GROZNY

also spelled Groznij or Groznyi city and capital of the republic of Chechnya, Russia. It lies along the Sunzha River at the foot of the Sunzha Range of the Caucasus. Grozny was founded in 1818 as a fortress; the writers Leo Tolstoy and Mikhail Lermontov served there. The presence of local oil deposits was known from 1823, but large-scale production did not begin until 1893, the year the railway reached the town. Thereafter Grozny grew rapidly as one of the major oil centres of Russia, with a production second only to Baku by the time of the Russian Revolution (1917). The growth of new Soviet oil fields reduced the relative importance of the area, but with new oil finds in the 1950s, it has remained a significant producer. Pipelines run through Grozny to Makhachkala on the Caspian Sea, Novorossiysk on the Black Sea, and the Donets Basin. Aside from large-scale refining and gas processing, petrochemicals and machinery for the petroleum industry are manufactured. Grozny has the oldest petroleum institute of Russia (established in 1920) and also a teacher-training institute. As the capital of Chechnya, Grozny was the chief objective of Russian army forces that entered the republic on December 11, 1994, in an effort to suppress a separatist Chechen government led by Dzhokhar Dudayev. The artillery and aerial bombardments used by Russian forces to overcome stiff Chechen resistance had destroyed much of the city by the time the Russians drove out its last remaining Chechen defenders in March 1995. In 1997 Russian troops withdrew from Grozny and Chechnya in accordance with a peace treaty. Fighting resumed in late 1999, however, and Grozny experienced heavy attacks. Thousands of civilians died in the city during the lengthy struggle. Pop. (1993 est.) 364,000.