The Cossacks Of Russia

As professional soldiers, Cossacks was a special social stratum in Russian history. The military stratum is the most noticeable respect in the Slavic world. It has always aroused the attention from scholars both abroad and at home. In the past, the domestic study on Russian Cossacks was seen more in some literature works and mainly dealt with describing the deeds or personality of Cossacks. For a long time, people in China were relatively familiar with the name of "Cossack", but they knew little about the unique historical phenomenon of Russia. In view of the present situation, the thesis plans to make a tentative exposition of the emergence and evolution of Russian Cossacks and evaluates its influence in Russian history.The basic viewpoint of this thesis is: the Cossacks first emerged on the Southern Russian prairie as "freemen" in the 15th century. They made a living by hunting, fishing and intercepting passing traveling traders. Later they made up several free, autonomous and military communities. They kept their half-dependent, autonomous status until the first half of the 17th century. From the second half of the 17th century, Russia acknowledged their autonomy, and Cossacks gradually became "the mercenary army" of Russia. With the expansion of Russian serfdom and the consolidation of centralization in the 18th century, Cossacks were brought under the control of the tsars' government day by day, and evolved into a military stratum, which had explicit privileges and obligations, they were used as important tool to resist alien enemies and expand territory by tsars. However, when their privileges were infringed, Cossacks would rise up in resistance and became the promoters and key forces of peasant uprisings. Whenever the revolts were suppressed, Cossacks' autonomous status was greatly weakened. In the 19th century, the implementation of a series of military reforms led to a sharp increase in Cossacks' service expenses. Thus the family economy of Cossacks was on the decline gradually, especially in the second half of the 19th century. In 1920,the Soviet government issued a decree to cancel Cossacks' privileges. From then on, Cossacks passed out of existence as a special soldier stratum. The course of the consolidation of Russian centralization is the course of the decline of Cossacks. In the 500 years of Cossack history, he had exerted an important influence on the expansion of Russian territory and the development of Russian politics.The thesis starts with the etymology of the word "Cossack". It shows the whole course of Cossacks from emergence to decline and appraises its influence on Russian history. The thesis consists four parts concretely: The first part is an analysis of the etymology of Cossack and the reasons from which Cossacks arise. The second part is exposition of the social structure, economic activities and customs of Cossacks. The third part is the relationship between the Cossacks and the tsars in different stages. The fourth is the influence of Cossacks on Russian history.The novelty value of this thesis lies in the systematical explanation of the emergence and evolution of Cossacks, as well as expounding its influence on Russian history.