Tula is located in the northern Central Russian Upland on the banks of the Upa River, a tributary of the Oka.

The city was seized by Ivan Bolotnikov in 1606 during the Time of Troubles and withstood a four-month siege by the Tsar's army.

The Demidov family built the first armament factory in Russia in the city, in what would become the Tula Arms Plant, which still operates to this day.

Yasnaya Polyana, the former home of the writer Leo Tolstoy, is located 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) southwest of Tula.

[citation needed] In 1712, Tula was visited by Peter the Great, who commissioned the Demidov blacksmiths to build the first armament factory in Russia.

Several decades later, Tula was turned by the Demidovs into the greatest ironworking center of Eastern Europe.

[citation needed] In the 1890s, Ivan Savelyev, a medical orderly, became the founder of social democracy in Tula and set up a workers' study circle.

Tula became the target of a German offensive to break Soviet resistance in the Moscow area between 24 October and 5 December 1941.

According to Erik Durschmied in The Weather Factor: How Nature has Changed History, one German general reached the southwestern outskirts of Tula on 29–30 October 1941.

Importance in the industrial structure of Tula are metallurgy, machinery and metal with a high share of the military-industrial complex and food manufacturing.

The most popular tourist attraction in Tula Oblast is Yasnaya Polyana, the home and burial place of the writer Leo Tolstoy.

[26][27] The city association football club, FC Arsenal Tula, played in the Russian Premier League in 2014/2015 and 2016/2017 seasons.

Tula has a humid continental climate,[69] featuring warm summers, and cold, but not particularly severe winters by Russian standards.