Editing Grozny (section)

===Russian fort===
The fortress of '''Groznaya''' ({{lang|ru|Гро́зная}}; {{lit}} ''fearsome'' – a feminine form of Grozny, as the word fortress, "{{lang|ru|крепость}}", is feminine in Russian) was founded in 1818<ref name="gr">{{cite book|title=Энциклопедия Города России|year=2003|publisher=Большая Российская Энциклопедия|location=Moscow|isbn=5-7107-7399-9|pages=111–112}}</ref> as a Russian military outpost on the [[Sunzha River]] by general [[Aleksey Yermolov (general)|Aleksey Petrovich Yermolov]]. As the fort was being built, the workers were fired upon by the Chechens. The Russians found a solution by strategically positioning a cannon outside the city walls. When night fell and the Chechens came out of their hiding places to drag the gun away, all the other guns opened up with [[grapeshot]]. When the Chechens recovered their senses and began to carry away the bodies, the guns fired again. When it was over, 200 dead were counted. Thus did the "fearsome" fort receive its baptism of fire.<ref>John F. Baddeley, Russian Conquest of the Caucasus, Ch VII</ref> It was a prominent defense centre during the [[Caucasian War]]. 

Russian poets [[Alexander Griboedov]], [[Alexander Polezhayev]], [[Mikhail Lermontov]], the classic of Russian literature [[Leo Tolstoy]], the Decembrist and writer [[Alexander Bestuzhev]] and other famous figures of Russian culture visited the fortress. After the annexation of the region by the [[Russian Empire]], the military use of the old fortress was obsolete and on {{OldStyleDateDY|11 January|1870|30 December 1869}} it was granted town status and renamed Grozny,<ref name="autogenerated1">{{Cite web|title=Записки краеведа - А.А. Ваксман|url=http://grozny.vrcal.com/stories/vaxman.htm|access-date=2022-02-25|website=grozny.vrcal.com}}</ref> as the word town, "{{lang|ru|город}}", is masculine in Russian. As most of the residents there were [[Terek Cossacks]], the town grew slowly until the development of [[petroleum|oil]] reserves in the early 20th century. The founder of the [[Nobel Prize]], [[Alfred Nobel]], took part in the development of the oil industry of the city of Grozny, as well as members of the [[Rothschild family]]. In addition to the Nobels and Rothschilds, [[United Kingdom|British]] companies played an important role in the oil industry from 1893 onward. 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.<ref>{{cite book|title=Oil and Geopolitics in the Caspian Sea Region|year=1999|publisher=Praeger|location=Westport, Connecticut, London|isbn=0-275-96395-0|pages=9–10}}</ref> 

Eleven firms drilled 116 wells before 1900. This encouraged the rapid development of [[Industrial sector|industry]] and petrochemical production. In addition to the oil drilled in the city itself, the city became a geographical centre of Russia's network of [[oil field]]s, and in 1893 became part of the Transcaucasia–Russia-proper railway. The result was the population almost doubled from 15,600 in 1897 to 30,400 in 1913.<ref name=autogenerated1 /> In early 1914, the then largest oil company, [[Royal Dutch Shell]], was established in the city thus making Grozny one of the [[Grozny oil field|largest industrial centres of the Caucasus]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The Oil and the Glory: The Pursuit of Empire and Fortune on the Caspian Sea|year=2007|publisher=Random House|location=United States of America|isbn=978-0-375-50614-7|pages=[https://archive.org/details/unset0000unse_w0b1/page/32 32–33]|url=https://archive.org/details/unset0000unse_w0b1/page/32}}</ref> During the [[Russian Empire]], the city was the administrative capital of the [[Groznensky Okrug]] of the [[Terek Oblast]].