Cossacks
The name Cossack itself literally means "free man". The term was first used in the year 1395. The most well known Cossacks are the Ukrainian Cossacks from Zaporizhzhia and the Russian Cossacks (Kazaks) from Don, Terek, Kuban and Ural areas. They started after the Mongols attacked Kievan Rus. Eventually Russian Cossacks guarded land for the Russian government. Cossacks were in the Russian army in some wars throughout the 1800s and 1900s. They were mostly responsible for conquering land in Central Asia and the Caucasus for the Russian Empire. In behalf of the Russian Imperial Empire, they conquered lands as far east as Siberia and even in Alaska which they conquered. Alaska was later sold to the USA however the lands they conquered in the far east Russia such as Siberia are still part of Russia today making Russia the largest country in the world by land size. They conquered places in Caucasus too for example the rebellious states of Chechnya and Dagestan. They were also responsible for destroying many Turkic states in both the Caucasus and Central Asia due to their conquests for the Russian Empire. They subdued Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and were responsible for adding these states to the huge Russian Empire. They also invaded Armenia due to calls of support by the Armenians against the Ottoman Empire and in doing so, they conquered Azerbaijan and annexed both Armenia and Azerbaijan to their empire and defeated the Ottomans many times in northeastern Turkey. In the Russian Civil War most fought against the Red Army but some were "Red Cossacks" who fought on behalf of the Bolsheviks. In Soviet times, the Cossacks' life was subject to a lot of Bolshevik attacks and Cossack lands survived several famines. Cossack armies fought on both sides in the Second World War. In Russia today, Cossacks are ethnic descendants or are in the Cossack army and often both.