Dnieper Defensive Line

In 1750, during the reign of Elizabeth I, the question of building a new defensive line south and instead of the existing Ukrainian one was already considered.

Then it was planned to build a line from the Dnieper (at the confluence of the Samara River ) to the Seversky Donets (at the confluence of the Lugani River ).

The new line was supposed to include 14 fortresses and 2 retro-cementings :

• 1. Retrorangement at the Watchtower tract
• 2. The fortress at the Tatarka river,
• 3. The fortress at the Volchya river,
• 4. The fortress at the Samara River near the tract Zaplavki mouth of the upper Ternovka,
• 5. The fortress at the mouth of the river Sukhaya Chaplynki,
• 6. The fortress at the Samara River between the mouth of the Byka and Bychka rivers
• 7. The fortress at the Samara River against the mouth of the Lower Opaliha and Protsikov winter roads,
• 8. The fortress at the Vodyanaya river, B. The fortress at the mouth of the Kurylchina river, S. The end of the line to the city of Izyum,
• 9. The fortress at the tops of the Treasury,
• 10. The fortress at the tops of the Crooked End,
• 11. The fortress at the top of the Krynka River,
• 12. The fortress at the top of the Belaya River,
• 13. A fortress in the middle of the Belaya River,
• 14. The fortress at the mouth of the river Olkhovanka,
• 15. Retrorangement at the mouth of the river Lugani and the end of the line.

As a simplified version, the project of building the line before the confluence of the Kazeny Torets River into the Seversky Donets was also considered. with fortresses

• 9. The fortress on the Kazenny End at the mouth of the Georgian River,
• 10. The fortress at the Treasury End against the mouth of the Mayachka River,
• 11. Retrangement at the mouth of the Treasury, against the Paradise-town and the end of the project. ^[one]

However, due to lack of funding, this project was refused.

The Dnieper line was created to protect the southern borders of the Russian Empire from the raids of the Crimean Tatars . The line was built instead of the Ukrainian line , which lost its importance in connection with the annexation of the lands of the so-called. Wild field to the Russian Empire .

On May 10, 1770 , in the midst of the Russo-Turkish campaign, the points of the Military Collegium “On the construction of the line along the Berde and Moskovka Rivers”, approved by Empress Catherine II, were followed, according to which a fortified defensive line consisting of seven spaced approximately 30 versts apart was planned fortresses ^[2] .

The Dnieper line began from the confluence of the Sukhaya Moskovka River into the Dnieper , passed along the lines of the Konka (Horse Waters) and Byrd rivers, and ended on the coast of the Sea of ​​Azov at the mouth of the Berda River. It was planned to build the entire line in 5 years.

The following are listed in sequence from the Dnieper to the Sea of ​​Azov :

1. Alexander Fortress - at the mouth of the Sukhaya Moskovka River , which flows into the Dnieper (located on the territory of the modern city of Zaporozhye )
2. Nikitinsky fortress - on the right bank of the Konka River, 20 miles from the exit to the Dnieper Valley. Now it is located on the territory of the modern village of Kamyshevakh, Orekhovsky district, Zaporizhzhya region . At the site of the Nikitinsky fortress, ramparts, towering from one and a half to three meters and ditches of half a meter depth, were preserved ^[3] .
3. Grigoryevskaya fortress - near two rivers flowing into Konka - Verbova and Stallion.
4. Kirillovskaya fortress - on the right bank of the Konka River at the confluence with the Tokmachka tributary
5. Alekseevskaya fortress - at the source of the Berda River, which flows into the Sea of ​​Azov
6. Zakharyevskaya fortress - on the left bank of the Berda River, against the “ravaged, unknown retrangement, formerly a long time ago” (now located on the territory of the modern village of Kalaytanovka )
7. Peter's Fortress - over the Sea of ​​Azov at the mouth of the Berda River (now located on the territory of the modern village of Novopetrovka )

In addition, according to the plan, it was also planned to create a water obstacle to the enemy’s path by raising the water level in the rivers with the help of dams.

According to the project, three fortresses were planned as battalion , the rest as two - handed ^[2]

The origin of the names of fortresses

There is no single point of view in honor of whom the fortresses were named. For the Alexander Fortress, the names of Prince Alexander Vyazemsky ^{[4] [5]} , Field Marshal Alexander Golitsyn ^{[6] [7] [8]} ; there is an opinion that the fortress was named by Catherine II in honor of the saint, whose name was indicated in the church calendar for the first half of 1770 ^[4] .

Apollon Skalkovsky suggested that the names of the fortresses were given by the names of the most important dignitaries of that time: Nikitinsky fortress - in honor of Prince Nikita Trubetskoy or Count Nikita Panin, Kirillovskaya - in honor of hetman Kirill Razumovsky, Yakov Novitsky complements this series with the possibility of naming Petrovsky fortress in honor of General Feld Count Peter Alexandrovich Rumyantsev, Alekseevskaya - in honor of Count Alexei Grigoryevich Orlov-Chesmensky and Grigoryevskaya - in honor of Grigory Alexandrovich Potemkin ^[5] .

In 2013, A.V. Makidonov put forward the version that the Alexander Fortress was named collectively by three members of the Council at the Supreme Court: vice chancellor of the College of Foreign Affairs, real chamberlain, real secret adviser, Prince Alexander Mikhailovich Golitsyn; Senator, Prosecutor General, Prince Aleksandr Alekseevich Vyazemsky and Acting Chamberlain, Field Marshal, Prince Alexander Mikhailovich Golitsyn. According to the same version, and the rest of the fortresses of the Dnieper line, the names were given in honor of the members of the Council at the highest court , who met in 1769-1770, and were directly related to the development of decisions on the creation of the Line. ^[9]

Fort builders

The construction of the Dnieper line was entrusted to a member of the military college, Lieutenant General Mikhail Dedenev . Y. Novitsky points out that the work was carried out under the supervision of Evdokim Shcherbinin ^[5] , however, researcher A. Makidonov considers this a mistake ^[10] . In 1771 (according to Y. Novitsky in 1772), Dedenev was replaced by Major General Vasily Chertkov ^{[10] [5]} .

Catherine II, in her decree of September 2, 1770, to the Sloboda (Kharkov) governor E. A. Shcherbinin, wrote: “... My thoughts, however, are constantly striving for prosperity and the affirmation of a quiet life from God for the people that have been handed to Me, and therefore, I have the honor so that both the Little Russian and Sloboda provinces were forever guaranteed from Europe, to establish a line of fortresses from Berdy to the Dnieper. ”

The Alexander Fortress was laid in August 1770 near the Wet Moskovka River , but then was moved closer to the Dnieper and to the left bank of the Sukhoi Moskovka ^[11] .

The Peter Fortress was built by a famous military engineer, Colonel (who soon received the rank of Major General), Alexander Ivanovich Rigelman .

Peter Fortress

In the autumn of 1782 , after crossing the Sea of ​​Azov , he arrived at the Petrovskaya fortress at the mouth of the Berdy Sea from the Crimea ( Kerch - approx.), After the outbreak of the Khan’s rebellion, the last Crimean Khan Shagin-Girey was negotiated with Prince Potyomkin Grigory Alexandrovich . September 21, 1782 “... Prince Grigory Alexandrovich had a secret conference with His Grace Khan up to two hours; after parting, he deigned to return that day, and the next day Khan, with them, I and the whole convoy, after delivering two infantry regiments and part of the Don Cossacks, completely marching ^[12] , reached a distance of 35 miles from the local fortress ” ^[13] - reported on September 24, 1782, a Russian resident under Khan Shagin-Girey, Veselitsky P.P. to Empress Catherine II . He commanded two infantry regiments, "located at the Petrovskaya fortress", who escorted the last Crimean Khan Shagin-Girey in his last campaign to the Crimea , the nephew of His Holiness Prince Potyomkin G.A., Major General Alexander Nikolaevich Samoilov.

After the annexation of the Crimean Khanate to the Russian Empire in 1783, the Dnieper line lost its significance. In 1800, the fortresses - Aleksandrovskaya and Petrovskaya were no longer included in the list of existing fortresses of the Russian Empire.

• Novitsky Yakіv . The history of the city of Aleksandrovsk, (Yekaterinoslav province) in connection with the history of the emergence of the fortresses of the Dnieper line 1770-1806 g // Tvori / Order. Anatoly Boyko. NAS of Ukraine. Institute of Ukrainian Archeography and Dzhereloznavstva im. M. S. Grushevskogo, Institute of History of Ukraine, Institute of Mystical Exaltation, Folklore Studies and Ethnology. M. T. Rilsky; Zaporizhzhya National University; Zaporizhzhya Science Association Y. Novitsky. 5 t - Zaporizhzhia: AA Tandem, 2007. - T. 1. - 508 p. - ISBN 978-966-488-001-2 . Archived March 3, 2016.
• Fomenko V. On the 200th anniversary of the start of construction of the New Dnieper fortress line. Manuscript. The fund of V. G. Fomenko in the offices of the Zaporizhzhya Regional Science and Technology Library.
• Karagodin A. Creation of a new Dnieper fortress line // Cultural Studies. - Zaporizhzhia, 1995. - Vol. 2 . - S. 3-9 . (inaccessible link)
• Moldavsky R. L. History of the Peter the Great Fortress New Dnieper Lines (1770-1791 rr.) (Unavailable link) . // Scientific and historical faculty of the Zaporizhian sovereign university. - Zaporizhzhia: Prosvita, 2005. - VIP. XIX. - 428 p.
• Moldavsky R. L. Dzherela from the history of the New Dnieper Ukraine (1770 - 1791 rubles) (Ukrainian) . 2007 . Zaporizhzhya national university. Archived February 10, 2012.
• Makidonov A.V. Dnieper line (1770-1797) . - Zaporozhye: Accent Invest Trade, 2014. - 556 p. - ISBN 978-966-2602 -66-I.
• Makidonov A.V. The Dnieper border line in documents of the mid 1770s-early 1780s: collection of documents . - Zaporozhye: Horizon, 2016 .-- 516 p. - ISBN 978-617-7353-15-6 .

• Ukrainian line
• Russian fortified lines