Sich Cossack (mercenary)

Sich Cossack (mercenary) is a fast cavalry unit in Cossacks 3, available at the Diplomatic Center. They're the only fast cavalry in the mercenary crew.

Background
Cossacks were the core of the Ukrainian army. They were formed at the time when Ukraine was under Polish rule. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Ukrainian Cossacks comprised several divisions. First of all there was the hetman's army. Then there was the army of Zaporizhzhya (the Sich Cossacks), a number of regional Cossack regiments (in the regions of Sumy, Kharkiv, Ochtyr, Izyum and Ostrog), and regiments of the right-bank Ukraine (which was a part of Poland).

The hetman's army was made up mainly of the Register Cossack regiments of Kiev, Mirgorod, Priluki, Pereyasliv, Nizhyn, Hadyatch, Lubyan, Starodub and Chernihiv. There were also mercenary regiments. The strength of each regiment was different (from 400 to 700 units). Regiments were divided into hundreds commanded by a hundred master and the starshina (his staff included a yessaul, an obozny and a cornet). A hundred comprised several kurens with a kuren ataman in command. Cossacks were armed with various weapons - scimitars, muskets, pistols, bows, daggers, maces and six-blade maces. They used both oriental and West European weapons, but usually had no armour.