Cossacks Facts for Kids

A painting showing some Ukrainian Cossacks, made by Ilya Repin between 1880 and 1891.

Cossacks (Ukrainian: Козаки) are a special group of people who lived in the southern parts of what is now Ukraine and Russia. Their name comes from a word meaning "free man," and they were known for loving their freedom. They were also very skilled warriors, especially good at riding horses.

The term "Cossack" was first used around the year 1395. The most famous Cossacks were the Ukrainian Cossacks from a place called Zaporizhie and the Russian Cossacks from areas like the Don, Terek, Kuban, and Ural rivers. They first appeared after the Mongols attacked a region known as Kievan Rus'.

Over time, Russian Cossacks became protectors of land for the Russian government. They served in the Russian army in many wars during the 1800s and 1900s. During the Russian Civil War, most Cossacks fought against the Red Army, but some joined the "Red Cossacks." Cossacks also played a part in World War II. Today in Russia, many Cossacks are people whose families have been Cossacks for generations, or they are part of Cossack military groups, or both.

Images for kids

An American Cossack family in the 1950s
Cossacks marching in Red Square
Kuban Cossacks in the late 19th century
Cossack bandurist, 1890
Map of the Wild Fields in the 17th century
Ottoman Turks in battle against the Cossacks, 1592
Zaporozhian Cossack by Konstantin Makovsky, 1884
Bohdan Khmelnytsky's entry to Kyiv by Mykola Ivasyuk, end of the 19th century
An officer of the Zaporozhian Cossacks in 1720
Kozacy (Cossacks), drawing by Stanisław Masłowski, c. 1900 (National Museum in Warsaw)
Cossack wedding, by Józef Brandt
Imperial Russian Cossacks (left) in Paris in 1814
Ural Cossacks, c. 1799
Semirechye Cossack, Semirechye, 1911
A Cossack from the Don area, 1821, illustration from Fyodor Solntsev, 1869
Kuban Cossacks, late 19th century
Ural Cossacks skirmish with Kazakhs (the Russians originally called the Kazakhs 'Kirgiz')
Yaik (Orenburg) Cossacks from Sakmara settlement; Alexander Mertemianovich Pogadaev standing at left, 1912
Stenka Razin Sailing in the Caspian Sea, by Vasily Surikov, 1906
Stenka Razin, by Ivan Bilibin
Don Cossack in the early 1800s
Yemelyan Pugachev in prison
Conquest of Siberia by Yermak, painting by Vasily Surikov
Cossack patrol near Baku oil fields, 1905
Wiosna roku 1905 (Spring of 1905) by Stanisław Masłowski, 1906 – Orenburg Cossacks patrol at Ujazdowskie Avenue in Warsaw (National Museum in Warsaw)
Russian Cossack General Baratov meeting with British officers and leaders of Kurdish tribes in Kermanshah, 1917
Kuban Cossacks during the Moscow Victory Parade of 1945
Kuban Cossack Choir in 2016
Cossack on duty (portrayal of 16th–17th century), painting by Józef Brandt
Siberian Cossack family in Novosibirsk
Cossacks Dance – Kozachok by Stanisław Masłowski, oil on canvas 1883
Ostap Kindrachuk, Ukrainian Cossack, playing the bandura in traditional dress
Cossacks on parade in 1937.
Modern Kuban Cossack armed forces patch of the Russian military
Cossack officer from Orenburg, with shashka, early 1900s
Siberian Cossack c. 1890s
Flag of the Semirechye Cossacks
Flag of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast
Emblem of registered Don cossacks
Emblem of registered Kuban cossacks
Modern Kuban Cossack armed forces patch of the Russian military
Emblem of registered Terek cossacks
Emblem of registered Volga cossacks

Cossacks facts for kids

Images for kids

See also