Cossacks: European Wars

Windows2000

  1. JP—
  2. NA2001
  3. EU2000
  4. RU—

Cossacks: European Wars first came out in Ukraine as Козаки: Європейські війни, and in Russia as Казаки: Европейские войны. Today it is sold on Steam (English only) and on GOG as part of Cossacks Anthology.

Cossacks: European Wars is a real-time strategy game by the Ukrainian studio GSC Game World, first released in Ukraine on November 28, 2000. CDV brought it to the UK on March 30, 2001 and to North America on April 24, 2001, and Russobit-M published the Russian edition.

The game covers 17th- and 18th-century European wars, from the Thirty Years' War to the War of the Austrian Succession. It has 16 playable nations with their own buildings, technologies and units, six resources and a tech tree of more than 300 upgrades. There is no unit limit, and formations need exactly 15, 36, 72, 120 or 196 soldiers of one type plus an officer and a drummer.

The expansions The Art of War (April 1, 2002) and Back to War (October 18, 2002) followed. The series passed one million copies by the end of 2002 and 2.5 million by early 2005.1

Names and releases

RegionTitle on the boxPlatformDatePublisherSrc
NA Cossacks: European Wars Windows Apr 24, 2001 — 1
EU Козаки: Європейські війниUkraine. Windows Nov 28, 2000 — 1
EU Cossacks: European WarsUK. Windows Mar 30, 2001 CDV Software Entertainment 1
WW Cossacks: European WarsSteam; English only. Windows Aug 26, 2011 GSC World Publishing 2

Also known as: Козаки: Європейські війни EU1Казаки: Европейские войны RU3

Version differences

  • Bug fixretail USretail EUretail RU/UA

    Retail copy protection depends on the region: SafeDisc in the US, CopyLok in Europe and StarForce in the Russian and Ukrainian versions.4

  • TextSteam

    The Steam edition lists English as its only language.2

Translations

  • English Official

    CDV Software Entertainment2001Windows · originalReleased

    The English version came out in the UK on March 30, 2001 and in North America on April 24, 2001.1

  • Russian Official

    Russobit-MWindows · originalReleased

    Russobit-M published the Russian edition.3

Where to play legally today

  • GOG Purchase

    Cossacks Anthology

    Windows

    Checked: 2026-10-135gog.com

  • Steam Purchase

    Cossacks: European Wars

    Windows; English only

    Checked: 2026-10-132store.steampowered.com

How to run it today

Buy the game on Steam or GOG. SafeDisc-protected retail discs do not work on Windows 10 or 11. If the game crashes at startup or shows a blank menu, PCGamingWiki suggests removing the Video folder, adding cnc-ddraw to the game folder and running dmcr.exe as administrator. If it runs too fast, turn on Slow Mode and lower the game speed. GameSpy online services have shut down.

4

Reception

Metacritic 74/100, GameRankings 78%. By December 2001 it had sold over 300,000 copies in Russia and about 100,000 in the UK, where it reached number one, and it passed 650,000 worldwide by September 2002.1

In lists

Sources

  1. 1en.wikipedia.org
  2. 2store.steampowered.com
  3. 3ru.wikipedia.org
  4. 4pcgamingwiki.com
  5. 5catalog.gog.com

Checked: 2026-10-13Text reviewed: 2026-10-13

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