Kazakia

The Independent Cossack Republic, also known as Kazakia (Russian: Каѕакіѧ) is a cossack republic bordering the RSFSR in the north, the Mountain Union in the south, and the Ukrainian State in the west. In the south and southeast, it is washed by the Black and Azov Seas.

History
The history of the Don Cossacks is closely intertwined with both the Russian Empire and the Hetmanate. During the time of the Ruin, about 40,000 pro-Russian Cossacks migrated from the Hetmanate to the territories of the then Main Don Host and settled off the coast of Kuban, changing their name to the Black Sea Cossacks. In 1671 the Main Don Host swore allegiance to the Tsar of Moscow and was renamed the Don Cossack Army. In 1672, the Black Sea Cossacks voluntarily joined the Don Cossack Army, expanding the historical boundaries of the settlement of the Don Cossacks. These lands were later separated from the main Don and turned into regular Russian provinces.

Relations between the Hetmanate and the Don Cossack Army were varied and not always peaceful, but the independent Hetmanate influenced the creation of a local Cossack identity, an important element of which was Old Believers and the protection of "pure faith" from change. The Hetmanate if not sponsored, then definitely gave shelter to various Don insurgents, who then returned home or fled to the Principality of Moldova.

Cossack's rights and freedoms diminished with each uprising, until the Pugachev's Rebellion (also known as the Peasants' War 1773–75), after which the Don army was legally recognized as the warrior caste and Life Guards were to be recruited from Cossacks. Since the reign of Paul I, the Orthodox Don Cossacks have had to share that position with the Catholic Knights Hospitalier, which were granted the same rights and freedoms as the Cossacks. Conflicts and petty clashes often broke out between the two, and the status of the Russian emperor as a "defender of the Orthodox faith" was finally ruined in the eyes of many starshyna. This, in turn, led to the revival and strengthening of the Old Believers in the Cossack territories under the influence of the Don Army.

Don Cossacks in the XX century
From the beginning of the 20th century, the position of the Don Host in the Russian Empire was difficult due to the deteriorating economic situation which led to an inability of the Don Cossacks to purchase military equipment. This, together with the demands of political and land equality from the non-Cossack population of Don (peasants and "inogorodtsy" or “outsiders” - non-Russians and Russians from other regions of the Russian Empire who moved to the region and lived mostly in cities) raised xenophobic, anti-German and nationalist sentiments among the Cossack population. This led to a conflict of Cossack nationalists with Russian nationalists and the black-hundredists, which resulted in the assassination of Ataman Fyodor von Taube in 1913 by unknown individuals.

During the First World War, the Don Cossacks fought mainly on the Eastern Front against the Germans and the Austro-Hungarians. Although some Cossack units took part in the capture of Constantinople in 1915, the Mariavite Hospitaliers were more numerous and took most of the responsibility for its capture. Don newspapers were outraged by the mere presence of Catholics in the seizure of the Orthodox holy place, which coupled with negative rumours that the incumbent Empress of German descent ruled the country instead of Nicholas II, caused mass uprisings and a wave of desertion among Don Cossacks. In response, Nicholas II threatened the Cossacks with "De-Cossackization", which only increased the Cossacks' hatred of the current regime and accelerated the formation of the Donian separatism. The ideas of autonomy within Russia or simply increasing the rights of Cossacks within Russia were ridiculed and perceived as treacherous. Therefore, during the revolution of 1917, the Don Army Region was one of the first to declare its independence, ruthlessly killing and expelling all pro-monarchists and Bolsheviks from its territory. After declaring martial law, Cossack troops seized the territories of the Black Sea Province and the "Cossack" parts of the Terek Region, entering into military conflict with the tsarist Terek Cossacks and Muslim separatists.

Rise of Kazakia
Almost immediately, the independent Don clashed with the army of Soviet Russia and the local Bolshevik supporters. Although the Don Cossacks were initially neutral towards them, the rhetoric of the Council of People's Commissars, especially on the land issue, and their support of the small Bolshevik republics on their territory were received with hostility. However, the Don Cossacks quickly found an ally in the form of Cossack Ukraine, who gladly decided to help the fraternal Cossack people in their struggle for independence. Both sides entered a phase of total war against each other, and both committed many war crimes and crimes against civilians, most notably the use of chemical weapons by the Bolsheviks against the Don Cossacks and the massacre of the Bolsheviks by the Cossacks of the Black Sea Soviet Republic. More than 56,000 people were killed during the terror on both sides, and Russian peasants and foreigners began to flee the Cossack-occupied territory en masse.

Significantly outnumbering the Bolsheviks, the combined Cossack forces managed to drive Soviet troops out of most of their territories, forcing the Bolsheviks to sign the Taganrog Armistice with coalition forces in 1920.

Soon after, the Cossack authorities of the Don announced the creation of the "Independent Cossack Republic" or "Kazakia", which joined the Ukrainian project of the "Eternal Union" together with the Kryvich People's Republic and the Kingdom of Moldova.

Seeing the threat posed by pro-monarchist Britain, the Cossack government-supported and recognized the independence of the Mountain Republic and supported their desire to reconquer the Ossetian lands of Georgia. There was also a population exchange between the states, during which about 10,000 Kabardians and Muslims were exchanged for Russians and Cossacks. At the same time, the treaty of unification of the Ukrainian state with the Crimean People's Republic was perceived by them as "imperialist annexation", not only because it gave the Ukrainian state more influence, but also ideologically because even now the idea of ​​including Muslims in the Cossack state was perceived negatively.

Current Day
Today, Kazakia is experiencing a period of moderate industrialization and is building its own national identity. The mass flight of urban and rural Inogorodtsy populations led not only to an economic crisis but also to the opportunity for the Cossacks to occupy important trade and industrial roles in society. Cossack cooperatives are spreading. Formally, Kazakia continues the course introduced by Fedor von Taube, and it also introduces ideas and concepts brought by the military experience of the First World War and the Cossack-Bolshevik War, such as the standardization of military equipment and the gradual mechanization of the Cossack army.

But Kazakia is a young country with a lot of unresolved issues. At home, there is still hostility between the Cossacks and the remaining "non-Cossack" population of the country. Cossack's anti-Semitism and xenophobia, combined with the red scare, occasionally led to clashes between non-residents and Cossacks, as well as strict border control, allowing only material aid and equipment, but not people. The question of further independence is also an urgent one because among the Cossacks there are still supporters of the monarchy and if not a union then at least an alliance with the Russian State.

In international relations, Kazakia still suffers from Bolshevik provocations, but perhaps the biggest obstacle in the way of Kazakia (and all the countries of the Eternal Union for that matter) is the lack of proper international recognition. The Russian State does not recognize the existence and independence of Kazakia, as such the Entente countries also recognize the existence of Kazakia only de-facto. Of the great powers, only Germany and Ukraine have recognized Donian independence, but the German Empire collapsed, and the Ukrainian State is perceived by them as a fraternal but unreliable "left-wing" state that will support them in the fight against Bolshevik Russia, but may not support them in the fight against the Entente and the Russian State.

Military
Cossak Regular Army

Language
Russian language

The official language of Kazakia is Russian using the 1910 Petrin script reform. However, due to the war and the spread of reactionary policies among the population, this reform was frozen in the first stage: only the letters "Ѵ", "Ф", "З" and the letter “Ъ” at the end of words were excluded from the circulation.

Unofficially, the official Russian, Kalmyk, and spoken Cossack dialects are used in Kazakia, the latter was officially classified by the Russian Empire as "mixed dialects" and, depending on the region's population, may belong to both Russian and Ukrainian, along with borrowings from neighboring languages.

The Kalmyk language, called "Calmuk" in that world's English, has special privileges due to the friendly relations of the Kalmyks with the Don Cossacks and has every chance to become a second language in the future. Linguistic and ethnographic studies of the Cossack dialect are currently being conducted, and there are nationalist proposals to codify it as a separate "Cossack" language.