In the first half of the 19th century, the Russian Empire began the annexation of the mountainous regions of the North Caucasus, leading to the Caucasian War, which lasted until 1864.

On June 22, 1818, General Alexey Ermolov of the Russian Imperial Army laid the foundation of the fortress Grozny on the banks of the Sunzha River, a tributary of the Terek. The fortress was intended to block the Chechens' access to the plain through the Khankala Gorge between two mountain ranges.

The construction of Grozny was carried out by 5,000 Russian soldiers, who erected the fortress in the shape of a regular hexagon, surrounded by a 20-meter moat and an earthen rampart taller than a human.

In the following decades, the fortress expanded, and a settlement emerged nearby, which included Chechens among its inhabitants. To protect the residents, another settlement of 154 military families was established to the southwest of the fortress, which became the Cossack village of Grozny in 1848.

Starting in 1850, three-day fairs were held in the fortress, where local merchants and craftsmen sold their goods. In the same year, the Alexandrovsky Gates were built in anticipation of the arrival of the heir to the throne, Alexander Nikolaevich, later renamed the Red Gates after the October Revolution.

In the 1890s, industrial oil extraction began in Grozny, and by 1893, a branch of the Vladikavkaz railway was laid from Beslan to Grozny, making the city one of the largest industrial centers in the Caucasus.

On November 8, 1917, Soviet power was established in Grozny. In 1920-1921, two Soviet autonomies were created in the North Caucasus: the Dagestan ASSR and the Mountain ASSR, which was divided into seven national districts, including the Chechen national district with its center in Grozny.

In 1926, out of 70,898 residents of the city, 78.09% were Russians (Great Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians); by 2010, out of 271,573 residents, 3.3% were Russians.