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Grozny (, ; ) is the capital city of Chechnya, Russia.
The city lies on the Sunzha River. According to the 2021 census, it had a population of 328,533 — up from 210,720 recorded in the 2002 census, but still less than the 399,688 recorded in the 1989 census. It was previously known as Groznaya (until 1870).
In 1996, during the First Chechen War, the authorities of the Chechen republic of Ichkeria renamed the city Dzhokhar-Ghala (), literally Dzhokhar City, or Dzhokhar/Djohar for short, after Dzhokhar Dudayev, the first president of the republic, was killed by Russia. In December 2005, the Chechen parliament voted to rename the city Akhmad-Ghala (), after Akhmad Kadyrov)RIA Novosti. City of Grozny. Reference Information – a proposition which was rejected by his son Ramzan Kadyrov, the prime minister at the time and later president of the republic.RIA Novosti. Путин считает закрытой тему переименования города Грозного ( Putin Considers the Proposal to Rename the City of Grozny Closed)
Russian poets Alexander Griboedov, Alexander Polezhayev, Mikhail Lermontov, the classic of Russian literature Leo Tolstoy, the Decembrist and writer Alexander Bestuzhev and other famous figures of Russian culture visited the fortress. After the annexation of the region by the Russian Empire, the military use of the old fortress was obsolete and on it was granted town status and renamed Grozny, as the word town, "город", is masculine in Russian. As most of the residents there were Terek Cossacks, the town grew slowly until the development of petroleum reserves in the early 20th century. The founder of the Nobel Prize, Alfred Nobel, took part in the development of the oil industry of the city of Grozny, as well as members of the Rothschild family. In addition to the Nobels and Rothschilds, British companies played an important role in the oil industry from 1893 onward. Alfred Stuart, an English engineer, completed the first well in Grozny by drilling in 1893 the largest oil field in the Caucasus region outside the Baku district. (1999). 9780275963958, Praeger. ISBN 9780275963958
Eleven firms drilled 116 wells before 1900. This encouraged the rapid development of industry and petrochemical production. In addition to the oil drilled in the city itself, the city became a geographical centre of Russia's network of , and in 1893 became part of the Transcaucasia–Russia-proper railway. The result was the population almost doubled from 15,600 in 1897 to 30,400 in 1913. In early 1914, the then largest oil company, Royal Dutch Shell, was established in the city thus making Grozny one of the largest industrial centres of the Caucasus. During the Russian Empire, the city was the administrative capital of the Groznensky Okrug of the Terek Oblast.
On 30 November 1922, the mountain republic was dissolved, and the national okrug became the Chechen Autonomous Oblast (Chechen AO) with Grozny as the administrative centre. At this time most of the population was still Russian, but of Cossacks descent. As Cossacks were viewed as a potential threat to the Soviet nation, Moscow actively encouraged the migration of Chechens into the city from the mountains. In 1934 the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Oblast was formed, becoming the Chechen-Ingush ASSR in 1936.
Due to its oil, Grozny with Maikop were the main strategic objectives of the German Fall Blau operation in summer of 1942 ( See Battle of the Caucasus).
The failure to take Grozny was a major defeat for Germany and was a factor in holding fast at the Battle of Stalingrad, as that city could have served as a base from which to take Grozny or cut off oil supplies up the Volga River from Astrakhan. The failure to prioritize Grozny, even transferring critical Panzer divisions north to the Siege of Leningrad, was a major factor in Adolf Hitler taking operational level control of the Wehrmacht from his generals who had repeatedly prioritized the two major cities over the oil supplies – against Hitler's express orders. Soviet doctrine however never failed to prioritize the food of Ukraine nor the oil of the Caucasus, which resulted in drastic action after Germany's expulsion/retreat in 1943.
In 1944, the entire population of Chechens and Ingush was deported after being falsely accused of collaborating with Case Blue of Nazi Germany. Large numbers of people who were not deemed fit for transport were "liquidated" on the spot, "The Soviet War against 'Fifth Columnists': The Case of Chechnya, 1942–1944" by Jeffrey Burds , p.39 and the adverse situation with transport and the stay in Siberia caused many deaths as well.Dunlop, John. Russia Confronts Chechnya: The Roots of a Separatist Conflict. Pages 67–69Bugai, Nikolai Fedorovich. The Truth about the Deportation of the Chechen and Ingush People. Printed in English in Soviet Studies in History, Fall 1991. Originally in Russian in Voprosy istorii, June 1990. According to internal NKVD data, a total of 144,704 died in 1944–1948 alone (death rate of 23.5% per all groups).Wood, Tony. Chechnya: The Case for Independence. page 37-38 Authors such as Alexander Nekrich, John Dunlop and Moshe Gammer, based on census data from the period estimate a death toll of about 170,000–200,000 among Chechens alone,Nekrich, Punished PeoplesDunlop. Russia Confronts Chechnya, pp 62–70Gammer. Lone Wolf and the Bear, pp166-171 thus ranging from over a third of the total Chechen population that was deported to nearly half dying during those four years (rates for other groups for those four years hover around 20%). All traces of them in the city, including books and graveyards,[4] were destroyed by the NKVD troops. The act was recognized by the European Parliament as an act of genocide in 2004. Chechnya: European Parliament recognizes the genocide of the Chechen People in 1944, 27 February 2004
Grozny became the administrative centre of Grozny Oblast of the Russian SFSR, and the city at the time was again wholly Russian. In 1957, the Chechen-Ingush ASSR was restored, and the Chechens were allowed to return. The return of the Chechens to Grozny, which had been lacking of Nakh peoples for thirteen years, would cause massive disruptions to the social, economic and political systems of what had been a Russian city for the period until their return. This caused a self-feeding cycle of ethnic conflict between the two groups, both believing the other's presence in the city was illegitimate. Once again migration of non-Russians into Grozny continued whilst the ethnic Russian population, in turn, moved to other parts of the USSR, notably the Baltic states, after inter-ethnic conflict broke out briefly in 1958.
According to sociologist Georgy Derluguyan, the Checheno-Ingush Republic's economy was divided into two spheres – much like French settler-ruled Algeria – and the Russian sphere had all the jobs with higher salaries, while non-Russians were systematically kept out of all government positions. Russians (as well as Ukrainians and Armenians) worked in education, health, oil, machinery, and social services. Non-Russians (excluding Ukrainians and Armenians) worked in agriculture, construction, a long host of undesirable jobs, as well as the so-called "informal sector" (i.e. illegal, due to the mass discrimination in the legal sector).
At the same time a great deal of development occurred in the city. Like many other Soviet cities, the Stalinist style of architecture was prevalent during this period, with apartments in the centre as well as administrative buildings including the massive Council of Ministers and the Grozny University buildings being constructed in Grozny. Later projects included the high-rise apartment blocks prominent in many Soviet cities, as well as a city airport. In 1989, the population of the city was almost 400,000 people.
This view is disputed by authors, such as Russian economists Boris Lvin and Andrei Illarionov, who argue that Russian emigration from the area was no more intense than in other regions of Russia at the time.Boris Lvin and Andrei Illarionov. Moscow News. February 24- March 2, 1995 According to this view of the ethnic situation in Ichkeria, the primary cause of Russian emigration was the extensive bombing of Grozny (where four out of five, or nearly 200,000 Russians in Chechnya lived before the war) by the Russian military during the First Chechen War.Carlotta Gall and Thomas de Waal. Pages 197, 227
The covert Russian attempts of overthrowing Dudayev by means of armed Chechen opposition forces resulted in repeated failed assaults on the city. Originally, Moscow had been backing the political opposition of "peacefully" (i.e. without supplying the opposition with weapons and encouraging them to try a coup). However, this changed in 1994, after the coups in neighbouring Georgia and Azerbaijan (both of which Moscow was involved with), when Russia encouraged armed opposition, and occasionally assisted. In August 1994 Avturkhanov attacked Grozny, but was repelled first by Chechen citizens who were then joined by Grozny government troops; Russian helicopters covered his retreat.Carlotta Gall and Thomas De Waal. Small Victorious War. p151-2 On 28 September, one of these helicopters was shot down and its Russian pilot was held as a prisoner-of-war by the Chechen government.Carlotta Gall and Thomas De Waal. Small Victorious War. p151 The last assault, on 26 November 1994, ended with capture of 21 Russian Army tank crew membersCarlotta Gall and Thomas De Waal. Chechnya:Calamity in the Caucasus.Pages 155–157 who had secretly been hired as mercenary by the FSK (former KGB, not long after renamed FSB); their capture was sometimes cited as one of the reasons for Boris Yeltsin's decision to openly intervene. In the meantime, Grozny airport and other targets were bombed by unmarked Russian aircraft.
Chechen guerrilla units operating from nearby mountains managed to harass and demoralize the Russian Army by means of guerilla tactics and raids, such as the attack on Grozny in March 1996, which added to political and public pressure for a withdrawal of Russian troops. In August 1996, a raiding force of 1,500 to 3,000 militants recaptured the city in a surprise attack. They surrounded and routed its entire garrison of 10,000 MVD troops, while fighting off the Russian Army units from the Khankala base. The battle ended with a final ceasefire and Grozny was once again in the hands of Chechen separatists. The name was changed to Djohar in 1997 by the President of the separatist Ichkeria republic, Aslan Maskhadov. By this time most of the remaining Russian minority had fled.
The final seizure of the city was set in early February 2000, when the Russian military lured the besieged militants to a promised safe passage. Seeing no build-up of forces outside, the militants agreed. One day prior to the planned evacuation, the Russian Army mined the path between the city and the village of Alkhan-Kala and concentrated most firepower on that point. As a result, both the city mayor and military commander were killed; a number of other prominent separatist leaders were also killed or wounded. Afterwards, the Russians slowly entered the empty city and on 6 February raised the Russian flag in the centre. Many buildings and even whole areas of the city were systematically destroyed. A month later, it was declared safe to allow the residents to return to their homes, although demolition continued for some time. In 2003, the United Nations called Grozny the most destroyed city on Earth, with not a single building left undamaged.
Although most of the city's infrastructure was destroyed during the war, the city's sewage, water, electricity and heating systems have since been repaired, along with of roads, 13 bridges and some 900 shops. The Glittering New Face Of The Once War-Torn Capital Of Chechnya Retrieved on April 23, 2012 Before the war, Grozny had about 79,000 apartments, and the city authorities expected to be able to restore about 45,000 apartments; the rest were in buildings that were completely destroyed.
Railway connection was restored in 2005, and Grozny Airport was reopened in 2007 with three weekly flights to Moscow. In 2009 the IAC gave Grozny's Severny airport the international certificate after checking and evaluating the airport's airworthiness. On 16 November 2009, the airport had its first international flight, taking pilgrims on Hajj to Saudi Arabia via a Boeing 747. International Certificate goes to Grozny Airport
After four years of construction, the Akhmad Kadyrov Mosque was formally opened to the public on 16 October 2008, and is one of the largest mosques in Europe. In 2009, the city of Grozny was honoured by the UN Human Settlements Program for transforming the war-scarred city and providing new homes for thousands.
The main objects of the cultural life of Grozny are About Grozny:
With the outbreak of the First Chechen War both transport services stopped operation in November 1994. During the destructive battles, the tram tracks were blocked or damaged, and cars and buses were turned into barricades. The trolleybus system was luckier, as most of its equipment, including the depot, survived the war. In 1996 it was visited by specialists from the Vologda Trolleybus Company, who repaired some of the lines, with services planned to restart in 1997. However, after specialists left, most of the equipment was stolen. The surviving buses were transported to Volzhsky where they were repaired and used on the new trolleybus system there.
After the Second Chechen War, little of the infrastructure of either system was left. The Ministry of Transport of the Chechen Republic, created in 2002, decided not to rebuild the tram system (considered too expensive and no longer meeting the city's needs, as it had by then lost half of its population). Rebuilding of the trolleybus system, however, is still under consideration.
In the same year the Delisamokat provided the city with 120 electric scooters and some scooter stations.
The city is also home to the Fort Grozny motor racing circuit, which opened in 2015.
Former twin towns:
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