Grozny (Russian: Грозный, IPA: [ˈgroznɨj]; Chechen: Соьлжа-ГӀала, romanized: Sölƶa-Ġala)[15] is the capital city of Chechnya, Russia.

Alfred Stuart, an English engineer, completed the first well in Grozny by drilling in 1893 the largest oil field in the Caucasus region outside the Baku district.

As the Russian Civil War escalated, the Proletariat formed the 12th Red Army, and the garrison held out against numerous attacks by Terek Cossacks from 11 August to 12 November 1918.

Underground operations were carried out, but only the arrival of the Caucasus front of the Red Army in 1920 allowed the city to permanently end up with the Russian SFSR on 17 March.

Simultaneously it became part of the Soviet Mountain Republic, which was formed on 20 January 1921, and was the capital of the Chechen National Okrug inside it.

As Cossacks were viewed as a potential threat to the Soviet nation, Moscow actively[citation needed] encouraged the migration of Chechens into the city from the mountains.

Due to its oil, Grozny with Maikop were the main strategic objectives of the German Fall Blau operation in summer of 1942 (See Battle of the Caucasus).

The failure to prioritize Grozny, even transferring critical Panzer divisions north to the Siege of Leningrad, was a major factor in Adolf Hitler taking operational level control of the Wehrmacht from his generals who had repeatedly prioritized the two major cities over the oil supplies – against Hitler's express orders.

Soviet doctrine however never failed to prioritize the food of Ukraine nor the oil of the Caucasus, which resulted in drastic action after Germany's expulsion/retreat in 1943.

In 1944, the entire population of Chechens and Ingush was deported after being falsely accused of collaborating with advancing armed forces of Nazi Germany.

[28] Authors such as Alexander Nekrich, John Dunlop and Moshe Gammer, based on census data from the period estimate a death toll of about 170,000–200,000 among Chechens alone,[29][30][31][32] thus ranging from over a third of the total Chechen population that was deported to nearly half dying during those four years (rates for other groups for those four years hover around 20%).

Once again migration of non-Russians into Grozny continued whilst the ethnic Russian population, in turn, moved to other parts of the USSR, notably the Baltic states, after inter-ethnic conflict broke out briefly in 1958.

Russians (as well as Ukrainians and Armenians) worked in education, health, oil, machinery, and social services.

many of the remaining Russian and other non-Chechen residents fled or were expelled by groups of militants, adding to a harassment and discrimination from the new authorities.

[38] These events are perceived by some as an act of an ethnic cleansing of non-Chechens, which has been reflected in the materials of General Prosecutor's office of the Russian Federation.

[41] The covert Russian attempts of overthrowing Dudayev by means of armed Chechen opposition forces resulted in repeated failed assaults on the city.

However, this changed in 1994, after the coups in neighbouring Georgia and Azerbaijan (both of which Moscow was involved with), when Russia encouraged armed opposition, and occasionally assisted.

During the First Chechen War, Grozny was the site of an intense battle lasting from December 1994 to February 1995 and ultimately ending with the capture of the city by the Russian military.

Thousands of combatants on both sides died in the fighting, alongside civilians, many of whom were reportedly ethnic Russians; unclaimed bodies were later collected and buried in mass graves on the city outskirts.

They surrounded and routed its entire garrison of 10,000 MVD troops, while fighting off the Russian Army units from the Khankala base.

The final seizure of the city was set in early February 2000, when the Russian military lured the besieged militants to a promised safe passage.

[citation needed] One day prior to the planned evacuation, the Russian Army mined the path between the city and the village of Alkhan-Kala and concentrated most firepower on that point.

In 2003, the United Nations called Grozny the most destroyed city on Earth, with not a single building left undamaged.

The Grozny trolleybus system began operation on 31 December 1975, and by 1990 was approximately 60-kilometer (37 mi) long, with 58 buses and one depot.

Both types of transport came under difficult pressure in the early 1990s, with frequent theft of equipment, staff not being properly paid and resultant strikes.

The Ministry of Transport of the Chechen Republic, created in 2002, decided not to rebuild the tram system (considered too expensive and no longer meeting the city's needs, as it had by then lost half of its population).

In 2018 the Delimobil car sharing company officially provided the capital of the Chechen Republic with 30 Hyundai Solaris.

The city is located in a valley approximately 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of the main range of the Greater Caucasus Mountains.