Groznyi

a city and capital of the Chechen-Ingush ASSR (center of Groznyï Oblast between 1944 and 1957), situated in the Sunzha valley and on the slopes of the adjacent hills. It is a railroad station on the Rostov-on-Don-Baku line and a highway junction. Population, 349,000 (1971); 15,600(1897); 30,400 (1913); 71,000 (1926); 172,000 (1939). The third largest city in population (after Rostov-on-Don and Krasnodar) in the Northern Caucasus.

Groznyi began as the Russian fortress of Groznaia in 1818 when the Sunzha defense line was built. In December 1869, the fortress, having lost its military significance, was renamed the city of Groznyï. The railroad from Beslan to Petrovsk-Port (present-day Makhachkala) passed through Groznyï in 1893. A strong oil gusher was struck near the city in 1893, which marked the beginnings of an oil industry.

Groznyi became a major industrial and proletarian center of the Northern Caucasus early in the 20th century. The workers took an active part in the Revolution of 1905–07. Two oil fields, the old and the new (opened in 1912), had developed by 1917, and oil refineries, an iron foundry, and machine shops were also in operation. The Bolsheviks (with N. A. Anisimov as head of the party organization) established Soviet power in the city on Oct. 26 (Nov. 8), 1917. From Aug. 11 through Nov. 12, 1918, there were desperate battles with the counterrevolutionary cossacks, which ended with the triumph of the workers; the Chechen poor and the toiling cossacks of the villages along the Sunzha also fought for the power of the Soviets. The struggle went down in history as the “hundred-day battles.” During the occupation by Denikin’s troops (Feb. 4, 1919-Mar. 17, 1920), the underground Bolshevik organization was in operation. By a resolution of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee dated Feb. 26, 1924, the city was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for the heroic participation of the working people of Groznyï in the armed struggle against the south-Russian counter-revolution between 1918 and 1920 and for subsequent work in restoring the Groznyï oil industry. In 1931 the Groznyï Oil Trust was awarded the Order of Lenin for meeting the first five-year plan in 2½ years. The city and its industries suffered considerable damage by the fascist German air force in the summer of 1942. Groznyi’s oil industry was completely restored during the first postwar five-year plan (1946–50).

Groznyi’s key industries are the oil extraction, oil refining, and electric power industries, the chemical industry (including the production of acetylene, phenol, synthetic alcohol, polyethylene, and synthetic tannin), the machine-building industry, and the food industry (including canning, wine-making and the production of brandy, a creamery, and a meat combine). There is also light industry (clothing and footwear), the production of building materials, and woodworking. Groznyï is linked to the oil fields by oil-and-gas pipelines. Gas pipelines have been built from Groznyï to Stavropol’ and Voznesenskaia. In 1970 Groznyi’s industries accounted for more than 72 percent of the republic’s entire industrial output—an output 65 times that of 1913. The city has petroleum and pedagogical institutes, nine secondary special educational institutions (including a polytechnicum and petroleum and chemical engineering technicums), two drama theaters (national and Russian), a puppet theater, and a philharmonic. It also has a museum of regional studies, a fine arts museum, and a television center.