The Sarkel fortress on the left bank of the lower Don was the main control of this Volga trade route.

The Ottomans wanted to create a maritime link to Central Asia (especially the cities of Bukhara, Khwarazm and Samarkand) to facilitate trade.

the Ottomans managed to dig one-third of the canal[7][8][failed verification][better source needed] before work was abandoned because of adverse weather.

[10] In the end, the Ottomans retreated from the area and Russia promised to respect trade and pilgrimage routes to Central Asia.

[15] In 1711 Russia left Azov under the terms of the Treaty of the Pruth, and Peter the Great lost all interest in the canal, which was abandoned and fell into ruin.

[19][20] The construction of today's Volga–Don Canal, designed by Sergey Zhuk's Hydroproject Institute, began prior to the Second World War, which interrupted the process.

In late 1948, the Volga–Don Canal was among the first projects to partake in the reform of the Soviet forced labour system, notably alongside Dalstroy.

[citation needed] Upon completion, the Volga–Don Canal became an important link in the Unified Deep Water Transportation System of the European part of the USSR.

Cargo transported from the Don region to the Volga includes coal from Donetsk in Ukraine, minerals, building materials, and grain.

The Russian classical composer Sergei Prokofiev wrote the tone poem The Meeting of the Volga and the Don to celebrate its completion.

According to the Maritime Board (Morskaya Kollegiya) of the Russian government, 10.9 million tonnes of cargo were carried over the Volga–Don Canal in 2004.

[26] This would have reduced the number of locks traversed by ships coming from the Volgograd Reservoir, or from other Volga or Kama ports farther north, on their way to the Don.

One option, which reuses the name "Volga–Don 2", is to build a second parallel channel ("second thread") of the Volga–Don Canal, equipped with larger locks 300 metres (980 ft) long.

The southern route would require less earthwork than the first option and would provide a speedier connection between the Caspian and the Sea of Azov.