Mala Tokmachka was founded in 1783 under the
Russian Empire on the site of a former
Nogai settlement by migrants from
Chernihiv Governorate,
Poltava Governorate, and
Kyiv Governorate. In 1802, Mala Tokmachka was assigned to
Tavria Governorate, and in 1842, it specifically became part of
Berdyansky Uyezd (county) within the governorate. By 1886, Mala Tokmachka had a population of 3,534 people, an
Eastern Orthodox church, and a school. During
World War I and the
Ukrainian War of Independence, the settlement changed hands between warring factions several times. Afterwards it was administratively part of the
Zaporizhzhia Governorate of Ukraine. As a result of the
Holodomor, a manmade famine across the
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic from 1932 to 1933, a documented 281 people in Mala Tokmachka died. During
World War II, Mala Tokmachka was occupied by
Nazi Germany between October 1941 and September 1943. There was a memorial installed in honor of the Red Army soldiers who died liberating the village and to the people from the village who died elsewhere on the frontline. The settlement would remain as part of the minor
Mala Tokmachka–Novofedorivka,
Mala Tokmachka–Ocheretuvate,
Mala Tokmachka–Polohy, and
Kamianske–Mali Shcherbaky–Mala Tokmachka, frontlines until 7 June 2023, when
Ukrainian forces would
first attempt to push the fighting away from the settlement during the
2023 Ukrainian counteroffensive in the south. The failed attack would result in up to 25 Ukrainian vehicles becoming damaged or destroyed, including at least five
Leopard 2, which would result in a good deal of negative coverage about the effectiveness of the new counteroffensive among multiple news and social media outlets. The total number of vehicles lost would be lessened by the later retrieval and repair of some of the damaged vehicles. Despite the original set-back, Ukrainian
Brigadier General Oleksii Hromov would claim that Ukrainian forces had advanced up to near the settlement since beginning their counteroffensive on 15 June. A lack of a major breakthrough on this part of the frontline for Ukrainian forces would lead to largely positional fighting being taken up by late June. As of April 2026 however, the village remained controlled by the Ukrainian forces. == Economy ==