Different people floated between the different Cossack groups and it was very easy to join them. What is very important to note about the Cossacks is the fluidity of their identity. However thousands more unregistered Cossacks continued to exist as well. The Registered Cossacks formed several units in the armies of the Commonwealth. They noticed the advantages of having these types of formations in their armies, especially when guarding their frontier. The Poles saw this development and quickly adapted to it, setting up an institution known as the Registered Cossacks. The Cossack way of life also began spreading into the lands controlled by the Polish. Soon after their foundation, the Zaporozhian Cossacks began making raids on the territories of the Crimean Tatars, capturing booty and freeing the slaves. For a Zaporozhian, his freedom was sacred. This was quite a difference from other systems in Europe at that time, where power was based on feudal relationships. All officers were elected for a one year term. Anyone from any walk of life could come in and join the Cossacks. The Zaporozhian society was one based on freedom.
This was the start of the Zaporozhian Cossacks. In order to protect themselves, they began to form fortified camps, one of which was founded on the island of Khortytsia in an area called “beyond the rapids,” Zaporozhie. This was a virtual no-man’s land stuck between the lands controlled by the Poles, Russians and the Crimean Tatars. Many Ukrainian peasants, outlaws, clergy, even nobles began trying to escape from the harsh rule of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and joined people already inhabiting the area called the Wild Fields. The first Cossack communities began forming on the wild Ukrainian steppes around the Dnieper River. These were probably the most freedom loving and the fiercest of all the Cossack groups. This essay will focus on the Ukrainian Cossacks, particularly the Cossacks of the Zaporozhian Sich. The Cossacks were masters of multiple ways of warfare. They could ride a horse, go on long marches, but also take an oar in hands and battle on the sea. They could crawl up on an enemy undetected, as well as charge on horseback gun in hand, being able to hit a far-away target with exact precision. Their skills and abilities in horsemanship and with different arms (swords, guns) were legendary. They would often sacrifice themselves in order to save others.
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Their code of honor preached that they always needed to help a friend in trouble.
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The Cossacks learned how to endure many hardships from early on. A Venetian envoy once compared them to the Spartans, only more drunk: “ This republic (the Zaporozhian Sich) could be compared to the Spartan, if the Cossacks respected sobriety as highly as did the Spartans.” They had a strict code of honor and valued courage above all else. The Cossacks were brave warriors who cherished their freedom.
Brave warriors who cherished their freedom They caused a lot of havoc, even rampaging through the official palace of the Sultan himself. However in a show of the ultimate “f*%k you,” the Cossacks who were returning from their successful raid decided to turn around and once again attacked Constantinople. The Ottoman Sultan sent a fleet to the mouth of the Dnieper River in order to try to destroy their fleet. The year following that raid on Constantinople, they raided the port of Trebizond. The Zaporozhians were not afraid to take risks, even doing things that seemed impossible. The bigger the challenge, the more likely they were to attempt it. They were fearless and in subsequent years conducted a few more raids on Ottoman ports. This was the culmination of a hundred years of naval raids that the Cossacks were conducting against various ports of the Ottoman Empire.Īt that time, the Ottoman Empire was the most powerful state in Europe and was on the offensive on all fronts. In 1615, a fleet of 80 Zaporozhian Cossack boats, called chaiky, slipped into the harbor of Constantinople and razed the entire area around the harbor to the ground.
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