Balaklava
632590
217882334
2008-06-08T03:32:19Z
Chiefhuggybear
7128739
+photos from commons
:''For the article about the South Australian town see [[Balaklava, South Australia]]. For other uses, see [[Balaklava (disambiguation)]].''
{{Infobox Settlement <!--more fields are available for this Infobox--See Template:Infobox Settlement-->
|settlement_type =
|subdivision_type = [[Countries of the world|Country]]
|subdivision_name = {{UKR}}
|subdivision_type1 =Territory
|subdivision_name1 =[[Crimea]]
|timezone=[[Eastern European Time|EET]]
|utc_offset=+2
|timezone_DST=[[Eastern European Summer Time|EEST]]
|utc_offset_DST=+3
| official_name = Balaklava or Balaclava
| other_name = Балаклава
| native_name =Balıqlava<br> Балаклава
| image_shield =Balakl s.gif
| image_flag = Balaklava-flag.gif
| subdivision_type2=[[Crimea#Administrative_divisions|Region]]|
subdivision_name2 = Sevastopol
|
|pushpin_map =Crimea
|pushpin_label_position = <!-- the position of the pushpin label: left, right, top, bottom, none -->
|pushpin_map_caption =Location of Balaklava within the Crimea, Ukraine
|pushpin_mapsize =
|pushpin_map1 =
|pushpin_label_position1 = <!-- the position of the pushpin label: left, right, top, bottom, none -->
|pushpin_map_caption1 =Location of Balaklava
|pushpin_mapsize1 =
|latd=44 |latm=30 |lats=0 |latNS=N
| longd=33 |longm=36 |longs=0 |longEW=E
| elevation_m = 10
| population_total = 30000|population_footnotes=
| year| = 2001
| |postal_code_type=[[Postal code]]|
postal_code = 99xxx
| |area_code=+380-692
| blank_info = Cembalo (until 1475), Yamboli, Symbolon|blank_name=[[List of renamed cities in Ukraine|Former name]]|
| crimearegion = Sebastopol
| website = http://balaklava.crimea.ua/
}}
'''Balaklava''' ({{lang-uk|Балаклава}}, {{lang-ru|Балаклава}}, {{lang-crh|Balıqlava}}) is a [[town]] in the [[Crimea]], [[Ukraine]] which has an official status of a district of the [[city]] of [[Sevastopol]]. It was a city in its own right until [[1957]] when it was formally incorporated into the municipal borders of Sevastopol by the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] government.
==History==
Balaklava has changed hands many times during its history. A settlement at its present location was originally founded under the name of Symbolon (Συμβολον) by the [[Ancient Greece|Ancient Greeks]], for whom it was an important [[commerce|commercial]] city. During the [[Middle Ages]], it was controlled by the [[Byzantine Empire]] and then by the [[Genoa|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]] and the [[Black Sea]], buying [[slavery|slaves]] in [[Eastern Europe]] and shipping them to [[Egypt]] via the Crimea, a lucrative market hotly contested with by the [[Venice|Venetians]]. It is believed that it was on board a Genoese [[cog (ship)|trading cog]] sailing back to Genoa from Balaklava (or Kaffa, according to some chronicles) that the [[Black Death]] first arrived in [[Europe]] in the mid-14th c. The ruins of a Genoese fortress positioned high on a clifftop above the entrance to the Balaklava Inlet are a popular [[tourism|tourist]] attraction and have recently become the stage for a Medieval festival. The fortress is a subject of [[Mickiewicz]]'s penultimate poem in his 1825 cycle of ''Crimean Sonnets''.
In [[1475]] the growing [[Ottoman Empire]] took possession of Balaklava renaming it ''Balıklava'' ("a fish nest" in [[Turkish language|Turkish]] <ref>[http://www.tdk.org.tr/TR/SozBul.aspx?F6E10F8892433CFFAAF6AA849816B2EF4376734BED947CDE&Kelime=bal%u0131klava TDK Online - Balıklava entry]</ref>), which was slowly corrupted over time to its present form. During the [[Russo-Turkish War, 1768-1774]], the Russian troops conquered the Crimea in 1771. Thirteen years later, Crimea was definitively annexed by the [[Russian Empire]]. After that, Crimean Tatar and Turkish population was replaced by Greeks from the [[Archipelago]]. In [[1787]] the city was visited by [[Catherine the Great]]. <ref>Some rural communities surrounding Balaklava remained populated by Crimean Tatars until their deportation in [[1944]].</ref>
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. The [[United Kingdom|British]] [[poetry|poet]] [[Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson|Alfred, Lord Tennyson]] immortalized this battle in verse. The [[balaclava]], a tight knitted garment covering the whole head and neck with holes for the eyes and mouth, also takes its name from this battle, where soldiers first wore them.
During the [[Second World War]], Balaklava was the southernmost point in the Soviet-German lines. In [[1956]] Balaklava, together with the whole [[Crimea]], passed from Russia to Ukraine. It became part of the independent state of [[Ukraine]] in 1991. Today there are over 50 monuments in the town dedicated to the remembrance of military valour in past wars, including the [[Great Patriotic War]], the [[Crimean War]] and the [[Russian Civil War]].
==Nuclear 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 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 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, which is now open to the public for guided tours around the canal system, the base, and a small museum, which is now housed in the old ammunition warehouse deep inside the hillside.
<gallery>
Image:Balaklava-camp.png|Army camp at Balaklava during the Crimean War
Image:Balaklava.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
Image:Balaklava entrance of the submarine base 2006.jpg|Exit from the secret submarine base
</gallery>
==Notes==
<references/>
==External links==
{{commonscat|Balaklava}}
* {{en icon}} [http://dracobooks.com/1/141/141.htm Balaklava and the Sevastopol Inquiry, 1855]
* {{en icon}} [http://www.balaklava.net Balaklava Photoalbum]
* {{ru icon}} [http://archeologia.narod.ru/krim/balak.htm Genoese fortress in Balaklava]
* {{ru icon}} {{en icon}} [http://balaklava.ws Balaklava - Official Site]
{{Sevastopol}}
[[Category:Sevastopol]]
[[Category:Cities and towns in Crimea]]
[[Category:Crimean War]]
[[Category:Russian and Soviet Navy bases]]
[[crh:Balıqlava]]
[[de:Balaklawa]]
[[es:Balaklava]]
[[eo:Balaklavo]]
[[fr:Balaclava]]
[[nl:Balaklava]]
[[no:Balaklava]]
[[pl:Bałakława]]
[[pt:Balaclava (Ucrânia)]]
[[ro:Balaklava]]
[[ru:Балаклава]]
[[sv:Balaklava]]
[[tr:Balıklava]]
[[uk:Балаклава]]