Cossack raids

Cossack raids
Part of the Crimean–Nogai slave raids in Eastern Europe and Cossack naval campaigns
Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks by Ilya Repin
Date c. 1492 – 1774 (282 years) Location Crimea, Budjak, Anatolia, lower Dnieper, western Don region, eastern Danube Result Cossack victory Territorial changes Devastation of lands targeted by Cossack raids Deterrence of Tatar raids Significant depopulation of the Crimean Khanate Colossal economic and military damage to the Ottoman Empire
Belligerents
Zaporozhian Cossacks Don Cossacks Supported by: Russia (From 1547)[1] Tsardom of Russia (1547–1721) Russian Empire (1721–1774) Kalmyk Khanate Moldavian opposition	Crimean Khanate Nogai Horde Ottoman Empire Supported by: Moldavia Wallachia

The Cossack raids largely developed as a reaction to the Crimean–Nogai slave raids in Eastern Europe, which began in 1441 and lasted until 1774. From c. 1492 onwards, the Cossacks (the Zaporozhian Cossacks of southern Ukraine and the Don Cossacks of southern Russia) conducted regular military offensives into the lands of the Crimean Khanate, the Nogai Horde, and the Ottoman Empire, where they would free enslaved Christians before returning home with a significant amount of plunder and Muslim slaves.^[2] Though difficult to calculate, the level of devastation caused by the Cossack raids is roughly estimated to have been on par with that of the Crimean–Nogai slave raids.^[3]