Volgograd: Encyclopedia - Volgograd

Volgograd

Volgograd ▶ (help·info) (Russian: Волгогра́д) (population: 1,012,000), formerly called Tsaritsyn ▶ (help·info) (Цари́цын, Caricyn) (1598–1925) and Stalingrad ▶ (help·info) (Сталингра́д) (1925–1961) is a city on the west bank of Volga river in southwestern Volgograd Oblast (province), Northern Caucasus district, Russia. Its geographical location is 48°43′N 44°29′E.

Volgograd - History

Volgograd originated with the foundation in 1589 of the fortress of Tsaritsyn at the confluence of the Tsaritsa and Volga rivers. The fortress, which took its name from the local Tatar language, was established to defend the unstable southern border of tsarist Russia and became the nucleus of a trading settlement. It was captured twice by Cossack rebels, under Stenka Razin in the rebellion of 1670 and Yemelyan Pugachev in 1774. Tsaritsyn became an important river port and commercial centre in the 19th century.

The city was the scene of heavy fighting during the Russian Civil War. Bolshevik forces under Joseph Stalin, Kliment Voroshilov and Semyon Budyonny defended it during 1918 but were evicted by White forces under Anton Ivanovich Denikin, who held the city in 1919. After its recapture, it was renamed Stalingrad (literally: "Stalin city") in 1925. The name change typifies the way in which a role much larger than he actually played in the Russian Revolution of 1917 became attributed to Stalin retroactively. (See also List of places named after Stalin.)

Under Stalin, the city became heavily industrialised and was developed as a centre of heavy industry and trans-shipment by rail and river. During World War II (Great Patriotic War), the city of Stalingrad became the center of the battle of Stalingrad, the costliest battle in human history, as well as the pivotal turning point in the war against Germany. It is generally agreed upon that had Stalingrad been captured by the Germans, the rest of European Russia and its vast resources would have fallen into the hands of the Nazis, and the western allies would have been trapped in a two front war with Japan and a newer, much more powerful Nazi Empire. The battle lasted from August 21, 1942 to February 2, 1943. In terms of loss of human life, roughly 500,000 Axis troops as well as approximately 1 million Soviet soldiers died, not to mention the unknown number of civilians killed and the many more wounded during the battle. The city was reduced to rubble during the fighting, but reconstruction began soon after the Germans were expelled from the city.

For the heroism shown during the battle, Stalingrad was awarded the title Hero City in 1945, and King George VI of the United Kingdom awarded the citizens of Stalingrad a jewelled sword in appreciation of the bravery that they had shown. A memorial complex commemorating the battle, dominated by an immense allegorical sculpture of Mother Russia, was erected on the Mamayev Kurgan, a hill that saw some of the most intense fighting during the battle. A number of cities around the world (especially ones that had suffered particularly badly during the war) established sister/friendship links (see list below).

In 1961, the city's name was changed to Volgograd ("Volga city") as part of Nikita Khrushchev's programme of destalinization. This was and remains somewhat contentious, given the fame of the name Stalingrad, and there were once serious proposals to change the name back during Konstantin Chernenko's brief administration in 1985. There is still a strong degree of local support for a reversion and proposals have been made from time to time, though as yet none have been accepted by the Russian government.

Volgograd - Economy

Modern Volgograd is still an important industrial city with a major railway junction with links to Moscow, the Donbas region of Ukraine, the Caucasus, and Siberia. It stands at the east end of the Volga-Don Canal, opened in 1952 to link the two great rivers of southern Russia. Its industries include shipbuilding, oil refining, steel and aluminium production, manufacture of machinery and vehicles, and chemical production. A large hydroelectric power plant stands a short distance to the north of Volgograd.

Volgograd - Sister/friendship cities

• Coventry, England (1943)
• Ostrava, Czech Republic (1948)
• Kemi, Finland (1953)
• Liège, Belgium (1954)
• Dijon, France (1959)
• Torino, Italy (1961)
• Port Said, Egypt (1962)
• Chennai, India (1966)
• Hiroshima, Japan (1972)
• Cologne, Germany (1988)
• Chemnitz, Germany (1988)
• Cleveland, USA (1990)
• Toronto, Canada (1991)
• Jilin, China (1994)
• Chengdu, China (1998)
• Kruševac, Serbia and Montenegro (1999)
• Ruse, Bulgaria (2001)

A number of communities in France have streets or avenues named after Stalingrad, hence Place Stalingrad in Paris and the eponymous Paris Métro station of Stalingrad.

Categories: Cities and towns in Russia | Cities on the Volga

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Volgograd", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki