Volgograd (Russian: Волгогра́д) is a city along the Volga River in southwestern Russia. Stretching over a distance of 80 km (50 mi) from north to south along the Volga, Volgograd is also the administrative center of Volgograd Oblast. It covers 565 sq km (218 sq mi) and has a population exceeding one million people (2012 estimate). It is the 12th largest city in Russia.
Volgograd, Russia Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Predmostnaya_square,_Volgograd.jpg Author: Администрация Волгоградской области
The earliest documented mention of Volgograd in history was in 1589. The city may however have been founded earlier, in 1555. It was originally known as Tsaritsyn, as it was located where the Tsaritsa River flows into the Volga.
Much of the urban development of Volgograd - then known as Tsaritsyn - happened in the late 19th century. The first railroad was built in 1862 while the first tram in 1913.
Tsaritsyn was named Stalingrad, after Joseph Stalin, on 10 April, 1925. Under Stalin, the city became a major center for heavy industries. As a result, it suffered from Axis bombing during the Second World War. It was the site of one of the fiercest battles in the war, with the Battle of Stalingrad having perhaps the highest casualty figures of over a million people.
In 1961, Nikita Khrushchev renamed it Volgograd, meaning "Volga City", in an effort to de-Stalinize the Soviet Union. Since then, there has been a popular support to revert to Stalingrad, although this proposal has yet to be accepted by the Russian government.
Hello and thanks for reading this page. My name is Timothy and my hobby is in describing places so that I can share the information with the general public. My website has become the go to site for a lot of people including students, teachers, journalists, etc. whenever they seek information on places, particularly those in Malaysia and Singapore. I have been doing this since 5 January 2003, for over twenty years already. You can read about me at Discover Timothy. By now I have compiled information on thousands of places, mostly in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, and I continue to add more almost every day. My goal is to describe every street in every town in Malaysia and Singapore.