Volgograd

Volgograd (Russian: Волгоград) formerly called Tsaritsyn (1598-1925) and Stalingrad (1925-1961) is a city and the administrative center of Volgograd Oblast, Russia. It is situated on the west bank of the Volga River.

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 name Sary Su (Yellow Water/River in the 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 occupied and 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 is typical of the way towns and cities were re-named after Bolshevik leaders and heroes during Soviet times.

 

During World War II (Great Patriotic War), the city of Stalingrad became the center of the Battle of Stalingrad as well as the pivotal turning point in the war against Germany. The battle lasted from August 21, 1942 to February 2, 1943. In terms of loss of human life, 1.7 million to 2 million Axis and Soviet soldiers were either killed, wounded or captured, as well as over 50,000 civilians killed. The city was reduced to rubble during the fierce 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.