Zaporizhzhya Cossacks gathered in the army from thefar times. Historical evidence of its occurrence since the thousand five hundredth year. Some contemporaries of the founding of the Zaporizhian Sich believed that the emergence of the Cossacks began with the unification of the peasants who were striving to destroy the serfs. According to other chroniclers, this army was created from the Kozars who lived in Central Asia, and moved to Ukraine during the time of the Mongol-Tatar yoke.
Men of this class did not work, and carried outtime practicing in military science. From the time of settlement in Ukraine they were called Cossacks. Polish and Lithuanian tycoons were forced to serve the unusual labor duties of warriors. These events occurred after they captured Ukraine. However, to avoid forced labor, the Cossacks retired from the inhabited lands. They chose a place for themselves outside the Dnieper. According to historians, this is how Zaporozhye Cossacks appeared. Seeing the courage of this army, the Polish kings began to invite them to the service. And noble representatives of the nobility considered it a great honor to be the leaders of the brave detachments.
Arsenal troops consisted of the most advancedweapons of the time. Zaporizhzhya Cossacks owned cannons and howitzers, mortars and mortars, samopalami and pistols, spears and swords, blades and daggers, bows and arrows. The data of archaeological and historical science confirm the evidence of a large arsenal of weapons, which were taken from the peoples with whom the fighting was conducted. However, the main preference Zaporizhzhya Cossacks gave saber.
The brave troops had infantry, cavalryand artillery. The total number of armed Cossacks ranged from ten to twelve thousand people. The elite unit has always been considered the cavalry. It was the most formidable for fighting qualities force. The troops consisted of hundreds and regiments. During the campaigns, the Cossacks stopped for the night in a camp, which was a series of carts arranged along the perimeter, fastened with chains.
The main source of income Zaporizhzhya Sich wasbooty, won during the campaigns, as well as trade, sale of wine, tribute received from transportation, and the royal, as well as the royal salary. Part of the good obtained in the battles, was given according to custom to the church. The remaining booty was divided equally, and her Ukrainian Cossack could drink to the bottom. Significant amounts were collected Sich with merchants, passing through the Zaporozhye lands. Most of the income included a tax on dwellings located within the borders of the Army.
The feudal lords looked with fear at the increasing influenceCossacks. After all, it was on the side of the oppressed peasants and could always help them. The aspirations of the feudal lords were reduced to the solution of the problem of the destruction of the Zaporizhzhya Sich and its return to serfdom. By the end of the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, Lithuanian and Polish tycoons were able to appropriate large areas of land belonging to the Cossacks. As a result, in 1648 an uprising broke out. He was headed by Colonel of the Cossack troops Bogdan Khmelnitsky. The campaign under his leadership was completed with a victory.
Given the great influence of Sich on the CossacksOf Ukraine, for the Army waged a diplomatic struggle Peter I and Hetman Mazepa. However, the Cossacks took the side of Charles XII and fought against the Russian troops. After Mazepa signed an allied treaty with the Swedes, Peter I advanced three regiments to capture the Zaporizhzhya Sich. Before them was tasked to destroy the nest of rebels to the base. In May 1709 the fortress was taken, completely destroyed and burned.
The final point in the fate of the Cossacks put Catherine II. In August 1775, she issued a manifesto, which approved the destruction of the Sich and its assignment to the Novorossiysk province.
