Picture[s in Cossack uniform]

[AlexeiLVR]

Can anyone please post pictures of Alexei wearing a Cozak uniform?

Thank you!

[lostfan]

Ooooh, how sweet He looks positively adorable in Cossack uniform. Does anyone know what color Cossack uniforms normally were?

[DanielB]

Cossack uniforms were of different colors. Lisa’s link isn’t working so I don’t know which uniform Alexei is wearing, but I would guess it’s the one from the Emperor’s Own Cossack Escort, with a long red “Circassian”coat with a special Caucasian gold and silver braid (for officers), a white shirt and tall black Astrakhan wool cap. This was the dress uniform, worn with silver epaulettes: http://www.xenophongi.org/rusarmy/shenk/shenk6bs.htm

The ordinary dress was dark blue with a red shirt and shoulder boards instead.

Some Cossack cavalry regiments (the ones from the Caucasus) had a similar pattern uniform, with a long wool coat, either dark brown or black, with shirts of various colors. For example: http://www.xenophongi.org/rusarmy/shenk/shenk26bs.htm

There were other Cossack regiments though, from the Ural, the Don, the Steppes, Siberia, etc. which had a different uniform than the regiments from the Caucasus and wore a shorter buttonless tunic (various colors) with silver braid (for officers). The were 3 regiments of that type in the Guards: His Majesty’s Guard Cossacks (red tunic), H.I.H. the Heir Tsesarevich’s Own Atamansky Guard Cossacks (light blue tunic) and the Combined Guard Cossacks (formed with the Ural Cossack squadron - raspberry tunic - and detachments from some other Cossack regiments which had orange-yellow tunics).  Ural Squadron officer seen here (with ordinary dark blue dress on the left) : http://www.xenophongi.org/rusarmy/shenk/shenk8as.htm

The Line regiments (not belonging to the Guards) had identical tunics, either dark blue or dark green, with various piping colors. Here is a Don Cossack regiment: http://www.xenophongi.org/rusarmy/shenk/shenk25as.htm


During the War, all Cossacks wore field uniforms of various shades of grey or khaki green instead of bright colors. Here’s an example of the uniform worn by regimenst from the Caucasus: http://www.xenophongi.org/rusarmy/shenk/shenk26gs.htm
Tsar Nicholas II and Alexis often wore a similar uniform at Stavka.  

I have a few color prints of Alexis in Cossack uniforms I will try to post later.

[DanielB]

Here’s an old postcard with Alexis in His Majesty’s Own Cossack Escort uniform (dress order)

[DanielB]

Here's the Tsarevich's own uniform:



And here are nice toy soldiers: the Tsarevich in the same uniform with his father wearing the uniform of His Majesty's Guard Cossack Regiment (before 1910)

[DanielB]

The Empress with 2 of her Cossack bodyguards...the Tsar and Tsarevich in the Cossack Escort ("Konvoi" in Russian) ordinary uniform (dark blue coat, red shirt)


Alexis in the same uniform, sometime later, probably during the War

[DanielB]

As Ataman (Chief) of all Cossack Troops, the Tsarevich had his own Guards' Cossack Regiment: His Imperial Highness the Heir Tsesarevich’s Atamansky Cossack Guards Regiment, of which he was named Colonel-in-Chief at birth. I Haven’t yet seen any photo of him wearing his Own regiment's uniform but I have 2 color prints of him wearing his regiment’s dress uniform. Time as altered the shade of blue.

Here he wears an earlier pattern (1882-1910):


And here is a painting of him wearing the new uniform pattern introduced in Autumn 1910 which remained unchanged until the Revolution. Too bad he looks somewhat sickly…

[DanielB]

The Tsarevich was also enrolled in a number of regiments which had his father as Colonel-in-Chief. Here’s an official photo of them wearing the parade uniform of the 1st Ural Sotnia (Squadron) of  the Combined Cossack Guards’ Regiment (raspberry tunic, dark blue pants). It was taken in Tsarskoe Selo in the spring of 1913.  The stairs in font of the Alexander Palace were used to hide the fact that the Tsarevich still couldn’t bend his left knee after what happened in Spala.


Here is a “behind the scene” photo, taken on the balcony. A series of photo was taken there but none seems to have been published (only some taken in front of the Palace). A wheelchair can be seen on the photo: although his mother sometimes used one, I think that this one for Alexis   .


The Tsarevich's uniform shown on these photos has survived. Here it is:

[Lisa]

 Alexis in the uniform of theLife-Guards Atamanskiy Regiment

[Lisa]

Alexis - the Hetman of the all Cossacks troops

[Lisa]

I'm sorry Daniel, here is the picture:

[DanielB]

Hi Lisa,

You made my heart stop for a second  while the 1st photo you posted was loading…   at last a photo of Alexis wearing the uniform of “his” Atamansky Regiment!!…    But, alas,  he isn’t  :  It’s not even a Cossack regiment, but the Imperial Family Rifle Guards Battalion (Regiment since May 1910), easily recognizable because of it’s unique Russian peasant type uniform and its headdress inspired by the Polish “konfederatka”.
http://www.xenophongi.org/rusarmy/shenk/shenk2hs.htm

Nicholas II is often seen wearing their summer uniform (the long raspberry silk shirt without the tunic) and, during the War – and in captivity -  their khaki field uniform.

As for your other photos showing the Hetman of all Cossack Troops, in both photos, Alexis can be seen wearing the uniform of His Majesty’s Own Cossack Escort (the “Konvoi”). The title of  Hetman (or Ataman) didn’t come with any special uniform, although one could say that it was the Life-Guards Atamansky Regiment’s uniform (which of course means "the Ataman’s regiment”), and of which the Heir to the Throne and Ataman of all Cossack Troops was colonel-in-chief until he ascended the Throne. Since I have never seen either Alexis’ uniform nor any photos of him wearing an Atamansky Regiment’s uniform, I make the following hypothesis: he hadn’t yet received any but would have for his 16th birthday, when he would have been sworn in as Heir to the Throne and officer. By tradition (since 1834) , the Heir wore the Atamansky Regiment’s uniform at his ceremony of majority and held its regimental standard while being sworn in as officer.  I would gladly stand – at attention - to be corrected if anyone finds a photo buried in some archive or the uniform itself!

[Lisa]

Thank you Daniel for all this interresiting informations! I just reput the legends of the photos I posted, so I can't assume them!
I'm sorry for the Atamansky regiment, but I'll search for it!

[Lisa]

I think you hypothesis is good, I found this photo of Nicholas about 1889 in the Atamansky regiment uniform, as tsarevitch:

[DanielB]

Hi again Lisa,

You are right about the uniform worn by Nicholas II while he was Tsesarevich: it is the Atamansky Regiment. My hypothesis about the 16th birthday present is valid only for Alexis though and I didn’t intend it to be understood as being a tradition. In Marvin Lyons’ book about Nicholas II there is a photo of the future Nicholas II taken when he became Tsesasevich in 1881: he is wearing the older frogged tunic of the Atamansky, with a headdress which changed in July 1881 (meaning that the photo was taken between March and July 1881, so Nicholas would have been 12 or 13 years old at the time).

Same book shows a photo of Alexis receiving a deputation from the Atamansky regiment. The regiment’s C.O. is wearing the 1910 pattern uniform, but their Chief the Tsarevich is wearing a…sailor’s uniform, which only adds fuel to my hypothesis: surely, he would have worn the regiment’s uniform for such an occasion…if he had one that is. Still only a hypothesis though…although I find it quite strange he got uniforms from his other regiments and even some of his father’s regiments, such as the Konvoi, His Majesty’s Life-Guard Cossacks and the Life-Guard Ural Sotnia, but that he would not have received one from his own Cossack regiment  :-/. So, keep looking for photos!