The glorious ancient city of Saratov has long been standing on the Volga. It was founded in 1590 as a fortress guarding the southeastern borders of Russia, and since that time, people of many nationalities, Russians, have been living here for more than four centuries. The history of the development of Saratov is full of dramatic events, it is inseparable from the annals of our state, and therefore very interesting. The city became the center of a vast region and the birthplace of many outstanding, talented people who served the Fatherland and proved themselves in various fields.
Two names of Saratov
History has not preserved all the facts associated with these places, but something is still known.
In the Middle Volga region people settled a very long time ago. Picturesque places rich in animals and fish, fertile lands, forests and other natural resources prompted the Golden Horde warriors to push back the local residents, the ancient Sarmatians, who lived here from the 5th century BC. and build the city of Uvek, which became the third largest settlement in all the Mongol-Tatar possessions. This happened, according to historians, in the period from the 6th to the 7th century AD. It can be assumed that it is from this time thatthe history of the emergence of Saratov, since Uvek was located on the territory of the present regional center of the Russian Federation, namely in the Zavodskoy district. The modern name arose much later, when Russian servicemen built a fortress on Sokolovaya Mountain, which dominates the surrounding area, called the young fish town. He is indeed not old by the standards of our Motherland, for Russia 400 years is not an age. So, the mentioned height was called Yellow by the Tatars. In the Turkic language, this name sounded like "Sary-tau" (yellow mountain).
The founder of the three "pearls of the Volga region" (Tsaritsyn, Samara and Saratov) was His Serene Highness Prince G. O. Zasekin.
Wilderness
The fortress was erected on the left, gently sloping bank. It is not known what happened in 1813, but it burned down. Perhaps this happened during the next siege, or because of someone's negligence with fire. Wooden cities in those days often suffered from fires. Not embarrassed by this circumstance, the inhabitants of the city moved to another, steep bank of the great Russian river, since there was a confluence with another water barrier (the Saratovka River), which contributed to a successful defense in case something happened.
And it was worth protecting these places from nomadic enemies. The fish here have always been notable, stellate sturgeon, sturgeon, beluga, sterlet, not to mention the usual pikes and catfish. Already in the years of the reign of Peter I, the coat of arms of the city was formed. On it, three sterlets form a kind of star; this symbol also extends to neighboring settlements. History of Saratov as a centervicegerency ends in 1782, when the city becomes the provincial center. It still remains a province, distant and quiet, as evidenced by the lines from the poem "Woe from Wit", written in 1824 by A. S. Griboyedov. “Into the wilderness, to Saratov…”
Troubles and riots
The life of the city, however, is difficult to call drowsy. Troubles, civil strife, popular uprisings and wars swept through this land many times. In 1604, passions raged around Ilya from Murom, who declared himself Peter Fedorovich, the son of the tsar. The peasant army of Stepan Razin occupied the city in 1670, and its leader placed his headquarters in it, the Cossack district. After another 37 years, the history of Saratov was replenished with another dramatic episode, the siege of the troops of Kondraty Bulavin. The first Russian emperor Peter the Great (1695, 1722) visited the place twice and ordered to increase the area occupied by the important settlement. The city did not pass by the events connected with the name of another impostor, Emelyan Pugachev. Here he was arrested after the suppression of the riot.
Industrial development of the Saratov province of the 19th century
The boom in industrial development that swept the Russian Empire in the 19th century also influenced the rapid growth of the production and trade potential of the Volga region. But even earlier, the main and most promising areas of economic activity were determined by the entrepreneurs of the region. Factories were built, crafts and manufactories grew by leaps and bounds. The streets of Saratov were even called by occupation. History has preserved them for the descendants of Kuznetsk,Myasnitskaya, S alt, Shelkovichnaya, Tulupnaya, Brick, two Kostrizhny (Big and Small) (by the name of linen and hemp production waste). In the middle of the century before last, there was a shift in the general direction of the region's development towards industrial and processing production. One and a half thousand mills started working in the cities of the province (Khvalynsk, Volsk) and many villages. Local raw materials (high-quality clay) stimulated local entrepreneurs to build and develop factories producing bricks and pottery. The technology used by the industry required a maintenance and operation infrastructure.
Special words of gratitude deserve the great Russian reformer P. A. Stolypin, who served as governor here and lived on Volskaya Street.
Merchant Saratov
Trade is an indispensable companion of industry and crafts. Volga merchants in Russia were considered special people, who valued their reputation, and therefore always kept their word. But in some cases, even then, in the 19th century, verification of contractors was required, especially when concluding serious contracts with unfamiliar partners. Here one of the first in Russia bureaus of credit histories were organized. Saratov became the most important logistics center on the Volga, ranking third or fourth in the empire in terms of trade turnover.
The merchants of those decades cared not only about the profit, but sought to leave a good memory behind. Thanks to patrons Azarov, Zlobin, Pozdeev and many others, the region was enriched with important cultural institutions (theatre,art galleries, boarding houses). Temples, hospitals, gymnasiums, museums and many other institutions useful to society were built. Many merchants professed the Old Believers, and ended up in the Volga region by decree of Catherine the Great. They were able to find a common language with adherents of other faiths who lived in the region, and brought great benefits to the province.
Soviet power
The revolutionary events and the ensuing fratricidal war had a heavy impact on the economic situation of the Volga region. The ruin was so significant that only by 1927 the region managed to reach some indicators that the former tsarist province could boast of. This was facilitated by the New Economic Policy announced by the Bolshevik leadership. Collectivization radically changed the structure of the village, broke the established way of life, as a result of which agricultural production fell into decay. In the province, there were frequent cases of peasant unrest, expressed in the defeat of food detachments and the physical destruction of collectivization activists. These riots were mercilessly suppressed.
Thirties and fatal forties
Thirties saw an increase in industrial potential, The share of industrial production became the dominant factor in the development of the region.
The history of the city of Saratov during the harsh war years revealed the huge potential of the multinational region. Production facilities that were previously located in the territories that fell into the zone of temporary occupation were evacuated to the region. Among themsewing, machine-building and other enterprises. The citizens of Saratov bravely fought on the fronts. For example, the number of natives of only one small district center of the region, the city of Volsk, who were awarded the title of Heroes of the Soviet Union, reached fifty during the war years.
Saratov Germans
German settlers from the 17th century willingly settled in this fertile land. The history of Saratov and the province has preserved for us the names of hundreds of settlements that had a Germanic sound (Rosenberg, Unterdorf, Rosenberg, Balzer, etc.). The settlers retained their national identity, Lutheran religion, language and culture, while becoming Russian people and patriots. Their contribution to the development of the region's economy is also considerable.
German names began to disappear from the map as early as 1915, during the German war. The Volga colonists were restored in their rights after the February Revolution. After the Bolsheviks came to power, despite their ambiguous attitude to change, even the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of Volga Germans (ASSRNP) was formed, consisting of 22 cantons (total area of 25 thousand square kilometers, four cities, almost 550 villages and towns, population more than 500 thousand people). In 1941, it was abolished, and the German population was deported, mainly to Northern Kazakhstan and Eastern Siberia. Two surviving names of the cities Engels (Pokrovsk, located opposite Saratov across the Volga) and Marx (Marksstadt) remind of the disappeared administrative entity.
The main we alth, people
Today Saratov province is one of the most important regions of the Russian Federation, the largest industrial, cultural, scientific and educational center with a developed agricultural sector. It produces the famous Yak aircraft, the best cement in the world, fulfills high-tech defense orders, builds various civilian vehicles, produces food products and much more. But the main we alth of this most beautiful region, which has become the heart of Russia, is still wonderful people, talented and hardworking. It was they who wrote the history of Saratov, Balashov, Volsk, Balakovo and all other cities, villages and towns of this beautiful region.
Just listing the famous Saratov natives would take too much time and space. Among them are writers Lev Kassil, Alexander Yakovlev, artist K. S. Petrov-Vodkin, composer P. V. Kuznetsov (the same one who composed the famous Kalinka), the world's first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, hero pilots Viktor Talalikhin and Yakov Shishkin, academician P. D. Grushin, the creator of missile systems, artists Oleg Tabakov, Gleb and Oleg Yankovsky, poet-fabulist Krylov and many, many others. The history of the city of Saratov is connected with the names of the aircraft designer O. K. Antonov, writer Mikhail Bulgakov, artist Vrubel, Yuri Bykov (the creator of space communications systems), and you can’t list them all.
So many talented people could be born and brought up only by an extraordinary land.
