Development of the Crimean economy since the mid-18th century. Death in Rhodes

CHAPTER X Russia in the 18th century The 18th century was a turning point in the history of Russia. The complex and highly contradictory process of Russia's development towards early XVIII V. set urgent tasks for the country in the economic, social, political and cultural spheres of life, which

history of Crimea, history of Crimea Wikipedia
The Crimean Peninsula, due to its geographical location and unique natural conditions, has been a crossroads of maritime transit routes since ancient times.

From this period, the name Tavrika was assigned to the peninsula, which came from the name of the ancient Taurian tribes that inhabited the southern part of Crimea. The modern name “Crimea” began to be widely used only after the 13th century, presumably from the name of the city “Kyrym”, which, after the capture of the Northern Black Sea region by the Mongols, was the residence of the governor of the Khan of the Golden Horde. It is also possible that the name "Crimea" came from the Perekop Isthmus (the Russian word "perekop" is a translation of the Turkic word "qirim", which means "ditch"). Since the 15th century, the Crimean peninsula began to be called Tavria, and after its annexation to Russia in 1783 - Tavrida. The entire Northern Black Sea region - the northern coast of the Black and Azov Seas with the adjacent steppe territories - received this name.

The first people appeared on the Crimean land about one hundred thousand years ago. Short warm winter and long sunny summer, rich plant and animal world Crimea allowed the tribes and peoples who had settled on its lands since ancient times to engage in hunting, beekeeping and fishing, cattle breeding and agriculture. The presence of a large number of iron ore deposits on the peninsula contributed to the development of crafts, metallurgy, and mining. In different historical periods, Crimea was inhabited by Tauris and Cimmerians, Scythians and Greeks, Sarmatians and Romans, Goths, Huns, Avars, Bulgarians, Khazars, Slavs, Pechenegs, Cumans, Karaites, Mongols and Crimean Tatars, Italians and Turks.

From the end of the 15th century, coastal cities and the mountainous part of Crimea became part of the Ottoman Empire. The rest of the peninsula was owned by the Crimean Khanate, a vassal of the Ottoman Empire. The Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774 ended Ottoman rule over the Crimea, and the Treaty of Küçük-Kaynardzhi of 1774 saw the Ottomans renounce their claims to the peninsula.

In 1783, the Crimean Peninsula was annexed to the Russian Empire. During the Russian Civil War (1917-1922), the Crimean Peninsula became the last stronghold of the White movement. During Soviet times, Crimea was part of the RSFSR; in 1954, by decision of the Soviet leadership, it was transferred to the Ukrainian SSR. Since 1992 it has been part of Ukraine. In March 2014, as a result of the all-Crimean referendum, Crimea de facto became part of the Russian Federation.

• 1 Prehistoric period
  • 1.1 Paleolithic and Mesolithic
  • 1.2 Neolithic and Chalcolithic
  • 1.3 Bronze and early Iron Age
• 2 Antiquity
• 3 Middle Ages
• 4 Crimean Khanate and Ottoman Empire
• 5 XVIII century
• 6 Joining the Russian Empire
• 7 Crimean War
• 8 Crimea at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries
• 9 Crimea in the Civil War
• 10 Crimea as part of the USSR
  • 10.1 Crimea in the Great Patriotic War
  • 10.2 composition of the Ukrainian SSR: 1954-1991
• 11 composition of independent Ukraine
• 12 Political crisis 2014. Joining the Russian Federation
• 13 Population of Crimea in the 18th-21st centuries
• 14 Notes
• 15 Literature
• 16 Links
• 17 See also

Prehistoric period

Paleolithic and Mesolithic

The oldest traces of hominid habitation on the territory of Crimea date back to the Middle Paleolithic - this is a Neanderthal site in the Kiik-Koba cave, 100 thousand years old. Much later, during the Mesolithic era, the Cro-Magnons settled in Crimea (Murzak-Koba).

According to the Ryan-Pitman hypothesis, up to the 6th millennium BC. e. the territory of Crimea did not represent a peninsula, but was a fragment of a larger land mass, which included, in particular, the territory of modern Sea of ​​Azov. Around 5500 BC e., as a result of the breakthrough of waters from the Mediterranean Sea and the formation of the Bosphorus Strait, for quite short period Large areas were flooded, and the Crimean Peninsula was formed. The flooding of the Black Sea roughly coincides with the end of the Mesolithic cultures and the onset of the Neolithic.

Neolithic and Chalcolithic

Unlike most of Ukraine, Crimea was not affected by the wave of Neolithic cultures that came from Anatolia through the Balkans during the Neolithic era. The local Neolithic was of a different origin, associated with the cultures of the Circumpontic zone (steppes and plains between the Black and Caspian seas).

In 4-3 thousand BC. e. Through the territories north of Crimea, migrations to the west of tribes, presumably speakers of Indo-European languages, took place. 3 thousand BC e. The Kemi-Oba culture existed on the territory of Crimea.

Bronze and early Iron Age

The first inhabitants of Crimea, known to us from ancient sources, were the Cimmerians (XII century BC). Their presence in Crimea is confirmed by ancient and medieval historians, as well as by information that has come down to us in the form of toponyms of the eastern part of Crimea: “Cimmerian crossings”, “Cimmeric”.

In the middle of the 7th century. BC e. Some of the Cimmerians were forced out by the Scythians from the steppe part of the peninsula to the foothills and mountains of Crimea, where they created compact settlements.

In the foothills and mountains of Crimea, as well as on the southern coast, there lived Tauris associated with the Kizil-Koba archaeological culture. The possible Caucasian origin of the Taurs is indicated by traces of the influence of the Koban culture. From the Taurians comes the ancient name of the mountainous and coastal part of Crimea - Tavrika, Tavria, Tavrida. The remains of fortifications and dwellings of the Taurians, their ring-like fences made of vertically placed stones and Taurian tombs “stone boxes” (see Taurica) have survived and been studied to this day.

A new period in the history of Taurica begins with the capture of Crimea by the Scythians. This period is characterized by qualitative changes in the composition of the population itself. Archaeological data show that after this the basis of the population of northwestern Crimea were peoples who came from the Dnieper region.

Antiquity

In the VI-V centuries. Before the birth of Christ, when the Scythians dominated the steppes, immigrants from Hellas founded their trading colonies on the Crimean coast. Panticapaeum or Bosporus (the modern city of Kerch) and Theodosia were built by colonists from the ancient Greek city of Miletus; Chersonesus, located within the boundaries of present-day Sevastopol, was built by the Greeks from Heraclea Pontic.

Bosporan Kingdom in the 1st century BC. e.

In the first half of the 5th century. BC e. Two independent Greek states emerge on the shores of the Black Sea. One of them is the democratic slave-owning republic of Tauride Chersonesus, which included the lands of western Crimea (Kerkinitida (modern Evpatoria), Kalos-Limeni, Black Sea). Chersonesus was located behind mighty stone walls. It was founded on the site of a Taurus settlement by Greeks from Heraclea Pontus. The other is the Bosporus, an autocratic state whose capital was Panticapaeum. The Acropolis of this city was located on Mount Mithridates, and the Melek-Chesmensky and Tsarsky mounds were excavated not far from it. Stone crypts, unique monuments of Bosporan architecture, were found here.

Greek colonists brought shipbuilding, viticulture, cultivation of olive trees and other crops to the shores of Cimmeria-Taurica, and built temples, theaters, and stadiums. Hundreds of Greek settlements - policies - appeared in Crimea. The ancient Greeks created great historical and literary monuments about Crimea. Euripides wrote the drama “Iphigenia in Tauris” using Crimean material. The Greeks who lived in the Tauric Chersonese and the Cimmerian Bosporus know the Iliad and the Odyssey, in which Cimmeria is unreasonably characterized as “a sad region covered with ever-damp fog and clouds.” Herodotus in the 5th century BC e. wrote about the religious beliefs of the Scythians, about the Tauri.

Until the end of the 3rd century. BC e. The Scythian state was significantly reduced under the onslaught of the Sarmatians. The Scythians were forced to move their capital to the Salgir River (near Simferopol), where Scythian Naples arose, also known as Neapolis (Greek name).

In the 1st century, the Romans tried to settle in Crimea. They build the fortress of Charax, which was abandoned in the 3rd century. During the Roman period, Christianity began to spread in Crimea. One of the first Christians in Crimea was the exiled Clement I - the 4th Pope.

Middle Ages

The Scythian state in Crimea existed until the second half of the 3rd century. n. e. and was destroyed by the Goths. The stay of the Goths in the Crimean steppes did not last long. In 370, the Balamber Huns invaded Crimea from the Taman Peninsula. The Goths established themselves in the mountainous Crimea until the 17th century (Crimean Goths). By the end of the 4th century, only one ancient city of Tauride Chersonesos remained in Crimea, which became an outpost of Byzantine influence in the region. Under Emperor Justinian, the fortresses of Aluston, Gurzuf, Simbolon and Sudak were founded in Crimea, and the Bosporus was revived. In the 6th century, the Turks walked through Crimea. In the 7th century, nomadic Bulgarians settled here. At the beginning of the 8th century, Crimea was divided between Byzantium and Khazaria, from the latter what remained on the peninsula government structure(khan, beklerbek, kurultai), Crimean Armenians from the former Nestorians - first the Khazars, then the Polovtsians and Cossacks, the Cossacks, first mentioned here, the Crimean ethnic group. Due to the resettlement of the Karaites from Egypt to the Crimea (Chufut-Kale), they adopted the language of the Crimeans. In the 8th century, an iconoclasm movement began in Byzantium; icons and paintings in churches were destroyed. The monks, fleeing persecution, moved to the outskirts of the empire, including the Crimea. Here in the mountains they founded cave temples and monasteries: Uspensky, Kachi-Kalyon, Shuldan, Chelter and others.

In the VI-XII centuries in the South-Western Crimea, the development of feudal relations and the formation of fortified settlements on the cuestas of the Inner Ridge - “cave cities” - took place.

In the 9th century, Kirill, the creator of the Glagolitic alphabet, the first common Slavic alphabet, came to Crimea while passing through Sarkel. in the creation of which a significant role was played by his study of Russian letters in the Crimea from a local Rus merchant - “devil and rez”. In honor of Kirill, his letter was called “Cyrillic”. In the same century, the Pechenegs and Russes appeared in Crimea (Bravlin). At the beginning of the 10th century, Crimea became the scene of a battle between the armies of the Rus (Helgu) and the Khazars (Passover). After the murder of the ruling dynasty of Khagans of Khazaria by the Oghuz Turks, power passes to the rightful heir from another branch of the autochthonous dynasty of the South of Rus', possibly dating back to the Massagets, judging by the common aidar among the Khazars and Massagets - the Kyiv prince Svyatoslav Igorevich. In 988, in Korsun (Chersonese), Grand Duke of Kiev Vladimir Svyatoslavovich was baptized and married the sister of the Byzantine emperor. Korsun at this time was in the possession of Rus'. During the period of feudal fragmentation of Rus', the Khazar part of Crimea came under the rule of the Russian Tmutarakan principality. Korchev became a significant city during this period.

After the weakening of Byzantium in its former Crimean possessions, the Gotalans (Crimean Goths) founded the Orthodox Christian principality of Theodoro with its capital in the largest “cave city”, the city of Mangup.

In the 12th century, the first archaeologically recorded traces of the Karaites, presumably descendants of the Khazars, appeared on the peninsula, whose national religion - Karaimism - originated much earlier in the 8th century in Babylon.

In 1223, Tatar-Mongol troops of Jebe invaded Crimea, but soon abandoned it. The steppe Crimea became the possession of the Golden Horde - the Jochi ulus - no earlier than 1250. The administrative center of the peninsula becomes the city of Crimea. Another large city of the Crimean ulus was Karasubazar. The first coins issued in Crimea by Khan Mengu-Timur date back to 1267. Thanks to the rapid flourishing of Genoese trade and the nearby Kafa, Crimea is quickly turning into a major trade and craft center.

In the 14th century, part of the territories of Crimea was acquired by the Genoese (Gazaria, Kaffa). By this time, the Polovtsian language was already widespread in Crimea, as evidenced by the Codex Cumanicus. In 1367, Crimea was subordinate to Mamai, whose power also relied on the Genoese colonies.

The first signs of the spread of Islam among the local population, predominantly Turkic, appeared on the peninsula no earlier than the first half of the 14th century.

In 1397, the Lithuanian prince Vitovt invaded Crimea and reached Kaffa. After the pogrom of Edigei, Chersonesos turns into ruins (1399).

Crimean Khanate and Ottoman Empire

After the collapse of the Golden Horde in 1441, the remnants of the Mongols in Crimea were Turkified. At this moment, Crimea is divided between the steppe Crimean Khanate, the mountain principality of Theodoro and the Genoese colonies on the southern coast. The capital of the Principality of Theodoro was Mangup - one of the largest fortresses of medieval Crimea (90 hectares), which, if necessary, took under protection significant masses of the population.

In the summer of 1475, the Ottoman Turks, who had previously captured Constantinople and the territory of the former Byzantine Empire, landed a large force of Gedik Ahmed Pasha in the Crimea and the Azov region, capturing all the Genoese fortresses (including Tana on the Don) and Greek cities. Mangup was besieged in July. Having burst into the city, the Turks destroyed almost all the inhabitants, plundered and burned buildings. Coastal cities and the mountainous part of Crimea became part of the Ottoman Empire. On the lands of the principality (and also the conquered Genoese colonies of the captaincy of Gothia) a Turkish kadilik (district) was created; The Ottomans maintained their garrisons and bureaucrats there and collected taxes. The Crimean Khanate became a vassal of the Ottoman Empire in 1478. For the next three centuries, the Black Sea became a Turkish “inland lake”.

By the 16th century, the Ottoman Empire switched to strategic defense, the main components of which were the construction of fortresses at the mouths of rivers, the creation of a kind of buffer zone - the uninhabited territory of the “Wild Field”, the transfer of armed struggle with its northern neighbors - Poland and Russia - deep into Polish and Russian possessions, using the Crimean Khanate dependent on it for this purpose.

In the 16th century, the Turks, with the help of Italian specialists, built the Or-Kapu fortress on Perekop. Since that time, the Perekop shaft has another name - Turkish. Since the end of the 15th century, the Tatars in Crimea gradually moved from nomadic forms of farming to settled agriculture. The main occupation of the Crimean Tatars (as they began to be called much later) in the south became gardening, viticulture, and tobacco cultivation. In the steppe regions of Crimea, livestock farming was developed, primarily the breeding of sheep and horses.

Since the end of the 15th century, the Crimean Khanate made constant raids on the Russian state and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The main purpose of the raids was to capture slaves and resell them in Turkish markets. The total number of slaves who passed through the Crimean markets is estimated at three million.

As soon as the Russian state got rid of the yoke of the Golden Horde, it was again faced with the task of access to the Black Sea, which was accomplished in the era Kievan Rus. Having defeated the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates, Russia directed its vector of expansion to the south, towards the Turkish-Tatar threat. The serif lines being built on the Russian borders were advancing onto the Wild Field. The reclaimed lands were reclaimed by farmers and built up with cities, which put pressure on the defensive lines of the Ottoman Empire, despite the unsuccessful Crimean campaigns of Russian troops in the 16th and 16th centuries. XVII centuries. The failure of these military enterprises made us realize the place and role of Crimea as a key territory ensuring dominance in the Northern Black Sea region. The Azov campaigns of Peter I (1695-1696), which did not solve the Black Sea problem, once again emphasized the importance of the Crimean direction. Taking possession of the Crimean Peninsula became one of the most important foreign policy tasks of the Russian Empire in the 18th century.

XVIII century

During the Russian-Turkish War (1735-1739), the Russian Dnieper army, numbering 62 thousand people and commanded by Field Marshal Burchard Christopher Minich, stormed the Ottoman fortifications at Perekop on May 20, 1736, and occupied Bakhchisarai on June 17. However, a lack of food, as well as outbreaks of epidemics in the army, forced Minich to retreat to Russia. In July 1737, an army led by Field Marshal Peter Lassi invaded Crimea, inflicting a number of defeats on the army of the Crimean Khan and capturing Karasubazar. But she too was soon forced to leave Crimea due to lack of supplies. The only result of the invasions of the Russian armies was the devastation of the peninsula, since the gap between the territory of the Wild Field already developed by the Russians and the lands occupied during military expeditions was too great to ensure their economic development and effective defense and thus count on the inclusion of Crimea in the Russian possessions. Such a practical opportunity arose only after the necessary bridgehead had been prepared in the newly developed spaces. Despite the attempts of the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire to prevent the Russian colonization of the Northern Black Sea region by armed force, it actually began even before the army of Chief General V. M. Dolgorukov captured Crimea in 1771, for which he subsequently received a sword with diamonds, diamonds to the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called and the title of Crimean. Prince Dolgorukov forced the Crimean Khan Selim to flee to Turkey and installed in his place a Russian supporter, Khan Sahib II Giray, who signed an alliance treaty with Russia, receiving a promise of Russian military and financial assistance.

The Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774 ended Ottoman rule over the Crimea, and with the Treaty of Küçük-Kaynardzhi of 1774, the Ottomans officially renounced their claims to the peninsula. The fortresses of Kerch and Yenikale, which blocked the exit from the Azov Sea to the Black Sea, went to Russia. The Kerch Strait became Russian, which was of great importance for Russia's southern trade. The Crimean Khanate was declared independent from Turkey. The former Ottoman possessions on the peninsula (Southern and South-Eastern Crimea) passed to the Crimean Khanate. The historical task of Russia's access to the Black Sea was half solved.

It took, however, a lot of time, money and effort (both military and diplomatic) before Turkey came to terms with the withdrawal of Crimea and the Northern Black Sea region from its influence. The Turkish Sultan, being the Supreme Caliph, retained in his hands religious power and the right to approve new khans, which left him with the possibility of real pressure on the Crimean Khanate. As a result, the Crimean nobility was divided into two groups - Russian and Turkish orientation, clashes between which led to real battles, and attempts by the newly established khans to establish themselves on the Crimean throne led to the intervention of Russian troops on the side of Russian proteges.

Having achieved the declaration of independence of Crimea, Catherine II did not abandon the idea of ​​annexing it to Russia. This was required by the vital interests of Russia, since Crimea was of great military-political and economic importance for the Russian state. Without Crimea it was impossible to have free access to the Black Sea. But Sultan Türkiye, in turn, did not think of giving up the Tauride Peninsula. She resorted to various tricks to restore her influence and dominance in Crimea. Thus, despite the existence of the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Peace Treaty, the struggle between Russia and Turkey over Crimea did not weaken.

The last Crimean khan was Shahin Giray, who received the throne in 1777 thanks to Russian support. Having studied in Thessaloniki and Venice and knowing several languages, Shahin Giray ruled without regard to national Tatar customs, tried to carry out reforms in the state and reorganize government along European lines, to equalize the rights of the Muslim and non-Muslim population of Crimea, and soon turned into a traitor and apostate for his people.

In March 1778, Alexander Suvorov was appointed commander of the Russian troops of Crimea and Kuban, who radically strengthened the defense of the peninsula from Turkish attack and forced the Turkish fleet to leave Crimean waters.

In 1778, Suvorov, at the direction of Prince Potemkin, who at that time held the post of governor-general of the Novorossiysk, Azov, Astrakhan and Saratov provinces, facilitated the transition to Russian citizenship and the resettlement of the Christian population of Crimea (Armenians, Greeks, Volokhs, Georgians) to new lands on the coast of the Azov Sea and the mouth of the Don (the project was originally proposed to Catherine II in March 1778 by Field Marshal Count Rumyantsev). On the one hand, this was caused by the need to accelerate the settlement of the fertile lands of the Northern Black Sea region (primarily the lands of the liquidated Zaporozhye Sich, empty due to the departure of some of the Zaporozhye Cossacks beyond the Danube and the eviction of the rest to the Kuban). On the other hand, the withdrawal of Armenians and Greeks from Crimea was aimed at economically weakening the Crimean Khanate and strengthening its dependence on Russia. Suvorov's actions aroused the ire of Shahin Giray and the local Tatar nobility, since with the departure of the economically active part of the population, the treasury lost significant sources of income. As compensation “for the loss of subjects,” 100 thousand rubles were paid from the Russian treasury to the khan, his brothers, beys and murzas. From May to September 1778, 31 thousand people were resettled from Crimea to the Azov region and Novorossiya. The Greeks, who inhabited mainly the western and southern coasts of Crimea, were settled by Suvorov on the northern shore of the Sea of ​​Azov, where they founded the city of Mariupol and 20 villages. The Armenians, who inhabited mainly the eastern and southeastern regions of Crimea (Feodosia, Old Crimea, Surkhat, etc.), were settled in the lower reaches of the Don, near the fortress of Dmitry of Rostov, where they founded the city of Nakhichevan-on-Don and 5 villages around him (on the site of modern Rostov-on-Don). With the exodus of Christians, the Khanate was left bloodless and ruined.

On March 10, 1779, Russia and Turkey signed the Ainaly-Kavak Convention, according to which Russia had to withdraw its troops from the Crimean Peninsula and, like Turkey, not interfere in the internal affairs of the Khanate. Turkey recognized Shahin Giray as the Crimean Khan, confirmed the independence of Crimea and the right of free passage through the Bosporus and Dardanelles for Russian merchant ships. Russian troops, leaving a garrison of six thousand in Kerch and Yenikal, left Crimea and Kuban in mid-June 1779.

The Ottoman Porte, however, did not accept the losses under the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Peace Treaty and sought to return both the Crimean Khanate and the lands of the Northern Black Sea region to its sphere of influence. In the fall of 1781, another uprising, provoked by Turkey, took place in Crimea. In the summer of 1782, Catherine II instructed Prince Potemkin to send Russian troops to help the deposed Khan Shahin Giray, risking an open conflict with Turkey. In September, with the help of Russian troops, Khan Shahin Giray regained his throne.

Joining the Russian Empire

However, the continuing threat from Turkey (for which Crimea was a possible springboard in the event of an attack on Russia) forced the construction of powerful fortified lines on the southern borders of the country and diverted forces and resources from the economic development of the border provinces. Potemkin, as the governor of these regions, seeing the complexity and instability of the political situation in Crimea, came to the final conclusion about the need to annex it to Russia, which would complete the territorial expansion of the empire to the south to natural borders and create a single economic region - the Northern Black Sea region. In December 1782, returning from Kherson, Potemkin turned to Catherine II with a memorandum in which he expressed his point of view in detail.

The basis for the implementation of this plan, which lay in line with the so-called Greek project, which provided for the restoration of the Byzantine Empire with its capital in Constantinople and a Russian protege on the throne, was prepared by the entire previous work Potemkin on the settlement of Novorossiya, the construction of fortresses and economic development. It was he, therefore, who played the main and decisive role in the annexation of the peninsula to Russia.

On December 14, 1782, the Empress sent Potemkin a “most secret” rescript, in which she announced to him her will “to appropriate the peninsula.” In the spring of 1783, it was decided that Potemkin would go south and personally lead the annexation of the Crimean Khanate to Russia. On April 8 (21), the empress signed the manifesto “On the acceptance of the Crimean peninsula, Taman island and the entire Kuban side under the Russian state,” on which she worked together with Potemkin. This document was to be kept secret until the annexation of the Khanate became a fait accompli. That same day, Potemkin went south, but while still on the way he received unexpected news about Shahin Giray’s abdication of the Khanate. The reason for this was the open hatred of his subjects regarding the reforms and policies of Shahin Giray, the actual financial bankruptcy of the state, mutual distrust and misunderstanding with the Russian authorities.

Believing that the greatest difficulties could arise in the Kuban, Potemkin gave orders to Alexander Suvorov and his relative P. S. Potemkin to move troops to the right bank of the Kuban. Having received the prince's orders, Suvorov occupied the fortifications of the former Kuban Line with troops and began to prepare to swear in the Nogais on the day appointed by Potemkin - June 28, the day of Catherine II's accession to the throne. At the same time, the commander of the Caucasian Corps, P. S. Potemkin, was supposed to take the oath in the upper reaches of the Kuban.

Russian troops under the command of Lieutenant General Count De Balmain were also introduced into the territory of Crimea. In June 1783, in Karasubazar, Prince Potemkin took the oath of allegiance to Russia to the Crimean nobility and representatives of all segments of the Crimean population. The Crimean Khanate ceased to exist, but its elite (over 300 clans) joined the Russian nobility and took part in the local self-government of the newly created Tauride region.

By order of Catherine II, urgent measures were taken to select a harbor for the future Black Sea Fleet on the southwestern coast. Captain II rank I.M. Bersenev on the frigate "Caution" recommended using the bay near the village of Akhtiar, not far from the ruins of Chersonese-Tavrichesky. Catherine II, by her decree of February 10, 1784, ordered the founding here “of a military port with an admiralty, a shipyard, a fortress and to make it a military city.” At the beginning of 1784, a port-fortress was founded, to which Catherine II gave the name Sevastopol.

At first, the development of the Russian Crimea was in charge of Prince Potemkin, who received the title of “Tauride”.

In 1783, the population of Crimea numbered 60 thousand people, mainly engaged in cattle breeding (Crimean Tatars). At the same time, under Russian jurisdiction, the Russian as well as the Greek population from among retired soldiers began to grow. Bulgarians and Germans come to explore new lands.

Fireworks in honor of Catherine II during her trip to Crimea

In 1787, Empress Catherine made her famous trip to Crimea. During the next Russian-Turkish war, unrest began among the Crimean Tatars, due to which their habitat was significantly reduced. In 1796, the region became part of the Novorossiysk province, and in 1802 it was again separated into an independent administrative unit. At the beginning of the 19th century, viticulture (Magarach) and shipbuilding (Sevastopol) developed in Crimea, roads were laid. Under Prince Vorontsov, Yalta begins to develop, the Vorontsov Palace is founded, and the southern coast of Crimea is turned into a resort.

Crimean War

In June 1854, the Anglo-French flotilla began shelling Russian coastal fortifications in the Crimea, and already in September the Allies (Great Britain, France, Ottoman Empire) began landing in Yevpatoria. Soon the Battle of Alma took place. In October, the siege of Sevastopol began, during which Kornilov died on Malakhov Kurgan. In February 1855, the Russians unsuccessfully tried to storm Evpatoria. May the Anglo-French fleet captures Kerch. In July 1855, the main inspirer of the defense, Admiral Nakhimov, died in Sevastopol. On September 11, 1855, Sevastopol fell, but was returned to Russia at the end of the war in exchange for certain concessions.

Crimea at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries

In 1874, Simferopol was connected to Aleksandrovsk (present-day Zaporozhye) by railway. The resort status of Crimea increased after the summer royal residence of the Livadia Palace appeared in Livadia.

According to the 1897 census, 546,700 people lived in Crimea. Of these, 35.6% Crimean Tatars, 33.1% Great Russians, 11.8% Little Russians, 5.8% Germans, 4.4% Jews, 3.1% Greeks, 1.5% Armenians, 1.3% Bulgarians , 1.2% Poles, 0.3% Turks.

Crimea in the Civil War

On the eve of the revolution, 800 thousand people lived in Crimea, including 400 thousand Russians and 200 thousand Tatars, as well as 68 thousand Jews and 40 thousand Germans. After the February events of 1917, the Crimean Tatars organized themselves into the Milli Firka party, which tried to seize power on the peninsula.

On December 16, 1917, the Bolshevik Military Revolutionary Committee was established in Sevastopol, which took power into its own hands. On January 4, 1918, the Bolsheviks took power in Feodosia, knocking out the Crimean Tatar units from there, and on January 6 - in Kerch. the night of January 8-9, the Red Guard entered Yalta. On the night of January 14, Simferopol was taken.

Banknote of the Crimean Regional Government 1918 Bodies of those executed during the “St. Bartholomew’s Nights” in Evpatoria, washed ashore in the summer of 1918

On April 22, 1918, Ukrainian troops under the command of Colonel Bolbochan occupied Yevpatoria and Simferopol, followed by the German troops of General von Kosch. According to an agreement between Kiev and Berlin, on April 27, Ukrainian units left Crimea, renouncing claims to the peninsula. The Crimean Tatars also rebelled, concluding an alliance with the new invaders. By May 1, 1918, German troops occupied the entire Crimean peninsula. May 1 - November 15, 1918 - Crimea de facto under German occupation, de jure under the control of the autonomous Crimean regional government (from June 23) Suleiman Sulkevich

• November 15, 1918 - April 11, 1919 - Second Crimean Regional Government (Solomon Crimea) under the patronage of the Allies;
• April-June 1919 - Crimean Soviet Socialist Republic as part of the RSFSR;
• July 1, 1919 - November 12, 1920 - Governments of the South of Russia: VSYUR A. I. Denikin

In January-March 1920, 4 thousand soldiers of the 3rd Army Corps of the AFSR, General Ya. A. Slashchev, successfully defended the Crimea from attacks by two Soviet armies with a total number of 40 thousand soldiers, using the ingenious tactics of their commander, giving Perekop to the Bolsheviks over and over again , crushing them already in Crimea, and then expelling them from it back to the steppes. On February 4, the White Guard captain Orlov with 300 fighters rebelled and captured Simferopol, arresting several generals of the Volunteer Army and the governor of the Tauride province. At the end of March, the remnants of the white armies, having surrendered the Don and Kuban, were evacuated to the Crimea. Denikin's headquarters ended up in Feodosia. On April 5, Denikin announced his resignation and transfer of his post to General Wrangel. On May 15, the Wrangel fleet raided Mariupol, during which the city was shelled and some ships were withdrawn to the Crimea. On June 6, Slashchev's units began to quickly move north, occupying the capital of Northern Tavria - Melitopol - on June 10. On June 24, Wrangel’s landing force occupied Berdyansk for two days, and in July, Captain Kochetov’s landing group landed at Ochakov. On August 3, the Whites occupied Aleksandrovsk, but the next day they were forced to leave the city.

On November 12, 1920, the Red Army broke through the defenses at Perekop and broke into Crimea. On November 13, the 2nd Cavalry Army under the command of F.K. Mironov occupied Simferopol. The main Wrangel troops left the peninsula through port cities. In the captured Crimea, the Bolsheviks carried out mass terror, which killed, according to various sources, from 20 to 120 thousand people

At the end of the Civil War, 720 thousand people lived in Crimea.

Crimea within the USSR

The famine of 1921-1922 claimed the lives of more than 75 thousand Crimeans. The total number of deaths in the spring of 1923 may have exceeded 100 thousand people, of which 75 thousand were Crimean Tatars. The consequences of the famine were eliminated only by the mid-1920s.

Map of Crimea. 1938

Crimea in the Great Patriotic War

In November 1941, the Red Army was forced to leave Crimea, retreating to the Taman Peninsula (see Defense of Sevastopol (1941-1942). Soon a counter-offensive was launched from there, but it did not lead to success and Soviet troops were again driven back across the Kerch Strait. occupied The Germans formed the general district of the Crimea as part of the Reichskommissariat Ukraine. The occupation administration was headed by A. Frauenfeld, but in fact, power belonged to the military administration. Karaites, recognized by Hitler as racially trustworthy, were also killed in large numbers). On April 11, 1944, the Soviet army began an operation to liberate Crimea; Dzhankoy and Kerch were recaptured. By April 13, Simferopol and Feodosia were liberated. On May 9, the Germans held out for the longest time at Cape Chersonesos. however, their evacuation was disrupted by the loss of the Patria convoy. The war sharply aggravated interethnic contradictions in Crimea, and in May-June 1944, Crimean Tatars (183 thousand people), Armenians, Greeks and Bulgarians were evicted from the territory of the peninsula. Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR No. 493 of September 5, 1967 “On citizens of Tatar nationality living in Crimea” recognized that “after the liberation of Crimea from fascist occupation in 1944, the facts active cooperation with the German invaders, a certain part of the Tatars living in Crimea were unreasonably classified as the entire Tatar population of Crimea.”

As part of the Ukrainian SSR: 1954-1991

In 1954, due to the difficult economic situation on the peninsula caused by post-war devastation and labor shortage after the deportation of the Crimean Tatars, the Soviet leadership decided to transfer Crimea to the Ukrainian SSR with the following wording: “Taking into account the commonality of the economy, territorial proximity and close economic and cultural connections between the Crimean region and the Ukrainian SSR."

On February 19, 1954, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issued a Decree “On the transfer of the Crimean region from the RSFSR to the Ukrainian SSR.”

On January 20, 1991, a general Crimean referendum took place in the Crimean region of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. The question was put to a general vote: “Are you in favor of re-establishing the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic as a subject of the USSR and a party to the Union Treaty?” The referendum called into question the decisions of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR from 1954 (on the transfer of the Crimean region to the Ukrainian SSR), and from 1945 (on the abolition of the Krasnodar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, and on the creation of the Crimean region in its place). 1 million 441 thousand 19 people took part in the referendum, which is 81.37% of total number citizens included in the lists to participate in the referendum. 93.26% of Crimean residents of the total number of those who took part in the vote voted for the re-establishment of the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

On February 12, 1991, based on the results of the all-Crimean referendum, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the law “On the restoration of the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic”, and 4 months later made corresponding changes to the 1978 Constitution of the Ukrainian SSR. However, the second part of the question put to the referendum - on raising the status of Crimea to the level of a subject of the USSR and a party to the Union Treaty - was not taken into account in this law.

As part of independent Ukraine

On August 24, 1991, the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR adopted the Act of Independence of Ukraine, which was subsequently confirmed at an all-Ukrainian referendum on December 1, 1991.

On September 4, 1991, an emergency session of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Republic, which states the desire to create a legal democratic state within Ukraine.

On December 1, 1991, at the All-Ukrainian referendum, residents of Crimea participated in the vote on the independence of Ukraine. 54% of Crimeans spoke in favor of preserving the independence of Ukraine, a founding state of the UN. However, at the same time, Article 3 of the USSR Law “On the procedure for resolving issues related to the secession of a union republic from the USSR” was violated, according to which a separate (all-Crimean) referendum was to be held in the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic on the issue of its stay within the USSR or as part of the secession union republic - Ukrainian SSR.

On May 5, 1992, the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea adopted the declaration “Act on the Declaration of State Independence of the Republic of Crimea.”

At the same time, the Russian parliament voted to cancel the 1954 decision to transfer Crimea to the Ukrainian SSR.

On May 6, 1992, the seventh session of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea adopted the Constitution of the Republic of Crimea. These documents contradicted the then legislation of Ukraine; they were canceled by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine only on March 17, 1995. Subsequently, Leonid Kuchma, who became President of Ukraine in July 1994, signed a number of decrees that determined the status of the authorities of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.

Also, on May 6, 1992, by decision of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the post of President of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea was introduced

On March 27, 1994, a referendum was held in Crimea simultaneously with elections to the regional parliament and elections to the Ukrainian parliament.

In March 1995, by decision of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the President of Ukraine, the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Crimea was abolished and the presidency in Crimea was abolished.

On October 21, 1998, at the second session of the Verkhovna Rada of the Republic of Crimea, a new Constitution was adopted.

On December 23, 1998, President of Ukraine L. Kuchma signed a law, in the first paragraph of which the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine decided: “To approve the Constitution of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea”; pro-Russian sentiments intensified in Crimea.

Political crisis of 2014. Joining the Russian Federation

On February 23, 2014, the Ukrainian flag was lowered over the Kerch city council and the state flag of the Russian Federation was raised. The mass removal of Ukrainian flags took place on February 25 in Sevastopol. The Cossacks in Feodosia sharply criticized the new authorities in Kyiv. Residents of Yevpatoria also joined the pro-Russian actions. After the new Ukrainian authorities dissolved Berkut, the head of Sevastopol, Alexei Chaly, issued an order.

On February 27, 2014, the building of the Supreme Council of Crimea was seized by armed people without insignia. Employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine who were guarding the building were expelled, and a fire was raised above the building. Russian flag. The captors allowed the deputies of the Supreme Council of Crimea inside, having previously taken away their mobile communications equipment. Deputies voted to appoint Aksenov as head of the new government of Crimea and decided to hold a referendum on the status of Crimea. According to the official statement of the VSK press service, 53 deputies voted for this decision. According to the speaker of the Crimean parliament Vladimir Konstantinov, V.F. Yanukovych (whom parliamentarians consider the President of Ukraine) called him and agreed on Aksenov’s candidacy over the phone. Such approval is required by Article 136 of the Constitution of Ukraine.

On March 6, 2014, the Supreme Council of Crimea adopted a resolution on the republic’s entry into the Russian Federation as a subject and scheduled a referendum on this issue.

On March 11, 2014, the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the Sevastopol City Council adopted the Declaration of Independence of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.

On March 16, 2014, a referendum was held in Crimea, in which, according to official data, about 82% of voters took part, of which 96% voted in favor of joining the Russian Federation. On March 17, 2014, according to the results of a referendum, the Republic of Crimea, in which the city of Sevastopol has a special status, asked to join Russia.

Order of the President of Russia on the signing of the Treaty on the admission of the Republic of Crimea to the Russian Federation

On March 18, 2014, an interstate Agreement was signed between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Crimea on the admission of the Republic of Crimea to the Russian Federation. In accordance with the agreement, new entities are formed within the Russian Federation - the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol. On March 21, the same name was formed in Crimea federal district with its center in Simferopol. After the annexation of Crimea to Russia, the question arose about the fate of Ukrainian military units located on the territory of the peninsula. Initially, these units were blocked by local self-defense units, and then taken by storm, for example Belbek and the marine battalion in Feodosia. During the assaults on units, the Ukrainian military behaved passively and did not use weapons. March 22 Russian media reported a rush among Crimeans who sought to obtain Russian passports. On March 24, the ruble became the official currency in Crimea (the circulation of the hryvnia was temporarily preserved).

On March 27, 2014, as a result of an open vote at the 80th plenary meeting of the 68th session of the UN General Assembly, resolution 68/262 was adopted, according to which the UNGA confirms the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders and does not recognize the legality of any there was no change in the status of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea or the city of Sevastopol based on the results of the all-Crimean referendum held on March 16, 2014, since this referendum, according to the resolution, has no legal force.

Population of Crimea in the 18th-21st centuries

After the annexation of Crimea to Russia, a census was not carried out; data from Shagin-Girey was used; there were six kaymakams in the territory (Bakhchisaray, Akmechet, Karasubazar, Kozlov, Kefin and Perekop).

Folk clothing of Crimean residents according to Ukrposhta, 2008

Since April 2, 1784, the territory was divided into counties, there were 1,400 populated villages and 7 cities - Simferopol, Sevastopol, Yalta, Yevpatoria, Alushta, Feodosia, Kerch.

In 1834, Crimean Tatars dominated everywhere, but after the Crimean War their resettlement began.

By 1853, 43 thousand people were Orthodox; in the Taurida province among the “non-believers” were Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Reformed, Armenian Catholics, Armenian Gregorians, Mennonites, Talmudic Jews, Karaites and Muslims.

At the end of the 19th century, according to ESBE, there were 397,239 people living in Crimea. With the exception of the mountainous region, Crimea was sparsely populated. There were 11 cities, 1098 villages, 1400 hamlets and villages. cities have 148,897 inhabitants - about 37% of the total population. The ethnographic composition of the population was diverse: Tatars, Ukrainians, Russians, Armenians, Greeks, Karaites, Crimeans, Germans, Bulgarians, Czechs, Estonians, Jews, Gypsies. The Tatars made up the predominant part of the population (up to 89%) in the mountainous region and about half in the steppe region. The steppe Tatars are direct descendants of the Mongols, and the mountain Tatars, judging by their type, are the descendants of the original inhabitants of the southern coast (Greeks, Italians, etc.), who converted to Islam and the Tatar language. They introduced this language with so many Turkish and corrupted Greek words that it is often incomprehensible to the steppe Tatars. There are most Russians in Feodosia district; these are either peasants, or soldiers allocated land, or various newcomers who lived with landowners as tithes. Germans and Bulgarians settled in Crimea at the beginning of the 19th century, receiving vast and fertile lands; later, wealthy colonists began to buy land, mainly in Perekop and Evpatoria districts. Czechs and Estonians arrived in Crimea in the 1860s and took over some of the land left behind by the emigrating Tatars. The Greeks partly remained from the time of the Khanate, partly settled in 1779. Armenians entered Crimea back in the 6th century; in the 14th century there were about 150,000 Armenians in Crimea, which accounted for 35% of the population of the peninsula, including 2/3 of the population of Feodosia. The ethnic group formed as a result of mixing with the Christian Polovtsians managed to preserve the Armenian-Kipchak language and faith. Jews and Karaites, very ancient inhabitants of Crimea, retained their religion, but lost their language and adopted the Tatar costume and way of life. Otatari Jews, the so-called Krymchaks, live mainly in Karasubazar; Karaites lived under the khans in Chufut-Kale (near Bakhchisarai), and are now concentrated in Evpatoria. Some of the gypsies remained from the time of the Khanate (sedentary), some recently moved from Poland (nomadic).

Notes

1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
2. 1 2 3 S. N. Kiselev, N. V. Kiselyova. Geopolitical aspects of the history of Crimea. // Scientific notes of the Tauride National University, series “Geography” 17 (56). 2004, No. 3. P. 74-81.
3. Alan Fisher "Muscovy and the Black Sea Slave Trade", Canadian American Slavic Studies, 1972, Vol. 6, pp. 575-594.
4. Bolotina N. Yu. Potemkin. Chapter 9. The Sovereign's Viceroy. M.: Veche, 2014
5. M. Nersisyan. From the history of Russian-Armenian relations. Book one. A. V. Suvorov and Russian-Armenian relations in 1770-1790. AnArmSSR, Yerevan, 1956
6. Why were the Greeks expelled from Crimea? How the Crimean Greeks became Donetsk... UArgument, 05/21/2008
7. Relocation of Armenians from Crimea to the Don. Myasnikovsky district, comp. L. S. Sekizyan. - Rostov-on-Don: MP Book, 1999. - 240 p.
8. 1 2 3 4 5 Bolotina N. Yu. Potemkin. Chapter 10. “A BLOODLESS GIFT...”. M.: Veche, 2014
9. Petr Bolbochan. Conqueror of Crimea
10. Blood flowed to the sea... Vladimir Kukovyakin - Red Terror - History of Russia - Russia in colors
11. 70th anniversary of the deportation of Crimean Germans. History of the people
12. Crimean law
13. "Khrushchev's gift." How Ukraine caused Crimea / Historical truth
14. 1 2 3 4 The first Soviet plebiscite was the all-Crimean referendum of 1991. Reference. // RIA Novosti (January 20, 2011). Retrieved April 2, 2014.
15. All-Crimean referendum on January 20, 1991. Unimplemented, and the expression expressed by the people of Crimea was trampled upon!
16. Law on the restoration of the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic
17. Our Crimea. Part I. Edited by V. E. Potekhin. Simferopol, "Tavria" 1992
18. About making changes and additions to the Constitution (Basic... | dated 06/19/1991 No. 1213a-XII
19. Declaration of State Sovereignty of Crimea
20. Results of Ukrainian independence in the Crimean context
21. Act on the proclamation of state independence of the Republic of Crimea // Gazette of the Supreme Council of Crimea, 1991-1992, No. 5, P. 243.
22. The Constitution of the Republic of Crimea, adopted by the seventh session of the Supreme Council of Crimea on May 6, 1992, “Gazette of the Armed Forces of Crimea”, No. 204-1, No. 4, Art. 228.
23. Constitution of the Republic of Crimea May 6, 1992
24. The UN General Assembly called for respect for the territorial integrity of Ukraine. UN News Centre.
25. Population of Crimea at the end of the 18th - end of the 20th centuries
26. Cameral Description of Crimea l. A
27. Administrative-territorial division of Crimea. Retrieved April 27, 2013. Archived from the original on April 30, 2013.
28. Crimean peninsula // encyclopedic Dictionary Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg, 1890-1907.

Literature

• Andreev A. R. History of Crimea: A brief description of the past of the Crimean Peninsula / A. R. Andreev. - M.: Interregional Center for Industry Informatics of Gosatomnadzor of Russia, 1997. - 96 p. - ISBN 5-89477-001-7.
• Karpov G. F. Relations of the Moscow state to Crimea and Turkey in 1508-1517 on the Runiverse website
• Lvov L. Relations between Zaporozhye and Crimea on the Runiverse website
• Abramenko L. M. Preface Belokon, S. I. // The Last Abode. Crimea, 1920-1921. - 1st. - Kyiv: MAUP, 2005. - 480 p. - ISBN 966-608-424-4.

Links

• Crimea, history // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg, 1890-1907.
• Crimea // Great Soviet Encyclopedia: / Ch. ed. A. M. Prokhorov. - 3rd ed. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1969-1978.
• Gusterin P. On the appointment of the first Russian consul in Crimea.
• Crimea - History and Economics
• World referendum on Crimea / Russian Observer
• Ivan Tolstoy, Sergei Magid. Crimea goes to... Germany? (03/21/2014) Radio Liberty
• Putin talks about the annexation of Crimea // ZDF, 03/09/2015
• Putin: GRU forces and marines were sent to Crimea to disarm the Ukrainian army // RIA Novosti, 03.15.2015
The edges

Altai Transbaikal Kamchatka Krasnodar Krasnoyarsk Perm Primorsky Stavropol Khabarovsk

Regions

Amur Arkhangelsk Astrakhan Belgorod Bryansk Volgograd Vologda Voronezh Ivanovo Irkutsk Kaliningrad Kaluga Kemerovo Kirov Kurgan Kursk Leningrad Lipetsk Magadan Moscow Murmansk Nizhny Novgorod Novgorod Novosibirsk Omsk Orenburg Oryol Penza Pskov Rostov Ryazan Samara Saratov Sakhalin Sverdlovsk Smolensk Tambov Tver Tomsk Tula Tyumen Ulyanovsk Chelyabinsk Yaroslavl

Federal cities

Moscow St. Petersburg Sevastopol

Autonomous region

Jewish

Autonomous okrugs

Nenets1 Khanty-Mansiysk - Yugra2 Chukotka Yamalo-Nenets2

1 Located on the territory of the Arkhangelsk region 2 Located on the territory of the Tyumen region

History of Ukraine by region
Regions	Vinnytsia Volyn Dnepropetrovsk Donetsk Zhytomyr Transcarpathian Zaporozhye Ivano-Frankivsk Kiev Kirovograd Luhansk Lviv Nikolaev Odessa Poltava Rivne Sumy Ternopil Kharkov Kherson Khmelnytsky Cherkasy Chernihiv Chernivtsi
Autonomous Republic	Crimea 1
Cities of national importance	Kyiv Sevastopol1
Notes: 1is the subject of a territorial dispute between Russia and Ukraine

Turkish conquest Russian-Crimean wars

As part of the Russian Empire	Annexation to the Russian Empire Tauride region Novorossiysk province Tauride province Crimean War First defense of Sevastopol
Soviet Crimea	Crimean People's Republic Soviet Socialist Republic of Taurida Crimean SSR Red terror Crimean ASSR Crimea in the Great Patriotic War Second defense of Sevastopol Deportation of the Crimean peoples Crimean region Transfer to the Ukrainian SSR
Modern Crimea	Autonomous Republic of Crimea Crimean crisis Republic of Crimea (independent state) Referendum on the status of Crimea (2014) Accession to the Russian Federation Transition period Republic of Crimea

Policy The problem of belonging (Crimean Federal District UN General Assembly Resolution 68/262) Economy Tourism Energy Winemaking Communications Transport Kerch Bridge Railway Trolleybus Kerch crossing Simferopol Airport North Crimean Canal Culture Education Religion Languages ​​Philately Portal “Crimea” Template “Republic of Crimea” Template “Autonomous Republic of Crimea” Template “Sevastopol”

history of Crimea, history of Crimea of ​​the 16th century, history of Crimea countryballs, history of Crimea Wikipedia, history of Crimea in 3 minutes, history of Crimea briefly, history of Crimea Ukraine

History of Crimea Information About

History of the Crimean Peninsula from ancient times to the present day.

Prehistoric period

Paleolithic and Mesolithic

The oldest traces of hominid habitation on the territory of Crimea date back to the Middle Paleolithic - this is a Neanderthal site in the Kiik-Koba cave, 100 thousand years old. Much later, during the Mesolithic era, the Cro-Magnons settled in Crimea (Murzak-Koba).

According to the Ryan-Pitman hypothesis, up to the 6th millennium BC. e. The territory of Crimea was not a peninsula, but was a fragment of a larger land mass, which included, in particular, the territory of the modern Sea of ​​​​Azov. Around 5500 BC e., as a result of the breakthrough of waters from the Mediterranean Sea and the formation of the Bosphorus Strait, large areas were flooded in a fairly short period, and the Crimean Peninsula was formed. The flooding of the Black Sea roughly coincides with the end of the Mesolithic cultures and the onset of the Neolithic.

Neolithic and Chalcolithic

Unlike most of Ukraine, Crimea was not affected by the wave of Neolithic cultures that came from Anatolia through the Balkans during the Neolithic era. The local Neolithic was of a different origin, associated with the cultures of the Circumpontic zone (steppes and plains between the Black and Caspian seas).

In 4-3 thousand BC. e. Through the territories north of Crimea, migrations to the west of tribes, presumably speakers of Indo-European languages, took place. In 3 thousand BC. e. The Kemi-Oba culture existed on the territory of Crimea.

Bronze and early Iron Age

The first inhabitants of Crimea, known to us from ancient sources, were the Cimmerians (XII century BC). Their presence in Crimea is confirmed by ancient and medieval historians, as well as by information that has come down to us in the form of toponyms of the eastern part of Crimea: “Cimmerian crossings”, “Cimmeric”.

In the middle of the 7th century. BC e. Some of the Cimmerians were forced out by the Scythians from the steppe part of the peninsula to the foothills and mountains of Crimea, where they created compact settlements.

In the foothills and mountains of Crimea, as well as on the southern coast, there lived Tauris associated with the Kizil-Koba archaeological culture. The possible Caucasian origin of the Taurs is indicated by traces of the influence of the Koban culture. From the Taurians comes the ancient name of the mountainous and coastal part of Crimea - Tavrika, Tavria, Tavrida. The remains of the fortifications and dwellings of the Tauri, their ring-like fences made of vertically placed stones and Taurus tombs “stone boxes” have been preserved and studied to this day.

A new period in the history of Taurica begins with the capture of Crimea by the Scythians. This period is characterized by qualitative changes in the composition of the population itself. Archaeological data show that after this the basis of the population of northwestern Crimea were peoples who came from the Dnieper region.

Antiquity

In the VI-V centuries. Before the birth of Christ, when the Scythians dominated the steppes, immigrants from Hellas founded their trading colonies on the Crimean coast. Panticapaeum or Bosporus (the modern city of Kerch) and Theodosius were built by colonists from the ancient Greek city of Miletus; Chersonesus, located within the boundaries of present-day Sevastopol, was built by the Greeks from Heraclea Pontic.

In the first half of the 5th century. BC e. Two independent Greek states emerge on the shores of the Black Sea. One of them is the democratic slave-owning republic of Chersonese Tauride, which included the lands of western Crimea (Kerkinitida (modern Evpatoria), Kalos-Limeni, Black Sea). Chersonesus was located behind mighty stone walls. It was founded on the site of a Taurus settlement by Greeks from Heraclea Pontus. The other is the Bosporus, an autocratic state whose capital was Panticapaeum. The Acropolis of this city was located on Mount Mithridates, and the Melek-Chesmensky and Tsarsky mounds were excavated not far from it. Stone crypts, unique monuments of Bosporan architecture, were found here.

Greek colonists brought shipbuilding, viticulture, cultivation of olive trees and other crops to the shores of Chimeria-Taurica, and built temples, theaters, and stadiums. Hundreds of Greek settlements - policies - appeared in Crimea. The ancient Greeks created great historical and literary monuments about Crimea. Euripides wrote the drama “Iphigenia in Tauris” using Crimean material. The Greeks who lived in the Tauric Chersonese and the Cimmerian Bosporus know the Iliad and the Odyssey, in which Cimmeria is unreasonably characterized as “a sad region covered with ever-damp fog and clouds.” Herodotus in the 5th century BC e. wrote about the religious beliefs of the Scythians, about the Tauri.

Until the end of the 3rd century. BC e. The Scythian state was significantly reduced under the onslaught of the Sarmatians. The Scythians were forced to move their capital to the Salgir River (near Simferopol), where Scythian Naples arose, also known as Neapolis (Greek name).

In the 1st century, the Romans tried to settle in Crimea. They build the fortress of Charax, which was abandoned in the 3rd century. During the Roman period, Christianity began to spread in Crimea. One of the first Christians in Crimea was the exiled Clement I - the 4th Pope.

Middle Ages

The Scythian state in Crimea existed until the second half of the 3rd century. n. e. and was destroyed by the Goths. The stay of the Goths in the Crimean steppes did not last long. In 370, the Balamber Huns invaded Crimea from the Taman Peninsula. The Goths established themselves in the mountainous Crimea until the 17th century (Crimean Goths). By the end of the 4th century, only one ancient city of Tauride Chersonesos remained in Crimea, which became an outpost of Byzantine influence in the region. Under Emperor Justinian, the fortresses of Aluston, Gurzuf, Simbolon and Sudak were founded in Crimea, and the Bosporus was revived. In the 6th century, the Turks marched across Crimea. In the 7th century, nomadic Bulgarians settled here. At the beginning of the 8th century, Crimea was divided between Byzantium and Khazaria, from the latter the state structure remained on the peninsula (khan, beklerbek, kurultai), Crimean Armenians from the former Nestorians - first the Khazars, then the Polovtsians and Cossacks, the Cossacks, first mentioned here, the Crimean ethnic group . In connection with the resettlement of the Karaites from Egypt to the Crimea (Chufut-Kale), they adopted the language of the Crimeans. In the 8th century, an iconoclasm movement began in Byzantium; icons and paintings in churches were destroyed. The monks, fleeing persecution, moved to the outskirts of the empire, including the Crimea. Here in the mountains they founded cave temples and monasteries: Uspensky, Kachi-Kalyon, Shuldan, Chelter and others.

In the VI-XII centuries in the South-Western Crimea, the development of feudal relations and the formation of fortified settlements on the cuestas of the Inner Ridge - “cave cities” - took place.

In the 9th century, Kirill, the creator of the Glagolitic alphabet, the first common Slavic alphabet, came to Crimea while passing through Sarkel. in the creation of which a significant role was played by his study of Russian letters in the Crimea from a local Rus merchant - “devil and rez”. In honor of Kirill, his letter was named “Cyrillic”. In the same century, the Pechenegs and Russes appeared in Crimea (Bravlin). At the beginning of the 10th century, Crimea became the scene of a battle between the armies of the Rus (Helgu) and the Khazars (Passover). After the murder of the ruling dynasty of Khagans of Khazaria by the Oghuz Turks, power passes to the rightful heir from another branch of the autochthonous dynasty of the South of Rus', possibly dating back to the Massagets, judging by the common aidar among the Khazars and Massagets - the Kyiv prince Svyatoslav Igorevich. In 988, in Korsun (Chersonese), Grand Duke of Kiev Vladimir Svyatoslavovich was baptized and married the sister of the Byzantine emperor. Korsun at this time was in the possession of Rus'. During the period of feudal fragmentation of Rus', the Khazar part of Crimea came under the rule of the Russian Tmutarakan principality. Korchev became a significant city during this period.

After the weakening of Byzantium in its former Crimean possessions, the Gotalans (Crimean Goths) founded the Orthodox Christian principality of Theodoro with its capital in the largest “cave city” in the city of Mangup. The first Turkish landing in Sudak dates back to 1222, which defeated the Russian-Polovtsian army. Literally the next year, the Tatar-Mongols Jebe invade Crimea. The steppe Crimea becomes the possession of the Golden Horde - the Jochi ulus. The administrative center of the peninsula becomes the city of Crimea. The first coins issued in Crimea by Khan Mengu-Timur date back to 1267. Thanks to the rapid flourishing of Genoese trade and the nearby Kafa, Crimea quickly turned into a large trade and craft center. Karasubazar becomes another large city in the Crimean ulus. In the 13th century, significant Islamization of the formerly Christian Crimea took place.

In the 14th century, part of the territories of Crimea was acquired by the Genoese (Gazaria, Kaffa). By this time, the Polovtsian language was already widespread in Crimea, as evidenced by the Codex Cumanicus. In 1367, Crimea was subject to Mamai, whose power also relied on the Genoese colonies. In 1397, the Lithuanian prince Vitovt invaded Crimea and reached Kaffa. After the pogrom of Edigei, Chersonesos turns into ruins (1399).

Crimean Khanate and Ottoman Empire

After the collapse of the Golden Horde in 1441, the remnants of the Mongols in Crimea were Turkified. At this moment, Crimea is divided between the steppe Crimean Khanate, the mountain principality of Theodoro and the Genoese colonies on the southern coast. The capital of the Principality of Theodoro is Mangup - one of the largest fortresses of medieval Crimea (90 hectares) and, if necessary, takes under protection significant masses of the population.

In the summer of 1475, the Ottoman Turks, who had captured the territories of the former Byzantine Empire, landed a large force of Gedik Ahmed Pasha in the Crimea and the Azov region, capturing all the Genoese fortresses (including Tana on the Don) and Greek cities. In July Mangup was besieged. Having burst into the city, the Turks destroyed almost all the inhabitants, plundered and burned buildings. On the lands of the principality (and also the conquered Genoese colonies of the captaincy of Gothia), a Turkish kadilik (district) was created; The Ottomans maintained their garrisons and bureaucrats there and strictly collected taxes. In 1478, the Crimean Khanate became a protectorate of the Ottoman Empire.

In the 15th century, the Turks, with the help of Italian specialists, built the Or-Kapu fortress on Perekop. Since that time, the Perekop shaft has another name - Turkish. Since the end of the 15th century, the Tatars in Crimea gradually moved from nomadic forms of farming to settled agriculture. The main occupation of the Crimean Tatars (as they began to be called much later) in the south became gardening, viticulture, and tobacco cultivation. In the steppe regions of Crimea, livestock farming was developed, primarily the breeding of sheep and horses.

Since the end of the 15th century, the Crimean Khanate made constant raids on the Russian state and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The main purpose of the raids was to capture slaves and resell them in Turkish markets. The total number of slaves who passed through the Crimean markets is estimated at three million.

The Russo-Turkish War of 1768-1774 ended Ottoman rule, and the Küçük-Kaynardzhi Peace Treaty of 1774 gave up the Ottomans' claims to Crimea.

Russian empire

Starting from November 14, 1779, Suvorov, fulfilling the decree of Catherine II, removed the entire Christian population from Crimea for a year. The Greeks, who inhabited mainly the western and southern shores of Crimea, were resettled by Suvorov on the northern shore of the Sea of ​​Azov, where they founded the city of Mariupol and 20 villages in the area. The Armenians, who inhabited mainly the eastern and southeastern shores of Crimea (Feodosia, Old Crimea, Surkhat, etc.), were resettled in the lower reaches of the Don, near the fortress of Dmitry of Rostov, where they founded the city of Nakhichevan-on-Don and 5 villages around it (on place of modern Rostov-on-Don). This resettlement was organized with the aim of weakening the economy of the Crimean Khanate, since the Armenians and Greeks, unlike the nomadic Crimean Tatars, were predominantly farmers and artisans who controlled all trade of the Crimean Khanate and the Khan's treasury was based on their taxes. With the exodus of Christians, the Khanate was drained of blood and devastated. On April 8, 1783, Catherine II issued a manifesto on the acceptance of the “Crimean Peninsula”, as well as the Kuban side, into the Russian Empire. Russian troops of Suvorov entered the territory of Crimea, and the city of Sevastopol was founded near the ruins of ancient Chersonesus, where Vladimir the Saint was baptized. The Crimean Khanate was abolished, but its elite (over 300 clans) joined the Russian nobility and took part in the local self-government of the newly created Tauride region. At first, the development of the Russian Crimea was in charge of Prince Potemkin, who received the title of “Tauride”. In 1783, the population of Crimea numbered 60 thousand people, mainly engaged in cattle breeding (Crimean Tatars). At the same time, under Russian jurisdiction, the Russian as well as the Greek population from among retired soldiers began to grow. Bulgarians and Germans come to explore new lands. In 1787, Empress Catherine made her famous trip to Crimea. During the next Russian-Turkish war, unrest began among the Crimean Tatars, due to which their habitat was significantly reduced. In 1796, the region became part of the Novorossiysk province, and in 1802 it was again separated into an independent administrative unit. At the beginning of the 19th century, viticulture (Magarach) and shipbuilding (Sevastopol) developed in Crimea, and roads were laid. Under Prince Vorontsov, Yalta begins to develop, the Vorontsov Palace is founded, and the southern coast of Crimea is turned into a resort.

Crimean War

In June 1854, the Anglo-French flotilla began shelling Russian coastal fortifications in the Crimea, and already in September the Allies (Great Britain, France, Ottoman Empire) began landing in Yevpatoria. Soon the Battle of Alma took place. In October, the siege of Sevastopol began, during which Kornilov died on Malakhov Kurgan. In February 1855, the Russians unsuccessfully tried to storm Evpatoria. In May, the Anglo-French fleet captured Kerch. In July, Nakhimov died in Sevastopol. On September 11, 1855, Sevastopol fell, but was returned to Russia at the end of the war in exchange for certain concessions.

Crimea at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century

In 1874, Simferopol was connected to Aleksandrovsk by railway. The resort status of Crimea increased after the summer royal residence of the Livadia Palace appeared in Livadia.

According to the 1897 census, 546,700 people lived in Crimea. Of these, 35.6% Crimean Tatars, 33.1% Russians, 11.8% Ukrainians, 5.8% Germans, 4.4% Jews, 3.1% Greeks, 1.5% Armenians, 1.3% Bulgarians , 1.2% Poles, 0.3% Turks.

Crimea in the Civil War

On the eve of the revolution, 800 thousand people lived in Crimea, including 400 thousand Russians and 200 thousand Tatars, as well as 68 thousand Jews and 40 thousand Germans. After the February events of 1917, the Crimean Tatars organized themselves into the Milli Firka party, which tried to seize power on the peninsula.

On December 16, 1917, the Bolshevik Military Revolutionary Committee was established in Sevastopol, which took power into its own hands. On January 4, 1918, the Bolsheviks took power in Feodosia, knocking out the Crimean Tatar units from there, and on January 6 - in Kerch. On the night of January 8-9, the Red Guard entered Yalta. On the night of January 14, Simferopol was taken.

On April 22, 1918, Ukrainian troops under the command of Colonel Bolbochan occupied Yevpatoria and Simferopol, followed by the German troops of General von Kosch. According to an agreement between Kiev and Berlin, on April 27, Ukrainian units left Crimea, renouncing claims to the peninsula. The Crimean Tatars also rebelled, concluding an alliance with the new invaders. By May 1, 1918, German troops occupied the entire Crimean peninsula. May 1 - November 15, 1918 - Crimea de facto under German occupation, de jure under the control of the autonomous Crimean regional government (from June 23) Suleiman Sulkevich

• November 15, 1918 - April 11, 1919 - Second Crimean regional government (Solomon Crimea) under the patronage of the Allies;
• April-June 1919 - Crimean Soviet Socialist Republic as part of the RSFSR;
• July 1, 1919 - November 12, 1920 - Governments of the South of Russia: VSYUR A. I. Denikin

In January-March 1920, 4 thousand soldiers of the 3rd Army Corps of the AFSR, General Ya. A. Slashchev, successfully defended the Crimea from attacks by two Soviet armies with a total number of 40 thousand soldiers, using the ingenious tactics of their commander, giving Perekop to the Bolsheviks over and over again , crushing them already in Crimea, and then expelling them from it back to the steppes. On February 4, the White Guard captain Orlov with 300 fighters rebelled and captured Simferopol, arresting several generals of the Volunteer Army and the governor of the Tauride province. At the end of March, the remnants of the white armies, having surrendered the Don and Kuban, were evacuated to the Crimea. Denikin's headquarters ended up in Feodosia. On April 5, Denikin announced his resignation and transfer of his post to General Wrangel. On May 15, the Wrangel fleet raided Mariupol, during which the city was shelled and some ships were withdrawn to the Crimea. On June 6, Slashchev's units began to quickly move north, occupying the capital of Northern Tavria - Melitopol - on June 10. On June 24, the Wrangel landing force occupied Berdyansk for two days, and in July, Captain Kochetov’s landing group landed at Ochakov. On August 3, the Whites occupied Aleksandrovsk, but the next day they were forced to leave the city.

On November 12, 1920, the Red Army broke through the defenses at Perekop and broke into Crimea. On November 13, the 2nd Cavalry Army under the command of F.K. Mironov occupied Simferopol. The main Wrangel troops left the peninsula through port cities. In the captured Crimea, the Bolsheviks carried out mass terror, as a result of which, according to various sources, from 20 to 120 thousand people died

At the end of the Civil War, 720 thousand people lived in Crimea.

Crimea within the USSR

Starvation in 1921-1922 claimed the lives of more than 75 thousand Crimeans. The total number of deaths in the spring of 1923 may have exceeded 100 thousand people, of which 75 thousand were Crimean Tatars. The consequences of the famine were eliminated only by the mid-1920s.

Crimea in the Great Patriotic War

In November 1941, the Red Army was forced to leave Crimea, retreating to the Taman Peninsula. Soon a counter-offensive was launched from there, but it did not lead to success and Soviet troops were again driven back across the Kerch Strait. In German-occupied Crimea, a general district of the same name was formed as part of the Reichskommissariat Ukraine. The occupation administration was headed by A. Frauenfeld, but in fact the power belonged to the military administration. In accordance with Nazi policy, communists and racially unreliable elements (Jews, Gypsies, Krymchaks) were destroyed in the occupied territory, and along with the Krymchaks, the Karaites recognized by Hitler as racially reliable were also killed en masse. On April 11, 1944, the Soviet army began an operation to liberate Crimea, and Dzhankoy and Kerch were recaptured. By April 13, Simferopol and Feodosia were liberated. May 9 - Sevastopol. The Germans held out for the longest time at Cape Chersonesus, but their evacuation was disrupted by the death of the Patria convoy. The war sharply aggravated interethnic contradictions in Crimea, and in May-June 1944, Crimean Tatars (183 thousand people), Armenians, Greeks and Bulgarians were evicted from the territory of the peninsula. Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR No. 493 of September 5, 1967 “On citizens of Tatar nationality living in Crimea” recognized that “after the liberation of Crimea from fascist occupation in 1944, facts of active cooperation with the German invaders of a certain part of the Tatars living in Crimea were unreasonably attributed to the entire Tatar population of Crimea."

As part of the Ukrainian SSR: 1954-1991

In 1954, due to the difficult economic situation on the peninsula caused by post-war devastation and labor shortage after the deportation of the Crimean Tatars, the Soviet leadership decided to transfer Crimea to the Ukrainian SSR with the following wording: “Taking into account the commonality of the economy, territorial proximity and close economic and cultural connections between the Crimean region and the Ukrainian SSR."

On February 19, 1954, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issued a Decree “On the transfer of the Crimean region from the RSFSR to the Ukrainian SSR.”

On January 20, 1991, a general Crimean referendum took place in the Crimean region of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. The question was put to a general vote: “Are you in favor of re-establishing the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic as a subject of the USSR and a party to the Union Treaty?” The referendum questioned the decisions of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in 1954 (transferring the Crimean region to the Ukrainian SSR) and in 1945 (on the abolition of the Krasnodar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and the creation of the Crimean region in its place). 1 million 441 thousand 19 people took part in the referendum, which is 81.37% of the total number of citizens included in the lists to participate in the referendum. 93.26% of Crimean residents of the total number of those who took part in the vote voted for the re-establishment of the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

On February 12, 1991, based on the results of the all-Crimean referendum, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the law “On the restoration of the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic”, and 4 months later made corresponding changes to the 1978 Constitution of the Ukrainian SSR. However, the second part of the question put to the referendum - on raising the status of Crimea to the level of a subject of the USSR and a party to the Union Treaty - was not taken into account in this law.

As part of independent Ukraine

On August 24, 1991, the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR adopted the Act of Independence of Ukraine, which was subsequently confirmed at an all-Ukrainian referendum on December 1, 1991.

On September 4, 1991, an emergency session of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Republic, which states the desire to create a legal democratic state within Ukraine.

On December 1, 1991, at the All-Ukrainian referendum, residents of Crimea participated in the vote on the independence of Ukraine. 54% of Crimeans spoke in favor of preserving the independence of Ukraine, a founding state of the UN. However, at the same time, Article 3 of the USSR Law “On the procedure for resolving issues related to the secession of a union republic from the USSR” was violated, according to which a separate (all-Crimean) referendum was to be held in the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic on the issue of its stay within the USSR or as part of the secession union republic - Ukrainian SSR.

On May 5, 1992, the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea adopted the declaration “Act on the Declaration of State Independence of the Republic of Crimea,” but then, under pressure from Ukraine, canceled this decision. According to the recollection of Ukrainian President Kravchuk in an interview given to the Ukrainian program, at that time official Kyiv was considering the possibility of war with the Republic of Crimea.

At the same time, the Russian parliament voted to cancel the 1954 decision to transfer Crimea to the Ukrainian SSR.

On May 6, 1992, the seventh session of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea adopted the Constitution of the Republic of Crimea. These documents contradicted the then legislation of Ukraine; they were canceled by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine only on March 17, 1995 after protracted conflicts in Crimea. Subsequently, Leonid Kuchma, who became President of Ukraine in July 1994, signed a number of decrees that determined the status of the authorities of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.

Also, on May 6, 1992, by decision of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the post of President of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea was introduced.

In May 1994, the situation escalated when the Crimean parliament voted to restore the 1992 constitution, effectively making Crimea independent from Ukraine. However, the leaders of Russia and Ukraine prevented violence from breaking out.

Elections two months later, which installed the pro-Russian Leonid Danilovich Kuchma as Ukraine's president, dampened Crimea's desire for secession. However, the same presidential elections at the same time, they increased the likelihood of the eastern part of the country separating from Ukraine, which was moving closer and closer to Russia.

In March 1995, by decision of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the President of Ukraine, the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Crimea was abolished and the presidency in Crimea was abolished.

On October 21, 1998, at the second session of the Verkhovna Rada of the Republic of Crimea, a new Constitution was adopted.

On December 23, 1998, President of Ukraine L. Kuchma signed a law, in the first paragraph of which the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine decided: “To approve the Constitution of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.” Pro-Russian sentiments intensified in Crimea, since more than 60% of the population of the autonomy are Russians.

Political crisis of 2014. Joining the Russian Federation

On February 23, 2014, the Ukrainian flag was lowered over the Kerch city council and the state flag of the Russian Federation was raised. The mass removal of Ukrainian flags took place on February 25 in Sevastopol. The Cossacks in Feodosia sharply criticized the new authorities in Kyiv. Residents of Yevpatoria also joined the pro-Russian actions. After the new Ukrainian authorities dissolved Berkut, the head of Sevastopol, Alexei Chaly, issued an order.

On February 27, 2014, the building of the Supreme Council of Crimea was seized by armed people without insignia. The Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs officers guarding the building were expelled, and the Russian flag was raised over the building. The captors allowed the deputies of the Supreme Council of Crimea inside, having previously taken away their mobile communications equipment. Deputies voted to appoint Aksenov as head of the new government of Crimea and decided to hold a referendum on the status of Crimea. According to the official statement of the VSK press service, 53 deputies voted for this decision. According to the speaker of the Crimean parliament Vladimir Konstantinov, V.F. Yanukovych (whom parliamentarians consider the President of Ukraine) called him and agreed on Aksenov’s candidacy over the phone. Such approval is required by Article 136 of the Constitution of Ukraine.

On March 6, 2014, the Supreme Council of Crimea adopted a resolution on the republic’s entry into the Russian Federation as a subject and scheduled a referendum on this issue.

On March 11, 2014, the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the Sevastopol City Council adopted the Declaration of Independence of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.

On March 16, 2014, a referendum was held in Crimea, in which, according to official data, about 82% of voters took part, of which 96% voted in favor of joining the Russian Federation. On March 17, 2014, according to the results of a referendum, the Republic of Crimea, in which the city of Sevastopol has a special status, asked to join Russia.

On March 18, 2014, an interstate Agreement was signed between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Crimea on the admission of the Republic of Crimea to the Russian Federation. In accordance with the agreement, new entities are formed within the Russian Federation - the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol. On March 21, a federal district of the same name was formed in Crimea with its center in Simferopol. After the annexation of Crimea to Russia, the question arose about the fate of Ukrainian military units located on the territory of the peninsula. Initially, these units were blocked by local self-defense units, and then taken by storm, for example Belbek and the marine battalion in Feodosia. During the assaults on units, the Ukrainian military behaved passively and did not use weapons. On March 22, Russian media reported a rush among Crimeans who sought to obtain Russian passports. On March 24, the ruble became the official currency in Crimea (the circulation of the hryvnia was temporarily preserved).

On March 27, 2014, as a result of an open vote at the 80th plenary meeting of the 68th session of the UN General Assembly, resolution 68/262 was adopted, according to which the UNGA confirms the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders and does not recognize the legality of any there was no change in the status of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea or the city of Sevastopol based on the results of the all-Crimean referendum held on March 16, 2014, since this referendum, according to the resolution, has no legal force.

Population of Crimea in the 18th-21st centuries

After the annexation of Crimea to Russia, a census was not carried out; the data of Shagin-Girey was used; there were six kaymakams on the territory (Bakhchisaray, Akmechet, Karasubazar, Kozlov, Kefin and Perekop).

Since April 2, 1784, the territory was divided into counties, there were 1,400 populated villages and 7 cities - Simferopol, Sevastopol, Yalta, Evpatoria, Alushta, Feodosia, Kerch.

In 1834, Crimean Tatars dominated everywhere, but after the Crimean War their resettlement began.

By 1853, 43 thousand people were Orthodox; in the Taurida province among the “non-believers” were Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Reformed, Armenian Catholics, Armenian Gregorians, Mennonites, Talmudic Jews, Karaites and Muslims.

At the end of the 19th century, according to ESBE, there were 397,239 people living in Crimea. With the exception of the mountainous region, Crimea was sparsely populated. There were 11 cities, 1098 villages, 1400 hamlets and villages. The cities have 148,897 inhabitants - about 37% of the total population. The ethnographic composition of the population was diverse: Tatars, Ukrainians, Russians, Armenians, Greeks, Karaites, Crimeans, Germans, Bulgarians, Czechs, Estonians, Jews, Gypsies. The Tatars made up the predominant part of the population (up to 89%) in the mountainous region and about half in the steppe region. The steppe Tatars are direct descendants of the Mongols, and the mountain Tatars, judging by their type, are the descendants of the original inhabitants of the southern coast (Greeks, Italians, etc.), who converted to Islam and the Tatar language. They introduced so many Turkish and corrupted Greek words into this language that it is often incomprehensible to the steppe Tatars. There are most Russians in Feodosia district; these are either peasants, or soldiers allocated land, or various newcomers who lived with landowners as tithes. Germans and Bulgarians settled in Crimea at the beginning of the 19th century, receiving vast and fertile lands; later, wealthy colonists began to buy land, mainly in Perekop and Evpatoria districts. Czechs and Estonians arrived in Crimea in the 1860s and took over some of the land left behind by the emigrating Tatars. The Greeks partly remained from the time of the Khanate, partly settled in 1779. Armenians penetrated into Crimea in the 6th century; in the 14th century there were about 150,000 Armenians in Crimea, which accounted for 35% of the population of the peninsula, including 2/3 of the population of Feodosia. The ethnic group formed as a result of mixing with the Christian Polovtsians managed to preserve the Armenian-Kipchak language and faith. Jews and Karaites, very ancient inhabitants of Crimea, retained their religion, but lost their language and adopted the Tatar costume and way of life. Otatari Jews, the so-called Krymchaks, live mainly in Karasubazar; Karaites lived under the khans in Chufut-Kale (near Bakhchisarai), and are now concentrated in Evpatoria. Some of the gypsies remained from the time of the Khanate (sedentary), some recently moved from Poland (nomadic).

In 1709, the remnants of the Swedish troops of Charles XII and the Cossacks of the Ukrainian hetman Ivan Mazepa, defeated by Russian Tsar Peter I in the Battle of Poltava, left through Perevolochna to Turkish possessions. The Swedish king Charles XII soon found himself in Istanbul, and Mazepa died in Bendery in September 1709. The emigrant Cossacks elected general clerk Philip Orlik as hetman, who in 1710 signed an alliance treaty in Crimea between the Cossacks subordinate to him and the Crimean Khan. Under this treaty, the Crimean Khanate recognized the independence of Ukraine and agreed not to stop the war with the Moscow state without the consent of the hetman in exile Orlik.

On November 9, 1710, Turkish Sultan Ahmet III declared war on Russia. Turkey, once again deceived by French diplomacy, which wanted to ease Sweden's situation after Poltava and force Russia to fight on two fronts, assembled a huge army of 120,000 Turks and 100,000 Crimean and Nogai Tatars. The troops of the Crimean Khan Devlet Giray II and the Nogais with their Kuban Sultan, the son of the khan, went on a campaign against the Moscow state. The goal of the campaign was to capture Voronezh and destroy its shipyards, but this was not possible. At Kharkov, the Tatars were met by Russian troops under the command of General Shidlovsky. The Tatars plundered the area, took prisoners and returned to Crimea. The next campaign against Right Bank Ukraine in the spring of 1711 involved the Cossacks of Orlik, the Cossacks with the Kosche Kostya Gordienko, the Polish troops of Poniatovsky and the Budzhak Horde led by the Sultan, the son of the Crimean Khan. An army of fifty thousand reached Bila Tserkva, but was unable to take the fortress and returned home.

After the battle of the two hundred thousand Turkish-Tatar army with forty thousand Russians on the Prut River in July 1711, Russia and Turkey signed an agreement according to which Russia was to return Azov to Turkey, and raze the cities of Taganrog, Kamenny Zaton and all other fortifications built after 1696. “The royal ambassador will no longer be in Constantinople.”

In 1717, the Tatars made a large raid on Ukrainian lands, and in 1717 on Russian lands, reaching Tambov and Simbirsk. During these years, the Crimean Khanate sold up to 20,000 slaves annually. In Crimea, intrigues and unrest continuously occurred among the Tatar nobility, for which the Crimean khans of Gaza Giray II and Saadet Giray III were removed. State functions in Crimea were performed by Turkey, which was not interested in strengthening the Khanate; it also maintained fortresses, artillery, and administrative apparatus.

In 1723, Mengli Girey P. became the Crimean Khan. Having destroyed some of the rebellious beys and murzas and confiscated their property, the new khan reduced taxes for the “black people”, which made it possible to somewhat stabilize the situation in the khanate. The Crimean Khan Kaplan Giray managed in 1730 to “take under his hand” part of the Cossacks, who agreed to this because of Russia’s refusal to take them back after Mazepa’s betrayal. However, this did not strengthen the Khanate. The economic and military lag of the Crimean Khanate from other European powers was very significant.

This was especially evident during the Russian-Turkish war of 1735–1739.

In 1732, the troops of the Crimean Khan received orders from the Ottoman Porte to invade Persia, with which Turkey had been at war for several years. The shortest route from Crimea to Persia passed through Russian territory, along which Tatar troops constantly moved, violating, as they would say now, the territorial integrity of the Russian Empire. By 1735, Persia defeated the Turkish-Tatar army and the then leaders of Russian foreign policy, Levenwolde, Osterman and Biron, considered that the time had come to “repay Turkey for the Prut Peace Treaty, which was humiliating to the honor of the Russian name.”

On July 23, 1735, the commander of the Russian troops, Field Marshal Minich, received a letter from the cabinet ministers with the order to open military operations against the Ottoman Porte and the Crimean Khanate, for which purpose, with the Russian troops, move from Poland, where they were then located, to Ukraine and prepare for a campaign against the Crimean Tatars . The future Field Marshal Burdhard-Christoph Munnich was born on May 9, 1683 in the village of Neinguntorf, in the county of Oldenburg, which was then a Danish possession. The Minich family was a peasant family, only his father Anton-Gunther Minich received noble dignity while serving in the Danish army. Burchard-Christoph Munnich entered military service at the age of sixteen and rose to the rank of major general, serving in the forces of Eugene of Savoy and the Duke of Marlborough. In February 1721, under Peter I, he entered the Russian service and arrived in St. Petersburg. Under Empress Anna Ioannovna, Minikh became president of the military college.

Military operations against Turkey and the Crimean Khanate began in 1735 in Crimea, and then moved to the borders of Bessarabia and Podolia. In August 1735, Minich and his troops crossed the Don. Lieutenant General Leontyev with a corps of forty thousand, having scattered small detachments of Nogai Tatars, stopped ten days' journey from Perekop and turned back. In March 1736, Russian troops began the siege of Azov.

On April 20, 1736, a fifty-thousand-strong Russian army led by Minikh set out from the town of Tsaritsynki, a former gathering place, and on May 20, through Perekop, entered the Crimea, driving back the Crimean Khan and his army. The Perekop defensive line was an almost eight-kilometer ditch from the Azov to the Black Sea, about twelve meters wide and up to ten meters deep, with a twenty-meter-high rampart fortified with six stone towers and the Perekop fortress with a Turkish Janissary garrison of two thousand people. Having stormed the Perekop fortifications, the Russian army went deep into the Crimea and ten days later entered Gezlev, capturing there almost a month's supply of food for the entire army. By the end of June, the troops approached Bakhchisarai, withstood two strong Tatar attacks in front of the Crimean capital, took the city, which had two thousand houses, and completely burned it along with the Khan's palace. After this, part of the Russian army, marching to the Ak-Mosque, burned the empty capital of the Sultan's Kalgi. At the same time, a ten-thousand-strong Russian detachment of General Leontyev took Kinburn, which had a two-thousand-strong Turkish garrison. Azov was also captured by the Russian troops of General Lassi. After staying in Crimea for a month, Russian troops retreated to Perekop and at the end of autumn returned to Ukraine, having lost two thousand people directly from the fighting and half the army from disease and local conditions.

In retaliation for this, in February 1737, the Crimean Tatars raided Ukraine across the Dnieper at Perevolochna, killing General Leslie and taking many prisoners.

In April 1737, the second campaign of Russian troops against the Turkish-Tatar possessions began. Having crossed the Dnieper and then the Bug, in mid-July Minikh with seventy thousand Russian troops besieged and took Ochakov by storm, in which they managed to blow up the powder magazines. Of the twenty thousand strong Turkish garrison, seventeen thousand people died, three thousand surrendered. Leaving a garrison in Ochakov, the Russian troops returned to winter quarters in Ukraine, since the Tatars burned out the entire steppe, and the food train, as always, appeared when the campaign was already over. The second twenty-five thousand strong Russian detachment under the command of Field Marshal Lassi at the beginning of July 1737 forded the Sivash, defeated and scattered the Crimean Tatar army led by the khan and took Karasubazar, a city of six thousand houses. Having ravaged the city and about a thousand Tatar villages, the Russians returned through Molochnye Vody to Ukraine, stationed along the banks of the Northern Donets. For these campaigns of Russian troops in Crimea, the Turkish Sultan deposed the Crimean khans Kaplan Giray II and Fatih Giray. The campaigns of Russian troops on the Crimean Peninsula stopped large Tatar raids on Ukrainian and Russian lands. Large masses of Tatars began to settle on the land and engage in farming.

In October 1737, a united forty-thousand-strong Turkish-Tatar army under the command of the Bendery Pasha tried to recapture Ochakov, but after standing for two weeks near the city, successfully defended by a four-thousand-strong Russian garrison, to no avail, they retreated.

Peace negotiations held on the initiative of the Turks in Nemirov in 1737 did not produce results for Russia, which demanded from the Turks all the lands of the Crimean Khanate from the Kuban to the Danube with Crimea inclusive and independence for the Danube principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia. In 1738, Minikh and his troops crossed the Dnieper , reached the Dniester, but, due to the outbreak of a pestilence, returned to Ukraine. Field Marshal Lassi was then only able to reach Perekop, ruined it and returned to the Dnieper. At the same time, because of the pestilence, the Russians abandoned Ochakov and Kinburn. The Crimean Tatars tried to break into the Donetsk region in winter, but were repulsed.

The main events unfolded the following year.

On August 16, 1739, in the Battle of Stavuchany, in Wallachia, the surrounded sixty-five-thousand-strong Russian army led by Minich, having in the rear the Crimean Tatars led by Khan Mengli Giray, defeated the ninety-thousand-strong Turkish army of Veli Pasha. This was the first battle and the first defeat of the Turks from Russian troops in an open field, thanks to tactical movements and powerful artillery and rifle fire. On August 19, the Russians captured the Khotin fortress, in which the Turks left 179 cannons. In September, Russian troops crossed the Prut, occupied Iasi and intended to cross the Danube and enter the territory of the Ottoman Empire, but in October 1739 Minich received an order to return the troops to the Russian Empire and returned to Ukraine.

Thanks to the pressure of Austria and France, who, as always, did not want and were afraid of the strengthening of Russia (it even got to the point that the peace negotiations with the Turks from the Russian side were led by the French ambassador in Constantinople Villeneuve), according to the peace treaty concluded in September 1739 in Belgrade, Russia received back its same Azov. Russia did not have the right to build any fortifications in the Azov region, and could never have military or merchant ships on the Black Sea.

The great Russian historian V. O. Klyuchevsky wrote: “Russia has more than once concluded difficult peace treaties, but it has never had the opportunity to conclude such a shamefully ridiculous treaty as the Belgrade Treaty of 1739 and perhaps never will.”

In the 18th century, the majority of the population of the Crimean Peninsula became sedentary. Arable land increased, a lot of bread and tobacco were produced, rice fields appeared, and flax began to be raised near Alushta. Gardening and vegetable growing are developing, many orchards of apple trees, plums, cherries, cherries, chestnuts appear on the Crimean peninsula, and walnuts, watermelons, melons, pumpkins and other vegetables. Wine production is increasing significantly. A lot of honey, salted fish, caviar and salt are exported. Cattle breeding is also developing. A lot of cow butter, sheepskin, sheep wool, felt, sheep fur coats, leather, and morocco are sent to Constantinople and Asia Minor. Along with cattle breeding, crafts such as the production of felt, leather and morocco were also developed. Crimean-made saddles were valued all over the world. In Bakhchisarai, in one hundred knife workshops, up to half a million knives were produced annually, sold to Asia Minor, Russia, Moldova and Wallachia, and the Caucasus. The Crimean cities of Bakhchisarai and Karasubazar grew quickly, ships from Turkey, Asia Minor, and Russia came to the Crimean port of Gezlev. Perekop was also upset, in which many merchant offices and warehouses appeared for goods traveling by land to the Crimea and back.

Crimean slaves began to be put on the ground in the position of serfs.

Since the middle of the 18th century, under the khans Selyamet Giray II, Selim Giray II, and Arslan Giray, extensive construction has been taking place. A new Khan's palace was built in Bakhchisarai, the main mosques were reconstructed, the border fortresses of Perekop and Arabat, which defended the Crimean Khanate, were restored, and all the villages destroyed and burned during the war were restored. According to the 1740 census, conducted by order of Mengli Giray II, the Crimean Khanate was divided into 48 judicial districts, had 9 cities and 1399 villages. At the end of the 18th century, the capital of the Khanate, Bakhchisarai, was home to more than 6,000 inhabitants; the population of the Crimean Peninsula was close to half a million people.

At this time, the Russian Empire began intensive development of the “Wild Field” - the steppes of the Northern Black Sea region.

In 1752, in the region of Kherson, founded in 1778, the first military agricultural colony was formed with a population of Serbs and Hungarians who had left the Austrian Empire, called New Serbia. Its administrative center was the fortress of St. Elizabeth, built near the Ingul River. To the east from the Dniester to the Don in 1753, a second colony of Serbian settlers was created with the city of Bakhmut - Slavic-Serbia. The Russian Empire wanted to create a powerful barrier to the raids of the Crimean Tatars. In 1764, New Serbia was transformed into the Novorossiysk province, and Slavic-Serbia - into the Catherine Province of the Novorossiysk province, with a population of about one hundred thousand people. Later, in 1783, the Novorossiysk province was renamed the Catherine's governorship, which expanded due to the annexation of Crimea, from which the Tauride region was formed. On the banks of the Dnieper, Grigory Potemkin founded Ekaterinoslav, at the mouth of the Ingul - Nikolaev, then Odessa, Rostov-on-Don.

In 1758, Crimean Giray became the Crimean Khan, and because of his passion for entertainment and theater, he received the nickname “Delhi Khan” - “Crazy Khan”. During the Seven Years' War, taking advantage of the fact that Russian troops were busy fighting with Prussia, "Delhi Khan" made several large raids on Polish and Russian lands, ruining them and collecting many prisoners. His actions became the reason that, as a result of the long Russian-Turkish war, the Crimean Khanate became part of the Russian Empire.

In 1763, at the mouth of the Temernik River, Russia began construction of the fortress of St. Dmitry of Rostov (Rostov-on-Don), which could control the trade of the Crimean Peninsula and Kuban. The Crimean Khan complained to the Turkish Sultan in Istanbul, who demanded an explanation from the Russian ambassador Obreskov. The foreign policy conflict was settled amicably, but not for long, since Russian-Turkish relations were controlled by France, which was Russia’s main political opponent in Sweden, Poland, the Middle East and the Mediterranean. France resisted with all its might the emergence in Europe of a strong trade and military competitor in the person of Russia. The minister of the French king Louis XV, Charles-François de Broglie, wrote: “As for Russia, we rank it among the rank of European powers only to exclude it from this rank, denying it the right to even think about participating in European affairs.” The French philosopher of that time, Denis Diderot, spoke of the Russian people as follows: “This nation rotted before it matured.”

The interests of Russia and Turkey also collided in the Caucasus, where Ossetians, Georgia and Armenia sought Russian protection. Both Russia and Türkiye, pushed by France, began to prepare for war. And it began.