Veshenskaya

Veshenskaya, or Vyoshenskaya (Вёшенская), colloquially known as Vyoshki, is a Cossack Stanitsa (town) in the northern, or upper, Don region, on the left bank of the Don and is the administrative centre of the Sholokhovsky district. It is also well-known as the birthplace of Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov, and the Cossack historian Nikolay Krasnov.

History

It is first mentioned in 1672.
During 1919 it formed the centre of the Upper-Don Anti-Bolshevists. The Veshenskaya uprising and it's leader, Pavel Nazarovich Kudinov are described in Sholokhov's novel "And Quiet Flows the Don. They had withdrawn from the White Army and joined the Bolsheviks, but rose up in arms because of the Red Terror. They felt betrayed by the Bolsheviks who had promised that the Upper Don would be spared any military action or decossackization. The counter-revolutionaries then united with the Don Army. The uprising failed as the southern front collapsed.Sholokhov also described the conditions during those years in his collection of short stories "Donskie Rasskazi". After Sholokhov's death in 1984, a museum honouring the writer was created. The town has erected many monuments to Sholokhov and the characters from his novel "And Quiet Flows the Don".
Due to the efforts of Sholokhov, a paved road was laid in 1963 between Veshenskaya and Millerovo. In 1985 a bridge was laid connecting Veshenskaya with the stanitsa Bazkovskaya, on the opposite bank.

External links

* [http://veshki-bazar.by.ru Veshenskaya (in russian)]

* [http://veshki.donpac.ru/veshenskaya/1/veshki.htm A history of Veshenskaya {Russ}]