Editing Cossacks (section)

==Cossacks after the Russian Revolution==

===February Revolution, 1917 ===

====In Greater Russia====
At the outbreak of the disorder on 8&nbsp;March 1917 that led to the [[February 1917 Revolution|overthrow of the tsarist regime]], approximately 3,200&nbsp;Cossacks from the Don, Kuban, and Terek Hosts were stationed in Petrograd. Although they comprised only a fraction of the 300,000&nbsp;troops in the proximity of the Russian capital, their general defection on the second day of unrest (10 March) enthused raucous crowds and stunned the authorities and remaining loyal units.<ref name=ORourke_2000/>{{rp|212–215}}

In the aftermath of the February Revolution, the Cossacks hosts were authorized by the War Ministry of the [[Russian Provisional Government]] to overhaul their administrations. Cossack assemblies (known as ''krugs'' or, in the case of the Kuban Cossacks, a ''[[rada]]'') were organized at regional level to elect atamans and pass resolutions. At national level, an all-Cossack congress was convened in Petrograd. This congress formed the Union of Cossack Hosts, ostensibly to represent the interests of Cossacks across Russia.

During the course of 1917, the nascent Cossack governments formed by the ''krugs'' and atamans increasingly challenged the Provisional Government's authority in the borderlands. The various Cossack governments themselves faced rivals, in the form of national councils organized by neighboring minorities, and of [[Soviet (council)|soviets]] and ''zemstvos'' formed by non-Cossack Russians, especially the so-called "outlanders" who had immigrated to Cossack lands.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mueggenberg |first1=Brent |title=The Cossack Struggle Against Communism, 1917-1945 |year=2019 |publisher=McFarland & Company |location=Jefferson |isbn=978-1-4766-7948-8 |pages=32–36}}</ref>

====In Ukraine====

Similarly to the events in imperial Cossack hosts, a revival of Cossack self-organization also took place in Ukraine, inspired by the traditions of the Zaporozhian Sich and Cossack Hetmanate. In April 1917 a congress in [[Zvenyhorodka]], [[Kyiv Governorate]], established [[Free Cossacks]] as a volunteer militia in order "to defend the liberties of the Ukrainian people" and maintain civil order. 

The revived Cossack structure in Ukraine was organized according to the territorial principle, with villages providing companies of volunteers, which were grouped into a [[kurin]] (battalion) on the [[volost]] level, subordinate to a regiment led by [[polkovnyk]], which was itself part of a ''kish'' (division) led by an Ottoman. All officers of Free Cossacks were elected, and funds were provided from taxation. Most volunteers the organization were peasants, but industrial workers did also enlist themselves, especially in cities. 

During 1917 the Free Cossack movement spread around Kyiv, [[Volhynia]], [[Kherson Governorate|Kherson]], [[Poltava Governorate|Poltava]] and [[Chernigov Gubernia|Chernihiv]] governorates. At the All-Ukrainian Congress of Free Cossacks in [[Chyhyryn]] on 16-20 October 1917 [[Pavlo Skoropadskyi]] was elected otaman of the movement.<ref>{{cite web |title=Free Cossacks |url=https://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/pages/F/R/FreeCossacks.htm}}</ref>

=== Bolshevik uprising and Civil War, 1917–1922 ===

====Cossack autonomies in Don, Kuban and North Caucasus====

Soon after the [[Bolsheviks]] seized power in Petrograd on 7–8&nbsp;November 1917, most Cossack atamans and their government refused to recognize the legitimacy of the new regime. The Don Cossack ataman, [[Aleksey Kaledin]], went as far as to invite opponents of the Bolsheviks to the Don Host.<ref>Kenez, Peter, ''Civil War in South Russia, 1918: The First Year of the Volunteer Army'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1971) 59.</ref> But the position of many Cossack governments was far from secure, even within the boundaries of their hosts. In some areas, [[Soviet (council)|soviets]] formed by outlanders and soldiers rivaled the Cossack government, and ethnic minorities also tried to acquire a measure of self-rule. Even the Cossack communities themselves were divided, as the atamans tended to represent the interests of prosperous landowners and the officer corps. Poorer Cossacks, and those serving in the army, were susceptible to Bolshevik propaganda promising to spare "toiling Cossacks" from land appropriation.<ref name=Mueggenberg_2019/>{{rp|50–51}}<ref>{{cite book |author1=Bunyan, James |author2=Fisher, H. H. |title=The Bolshevik Revolution 1917–18 |location=Stanford, CA |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=1965 |pages=80–81, 407–409}}</ref>

The unwillingness of rank-and-file Cossacks to vigorously defend the Cossack government enabled the [[Red Army]] to occupy the vast majority of Cossack lands by late spring of 1918. But the Bolsheviks' policy of requisitioning grain and foodstuffs from the countryside to supply Russia's starving northern cities quickly fomented revolt among Cossack communities. These Cossack rebels elected new atamans and made common cause with other [[Anti-communism|anticommunist]] forces, such as the [[Volunteer Army]] in [[South Russia (1919–1920)|South Russia]]. Subsequently, the Cossack homelands became bases for the [[White movement]] during the [[Russian Civil War]].<ref name=Mueggenberg_2019/>{{rp|53–63}}

Throughout the civil war, Cossacks sometimes fought as an independent ally, and other times as an auxiliary, of White armies. In South Russia, the [[Armed Forces of South Russia]] (AFSR) under [[Anton Denikin|General Anton Denikin]] relied heavily on conscripts from the Don and Kuban Cossack Hosts to fill their ranks. Through the Cossacks, the White armies acquired experienced, skilled horsemen that the Red Army was unable to match until late in the conflict.<ref name=Kenez_1977>{{cite book |author=Kenez, Peter |title=Civil War in South Russia, 1919–1920: The Defeat of the Whites |location=Berkeley |publisher=University of California Press |year=1977 |pages=19–21}}</ref> But the relationship between Cossack governments and the White leaders was frequently acrimonious. Cossack units were often ill-disciplined, and prone to bouts of looting and violence that caused the peasantry to resent the Whites.<ref name=Kenez_1977/>{{rp|110–139}} In Ukraine, Kuban and Terek Cossack squadrons carried out [[Pogroms in the Russian Empire|pogroms]] against Jews, despite orders from Denikin condemning such activity.<ref name=Mueggenberg_2019/>{{rp|127–128}} Kuban Cossack politicians, wanting a semi-independent state of their own, frequently agitated against the AFSR command.<ref name=Kenez_1977/>{{rp|112–120}} In the [[Russian Far East]], anticommunist Transbaikal and Ussuri Cossacks undermined the rear of Siberia's White armies by disrupting traffic on the [[Trans-Siberian Railway]] and engaging in acts of banditry that fueled a potent insurgency in that region.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Bisher, Jamie |title=White Terror: Cossack warlords of the trans-Siberian |location=New York |publisher=Routledge |year=2005 |pages=163–170}}</ref>

As the Red Army gained the initiative in the civil war during late 1919 and early 1920, Cossack soldiers, their families, and sometimes entire stanitsas retreated with the Whites. Some continued to fight with the Whites in the conflict's waning stages in [[Crimea]] and the Russian Far East. As many as 80,000–100,000&nbsp;Cossacks eventually joined the defeated Whites in exile.<ref>G. O. Matsievsky, "Political Life of the Cossacks in Emigration: Tendencies and Features," ''Modern Studies of Social Problems'', 2013, No 3 (23), 3.</ref>

Although the Cossacks were sometimes portrayed by Bolsheviks and, later, émigré historians, as a monolithic [[counterrevolutionary]] group during the civil war, there were many Cossacks who fought with the Red Army throughout the conflict, known as [[Red Cossacks]]. Many poorer Cossack communities also remained receptive to the communist message. In late 1918 and early 1919, widespread desertion and defection among Don, Ural, and Orenburg Cossacks fighting with the Whites produced a military crisis that was exploited by the Red Army in those sectors.<ref name=Mueggenberg_2019/>{{rp|50–51, 113–117}} After the main White armies were defeated in early 1920, many Cossack soldiers switched their allegiance to the Bolsheviks, and fought with the Red Army against the Poles and in other operations.<ref>{{cite book |author=Babel, Isaac |title=1920 Diary |location=New Haven |publisher=Yale University Press |year=1995 |pages=28–29, 63–65}}</ref>

On 22 December 1917, the [[Sovnarkom|Council of People's Commissars]] effectively abolished the Cossack estate by ending their military service requirements and privileges.<ref name=ORourke_2000/>{{rp|230}} After the widespread anticommunist rebellions among Cossacks in 1918, the Soviet regime's approach hardened in early 1919, when the Red Army occupied Cossack districts in the Urals and northern Don. The Bolsheviks embarked on a policy of "[[de-Cossackization]]", intended to end the Cossack threat to the [[Politics of the Soviet Union|Soviet regime]]. This was pursued through resettlement, widespread executions of Cossack veterans from the White armies, and favoring the outlanders within the Cossack hosts. Ultimately, the de-Cossackization campaign led to a renewed rebellion among Cossacks in Soviet-occupied districts and produced a new round of setbacks for the Red Army in 1919.<ref name=ORourke_2000/>{{rp|246–251}}

When the victorious Red Army again occupied Cossack districts in late 1919 and 1920, the Soviet regime did not officially reauthorize the implementation of de-Cossackization. There is, however, disagreement among historians as to the degree of Cossack's persecution by the Soviet regime. For example, the Cossack hosts were broken up among new provinces or [[Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics of the Soviet Union|autonomous republics]]. Some Cossacks, especially in areas of the former Terek host, were resettled so their lands could be turned over to natives displaced from them during the initial Russian and Cossack colonization of the area. At the local level, the stereotype that Cossacks were inherent counterrevolutionaries likely persisted among some Communist officials, causing them to target, or discriminate against, Cossacks despite orders from Moscow to focus on class enemies among Cossacks rather than the Cossack people in general.<ref name=ORourke_2000/>{{rp|260–264}}

====Ukrainian State====
{{main|Ukrainian State}}

Until January 1918, the Free Cossacks of Ukraine were subordinate to the Ukrainian [[General Secretariat]] of Internal Affairs. With the begin of the [[Ukrainian-Soviet War|Ukrainian-Bolshevik War]] their units were incorporated into the [[Ukrainian People's Army|regular army]]. However, after a number of battles against the Bolsheviks, Free Cossacks were disarmed in compliance with orders of the German command, whose troops had occupied Ukraine in March-April 1918 after the [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (Ukraine-Central Powers)|Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Free Cossacks |url=https://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/pages/F/R/FreeCossacks.htm}}</ref>

On 29 April 1918 Pavlo Skoropadskyi, the earlier leader of Free Cossacks, was proclaimed [[Hetman of Ukraine]] at a congress of the conservative All-Ukrainian Union of Landowners. This coup was backed by generals of German and Austrian armies which were occupying Ukraine at that time. The previously democratic [[Ukrainian People's Republic]] was replaced with the [[Ukrainian State|Hetmanate]], the [[Central Rada]] and the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian People's Republic were abolished, with all their powers, as well as command over the military, being transferred to Skoropadskyi, and private land ownership was reinstated. Local administration was entrusted to commissioners personally appointed by the hetman.<ref>{{cite web |title=Hetman government |url=https://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CH%5CE%5CHetmangovernment.htm}}</ref> 

To achieve legitimacy among the Ukrainian population, the Skoropadskyi styled his regime as a continuation of Ukrainian Cossack traditions of the 17-18th centuries. The hetman's government included representatives of old Cossack nobility ([[starshyna]]), most prominently [[Fedir Lyzohub]] (head of the Conucil of Ministers) and [[Dmytro Doroshenko]] (Minister of Foreign Affairs). Skoropadskyi himself supported the idea of reviving the Cossack class in Ukraine as a privileged social group personally loyal to the hetman. However, his initiative was viewed with skepticism by his ministers, and the law on re-establishment of Cossack administration in Ukraine was adopted only in October 1918, shortly before the hetman's resignation, and never realized.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ukrainian State |url=http://resource.history.org.ua/cgi-bin/eiu/history.exe?Z21ID=&I21DBN=EIU&P21DBN=EIU&S21STN=1&S21REF=10&S21FMT=eiu_all&C21COM=S&S21CNR=20&S21P01=0&S21P02=0&S21P03=TRN=&S21COLORTERMS=0&S21STR=Ukrainska_Derzhava}}</ref>

During Skoropadskyi's tenure in power the Ukrainian State developed diplomatic ties with Cossack entities in the [[Kuban People's Republic|Kuban]] and [[Don Republic|Don region]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Hetman government|url=https://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CH%5CE%5CHetmangovernment.htm}}</ref>

=== Cossacks in the Soviet Union, 1922–1945 ===

Rebellions in the former Cossack territories erupted occasionally during the interwar period. In 1920–1921, disgruntlement with continued Soviet grain-requisitioning activities provoked a series of revolts among Cossack and outlander communities in [[South Russia (1919–1920)|South Russia]]. The former Cossack territories of South Russia and the Urals also experienced a devastating [[Soviet famine of 1921|famine in 1921–1922]]. In 1932–1933, another famine, known as the [[Holodomor]], devastated Ukraine and some parts of South Russia, causing a population decline of about 20–30%. While urban areas were less affected, the decline was even higher in the rural areas, populated largely by Cossacks. [[Robert Conquest]] estimates the number of famine-related deaths in the [[Northern Caucasus]] at about one million.<ref name="Harvest">{{cite book |year=1986 |title=The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-505180-7 |page=[https://archive.org/details/harvestofsorrows00conq/page/306 306] |url=https://archive.org/details/harvestofsorrows00conq/page/306 }}</ref> Government officials expropriated grain and other produce from rural Cossack families, leaving them to starve and die.<ref name="Bibliotekar.ru">{{cite web |url=http://www.bibliotekar.ru/golodomor/33.htm |script-title=ru:Голод 1932–1933 годов, рассказы очевидцев. Голод в Казахстане, Поволжье, Северном Кавказе и Украине. Голодомор |website=Bibliotekar.ru |access-date=13 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120502133535/http://www.bibliotekar.ru/golodomor/33.htm |archive-date=2 May 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref> Many families were forced from their homes in the severe winter and froze to death.<ref name="Bibliotekar.ru"/> [[Mikhail Sholokhov]]'s letters to [[Joseph Stalin]] document the conditions and widespread deaths, as do eyewitness accounts.<ref name="Bibliotekar.ru"/> Besides starvation, the [[collectivization]] and [[dekulakization]] campaigns of the early 1930s threatened Cossacks with deportation to [[Gulag|labor camps]], or outright execution by Soviet security organs.<ref name=Mueggenberg_2019/>{{rp|206–219}}

In April 1936, the Soviet regime began to relax its restrictions on Cossacks, allowing them to serve openly in the Red Army. Two existing cavalry divisions were renamed as Cossack divisions, and three new Cossack cavalry divisions were established. Under the new Soviet designation, anyone from the former Cossack territories of the North Caucasus provided they were not [[Circassians]] or other ethnic minorities, could claim Cossack status.

[[File:Konstantin Nedorubov (monument in Volgograd).JPG|thumb|Konstantin I. Nedorubov: Don Cossack, Hero of the Soviet Union, full Knight of the [[Order of St. George]]. Aged 52 when WWII began, he did not qualify for the regular draft and volunteered in the 41st Don Cossack Cavalry division. He was awarded the title [[Hero of the Soviet Union]] for his fight against Nazi invaders, credited in particular with killing some 70 Nazi combatants during the 1942 defence of Maratuki village.]]

In [[World War II]], during the [[Operation Barbarossa|German invasion]] of the [[Soviet Union]], many Cossacks continued to serve in the Red Army. Some fought as cavalry in the Cossack divisions, such as the 17th Kuban Cossack Cavalry Corps and the famous [[Lev Dovator]] Corps, later awarded the honorific designation "guard" in recognition of its performance.<ref name=ORourke_2000/>{{rp|276–277}} Other Cossacks fought as [[Partisan (military)|partisans]], although the partisan movement did not acquire significant traction during the German occupation of the traditional Cossack homelands in the North Caucasus.<ref>{{cite book |author=Cooper, Matthew |title=The Nazi War Against Soviet Partisans |location=New York |publisher=Stein and Day |year=1979 |pages=100–105}}</ref>

The [[4th Guards Cavalry Corps|4th Guards Cossacks Cavalry Corps]] took part in the [[Moscow Victory Parade of 1945]] on [[Red Square]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.slavakubani.ru/p-service/military-service/history-units/kubanskie-kazaki-uchastniki-parada-pobedy-v-moskve-24-iyunya-1945-goda/|title=Кубанские казаки - участники парада Победы в Москве 24 июня 1945 года|access-date=2020-07-07|archive-date=2020-07-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200707140319/http://www.slavakubani.ru/p-service/military-service/history-units/kubanskie-kazaki-uchastniki-parada-pobedy-v-moskve-24-iyunya-1945-goda/|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Anticommunist Cossacks in exile and World War II, 1920–1945 ===

====Russian Cossack emigration====

The Cossack emigration consisted largely of relatively young men who had served, and retreated with, the White armies. Although hostile to communism, the Cossack émigrés remained broadly divided over whether their people should pursue a separatist course to acquire independence or retain their close ties with a future post-Soviet Russia. Many quickly became disillusioned with life abroad. Throughout the 1920s, thousands of exiled Cossacks voluntarily returned to Russia through repatriation efforts sponsored by France, the [[League of Nations]], and even the Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite book |author=Robinson, Paul |title=The White Army in Exile |location=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press |year=2002 |pages=41–42, 75}}</ref>

The Cossacks who remained abroad settled primarily in [[Bulgaria]], [[Czechoslovakia]], [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]], France, [[Xinjiang]], and [[Manchuria]]. Some managed to create farming communities in Yugoslavia and Manchuria, but most eventually took up employment as laborers in construction, agriculture, or industry. A few showcased their lost culture to foreigners by performing stunts in circuses or serenading audiences in choirs.

Cossacks who were determined to carry on the fight against communism frequently found employment with foreign powers hostile to Soviet Russia. In Manchuria, thousands of Cossacks and White émigrés enlisted in the army of that region's warlord, [[Zhang Zuolin]]. After Japan's [[Kwantung Army]] occupied Manchuria in 1932, the ataman of the [[Baikal Cossacks|Transbaikal Cossacks]], [[Grigory Mikhaylovich Semyonov|Grigory Semyonov]], led collaboration efforts between Cossack émigrés and the Japanese military.<ref>{{cite book |author=Stephan, John |title=The Russian Fascists |location=New York |publisher=Harper & Row |year=1978 |pages=35–48}}</ref>
 
In the initial phase of [[Operation Barbarossa|Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union]], Cossack émigrés were initially barred from political activity or travelling into the occupied Eastern territories. [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]] had no intention of entertaining the political aspirations of the Cossacks, or any minority group, in the USSR. As a result, collaboration between Cossacks and the [[Wehrmacht]] began in ad hoc manner through localized agreements between German field commanders and Cossack defectors from the Red Army. Hitler did not officially sanction the recruitment of Cossacks and lift the restrictions imposed on émigrés until the second year of the Nazi-Soviet conflict. During their brief occupation of the North Caucasus region, the Germans actively recruited Cossacks into detachments and local self-defense [[militia]]s. The Germans even experimented with a self-governing district of Cossack communities in the Kuban region. When the Wehrmacht withdrew from the [[North Caucasus]] region in early 1943, tens of thousands of Cossacks retreated with them, either out of conviction or to avoid Soviet reprisals.<ref name=Mueggenberg_2019/>{{rp|229–239, 243–244}}

In 1943, the Germans formed the [[1st Cossack Cavalry Division]], under the command of [[Helmuth von Pannwitz|General Helmuth von Pannwitz]]. While its ranks mostly comprised deserters from the Red Army, many of its officers and [[Non-commissioned officer|NCOs]] were Cossack émigrés who had received training at one of the cadet schools established by the White Army in Yugoslavia. The division was deployed to occupied Croatia to fight [[Josip Broz Tito|Tito's]] [[Partisans (Yugoslavia)|Partisans]]. There, its performance was generally effective, although at times brutal. In late 1944, the 1st&nbsp;Cossack Cavalry Division was admitted into the [[Waffen-SS]], and enlarged into the [[XV SS Cossack Cavalry Corps]].<ref name=Newland_1991/>{{rp|110–126, 150–169}}

In late 1943, the [[Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories]] and Wehrmacht headquarters issued a joint proclamation promising the Cossacks independence once their homelands were "liberated" from the Red Army.<ref name=Newland_1991>{{cite book |last1=Newland |first1=Samuel J. |title=Cossacks in the German Army, 1941–1945 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J8ideJ9KDh0C |year=1991 |location=Portland |publisher=Routledge; Frank Cass |isbn=978-0-7146-3351-0 |access-date=2015-10-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160521171654/https://books.google.com/books?id=J8ideJ9KDh0C |archive-date=2016-05-21 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|140}} The Germans followed this up by establishing the Cossack Central Administration, under the leadership of the former Don Cossack ataman, [[Pyotr Krasnov]]. Although it had many attributes of a government-in-exile, the Cossack Central Administration lacked any control over foreign policy or the deployment of Cossack troops in the Wehrmacht. In early 1945, Krasnov and his staff joined a group of 20,000–25,000&nbsp;Cossack refugees and irregulars known as "Cossachi Stan". This group, then led by Timofey Domanov, had fled the North Caucasus alongside the Germans in 1943 and was moved between [[Kamianets-Podilskyi]] in Ukraine, [[Navahrudak]] in Belarus, and [[Tolmezzo]], Italy.<ref name=Mueggenberg_2019/>{{rp|252–254}}
 
In early May 1945, in the closing days of WWII, both Domanov's "Cossachi Stan" and Pannwitz's XV SS Cossack Cavalry Corps retreated into Austria, where they surrendered to the British. Many Cossack accounts collected in the two volume work ''The Great Betrayal'' by [[Vyacheslav Naumenko]] allege that British officers had given them, or their leaders, a guarantee that they would not be forcibly repatriated to the Soviet Union,<ref>{{cite book |author=Naumenko, Vyacheslav |title=Great Betrayal |translator=Dritschilo, William |year=2015 |location=New York |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publisher; Slavic Publishing House |orig-date=1962}}</ref> but there is no hard evidence that such a promise was made. At the end of the month, and in early June 1945, the majority of Cossacks from both groups were transferred to Red Army and [[SMERSH]] custody at the Soviet demarcation line in Judenburg, Austria. This episode is known as the [[Betrayal of the Cossacks]], and resulted in sentences of hard labour or execution for the majority of the repatriated Cossacks.<ref name=Mueggenberg_2019/>{{rp|263–289}}

====Ukrainian Hetman movement====

After his abdication on 14 December 1918, Ukrainian hetman Pavlo Skoropadskyi emigrated to Germany. From there he led the so-called Hetman movement ({{langx|uk|Гетьманський рух}}), which consisted of a number of Ukrainian [[conservatism|conservative]] [[monarchism|monarchist]] organizations from different groups of [[Ukrainian diaspora]].<ref>{{cite web |title= Skoropadsky, Pavlo |url=https://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CS%5CK%5CSkoropadskyPavlo.htm}}</ref> Most prominent of these organizations were the Ukrainian Union of Agrarians-Statists ({{langx|uk|Український союз хліборобів-державників}}) founded in [[Vienna]] by [[Vyacheslav Lypynsky]]i and [[Serhiy Shemet]], and the United Hetman Organization ({{langx|uk|Союз гетьманців державників}}) active in [[Canada]] and the [[United States]]. In his "Letters to Brothers Agrarians", published in 1926, Lypynskyi elaborated the idea of an independent, [[oligarchy|classocratic]], pan-Ukrainian "toilers' monarchy" without political parties, ruled by hetman and his dynasty with the help of an agrarian aristocracy and the co-operation of the productive classes.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ukrainian Union of Agrarians-Statists |url=https://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CU%5CK%5CUkrainianUnionofAgrarians6Statists.htm}}</ref> In Canada and the United States the Hetman movement emerged from the pre-[[WW1]] [[Plast|Sich scouting societies]] and was implicitly supported by the [[Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church]]. The movement supported the re-establishment of the Hetman state of Pavlo Skoropadskyi and devoted a lot of energy to military training of Ukrainian emigrés for the future liberation of their homelandgoing as far as to acquire a number of airplanes. In 1940 the Canadian branch of the organization became one of the founders of the [[Ukrainian Canadian Congress]]. The North American Hetman movement reached the height of its influence around 1937-1938, when it was visited by [[Danylo Skoropadsky]]i, the hetman's son and successor. However, the organizations lost their influence during [[WW2]] and in the following years due to internal splits and government investigations into their activity.<ref>{{cite web|title=United Hetman Organization |url=https://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CU%5CN%5CUnitedHetmanOrganization.htm}}</ref>

=== Modern times ===
Following the war, Cossack units, and the cavalry in general, were rendered obsolete and released from the Soviet Army. In the post-war years, many Cossack descendants were thought of as simple peasants, and those who lived in one of the [[autonomous republic]]s usually gave way to the local minority and migrated elsewhere.

[[File:Kuban Cossack Choir, Viktor Sorokin.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|[[Kuban Cossack Choir]] in 2016]]
The principal Cossack émigré leader after 1945 was [[Nikolai Nazarenko]], the self-proclaimed president of the World Federation of the Cossack National Liberation Movement of Cossackia, who enjoyed a prominence in New York as the organizer of the annual Captive Nations parade held every July. In 1978, Nazarenko dressed in his Don Cossack uniform led the Captive Days day parade in New York city, and told a journalist: "Cossackia is a nation of 10 million people. In 1923 the Russians officially abolished Cossackia as a nation. Officially, it no longer exists...America should not spend billions supporting the Soviets with trade. We don't have to be afraid of the Russian army because half of it is made up of Captive Nations. They can never trust the rank and file".<ref name="McKenzie">{{cite news |last1=McKenzie |first1=Hal |title=Marching in the Brotherhood of the Oppressed |url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1978-pt18/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1978-pt18-2-2.pdf |publisher=New York World |date=17 July 1978 |access-date=10 August 2020 |archive-date=19 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200619070920/https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1978-pt18/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1978-pt18-2-2.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> The journalist Hal McKenzie described Nazarenko as having "cut a striking figure with his white fur cap, calf-length coat with long silver-sheathed dagger and ornamental silver cartridge cases on his chest".<ref name="McKenzie" /> Nazarenko was also the president of Cossack American Republican National Federation, which in turn was part of the National Republican Heritage Groups Council, and he attracted much controversy in the 1980s owing to his wartime career and certain statements he made about Jews. The American journalist Christoper Simpson in his 1988 book ''Blowback: America's Recruitment of Nazis and Its Effects on the Cold War'' called Nazarenko a leading Republican activist who made "explicit pro-Nazi, anti-semitic" statements in his speeches.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Simpson |first1=Christopher |title=Blowback: America's Recruitment of Nazis and Its Effects on the Cold War. |date=1988 |publisher=Grove Atlantic |location=New York |isbn=1-55584-106-6 |page=274}}</ref>

During the [[Perestroika]] era of the Soviet Union of the late 1980s, many descendants of the Cossacks became enthusiastic about reviving their national traditions. In 1988, the Soviet Union passed a law allowing the reestablishment of former hosts and creation of new ones. The ataman of the largest, the Almighty Don Host, was granted Marshal rank and the right to form a new host. Simultaneously, many attempts were made to increase Cossack's impact on Russian society, and throughout the 1990s many regional authorities agreed to hand over some local administration and policing duties to the Cossacks.

According to the [[Russian Census (2002)|2002 Russian Census]], 140,028 people self-identified as ethnic Cossacks.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rusnations.ru/etnos/cossack/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120910114701/http://www.rusnations.ru/etnos/cossack/ |archive-date=2012-09-10 |script-title=ru:Казаки: общие сведения |trans-title=Cossacks: general information |language=ru |website=rusnations.ru |year=2006}}</ref> Between 3.5 and 5 million people associate themselves with the Cossack identity in post-Soviet Russia and around the world.<ref name="Cole2011">{{cite book |editor-last=Cole |editor-first=Jeffrey E. |editor-link=Jeffrey Cole |title=Ethnic Groups of Europe: An encyclopedia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wlth0GRi0N0C&pg=PA80 |year=2011 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-59884-302-6 |page=80 |access-date=2015-10-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160629163038/https://books.google.com/books?id=Wlth0GRi0N0C&pg=PA80 |archive-date=2016-06-29 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Tjoe2006">{{cite journal |title=Cossack Identity in the New Russia: Kuban Cossack Revival and Local Politics |last1=Toje |first1=Hege |journal=Europe-Asia Studies |publisher=Taylor & Francis, Ltd. |volume=58 |issue=7 |date=November 2006 |pages=1057–1077 |issn=0966-8136 |jstor=20451288 |doi=10.1080/09668130600926306|s2cid=143473682 }}</ref>

[[File:Zaporozhian Cossacks movement, 1990.JPG|thumb|250px|Ukrainians in Cossack dress during the celebrations of Zaporozhian Sich anniversary, in [[Zaporizhzhia]], 1990]]
In Ukraine the national revival of late 1980s led to the appreciation of Cossack history and culture as symbols of the Ukrainian nation. Cossack symbols and songs were widely used in mass events and demonstrations, particularly during the celebration of the [[500th anniversary of the Zaporozhian Sich]] in 1990. A number of Ukrainian Cossack organizations emerged during that time.

Cossacks have taken an active part in many of the conflicts that have taken place since the disintegration of the Soviet Union. These include the [[War of Transnistria]],<ref>Hughes, James and Sasse, Gwendolyn: ''Ethnicity and territory in the former Soviet Union: regions in conflict.'' Taylor & Francis, 2002, p. 107. {{ISBN|0-7146-8210-1}}</ref> [[Georgian–Abkhazian conflict]], [[Georgian–Ossetian conflict]], [[First Nagorno-Karabakh War]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=Казаки на страже Карабаха: вчера и сегодня|url=https://www.armmuseum.ru/news-blog/kazaki-v-armenii?format=amp|access-date=2021-05-22|website=www.armmuseum.ru|archive-date=2021-05-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210519020522/https://www.armmuseum.ru/news-blog/kazaki-v-armenii?format=amp|url-status=live}}</ref> [[2016 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict|2016 Nagorno-Karabakh war]],<ref>{{Cite web|last=Number|date=2019-11-03|title=Армянское казачество на страже многовековой армяно-российской дружбы - интервью|url=http://dalma.news/ru/armyanskoe-kazachestvo-na-strazhe-mnogovekovoy-armyano-rossiyskoy-druzhby-intervyu/|access-date=2021-05-22|website=Dalma News|language=ru-RU|archive-date=2021-05-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210519020512/http://dalma.news/ru/armyanskoe-kazachestvo-na-strazhe-mnogovekovoy-armyano-rossiyskoy-druzhby-intervyu/|url-status=live}}</ref> [[First Chechen War]], [[Second Chechen War]], and the [[2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine]] and both the subsequent [[War in Donbas (2014–2022)|War in Donbas]] and the [[2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://america.aljazeera.com/multimedia/2014/11/donetsk-ukraine-leadership.html |author=Sabra Ayres |title=Opportunists take advantage of eastern Ukraine leadership confusion |agency=Al Jazeera |date=26 November 2014 |access-date=7 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150824174233/http://america.aljazeera.com/multimedia/2014/11/donetsk-ukraine-leadership.html |archive-date=24 August 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/05/world/europe/cossacks-face-reprisals-as-rebel-groups-clash-in-eastern-ukraine.html |author=Andrew E. Kramer |title=Cossacks face grim reprisals from onetime allies in eastern Ukraine |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=4 August 2015 |access-date=7 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150806120828/http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/05/world/europe/cossacks-face-reprisals-as-rebel-groups-clash-in-eastern-ukraine.html |archive-date=6 August 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref>