Warriors and Peasants The Don Cossacks in Late Imperial Russia

by O'Rourke, Shane

• ISBN13: 9780312227746
• ISBN10: 0312227744
• Additional ISBN(s): 9780230599741
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-04-08
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

Warriors and Peasants depicts the lives of the Don Cossacks, the largest of all the Cossack communities, in late Imperial Russia. The dual identity of the Cossacks, that of the steppe and of the settled Slavic areas, is emphasized as the key to their unique culture. The book explores how that identity manifested and preserved itself by focusing on the Cossack tradition, their economy, their families and their communities. Far from being moribund and close to collapse, the book concludes that the Cossack tradition remained among the most vibrant in the empire.

Author Biography

Shane O'Rourke is Lecturer in the Department of History at the University of York.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	viii
List of Maps	ix
List of Tables	x
A Note on Transliteration	xi
Glossary	xii
Introduction	1	(19)
The Don Cossacks 1549--1920	20	(28)
The Land and the People of the Great Host of the Don	48	(15)
The Cossack Yurt	63	(19)
The Crisis of the Cossack Yurt 1875--1914	82	(20)
The Local Administration of the Don Cossacks	102	(32)
Family and Community Among the Don Cossacks	134	(37)
Conclusion	171	(3)
Notes	174	(17)
Bibliography	191	(7)
Index	198