Описание (английский)

Vladikavkaz is the capital city of the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania, Russia. It is located in the southeast of the republic at the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains, situated on the Terek River.
 
Vladikavkaz is one of the most populous cities in the North Caucasus. The city is an industrial and transportation center. Manufactures include processed zinc and lead, machinery, chemicals, clothing, and food products.
 
The city was founded in 1784 as a fortress during the Russian conquest of the Caucasus and was for many years the main Russian military base in the region. The Georgian Military Highway, crossing the mountains, was constructed in 1799 to link the city with Georgia to the south, and in 1875 a railway was built to connect it to Rostov-on-Don and Baku in Azerbaijan. Vladikavkaz has become an important industrial center for the region, with smelting, refining, chemicals and manufacturing industries.
 
The city is one of the largest in the Russian controlled Caucasus, along with Grozny, and was the capital of the Mountain Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, a Soviet Republic established after the annexation of the Mountainous Republic of the North Caucasus. The puppet state existed from 1921-1924, and was part of and in some cases incorporated the modern day territories of Chechnya, North Ossetia, and Kabardino-Balkaria. From 1931 to 1944 and from 1954 to 1990, its name in both Russian and Ossetic languages was Ordzhonikidze (Орджоникидзе) (after Sergo Ordzhonikidze, a Georgian Bolshevik), and from 1944 to 1954 it was officially called Dzawdzhikaw (Дзауджикау) in Russian and (Дзæуджыхъæу) in Ossetic.
 
Vladikavkaz resumed its old Russian name, in 1990, shortly before the dissolution of the Soviet Union; the official Ossetic name was reverted to Дзæуджыхъæу (Dzæudzyqæu). Vladikavkaz was fought over in both the Russian Civil War and World War II. In February 1919, the anti-Communist Volunteer Army under General Anton Denikin seized the city, before being expelled by the Red Army in March 1920. In November 1942, the forces of Nazi Germany tried unsuccessfully to seize the city but were repelled. In 1999, 2008, and 2010, Vladikavkaz was a target of bombings.