The city of Kaluga is located 188 km. from Moscow and is the oldest city in Russia. 1371 is the year that is considered to be the foundation of the city, but the exact year of foundation is unknown. After Kaluga became part of the Moscow Principality, from that moment the city began to actively develop.

Where did the name of the city come from? - this issue is debatable, but the following point of view has been put forward: earlier Kaluga was the name of the area in which the city is located. The words "kaluga" and "kaluzhka" from Old Russian mean "swamp" or "quagmire". Another version of the origin of the name: from the phrase "near the meadow", which was previously written "eye-meadows". In the Finno-Ugric language there was the word "Kaliga", which meant - "deaf place in the forest."

There are also other versions of the origin of the name of the city of Kaluga, for example, from the names of people. According to legend, a long time ago in the local forest there was a bunch of robbers, led by a robber with the nickname Koluga.

After the dispersal of this gang, a city was formed on this place, and Kaluga was named in honor of the expulsion of the robbers. 17th century - the beginning of difficult times for Kaluga. At this time, False Dmitry II and Maria Mnishek were hiding in the city. As a result, False Dmitry was killed near Kaluga. In 1618, the city was defeated by the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks, as a result of the pogrom, more of the city's inhabitants were killed.

The city suffered greatly in economic terms, and was even exempted from taxes for three years. Two years after the defeat, a fire broke out in the city.

In 1649, the village of Spasskoye became part of Kaluga, and later, in 1654, more than half of the city's residents died from a terrible epidemic.

At the same time, metal production began to improve. Soon one of the first iron foundries in Russia appeared in Kaluga. After the church schism, centered on Kaluga, the city lost its status as an outpost city. In the 18th century, Kaluga became one of the constituent cities of the Moscow province and the center of the Kaluga province.

But the population of the city did not grow, as famine came to the city, fires, and after the plague. But in 1775, Catherine II visited Kaluga, as a result of which the prerequisites for the development of the city appeared.

By the end of the 18th century, a large number of educational and cultural institutions were opened. The favorable location also influenced the development of the city. Trade and industry began to actively develop, as a result of which Kaluga began to provide the main support to the rear troops, for which he received the gratitude of Field Marshal Kutuzov.

After the sudden shallowing of the Oka River, which was the main trade route for the city, the importance of Kaluga suddenly decreased, and the population was reduced to sixty thousand people.

In Soviet times, a new stage in the development of Kaluga began, as a result of which the city again became the center of industry. In the middle of the 20th century, the population was one hundred thousand people. Mechanical engineering began to develop more actively. After the occupation, Kaluga became one of the main suppliers of trained soldiers.
In 1944, Kaluga became the founding center of the Kaluga Region.

Today in Kaluga the most developed ita mechanical engineering and automotive industry. Kaluga is the historical center of Russia, which keeps many monuments of culture and architecture. Many political and cultural figures are associated with the city of Kaluga.

Today it is impossible to imagine the history of Russia without the city of Kaluga. During the Great Patriotic War, there was a battle for Kaluga, which was part of the battle for Moscow.

The following names are associated with Kaluga: Pushkin, Gogol, Tolstoy, Turgenev, Chizhevsky, Tsiolkovsky and many others.

The largest industrial enterprises of Kaluga are a machine-building plant, a turbine plant, an electromechanical plant, an auto electrical equipment plant, a synthetic fragrant substances plant, the Kalugapribor plant, a telegraph equipment plant, a Gigant match and furniture plant, a radio lamp plant, a sewing association Kaluzhanka, a liquor- vodka factory "Kristall", and many others.

Among the educational institutions, it should be noted Kaluga State Pedagogical University named after Tsiolkovsky, the Kaluga branch of the Moscow State Technical University named after Bauman, the Agricultural Academy named after Timiryazev and others.

Modern Kaluga is characterized by quiet provincial lanes, ancient churches, high-rise buildings, beautiful nature, many shops, small shops, and factories. Tourists, and everyone who has ever been in the city of Kaluga, remained only with positive emotions.

Tatar-Mongol yoke

In the spring of 1238, the Tatar-Mongol army of Batu Khan, who had been ravaging Russia for many months, ended up on Kaluga land under the walls of Kozelsk. According to the Nikon chronicle, the formidable conqueror of Russia demanded the surrender of the city, but the Kozelchans refused, deciding "to lay down their heads for the Christian faith." The siege lasted for seven weeks, and only after the destruction of the wall with battering rams did the enemy manage to climb the rampart, where "the battle was great and the slaughter of evil." Part of the defenders went beyond the walls of the city and died in an unequal battle, destroying up to 4 thousand Tatar-Mongol warriors.

Bursting into Kozelsk, Batu ordered to destroy all the inhabitants, "until they suck milk," and ordered the city to be called the "Evil City". The feat of the Kozelsk people, who despised death and did not submit to the strongest enemy, became one of the bright pages of the heroic past of our Fatherland.

In the 1240s. Russian princes found themselves in political dependence on the Golden Horde. The period of the Tatar-Mongol yoke began. At the same time, in the XIII century. under the rule of the Lithuanian princes, a state began to take shape, which included Russian lands, including part of the "Kaluga". The border between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Principality of Moscow was established along the rivers Oka and Ugra.

In the XIV century. the territory of the Kaluga region became a place of constant confrontation between Lithuania and Moscow. In 1371, the Lithuanian prince Olgerd, in a complaint to the Patriarch of Constantinople Philotheus against the Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Russia Alexei, among the cities taken from him by Moscow "against the kissing of the cross" names Kaluga for the first time (in domestic sources, Kaluga was first mentioned in the will

Dmitry Donskoy, who died in 1389). It is traditionally believed that Kaluga arose as a border fortress to protect the Moscow principality from an attack from Lithuania.

The Kaluga cities of Tarusa, Obolensk, Borovsk and others took part in the struggle of Dmitry Ivanovich (Donskoy) against the Golden Horde. Their squads participated in 1380 in the Battle of Kulikovo. A significant role in the victory over the enemy was played by the famous commander Vladimir Andreevich the Brave (specific prince of Serpukhov and Borovsky). In the Battle of Kulikovo, the Tarusian princes Fedor and Mstislav perished.

A hundred years later, the Kaluga land became the place where the events that put an end to the Tatar-Mongol yoke took place.

Grand Duke Ivan III Vasilievich, who during the years of his reign had turned from a Moscow appanage prince into an autocratic sovereign of all Russia, in 1476 stopped paying the Horde the annual monetary "output" collected from Russian lands since the time of Batu. In response, in 1480, Khan Akhmat, in alliance with the Polish-Lithuanian king Casimir IV, set out on a campaign against Russian soil. Akhmad's troops moved through Mtsensk, Odoev and Lubutsk to Vorotynsk. Here the khan expected help from Casimir IV, but did not wait for it. The Crimean Tatars, allies of Ivan III, diverted the Lithuanian troops by attacking Podolia.

Having not received the promised help, Akhmat went to the Ugra and, standing on the shore against the Russian regiments that Ivan III had concentrated here in advance, made an attempt to cross the river.

"And the Tatars came and the Muscovites began to shoot, and the Muscovites began to shoot at them and squealed to let go and beat many Tatars with arrows and piercers and repulsed them from the shore ...". Several times Akhmat tried to break through to the other side of the Ugra, but all his attempts were thwarted by Russian troops. Soon the river began to freeze over. Ivan III ordered all troops to be withdrawn to Kremenets, and then to Borovsk. But, Akhmat did not dare to pursue the Russian troops and on November 11 retreated from the Ugra. The last campaign of the Golden Horde against Russia ended in complete failure. The successors of the formidable Batu were powerless before the state united around Moscow.

After the overthrow of the Tatar-Mongol yoke, Ivan III began offensive operations against Lithuania, from which Moscow had only defended itself before. In 1500-1503. between the Moscow state and Lithuania there was a war that ended in a truce, according to which Ivan III retained all the principalities he had acquired, including Serpeisk, Lubutsk, Opakov.

Kaluga Territory - border area

During the reign of Grand Duke Ivan III (1462-1505), the gathering of Russian lands under the rule of Moscow practically ended and the formation of the Moscow State took place. In 1508, under an agreement between Vasily III and Sigismund, Moscow received most of the Kaluga territories from the Polish-Lithuanian state. These are Tarusa, Obolensk, Mosalsk, Vorotynsk, Lubutsk, Kozelsk, Ludemesk, Serensk and others. constantly subjected to raids by the Crimean Tatars.

One of the first attacks of the Crimeans on the Kaluga lands was recorded in 1512. Then Kaluga was in the specific possession of the fourth son of Ivan III - Simeon (1487-1518).

In the Chronicle of the Laurentian Monastery, it was said that Simeon and the townspeople went out to meet the enemy approaching Kaluga and took the battle on the river. Ok. At this time, the Monk Lawrence of Christ for the sake of the holy fool was in the house of the prince. Suddenly he shouted: "Give me a sharp ax, attack the dogs on Prince Simeon, but I will defend him from his dogs," and disappeared ("take a rest"). At the same instant, he appeared next to the Kaluga prince, just when the enemies surrounded Simeon. Having strengthened the prince and the townspeople, who, thanks to such a miraculous appearance, regained their strength and began to push the Tatars, Lavrenty disappeared again. When Simeon returned with victory to his house, he found Lawrence there, who was foolish and said that he had saved Prince Simeon "from the dogs".

To protect the Muscovite state from the raids of the Crimean and Nogai Tatars in the south and southeast in the XVI-XVII centuries. serif lines were arranged, consisting of forest blockages, ramparts, ditches, palisades, and strongholds. On the Kaluga land, the Likhvinskaya serif line of 7 serif gates and Kozelskaya, of 4, were located, which were part of the so-called Great Zasechnaya line. The Kaluga cities of Kozelsk, Przemysl, Meshchovsk, Serpeysk, Mosalsk, Tarusa, Vorotynsk, Kremenets, Medyn, Lyubutsk, Maloyarolsavets, Borovsk were turned into strong fortresses. In Kaluga, as a strategically important point of defense, the Advance Regiment of Russian troops was located. Ivan IV the Terrible repeatedly visited the Kaluga fortress cities: Kozelsk, Obolensk, Przemysl, Vorotynsk. The Russian tsar was in Kaluga in 1561 and in 1576, when at the head of the Russian troops he arrived in the city to defend the state from the Crimean Khan Davlet Giray. In 1563, part of the Kaluga lands, including Kozelsk, Przemysl, Likhvin, Maloyaroslavets, Medyn, and others, were transferred to the oprichnina.

More than once skirmishes with the Tatars took place on the Kaluga land, but the most famous was the Kaluga governor Mikhail Andreevich Beznin, who defeated the Tatars in 1587, 1592, 1595 and 1597. After these serious defeats, the attack of the Crimeans significantly weakened.

Appeared at the turn of the XIV-XV centuries. the monasteries in Kaluga were well fortified and armed. In the XVI century. Borovsky Pafnutev Monastery is gaining great fame. By the end of the century, stone fortress walls with towers were erected around it. In 1592 and 1595 Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich came to the Borovsky Monastery on a pilgrimage.

In Russia and beyond its borders of the 16th century. Kaluga was famous for its wooden utensils. This fact was emphasized in his notes on Muscovy by the imperial ambassador Sigismund Herberstein.

Time of Troubles

At the beginning of the XVII century. Russian land was overwhelmed by many years of bloody struggle for the royal throne. In this troubled time for Russia, the Kaluga land - the "Ukraine" of the Muscovite state, became the scene of many significant and tragic events.

In the summer of 1605, Kaluga expressed its obedience to False Dmitry I, who was heading to Moscow with an army, and after his assassination, in May 1606, she invariably remained on the side of the opponents of the new tsar, Vasily Ivanovich Shuisky. Kaluga residents supported the uprising of I.I. Bolotnikov. They did not let the government troops advanced to Kaluga into the city, which were defeated on September 23, 1606 in a battle on the river. Acne. After the retreat from Moscow, Bolotnikov with a detachment of ten thousand found refuge in Kaluga, where he kept under siege for more than five months. The besieged were released in May 1607 by the troops of Ileyka Muromets, after a successful battle on the outskirts of Kaluga "in the village on Pchelna".

In the spring of 1608, a new contender for the royal throne, False Dmitry II, again received the support of the people of Kaluga. Having suffered a defeat near Moscow, False Dmitry fled to Kaluga, where he arrived on January 1, 1610. The inhabitants of the city met False Dmitry with honors and gave him the opportunity to gather new forces. In mid-January, the "wife" of False Dmitry, Marina Mnishek, arrived in Kaluga. In the spring of 1610, the impostor's troops marched from Kaluga to Moscow. In July, they approached Borovsk and laid siege to the Pafnutiev Monastery. Behind its walls, residents loyal to the government and troops under the command of Prince Mikhail Volkonsky took refuge, almost all of whom died during the stubborn defense of the monastery.

Having learned about the overthrow of Shuisky and the proclamation of the Polish prince Vladislav False Dmitry II on the Moscow throne, he returned to Kaluga. Here, on December 11, 1610, during a hunt, a baptized Tatar prince. Peter Urusov killed the impostor, avenging the death of Kasimov Khan, who was killed on the orders of False Dmitry. Having learned about the death of her "husband", Marina Mnishek provoked a massacre of the Tatars in Kaluga. The body of "prince" Dmitry was brought to the city and buried at the Trinity Cathedral.

After the expulsion of Polish troops from Moscow and the election of Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov to the throne in 1613, the people of Kaluga took the side of the new tsar. But even in the subsequent time, until 1618, the territory of the Kaluga region continued to be a place where clashes with Polish troops constantly took place. Since 1617, Kaluga and its environs were protected from the attack of the Poles by Prince. Dmitry Pozharsky. In 1618, after his departure, Hetman Sagaidachny suddenly attacked Kaluga and, having captured the city, burned and plundered it. Only the Deulino truce, concluded with the Poles for 14.5 years, allowed Kaluga to free itself from the Zaporizhzhya troops. The Time of Troubles was left behind and a gradual restoration of peaceful life began on the Kaluga land.

Kaluga region in the 17th century.

During the "troubles" the Kaluga region was heavily devastated. In most villages and villages, there were only a few households with a population of 10-20 people, and many of them turned into wastelands, i.e. were abandoned by the residents. The situation was not the best in Kaluga, which in 1620 was exempted from paying taxes for three years by Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich. A new misfortune struck the city in 1622, when "on the holy week on Thursday, God's wrath in Koluga city and prison and their yards and shops, with all their bellies, burned down without a trace." And again the city receives permission not to pay taxes to the state for another three years. In 1649, the large and economically developed village of Spasskoye was included in Kaluga. This government measure had a positive role in the further development of the city.

A serious test for the Kaluga land was the "pestilence" of 1654. During the epidemic that swept over the region, more than half of the inhabitants died.

In 1642, 1649 and 1654 Kaluga nobles and townspeople took part in the activities of Zemsky Sobors. After the accession of Ukraine to Russia in 1654 and the end of the Russian-Polish 1654-1667, the borders of the state moved to the west, and the Kaluga Territory lost its significance as a border land. The wooden fortress of Kaluga, which burned down at the end of the 17th century, was no longer restored. Some fortress cities turn into administrative centers (Maloyaroslavets, Borovsk, Kozelsk, etc.), while others become villages (Vorotynsk, Kremenets, Obolensk, etc.).

Around the end of the 1640s. The first Porotovsky iron-smelting plant appeared on the Kaluga land, and in the second half of the century two more hammer iron-working plants were built - Ugodsky and Istinsky. These factories were run by foreigners. The activities of the Kaluga factories were aimed at meeting state needs and, first of all, at military needs.

In the second half of the XVII century. The history of the Kaluga region turned out to be closely connected with the split of the Orthodox Church. The reforms of Patriarch Nikon did not find full support among the Kaluga clergy. Kaluga and Borovsk became the centers of the split. At the same time, in 1665 and 1666, in Borovsky Pafnutiev Monastery for several months, before and after the Cathedral in Moscow, Archpriest Avvakum, a consistent supporter of the schism, was kept in prison. The well-known schismatic sisters, noblewoman Feodosia Morozova and princess Evdokia Urusova, were also exiled to Borovsk.

Kaluga region in the 17th century.

The reign of Peter I led to fundamental changes in all spheres of the life of the state. The tsar-reformer paid special attention to military needs. It is no coincidence that during the Northern War, new manufactory production appeared on the territory of the Kaluga Territory. The Menshov blast-furnace plant and the Dugninsky iron-smelting iron-working plant (founded by Nikita Demidovich Demidov), whose products were used to meet the needs of the army and navy, gained particular fame. For these purposes, in 1718 on the river. Sukhodrev, by order of the tsar, the merchant Timofey Filatovich Karamyshev founded the Linen factory, and in 1720 the paper factory. Subsequently, the owner of the factories in the Linen Factory was Afanasy Abramovich Goncharov, the largest manufacturer in Russia, who in 1742 received hereditary nobility "for the distribution of factories, and especially paper factories".

A historical anecdote has been preserved, according to which in 1722 Peter I at the Istinsky plant pulled out 18 pood strips of iron and marked them with his personal brand. For the work, he received from the owner the payment due to the blacksmiths - 18 altyn. With this money the king bought himself new shoes and then, showing them, he always said: "Here are the shoes that I earned with my own hands."

In 1708, by decree of Peter I on the division of the state into provinces, the Kaluga lands were included in the Moscow (Kaluga, Tarusa, Maloyaroslavets, Medyn, Borovsk) and Smolensk provinces (Serpeisk, Mosalsk, Meshchevsk, Kozelsk, Likhvin, Przemysl, Vorotynsk). In 1719, with the new division of the provinces, Kaluga became a provincial center, which included the Medynsky district and the cities: Oboev, Vorotynsk, Meshchovsk, Przemysl, Mosalsk, Kazelsk, Serpeysk and Likhvin. Other cities became part of the Moscow province. In the same 1719, the tsar's decree was followed to open the first secular educational institution in Kaluga - the school of tsyfiri and geometry.

In 1748, the Kaluga region acquired its own shrine - the miraculous icon of the Kaluga Mother of God, revealed in the village of Tinkovo, on the estate of the landowner V.K. Khitrovo.

In the XVIII century. a long period of peaceful life began on Kaluga land. Due to its location on the Oka, Kaluga become a major trade and craft center. The economic situation in the region has noticeably improved, the population has increased significantly. However, even at that time, various disasters visited the Kaluga land more than once: crop failures, fires. But perhaps the most difficult test was the plague epidemic that swept through central Russia in 1771. In Kaluga, in memory of the deliverance from this disease, a religious procession with the icon of the Kaluga Mother of God was established on September 2.

A new stage in the history of the Kaluga region begins after a visit to Kaluga in 1775 by Empress Catherine II. On August 24, 1776, a personal decree of Catherine II followed on the establishment of the Kaluga province as part of 12 counties and the appointment

The clock donated by Catherine II to the Kaluga society at the opening of the Kaluga viceroy. KOCM

Viceroy of the Tver Governor Mikhail Nikitich Krechetnikov. The grand opening of the governorship took place on January 15, 1777. On this day, the first meeting of the nobility took place, at which the leaders of the nobility and noble assessors were elected. On January 18, 1777, a play by V.I. Maykov "Prologue to the opening of the Kaluga governorship". In the following days, performances were given in the theater every evening. In honor of the opening of the governorship, dinners, balls, concerts, masquerades, and fireworks were arranged. In memory of the opening of the Kaluga viceroy, Catherine II presented the Kaluga society with a watch, and on January 23, 1777, she expressed her highest favor to Krechetnikov and the Kaluga nobility. During January, government offices were opened in Kaluga and county towns and self-government bodies were elected. On February 28, 1777, a decree of the Governing Senate followed, officially confirming the opening of the Kaluga governorship.

On March 10, 1777, the cities of the Kaluga governorship received coats of arms created under the guidance of the famous historian Prince M.M. Shcherbatov. Finally, the territory of the Kaluga province took shape in October 1777. On November 24, 1777, schools were opened in Kaluga and county towns for the education of merchant and petty-bourgeois children. At the same time, probably, a school for noble children also appeared in the provincial city. In 1778, the plan for the development of the provincial center was approved by the highest. The establishment in the reign of Catherine II of the Kaluga province and viceroyship marked the beginning of the development of the Kaluga region as an independent administrative-territorial unit within the Russian Empire.

In 1799, Kaluga also became the center of the diocese, whose bishops became known as Kaluga and Borovsk.

At the beginning of the XIX century. scandalous fame in Russia was acquired by the Kaluga governor D.A. Lopukhin. His abuses were investigated by a senator who arrived in Kaluga in 1802, the famous poet G.R. Derzhavin. According to the results of the work of the Senate audit, on November 18, 1802, Emperor Alexander I issued a decree on the fight against extortion and bribes among officials.

Patriotic War of 1812

At the beginning of the XIX century. Kaluga was glorified by its native - non-commissioned officer Semyon Artamonovich Starichkov. In the Battle of Austerlitz on November 20, 1805, he saved the banner of the Azov Musketeer Regiment and, dying in captivity, handed it over to Private Chuika (Seagull), who returned the flag to Russia.

Feat S.A. Starichkov, who "at the very end of his life, thought only of preserving and delivering to the authorities the banner entrusted to him," became widely known, becoming for many years a model for the education of soldiers of the Russian Imperial Army.

During the Patriotic War of 1812, the Kaluga province took an active part in wartime activities. Nobles, clergy, merchants and philistines donated provisions, weapons, things, silver and money for the army, of which more than 150,000 rubles were collected. In Kaluga, General M.A. Miloradovich formed new troops, of which 14,000 took part in the Battle of Borodino. In August-September, 15,000 militia were formed in the Kaluga province, which in 1812 took part in protecting the borders of the Kaluga province, liberating the Roslavl and Elninsk districts of the Smolensk province from the enemy and restoring order in the Mogilev province. Kaluga Governor P.N. In early August, Kaverin established a chain of guard cordons along the border of the province from armed peasants, on which, with the support of the Cossack regiments and parts of the Kaluga militia, approximately 2,200 people were destroyed and 1,400 people were taken prisoner. During the period when the Russian armies approached the province, Kaluga became the main rear base and the nodal center of the communication line, supplying the active troops with food and fodder, reinforcements, horses and ammunition. Military hospitals operated in Kaluga, Mosalsk, Kozelsk and Meshchovsk. More than 10,000 prisoners of war passed through the Kaluga province. From the end of 1812, the governor of Kaluga was entrusted with the administration of the Smolensk province.
After leaving Moscow and performing a flank maneuver, Russian troops under the command of M.I. Kutuzov on September 21 entered the Kaluga province and stopped at a pre-selected position near the village of Tarutino. Settled in the Tarutinsky camp on the right bank of the Nara River, the troops got the opportunity to rest and increase their strength. Reinforcements arrived in the army, including Cossack regiments, food and fodder were delivered, ammunition and medicines were brought.

At a time when hostilities between the main forces were suspended, the "small war" gained wide scope. On October 6, the Russian army went over to active operations and in the battle near the Chernishni River (called Tarutinsky) defeated the vanguard detachment under the command of I. Murat.

In this battle, the commander of the 2nd Infantry Corps K.F. Baggovut, whose body was brought to Kaluga and buried in the necropolis of the Laurentian Monastery.

On October 7, Napoleon with the main forces left Moscow. Having crossed to the New Kaluga road, he made an attempt to bypass the Russian troops, but in Maloyaroslavets on October 12 he was met by troops under the command of D.S. Dokhturova. During the Maloyaroslavets battle, the city changed hands at least 8 times, gradually the main forces of the opposing armies were drawn to the battlefield.

By nightfall, the Russian troops left Maloyaroslavets and retreated to a position prepared outside the city. From October 12 to 13, a raid was made in the rear of the enemy army by the Cossacks of ataman M.I. Platov, who attacked the bivouacs and convoys of the enemy, seized the guns and almost captured Napoleon, who was passing next to his retinue.

After the Battle of Maloyaroslavets, Napoleon abandoned further movement to Kaluga and on October 14 began a retreat to Mozhaisk. Kutuzov, fearing a flank bypass through Medyn, where on October 13 three Cossack regiments defeated the vanguard of the Polish corps, on the 14th retreated from Maloyaroslavets to Detchino, and then to Linen Plants. From here, the main forces of the Russian army on October 18 began to pursue the retreating troops of the Great Army.

Kaluga region in the XIX - early XX centuries.

After 1812, the Kaluga Territory quickly healed the wounds inflicted by the war, and over the next century, its life flowed in a calm direction, and the changes that took place on Kaluga land did not go beyond the framework of nationwide processes.

In the 1820s on the territory of Kaluga, the founder of the "factory power" I.A. Maltsov acquired factories located in the Zhizdrinsky district, including Sukremelsky and Lyudinovsky. On the latter, in 1841, for the first time, the production of rails for Russian railways began, the development of steam engines began, and the Dnieper steamship was built for the first time. In the 1870s The Maltsov factories mastered the production of steam locomotives for Russian railways, which were made, under the terms of the contract, exclusively from domestic materials. In the 19th century The Kondrovskaya and Troitskaya paper mills, which were owned by the prominent industrialist V. Howard, became especially famous. The Goncharov Linen Factory was famous for papermaking.

A landmark event of the 19th century was the abolition of serfdom, which marked the beginning of a new stage in the development of the Russian state. In the Kaluga province, the "Regulations of February 19, 1861 on the peasants who emerged from serfdom" was promulgated within one day. Kaluga Governor V.A. Artsimovich (according to A.I. Herzen - the best governor in Russia), knowing the hostile attitude of the nobles to the reform, took a number of measures in advance. The entire province was divided into 167 small sections, to which officials were sent who sympathized with the cause of the liberation of the peasants. They had to read only the articles marked by the governor, which spoke not only about the duties of the peasants in relation to the landowners, but also about the rights of former serfs. Officials were ordered to perform their duties in uniform and to acquaint the peasants with the articles in the presence of the landowners. To ensure order, a policeman was sent with each official.

In the second half of the XIX century. the important place in the life of society was occupied by the issues of improvement. In Kaluga, for example, the city authorities, headed for a long time, from 1885 to 1901, by a merchant of the first guild, an honorary citizen I.K. Tsipulin, solved numerous problems related to the construction of water supply and sewerage, electricity, asphalting and landscaping of streets, beautification of market squares, repair of roads and houses, resolving the issue of including Kaluga in the railway network and introducing a tram service in the city, streamlining the tax from cabbies etc. Charitable events were actively held: concerts, lotteries, donations of money, property, etc. For example, the same mayor Tsipulin donated a stone house worth 70 thousand rubles for the construction of a vocational school, allocated money for the repair of the building of the Kaluga provincial gymnasium, the construction of a church in a military camp, gave an interest-free loan in the amount of 2 thousand rubles for the construction of a Workhouse and 9 thousand rubles for the formation of the Society for Insurance of Citizens' Property from Fire.

Kaluga region in 1917-1941

Early 20th century was noted in the Kaluga province by the activation of public life, the revolutionary events of 1905-1906. and the industrial boom of 1909. In 1914, the First World War began, which led to an economic and political crisis in the country. The February Revolution of 1917 was enthusiastically received in the Kaluga province. Numerous rallies and demonstrations were held in her support. New authorities were created in the province, the process of formation of Soviets was taking place everywhere, the activity of the Social Democratic wing - the Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks - was intensified. In rural areas, in the absence of a strong government, the illegal appropriation of land expanded, attacks on the estates of landlords and landowners became more frequent, unauthorized felling of forests, and seizure of property. The Bolsheviks gradually intensified their activities, especially in the industrial centers of the province: Lyudinovo, Zhizdra, Petrovsky Zavod, Tarussky district, etc. In Kaluga, they received support from the garrison, which played a large role in the revolutionary events of 1917. The new administration of the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries, elected democratically , could not solve the pressing problems, and especially the food crisis. The population was losing confidence in the government, and food riots took place in September. Under these conditions, preparations began for the elections to the Constituent Assembly.

In October, a struggle for power broke out in Kaluga between the Menshevik-SR Soviets of Workers' and Peasants' Deputies and the Bolshevik Soviet of Soldiers' Deputies, which relied on the Kaluga garrison. To establish order, troops were sent to Kaluga, which on October 19, after little resistance, managed to arrest members of the Council of Soldiers' Deputies and restore order in the Kaluga garrison. After the October Revolution of 1917, Kaluga remained loyal to the Provisional Government, so Soviet power was established in it by force of arms only on November 28, 1917. One of the last acts of confrontation in Kaluga was a manifestation in support of the Constituent Assembly on December 10, which was the use of armored vehicles.

The final establishment of the new government in the Kaluga province was completed by the end of December 1917. In February-July 1918, the Kaluga Soviet Republic existed on the territory of the province. During the Civil War, the Kaluga province was declared under martial law three times. On its territory, uprisings against the Soviet authorities repeatedly broke out. Especially large at the end of 1918 happened in Medynsky, Borovsky and Maloyaroslavetsky counties. Detachments and military units were constantly formed in Kaluga and the province, medical institutions for the wounded and sick Red Army soldiers were located. Command infantry courses operated in Kaluga.

After the end of the Civil War, the restoration of the national economy began through the implementation of the New Economic Policy in 1921. Already in the first years of the NEP in the Kaluga province there were significant shifts in economic development.

A gradual restoration of large enterprises began: the Dugninsky iron foundry, a paper mill in the Linen Factory, a weaving factory in Borovsky district, and others. In 1923, the process of electrification of the village began. At the same time, since 1924, a struggle began in the province against the "former landowners" who were subject to eviction.

In December 1925, the course towards socialist industrialization was adopted in the country. In the Kaluga province, the pace of capital construction has increased. New products were mastered (the Kaluga Electro-Mechanical Plant set up serial production of telephone sets, telephone dialers and phone switches, the Kondrovskaya paper mill switched to the production of paper of higher grades, etc.), in 1927 a garment factory was opened in Kaluga, in 1929 The main railway workshops were transformed into the Kaluga Machine-Building Plant NKPS, in 1931 the Gigant match factory was built, in 1936 the construction of the SDV plant began and preparations were made for laying the turbine plant. By 1940, there were 35 factories and factories operating in Kaluga alone, employing over 15,000 people. Since the end of 1929, the process of complete collectivization began on the Kaluga land. Since the mid 1930s. in the Kaluga region, as well as throughout the country, repressions began that claimed the lives of many thousands of Kaluga residents.

During the period of socialist construction, cardinal changes took place in the territorial-administrative division of the country. In 1929, the Kaluga Governorate was abolished, and its territory became part of the Moscow and Western regions. In 1937 there was a new division between the Moscow, Tula, Oryol and Smolensk regions. Since 1929, Kaluga (the district center of the district, since September 1, 1930 - the regional center) was part of the Moscow, and since 1937 - in the Tula region.

In the 1930s Kaluga gained all-Union fame thanks to the scientist and inventor, the founder of cosmonautics K.E. Tsiolkovsky. In 1932, in the year of the 75th anniversary, the activity of the scientist was marked by a government award. Solemn meetings were held in Moscow and Kaluga. September 19, 1935 Tsiolkovsky died. A year later, on September 19, 1936, a museum was opened in his house.

Kaluga region during the Great Patriotic War

From the first days of the Great Patriotic War, the entire life of the state was subordinated to the requirements of wartime. On the territory of the Kaluga Territory, mobilization unfolded, plants and factories set up the production of military products, and collective farms fought for the harvest. The population collected money and things for the needs of the army. The Stakhanov movement was organized at enterprises and collective farms, competitions were held. To combat enemy saboteurs and paratroopers in Kaluga and the regions, 44 fighter battalions and detachments were formed. Over 90,000 Kaluga residents in August-September 1941 built defensive structures near Smolensk, Bryansk, Orel, Tula and on the near approaches to Moscow. In the autumn of 1941, when the front line approached the Kaluga region, evacuation work began.

During the defensive stage of the battle near Moscow, Kaluga land was almost completely occupied by the enemy. From October 4 to October 8, 1941, after a stubborn defense, the troops of the 43rd, 50th and 33rd armies were forced to leave Spas-Demensk, Mosalsk, Yukhnov, Lyudinovo, Duminichi, Zhizdra, Meshchovsk, Sukhinichi and Kozelsk. To keep the German troops rapidly advancing towards Moscow, the Mozhaisk line of defense was put on alert. From October 10, the command of the troops of the Western Front was entrusted to a native of the Kaluga land, the famous commander - G.K. Zhukov. Cadets of the Podolsk infantry and artillery schools were advanced to the Maloyaroslavets direction, delaying the advance of the enemy towards Moscow. The Kaluga direction was defended by units of the 49th Army. After stubborn fighting on the outskirts of Kaluga, the units of the 5th Guards Rifle Division defending the city were forced to retreat. From 12 to 13 October, Kaluga was in the hands of the enemy. By the end of October, the enemy troops were stopped at the turn of the river. Nara and r. Okie.

In the occupied territories, the Germans established a "new order", the victims of which were more than 20,000 civilians in the Kaluga Territory. Despite the cruelty of the occupation regime, the orders of the German command were sabotaged everywhere, underground and partisan detachments were created, residents hid the sick and wounded soldiers of the Red Army, etc. During the war years, about 100 partisan detachments operated on the territory of the region, of which 37 were created in the regions of the region. The partisans destroyed up to 20,000 people, about 200 tanks and 500 vehicles, derailed about 80 enemy trains, and blew up 150 bridges.

On December 5, 1941, a counteroffensive began near Moscow, and in the first days of January 1942, without an operational pause, a general offensive of the Soviet troops unfolded. As a result, by the end of April 1942, most of the Kaluga Territory was liberated (16 districts completely and 8 partially). In December 1941, the troops of the 50th Army carried out a successful operation to liberate Kaluga. For a deep breakthrough into the rear communications of the enemy, a special mobile group was created under the command of Major General V.S. Popova, who was to make a 90-kilometer raid and capture Kaluga with a sudden blow. The operation began on the night of December 17-18, 1941. At 5 am on December 21, Soviet troops rushed to the city. Fierce battles ensued, threatening the complete defeat of the mobile group. By December 23, the main forces of the 50th Army approached Kaluga. On December 30, the city was stormed, as a result of which Kaluga was completely liberated.

In the liberated areas, the party and administrative authorities focused on restoring the national economy, infrastructure, providing assistance to the Red Army and solving social issues. Mobilization was resumed on the territory of the Kaluga Territory, troops were formed, defensive structures and fortifications were built, mine clearance was carried out, weapons, ammunition and ammunition were collected. Kaluga residents took part in the material and financial assistance of the Red Army, the donor movement, took care of the wounded soldiers and war invalids, families and children of front-line soldiers and orphans. Thus, more than 100 million rubles were contributed to the country's defense fund. Residents of the Kaluga Territory participated in the construction of 14 tank columns, 12 air formations and individual aircraft, 5 armored trains and one artillery battery. Collective farmers handed over grain, meat, milk to the special food fund of the Red Army, sowed overplanned "hectares of defense".

After the successful completion of the Battle of Stalingrad, offensive operations were carried out in February-March 1943 in order to eliminate the Oryol and Rzhev-Vyazemsky ledges that threatened Moscow. During the fighting, the territories of the Yukhnovsky, Mosalsky and Baryatinsky regions were liberated. In July-August 1943, Kaluga land became the place where heavy fighting unfolded during the Battle of Kursk. During the offensive, the troops of the Western Front liberated the Khvastovichsky and a significant part of the Zhizdrinsky districts. The final liberation of the Kaluga region occurred as a result of a series of offensive operations carried out in August-September 1943 during the general summer-autumn offensive of the Red Army.

In order to more quickly restore the national economy and better serve the workers, on July 5, 1944, the Kaluga Region was formed by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, which included, with a few exceptions, the territory of the Kaluga province that existed before 1929.

During the years of the Great Patriotic War, 175,464 people were called up from the Kaluga region. Including, from Kaluga and the Kaluga region - 30,139. ​​During the war, 80,100 Kaluga soldiers died and 56,000 went missing. Thus, about 78% of the conscripts sent to the front did not return to their homes. More than 150 natives of the Kaluga land were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for heroic deeds. Tens of thousands of Kaluga residents received orders and medals. More than 250,000 Soviet soldiers found their last shelter on Kaluga land. July 25, 1967 by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR "for active participation in the partisan movement, courage and steadfastness shown by the workers of the Kaluga region in the fight against the Nazi invaders during the Great Patriotic War, and for the successes achieved in economic and cultural construction" Kaluga region was awarded the Order of Lenin.

Kaluga province during the Kievan Rus

Kaluga province in antiquity (IX century) was inhabited by Vyatichi. Along the Protva and Ugra, the Lithuanian tribe Golyad lived among the Vyatichi; there were also Finnish settlements of the Merya tribe.
It was a wild and inhospitable region, unusually wooded and swampy, with a rare population that hid in the forests. Before the 12th century there were no cities. The main occupation of the population was hunting for fur-bearing animals, with the furs of which they paid tribute. At the end of the 11th or beginning of the 12th century. Hieromonk Kuksha of Kiev Pechersk, apparently by Vyatich origin, enlightened the Kaluga region with the light of Christianity, capturing the sermon with a martyr's death.
As a separate volost, the land of the Vyatichi appears only under Svyatoslav Yaroslavich (son of Yaroslav the Wise) Chernigov, from which time cities appeared here. Under 1146, Kozelsk was mentioned for the first time: in 1155, Vorotynsk, in 1158, Gorodensk (now the village of Gorodnya, 12 hours from Kaluga), Mosalsk, and others. into many small principalities, the most important of the second were:
1) Mosalskoye with Serensk (now a village near Meshchovsk,
2) Tarusskoye and Obolenskoye (now a village),
3) Kozelskoe,
4) Vorotynskoe, where the descendants of Mikhail Chernigov were,
5) Przemysl with the same line of princes,
6) Mezetskoe, or Meshchovskoe.
Medyn also belonged to Smolensk, and Borovsk, Maloyaroslavets and part of the Kaluga district belonged to Suzdal. Thus, the region began to revive and was of considerable interest to the princes, why princely clashes took place here. But this revival was dealt a strong blow by the Tatars, who devastated the region under the command of Batu in 1238 and destroyed Kozelsk. However, the remote position of the region from the Tatars made it possible for him to recover, and he soon began to live his former life again.

Kaluga province in the XV-XVII centuries.

In the XIV century, some of the Kaluga lands were already under the rule of Moscow; Kaluga was first mentioned in the same century. However, the clashes between the Moscow princes and Lithuania, which began with Simeon the Proud, gave almost the entire region to the Lithuanians. The cunning and formidable Olgerd entered here three times under Dmitry Donskoy. And Vitovt already owned Medynsky, Mosalsky, Meshchovsky, Zhizdrinsky, Kozelsky, Peremyshlsky and Likhvinsky counties, so the border between Moscow and Lithuania went along the Oka and Ugra. Even Vorotynsk, 15 versts from Kaluga, and Lubutsk were under the rule of Lithuania, while Kaluga and Borovsk were frontier towns. But with Basil I begins the return of the lost cities and the acquisition of others. In 1408, Vitovt ceded Kozelsk and Lubutsk to him (At that time, the possessions of the Seversk appanages were disputed, and therefore part of the uyechda belongs to Moscow, and half to Lithuania, etc. This explains why the same appanage is simultaneously listed as Lithuanian and Moscow ), which were given to prince to his uncle Vladimir Andreevich the Brave, and from him passed to his children. From them, these cities are gradually moving away at the disposal of c. prince. Basil II took Medyn from Lithuania. And Ivan III, according to the peace of 1494, finally got Przemysl, Tarusa, Obolensk. Vorotynsk, Serensk; peace with Lithuania in 1503 returned Serpeisk, Mosalsk and Opakov to Moscow. Only a small part in the west of the province remained behind Lithuania.
In general, the reign of Ivan III is memorable and important in the history of the Kaluga region. Under him in 1480-1481. within the boundaries of the current Kaluga province, the Russian land was liberated from the Tatar yoke and Moscow was transformed from a khan's ulus into a sovereign state.
According to chronicle stories, Khan Akhmat, wanting to teach a lesson to the proud Moscow vassal, in the summer of 1480, counting on difficulties on the Moscow western border (the Livonian Order threatened the recently annexed Novgorod and Pskov) and Ivan’s strife with his brothers, entered the Moscow limits, but met a large army in. prince near Aleksin and Tarusa. The Tatars were repulsed while trying to cross the Oka; a general illness completed their disorder, and they quickly left. But in the next year, 1481, the khan repeated his attempt to cross the Oka and get to Moscow. And this time he ran into Russian regiments. Then he turned to his ally Lithuania, to the river. Ugra and moved along Likhvinsky, Przemyslsky and Medynsky districts. Tatar attempts to cross the Ugra near Opakov (near Yukhnov) ended in failure, and the Tatars waited for the river to freeze. It was the end of cold October, and the river was already covered with ice, opening the way in any place for the khan in the near future. Then Ivan III withdrew all his troops to an excellent position to Kremenets, hoping to give a general battle near Borovsk. The retreat of the Russian troops from the Ugra was carried out very hastily and disorderly, which is why the khan suspected military cunning in the actions of the Russians and, in turn, hastily fled.
However, in the subsequent time, the Lithuanians did not stop disturbing the Kaluga region; moreover, the Crimean Tatars also joined them, and life in the region continued to be unsettling.
In 1508, under Vasily III, under an agreement with Sigismund, the unattached part of the Kaluga province also ceded to Moscow, and the previously taken places were finally approved for it. The contract document says that Sigismund approves for the servants of Vasily Ivanovich - the princes of Przemyslsky, Vorotynsky, Mosalsky and others, from the generation of St. Michael all their estates and that he is obliged not to step into Tarusa, Obolensk, Mosalsk, Vorotynsk and in the city of Lubutsk (now the village down the Oka), and in the city of Kozelsk, and in Lyudimesk (the village of Przemysh. U.), and in Serensk and to all Kozelsk, and to Ludemsk, and to Serensk places. But this agreement did not guarantee a peaceful existence for the mentioned volosts. Frontier life was full of incessant quarrels and robberies of Muscovites and Lithuanians; everyone was constantly on guard, and the cities turned into heavily fortified points.
The Crimean Tatars began to disturb the Kaluga region from 1512. Allies of Moscow under Ivan III, they are now changing their tactics and opening a number of raids on the Moscow borders, including Kaluga with its counties. To protect against the Crimeans, a notch was carried out through the Kaluga province, stretching along the southeastern and southern borders, almost to the city of Zhizdra, 193 c. The notch was called Likhvinskaya and Kozelskaya and was divided into sections, named after the notch gates.
The military character of the Kaluga cities left its stamp on the inhabitants, who were little inclined to civil order and a quiet life. Kaluga residents, under the command of the principality of Dmitry Trubetskoy, took part in the liberation of Moscow from the Poles.
When MF Romanov came to the throne, the Kaluga Region was in a very sad state. In 1614 In 1617, during the first Polish war, new disasters rained down on the Kaluga region. It was brutally devastated by the flying detachments of Chaplinsky and Opalinsky, and then hetman Sagaidachny, who took possession of Kaluga itself, completely ruined it.
The Deulino truce ended the troubles, but instead gave Serpeysk, which was returned back in 1634, to Poland. In five months of the epidemic, up to two-thirds of the population died out in some places.

Kaluga province in the XVIII-XIX centuries.

Before Peter the Great, Kaluga land was fragmented between different regions. Initially, under Peter, when in 1708 the provinces were formed, and part of the Kaluga districts went to Moscow, and part to Smolensk. But the reform of 1719 established the Kaluga province, which was part of the Moscow province. All counties were assigned to Kaluga, with the exception of Borovsk, Maloyaroslavets, Tarusa and Obolensk, which were assigned to Moscow. Thus, Kaluga became an administrative center of secondary importance. The population was constantly growing, there were 5924 townspeople alone. In the 30s. 18th century it had more than 60 streets and lanes, 2431 yards and 13 1/2 thousand inhabitants. Kaluga grew very quickly despite the fact that in 1719 and 1720. the government transferred about 20 posad families with up to 80 male souls to the Gzhatskaya wharf. The progressive growth of Kaluga is not stopped by social disasters, which still fell to its lot quite often.
In 1723 and 1733 Famine befell Kaluga, Kaluga also suffered from another common satellite of wooden Russia - fires. It burned heavily in 1742, 1754, 1758, 1760 and 1761. During fires, there were also mass casualties: in 1754, 177 people died.
But especially many people died in 1771, when Kaluga was seized by the plague that was then raging in Russia.
From the successors of Peter the Great Kaluga in the XVIII century. I saw only Catherine the Great within my walls. The Empress arrived on December 15, 1775, accompanied by M. Plato and a brilliant retinue. Catherine's trip to Kaluga resulted in the transformation of Kaluga from a province into a province by decree of August 24, 1776. This moment was the most important in the history of the city. The gubernia included 12 uyezds (including Serpeisky), which now make up the gubernia. The viceroy counted 733,000 inhabitants of both sexes. In Kaluga at that time there were 17 thousand inhabitants.
There were 120 factories and plants in Kaluga, of which there were 1,400 workers for 5 sailing factories. Of the factories, sugar deserves mention, at which up to 5 thousand poods of sugar were produced, 3/4 of which was sold to Little Russia. Most of all there were oil mills - 34.
Weekly in Kaluga there were three auctions, to which peasants brought food supplies from nearby villages. Its inhabitants were rich, especially merchants.
On the eve of the 19th century, in 1799, Kaluga was singled out as an independent unit in spiritual terms as well. A diocese was opened in it. Thus the new century began happily for her.
In 1812, Kaluga played an important role, and its name is closely connected with the history of this war. The critical part of the campaign, its turning point, took place precisely in the Kaluga province, which became "the limit of the invasion of enemies." Kaluga itself, for several weeks, was the main artery from which our army was fed and supplied with everything necessary.

Kaluga region during the Civil War

In Kaluga, Soviet power was established on November 28, 1917 after the arrival in the city of the revolutionary detachment of the Porechensky regiment from Minsk.
In the course of implementing the policy of "war communism", by the spring of 1919, 101 enterprises of large and medium industry were nationalized. After the end of the civil war, the economic crisis swept the Kaluga province. Of the 130 enterprises, only 66 operated, mainly engaged in the processing of agricultural raw materials and timber. In agriculture, the old peasant way of life was destroyed, and the collective farms created as a result of total collectivization could not provide the city with food.
During the years of the first Soviet five-year plan, industrial production increased 8 times, and the number of employees more than 5 times. The NKPS machine-building plant was the first in the USSR to start producing railcars, motor locomotives and steam boilers, previously received from abroad. The Kaluga Electromechanical Plant mastered the production of the first Soviet direct-printing telegraph sets and payphones, the Duminskiy Iron Foundry launched the production of the first acid-resistant enameled equipment, and the Pesochinskiy Iron Foundry - gasoline dispensers for refueling cars. In 1935, the construction of Europe's largest plant for synthetic aromatic substances began in Kaluga.

Kaluga region during the Great Patriotic War

In the very first months of the war, 25 thousand people left Kaluga for the front. Plants and factories of the Kaluga Territory, which only yesterday produced civilian products, began to produce weapons, ammunition, and uniforms. Tens of thousands of residents of Kaluga and regions in August - September 1941 built defensive structures near Smolensk, Yelnya, Roslavl, Bryansk, Orel, Kaluga, Maloyaroslavets, Tula.
The situation on the fronts of the Patriotic War became more and more difficult, the front was approaching Kaluga. On October 4 and 7, Kaluga was heavily bombarded from the air. On the night of October 11-12, Soviet troops left Kaluga. In the second half of October, the entire territory of the Kaluga region was occupied.
After the capture of Kaluga, the Nazis began mass arrests and extermination of the inhabitants of the city.
In the annals of the Kaluga partisans, an explosion of an oil depot near Govardovo and Kondrovo, destroyed bridges across the Ressa River. Borovo partisans led 5,000 Soviet soldiers out of encirclement. On the night of November 24, partisans under the command of Captain V.V. Jabot struck at the headquarters of the German army corps in Ugodsky Zavod. During the raid, more than 600 German soldiers and officers, more than 130 vehicles, four tanks, two fuel depots were destroyed. December 30 Kaluga was cleared of the enemy.
After the defeat of the Nazi troops near Kursk and Orel in September 1943, the Kaluga region was finally liberated from the invaders.
In order to more quickly restore the national economy and better serve the workers, on July 5, 1944, the Kaluga Region was formed by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, which included, with a few exceptions, the territory of the Kaluga province that existed before 1929.

Kaluga region in the post-war years

The transfer of enterprises to the new production system began here in 1966. During the two years of the 8th Five-Year Plan, the average annual growth of labor productivity in mechanical engineering, the leading branch of industry in the region, increased one and a half times, amounting to 6% against 4% in the previous five-year period. However, already in these years, the insufficiency, half-heartedness of the measures taken began to affect.
The period of 1960-70s was characterized by the growing importance of the agrarian sector of the economy, the social development of the village. On the one hand, the lag of agriculture behind industry had reached a critical level by that moment, on the other hand, the urgent tasks of raising the countryside had to be solved in an unfavorable demographic situation for the countryside. Thus, from 1959 to 1981, the rural population in the Kaluga region decreased from 588 thousand to 368 thousand. Only in the period from 1970 to 1979, the number of rural settlements decreased from 4138 to 3649, and less than ten people lived in 13% of them. In search of an optimal management structure and organization of the economy, the path of transforming economically weak collective farms into state farms was chosen. But even after the completion of this process, there was no significant improvement in production performance.

The territory of the Kaluga region in ancient times was inhabited by the Slavic tribes of the Vyatichi. During the period of feudal fragmentation of Russia, the Kaluga lands became part of the Chernigov principality. The oldest city in the region, Kozelsk (first mentioned in 1146). The territory of the principality was devastated during the Tatar-Mongol invasion. In 1238, the city of Kozelsk was on the way of the Tatar-Mongol, returning from Novgorod. According to legend, the siege lasted 7 weeks. Fierce Tatars destroyed all the inhabitants. They called Kozelsk "evil city".

The first mention of Kaluga dates back to 1371. The Grand Duke of Lithuania, Olgerd Gedeminovich, in a letter to Patriarch Philotheus of Constantinople, complained about the capture of a number of cities by Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich. In the 14-16 centuries. Kaluga was part of the coastal defense system of the Moscow Principality against Tatar raids along the Oka and Ugra rivers, called the "Belt of the Virgin". In 1480, a great standing of the troops of Ivan III and Khan Akhmat took place on the Ugra River. It led to the end of the Tatar-Mongol yoke.

In the troubled times of the early 17th century. in Kaluga, detachments of False Dmitry I and False Dmitry II, Polish interventionists, the peasant leader Bolotnikov, operated. Kaluga residents participated in the Moscow militia of Prince Pozharsky and the merchant Minin.

In the 17th century Kaluga land was hardly recovering from the consequences of the Time of Troubles. At the same time, in the 17-18 centuries. trade, crafts, and the art of icon painting are developing in the Kaluga region. The first factories appear. In 1715 the merchant Demidov built an iron foundry in Dugna, and in 1720 a linen factory appeared near Kaluga. In 1719 the Kaluga province was established, which was part of the Moscow province. Kaluga Governorate was formed in 1776.

During the War of 1812, Napoleon retreating from Moscow was stopped near Maloyaroslavets. On October 12, a battle took place here, after which the French army was forced to begin an inglorious retreat along the Old Smolensk road. In the 19th century Most of the population of the province were small-land peasants. Industry was poorly developed. In the 18-19 centuries. former enemies of Russia were exiled to the Kaluga province. Here in con. 18th century lived the last Crimean Khan Shahin Giray, and in 1859-1868 Imam Shamil.

During the Great Patriotic War, partisan and sabotage detachments operated on the territory of the region, including the detachment of D.N. Medvedev.

culture

In 1777, one of the first public theaters in Russia was opened in the province. In Soviet times, it was called the Kaluga Drama Theater. Lunacharsky.

In the 18-19 centuries. The Kaluga province was one of the centers of Orthodox Russia.

Here was the Borovsky Pafnutiev Monastery (1444), consecrated by the Monk Pafnutiy. In the 15-16 centuries. - the famous icon painter Dionysius worked here. In 1666-1667. the ideologist of the Old Believers was imprisoned in the monastery Archpriest Avvakum.

3 km from Kozelsk is the most famous shrine of the Kaluga region - Optina Pustyn. The heyday of the monastery fell on the 18th-19th centuries, the miraculous power of the Optina elders was famous throughout Russia. Historical monuments of Optina Hermitage: Vvedensky Cathedral (1750-1751), Kazan Church (1805-1811), Church of Mary of Egypt (1858). Great Russian writers came to the monastery: N.V. Gogol, F.M. Dostoevsky, L.N. Tolstoy and others.

Historical monuments of the region: "Moshchinskoye settlement" (4-13 centuries), the Church of the Ascension (1620, Kozelsk), Nikolsky Chernoostrovsky Monastery (16-18 centuries, Maloyaroslavets), the wooden Church of the Intercession (late 17-18 centuries, village High, near Borovsk).

The life and work of: Prince Vladimir Andreevich Brave, artists V. E. Borisov-Musatov and V. D. Polenov, writers A. P. Chekhov, A. N. Tolstoy, K. G. Paustovsky are connected with the region; scientists K. E. Tsiolkovsky(native) and A. L. Chizhevsky, P. L. Chebyshev (native); actor and director M. M. Yanshin(born), poets M. I. Tsvetaeva, N. A. Zabolotsky, B. Sh. Okudzhava.

Archpriest Avvakum

Avvakum Petrovich(1620 or 1621 - April 14, 1682), Russian religious leader, archpriest, head of the Old Believers and ideologist of the schism in the Russian Orthodox Church.

The son of a village priest, Avvakum followed in his father's footsteps. In 1646-1647, while in Moscow, he was associated with the "circle of zealots of piety", became known to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. In 1652 he was an archpriest in the city of Yuryevets-Povolsky, then a priest of the Kazan Cathedral in Moscow. Avvakum sharply opposed the church reform of Patriarch Nikon, for which in 1653 he was exiled with his family to Tobolsk, and then to Dauria. In 1663, the tsar, seeking to reconcile Avvakum, popular among the people, with the official church, summoned him to Moscow. But Avvakum did not renounce his views, he continued his persistent struggle against church innovations. In a petition to the tsar, he accused Nikon of heresy. Inspired speeches against Nikon attracted numerous supporters to Avvakum, including from among the nobility (the noblewoman F. P. Morozova). In 1664 Avakum was exiled to Mezen. In 1666, he was again summoned to Moscow, and at a church council he was shorn, anathematized, and in 1667 exiled to the Pustozersky jail.

During a fifteen-year stay in a damp earthen log house, Avvakum did not stop fighting, wrote his main works: "The Book of Conversations", "The Book of Interpretations", "Life" (between 1672 and 1675). By royal decree, together with his closest associates, he was burned in a log house. Defending the old faith, Avvakum in his writings denounced the vices of the representatives of the official church (gluttony, drunkenness, debauchery, greed), the cruelty with which they carried out the reform of church rites. In the fight against Nikon's supporters, he denounced the royal power, the king himself, his governor. Avvakum's accusatory sermons found a response among peasants and townspeople. Avvakum was an outstanding writer of his time. His "Life" is one of the remarkable works of ancient Russian literature. He managed to turn the traditional genre of "Life" into an autobiographical story full of vivid images and characteristics of people, with a juicy and direct lively Russian language.

K. E. Tsiolkovsky

Tsiolkovsky Konstantin Eduardovich(1857-1935), Russian scientist and inventor, founder of modern cosmonautics. Proceedings in the field of aero- and rocket dynamics, the theory of aircraft and airship. As a child, he almost completely lost his hearing and studied independently from the age of 14; in 1879 he passed the exam for the title of teacher externally, he taught physics and mathematics all his life (since 1892 in Kaluga). For the first time, he substantiated the possibility of using rockets for interplanetary communications, indicated rational ways for the development of astronautics and rocket science, and found a number of important engineering solutions for the design of rockets and a liquid-propellant rocket engine. Tsiolkovsky's technical ideas find application in the creation of rocket and space technology.

In his philosophical and artistic essay, Tsiolkovsky developed a "cosmic philosophy", which is based on the idea of ​​an "atom" - an immortal animate elementary being, plying from organism to organism in the Universe. The space utopia of Tsiolkovsky assumes the settlement of mankind in the solar system and other stellar worlds, and in the future - a complete biochemical restructuring of the inhabitants of the Earth and their transformation into intelligent "animal-plants" that directly process solar energy. The ideas of Tsiolkovsky formed the basis of the so-called. Russian cosmism.

Yanshin M.M.

Yanshin Mikhail Mikhailovich(1902-76), Russian actor, director, People's Artist of the USSR (1955). Since 1924 at the Moscow Art Academic Theatre. Among the roles: Lariosik (“Days of the Turbins” by M. A. Bulgakov), Sir Peter (“School of Scandal” by R. Sheridan), Abel (“Solo for the striking clock” by O. Zahradnik). He headed the Romen Theater (1937-41) and the Moscow Drama Theater. Stanislavsky (1950-63). He acted in films: "Wedding" (1944), "Swedish Match" (1954) and others. USSR State Prize (1975).