Mozhaysk

Town and the administrative center of Mozhaysky District in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located 110 kilometers (68 mi) to the west of Moscow, on the historic road leading to Smolensk and then to Poland. Population: 31,363 (2010 Census).
First mentioned in 1231 as an appanage of Chernigov; A theory says Mozhaysk took its name from the Mozhay (Mozhaya) River, whose name could be of Baltic origin (compare Lithuanian mažoji "small" - in contrast to the larger Moskva River nearby). Later Mozhaysk became an important stronghold of the Smolensk dynasty, in the 13th century ruled by Duke (later Saint) Theodore the Black. Muscovites seized Mozhaysk in 1303, but in the course of the following century had serious troubles defending it against Algirdas (Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1345 to 1377). A younger brother of the ruling Grand Duke of Moscow usually held the Principality of Mozhaysk - until the practice was dropped in 1493. In 1562 Denmark and Russia signed the Treaty of Mozhaysk there during the Livonian War of 1558–1583. In 1708 the administration of Peter the Great granted town status to Mozhaysk. Mozhaysk played a role in defending the Western approaches to Moscow in the 19th and 20th centuries. During the French invasion of Russia in 1812 the Battle of Borodino took place 12 kilometers (7.5 mi) from the town. In World War II, the German Wehrmacht took Mozhaysk on October 18, 1941;  the Soviet Red Army re-captured it on January 20, 1942.