Description

City of Military Glory is an honorary title bestowed upon the citizenry of Russian cities, where defenders had displayed courage, steadfastness, and mass heroism in the fight for their Fatherland’s freedom and independence during the Second World War.

Vladikavkaz was founded near the Osetin settlement of Dzaudzhikau in 1784. Originally it was a fortress closing the passage in the Darial Gorge, also known as the Iberian Gates or the Caucasian Gates. The name “Vladikavkaz” meaning “the town holding the Caucasus” was given to the fortress by P. S. Potemkin, a Russian military leader and statesman. Construction of the fortress began in connection with the signing of the Treaty of Georgievsk between the Russian Empire and Georgia and the beginning of construction of the Georgian Military Road.

Since the mid-19th century, the fortress began to take on ever-increasing trade, economic and political importance, in connection with the discovery of a single, short and easy path in the Caucasus for trade and economic cooperation. The Georgian Military Road, crossing the main Caucasus range, as today, was of great strategic and economic importance for Russia. In 1860, Vladikavkaz received the status of a town.

Vladikavkaz was fought over in both the Russian Civil War and World War II. In February 1919, the anti-Communist Volunteer Army under General Anton Denikin seized the city, before being expelled by the Red Army in March 1920. In November 1942, the forces of Nazi Germany tried unsuccessfully to seize the city but were repelled.