UKRAINIAN COSSACKS LATE 16TH - EARLY 18TH CENTURY: Organisation, clothing, equipment, armament

1-912129

The first detailed English-language study of Ukrainian Cossacks' attire, equipment, and tactics from the late 16th to early 18th century. Numerous historical sources, references, documents, pictorial sources, and descriptions left by eyewitnesses have been consulted. Archaeological finds from battlefields related to the Ukrainian Cossacks were also examined. Considers both the clothing and equipment of ordinary Cossacks and separately the clothing and military equipment of the officer corps -- Cossack petty officers and hetmans. Special attention is paid to banners and various accouterments. Discusses the variations between the Cossacks, the difference between the Registry and Sichev Cossacks, how they fought, and what tactics were used on the battlefield. Also considered are the separate formations of Ukrainian hetmans modeled on Western European armies and mercenary formations of the last quarter of the seventeenth to early eighteenth century - the Serdyuk and Kompanitsa. The book contains over 170 illustrations, iconographic sources, images of battles, archaeological artifacts, and various types of clothing and equipment. There are also color plates of reconstructions of banners, images of banners from the collection of the Swedish Army Museum, and 20 colored figures of Cossacks and representatives of Cossack elders.