Kodak fortress was a fort built in 1635 by the order of Polish

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 king Władysław IV Vasa

Władysław IV Vasa

Władysław IV Vasa was a Polish and Swedish prince from the House of Vasa. He reigned as King of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 8 November 1632 to his death in 1648....

 and the Sejm

Sejm

The Sejm is the lower house of the Polish parliament. The Sejm is made up of 460 deputies, or Poseł in Polish . It is elected by universal ballot and is presided over by a speaker called the Marshal of the Sejm ....

 over the Dnieper River

Dnieper River

The Dnieper River is one of the major rivers of Europe that flows from Russia, through Belarus and Ukraine, to the Black Sea.The total length is and has a drainage basin of .The river is noted for its dams and hydroelectric stations...

, near what was to become the town of Stari Kodaky (by modern day: Dnipropetrovsk

Dnipropetrovsk

Dnipropetrovsk or Dnepropetrovsk formerly Yekaterinoslav is Ukraine's third largest city with one million inhabitants. It is located southeast of Ukraine's capital Kiev on the Dnieper River, in the south-central region of the country...

, Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

). It was constructed by Stanisław Koniecpolski to control Cossack

Cossack

Cossacks are a group of predominantly East Slavic people who originally were members of democratic, semi-military communities in what is today Ukraine and Southern Russia inhabiting sparsely populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper and Don basins and who played an important role in the...

s of Zaporizhian Sich

Zaporizhian Sich

Zaporizhian Sich was socio-political, grassroot, military organization of Ukrainian cossacks placed beyond Dnieper rapids. Sich existed between the 16th and 18th centuries in the region around the today's Kakhovka Reservoir...

, prevent Ukrainian

Ukrainians

Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...

 peasants from joining forces with the Cossacks and guard the southeastern corner of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...

. The Poles tried to establish order in that area, and commissioned French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 military cartographer and engineer William le Vasseur de Beauplan to construct it. The fortress cost around 100,000 Polish zlotys. The dragoon

Dragoon

The word dragoon originally meant mounted infantry, who were trained in horse riding as well as infantry fighting skills. However, usage altered over time and during the 18th century, dragoons evolved into conventional light cavalry units and personnel...

 garrison was commanded by the French officer Jean de Marion.

Shortly after construction was completed in July 1635, the fortress was captured by surprise attack made by the Cossack forces of Ivan Sulima (the night of August 11/12, 1635). The entire German mercenary garrison (numbering 200 men) was killed and the fortress was demolished.

In 1639, it was rebuilt by the Poles

Poles

thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...

 who hired the German engineer Friedrich Getkant. It was tripled in size. The fortress contained a Catholic church with monastery and an Orthodox church. Its garrison was increased to 600 with artillery support. About two miles outside of the fortress was erected a huge guard tower. The governor of that fortress became Jan Zoltowski while its commandant

Commandant

Commandant is a senior title often given to the officer in charge of a large training establishment or academy. This usage is common in anglophone nations...

 became Adam Koniecpolski (a nephew of Stanisław).

During the Khmelnytsky Uprising

Khmelnytsky Uprising

The Khmelnytsky Uprising, was a Cossack rebellion in the Ukraine between the years 1648–1657 which turned into a Ukrainian war of liberation from Poland...

 of 1648, the fortress was commanded by Krzysztof Lada-Grodzicki, and surrendered to the Cossacks on October 1, 1648, after a 7-month siege. The fort capitulated upon hearing the news of Polish defeat at the Battle of Pyliavtsi

Battle of Pyliavtsi

Battle of Pyliavtsi ; September 23, 1648) was the third significant battle of the Khmelnytsky Uprising. Near the site of the present-day village of Pyliava in south-central Ukraine, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth forces met a numerically superior force of Cossacks and Crimean Tatars under the...

. Rank and file defenders were massacred or drowned in the river after they had left Kodak upon capitulation. The Kodak commander and some other officers were sold by the Cossacks into the Tatar slavery.
After the Treaty of Pereyaslav

Treaty of Pereyaslav

The Treaty of Pereyaslav is known in history more as the Council of Pereiaslav.Council of Pereyalslav was a meeting between the representative of the Russian Tsar, Prince Vasili Baturlin who presented a royal decree, and Bohdan Khmelnytsky as the leader of Cossack Hetmanate. During the council...

 in 1654, Kodak fortress was manned by the Cossacks. It was later razed by Russia by Peter the Great

Peter I of Russia

Peter the Great, Peter I or Pyotr Alexeyevich Romanov Dates indicated by the letters "O.S." are Old Style. All other dates in this article are New Style. ruled the Tsardom of Russia and later the Russian Empire from until his death, jointly ruling before 1696 with his half-brother, Ivan V...

 according to the terms of the Treaty of the Pruth

Treaty of the Pruth

The Treaty of the Pruth was signed on the banks of the river Pruth between the Ottoman Empire and the Tsardom of Russia on 21 July 1711, ending the Russo-Turkish War of 1710–1711...

 with the Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

in 1711.

Today the site is just ruins, but it is a popular tourist attraction.