User:Apollo468/sandbox4

• Comment: It's good to use an en dash (–) for ranges, including page ranges such as 11–12. It's good to avoid all caps, including in Cyrillic script, such as "ЗАСНУВАННЯ". Feel free to remove this comment. —Anomalocaris (talk) 18:10, 31 July 2026 (UTC)

It is thought that the area around Mykolaiv was first settled around 20,000 years ago during the Upper Paleolithic era, in part due to its proximity to the sea and relatively mild climate.^[1] Numerous settlements dating to the Neolithic era have been found, mostly in a concentration near the Astronomical Observatory of Mykolaiv.^[1]

The most major archaeological find from this era before Mykolaiv was permanently settled was in 1927, with the discovery of a Cimmerian settlement that is dated to the Bilozerka culture from around 1250-925 BC, and later went under the name of the Dykyi Sad archaeological site.^[1] It is located within the now historic centre of Mykolaiv at the corner of Artyleriiska and Naberezhna streets and is estimated to be around three to four hectares.^[2] The initial excavation of the site before the 1950s by Kaminskyi found a bronze cauldron that weighed 37 litres.^[3] Further excavations done in the 1950s by Kyiv University would follow, although major excavations of the site would only really begin in the 1990s.^[3] These excavations found that the site consisted of a fortified citadel with housing nearby and then rows of housing near the Inhul.^[2] Among the most notable items found from the site were a moat that was roughly 90 metres long and two foundations of bridges to the citadel.^[4] One of the two bridges, the southern one, is believed to have been constructed in 1250 BC, which would make it one of the oldest known bridges of the type in Eastern Europe.^[5] Some of the other finds include numerous bronze objects, bone cheekpieces for bridles, bone shoes used to move across ice, and ceramics.^[6][3][2]

Due to these finds, some of the excavators that were part of the project have argued that the settlement is the "city of the Cimmerian people" that is mentioned by Homer in the Odyssey, and was also called similar to the Mycenaean fortresses or Troy due to the radial-ring layouts.^[3][6][2] However, these theories have generally been dismissed as sensationalist and still a hypothesis, although it has been agreed that the site is important for the Bilozerska culture.^[3]

The next time the city was significantly recorded was during the medieval era, when Vytautas the Great founded the fortress of Vitovka on the estuary, which is now within the Korabelnyi district of Mykolaiv.^[1] Vitovka was part of a series of fortifications that the Lithuanians constructed, such as the fortress of Sokolets near Voznesensk and Ochakiv.^[7] The fortress served twofold: on one hand, it was meant to serve as a border against the Crimean-Nogai slave raids, and also act as an area for trade and diplomacy with the Crimean Khanate.^[7] Due to this, according to Oksana Hospodarenko, trade in the area near the Black Sea was able to take place, moving from Crimea to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.^[7] After the decline of Lithuanian power, the city passed into Ottoman area as de jure part of the Crimean Khanate, although de facto it remained barren and unpopulated as part of the Wild Fields due to constant fighting between Muscovy, Lithuania, and the Khanate.^[1]

The founding of the modern city is generally considered to have started as a response to the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca, which ended the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774), giving Russia the area of the Yedisan region between the Bug and Dnieper rivers.^[8] After this, Russians began populating the area and constructing ports and shipyards, such as the one in Kherson that was founded in June 1778.^[8] The first landholder near Mykolaiv was Franz Fabre, an Austrian merchant based in St. Petersburg.^[9] In 1783, he requested the Governor-General of Novorossiya, Grigory Potemkin, to settle at the Bug River an agricultural estate, which was granted in 1784 with 1,500 desyatinas of land.^[9] The resulting estate known as the "Faberova dacha" was given at just three kopecks per desyatina, and covered the entire city of modern Mykolaiv.^[10] Fabre then built on the estate a main house with a mill, a yacht club, a farmstead, a house, tavern, and smithy.^[10]

However, Fabre's control would not last long. By 1787, Potemkin came to the conclusion that Kherson would not be a good area for a shipyard due to the marshes and flooding, and so he tasked Mikhail Faleev with finding a better site for a shipyard in Novorossiya.^[11] Faleev would not come near the dacha until that summer, when the Ottomans performed a cross-border raid into Fabre's dacha, killing one, and so Faleev was sent to settle the incident.^[11] After arriving, Faleev found that the area would be a good candidate for the proposed shipyard, and so Fabre's land grant was immediately annulled, being returned to the treasury of the Novorossiya Governorate on 2 September 1787.^[11][12]

That summer, navigators went to the Inhul to start, and on 21 July 1788 Faleev was ordered to prepare the shipway for building two fifty-gun ships, with construction started in autumn under engineer I.V. Sokolov.^[11][13] The founding documents of Mykolaiv happened shortly thereafter. By order No. 282 of 27 April 1789, Potemkin told Faleev that "I entrust to your care..the establishment of a wharf on the Inhul".^[14] He then followed this up with order no. 1065 of 27 August 1789, which is widely considered the founding date of Mykolaiv. In this order, Potemkin writes "Faberova dacha is to be named Spasskoye, and Vitovka (Bogoyavlenskoye), the newly established wharf on the Inhul, the city of Nikolaev."^[15][14] It is thought that the name Nikolaev traces back to 26 June 1789, when Potemkin in report no. 34 asked Catherine II to found a new monastery known as "Spaso-Nikolaevsky" for soldiers of the Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792) following the recent nearby Siege of Ochakov (1788), which was shortly thereafter approved.^[16] Nikolaev was taken from this name for the city, and Spaso was given to Spasskoye later in August.^[16] Where exactly the name Nikolaev in the monastery name comes from is heavily disputed, with some saying that it was named after the frigate of Svyatyi Nikolai or the capture of Ochakiv which happened on Saint Nicholas Day.^{[16] [a]} Either way, shortly after Nikolaev's founding, in November 1789, Potemkin in report no. 84 asked Catherine II to grant Nikolaev the status of city under the The Charter of the Towns of 1785 (in part, due to its "advantageous place"), although Catherine II denied this because Nikolaev at this point really only had a military population and no ship had been built at the shipyard yet.^[17] The first ship was finally laid on 5 January 1790, which was the frigate St. Nicholas, and launched on 25 August 1790 to be towed to Ochakiv for arming.^[18] In October 1790, Nikolaev was listed as a Supernumerary town, thus bringing it under the administrationn of a military governor and not a governorate.^[11]

In order to form the new Nikolaev as a city, on the invitation of Potemkin, the renowned architect Ivan Starov (who was known for designing the Tauride Palace) was brought in to create a general plan for the city in the spring of 1790.^[19] Starov then created the design for the general plan of the city, the Cathedral of St. Gregory the Illuminator of Armenia, the Magistrat, and the Stone Shops.^[19] He worked with Colonel Ivan Kniazev on designing the working plan for the city, orienting the streets, and going through with the design.^[19] Kniazev worked on designing the new city until 1791, when he was reassigned to a fortress in Crimea, and Dutch architect Vincent Vanrezant took over until December 1792 when Kniazev came back.^[20] During this time, the first enterprises besides the shipyard also started to pop up, such as a Faience shop, although in that same year a major fire destroyed many of the housing, and so wooden construction was banned by Potemkin.^[21] In that year, over 3,000 shipbuilders were relocated to Nikolaev, working under sharp military discipline with recruits frequently becoming sick, leading to desertion.^[11][22] During the ongoing Russo-Turkish War, many Turks, who were prisoners of war, were also brought to Nikolaev to work.^[23] By the end of 1791, there were 26 households with 147 inhabitants, although there was a severe gender imbalance.^[24] The population grew tenfold the following year, in 1792 to 1,566 residents.^[25] However, development would sharply slow down with the deaths of both Petmokin and Faleev soon after.^[26]

Nikolai Mordvinov then became chairman of the Black Sea Admiralty Board. Under Mordvinov, a new general plan was constructed for the city that was described as "grand" with the city stretching further south, although nothing ever came of this except the construction of the first bridge in Nikolaev (Inhul Bridge), the transfer of the Black Sea Admiralty Headquarters from Kherson to Nikolaev in 1795, and Nikolaev also under Paul I of Russia formally became a closed city to foreigners.^[27] During this time, there were also some attempts to also strip the admiralty administration from the city, thus not making it a military governorship, in favour of Odesa being the sole one in the area, but this was ultimately shut down. Mordvinov was dismissed in 1799 after an explosion at the powder magazine plant in 1798, and Nikolaev was then very briefly under the administration of Admiral von Dezin and Jean Baptiste, marquis de Traversay.^[28] Under Traverse, from 1802 to 1803, Nikolaev came under the Nikolaev Governorate until the unit was abolished and put de jure back under the Kherson Governorate (although Nikolaev had its own military governorship independent of the governorate).^[29] The Napoleonic Wars hardly effected Nikolaev, since Napoleon entered Russia via Belarus during his invasion, although a 75th Naval Crew of the Black Sea Fleet was formed in Nikolaev in 1812 to combat the invasion.^[30]

However, the subsequent governorship of Aleksey Greig from 1816 to 1833 did have a large effect on the city. He helped reconstruct the city with many new buildings, including the Mykolaiv Observatory headed by Karl Friedrich Knorre, and a chain of optical telegraph stations linking the city to Sevastopol.^[31] He helped pave the streets, ordered the construction of the city's water pipeline, and helped drive commerce to the city.^[32] Controversially, though, an imperial decree under Nicholas I in 1829 expelled all Jews from both Nikolaev and Sevastopol beyond a marked line, which Greig hardly stopped even though he opposed the decree because of public unrest, in fact only helping out Jews in the city whom he thought were essential.^[33] After Greig was dismissed in 1833, Mikhail Lazarev took over until 1851.^[34] Lazarev was considered, at least by the account of Decembrist D. I. Zavalishin, somebody who did not care about the city beyond anything naval.^[35] Lazarev undid much of what Greig had done, halting funding for the water pipelines, moving many artifacts in Nikolaev to Odesa, and trying to close the newly built astronomy.^[36] He did continue the practice of removing the Jewish population in the city, which was said to be completed by 1837, of which modern accounts say was heavily negative to the city as it significantly drove up prices and housing.^[37][38] Nevertheless, the little progress that was made included the opening of the first theatre in the city in 1840, and street names were introduced in 1835.^[39]

By the start of 1853, the city of Nikolaev had around 40,000 inhabitants, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Black Sea Fleet, and thus governor of Nikolaev, was Admiral Moritz Berch.^[40] After the start of the Crimean War, the city would garner much more significance, as the city was used as a military camp with the population almost doubling.^[40] In January 1853, most of the officers in Nikolaev were recalled for duty for the Kherson garrison battalion, while all foreigners were expelled from the city.^[41] In preparation for the war, merchants in the city donated 7,000 rubles to defend the city, mostly by strengthening the walls around the city and cutting out embrasures.^[42] As the war drew nearer to the city in 1854, the defense of the city was handed over to Dmitri Osten-Sacken and Nicholas Annenkov.^[43]

During the Siege of Sevastopol, the city heavily sustained the war effort, with the townspeople supplying transport and lodging for the troops going to Crimea (mostly barracks from merchants, but also private housing).^[44] The city also provided medical aid, with many buildings in Nikolaev being repurposed to be temporary military hospitals, although these buildings were not suitable and left the medical staff strained as the city was overcrowded.^[45] This was best seen in November 1855, when 30,000 troops entered the city, with some having undeclared typhus, which killed many patients and doctors.^[46] Thousands of refugees also came to Nikolaev from Crimea, bringing in their families.^[47] After the Battle of Kinburn, the situation only worsened as Alexander II personally sent an engineer to design a full defensive system along the Bug, such as in Niikolaev, and to help with the hospitals.^[48]

With the defeat of Russia in the Crimean War, Alexander II signed the Treaty of Paris. As a direct result of this treaty, the admiralty in Nikolaev was closed down, although the shipyard in the city was allowed to be kept on a technicality.^[49][50] According to the treaty, the ban on all Russian naval items was only applicable to areas lying on the Black Sea, and so the tsar requested an exemption that Nikolaev was, in fact, not on the Black Sea but in the Southern Bug.^[50] However, the British representatives did not want the loophole to take into effect, so at the conference for the treaty George Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon demanded for a seperate clause to destroy the shipyards in Nikolaev.^[50] The tsar's representative, Orlov, held in his stance that Nikolaev did not fit the descriptions in the treaty agreed upon, and reassured the representatives that no navy was intended to be built in Nikolaev.^[50] In the end, Britain's claim was shot down with Napoleon III calling it "excessive", and Nikolaev's shipyard was allowed to be kept.^[50] Nevertheless, the closure of the admiralty would have a tremendous effect on Nikolaev, with many finding themselves unemployed, and so many began to leave in an exodus.^[49] In his writing about Nikolaev, historian G.N. Ge said of this time:^[49]

In the deserted, depopulated city, life completely stopped, no longer making any demands. Meanwhile, in the outrskirts of the city, unemployment increasingly demoralised the population. And this sad state of affairs reached the point where, after sunset, it became dangerous to leave one's home in Nikolaev.

After the devestation in the wake of the end of the war, control of Nikolaev passed on to Bogdan Fon-Glazenap in 1860.^[51] After Glazenap arrived in the city, he immediately ordered his subordinate, Yakov Uharin, to help draft a plan for the city's recovery, with the general view that the city should be reopened to foreigners and international trade.^[52] Uharin, acting on behalf of Glazenap, then recommended that the port of Nikolaev become a commercial port open to foreign vessels.^[52] Glazenap approved of this, and on 1 June 1862, by an imperial decree of Alexander II, this came into fruition.^[53] Very quickly, the port gained vast importance in the empire, ranking only behind St. Petersburg and Odesa, with 23 million poods of exports passing through the port at its height.^[54] This also led to a population surge, and so in 1862 both a trade school for work in the navy was opened and a classical gymnasium for men.^[53] In addition, in 1864, Konstantin Konstantinov led the construction of a new rocket factory in the city, which was followed up the city's first newspaper in 1864, known as Nikolaevsky Vestnik.^[55] Some of the new inhabitants during this time after the city was opened up to foreigners again included many people from the Balkans, such as Bulgarians, Serbians, and Montenegrins, with a dedicated boarding school opening up for these communities.^[56] The Jewish community also returned, starting in 1859, when a new imperial decree permitted them to resettle after all Jews were expelled from the city in 1829.^[57]

After the signing of the Treaty of London in 1871, in which most of the concessions placed on Russia in 1856 were reversed, allowing the admiralty to return to Nikolaev.^[56] In lieu of this, Nikolai Arkas replaced Glazenap as governor later that spring.^[58] Under his tenure, most of the admiralty was reconstructed with the addition of new workshops for it also, although civilian infrastructure was neglected by Arkas.^[58] Only two streets in the entirety of Nikolaev were paved, few areas had gas lamps, and labour conditions were especially harsh.^[59] This led to regular labour strikes against the admiralty, especially since foreigners from St. Petersburg were paid much more than people from Nikolaev while working in the shipyards.^[60] Nevertheless, a new railway was also opened during this time, connecting the city to Kharkov in 1873, which allowed further trade within Ukraine.^[61]

In 1882, Aleksey Peshchurov became military governor of Nikolaev.^[62] Under Peshchurov, more technically advanced ships were launched from Nikolaev's ports, such as the Russian battleship Ekaterina II, and a telephone network was constructed in November 1889 to the more important areas of Nikolaev.^[63][64] Into the 1890s, Nikolaev was still experiencing heavy industrialisation, with Westerners founding the Franco-Belgian "Shipyards and Foundry Works" and the "Black Sea Mechanical and Foundry Works" (these would eventually merge together in 1907 to form the Black Sea Shipyard).^[65] This industrialisation also led to the rise of labour movements, such as a Tolstoyan movement circle that was founded in the city in 1892 and a workers' circle in the spring of 1897 known as the "Union of Nikolaev Workers" (which was, notably, led by Leon Trotsky).^[66][67] Nikolai Kopytov, the governor, harshly cracked down on these circles, with Kopytov exiling those suspected to Siberia, including Trotsky.^[66] On 22 May 1899, after over a century of Nikolaev being ruled under a military governship, this was abolished when the Black Sea Fleet headquarters were formally moved to Sevastopol.^[68] In its place, the city became a city administration, although it retained being a Supernumerary town, so de jure it was not part of Kherson Governorate.^[69]

From 19 to 21 April 1899, during the celebration of Orthodox Easter, a pogrom started to attack the Jewish residents residing in the city. At the time, there were around 30,000.^[70] A crowd of around 5,000 residents gathered at Soborna Street, most of whom were labourers brought in from Oryol.^[70] In advance, Jewish homes were already marked on the doors with chalk.^[70] Thus, the crowd attacked these marked homes, smashing through the windows and breaking in, and also looting suspected Jewish shops.^[70] Some of the homes that were attacked professed that they were Christian, not Jewish, to be spared.^[70] On 21 April, especially, many Jewish areas were entirely looted, with other people from villages surrounding Nikolaev coming to join in.^[70] Eventually, on that night, the Cossacks that were assigned to protect Nikolaev stopped the crowds, and Kopytov put the city under higher security and banned all gatherings in response.^[70] In total, nearly 300,000 rubles in damage was done to Jewish residence, and 79 properties were destroyed.^[70]

In 1900, at the turn of the century, the first mayor of the city was appointed, Karl Tikotsky.^[69] Over the next few years prior to the Russian Civil War, the city would rapidly go through seven different mayors.^[69] However, with the end of military governship, Nikolaev did experience rapid civic growth in comparison to previous decades. In 1902, the first power station providing electricity to houses and streets was installed in Nikolaev, and the first higher education institute in the city, Nikolaev Industrial Technical School, was opened.^[71] In 1907, a new rail line was opened linking Nikolaev to Kherson, which was followed up by a line from Nikolaev to Odessa in 1914 and to Snigirevka in 1915.^[72] A Prosvita was also founded alongside new museums, such as The V. V. Vereshchagin Mykolaiv Art Museum.^[72] However, the admiralty shipyard would also be abandoned by the government as it lacked the funds to carry on with the shipyard, with the last state-built Russian battleship Evstafi being laid in 1911.^[73] In 1912, the admiralty was privatised, becoming the Russian Shipbuilding Society (Russud), which itself was part of Baltic Works.^[73] The first significant order that the newly privatised Russud got was the Russian battleship Imperatritsa Mariya, which was the lead ship of a class of the first dreadnoughts built for the Black Sea Fleet.^[73]

With the outbreak of World War One, the city's newspapers adopted a heavily patriotic stance,^[74] although anti-war strikes continued to regularly happen. In January 1916, one of the largest strikes in the Russian Empire at the time of the war hit, with more than 12,000 shipyard workers revolting.^[75] Nevertheless, the industrial output of the city rapidly grew to supply the war effort, with more than 1,788,541 tons of exports being produced by 21,324 workers in just a year.^[76]

By the early 1900s, Nikolaev already had its own chapter of RSDRP, which began operating in late 1901.^[77] The first large-scale protest organised was from 21 to 23 July 1903, with 2,000 workers marching on Soborna Street to protest wages and workday hours, leading to the arrest of 90.^[78] Bloody Sunday, which marked the start of the Russian Revolution of 1905, however, was initially met very quietly in the city as many would-be social organisers were quickly arrested by the police to prevent protests.^[78][79] It wasn't until February 1905 when Nikolaev would finally react, beginning with the Black Sea Shipyard, and spreading across the city.^[80] The longest strike was from 23 February to 17 March 1905, with workers gathering daily in the streets.^[78] Around 2,000 workers also gathered on May Day that year, with the Bolsheviks agitating the events by issuing more than 9,000 leaflets to spur the city.^[81] In June, the Black Sea Shipyard protested once again, leading to violent clashes with police, with an assassination attempt being made on the life of police chief Ivanov on 15 June via a bomb although it missed.^[78] In response, martial law was declared in Nikolaev, and a thousand people were arrested or exiled.^[78]

In the autumn, the situation dramatically worsened with the signing of the October Manifesto, as another pogrom (the first since 1899) would begin by right-wing groups who opposed the signing.^[78] The pogrom lasted from 18 October to 21 October 1905, once again destroying the community and the city was put under a higher state of siege.^[78] In response, the revolutionaries formed a "people's milita",^[82] and began distributing over 129 leaflets - most notably "To All Workers of Nikolaev" and "The Last Card of Tsarism and Society's Task".^[83] It was, in fact, major enough that the Ministry of Internal Affairs flagged many Nikolaev periodicals as having a wider effect on fueling strikes within Ukraine.^[83] This was followed by the formation of the Nikolaev Soviet on 20 November.^[78] The new Soviet was riddled with problems, though, lacking any clear strategy or unity besides general insurrection planning.^[84] On 13 December, they started a new strike, but the Soviet was disbanded in the middle of the strike in response to the Moscow uprising of 1905 which saw a government victory.^[85][82] On 23 December, the government of Nikolaev crushed any remaining revolutionary sentiment via seizures and arrests, which would continue well into January 1906.^[82]

News of the February Revolution, which overthrew the monarchy, reached Nikolaev by 1 March 1917, which led to mass chaos as the police were dissolved and the Soviet was once again proclaimed.^[86][87] The Soviet formed both a Council of Workers' Deputies and a Council of Military Deputies, which merged in April to make the Council of Workers' and Military Deputies, meeting at Nikolska Street.^[86] They, however, for the time being still worked with the other RSDRP factions, such as the Mensheviks, while the shipyards modified work days.^[86] In May, a people's militia affiliated with the Socialists was formed to establish order and replace the dissolved police, and trade unions were born such as the Metalworkers' Union (which had a militant stance).^[88] However, unity would not last long as on 18 June the Bolsheviks, in a rally in Nikolaev, proclaimed that they would not follow the Provisional Government, and also denounced the Mensheviks and the Socialist Revolutionary Party (SRs) as traitors.^[89] Thus, in August, the Bolsheviks created they own independent committee, while the August elections for the city duma were dominated by the SRs and Social Democrats.^[90][91] In response to the Kornilov affair shortly thereafter, the stationed 1st Pontoon Battalion demanded that all power pass to the Bolsheviks and for an end to World War I.^[92] This would come into fruition not even a month later with the October Revolution, specifically, in Nikolaev, many Red Guard units were working (around 650 workers were members of the units), declaring the Bolsheviks the "highest power" which the city duma of the SRs sharply condemned.^[93][91]

In November, however, with the start of the Russian Civil War and the proclamation of the Ukrainian People's Republic (which was de jure autonomous per the Third Universal) both the Council of Workers' and Military Deputies and the city duma threw their support behind the UPR as a "regional authority".^[91] The Jewish faction in the duma in particular was pleased with this as they believed that this would guarantee minority rights.^[91] The Bolsheviks quickly realised, though, that the Ukrainians did not intend to support the Bolsheviks and the Sovnarkom, and so in December Nikolaev's Red Guard units denounced the UPR and elected their own Military-Revolutionary Committee.^[94] Pravda, in its reports, would later say Nikolaev was both unique and a struggle because at the time the city supported Ukrainian nationalism.^[95] Nevertheless, the initial city duma that was established in December had the two sides working together, with 6 seats each for the Ukrainians and Bolsheviks.^[91]

On 14 January 1918, the Bolsheviks formally seized all power in the city from the Ukrainians, although this was not supported city-wide and led to mass demonstrations calling for an end to the Bolsheviks.^[96][91] The Ukrainians under K. Boichuk, in response, announced their own "Revolutionary Ukrainian Staff" and an organisation of Free Cossacks.^[91] Tensions heightened severely at the end of the month when the Ukrainians and Red Guards clashed, leaving the commander of the Red Guard dead, leading the Bolsheviks to more firmly establish their power by 24 January 1918.^[91] In March 1918, the Central Powers following the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk which saw the Bolsheviks denounce their claims to Ukraine, began moving to retake Nikolaev. A combined Imperial German Army and Austro-Hungarian Army troops entered Nikolaev and started occupying the city on 17 March 1918.^[91] De jure the city was part of the Ukrainian People's Republic, although it was de facto an Austro-German protectorate. After beginning their occupation, the Austro-Germans shut down the shipyards, dismissing over 10,000 workers, and also shutting down all newspapers.^[97] Fom 22 to 25 March, the Bolsheviks, who promised they would defend Nikolaev by any means necessary, including via dictatorship, led an uprising against the occupation.^[98][99] In these three days of uprisings, more than 2,000 were killed in the city.^[97][91] The uprising was quickly and brutally defeated. In the spring, the Ukrainian State de jure toook control from the UPR, with the ataman Cherepanov dissolving the occupation duma.^[100] Under Cherepanov, many RSDRP and Bolshevik members were arrested, although the Bolsheviks continued to operate underground in very difficult conditions with no senior members by attempting to start agitations.^[100][101] In December, with the defeat of the Central Powers in World War I, the Austro-Germans left Nikolaev on 11 December.^[102] Within a day, the troops of ataman Nykyfor Hryhoriv (who was at this time loyal to the Ukrainian Directory) entered the city, solidifying UPR control in the city,^[103] although the Hetmanate surrendered power to the French-Greeks in early January following the Southern Russia intervention.^[104]

Hryhoriv, however, switched sides secretly in January 1919 to the Bolsheviks after some of the German forces refused to leave Nikolaev and with the start of the successful Soviet invasion of Ukraine.^[105] Hryhoriv secretly met with Bolshevik commander Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko in person in February, who ordered him to position his troops as part of the 1st Zadneprovsk Ukrainian Soviet Division out of Nikolaev and a hundred miles north in an attempt to weaken him, since he did not trust him, which Hryhoriv disobeyed.^[106] He instead wanted to take full Bolshevik control of the cities of Kherson and Nikolaev himself, with, at the time, 15,000 German troops remaining in Nikolaev after being stranded due to the war.^[107] These troops were part of the 15th Landwehr Division, and were described as having very low morale and fighting ability, with some even being openly sympathetic to the Bolsheviks, and any political authority in Nikolaev was severely fractured and dysfunctional.^[107] The city was also de jure under the guardianship of the French.^[108] In March, Hryhoriv issued his own ultimatum, calling the Germans to leave or die, although Antonov-Ovseenko overruled the telegram, calling it "stupid" to go into a heavily fortified city and to instead engage at Kherson.^[109] Indeed, by 2 March, a Greek force of 3,000 had already come to Nikolaev to back the Germans up.^[102] Hryhoriv once again disobeyed him on 5 March, sending a note to the duma of Nikolaev saying his forces would attack on 7 March.^[110] The delegation of Bolsheviks reacted very fearfully to this plan, saying it would be a blood bath if he started the battle then and that the French would likely intervene.^[111] In fact, the Bolsheviks under Rappo said that the situation was actually decent at the time since the Germans were demoralised and would likely leave soon.^[112]

On 7 March, Hryhoriv continued on, but encountered fierce German and French resistance in Nikolaev, although by the night Hryhoriv withdrew after the Bolsheviks begged him to.^[113] On 11 March, the German troops signaled that they would surrender and transfer their arms to the Bolsheviks and not the French, with the French agreeing to this if they would disable the radio station in Nikolaev.^[114][102] The station was not disabled, and so the French threatened to start shelling the city with a nearby cruiser, with the partisan Ryappo in turn threatening to shell the cruiser in response with German guns, leading the standoff to stop.^[114] Thus, the French and Greeks announced they would leave alongside the Germans, but Hryhoriv, who was angry that he could not take Nikolaev itself, took Nikolaev by force on 12 March.^[115] He was joined in the offensive by members of the 1st Zadneprovsk Ukrainian Soviet Division,^[102] although in later Soviet-era sources Hryhoriv's role in the city's capture would be glossed over and given entirely to the Soviet division.

After the Bolsheviks captured the city, they ordered a special naval commission to help manage the ports of Nikolaev and its defense.^[116] Shortly after this, Vladimir Lenin telegrammed the Sovnarkom, starting the mobilisation of workers in larger cities, including Nikolaev, to help on the front within two weeks, and the Nikolaev factories were also all nationalised.^{[117][118][102]} To help with the defense of Nikolaev against the White movement, a detachment was sent to the city, and communists from England were brought in to form a 200-strong "International Detachment".^[119] On 13 May, in response to Hryhoriv's published Universal where he called for a "Soviet Ukraine without communists", the Hryhoriv Uprising in Nikolaev began.{[sfn|Крючков|1996|p=91}} At first, Hryhoriv in a telegram told Antonov that he wanted to take Nikolaev and Kherson without fighting and that the Bolsheviks could have Odesa, but Antonov flatly refused.^[120] A mutiny of sailors affiliated with the anarchist movement began after Hryhoriv falsely claimed that workers in Nikolaev were killing communists, with the sailors quickly taking power and arresting the Soviets.^[121][122] Nestor Makhno's forces also joined to help the uprising.^[123] The city was officially taken on 24 May when the Bolsheviks left the city to retreat to Odesa.^[122] Anarchist control would be very quickly subdued starting on 26 May, and by 27 May the city was retaken by the Red Army detachment in Odesa together with workers in Nikolaev, while Hryhoriv fled with Makhno.^[122][124]

Throughout the summer, the White movement inched closer to Nikolaev after taking the Donbas.^[122] Starting on 1 July, all able-bodied workers were mobilised, daily military drills began, and a Council of People's Defense was established.^[122][125] However, this did not deter anything, as on 4 August the 58th Red Army Division quickly abandoned Nikolaev, and on the following day the Whites took the city.^[126] During this time, the Boolsheviks once again went underground to aid Red Guardsmen, setting up three district cells.^[127] On 16 November, some partisans attempted to capture the city in a surprise attack, but the Whites were forewarned and all members were captured, with some being publicly hanged.^[127] Four days later, on 20 November, Yakov Slashchov arrived in the city and ordered the execution of 61 more prisoners.^[128] The prisoners were also killed publicly, being shot on the square in front of Russud, with the bodies of the executed lying out in the streets to suppress insurrection.^[128]

In January 1920, the front held by the Whites began collapsing, and this, combined with rumours of both an insurgency and an approach by the Red Army, led the Whites to begin an evacuation of the city.^[129] The Whites finally retreated on 18 January 1920, with the Bolsheviks taking the city for the fourth time on either 20 January 1920 under the 41st Division of A. M. Osadchy.^[128][126] After retaking the city, the Bolsheviks initially put it under the Ukrainian SSR of the Kherson Governorate, of which it was the administrative centre, not Kherson, while Odessa was split off into its own governorate.^[130] However, the city was in effective economic ruin due to how many times power switched. This led to Subbotniks being established starting on 28 March, with thousands gathering to do so for the rest of 1920.^[131] The first ship made in Nikolaev under full control of the Soviets was Elpidifor No. 415,^[132] which not even a year later, during the Action of 9 January 1921 was destroyed by the French.^[133]

Later that summer, Nikolaev was divided into two districts (later corrected into three).^[134] In September, the Cheka allegedly uncovered a conspiracy of underground Whites that were attempting to overthrow the Soviets, which led to the arrest of more than 400.^[135] By the end of 1920, the city had hit 100,000 people, with the population standing at 108,777.^[135]

• 
  Situation in Ukraine from November to December 1917. The UPR has taken control of Nikolaev, although it is at the site of a battle.
• 
  Situation in Ukraine in late February 1918. The Bolsheviks have taken Nikolaev.
• 
  Situation in Ukraine in April 1918. The UPR, together with the Central Powers, retake Nikolaev.
• 
  Situation in January 1919. After the Central Powers troops retreated following their defeat in World War I, French troops entered the city.
• 
  Situation in early April 1919. The Bolsheviks, together with Nykyfor Hryhoriv, recapture the city.
• 
  Situation in May 1919. Nykyfor Hryhoriv turns on the Bolsheviks and leads a peasant uprising known as the Hryhoriv Uprising, although the uprising's control would only ever be brief.
• 
  Situation in September 1919. The White movement begins an offensive, seizing control of the city from the Bolsheviks, although nearby the pro-Soviet Bashtanka Republic gains a foothold.
• 
  Situation in February 1920. The Bolsheviks have seized power in Nikolaev for the last time.

• Крючков, Ю. С. (1996). История Николаева от основания до наших дней. Возможности Киммерии.
• Именовать— город Николаев. Советский фонд культуры, Николаевское областное отделение. 1989.
• Лифанов, B. (1989). Николаев 1789–1989: Страницы истории. Маяк.
• Быченков, И. А. (1989). Николаеву 200 лет, 1789–1989: Сборник документов и материалов. Kyiv: Наукова думка.
• Левченко, Л. Л. (2020). Николаев в Восточной (Крымской) войне 1853–1856 гг. : Неизвестные архивные документы. Mykolaiv: Илион.
• Adams, Arthur E. (1963). Bolsheviks in the Ukraine: The Second Campaign, 1918-1919. Yale University Press. Retrieved 1 August 2026.

• Nefedov, Dmitry (2025). Liberation of Mykolaiv Region from German-Romanian Occupiers. Our Knowledge Publishing.
• "Фонд 6146 / Опис 1 / Справа 068: Свідчення очевидців Голодомору 1932-1933 років, які проживають у місті Миколаєві, з прізвищами на літери А–Я. Том 1" [Fund 6146 / Description 1 / File 068: Testimonies of eyewitnesses to the 1932–1933 Holodomor residing in the city of Mykolaiv, with surnames beginning with the letters A–Ya. Volume 1]. archive.mk.ua (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2 August 2026.
• "Фонд 6146 / Опис 1 / Справа 069: Свідчення очевидців Голодомору 1932-1933 років, які проживають у місті Миколаєві, з прізвищами на літери А–Я (доповнення). Том 2" [Fund 6146 / Description 1 / File 068: Testimonies of eyewitnesses to the 1932–1933 Holodomor residing in the city of Mykolaiv, with surnames beginning with the letters A–Ya. Volume 2]. archive.mk.ua (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2 August 2026.