Help with identifying my great-grandfather's pre-WWI Cossack uniform
Upvote:1
I have a similar photo of a russian soildier wearing a similar uniform, belt, hat and boots. 
Upvote:6
May be your great grandfather was mobilised to the army when the WW1 was started. The Russian army had about 1,3 million soldiers and after mobilization it was up to 5 million soldiers. Both brothers had got signs of the second degree "For excellent shooting from rifles":
https://ru.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Нагрудный_знак_«За_отличную_стрельбу_из_винтовок»
I can't say what regiment did they have military service at. But it may be a dragoon regiment. They were common soldiers. Such uniform was used before WW1, by example look to the photo Solders of 1st Leib Dragoon of the Moscow Emperor Peter I regiment
Also it's interesting, what is on the back side of your photo?
Upvote:7
They are wearing the double breasted 1907 tunic which was issued to the regular army except the guards which had a more elaborate version.
He wears the Black papaha which was preferred by Cossacks and Soldiers in Siberian regiments.
Though i just realised that this tunic was issued to troops on foot (Infantry, Engineers and artillery) and cossacks were on horses so i have made a decision to say that he is a member of one of the Siberian infantry regiments.
Upvote:13
Cossack was not just a regiment one can get drafted into, it was something hereditary and traditional. The cossacks lived in specific areas (Don, Kuban river basins, Siberia, etc), had their own settlements, basically forming sub-ethnic groups.
Now, being a cossack is really nothing traditional in Belarus. Not now, neither in the beginning of the 20th century. There were no cossack settlements, being a cossack is alien to Belarusian historical tradition. Cossacks have visited Belarus only as a part of outside army force, mostly enemy force.
So there are two possibilities: either your great-grandfather was from somewhere else (not Belarus) and was stationed in Belarus during the war. Or he was not really a cossack, maybe your grandmother has misinterpreted it.
More post
- 📝 Why was Poland able to resist the Swedish invasion during the Deluge, but not during the time of Charles XII?
- 📝 How different would the current situation of South Korea be if Seoul wasn’t 30 miles from the DMZ
- 📝 What is the first verified twin study?
- 📝 Did the third US atomic bomb disappear without a trace?
- 📝 Why did the Austrofascists fight with the National Socialists and vice versa?
- 📝 Why didn't Emperor Gaozu of Tang let Crown Prince Li Jiancheng command battles more often?
- 📝 What happened to the undergrad students who attended the Feynman Lecture Series in 1961-63?
- 📝 Which state capital did the Apollo 11 command module NOT visit after it returned from the moon?
- 📝 Did Japan have any continental colonies before modern times?
- 📝 Argentina's involvement with the League of Nations
- 📝 What was the first major historical event to be photographed?
- 📝 Is there a reason why Turkey took the Balkan territories of the Ottoman Empire, instead of Greece or another of the Balkan states?
- 📝 How many Spartan boys survived army training?
- 📝 How historically accurate is "Life is Beautiful" when it comes to Jewish extermination?
- 📝 Why were Albanians the only nation in the Balkans who converted to Islam during the Ottoman occupation?
- 📝 Why was most of Europe against communism right from the start?
- 📝 What was the goal behind the 9 state approval of the United States constitution?
- 📝 Why did the Erdoğan government like to worsen Turkey's relationship with Israel?
- 📝 How besieged was Leningrad after Operation Iskra?
- 📝 How big was the percentage of white people in the USA who were not against granting the blacks equal rights?
- 📝 How did the the Soviet-China near-war in 1969 affect the supply of arms to North Vietnam?
- 📝 Was it customary for an executioner in Elizabethan England to ask for forgiveness from the executed?
- 📝 Historical, academic explanations for the near-universal second-class citizenship of women?
- 📝 Did the Ottoman Empire lose some control over Egypt during the Crimean War?
- 📝 Were there revolts in or escapes from the Austrofascist camps?
- 📝 Were Patton's and/or other generals' vehicles prominently flagged with stars (and if so, why)?
- 📝 How many civilians of Roman empire (except jews) died in the Bar Kokhba revolt?
- 📝 From 1200 B.C. until 100 A.D. did people in the Middle East sit on mats or mainly on chairs?
- 📝 What do historians do when there are no sources?
- 📝 What was the main role of alcoholic drinks in ancient to medieval times?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Help with identifying my great-grandfather's pre-WWI Cossack uniform
- 📝 Help identifying my great grandfather’s WWI Italian Army uniform, rank, regiment
- 📝 What uniform is my Cossack great great grandfather wearing?
- 📝 Help identifying a strange uniform jacket
- 📝 Can anyone help identify the country, rank, and unit this WWI uniform is from?
- 📝 Need help identifying 2 old coins? Struck coins, one with two standing human figures facing each other
- 📝 Please help with identifying this uniform, taken in Turkey 1940s
- 📝 Why did Peter the Great name Saint Petersburg, Russia with a foreign styled name?
- 📝 Was it not clear to the WWI allies that they were over-reaching with the treaty of Sevres?
- 📝 How could temporary surrender of self-government help Newfoundland with its debts?
- 📝 Help identifying an old bayonet
- 📝 Did any of the 50 Destroyers swapped for bases with Great Britain in 1940 sink any Axis military vessels?
- 📝 Did the Great Wall of China help cause the fall of the Roman Empire?
- 📝 Which army uniform is this (2nd Boer British or WWI US)?
- 📝 Help identify this poster of early 1900's movie with a woman sitting on a bench and a man behind holding her arm
- 📝 Identifying a military uniform from the early 19th century
- 📝 What possible uniform with decoration is my ancestor from New South Wales in the early 1900's wearing?
- 📝 Can anyone help identify this passenger steamship with double funnels and two masts?
- 📝 Help identifying this WW1 badge
- 📝 Can anyone help identify this uniform jacket?
- 📝 Was the Russian Black Sea fleet strong enough to help with land operations on the southern shore in World War I?
- 📝 Can anybody help identify this uniform ? Circa WW1
- 📝 Help identifying Italian uniform, rank, regiment
- 📝 Can you help identify this European military uniform and medals?
- 📝 Can anyone help to identify and date this uniform or the medals?
- 📝 Please help me identify the military uniform in picture below
- 📝 Can anyone help identify this uniform /person?
- 📝 Identifying a sword engraved with "66. A. E. 1. 61"
- 📝 How did people react to these WWI posters with their 'brutal messages'?
- 📝 Need help identifying the military service and rank