Orenburg Cossacks
The Orenburg Cossack Host (), a part of the
Cossack population in pre-
revolutionary Russia, located in the
Orenburg province (today's
Orenburg Oblast, part of the
Chelyabinsk Oblast and
Bashkortostan).
After having constructed
fortifications around the future town of Orenburg in
1734, they officially founded it in
1735. For the purpose of defending the city and colonizing the region, The Russian government relocated the Cossacks from
Ufa,
Iset,
Samara and other places and created the Orenburg non-regular
corps in
1748. In
1755, a part of it was transformed into the Orenburg Cossack Host (or
Voisko) with 2,000 men.
In
1773—
1774, the Orenburg Cossacks took part in
Yemelyan Pugachev's
insurrection. In
1798, all of the Cossack
settlements in the Southern
Urals were incorporated into the Orenburg Cossack Host (except for the
Ural Cossacks). A
decree of
1840 established the borders of the Host and its composition (10
cavalry regiments and 3
artillery battalions). In the mid-
19th century, the Cossack population of this region equaled 200,000 people.
The Orenburg Host participated in the
Russo-Swedish War of
1788-
1790, and later - in all of the wars that Russia waged in order to conquer
Central Asia.
The Orenburg Host consisted of 2 districts, or
okrugs (after
1878 - 3 departments, or
otdels). In
1916, the Cossack population of this region equaled 533,000 people on a land of 7,45 million
desyatinas. One desyatina equaled 2,7
acres (11,000 m²). In the peaceful years of the early 19th century, the Orenburg Cossack Host supplied 6 cavalry regiments, 3 artillery battalions, 1
cavalry battalion, 1
sotnya (100 men) of guards and 2 detached sotnyas. During
World War I, the Orenburg Cossack Host supplied 18 cavalry regiments, 9,5 artillery battalions, 1 cavalry battalion, 1 sotnya of guards, 9 unmounted sotnyas, 7,5 reserve sotnyas and 39 detached and special sotnyas (the total of 27,000 men).
After the
October Revolution of
1917, the leadership of the Orenburg Cossack Host under the command of
Ataman Alexander Dutov fought against the
Soviets. The poorer Cossacks joined the ranks of the
Red Army. The 1st Orenburg Cossack
Socialist Regiment took part in the
Ural Army Campaign of 1918.
In
1920, the Orenburg Cossack Host ceased to exist due to its liquidation.
*Petr I. Avdeev
Istoricheskaya Zapiska ob Orenburgskom Kazach'em Voiske,
1904*
HISTORICAL NOTES ON THE ORENBURG COSSACK HOST
