The correct
pronunciation of the word Cossack in Ukrainian. In plural - Kozaky
- Kozaks are the famous Ukrainian rebel fighters
- Kozak soldier is a romantic and a violent medieval hero of Ukraine
- To be called a Kozak in Ukraine is a grand
compliment
At the start of the 16th century Ukrainian peasants runaway from their masters to the uninhabited southern steppes of Ukraine and set up their infamous gangs and the Kozak State.
Those guys were crazy fighters and big time party animals. Quickly the glory about the wild and fearless rebels had spread around the Europe.
In the 1648-54 war against Poland, now the kozak army supported by the Ukrainian peasants had defeated the Polish King and took control of Ukraine and the capital Kyiv (Kiev).
Unfortunately Hetman Khmelnycky decided to ally with the Mowscow Kingdom, and as a result the Kozak statehood was finished off by the Russian Queen in 1775 and the whole country suffered from the Russian rule for three centuries.
Well known Hollywood film 'Taras Bulba' tells the story of kozak officer by the name of Taras, who kills his own son for betraying him and Ukraine after
falling in love with a pretty polish chick.
