Kakhovka

Kakhovka (Ukrainian: Каховка, Russian: Кахо́вка) is a port city on the Dnieper River in Kherson Oblast (province) of southern Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of Kakhovka Raion (district), it is administratively incorporated as a city of oblast significance and does not belong to the raion.

Kakhovka

Каховка
City of regional significance
A church in Kakhovka
Flag
Coat of arms
Kakhovka
Location of Skadovsk
Kakhovka
Kakhovka (Ukraine)
Coordinates: 46°47′52″N 33°28′30″E
Country Ukraine
Oblast Kherson Oblast
RaionCity of Kakhovka
Founded1791
Population
 (2015)
 • Total36,944
Postal code
74800
Area code(s)+380 5536
ClimateDfa
Websitehttp://www.kakhovka.ks.ua

It is home to the KZEZO (Electro-Welding Equipment Plant) as well as the Tavria Games festival.

History

In 1492 Meñli I Giray established a fortress near the site of today's Kakhovka called İslâm Kermen (later also called Shagin-Girei, presumably after Şahin Giray). It was frequently attacked by Cossacks and was finally destroyed by them under the leadership of Ivan Mazepa in 1695. In 1791 the Russian Colonel D.M. Kulikovsky founded the trade town of Kakhovka. Kakhovka was situated in the Tauria district. In 1848 the town obtained city rights. In the 1870s–90s the town was renowned for having a huge population of low-income contractors (batraki). According to N.J. Tjezjakov, a Russian economist, between 20,000 and 40,000 batraki would gather in the city at the one time, 80% of them males.

Kakhovka, early 20th century picture

In December 1918, by the decision of the administration of the Dnipro povit (uyezd), Kakhovka was declared a city. In August 1920, during the final push in the Russian Civil War to drive the Whites under Wrangel out of the Crimea, Ieronim Uborevich established a bridgehead as part of the Northern Taurida Operation at Kakhovka, which became the site of fierce battles, which Evan Mawdsley described as "probably the closest the Civil War came to world war trench fighting."[1]

Tachanka monument

During World War II, Kakhovka was captured by the Wehrmacht on August 30, 1941 as part of Operation Barbarossa. It was released by the 4th Ukrainian Front during the Melitopol offensive in the Battle of the Dnieper on November 2, 1943.

In 1972 the Verkhovna Rada of the Ukrainian SSR gave the city the rank of "city of oblast subordinance" within Kherson Oblast.

Cultural influence

The 1935 film Three Friends (Три товарища) included the song "Kakhovka" (words by Mikhail Svetlov and music by Isaak Dunayevsky), which became very well known, especially the refrain "Мы мирные люди, но наш бронепоезд/ Стоит на запасном пути" ("We are peaceful people, but our armored train/ Stands [ready] on the siding"). Svetlov chose the site of the little-known Civil War battle for his song because he had grown up nearby and had known the town during the war.[2]

Notable people

References
  1. Evan Mawdsley, The Russian Civil War, (Edinburgh: Birlinn, 2008), p. 268.
  2. "Песня о Каховке".
  3. name="Profile - Olia Hercules">Fox, Killian (28 December 2014). "Rising stars of 2015: chef Olia Hercules". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
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