What is atamanism? Why did tens and hundreds of atamans arise in the former Russian Empire during the civil war of 1917–1922, who did not obey any authorities, but created their own power, relying on armed violence? How was the Atamanism perceived by the main warring parties, the Reds and the Whites, and how did they fight it? The famous historian and writer Boris Sokolov will try to answer these and other questions using the example of the biographies of some of the most famous atamans - the “red atamans” Boris Dumenko and Philip Mironov, the “white” atamans Grigory Semenov and Baron Roman Ungern and the “green” atamans Nestor Makhno and Daniil Green. All atamans relied on the peasant-Cossack masses, who did not want to fight far from their huts and vegetable gardens. Therefore, all atamans acted, as a rule, in a certain area, from where they drew their main strength. But, at the same time, their local limitations also contained their weakness, which ultimately resulted in their defeat in the fight against the Red Army.