only in relations with Russia, which the Cossacks cannot consider some kind of foreign power, but also within the army, when you have to rely only on your 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 free it 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 1980s. x years.

With its own elected circle and an ataman elected from among its Cossacks, each army will quickly achieve complete order and prosperity ...

____________

A. I. DENIKIN, lieutenant general of the tsarist army

2) In the later history of Russia, the Cossacks are already settled, settled. It lives on the lands of peace, far from the theaters of war, in conditions different from the rest of the population of life, a well-established economic structure and a certain well-being. These circumstances made the Cossacks less receptive to revolutionary ideas. After all, even in the old days, more slanderous, and not homely Cossacks, rose. And the Cossacks carried honestly, not knowing desertion, the general military service, participating in all the wars waged by Russia. And in its inner life it was not a “blind tool 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”, and the people “became mad”. Hence - fluctuations, transitions, falls ...

4) In these troubled years, the Cossack mass never and nowhere showed a desire to break away from Russia. The Cossack officers did not get along with the all-Russian elements - this is true. Both sides - one in defending state interests, the other - Cossack liberties - more than once crossed the boundaries of the necessary. But only a part of the Cossack leaders were sick of independence - some out of delusion, others - selfishly. Ideas such as “Kubans are an independent branch of the Slavic tribe” ... or about “an independent Cossack nation” were born among people with mournful heads or with a corrupt conscience and did not have, cannot have a response in the Cossack mass, who recognizes himself by blood and to the bones Russian .

5) The future of the Cossacks is presented in this form.

The state will free the Cossacks from bearing excessive hardships, but will not endow them with special privileges against their other sons. This last circumstance is not terrible for the Cossacks, since the future structure of the Russian state is conceived as a regional one, on the basis of dispersal of power and broad local autonomies. If, according to cultural and economic conditions, the limits of autonomies will be different, then the Cossacks inhabiting continuous territories have the right to the most favorable conditions for self-government. Within its limits, no doubt, the Cossacks will freely preserve those forms of power, administration, economy and life that are consecrated by historical tradition and are loved by them.

_______________

N. D. AVKSENT'EV, former Minister of the Provisional Government.

I know, of course, about the movement of independence among the Cossacks, I also know about the disagreements between certain 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 ...

_______________

M. A. ALDANOV, Russian writer.

... The concept of the Cossacks in itself is not quite definite. If I'm not mistaken, in Russia there were (and still are?) 11 Cossack troops - neither in anthropological terms, nor in the service class, or even in everyday life, they do not constitute 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 deleted from history.

That excellent feature of the Cossacks, which you mention and, as a result, which the Cossacks were called free, is both its strongest and weakest side ...

______________

N. I. ASTROV, public figure.

The Cossacks are a peculiar 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 indivisible part of it, it created its borders, being the frontier stronghold of the Russian land, not only colonized its distant outskirts, it, together with the Russian people, created both the economic well-being and power of Russia.

No matter how cunning conjectures and cunning intricacies are invented in our gloomy 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 it a special Cossack people, the creative participation of the Cossacks in Russian history is sealed with blood. And this seal is forever. Her "fire will not melt, water will not wash 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 clear. The sooner will a free Cossacks arise in a free Russia.

Throughout a long history, the Cossacks not only served the state. It fought for its beloved ideals of equality and self-government, which did not find their realization in the general state orders ...

The way to deliverance is not in separatism, not in the dismemberment of Russia and in the implementation of the principles of true democracy. Under these conditions, the old covenants will find their way into the dear dreams of the free Cossacks.

_______________

A.F. Kerensky, former chairman of the Provisional Government.

... In the future, internal, free and federal Russia, there will be no reason for psychological alienation between individual everyday groups of the Russian people.

By including the Cossacks in the concept of the Russian people, I by no means encroach on the peculiar originality of the Cossack regions. The diversity of local political and social structures only enriches the All-Russian culture, multiplies the creative possibilities of the people, and thereby strengthens the state.

It is quite natural that in the new conditions of free internal state building, 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 carried and which in fact radically undercut their economic power ...

________________

A. A. KIZEVETTER, former member of the State Duma, historian, professor.

Two conditions seem to me necessary for the Russian Cossacks to be a fruitful element in the process of internal organization of the future Russia:

The future Russian state power will have to build political unity. Russia is not about the suppression of local characteristics of individual regions of the state, but on the development of their internal initiative. Therefore, the Cossack regions will also have to preserve the historically established originality 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) the idealization of their entire historical past, in which not only the “principles of equality and brotherhood” acted, but also a rather pronounced social struggle between the upper and lower strata of the Cossacks, with all the inevitable consequences of such social dismemberment and inequality;

b) the desire to break the historical tradition, which consisted in the fact that the Cossacks have always thought of themselves as an integral element of the 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, for the sake 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 for the sake of biased 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.

Only this path, directed beyond extremes, can lead to fellowship and cooperation between neighbors...

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P. B. STRUVE, academician, public and political figure.

For those who meaningfully peer into the history of Russia - Russia, there is no question of whether the Cossacks in this history justified their existence as a special and peculiar force.

Cossack freemen played a double role in the history of Russia.

Firstly, as the only free force taxable in the rest of Russia, as the only free “world” in the great Russian sea of taxable “worlds”.

So it was before the emancipation of Russia, which began in 1762 and was completed in its essence in 1861.

Secondly, as a world or worlds - freely organized, with their freedom gathered into some kind of military brotherhoods among the rest of the free dispersed bulk 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 the state and at the same time they are not just free communities of randomly and temporarily converged, dust-people carried by the historical wind.

In the future state-building of Great Russia, the Cossacks (I deliberately use the plural here) will more clearly than before reveal their state character, and at the same time, having become more self-lawful ("autonomous"), they will even more clearly reveal their original nature as a special freemen.

How this will happen, no one can say, but all Russian Cossacks and non-Cossacks need to understand and think over the great historical, 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).

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A. I. KUPRIN, Russian writer.

Cossack liberties will be cherished for our descendants. Justice demands to say that the government of pre-revolutionary times, which still remembered past troubles and troubled years, was not particularly careful with them. But an alliance with a free man is stronger than an alliance with a slave…

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A. S. LUKOMSKY, lieutenant general of the tsarist army.

The Cossacks are blood from blood, flesh from the flesh of the Russian people. It often in an aggravated form reflects both positive and negative character traits of the people who singled out 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 the life of Russia, both in external complications and in periods of internal unrest, almost always, with selfless devotion to the common Motherland, helped to overcome impending disasters and contributed to the strengthening of the central state power.

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P. N. MILYUKOV, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Provisional Government, historian, professor.

... It is also impossible to subordinate the vital interests of the Cossacks to party, political tendencies, whose supporters argue something like this:

The Cossacks are an estate, therefore, for its existence, an estate system is needed, and therefore, a monarchy is needed.

We will not argue whether the Cossacks are an estate. But their history is not so simple. There were Cossacks without monarchs. And there are monarchies without Cossacks. And if a monarchist is able to think stately, then he must come to the same conclusions that are obligatory for a state-minded republican ...

Napoleon about the Cossacks:

“Give me 20 thousand Cossacks and I will conquer the whole world”

Napoleonic General Morand:

“What a magnificent sight the European cavalry presented, gleaming with gold and steel in the rays of the sun, how much enthusiasm and courage! ... And this most beautiful cavalry of France crashed and melted from the actions of the Cossacks, whom she considered unworthy of herself.”

French General De Bart:

“Don Cossacks are the best of all light troops. Russia has always taken the maximum benefit from them in wars ... All the numerous cavalry gathered under the banner of the Great Corsican (Napoleon) died mainly under the blows of the Cossacks of Ataman Platov.

French General Vintsegorod:

English General Nolan:

"The Cossacks in 1812-1815 did more for Russia than its entire Army."

Stendhal:

“The name of the Cossack for the French thundered with horror, and after they met in Paris, they opened themselves to them as heroes from ancient myths. They were pure as children and great as gods."

Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov:

"Cossacks are the eyes and ears of the army!"

Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin:

“Where the Cossacks came from is not exactly known, but in any case it is older than the Batu invasion in 1237. These knights lived in communities, not recognizing the power of Poles, Russians, or Tatars over themselves.

Alfred Kuri, German soldier, 1942:

“Everything I heard about the Cossacks during the war of 1914 pales in front of the horrors that we experience before the Cossacks now. One memory of a Cossack attack terrifies me and makes me tremble. Nightmares haunt me at night. Cossacks are a whirlwind that sweeps away all obstacles and obstacles in its path. We are afraid of the Cossacks, as the retribution of the Almighty.

(from the report of the fascist colonel under the village of Shkurinskaya):

“Before me, the Cossacks. They have instilled such mortal fear in my soldiers that I cannot advance any further."

Vladimir Putin

“I especially want to say about the Cossacks. Today millions of our fellow citizens belong to this estate. Historically, the Cossacks were in the service of the Russian state, defended its borders, participated in military campaigns of the Russian Army. After the revolution of 1917, the Cossacks were subjected to the most severe repressions, in fact - genocide. However, the Cossacks survived, preserving their culture and traditions. And the task of the state is to help the Cossacks in every possible way, to involve them in carrying military service and military-patriotic education of youth.

p.s. Before the storming of Paris by Russian troops in March 1814, the entire French capital, by order of the emperor, was pasted over with colorful popular prints depicting Cossacks. On cartoon prints, they were depicted as demons setting fire to the houses of innocent citizens (see Appendix A, M). The Cossacks entering Paris were met by crowds of citizens who wanted to see the demons in the flesh. However, instead of monsters, stately riders with impeccable bearing entered the city, having a reputation as invincible warriors, who received respect and honor not only among the people, but also from the rulers.

It is no coincidence that the Russian people had a dream to become like the Cossacks: “The people dream of becoming Cossacks,” wrote Tolstoy L.N. And the Cossacks themselves sought to achieve their ideal - a warrior with personal dignity, self-respect, aware of his rights.

The role of the Cossacks in the historical and cultural events of the twentieth century was ambiguous. Faithful defenders of the throne, the Cossacks became associated with the stranglers of freedom. And after October 1917, the Cossacks were deprived of all rights and privileges, forcibly deported by the Bolsheviks and the Soviet authorities to various regions of vast Russia, many of them were imprisoned in camps, physically destroyed.

L. Trotsky was right when he stated: "The Cossacks are capable of self-organization." It received an impetus for revival during the years of severe trials - during the wars of 1939, 1941-1945. Then dozens of Cossack units and formations were formed, showing examples of courage, valor and heroism on all fronts, which reaffirmed the loyalty of the Cossacks to the Fatherland, their patriotism and valor.

The history of Russia is inseparable, inseparable from the history and culture of the Cossacks. The role of the Cossacks in Russian history, without exaggeration, is one of the most important, although sometimes contradictory. The history of Russia is one of the most significant in terms of the phenomenal image of the Cossacks. After all, there were great Cossacks - pioneers and discoverers, true patriots of the land of Russian Cossacks - defenders of the fatherland, playing the role of an "outpost", a heroic outpost, carrying out border service, defending and preserving the integrity of Russia as a state, territory and civilization. There were others - the Cossacks of troubled times. We will not name them. But - this is history, it endures and forgives everything, if only they remember and do not repeat mistakes.

The Cossacks took an active part in all peasant wars and many popular uprisings. Since the 18th century, the Cossacks have been directly involved in all the wars of Russia. The Cossacks especially distinguished themselves in the Russian-Turkish wars of the 17th-18th centuries, the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), the Patriotic War (1812) and foreign campaigns (1813-1814), the Caucasian War (1817-1864), the Crimean War (1853-1856). ), the Russian-Turkish war (1877-1878) and in the First World War ... Cossacks heroically fought the enemy on a massive scale during the Great Patriotic War.

Thus, the merits of the Cossacks in the development of Russian history and culture are enormous: they expanded and protected the borders of the Russian state, spread high moral ideals, traditional values, were an example for the majority, forming unshakable stamina, love of freedom, honor, and courage. Their special Cossack spirit had a great influence on the formation of the Russian mentality. It is no coincidence that by the beginning of the twentieth century, the Cossacks began to symbolize the Russian Empire.

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