Tighina

Tighina stands on the western bank of the Dniester, guarding a crossing on the road between Moldavia and the steppe. In 1408 Alexander the Good listed it as a customs post in a privilege for merchants of Lviv. The town became an important point on the route towards the Crimean Khanate, and its fortifications protected the river approach. Under Ottoman rule it was known as Bender.

Sultan Suleiman captured Tighina in 1538 and developed its defences into a major fortress. Moldavian and Cossack forces attacked it repeatedly without recovering it. After defeat at Poltava in 1709, Charles XII of Sweden took refuge nearby; in 1713 fighting broke out when Ottoman authorities sought to compel his departure. In 1710 the Cossack hetman Pylyp Orlyk's constitutional agreement was adopted at Bender, a testament to the political exiles gathered around the fortress. Russian armies took Bender in 1770, 1789 and 1806 during successive Russo-Turkish wars. The Treaty of Bucharest in 1812 ceded it with Bessarabia to Russia. Its walls remained a commanding landmark on the Dniester and a reminder of the strategic value of the crossing fought over by neighbouring states.