Siberian Cossacks were Cossacks who settled in the Siberian region of Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 from the end of the 16th century, following the Yermak Timofeyevich

Yermak Timofeyevich

Yermak Timofeyevich , Cossack leader, Russian folk hero and explorer of Siberia. His exploration of Siberia marked the beginning of the expansion of Russia towards this region and its colonization...

's conquest of Siberia

Russian conquest of Siberia

The Russian conquest of Siberia took place in the 16th and 17th centuries, when the Siberian Khanate had become a loose political structure of vassalages which were becoming undermined by the activities of Russian explorers who, though numerically outnumbered, pressured the various family-based...

. In early Siberia practically the whole Russian population, especially the serving-men

Service class people

Service class people were persons bound by obligations of service, especially military service, to the Muscovite Russian state.In early Siberia, service-men and promyshleniks were the two main classes of the Russian population. Service-men were nominally servants of the tsar, had certain legal...

 were called Cossacks, but only in the loose sense of being neither land-owners nor peasants. Most of these people came from northwest Russia

Northwest Russia

Northwest Russia or Northern European Russia can be roughly defined as that part of European Russia bounded by Finland, the Arctic Ocean, the Ural Mountains and the east-flowing part of the Volga River. Although it was never a political unit there is some reason for treating it as a distinct...

 and had little connection to the Don Cossacks

Don Cossacks

Don Cossacks were Cossacks who settled along the middle and lower Don.- Etymology and origins :The Don Cossack Host was a frontier military organization from the end of the 16th until the early 20th century....

 or Zaporozhian Cossacks.

In 1808, Alexander I

Alexander I of Russia

Alexander I of Russia , served as Emperor of Russia from 23 March 1801 to 1 December 1825 and the first Russian King of Poland from 1815 to 1825. He was also the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland and Lithuania....

 created the Siberian Cossack Host. In 1867 the Semirechye Cossacks were created out of the Siberian Cossack to serve in Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...

 and Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan , officially the Kyrgyz Republic is one of the world's six independent Turkic states . Located in Central Asia, landlocked and mountainous, Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east...

.

Siberian cossacks participated in many military conflicts of the 19th and 20th centuries. In 1918 Siberian Cossack Host was officially disbanded. Many Siberian Cossacks formed military units and joined admiral Aleksandr Kolchak

Aleksandr Kolchak

Aleksandr Vasiliyevich Kolchak was a Russian naval commander, polar explorer and later - Supreme ruler . Supreme ruler of Russia , was recognized in this position by all the heads of the White movement, "De jure" - Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, "De facto" - Entente States...

 in his struggle against the Bolsheviks .

During World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, most Siberian Cossacks fought for the Soviets. But some Siberian Cossacks joined the German 1st Cossack Division

1st Cossack Division

The 1st Cossack Division was a Russian Cossack division of the German Army that served during World War II. It was created on the Eastern Front mostly out of Don Cossacks already serving in the Wehrmacht, those who escaped from the advancing Red Army and Soviet POWs. In 1945, the division was...

. They made up the 2nd Regiment of the 1st Brigade. In 1945 most of them were transferred by the Allies to the Soviets.

Currently a regiment of the Russian Ground Forces at Borzya

Borzya

Borzya is a town and the administrative center of Borzinsky District of Zabaykalsky Krai, Russia. Population: -Geography:The town is located on the Borzya River, a right-hand tributary of the Onon, southeast of Chita about from the border of Mongolia to the south, and from the border of China...

 in the Siberian Military District

Siberian Military District

The Siberian Military District was a Military district of the Russian Ground Forces. In 2010 it was divided between the two newly formed Central and Eastern Military Districts.- History :...

has the title Cossack.