Good Essay About The Place and Role of the Ukrainian Cossacks in the History

The Place and Role of the Ukrainian Cossacks in the History

The place and role of the Ukrainian Cossacks in national history absolutely unique, special, have no analogs in the history of other people, including in what there were similar formations (the Don, tersky, yaitsky Cossacks in Russia, taborita in the Czech Republic, garentser or granchara in Croatia; uskok and a gayduka in the southern Slavs, Romanians and Hungarians, etc.). Encyclopedia Britannica states that without exaggeration, at a certain stage of historical life of the Ukrainian people the Cossacks supported as the leading and organizing force in fight national release. The identification in the opinion of the outside world of the terms "Ukrainian" and "Cossack" also testified about big a representative role of the last in the history of Ukraine.Thus, the main aspects of a role of the Cossacks in the Ukrainian history such:first: throughout the second half of XV - the first half of the XVII century it played a crucial role in economic development of the South of Ukraine, it begins on the Ukrainian lands new socioeconomic days - bourgeois, at the heart of which free work, a private property, the commodity-money relations, that is the free owner; secondly: in a concrete historical situation of the Ukrainian lands Cossack states, it was formed, it was necessary to be engaged, except production work, and military, acting as the armed force on protection of the people against physical destruction and slavery result of the Tatar-Turkish aggression, i.e. the Cossacks - an original combination - the farmer and the soldier, the peasant and the knight, the destroyer and the creator: thirdly, the Cossacks revealed great potential opportunities and dynamism in process not only self-organization of own state, but also formation new, other than the medieval, public relations. The organization of "the Cossack device" who was marked out by democratic character took place, his life and way became alternative of despotism, a serfdom, totalitarianism, it fitted into the European way of development of a civilization; fourthly: the Cossacks could develop the code of "the Cossack rights and liberties" - unwritten ethical rules, the natural rights and precepts of law which defined its status in society and became an attractive ideal for wide layers of the Ukrainian society; fifthly, unlike Russian, the Ukrainian Cossacks began to also carry out "historical mission of the national representative of the Ukrainian people, getting functions of the carrier of the Ukrainian statehood." The Ukrainian Cossacks were a reaction to the European revival, creation of the mono ethnic national states, it united elite of the nation and all other segments of the population from the peasant fugitive to the prince, the Ukrainian upper class, a prototype of the intellectuals of that time. Therefore, the Cossacks became a rescue of the nation, and the state was its kernel.
Specialists haven't agreed on only one opinion, where a word "cossack" came from, although as early as ancient myths, the cossacks are defined as free people. According to the Flames of War article, the only purpose behind the cossacks was to become warriors, defenders of outlying earth, engaging simultaneously in hunting, fishing, and last but not least, agriculture.Accounting permanent uneasy surroundings, cossack fortresses - Sich began to arise. According to the legend, first Sich was built by a prince Dmytro Vyshnevecky in 1550 on an island Small Khortytsia that was located in the river-bed of Old Dnepr. A cut showed a soba strengthening, economic building and housing apartments. Historians count eight Siches: Tomakyvska, Bazavlucka, Mykytynska, Chortomlycka, Kamyanska, Oleshivska, Nova and Zadunayska. In different times they were situated in the different places of Ukraine and lasted almost two and a half centuries. The last Sich disintegrated in 1823.
Not very many Cossacks lived at the Sich permanently - the domestic settled on farms and in small towns, but in case of danger during a few days, an enormous army gathered on service. This prototype of this situation has never been found in the history of any other people.
On the territory of Zaporizhzhya, some artifacts from those old times were saved: bits and pieces of the cossack strengthening on an island Khortytsia, 800-years-old Zaporizhzhian oak. Even the names of historical places of island remind about the Zaporozhian cossacks: beam the"Sichovi gate", "Cossack ferriage". Moreover, there is a grave of last Zaporizhian ataman Joseph Smooth on territory of present university.
The revival of the cossacks began at the end of 90th, in ХХ century : in Zaporizhzhya contemporaneous there were such organizations, as "Cossack fraternity", "Cossack volnica", "Cossack kish" created.
According to the Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine, “Certain Ukrainian noble families retained their national Cossack traditions, and many of their members took part in the Ukrainian independence movement and rebirth in the 20th century. Many members of the new Ukrainian intelligentsia were descendants of the Cossacks. The influence of Cossack traditions was evident in the Ukrainian struggle for independence (1917–20), particularly in the formation of the Free Cossacks and regular army units, and in the establishment of the Hetman government in 1918.” Thus, it is clear that Ukrainian people still remember the significant role of the Cossacks in society. Moreover, with the current situation in Ukraine, who knows, maybe the new Zaporizhian Sich will be created in order to protect the Ukrainian land from the invasion of Russia.

Works Cited

Cossacks." Cossacks. Web. 24 Apr. 2015. <http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/pages/C/O/Cossacks.htm>.
"Cossack | Russian and Ukrainian People." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica. Web. 24 Apr. 2015. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/139420/Cossack>.
"Product Assembly Guides." Product Assembly Guides. Web. 24 Apr. 2015. <http://www.flamesofwar.com/?tabid=53&art_id=696>.