Mozdok (Osset. Мæzdæg) is a city in the Republic of North Ossetia - Alania. It is the second largest city in the republic. The name of the city comes from the Kabardino-Circassian "mez degu" (mez - "forest", degu - "dense"), and in translation means "dark forest". To date, most of the Terek's floodplain forests have been cleared.
The name of the city comes from the Kabardino-Circassian "mezdegu" (mez — "forest", degu — "deaf, dense"), and in translation means "deaf (dark) forest". By now, most of the Terek floodplain forests have been reduced.
In 1757, during the reign of Peter III, the Board of Foreign Affairs
presented its opinion on "Ossetian affairs" to the Senate. The Board
expressed a negative opinion about the resettlement of Ossetians, as
this was in violation of the Belgrade Peace of 1739 with Turkey. The
Board proposed a new project for the resettlement of Ossetians,
according to which they were allocated land on the Russian border line.
A fortress design was also prepared. The Board of Foreign Affairs
proposed to name the fortress "Ossetian". According to him, the
fortification, while remaining Russian, was supposed to consist of
Ossetian Christians, immigrants from mountainous areas.
In 1759,
one of the princes of Malaya Kabarda, Kurgoka Konchokin, was baptized
(new name — Andrei Ivanov (Konchokin)) and moved with his baptized
subjects to the Mezdoga tract. From among the displaced, mainly baptized
Kabardians and Ossetians, the mountain Mozdok Cossack team was created,
numbering slightly more than 100 people.
After the palace coup in
the summer of 1762 and the accession of Catherine II, the government
began to pursue a more decisive foreign policy in the North Caucasus.
The Board of Foreign Affairs presented the report again. Now the Board
has decided to name the fortress "according to the tract". According to
the Board, the fortress was supposed to perform political and economic
functions in addition to military ones. It was proposed to forgive the
church and establish an Ossetian spiritual commission headed by Georgian
Archimandrite Pakhomiy there. The Senate has prepared a report on the
resettlement of Ossetians, Ingush and Kabardian owner Kurgoko Konchokin
to the Mozdok tract. In October 1762, the Senate sent a report to
Catherine II, which indicated the allocation of the Mozdok tract for the
settlement of the baptized Malokabardinsky Prince Kurgoko Kanchokin and
the need to build a fortress there. Catherine II instructed the
commander of the Kizlyar fortress, Major General Nikolai Potapov, to
strengthen the Mozdok tract on the Terek. The construction of the
settlement and a small fort was initially entrusted to Lieutenant
Colonel Peter Gak.
On July 17 (July 28), 1763, a detachment of
Russian troops consisting of 287 regular troops and Cossacks under the
command of Lieutenant Colonel Gak arrived at the Mozdok tract to
establish a new fortress. As V. A. Potto noted, by this act Russia laid
the "cornerstone of the conquest of the Caucasus." The construction of
the fortress was carried out from 1763 to 1765. The main population of
the forstadt at the fortress were Georgians, Circassians, Ossetians,
Armenians and Greeks.
The Kabardians, who demanded to demolish
the fortress from their land, more than once besieged and destroyed the
military fortification under construction. However, the arriving
detachments of Russian troops each time strengthened the fortress and
complicated access to it by building ditches and canals.
In 1770
Mozdok became a city.
In 1770, 517 families of Volga Cossacks
were resettled in the suburb, after which the Mozdok Cossack regiment of
the Terek army was created. Among them was Yemelyan Pugachev, who was
elected by the Cossacks as a military chieftain. Later, he was arrested
by government officials and from 1771 to 1772 was held in Mozdok prison,
from where he escaped.
In 1774, negotiations were held in Mozdok
between representatives of the Empress and the elders of the Ossetians,
as a result of which Ossetia became a subject of the Russian Empire.
In the 1780s, a highway called the Georgian Military Road was laid
between Mozdok and Tiflis (through the Vladikavkaz fortification founded
in 1784).
Mozdok was a small town, but it pulled together all the
threads of Russia's ties with the peoples of the North Caucasus, and
this was its main significance. For a long time, being the most advanced
Russian outpost to the Caucasus Mountains, Mozdok attracted the local
population who came here for the purpose of trade and in search of
protection from the oppression of their princes or the revenge of blood
relatives in their homeland. For this reason, in particular, Mozdok
differs from other cities of the North Caucasus in its diverse national
composition.
In 1778, Lieutenant General Alexander Suvorov
visited Mozdok with an inspection of the Azov-Mozdok line of
fortifications.
In 1785, the Caucasian Province was established. Mozdok fortress was
elevated to the status of a city, which was determined by the center of
one of its 6 counties — Mozdoksky.
According to 1803 data, 4097
people lived in Mozdok (without garrison troops), including Russians —
436, Armenians — 1411, Georgians — 811, Ossetians — 451, Circassians —
429. The population of the city lived in closed national communities and
strictly adhered to their customs. The communities were governed by
elected officials. It is no coincidence that the first school "for
children of Ossetians and other mountain peoples" was opened in Mozdok
in 1764, and the first Ossetian printing house was opened in 1770. The
children of elders and city owners were accepted to the school.
By the end of the XVIII century, Mozdok had become a major trading and
administrative fortress city along the entire so-called "Caucasian
Military Line" — from Azov to Kizlyar. In 1794, there were 101 trading
establishments in the fortress city. Residents of Cossack villages
brought grain, flour, vegetables to Mozdok; Ossetians — cheese, butter,
burkas, cattle, wool and other goods; mountain peoples — cattle,
handicrafts and fruits; Georgians — fruits, tobacco, tea, wine, etc.
The first quarter of the XIX century is the heyday of Mozdok. Its
trade, economic and cultural significance at this time goes beyond the
Mozdoksky district. Due to its favorable geographical location, it is
becoming one of the main economic and political centers of the North
Caucasus.
Back in 1823, the Dubinin brothers, serfs, built one of
the world's first oil refineries in Mozdok, where they began producing
kerosene from oil. The Dubinin brothers' activities did not receive the
necessary support, but the plant existed for about 20 years. During this
time, he gave many thousands of pounds of kerosene, which was exported
to different regions of Russia and even to Moscow.
Later, the
largest soap-making, distillery and other factories in the North
Caucasus at that time were built in Mozdok. Since 1799, Mozdok fairs
have been widely known among the highlanders, their existence confirming
the capitalist influence on the socio-economic life of the population of
the Caucasus with its patriarchal and tribal way of life. At the fairs,
one could meet Russian, Georgian, Azerbaijani, Armenian and other
merchants who traded a variety of industrial and agricultural goods.
Here, more actively than anywhere else in the Caucasus, there was a
trade in horses of different breeds.
The city, as an outpost in
the Caucasus, attracted many advanced people of that time. Prominent
figures of Russian culture A. S. Pushkin (his pen contains the lines:
"I'm not a rider to Mozdok anymore"), L. N. Tolstoy, M. Y. Lermontov, A.
S. Griboyedov and others stopped here on their way.
However,
Mozdok's heyday was short-lived. Due to the laying of a shorter route
from Russia to Georgia in 1825 (through the village of
Yekaterinogradskaya), that is, due to the transfer of the route from the
right bank of the Terek to the left, the economic importance of the
settlement began to fall. This was also caused by the fact that some
Ossetians moved from the mountains to the plain, and movement along the
left bank of the Terek River became less dangerous. The change in the
direction of the highway, and consequently the economic situation of the
city, has significantly undermined trade, which was once the pride of
Mozdok. In 1837, the Mozdok district chief wrote that the position of
the city was very unfavorable, since "the great highway going to Tiflis
had been moved."
From the mid-1830s Mozdok began to gradually
decline. In 1835, the Mozdok fortress was officially abolished. Its
garrison was stationed in other cities and fortresses of the Caucasus.
In the middle of the XIX century, the decline of the city's population
began to be observed. Some revival of its economic activity was observed
in the 1860s, in the first years after the abolition of serfdom.
On November 29, 1866, the provincial town of Mozdok was transferred from
the Stavropol province to the Tersk region.
In the 1870s, Mozdok
was dealt a new economic blow by the construction of the
Rostov-Vladikavkaz and Beslan—Petrovsky railway through Beslan. These
roads finally left Mozdok aside from the main cargo flows. The old
postal routes that passed through here have lost their former economic
importance, since most of the goods now began to arrive directly at
railway stations (Cool, etc.), bypassing Mozdok.
Since 1899
Mozdok has been the center of the Mozdok department of the Tersk region.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the city's population declined
again from 16,456 in 1903 to 14,655 by 1913. By this time Mozdok had
lost the importance of a city and became a settlement. At the same time,
the improvement of Mozdok was characterized as "very primitive". The
entrances and streets of the city were in a neglected state. There was
no electricity, running water, sewerage, pavements, sidewalks. The city
was illuminated by rare kerosene lanterns. Urban transport consisted of
several cabs. The only bridge across the Terek was in disrepair.
Education and health care were at a low level. There was only one real
school in the city, two parochial schools, one medical center, and two
paramedics. They all eked out a miserable existence.
In 1909, the
Vladikavkaz Railway Company began technical research on the construction
of the Cool — Mozdok — Kizlyar railway line with a transfer bridge to
Gudermes.
In 1913, the railway was laid to Mozdok. The railway
line (Cool — Mozdok — Gudermes) brought some revival to the life of
Mozdok, but it could not significantly change the economy and culture of
the city, since the First World War began in 1914.
On 25.01/07.02.1918, under the leadership of S. M. Kirov, the
First regional congress of the Terek peoples opened in Mozdok, which
played a major role in strengthening Soviet power in the national
regions of the North Caucasus. It was attended by 400 delegates. The
provisional Terek People's Council was elected (Chairman — E. S.
Bogdanov). Having been defeated, the Cossack elite left the
congress. At the suggestion of S. M. Kirov, the Congress adopted a
resolution to convene the second session of the Congress in
Pyatigorsk.
On March 18, 1920, Mozdok finally became Soviet.
In 1923, Mozdok was approved as a city within the Stavropol
Territory.
During the pre-war five-year plans, a lot of
economic activity unfolded here. By 1926, industrial production had
been completely restored. In 1930, new bridges were built across the
Terek and a narrow-gauge railway connecting Mozdok with Malgobek. In
1932, the RSU (Repair and construction department) was founded in
the city and an oil loading ramp was built, the Mayak and Iskra
brick factories were reconstructed, their total capacity increased
to 30.5 million bricks per year. Small artisans and artisans were
united in commercial cooperatives. The first small power plant with
a capacity of 100-120 thousand kilowatt-hours of electricity per
year was built. The city streets have received electric light. The
trade turnover grew rapidly. The improvement of the city developed
rapidly, the urban grove expanded, and the stadium opened. In 1936,
a cultural park named after him was laid out on the site of Aldatov
Square. Kirov and the greening area of the city was created.
During the years of the pre-war five-year plans, the cultural level
of the city has significantly increased. A number of new schools
were built, a network of kindergartens expanded, a 100-bed hospital
and a city polyclinic were opened. Despite all these achievements,
Mozdok in the pre-war years still did not reach the level of an
industrial city and cultural center that it had before.
On July 25, 1942, Wehrmacht units launched an offensive from
bridgeheads in the lower reaches of the Don. The offensive was led
by Army Group "A" (commander — Field Marshal V. List). The Soviet
troops, unable to contain the blow, retreated to the south and
southeast. On August 23, 1942, Mozdok was occupied by Nazi troops.
The occupation lasted four months.
On January 1, 1943, Soviet
troops launched an offensive operation. On the same day, the German
command, seeking to avoid encirclement of its troops in the North
Caucasus, began to withdraw them under the cover of strong
rearguards from the Mozdok area. The offensive of the Northern Group
of Troops of the Transcaucasian Front did not develop. On January 3,
Soviet units began to pursue the retreating Wehrmacht units. On
January 3, 1943, Mozdok was occupied by Soviet troops.
Mozdok
suffered a lot during the occupation period. The total damage caused
to the economy and industry of the city, according to the
calculations of the emergency district commission, amounted to more
than 81 million rubles, including housing and communal services -
over 25.5 million rubles.
It began with the restoration of
industry and urban economy. Already in 1943, all previously existing
enterprises were operating in the city.
In the spring of
1944, Mozdok was transferred from the Stavropol Territory to the
North Ossetian ASSR. On March 1, 1944, the Presidium of the Supreme
Soviet of the USSR issued a decree "On the inclusion of the city of
Mozdok in the Stavropol Territory into the North Ossetian ASSR." The
reason for this decision was stated in the document: "To satisfy the
request of the Council of People's Commissars of the North Ossetian
ASSR and the regional Committee of the CPSU (b) to include the city
of Mozdok with adjacent settlements in North Ossetia." The city
itself became the administrative center of the newly formed Mozdok
district as part of the North Ossetian ASSR. In order to ensure the
connection of the Mozdok district with the rest of the territory of
the North Ossetian ASSR, the eastern part of the Kabardino-Balkarian
ASSR was also annexed to it.
In the post-war years, a number of important new industrial
enterprises were built in Mozdok: a dairy, a bakery and others. The
economic infrastructure began to develop at a significant pace. In 1959,
the construction organization of the Selstroy system was established,
and the number of vehicles increased.
In 1960, the Tersko-Kumsky
Canal was laid 5-6 km north of Mozdok, the construction of which had a
positive impact on the city's economy, as enterprises providing the
construction and operation of the canal (PMK-2 and PMK-5, automobile
industry) were located in it.
In 1995, the 429th Motorized Rifle Regiment was stationed in the
city.
Currently, Mozdok is the third largest and most populous
city in the republic and a major center of the food industry.
The city is located on the left bank of the Terek River, in the
central part of the Mozdok district. It is located 95 km (by road) and
84 km (as the crow flies) north of the city of Vladikavkaz.
The
area of the urban settlement is 17.50 km2. From west to east, the city
has a length of about 6 km, from south to north about 6.5 km.
The
city is located in the flat forest-steppe zone of the republic. The
terrain consists of relatively flat areas. The height fluctuations are
insignificant. In the southern part of the city there is a chain of
bumpy hills. The average altitude in the city is about 130 meters above
sea level.
The coastal zone of the Terek River is occupied by
riverine forests protected by the State Forest Fund. To the south of the
city in the valley of the Terek River is Victory Park (oset. Uælachiza
bælasdon). To the south-east of the city stretches the largest forest in
the area — the Alborovsky forest (oset. Alborty bælas).
The
hydrographic network is mainly represented by the Terek River. Dammed
lakes are located south of the city in the valley of the Terek River. To
the north of the city there are canals — Tersko-Kumsky and its branch
Burunny. To the north-west of the city there is a lake — Karskoye.
The city is located in a semi-arid steppe climate zone (Cfa according to the Köppen climate classification). Summers are hot, and temperatures in July and August rise to +36°C and above. Winter is mild with average January temperatures around +1 °C...-3°C. Stable snow cover is not formed every year. Most often, snow falls for several days and melts in a short time. It is extremely rare for frosts to -20 °C, the city's infrastructure is not designed for such temperatures. The average annual precipitation is about 550 mm. In the period from April to July, there are heavy rains with hail, in August, dry winds blowing from the Caspian lowland are frequent.
Food industry enterprises: winery, meat processing plant, bakery
Pulp and paper industry: cardboard factory
Meat processing enterprise
"Bogachev's Meat Yard"
Railway station
Curtain factory — Mozdok
Patterns (JSC)
Bakery
Biopreparation Plant
The garment factory
In the district, the main role in agriculture is played by grain
cultivation, viticulture, melon farming, and beekeeping. Currently, the
economy is in complete stagnation or degradation.
The highways of regional importance "R-262" Stavropol — Mineralnye
Vody — Mozdok — Kizlyar — Krainovka and "R-296" Mozdok — Chermen —
Vladikavkaz intersect in the city.
The Mozdok railway station of the
North Caucasian Railway is located on the territory of the city.
Public transport and taxis run inside the city.
Intracity — buses
(3 routes):
№ 1, № 2 (102), № 3 (103), № 4 (104), № 5, № 6 (106), №
7, № 8 (108), № 9, № 10, № 111, № 112, № 113, № 114, № 115.
n the north-west of Mozdok, in the immediate vicinity of the city, there is a military airfield (strategic aviation base of the Russian Air Force), which was actively used during the first Chechen war and the anti-terrorist operation in Syria.
12 secondary schools,
20 kindergartens,
Mozdok branch of
Vladikavkaz Mountain State Agrarian University,
Glinka Children's
Music School,
Art School
Mozdok Museum of Local Lore
Mozdok
Children's Art School,
Children's and Youth Sports School No. 1
Children's and Youth sports School No. 2
Mozdok centralized library
system, which includes 4 urban and 21 rural libraries.
Mozdok
Agricultural and Industrial College
Mozdok Mechanical and
Technological college "Quantorium"
The Russian Orthodox Church
Assumption of St. Nicholas Church
(oset. Madymair of the Dzuar Family). The former temple of the Armenian
community
Chapel in honor of the Holy Great Martyr and healer
Panteleimon at the district hospital. Chapel in honor of the Kazan Icon
of the Mother of God. It was built in 2004 on the territory of the
hospital that was blown up in 2003
Islam
There are two mosques
in the city
Presbyterian Christian Church
Church-parish in
Mozdok
Evangelical Christians
Church-parish in Mozdok