During the heyday of the Russian Empire, to what degree could Cossacks be considered state-sponsored military colonists (or a 'rank' of the Russian military), and to what degree could they be considered a cohesive ethnic group?

by mistatansman

I'm asking because I'm doing a bit of research on militarized agricultural colonialism in the Japanese Empire and see frequent comparisons to the Cossacks. But, depending on what source I'm looking at, I get very different answers about whether 'being' a Cossack entails.

LtHymenBuster

While I can't answer, I'm really interested in your topic, militarized agricultural japanese colonialism. Do you have any good reading on that?