Abstract
The purpose of the article is to study attempts to use the history of the formation of the Dnеpropetrovsk and Zaporozh-ye Cossacks in order to legitimize the Ukrainian nationalist project. The author substantiates the bias of different approaches of historians to the state model of Ukrainian nationalism in the period of the 19th-20th centuries. The author also reveals the prerequisites for the origin of the Cossacks, as a specific paramilitary class group, and gives characteristics of the geo-political situation of the Late Middle Ages. Specific examples of the distortion of the real military and political significance of the Cossack communities show their relationship with the Russian state, the Commonwealth and the Ottoman Empire. The limited nature of the political goals of the Cossack fore-man is argued, which, according to objective conditions, could not play a consolidating role in the formation of the Ukraini-an/Little Russian people. As a result, the author comes to the conclusion that the ideologues of the Cossacks resort to the use of the ethnic factor only during their stay in the Russian centralized state in order to promote their narrow corporate interests.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
