The combat history of the Cossacks has more than half a thousand years. Entire libraries have been written about the countless wars and battles in which the Cossacks participated, about their military customs and traditions, exploits and heroes - however, the vast majority of such publications are highly specialized, devoted to individual, private issues. In Boris Almazov's new book, all these disparate data are brought together for the first time. You have in your hands the first complete history of the Cossacks as a military estate, based not on legends and traditions, but on historical facts, a detailed chronicle of five centuries of victories and unfading glory - from the Middle Ages to the present day, from the campaigns of the Cossacks to the second Chechen war.