Cossack
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Cossack (Russian Kazak (Казак); plural, Kazaki (Казаки), Polish Kozak; plural, Kozacy) is the Turkish name given to Slavic people living formerly in eastern Poland and now in the Ukraine and southern Russia. They were valued for their military service at the frontiers of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Russian Empire.
A Cossack settlement is called stanitsa in Russian. A military unit was called sotnia, and the whole army - voisko. Cossack military ranks (from lowest up) were as follows: prikazny, uryadnik, podkhorunzhiy, khorunzhiy, sotnik,podyesaul, yesaul and voiskovoy starshina. Cossack military leaders were known as atamans or hetmans.
Cossacks have long appealed to romantics as idealising freedom and resistance to external authority, and their military exploits against enemies of the Russian people have contributed to this favorable image. On the other hand they have often become a symbol of repression because of their use in suppressing popular uprisings during the Tsarist period. For detailed information, see the History of Cossacks, Cossack Hetmanate and Chmielnicki Uprising. de:Kosaken pl:Kozacy ru:Казаки
