Author - Andrei Andreevich Gordeev (1886-1977) - Colonel of the Don Cossack Army, in exile since 1920. The first edition in Russia of the extensive historical work of Andrei Andreevich Gordeev (1886-1977), hereditary Don Cossack, front-line officer, colonel Don White Cossack Army, who lived in exile since 1920. Even during the author's lifetime (1968), his lively and fascinatingly written study, first published in Paris, became a noticeable phenomenon in emigration circles. The author traces the origin of the Cossacks to the “tribute of blood” – “tamgas” – collected by the Golden Horde from the conquered Rus'. Russian youths taken into the Horde were used to guard the steppe borders and perform Yam service, adopting ready-made forms of military and social organization of the steppe people (Mongols and Cumans). “History of the Cossacks” miraculously combines the military chronicle of Russia and the chronicle of the military affairs of the Russian Cossacks. The author talks not only about the most important battles, but also about small battles that brought glory to Russian weapons. Readers will get acquainted with the historical destinies of all the Cossack troops of the Russian state: Don and Ural, Kuban and Terek, Orenburg and Astrakhan, Siberian and Semirechensky, Transbaikal and Yenisei, Amur and Ussuri.