Kamyshin is a city of regional significance in the Volgograd region of Russia. The administrative center of the Kamyshin district (not part of the district), forms the urban district, the city of Kamyshin.
The territory of Kamyshin and the surrounding area has
been inhabited by people since ancient times. For example, located
in the northeast of Kamyshin, the archaeological site Urakov hillock
is rich in finds dating back to 10.5 thousand years BC.
XVII-XVIII centuries
The territory on which the city of Kamyshin
is now located has been repeatedly raided by the Nogais, Kuban and
Crimean Tatars. A settlement of the Golden Horde is known at the
site of Kamyshin. In 1580, the ataman Yermak Timofeevich went from
these lands to the Kama, and then to conquer Siberia, crossing from
the Ilovlya river to Kamyshinka. In 1667, Stepan Razin went to the
Volga in the same way.
In 1668, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich sent
the archers to the mouth of the Kamyshinka. Under the leadership of
the British engineer Colonel Beile, a fortress was erected on the
left bank of the river to protect the Volga trade route and fight
the insurgent Cossacks and peasants.
In 1670, the troops of
Stepan Razin, who came from Tsaritsyn (now Volgograd), burned the
fortress. But after a while, on the site of the destroyed
settlement, the "lobby people" began to settle again. It was decided
to reinforce the fortress with a guard garrison.
In 1692,
Peter I gave the order to send a regiment of archers and free
peasants to the mouth of Kamyshinka, and in 1693 his brother-in-law,
Prince B.I.Kurakin, who was ordered to found a city on the left bank
of Kamyshinka, went there.
In the summer of 1695, during the
First Azov campaign against the Turks, Peter I himself visited
Kamyshin. The Tsar drew attention to the narrow isthmus between
Kamyshinka and Ilovlya and decided to dig a canal in this place that
was supposed to connect the Volga and Don. The project of the canal
was called "A new and true map of digging, so that from the Don or
Tanais by ships Ilovlei river to Kamyshenka and Kamyshenko river to
the Volga or the Astrakhan river to enter the Caspian Sea." On the
canal about 3 kilometers long, it was planned to build 4 dams. Work
on the creation of the canal was carried out in the period from 1697
to 1701, but its construction was never completed. The pits
preserved from the construction work determined the future name of
the settlement near the river - Petrov Val. On September 27, 1697,
the Dmitrievsky rifle regiment under the leadership of Yakov Bush
was transferred to Kamyshin from Kazan "to guard the gateway". On
the bank of Kamyshinka, the Petrovskoye fortification was erected.
Later, the city, enclosed by a rampart and surrounded by a palisade
with 4 gates, began to be called Dmitrievsky - the streltsy regiment
venerated and kept the icon of the holy Great Martyr Dmitry
Thessaloniki.
In the Volga region, peasant riots often broke
out, and the archers always sided with the rebels. In 1704, Peter I
sent a detachment under the command of Prince Dmitry Khovansky,
which burned Dmitrievsk for the participation of its inhabitants in
the Cossack uprising against "shaving beards and putting on German
dress." The fortress was moved to the right bank of Kamyshinka.
September 25, 1704 - Tsar Peter I sent a letter to the governors
Ivan Bashmakov and Alexei Bykov in Dmitrievsk (Kamyshin) and
Tsaritsyn, in which it was ordered to draw up a map of the shores of
Kamyshinka and Ilovlya:
“Describe what places and natural
boundaries, and whether there are forests, islands and fields, and
how many fathoms or versts there are. And the drawing and the
inventory should be sent by hand to the order of the Kazan Palace. "
On May 13, 1708, one of the detachments of Kondraty Bulavin entered
Dmitrievsk without a fight. The garrison soldiers went over to the
side of the Bulavins. Cossack self-government was organized in the
city, but by August the city was again under the control of
government troops.
The second time Peter I visited Dmitrievsk
on June 15, 1722 during the Persian campaign, accompanied by
Catherine I, F. M. Apraksin and D. K. Kantemir. Peter wished to
inspect the city, assess the defenses of the fortress. During his
two hours in the city, the tsar managed to discuss with the voivode
the role of the city in protecting the lower Volga region, the Volga
trade route, the Trans-Volga steppes and the fight against raids.
In 1731, in order to protect the line of the right bank of the
Volga, the Volga Cossack army was established. On August 3, 1731,
the Senate issued a decree on benefits for immigrants to the
Tsaritsyn line, which contributed to the development of the region.
In the middle of the 18th century, an economic upturn began in
Dmitrievsk, caused by the beginning of salt mining on Lake Elton in
1747. The peasants left the landlords and went to Saratov and
Dmitrievsk to work on salt mining. 70% of all salt mined during the
18th century fell on the Elton deposit.
In 1767, during her
journey along the Volga, Catherine II visited Dmitrievsk.
In
1768, the commandant of the city, Colonel Kaspar Mellin, began to
build pavements in the city, vzvoz to the Volga; in the Kremlin, a
fortress was erected with batteries, a palisade, a gate and a tower,
an office, a state house.
During these years, more than 100
colonies of Germans were founded in the Volga region, who moved from
Germany, devastated by the Seven Years War (1756-1763). In
Kamyshinsky district, 46 German settlements were created, including
Ilovlya, Verkhnyaya Dobrinka, Ust-Gryaznukha, etc.
In 1769 Dmitrievsk was visited by the head of the Orenburg
Physical Expedition, organized by the St. Petersburg Academy of
Sciences, Ivan Ivanovich Lepekhin, in order to study the nature of
the region. In his works, he described the city of that time:
The
city of Dmitrievsk is located on the very Volga coast. The
Kamyshinka River flows from the eastern side, and the Volga River
from the midday. ... The biggest advantage of this city is the salt
pier, which feeds most of the people in the hall ... There are only
three churches, two wooden and one stone. The merchants are
prosperous in it. The trades of the merchants consist mainly of
fish, the supply of bread and cattle, which they receive from the
Kalmyks nomadic in the neighborhood. Without them, residents ate
from sowing melons and watermelons, which taste better than the
Astrakhan ones ...
On August 13, 1774, Emelyan Pugachev, who
had seized Saratov by that time, approached Dmitrievsk, where he was
met by Major Diez, with whom there were 500 garrison soldiers, 500
Kalmyks and 1000 Don Cossacks, led by the princes Derbentov and
Dundukov. The ensuing battle ended in the defeat of the city
defenders. The commandant of the fortress, Kaspar Mellin, was
executed by the rebellious garrison. The soldiers and Cossacks
elected a sergeant from among their own midst and hospitably greeted
the self-appointed tsar. The city was plundered and partially
burned.
On November 7, 1780, Catherine II issued a decree to
rename Dmitrievsk to Kamyshin, which, as a district town, became
part of the Saratov province. On August 23, 1781, Catherine approves
the new coat of arms of Kamyshin:
in the upper part the coat of
arms of Saratov; at the bottom there is a grass called reeds, in a
white field, from which the city got its name.
In 1785, a royal
decree was issued on the transfer of all available land to the
nobles wishing to settle in the Saratov province; in the Kamyshinsky
district, noble nobles received more than 100 thousand dessiatines
of "granted lands" in their possessions. The nobles resettled their
serfs from other provinces to these lands, and also enslaved the
local peasants who had previously settled here. By the end of the
18th century, 52,389 peasants of the county found themselves in
serfdom.
XIX - early XX century
In the second half of the
19th century, Kamyshin, as a merchant city, occupies a significant
place in the Volga trade. In 1879, 13 644 people lived in Kamyshin,
of whom 90 were merchants, 11 590 were bourgeois and townspeople,
and 1782 were shop workers. There were 9 churches in the city - 7
Orthodox, Lutheran and Catholic. By 1892, there were already 17,684
people in Kamyshin.
In 1894, the Tambov - Kamyshin railway
was opened, which made it possible to create 4 steam sawmills, 3
steam mills, an elevator, salt grinders, an oil warehouse and an oil
tanker in the city.
In 1896 a wooden bridge was built across
Kamyshinka. In 1897, a water supply system appeared in the city. The
water tower, the water from which was dispensed through the streets,
still stands on Kamyshinskaya Street; the modern coat of arms of
Kamyshin is decorated with the "crown" of the water tower teeth.
By 1899, 12 smithies, 10 slaughterhouses, a sawmill and other
craft workshops, as well as marinas of the shipping companies “On
the Volga”, “Caucasus and Mercury”, “Airplane” and the pier of the
towing ferry were operating in Kamyshin.
In 1900, the city
had over 18,000 inhabitants; the City Park of Culture and Leisure
was founded, 200 stores were already open. The first revolutionary
circles appeared, in which they read forbidden political literature.
In 1905, the number of employees of Kamyshin's railway transport
was about 700 people, and about 1000 people from work stations and
elevators in the district. 7 sawmills employ 700 people, and in
summer up to 1000. Merchant Borel's mill employs 250 workers.
Working conditions in factories, factories and craft workshops,
whose labor force was mainly formed from ruined peasants, were
unsatisfactory.
After the events of Bloody Sunday (January 9
(22), 1905), a revolutionary struggle began in Kamyshin. On March 5,
1905, the reeds sent a resolution to the Council of Ministers, in
which they demanded "to pursue an economic policy for the benefit of
the working classes, to alleviate the tax burden, to introduce an
income tax."
Clashes with the police and strikes began. On
May 1, 1905, a suburban demonstration took place. During the October
skirmish, a rally was held in Kamyshin.
Civil War
With the
outbreak of the Civil War in 1917, an Executive Committee was
created in the Kamyshinsky district to deal with issues of the
personnel of the garrison, the requisition of grain from the kulaks,
suppression of speculation, and more. At the Kamyshin station, a
military control transport commission began work from the Soviet.
In early December, in Kamyshin, we received a message that the
Orenburg Cossacks were sent to the city. On December 11, the
Cossacks approach the city. Members of the Executive Committee
Olovyashnikov and Volozhanin were sent to Saratov for machine guns
and artillery. A specially formed commission has taken under strict
control the protection of gunpowder and cartridge depots. On
December 11, at a meeting of the Executive Committee, a decision is
made to disarm the officers of the reserve regiment and other units.
On December 13 and 14, 1917, a county congress of volost land
committees was held in the city. The delegates report that the
implementation of the "Decree on Land" in many localities began in
mid-November 1917.
On December 21, 1917, the National Economy
Council was created, which took over the management of the economic
activities of the city and county. Workers' control was established
at enterprises, which was a preparatory measure for the
nationalization of enterprises.
On January 28, 1918, the
first county congress of Soviets of Peasant Deputies was held in
Kamyshin, at which a report was heard by a delegate to the
provincial congress of Soviets of Peasant Deputies, reports from the
field on the creation of Soviets and the Red Guard.
On
January 29, 1918, village and volost Soviets were created in all
volosts and in 215 uyezd settlements.
On February 1, 1918,
the first party conference was held, where the district party
committee was elected.
The military intervention, which began
in 1918, intensified the merchants. Counter-revolutionary uprisings
and protests against the policy of the Soviet state were organized,
in which kulaks, Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries
participated.
The demobilized front-line soldiers of Kamyshin
united in the counter-revolutionary "Union of Front-line soldiers",
but at a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Soviet on March
24, 1918, a resolution was adopted to destroy it.
On May 29,
1918, the city and county were declared under martial law.
In
the spring and summer of 1918, the kulaks began an active opposition
to the power of the Soviets, refusing to hand over grain to the
state.
Thanks to the committees of the village poor, the
Bolsheviks were able to defeat the kulaks in the countryside and
confiscate their grain.
On January 30, 1918, an order was
announced to create the Red Army on a voluntary basis.
In
March 1918, a Red Army detachment numbering 400 people was created
in Kamyshin.
In September 1918, a voluntary revolutionary
regiment was created in the city at an urgent meeting of the
district committee of the Bolshevik party of the district executive
committee and trade unions.
In May 1918, an extraordinary
commission was created in the city to combat counter-revolution and
banditry (Cheka).
In the summer of 1918, all banks, 420
households, industrial enterprises and trade establishments were
nationalized in Kamyshin.
During the year, 100 primary
classes and 42 schools for adults were opened. Public reading
courses were organized. The central public library opened in March
1918.
On July 15, 1919, the troops of the Caucasian Army of
the AFSR under the command of General Wrangel, with the support of
the Don army of General Sidorin, captured Kamyshin during prolonged
battles, defeating the superior forces of the Reds and capturing 13
thousand Red Army men, 43 guns and many machine guns. In the city,
12 steam locomotives, more than 1000 carriages, a large number of
shells and cartridges, 3 carriages of trench property and other
large supplies were seized.
However, already on the night of
July 29-30, the Volga military flotilla of the Reds, breaking
through from the north, began to bomb Kamyshin at dawn. There was a
panic in the city. The Reds fired several dozen shells and retreated
to the north.
In mid-August, in view of the enormous
superiority of the enemy forces (about four infantry divisions with
fourteen cavalry regiments, numbering over 15,000 bayonets, 7,000
checkers with 70 guns), in order to reduce the front and so as not
to expose their right-flank units to the risk of being cut off, the
White command recognized the need leaving Kamyshin without a fight
and retreating to the line: the river Sestrenka White
Gorki-Talovka-Salomatino.
20s-30s of XX century
In January
1920, 5 libraries were opened in the city, the first kindergarten
began to work.
In March 1920, a working university was
founded in Kamyshin, where courses for teachers, nurses,
bookkeepers, and clerks take place.
In 1922, at the school.
Tolstoy (now the building of the Teacher's House), Komsomol member
Anna Ashinina creates a pioneer organization.
By 1930, 8
large communes, 27 collective farms and 9 partnerships were
established in the Kamyshinsky district, engaged in joint land
cultivation.
By 1931 in Kamyshin, 94% of peasant farms were
transformed into collective farms.
January 10, 1934 Kamyshin
and Kamyshinsky district are part of the Stalingrad region.
The industrialization of the city begins. So, in 1934 a tomato,
vegetable and meat cannery was launched, in 1936 - the first bakery,
in 1938 - paint and varnish plant No. 2 "Pobeda", in March 1939 -
Kamyshin glass container plant.
The Great Patriotic War
In the first days of the Great
Patriotic War, more than 20,000 reeds were sent to the front. All
enterprises and organizations of Kamyshin directed their work
towards fulfilling the orders of the front.
On July 8, 1941,
the first ambulance train arrives in Kamyshin. A network of
hospitals is being developed in the city.
Refugees came to
Kamyshin every day, and by the winter of 1942 the city's population
had increased by 8 times.
During the Battle of Stalingrad,
the city became an important strategic point.
On November 17,
1942, Komsomol volunteers left the Kamyshinsky Park of Culture and
Rest to defend the Motherland.
In May 1941, the Solikamsk
Tank School was relocated to Kamyshin from the Urals, which was in
the city until July 1947, providing the front with technicians with
lieutenants of the armored forces.