A Cossack host (; , ''kazachye voysko''), sometimes translated as Cossack army, was an administrative subdivision of
Cossacks in the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...
. Earlier the term ''voysko'' (
host, in a sense as a
doublet of ''guest'') referred to Cossack organizations in their historical territories, most notable being the
Zaporozhian Host of
Zaporozhian Cossacks.
Russian Empire
Each Cossack host consisted of a certain territory with Cossack settlements that had to provide military regiments for service in the
Imperial Russian Army
The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...
and for
border patrol operations. Usually the hosts were named after the regions of their location. The ''
stanitsa
A stanitsa or stanitza ( ; ), also spelled stanycia ( ) or stanica ( ), was a historical administrative unit of a Cossack host, a type of Cossack polity that existed in the Russian Empire.
Etymology
The Russian word is the diminutive of the word ...
'', or village, formed the primary unit of this organization.
In the Russian Empire (1721-1917), the Cossacks constituted twelve separate hosts, settled along the frontiers:
* the
Don Cossack Host
* the
Bug Cossacks
* the
Kuban Cossack Host
* the
Terek Cossack Host
* the
Astrakhan Cossack Host
* the
Ural Cossack Host
* the
Orenburg Cossack Host
* the
Siberian Cossacks
* the
Semiryechye Cossack Host
* the
Transbaikal Cossack Host
* the
Amur Cossack Host
* the
Ussuri Cossack Host
There was also a small number of the Cossacks in
Krasnoyarsk
Krasnoyarsk is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is situated along the Yenisey, Yenisey River, and is the second-largest city in Siberia after Novosibirsk, with a p ...
and
Irkutsk
Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and , ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 587,891 Irkutsk is the List of cities and towns in Russ ...
, who would form the
Yenisey Cossack Host and the
Irkutsk
Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and , ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 587,891 Irkutsk is the List of cities and towns in Russ ...
Cossack
Regiment
A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, military service, service, or administrative corps, specialisation.
In Middle Ages, Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of l ...
of the
Ministry of the Interior
An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement.
In some states, the ...
in 1917.
Cossack hosts on Russian soil were disbanded in 1920, in the course of the
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...
of 1917–1922 in a deliberate process of
De-Cossackization to remove their autonomy.
List of hosts
*
Amur Cossack Host (1854–)
*
Astrakhan Cossack Host
*
Azov Cossack Host (1832–1862)
*
Baikal Cossack Host (1655-1920)
* (1798-1865)
*
Black Sea Cossack Host (1787–1864)
*
Buh Cossack Host (1769–1817)
*
Caucasus Line Cossack Host (1832–1860)
*
Danube Cossack Host (1828–1868), an Imperial Russian Cossack Host formed from descendants of the
Zaporozhian Cossacks
*
Don Cossack Host (1570-)
*
Greben Cossacks Host (1711-)
*
Kuban Cossack Host (1860–1920)
*
Orenburg Cossack Host (1755–1920)
*
Semiryechye Cossack Host (1867–1920)
*
Siberian Cossack Host (1582-1918)
*
Terek Cossack Host (1577–)
*
Transbaikal Cossack Host (1851–1920)
*
Ural Cossack Host
*
Ussuri Cossack Host (1889–1922)
*
Volga Cossack Host (1734–1777)
*
Zaporozhian Host (–1775), of the
Zaporozhian Cossacks who lived in
Zaporizhia,
Dnieper Ukraine, during the 16th — 18th centuries.
See also
*
Danubian Sich
*
Sloboda Ukraine
Sloboda Ukraine, also known locally as ''Slobozhanshchyna'' or ''Slobozhanshchina'', is a historical region in northeastern Ukraine and southwestern Russia. It developed from Belgorod Razriad and flourished in the 17th and 18th centuries on the ...
*
Military settlement
*
Colonia (Roman)
*
Allotment system
References
{{reflist
Cossack host