Everyone knows about the fun of Russian officers of the 19th century called “Russian roulette”. Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov was the first to describe this tradition in the work “A Hero of Our Time”. However, compared to roulette, cuckoo is a completely different level. Briefly, this fun could be characterized by a famous quote about dementia and courage, and here's why.
Before starting a story about the Russian officer's game of cuckoo, it is worth going from afar and clarifying some things using an example that would seem to be very far from the issue under discussion. In 2005, retired US Marine Nathaniel Fick wrote the book One Bullet Away. In this book, Fick describes not only his trip to Iraq in 2003, but also the features of the US Marines. In particular, from the book one can learn a lot of interesting things about the moral and ideological character of young people going to serve in the corps. Highly recommended reading first of all for those who still believe that Americans "do not fight without hamburgers." Just like the book "Generation Kill" ("Generation of killers", there is a series of the same name), written by American journalist Evan Wright, together with Nathaniel Fick, dedicated to the same marine US infantry.
What does all this have to do with the game of Russian officers of the 19th century? The most direct. In both books, the idea that "a marine is forbidden to die" appears repeatedly. Because a dead Marine is a bad Marine. Moreover, in the corps, the idea is naturally cultivated in the minds of young people that they are not quite people, but the property of the state. Property, for the "production" of which a lot of money was spent. Therefore, the Marines have the right to “die” only by order. So, when it comes to Russian officers of the 19th century, on the Internet there is an idea that the game of “Cuckoo” is some special manifestation of courage and military prowess, which Russians have been famous for from century to century warriors. You might think that other peoples do not differ in courage. I must say a very dangerous jingoistic delusion - to underestimate a possible enemy.
So, the cuckoo game. For the first time this "wonderful" officer tradition was described by the Russian general and remarkable publicist Dmitry Nikolaevich Logofet in the book "On the Borders of Central Asia". The future general learned about the game during a trip to Turkmenistan from one of the local captains. Looking ahead, Dmitry Nikolayevich condemned the game of cuckoo in every possible way. At the same time, already in the time of Logothet, the locals, including the Yesaul who told the general the rules of the game, justified this fun in every possible way. Like, she brings up courage! But here it’s just right to ask: were there only weak-willed cowards in the Russian army before the appearance of the “cuckoo”? Somehow, even without wild games to the death, Russian servicemen went into cavalry attacks, and went under cannons, and climbed into fortress breaches under musket volleys.
The rules of the cuckoo as a whole are extremely simple. A group of officers is stuffed into some dark room for the night. He sits down in the corners and behind the shelters, after which one officer begins to "cuckoo". Everyone else fires their revolvers at the "cuckoo" sound. Very often in such amusements someone died. Even more often, people were injured. Dmitry Nikolaevich Logofet himself wrote that the cuckoo inflicts more damage on the officers of the Turkmen garrisons than local raids. Even if Logothetes was exaggerating, it is quite clear that this form of "entertainment" did not lead to anything good and did undermine the combat effectiveness of the garrisons.
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Why did Russian officers play cuckoo? No one questions the courage and remove the Russian soldier and officer (one might think that other peoples in the army are honored to be not brave and not daring). However, the cuckoo, like the much more famous Russian roulette, is an extreme form of entertainment in those duty stations where no officer wants to be - to hell on the horns. Namely, in distant garrisons. There are no decent girls to court, no theaters, no salons. Only camels, vodka, and locals, most often speaking almost no Russian. It is important to understand that the military at the same time are people with a rather specific mentality. Sitting still for many of them and doing nothing is especially a burden. And therefore, when the service rolls into a routine, all kinds of excesses and decay begin: hazing, drunkenness and entertainment like the "cuckoo".
An officer is a qualified specialist, albeit often with a rather specific education / set of skills. A dead officer is a bad officer. Especially if the bullet in his head was driven not by an insidious enemy, but by himself. Therefore, there is no need to replace the concepts in relation to "Russian roulette" and "cuckoo", to romanticize an openly wild form of hazing, and to call courage - outright stupidity. Because an officer is the “property” of the state, no matter how strange it may sound.
In continuation of the topic, read about what edged weapons in the Russian imperial army was considered useless.
Source: https://novate.ru/blogs/030622/63180/