Balaklava ( uk, Балаклáва, russian: Балаклáва, crh, Balıqlava, ) is a settlement on the

Crimean Peninsula Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

and part of the

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

Sevastopol Sevastopol (; uk, Севасто́поль, Sevastópolʹ, ; gkm, Σεβαστούπολις, Sevastoúpolis, ; crh, Акъя́р, Aqyár, ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea, and a major port on the Black Sea ...

. It is an administrative center of Balaklava Raion that used to be part of the

Crimean Oblast During the existence of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, different governments existed within the Crimean Peninsula. From 1921 to 1936, the government in the Crimean Peninsula was known as the Crimean Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic; ...

before it was transferred to Sevastopol Municipality. Population:

History

Balaklava has changed possession several times during its history. A settlement at its present location was founded under the name of Symbolon () by the

Ancient Greeks Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cult ...

, for whom it was an important

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

city.

During the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, it was controlled by the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

and then by the Genoese who conquered it in 1365. The Byzantines called the town Yamboli and the Genoese named it Cembalo. The Genoese built a large trading empire in both the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

and the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

, buying slaves in

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whic ...

and shipping them to

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

via the Crimea, a lucrative market hotly contested with by the Venetians. The ruins of a Genoese fortress positioned high on a clifftop above the entrance to the Balaklava Inlet are a popular

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

attraction and have recently become the stage for a Medieval festival. The fortress is a subject of

Mickiewicz Adam Bernard Mickiewicz (; 24 December 179826 November 1855) was a Polish poet, dramatist, essayist, publicist, translator and political activist. He is regarded as national poet in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. A principal figure in Polish R ...

's penultimate poem in his 1826 cycle of ''Crimean Sonnets''. In 1475, Cembalo City was conquered by the Turks and was subsequently renamed ''Balyk-Yuva'' (Fish's Nest) which then became Balaklava. During the Russo-Turkish War, 1768-1774, the Russian troops invaded Crimea in 1771. Thirteen years later, Crimea was definitively annexed by the Russian Empire. After that, the Crimean Tatar and Turkish population was forcefully replaced by Greek Orthodox people from the Archipelago. The town became famous for the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War thanks to the suicidal Charge of the Light Brigade, a British cavalry charge due to a misunderstanding sent up a valley strongly held on three sides by the Russians, in which about 250 men were killed or wounded, and over 400 horses lost, effectively reducing the size of the mounted brigade by two thirds and destroying some of the finest light cavalry in the world to no military purpose. Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, Alfred, Lord Tennyson immortalized the battle in verse in his The Charge of the Light Brigade (poem), ''Charge of the Light Brigade''. The balaclava (clothing), balaclava, a tight knitted garment covering the whole head and neck with holes for the eyes and mouth, also takes its name from this settlement, where soldiers first wore them. Also numerous towns founded in English-speaking countries in later parts of the 19th Century were named "Balaklava" (see Balaklava (disambiguation)). In 1954, Balaklava, together with the whole Crimea, 1954 transfer of Crimea, passed from Russia to Ukraine. In 1957 it was formally incorporated into the municipal borders of Sevastopol by the Soviet Union, Soviet government and lost city status. It became part of the independent state of Ukraine in 1991. There are dozens of monuments in the town dedicated to the remembrance of military valor in past wars, including the Great Patriotic War, the Crimean War and the Russian Civil War. Since the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 68/262, internationally unrecognized annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, 2014 annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, Balaklava, along with rest of Crimea, is administered by Russia. In 2019 Russian authorities granted Balaklava status of a city within Sevastopol.

Underground submarine base

One of the monuments is an underground, formerly classified submarine base that was operational until 1993. The base was said to be virtually indestructible and designed to survive a direct Nuclear weapon, atomic impact. During that period, Balaklava was one of the most secret residential areas in the Soviet Union. Almost the entire population of Balaklava at one time worked at the base; even family members could not visit the town of Balaklava without a good reason and proper identification. The base remained operational after the Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 until 1993 when the decommissioning process started. This process saw the removal of the warheads and low-yield torpedoes. In 1996, the last Russian submarine left the base. The base has since been opened to the public as the Naval museum complex Balaklava. Image:Balaklava-camp.png, Army camp at Balaklava during the Crimean War Image:Balaklawa.JPG, Modern Balaklava - view from the Genoese fortress Image:Балаклава музей ЧФ.jpg, Entrance to submarine Soviet navy base Image:Балаклава вход в базу подлодок.jpg, Tunnel

Notes

External links

*
Balaklava and the Sevastopol Inquiry, 1855, by Commander W.Gordon, R.N.
*
Balaklava Photoalbum
*

* Russian underground Submarine Bas
Englishrussia.com
(photos) * Russian underground Submarine Bas
Iconicarchive.ch
(iconicarchive gallery) *

*
Photos of underground Submarine Base
{{Authority control Crimean War Territories of the Republic of Genoa Seaside resorts in Ukraine Seaside resorts in Russia Former municipalities Merged settlements in Ukraine Former closed cities

History

Underground submarine base

See also

Notes

External links