Ostogozhsk is a historical center of Eastern Sloboda Ukraine. It was founded in 1652 by Ukrainian Cossacks as Ostrogozhsk or Ostrohozk and its construction was approved by Russianvoyevoda Fyodor Arsenyev. Ivan Dzinkovsky brought along some 2,000 resettlers from Chernihiv and Nizhyn Regiments around an ostrog of the Belgorod Defensive Line of Russia. Due to the nature of its foundation, the towns population was historically majority Ukrainian Cossack. The largest of Sloboda Cossack regiments was the Ostrogozhsk Regiment, with 1000 registered Cossacks. In order to coordinate the defense of these territories with the Russian garrison forces and the districts of the Belgorod Defensive Line the Cossack regiments were placed under the military command authority of the Belgorod Army Group. During the time of Stepan Razin's revolt against Aleksey Mikhailovich of Russia the city was under control of rebellious Cossacks. In 1696 Peter the Great stopped at Ostrogozhsk to meet with the Hetman of Zaporizhian HostIvan Mazepa and Cossacks of Ostrogozhsk regiment. At the Ostrogozhsk city square is located a memorial commemorating the event. In 1708 Ostogozhsk was incorporated into the Azov Governorate. In 1724 the Russians that were living in Ostrogozhsk, who were referred to as "people of posad" by the local inhabitants moved to Korotoyak and the Ukrainian Cossacks that lived in Korotoyak moved to Ostrogozhsk. The town served as the headquarters of a Sloboda Ukrainian Cossack territorial and military regiment until the 1760s when it was abolished by Catherine II. In 1765 the city Ostrogozhsk was incorporated into newly established the Sloboda Ukraine Governorate. In 1802 the city of Ostrogozhsk ended up in the new Voronezh Governorate and same year it was granted the town rights. Since then the city became a center of the split East Sloboda Ukraine. According to the 1897 Russian census there were 51,4 % of Little Russians in the town of Ostogozhsk and 46,8 % of Great Russians.The inhabitants of the town continued to preserve their Ukrainian customs and Cossack traditions well into the twentieth century and their remains a district of the town named 'majdan'. In 1918 the town was controlled by Ukrainian People's Republic and the Ukrainian Hetmanate. From 1919 the town was controlled by Anton Denikin's White Armee of South Russia. In 1920, Ostrogozhsk became a part of Soviet Russia, while borders between the Soviet Russia and the Soviet Ukraine were not finalized until 1925. According to the census of 1926, ethnic Ukrainians accounted for 74.1 percent of the town's and 69.6 percent of the county's inhabitants. In 1928 Ostrogozhsk became a district's administrative center within what now is Voronezh Oblast. The town was occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II from July 5, 1942 to January 20, 1943, when it was liberated in the course of the Ostrogozhsk–Rossosh Offensive.
