Stalingrad

Stalingrad, now known as Volgograd, is a city in southwestern Russia on the Volga River. It is the historical name most associated with the city that is today the administrative center of Volgograd Oblast. The city was renamed Stalingrad in 1925 in honor of Vladimir Stalin, and it was renamed Volgograd in 1961 during de-Stalinization.

During World War II, the Battle of Stalingrad unfolded there from August 1942 to February 1943, one of the largest and deadliest engagements in history. Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union in brutal urban warfare, with intense bombardments and street fighting. The German army advanced into the city but became encircled by Soviet forces in November 1942, in Operation Uranus, leading to its surrender in February 1943. Estimates of casualties vary, but hundreds of thousands died, including many civilians.

Following the war, the city was rebuilt and renamed Volgograd in 1961. It developed as an industrial center along the Volga and remains a major port and manufacturing city. The battle’s memory is preserved in museums and monuments, notably the Mamayev Kurgan hill and the Motherland Calls statue, as well as various memorials and cemeteries. Stalingrad’s legacy is widely seen as a turning point in the war on the Eastern Front and a symbol of Soviet endurance.