Baikal Cossack Army

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Sleeve badge of the Trans-Baikal Cossack Army

The Baikal Cossack Army ( Russian : Забайкальское казачье войско), also Transbaikal Cossack Army, sent by decree of the Russian tsar I. Nicholas (1796 *, † 1855) on 17th March 1851 as a united regiment of Siberian Cossacks , Tungus and Buryat set and was one of the 11 Cossack armies of the Imperial Russian Army . From this first the Baikal Cossack Army and then the Transbaikal Cossack Army developed. They were dissolved by the Soviets in 1922 and reactivated in 1991 by President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin .

history

Habitat and operational area of ​​the Transbaikal Cossacks

The Siberian Cossacks and the local population, which consisted mainly of Tungus and Buryats, lived in the area of ​​the Transbaikal . Since 1639, the Cossacks, as irregular troops, had already taken over the border surveillance of the Russian border with China . It was not until a hundred years later that the Tungus and Buryats - separated from the Cossacks - took over the joint tasks of border protection . In 1762 a Tungus regiment and in 1764 four Buryat regiments (2,400 people) were set up. They were divided into the Cossack armies of the Imperial Russian Army and were subordinate to the Russian military governor of the province. Since 1851 the five regiments have been merged to form the Baikal Cossack army, the headquarters was, and is again today, based in Chita . During peacetime, the Cossack army from 3 consisted cavalry -Regimentern, 6 Infantry - battalions and three artillery - batteries . In times of war and in times of mobilization , the forces were increased by up to three times. After the mobilization, in 1905, the Cossack army consisted of a standing force of 5 cavalry regiments, 2 Cossack batteries , 4 infantry regiments, 3 reserve hundreds , 1 artillery reserve platoon and other small reserve units. In 1916, 14,500 of the 265,000 Baikal Cossacks were under arms. The Russian military command personnel, officers , staff officers and generals were provided by members of the Imperial Russian Army. After the October Revolution in 1917, the Cossacks were initially neutral, from 1918 onwards a part supported the Red Army of the Bolsheviks , another part joined the White Army , and in 1922 they were disbanded.

Life

Officers and sergeant of the Baikal Cossacks

At the beginning of the 20th century , the Baikal Cossacks owned large estates and had to pay for their own food. There was no agricultural staff because they served in the Cossack units. The Cossacks received no money or provisions and did not have any imperial privileges . The Cossacks themselves had to procure and pay for their personal equipment, uniforms , hand weapons and horses; in contrast to the regular army, they were not paid from the state treasury . As a result of the currency reform in 1872, the Cossacks had to pay 70,000 rubles annually to the state treasury, and from 1875 to 1906 they paid a poll tax of 362 145 rubles in total.

Since 1859 there was a Russian-Mongolian army school, which was under the control of the Baikal Cossack army. Further schools were set up in the regiments and battalions, and there were village schools in the Stanitzen (Cossack settlements). Thus in 1872, according to official information, 6 regimental schools, 12 battalion schools and about 200 village schools were maintained. On behalf of the Council of State , which received supreme command of the Baikal Cossack army on May 31, 1872 , regimental schools and battalion schools were transferred to the Ministry of Popular Education. At the head of the Trans-Baikal Cossack Army was the ataman , who was subordinate to the Governor General of Siberia . The ataman combined the rights of a division commander and a governor, at the same time he was assigned the Military Affairs Committee and the Business Affairs Committee.

War missions

The Baikal Cossack army was deployed in China from 1899 to 1901 to put down the Boxer Rebellion . They fought in the Russo-Japanese War from 1904 to 1905 and were used on several fronts in World War I.

October Revolution and its Consequences

Ataman Grigory Mikhailovich Semenov

After the fall of the Russian monarchy , the Baikal Cossack army split in March 1917. During the same period, the first congress of the Trans-Baikal Cossacks was held in Chita. It was decided to dissolve the Cossack army. Many Cossacks disregarded this decision and started resisting the dissolution. Other Cossacks took part in the civil war that followed, under the leadership of their ataman, Major General Grigori Michailowitsch Semjonow, and Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg in the White Army. Still other Cossacks joined the Red Army. In 1920 the Cossack army was finally dissolved by the Soviet Union , with the defeat of Semyonov and his followers, many Cossack families fled to Manchuria , some emigrated to Australia and returned to the Soviet Union in the 1960s, where they were settled in Kazakhstan . During the Second World War in the summer of 1943, when the 1st Cossack Division was set up in the German Wehrmacht , some 10,000 Cossacks included Baikal Cossacks.

Cossack renaissance

The emblem of the registered Cossacks of Russia

In 1990 a large Cossack conference took place in Moscow , at which, among other decisions, the revival of the Cossack armies - including the Baikal Cossacks - was discussed. This reorganization was then also decided, in 1993 Vasilyevich Bogdanov was elected as the new ataman of the Baikal Cossacks, who was replaced by Sergei Bobrov in 2010. On March 30, 2014, the Cossacks elected Gennady Chupin as the ataman of the Baikal Cossack army. By order of Ataman Bobrow, the separate Cossack Society "Ambassador's Australian Department" was founded in Australia in 2011. The main activity of society is the development of friendship and cooperation between peoples; Strengthening relations with the Cossacks abroad; cultural, spiritual and moral education of the youth, preservation and development of the Cossack traditions and customs abroad.

The singing group "Baikal Cossacks"

The singing group "Baikal Cossacks" consists of four professional opera singers . The members of the "Baikal Cossacks" had previously played in various Russian singing groups until they decided to found their own ensemble. Her lectures range from Russian Orthodox church chants, a cappella , Russian ballads, romances and folk songs with instrumental accompaniment. In Europe they performed in Germany , France , the Netherlands , Belgium , Austria , Poland , Spain and Switzerland . They have also given concerts in the USA , the Canary Islands and the Netherlands Antilles .

See also

literature

  • Nikolaj Aleksandrovič Orlov, The Conquest of Manchuria by the Transbaikal Cossacks in 1900, Wolstein Publishing House, 1904 [1]

Web links