Russia: A Cossack sergeant of the Life Guards Composite Cossacks Regiment, Siberian Company. Full dress uniform with horse. Pavlovsk, 1914.

At the outbreak of World War I the mounted Cossacks made up 38 regiments, plus some infantry battalions and 52 horse artillery batteries. By 1916 their wartime strength had expanded to 160 regiments plus 176 independent sotnias (squadrons), the latter employed as detached units. While about a third of the regular Russian cavalry was dismounted in 1916 to serve as infantry, the Cossack arm remained essentially unaffected by modernization.

In the Russian Civil War that followed the October Revolution, various Cossacks supported each side of the conflict. Cossacks formed the core of the White Army, but many also fought with the Red Army.

Following the defeat of the White Army, the new Communist regime instituted a policy of harsh repressions, the so-called Decossackization, which took place on the surviving Cossacks and their homelands.

Copyright:

Supplier: CPA Media Co. Ltd.

Credit:

Pictures From History