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Cossack Host

Type Object Region Ukraine Time c. 1550–1775

The Cossack host was a semi-independent cavalry military organization on the Polish-Lithuanian and Russian frontiers in the 16th-17th centuries, cent…

Timeline

  1. c. 1550–1600Lower Dnieper · UkraineThe Zaporozhian Sich became a military settlement for fugitive serfs and frontier settlers; after 1572 the Commonwealth established the registered Cossack system, bringing some Cossacks into official service and granting them land and privileges.
  2. 1611–1620Smolensk-Kiev frontier · PolandCossack cavalry participated in the Commonwealth's expeditions against Moscow and border defense; in 1618 Khodkiewicz led a Commonwealth-Cossack allied force approaching Moscow, and in the 1620 Battle of Khotyn Stanisław Żółkiewski led Cossacks to defeat an Ottoman-Tatar allied army.
  3. c. 1620–1650Left-bank Ukraine · UkraineLimits on registered quotas and conflicts over land distribution intensified; unregistered Cossacks and Sich forces remained active, and military operations after the 1610s both served the Commonwealth and accumulated independent political demands.

Sources