Rzhev

The historical literature attributes the foundation of Rzhev to the middle of XII century, although the Novgorod charter charter mentions it in 1019. Chronicles refer to this city as Rzheva Volodimirova, Rzhevka и Rzow.

Until the middle of the XII century Rzhev was a part of Smolensk lands, which is confirmed by the charter of Rostislav Mstislavich, Prince of Smolensk, in 1150 (the first official mention of the city in a written source). From prince Rostislav Rzhev passed to his son Mstislav Brave, and from that to Mstislav Mstislavich Udatnaya. The annalistic evidence about events of 1216 is connected with it, where the city was named "Rzhev, the city of Mstislavl on the top", that is located in the upper reaches of the Volga. That year Vladimir-Suzdal prince Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich besieged Rzhev. Mstislav Udatny together with his brother Vladimir of Pskov came to the aid of the besieged city and freed it. V. L. Yanin compiled a detailed description of the geography of the Rzhev landwhich belonged during this period to the descendants of Mstislav the Brave and was part of the Toropets principality.

For a long time the patron saint of Rzhev was Prince Vladimir, who was buried with his wife Agrippina in the Assumption Cathedral. Back in the early 20th century, every resident of the town could tell a legend about Prince Vladimir, the defender of Rzhev: "Every time the enemies approached the fortress walls, a silent warrior-prince Vladimir appeared on the steep Volga bank on a white horse. And every time at the wave of his hand the enemies fled from the city. Every night the prince would patrol his city, and every evening the townspeople would put a new pair of boots at the wall. The prince wore out many new boots, but one day the townspeople were lazy or forgot to put new princely boots... From that time the prince became angry with his subjects and left the city.

In the XVIII century the local veneration was stopped by the order of the church authorities, in particular because the local legend did not preserve any information about Prince Vladimir. But as academician E. E. Golubinsky showed, it is about Vladimir Mstislavich of Pskov. The Church-wide veneration of St. Blessed Prince Vladimir and Princess Agrippina was established in the 70s of the XX century.

The favorable geographical position created excellent conditions for the development of trade. But the proximity to the western borders of the Russian lands gave the city an important defense value. During XIII-XIV centuries the life of the fortress city was very difficult. The owner of Rzhev became the owner of a powerful fortress and part of an important trade route. There was a stubborn struggle for the city.

Since the middle of the XIII century Rzhev principality was one of the appanage towns of the Moscow prince. The princes of Tver and Novgorod, whose possessions came directly to Rzhev, repeatedly tried to take it away from Moscow. In the XIV century there was a struggle for the city between Moscow and Lithuania, and several times it changed hands. In 1356 Rzhev was captured by the Lithuanians, but two years later was repulsed by the troops of Grand Duke Ivan II the Red. In 1359 Rzhev was again in the possession of Lithuania for nine years, and only in 1368 Moscow again annexed it to its lands. In 1376 Rzhev is mentioned again as a Lithuanian possession, and the participation of the Rzhev army in Dmitry Donskoy's campaign against Novgorod in 1386 indicates that the city belonged to Moscow at that time.

Later on, Rzhev changed rulers many times, being a good "bargaining chip" in the political games of the princes. Thus, according to the agreement of 1390 between Prince Vasily I and Vladimir Andreevich Serpukhovsky, Rzhev went to the latter. At the beginning of the XV century Vasily I exchanged Rzhev for Uglich from Vladimir Serpukhovsky, erected new fortifications in the city and gave it to the Lithuanian prince Svidrigaila Olgerdovich, who went over to the side of Moscow. In the early 40s of the XV century the city belonged to Dmitry Shemyaka. During the struggle for the Moscow throne, Grand Duke Vasily II, blinded by Dmitry Shemyaka and hiding from him in Tver, gave Rzhev to Prince Boris of Tver. But the inhabitants of Rzhev did not like Prince Boris, and they revolted. Boris had to prove his right to power by force. After many days of siege Rzhev was taken by the Tver prince. It happened in 1446, and two years later Rzhev was again captured by Lithuania. According to the peace treaty of 1449 between Lithuania and Tver, the city was returned to the Tver prince. With his death Rzhev, which the Volga River divided into two parts, was divided between his two sons, and only in 1521, because of the childlessness of their descendants, this long-suffering city finally went to the Grand Duke of Moscow.

Moscow attached great importance to Rzhev as a fortress protecting its western borders from Polish-Lithuanian invasion. During the Time of Troubles, Rzhev was visited by impostors, Poles and Swedes. The inhabitants of Rzhev supported the first impostor, "betrayed the shadow of False Dmitry", as can be seen from the chronicle. With Lisovsky's Poles they fought actively. The city besieged by Poles under the command of boyar Fyodor Sheremetev gave a worthy repulse to the enemies, though it suffered a lot and many of its defenders died. With the expulsion of the Poles, the city begins to recover. The borders of Russia are moving away from Rzhev, but for several decades it continues to be a reliable rear base and fortress. Under the first Romanovs, a large garrison remained in the fortress of Rzhev, and the town itself remained a gathering point for the noble militia and Streltsy regiments during the war.

The economic importance of Rzhev is also growing. The flow of wagons with goods along the Bolshaks (big roads) radially located from the city and caravans of ships on the Volga River increases every year. The most important trade of Rzhev became the carriage trade, and one of the main figures in the economic life of Rzhev was the coachman. More and more inn houses were built in the town. By the end of the XVII century stone buildings began to be erected on the trade side, new wharves and warehouses were built on the bank of the Volga. By the beginning of the XVIII century Rzhev became one of the significant trade and industrial centers of the Russian Empire.

According to the administrative division during the XVIII century Rzhev was first assigned to Ingermanland province, then became a town of Tver province of Novgorod province, and in 1775 - a district town of Tver viceroyalty. By the middle of the century 25 plants and factories were operating here, oil milling, linen processing, sawmill, tannery, brick manufactories worked on the basis of local raw materials. A lot of working tools, wood and leather were supplied annually for the construction of St. Petersburg, sailing cloth was woven here for the fleet, ropes and ropes were made. Bread and other foodstuffs were delivered to Rzhev from western provinces and Ukraine, and from Rzhev they went to the new capital. During the summer more than 100 barges, and in winter up to seven thousand carts carried goods to other cities of Russia. Two fairs - the Gathering and the Petrovskaya - were held annually on the Rzhev trade square, where there was a parlor with 105 stone shops. Up to 8 thousand people came to the city from the neighboring villages and hamlets to work at numerous wharves and enterprises as loaders, flax and hemp peddlers, burlaks and pilots.

Economic changes did not affect the way of life of the townspeople in any way. On the contrary, the innovations in everyday life associated with the reforms of Peter the Great were disapproved of in Rzhev. "Peter's deeds are still the deeds of the Antichrist," said the Old Believer merchants, of whom there were many in the town. Everything that violated the old order, caused violent opposition, even the new plan of the city authorities to improve and expand the streets led to a riot. In Rzhev, divided by the river into two parts, two religious centers have historically formed since the church schism. On the right, Knyaz-Dmitrovskaya side, Old Believer merchants "ruled". On the left, Knyaz-Fyodorovskaya, - Nikonians, Nikon's supporters. The rivalry between them was extremely hostile, and often in conversations sounded "our side" or "that side". Rzhev could be called an Old Believer town: according to the data on the spread of Old Believers in Tver province in the XVIII-XIX centuries, their "main local center was the city of Rzhev, where out of the total number of Old Believers in the province 7775 people, lived 6416. The influential merchants with their capitals, most of whom were Old Believers, ensured their great weight and economic dominance in the town.

In the 1870s Rzhev was the most significant trading center among the towns of Tver province after Tver itself; it had more than 30,000 inhabitants. With the laying of railroads, the trade importance of the town declined, and the flax-cracking and hemp-spinning industries, which had been very developed before, were reduced. In 1890 the town had 21 397 inhabitants, among whom more than 50 % were Old Believers (mainly of the Bespovsky persuasion). In 1896 there were 27 factories and plants. The main trade items were bread, flax and hemp.

Rzhev was one of the first towns to have a postal service: since 1866, it had its own zemstvo post office and issued Rzhev envelopes and stamps. The mail was horse-drawn, leaving the city on Thursdays and Sundays at a speed of 40 kilometers per day. For many years Rzhev was called "pigeon town". There were many pigeon breeders and pigeons in the town. As a result of cross-breeding and selection, pigeon breeds were bred and named "Rzhevskaya": Rzhevsky Ribbon Turman, Rzhevskaya Gull..

Oct. 29. (Nov. 11) In 1917, the Soviet of Workers' Deputies in Rzhev established a Military Revolutionary Committee and proclaimed the establishment of Soviet power in the city (established in mid-December).. The general plan and layout scheme of Rzhev was developed in 1927 by architect-town planner A. P. Ivanitsky. P. Ivanitsky.

During the occupation, the Wehrmacht 9th Army 1941-1943 systematically committed crimes against civilians and Soviet prisoners of war, which continued until liberation in March 1943.

Before the Great Patriotic War the population of the city amounted to 56 thousand people. As a result of military operations in 1941-1943 during 17 months of occupation Rzhev was destroyed to the ground. From 20 thousand people who were in occupation in Rzhev, and approximately the same number in the district, on the day of liberation - March 3, 1943 - 150 remained in the city, together with the district - 362. Out of 5443 residential houses of Rzhev only 297 survived. The total material damage caused by the occupants to the city and the district, according to the Extraordinary State Commission amounted to one and a half billion rubles. According to the estimation of the participant of these events, Marshal of the Soviet Union V. G. Kulikov, in the Battle of Rzhev the total losses of the Red Army amounted to more than 1 million people. After the war the city was rebuilt. The Battle of Rzhev was vividly embodied in the "Rzhev prose" by writer Vyacheslav Kondratyevand a poem by Aleksandr Trifonovich Tvardovsky, "I was killed near Rzhev", in the poem "Besy" by Mikhail Matusovsky, the song "Under Rzhev" by Mikhail Nozhkin, and the 2019 feature film "Rzhev" directed by Igor Kopylov.