Siberian Cossack Host

in prerevolutionary Russia, the cossacks living in Western Siberia and Kazakhstan, in areas that are now part of Kustanai, Severnyi Kazakhstan, Kokche-tav, Vostochnyi Kazakhstan, Tselinograd, Pavlodar, Karaganda, and Semipalatinsk oblasts of the Kazakh SSR and Omsk and Kemerovo oblasts and Altai Krai of the RSFSR. The administrative center was Omsk. The host was headed by an appointed ataman who was also the governor-general of the Steppe Region and the commander of the Omsk Military District.

From the late 16th century, gorodovye cossacks served in garrisons in the Siberian fortified towns. A series of fortified outposts were built in the 18th century for protection against raids by Dzungarians and Kazakhs. In 1808 the cossacks in the outposts, the area’s peasant settlers, and part of the native population were organized as the Siberian Cossack Host, composed of ten cavalry regiments and two artillery companies. From 1861 the host comprised 12 cavalry regiments, three infantry half-battalions, and one horse artillery brigade. Between 1830 and 1860 the host spread to the south and southeast and was reinforced by settlers. In 1867 the Semirech’e cossacks were designated a separate host.

In the early 20th century the territory occupied by the Siberian Cossack Host stretched in a narrow band (10–32 km) from 62° to 103° E long, and upstream along the Irtysh River. The host owned 5.4 million hectares of land, with an average per capita holding of 37 ha. The cossack population (172,000), nationally and socially heterogeneous, included Russians, Ukrainians, Byelorussians, Mordovians, Tatars, and other nationalities. The host’s 1,083 settlements were divided into three sections, which in the early 20th century provided three cavalry regiments and one guardspolusotnia (50-man unit) in peacetime and nine cavalry regiments and several sotni (100-man unit) in wartime.

The host took part in the conquest of Middle Asia, in the Russo-Japanese War, and in World War I. After the October Revolution of 1917, the poor cossacks sided with the Soviet government and the well-to-do upper strata with the White Guards. The host was abolished in 1920.