Alagir

{{Short description|Town in the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, Russia}}

{{Infobox Russian inhabited locality

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|ru_name=Алагир

|loc_name1=Алагир

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|image_caption=The Cathedral of the Assumption, Alagir

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|federal_subject=Republic of North Ossetia–Alania

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|adm_district_jur=Alagirsky District

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|adm_selsoviet_jur=Alagir

|adm_selsoviet_type=Town Under District Jurisdiction

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|adm_ctr_of2=Alagir Town Under District Jurisdiction

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|mun_district_jur=Alagirsky Municipal District

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|urban_settlement_jur=Alagirskoye Urban Settlement

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|pop_2010census=20949

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|current_cat_date=1938

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|postal_codes=363240–363243, 363245, 363246

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Alagir ({{langx|ru|Алаги́р}}; {{langx|os|Алагир}}) is an industrial town and the administrative center of Alagirsky District in the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, Russia, located on the west bank of the Ardon River, {{convert|54|km|sp=us}} west of the republic's capital Vladikavkaz. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 20,949.{{ru-pop-ref|2010Census}}

Etymology

The name is derived from Ossetian Uællag 'Upper' and Ir 'Ossetia'.{{Cite web |url=http://enc-dic.com/geography/Alagir-2172.html |title=Алагир |access-date=2024-08-08 |archive-date=2023-02-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230207122426/https://gufo.me/dict/geographical_names/%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%B3%D0%B8%D1%80 }}

History

The town was established in 1850{{cite book|title=Энциклопедия Города России|year=2003|publisher=Большая Российская Энциклопедия|location=Moscow|isbn=5-7107-7399-9|page=15}} by Prince Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov, the Viceroy of the Caucasus, near an ancient silver/lead mine in the nearby Alagir Gorge. It was built up as a fortification around a smelting plant and became a major mining center. By the end of the 19th century, it had been increasingly populated by Georgians and Russians who came to work there. During the Russian Civil War, in January 1919, Alagir was a scene of intense fighting, which resulted in heavy casualties in Georgian population and difficult flight of the survivors through the mountainous passes into Georgia. The Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin commented on the incident, blaming "counter-revolutionaries" for atrocities in Alagir,{{in lang|ru}} A.I. Melnin (1973), "Октябрьская революция и гражданская война в Северной Осетии" (The October Revolution and Civil War in North Ossetia), p. 225. Ordzhonikidze: Ir which Georgians tend to attribute to the Ossetian radicals."Alagir incident (1919)", in: Mikaberidze, Alexander (2007), Historical Dictionary of Georgia, p. 106. Scarecrow Press, {{ISBN|0-8108-5580-1}}

Alagir was granted town status in 1938.{{citation needed|date=May 2010}} During World War II, on November 5, 1942, the German III Panzer Corps and Romanian 2nd Mountain Division{{Cite web|url=http://www.worldwar2.ro/operatii/?article=11|title = WorldWar2.ro - the 3rd Army in the Caucasus - 1942}}{{self-published inline|date=January 2021}} (under von Kleist) captured the town and held it until it was recovered by the Soviet forces in early January 1943.

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, Alagir serves as the administrative center of Alagirsky District.Law #34-RZ As an administrative division, it is, together with two rural localities, incorporated within Alagirsky District as Alagir Town Under District Jurisdiction. As a municipal division, the town of Alagir (without the rural localities) is incorporated within Alagirsky Municipal District as Alagirskoye Urban Settlement.Law #11-RZ

Economy

The town's economy is still dominated by mining and mineral extraction, but it also has significant woodworking, canning, and manufacturing industries.