Bakhmut

Bakhmut ( uk, Ба́хмут, ) is a city in the Donbas and the administrative centre of Bakhmut Raion in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. It is located on the Bakhmutka River, about 89 km north of Donetsk city, the administrative center of the oblast. Population:

From 1924 to 2016, the city was called Artemivsk ( uk, Артемівськ, links=no) or Artyomovsk (russian: Артёмовск, links=no). On 4 February 2016 the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine confirmed the name change of the city by returning to the original one.Decommunisation continues: Rada renames several towns and villages
, UNIAN (4 February 2016) Prior to 2020, when the designation was abolished, Bakhmut was designated a " city of regional significance" ( uk, місто обласного значення, ''misto oblasnoho znachennya'').

Bakhmut was the capital of Slavo-Serbia, which was established by Serbian migrants from Austria. In 1920–1924, the city was an administrative center of Donets Governorate of the Ukrainian SSR.

During the Russian aggression against Ukraine, Bakhmut was razed by Russian forces, with Ukrainian president Zelenskyy saying on 11 December 2022 that the city had been reduced to "burnt ruins". The city's population may have been reduced by over 97%.

Etymology

There is a theory that the origin of the word ''Bakhmut'' is a distorted version of the word ''Muhammad''/''Mahmud'' in Turkish/Tatar. Another theory is that a similar variant of the same word means 'salt water'. In both cases, the name of the city is considered to be associated with the former Turkish/Tatar possession of the surrounding lands.

Name change

* 1571–1924: Bakhmut
* 1924–1941: Artyomovsk/Artemivsk (Artemivsk until the 1930s)
* 1942–1943: Bakhmut
* 1943–1992: Artyomovsk/Artemivsk
* 1992–2016: Artemivsk
* Since 2016: Bakhmut

History

There is evidence of prior settlement in 1556, but the first official mention of Bakhmut dates from 1571. The settlement was described then as a guard-fort (storozha) named after the nearby Bakhmutovka River, a tributary of the Seversky Donets River, and located at the mouth of a stream called the Chornyi Zherebets.Artemivsk (Артемівськ)
. The History of cities and villages of the Ukrainian SSR. The origin of the name ''Bakhmut'' is uncertain, but it may come from the Tatar name ''Mahmud'' or ''Mahmet''.

The history of Bakhmut before the 18th century is sparse. It was initially a border post that later became a fortified town. In 1701, Peter I ordered the fort at Bakhmut to be upgraded and the adjacent sloboda (free village) of Bakhmut be designated a city. The new fort was completed in 1703 and housed 170 people. In 1704 Peter commanded some Cossacks to settle at the Bakhmutovka river and mine salt. The population of Bakhmut doubled, and the town was assigned to the Izium Regiment, a province of Sloboda Ukraine.

In the autumn of 1705, Bakhmut became one of the centers of the Bulavin Rebellion. A detachment of Cossacks headed by Ataman Kondraty Bulavin captured the Bakhmut salt mines and occupied the city until March 7, 1708, when it was retaken by government troops.

From 1708 to 22 April 1725, Bakhmut was assigned to the Azov Governorate. On 29 May 1719, it became the administrative center of Bakhmut Province within the Azov Governorate. From 1753 to 1764, it was a major city of Slavo-Serbia, a territory inhabited by colonists from Serbia and elsewhere.

In 1783, Bakhmut became a city within the Yekaterinoslav province ( Novorossiysk Governorate). At this time the city contained 49 great houses and five factories that produced bricks, candles, and soap. The city had about 150 shops, a hospital, and three schools: two private boarding schools for children of wealthy parents, and a Sunday school for children of workers. Bakhmut had a large city center where fairs were held twice a year, on 12 July (Day of the Apostles Peter and Paul) and 21 September (Day of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary). The city's annual turnover was about 1 million rubles.

On 2 August 1811, the city emblem was approved.

On 25 January 1851, the city became a municipality, with Vasily I. Pershin as mayor. In 1875, a municipal water system was installed. Streets were paved in 1900.

In 1876, large deposits of rock salt were discovered in the Bakhmut Basin, leading to a rapid increase in the number of salt mines. Bakhmut soon produced 12% of the total Russian output of salt.

The construction of the Kharkov-Bakhmut-Popasnaya railroad encouraged production of alabaster, plaster, brick, tile, and soda ash in Bakhmut. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the city developed a metal-working industry. By 1900, the city had 76 small industrial enterprises, which employed 1,078 workers, as well as four salt mines, which employed 874 workers.

By 1913, the population consisted of 28,000 people. There were two hospitals with 210 beds, four secondary and two vocational schools, six single-class schools, four parish schools, and a private library.

In April 1918, troops loyal to the Ukrainian People's Republic took control of Bakhmut. On 27 December 1919, Soviet control over the city was established.

In 1923, there were 36 enterprises in Bakhmut, including a "Victory of Labor" factory that formerly made nails and spikes, a "Lightning" factory that produced castings for agriculture, as well as brick, tile, and alabaster factories, and one shoe factory. Local mines were renamed "Karl Liebknecht and Sverdlov", "Shevchenko", and "Bakhmut salt". From 16 April 1920 to 1 August 1925, Bakhmut was the administrative center of the Donetsk province.

In 1924, the city's name was changed from Bakhmut to Artemivsk, in honour of a Russian Bolshevik (Communist) revolutionary figure known as Artyom who lived and worked in the city in the early years of the revolution. In 1938, a man named Moskalenko was the First Secretary of the Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine in Artemivsk. In 1941, Vasily Panteleevich Prokopenko was First Secretary of the City Committee of the Communist Party.

During the Second World War, German troops occupied Artemivsk from 31 October 1941 to 5 September 1943. Nikolai Mikhailovich Zhorov was the secretary of the underground City Party Committee during occupation from 1941.

In early 1942, German ''Einsatzgruppe C'' took some 3,000 Jews from Artemivsk to a mine shaft two kilometres outside of town and shot into the crowd, killing several people and driving the rest into a tunnel. The soldiers then bricked up the entrance to the tunnel, suffocating the thousands of people trapped inside.

In 1961, Kuzma Petrovich Golovko became First Secretary of the City Party Committee, followed by Ivan Malyukin in 1966, Nikolai S. Tagan in 1976, and Yuri K. Smirnov from 1980 to 1983. From April 1990 to 1994, during the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Alexei Reva was Chairman of the Artemivsk City Council and was elected mayor in 1994, three years after Ukraine regained its independence.

In January 1999, a charitable Jewish foundation in Bakhmut, the Artemivsk city council, and a winery that had opened on the site in 1952, inaugurated a memorial to commemorate the victims of the 1942 mass murder. The memorial was built into a rock face in the old mine where water collects and was named the "Wailing Wall" for the murdered Jews of Bakhmut.

Russo-Ukrainian War

2014 War in Donbas

During the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine, the pro-Russian separatists of the Donetsk People's Republic claimed the city of Artemivsk as part of their territory. Ukrainian forces recaptured the city, along with Druzhkivka, on 7 July 2014.

On 15 May 2015, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko signed a bill into law that started a six-month period for the removal of communist monuments and the mandatory renaming of settlements with names related to Communism.Poroshenko signed the laws about decomunization
. Ukrayinska Pravda. 15 May 2015
Poroshenko signs laws on denouncing Communist, Nazi regimes
, Interfax-Ukraine. 15 May 20
Goodbye, Lenin: Ukraine moves to ban communist symbols
, BBC News (14 April 2015) On 23 September 2015, the city council voted to restore the city's former name of Bakhmut. The final decision was made by the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's national parliament) on 4 February 2016.

2022 Russian invasion

File:Bakhmut after Russian shelling, 2022-05-17 (01).jpg, Apartment block
File:Stadium in Bakhmut after Russian shelling, 2022-07-11.jpg, "Metalurh" Stadium
File:Bakhmut Industrial College after shelling on 2022-07-22 (01).jpg, Industrial college
File:Bakhmut after Russian shelling, 2022-08-10 (frame 0509).jpg, Missile on a street after Russian shelling

During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Bakhmut became a frontline city in May, and is regularly shelled by the Russian army. According to the Associated Press, "taking Bakhmut would rupture Ukraine’s supply lines and open a route for Russian forces to press on toward Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, key Ukrainian strongholds in Donetsk province."

, according to local authorities about 20,000 people remained in the city. Russia prioritised Bakhmut as its main offensive effort through August 2022. In a December analysis of the offensive, the UK Ministry of Defence said "The capture of the town would have limited operational value although it would potentially allow Russia to threaten the larger urban areas of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk."

On 11 December 2022, Ukraine President Zelenskyy said that Russian forces have turned the city of Bakhmut into "burned ruins".

Climate

Demographics

, the population of Bakhmut was 75,900.

According to the Ukrainian Census of 2001, the majority of residents are ethnic Ukrainians and speak Russian as a first language:

Economy

Since 1951, the European Bakhmut Winery is located in the city. The Artyomsol salt mine is located in the suburb of Soledar, which contains the world's largest underground room. It is large enough that a hot air balloon has been floated inside, symphonies have been played before, and two professional football matches have been held at the same time. It is large enough to fit Notre Dame inside with room to spare.

Transport

The highways of Kharkiv and Donetsk-Kyiv run through Bakhmut. The towns of Chasiv Yar and Soledar are included in the Bakhmut municipality. The city has a public transport system consisting of a network of trolleybuses and buses.

Education

There are 20 schools (11,600 students), 29 kindergartens (3500 children), 4 vocational schools (2,000 students), 2 technical schools (6,000 students), and several music schools. Some include:

* Artemovsk Industrial College (Tchaikovsky Street)
* Donetsk Musical College named John Karabits (Lermontov Street)
* Donetsk Pedagogical School (St. Annunciation)
* Donetsk Medical School (St. W. Nosakova)
* Artemovsk professional school (St. Defence)

After the 2014 outbreak of the War in Donbas the Horlivka Institute for Foreign Languages was evacuated and is now operating in Bakhmut.How did the innovations work for entrants from ORDiLO and Crimea
, The Ukrainian Week (30 September 2020)

Culture

* Artemovsk City Center Children and Youth (Artema Street)
* Artemovsk city center of culture and recreation (Svoboda)
* Artemovsk City Folk House (Victory Street)
* Building Technology "Donetskgeologiya" (St. Sibirtzev)
* Palace of Culture "mechanician" (Artema Street)

See also

* Bulavin Rebellion
*
*

References

External links

*
Artemivsk
at the Encyclopedia of Ukraine
*
City portal
*
Encyclopedia of History of Ukraine
*
City council website

{{Authority control

*
Cities in Donetsk Oblast
Populated places established in 1571
Mining cities and regions in Ukraine
Russification
Bakhmut Raion
City name changes in Ukraine
Former Soviet toponymy in Ukraine
1571 establishments in Europe
Cities and towns built in the Sloboda Ukraine
Bakhmutsky Uyezd
Destroyed cities
Razed cities