Georgian Military Road
.jpg)
Georgian Army Road (also Grusinische Army Road ; Georgian საქართველოს სამხედრო გზა / Sakartwelos samchedro gsa ; Russian Военно-Грузинская дорога / Wojenno-Grusinskaja doroga ) is the historical name of a trunk road in the Greater Caucasus . It is 213 kilometers long and crosses the mountains between Russia and Georgia . It reaches a height of 2382 m . She played a strategic role in the development of Transcaucasian relations.
history
The Heerstraße follows a route that has been used by soldiers and traders for millennia. The Greek geographer Strabo described it as early as the 1st century. The path was initially unpaved and was then called the path over the Dariel Pass . The Russian army built it during the fifth Russian Turkish War (1768-1774) for the transport of their troops at a road. Under the command of General Gottlob Heinrich von Tottleben the road were widened, tracings made in the mountains and built bridges.
In 1799, the expanded Georgian Army Road was opened to the public. In 1827 General Alexei Yermolov took to the field against Chechens who repeatedly robbed travelers. Then the Russian administration secured the military road with Cossacks . Small living quarters and guard houses were built on the street at regular intervals.
The road surface was improved by 1863. A stagecoach line drove along Heerstrasse every day in both directions. The wagons were pulled by six to eight horses and the animals were changed at various stations. From 1900, cars gradually took over the function of carriages.
During the Second World War , the 1st Panzer Army of the German Wehrmacht attempted in autumn 1942 to block the road that was used to transport supplies for the Soviet troops north of the Caucasus, or to use it to advance south towards Georgia. However, the attack stalled outside Vladikavkaz in December 1942 without reaching the road.
The writers Alexander Sergejewitsch Pushkin , Michail Lermontow and Alexandre Dumas traveled the Heerstraße and immortalized them in stories.
Road layout and sights
.jpg)
The military road connects Vladikavkaz in the Russian North Ossetia-Alania with Tbilisi in Georgia. On the Russian side it bears the designation 161 , on the Georgian side trunk road S-3 . It is part of the European route 117 .
The road from Vladikavkaz by the Terek -Tal up on the Russian-Georgian border by the darial gorge (also Darial called) with the fortress Darialskoje . In Stepantsminda is located above the valley the Gergeti Trinity Church . The road continues south-east past Mount Kazbek ( 5033 m ). At Almassiani village, the road turns into the gorge of the right Terek tributary, Baidarka. At its southern end it overcomes the mentioned in this section the Mtiuleti comb main ridge of the Greater Caucasus at the Cross Pass (Georgian Dschwaripass ; Russian перевал Крестовый , Krestowy Perevalist , old and Krestowaja Gora , 2379 m , other numbers between 2382 and 2395 m ).
From then on, the road descends again past the monument of Georgian-Russian friendship to the former post office in Gudauri . In 1988, not far from the former post office, Austrian and Swedish investors built a four-star ski and sports hotel with an indoor tennis center and ski lifts at an altitude of 2196 m . The station also houses ski association huts and has made a name for itself for heli-skiing .
From Gudauri, the military road descends in serpentines into the valley of the White Aragwi or Mtiuleti-Aragwi (Georgian მთიულეთის არაგვი / Mtiuletis Aragwi ). It follows the river to its union with the black or Gudamaqri-Aragwi (Georgian გუდამაყრის არაგვი / Gudamaqris Aragwi ) to the Aragwi at Passanauri . Further along the river, it leads past the church fortress Ananuri from the 17th century and the Shinwali reservoir to the mouth of the Aragwi in the Kura near Mtskheta with the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral and the nearby Jvarikloster with the cruciform church from the 6th century.
In the higher areas of the Heerstrasse there is snow until the end of May. In late autumn and winter there is often snow cover and avalanches . The road then becomes impassable. In December 2005, around 300 people in 200 motor vehicles got stuck in the 2.5 m high snow near the Cross Pass . It took the authorities four days to rescue her. As a preventive measure, driving bans for large buses, vehicles with trailers and trucks are temporarily issued. In May and June there are traffic obstacles due to the upwelling of sheep on the mountain pastures .
literature
- Aleksandr Puskin: The trip to Arzrum during the campaign in 1829 . Friedenauer Presse, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-932109-09-0
- Mikhail Lermontov: A hero of our time . Reclam, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-15-000968-5
- Alexandre Dumas: Dangerous journey through the wild Caucasus: 1858-1859 . Ed. Erdmann, Stuttgart / Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-522-61260-4
- Roderich von Erckert : The Caucasus and its peoples . Eduard Baldamus publisher, Leipzig 1888
- AP Andreev: Ot Vladikavkaza do Tiflisa: Voenno-gruzinskaja doroga . Tip. Tbilisi. Metechsk. tjuremn. Zamka, Tbilisi 1895
- N. Volkov: Ot Vladikavkaza do Tiflisa po Voenno-Gruzinskoj doroge . Segal ', Vladikavkaz 1902
- L. Il'in: Voenno-gruzinskaja, Voenno-osetinskaja Dorogi, Ingusetija, Sev. Osetija, Vladikavkaz . Detskaja Komissija, Vladikavkaz 1928
- Sergei Serg. Anisimov: Voennogruzinskaja doroga: Ekskursionnye knizki clena Profsojuza . VCSPS, Moskva 1925
- Vladimir Pavlovic Rengarten: Geological Sketch of the region of the Georgian military road . Moskva 1932
- Vladimir Pavlovic Rengarten: Mineral Springs in the region of the Georgian military road . Moskva 1932
- V. Dolidze: Voennogruzinskaja doroga . Sacheagami, Tbilisi 1956
Web links
- Tan Wee Cheng: Georgian Military Highway. To the Russian Border . Pictures from the Georgian Army Road, 1994
- Luigi Villari: Fire and Sword in the Caucasus. Over the Frosty Caucasus . Travel report from Georgische Heerstrasse, 1906 (English)
Coordinates: 42 ° 30 ' N , 44 ° 27' E