Free Download Serhii Plokhy, "Tsars and Cossacks: A Study in Iconography "
English | ISBN: 0916458954 | 2003 | 102 pages | PDF | 10 MB
Ukrainian Cossacks used icon painting to investigate their relationship not only with God but also their relationship with the Russian tsar. Could Emperor Peter I and his adversary in the Battle of Poltava (1709)―the Cossack Hetman Ivan Mazepa―be depicted in the same icon? Why did the Cossack colonels commission icons with the portraits of their tsars, but not of their own Cossack leaders, the hetmans? Could a Catholic king be portrayed in an Orthodox icon? Why are the Russian tsars and Orthodox hierarchs missing on some of the Zaporozhian Cossack icons?

The Cossacks: The History and Legacy of the Legendary Slavic Warriors by Charles River Editors
English | April 13, 2015 | ISBN: 1511704764 | 60 pages | EPUB | 1.72 Mb
*Includes pictures *Includes footnotes, online resources and a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents "Had I just 10,000 Cossacks, I would have conquered the whole world." - Napoleon Bonaparte "Save us Lord, from Cossacks." - Sir Wilson, reporting the prayers of conquered Germans (1813) The modern myth of the Cossack presents striking images of a stern warrior mounted on horseback, with a long woolen coat, papakha (distinctive tall fur cap ) and fur-lined cloak, with bandoliers holding large-caliber bullets crisscrossing his chest. The warrior is armed with a mixture of rifle, lance, daggers and pistols, but he always has his signature weapons: the shashka (a single-edged, guard-less, slightly curved saber originally designed by the Circassian foes) and the nagyka (short, thick whip of braided leather with a heavy weight worked into the end originally designed for fighting off wolves but more commonly used in later years against enemies of the state in the streets of Moscow or Odessa). As enemies conjured up the Cossack as semi-tamed steppe barbarian, a dog of the state, and the fist of the Czar, it's no surprise they were terrified. Even as the origins of these ferocious fighters remain murky and obscure, the Cossacks have continued their growing international appearance with the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in 2014. The conflict over the Crimea and the southeastern Donbass region has had thoroughly Cossack overtones; on the one hand, the Ukrainian Nationalists view themselves as the descendants of the freedom minded Cossack Republics and on the other hand, Russia has leaned heavily upon Cossack "volunteers" to staff its informal militias in the Donbass and to seize and police Crimea . The Cossacks in Luhansk (southeastern Ukraine) and Crimea had been swearing loyalty to Russia since the 1990s and were enthusiastic supporters of the Russian campaign. The Cossacks: The History and Legacy of the Legendary Slavic Warriors traces the history of the Cossacks over the centuries. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about the Cossacks like never before, in no time at all.