Home / Our children/ Former Stalingrad as the city is now called. The city of Stalingrad: what is it called now, and what name did it have before?

Former Stalingrad as the city is called now. The city of Stalingrad: what is it called now, and what name did it have before?

Volgograd (Stalingrad) is one of the most famous and significant cities bearing the title of Hero City. In the summer of 1941, Nazi troops launched a massive offensive against southern front, seeking to capture the Caucasus, Crimea, the Don region, the lower Volga and Kuban - the richest and most fertile lands of the USSR. First of all, the city of Stalingrad came under attack, the attack on which was entrusted to the 6th Army under the command of Colonel General Paulus.

On July 12, the Soviet command created the Stalingrad Front, the main task of which was to stop the invasion of German invaders in the southern direction. And as part of this task, on July 17, 1942, one of the greatest and largest battles in the history of World War II began - the Battle of Stalingrad. Despite the Nazis' desire to capture the city as quickly as possible, it continued for 200 long, bloody days and nights, thanks to the incredible efforts of the heroes of the army, navy and ordinary residents of the region.

Sculptures "Stand to the death" (on foreground) and "The Motherland is calling!" monument-ensemble "To the Heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad" on Mamayev Kurgan (1960-1967).

The first attack on the city took place on August 23, 1942. Then, just north of Volgograd, the Germans almost approached the Volga. Policemen, sailors of the Volga Fleet, NKVD troops, cadets and other volunteer heroes were sent to defend the city. That same night, the Germans launched their first air raid on the city, and on August 25, a state of siege was introduced in Stalingrad. At that time, about 50 thousand volunteers - heroes from among ordinary citizens - signed up for the people's militia. Despite the almost continuous shelling, the Stalingrad factories continued to operate and produce tanks, Katyushas, cannons, mortars and a huge number of shells.

Great Patriotic War 1941-1945 The city of Stalingrad after liberation from the Nazi invaders on February 2, 1943.

On September 12, 1942, the enemy came close to the city. Two months of fierce defensive battles for Volgograd caused significant damage to the Germans: the enemy lost about 700 thousand people killed and wounded, and on November 19, 1942, the Soviet counteroffensive began.

75 days lasted offensive and finally, the enemy at Stalingrad was surrounded and completely defeated. January 1943 brought complete victory on this section of the front. The fascist invaders were surrounded, and General Paulus and his entire army surrendered. During the entire Battle of Stalingrad, the German army lost more than 1.5 million people.

Great Patriotic War 1941-1945 Soviet soldiers fighting on the territory of the Stalingrad plant "Red October" in the open-hearth workshop No. 1. December 1942.

Stalingrad was one of the first to be called a hero city. This honorary title was first announced in the order of the Commander-in-Chief dated May 1, 1945. And the medal “For the Defense of Stalingrad” became a symbol of the courage of the city’s defenders.

In the hero city of Volgograd there are many monuments dedicated to the heroes of the Great Patriotic War. Among them is the famous memorial complex on the Mamayev Kurgan - a hill on the right bank of the Volga, known since the times Tatar-Mongol invasion. During the Battle of Stalingrad, particularly fierce battles took place here, as a result of which approximately 35,000 heroic soldiers were buried on Mamayev Kurgan. In honor of all the fallen, in 1959 a memorial to the “Heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad” was erected here.

Inscriptions on the wall of Pavlov’s house in Stalingrad (now Volgograd): “Mother Motherland! Here Rodimtsev’s guardsmen heroically fought the enemy: Ilya Voronov, Pavel Demchenko, Alexey Anikin, Pavel Dovisenko” and “This house was defended by Guard Sergeant Yakov Fedotovich Pavlov!” 1943 Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.

The main architectural attraction of Mamayev Kurgan is the 85-meter-high monument “The Motherland Calls”. The monument depicts a woman with a sword in her hand, who calls on her sons, the heroes, to fight.

The square near the central department store in Stalingrad after the defeat of the Nazis. 1943 Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.

The ancient Gerhardt mill (Grudinin mill) is another silent witness to the courageous struggle of the defenders of the hero city of Volgograd. This is a destroyed building that has not yet been restored in memory of the war.

The city, which played a large significant role in the history of Russia, today is a metropolis with a population of more than a million people. This article will help you take an excursion into the history of the city and answer the question of what Volgograd used to be called. During the entire history of its existence, it changed its name twice.

How Volgograd came to be

What was the name of the city before and how did it develop? It was founded at the end of the 16th century, but many researchers believe that the settlement existed a long time ago, back in the days Tatar-Mongol yoke. Along with Samara and Saratov, the city of Tsaritsyn was founded as a fortress by a garrison of military Cossacks and the local governor Grigory Zasekin at the behest of Ivan the Terrible after the conquest of the Astrakhan kingdom. In the region there was active trade with the Caspian territories, so there was an urgent need to ensure the safety of merchants carrying money and goods across from the raids of nomads. The fortress was guarded by archers on duty around the clock, who raised the garrison from the watchtowers upon an alarm signal.

City development

What was Volgograd called before, before 1925? Until that time he was called Tsaritsyn. The city began to develop rapidly, moving to the right bank of the great Russian Volga River after the final victory over the wild hordes. Its inhabitants were distinguished by their liveliness and enterprise, therefore, from a paramilitary settlement on the outskirts of the state, Tsaritsyn quickly took on the guise of a merchant city. But in subsequent centuries of its history, Tsaritsyn was often called “Ponizovaya freemen” by the people, since fugitive slaves and peasants from all over Rus' gathered in the Lower Volga. History has preserved the names of famous heroic fighters for the free life of the people - Stepan Razin, Kondraty Bulavin, Emelyan Pugachev.

How did Volgograd get its name?

Not everyone knows what the city was called before and what the history of each of its names is. Those who are not good at history are sure that Tsaritsyn was named in honor of Empress Catherine the Great. This is an incorrect assumption, although it is to her that he owes the transformation from a narrow military settlement into a rapidly developing city. And the name arose thanks to the small river Tsaritsa, from which only a few springs remained. But five centuries ago the river bed was full, and it rather rapidly carried its clayey waters to the Volga. Because of its color, the Mongol-Tatars began to call the river Sary-Su, which means “yellow water.” Later, this name began to be perceived by ear as the Queen, hence the first name of the city.

The earliest mentions of the Tsaritsyn fortress date back to therefore, since then this date has been considered official, and it is from here that Volgograd traces its history. Now you know what this city was called before and where the first name came from.

Early 20th century

During and Civil War The city found itself at the junction of the battles between the Red and White Guards, who captured the city and very brutally dealt with the captured Red soldiers - they were chopped up with sabers. Great damage was caused to the city: residential and cultural buildings were razed to the ground, water supply and sewerage systems, as well as a power plant, were disabled, and industrial enterprises were almost destroyed. This was followed by the restoration of the city. First, the industry giants launched: metallurgical, sawmill, and wood processing plants, then they set up lines for hosiery and clothing factories, built and launched food industry enterprises.

Second title

What was the former name of Volgograd (1925-1961)? In 1925, the city of Tsaritsyn changed its name to Stalingrad. Of course, this renaming is associated with I.V. Stalin, who since 1922 was the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. By this time, the city had 112 thousand people, it ranked nineteenth in terms of population among Russian cities. Two years later the population was already 140 thousand, which served as an impetus for large-scale housing construction.

Subsequently, the city, like the whole country as a whole, developed towards industrialization. The country's first tractor plant was built, and the Red October metallurgical plant began producing high-quality steel.

War

But the outbreak of the war knocked the ground out from under our feet and subjugated everything. From its first days, Stalingrad turned into the largest arsenal in southeast Russia. The factories continuously produced and repaired tanks, ships, and machine guns. A division was formed on the territory of the city people's militia and eight battalions. Defensive construction reached a huge scale. Railway lines were built, which played a role huge role in supplying troops. Since 1942, Stalingrad has repelled regular enemy air raids by local air defense forces.

The city worked and fought in spite of the fascist invaders, thwarting Hitler's plans. The enemy command sent its selected forces to Stalingrad. If they managed to defeat the main shock concentration of troops, this would significantly change the course of the battles. But Stalingrad stubbornly resisted the onslaught, its heroic resistance allowed Soviet troops launch a decisive offensive. Having defeated the enemy, the Soviet army created the conditions for the course of the entire war. At the Stalingrad line, the enemy was not only stopped, but also crushed physically and morally.

Memorial complex

The legendary Battle of Stalingrad was left behind, turning the city into ruins. In memory of this battle, a famous memorial complex was erected on Mamayev Kurgan with the world famous monument “The Motherland Calls!”, which became a symbol of the city. It took nine years to build, its height is 55 meters, its weight is 8000 tons, the complex is part of the Monument is visible from all over the city.

What was Volgograd called before? Until 1961, it bore the proud name of Stalingrad, but, despite the historical significance of the name, the country's authorities decided to rename the city, giving it a third name - Volgograd, due to its geographical location. According to historians, this idea was put forward in order to combat Stalin’s personality cult.

So you met a short history city and now you can answer any question about what the city of Volgograd used to be called.

The Battle of Stalingrad became a turning point in the Great Patriotic War. After this, the advantage passed to the side Soviet army. Therefore, Stalingrad became one of the main symbols Great Victory Soviet people over Nazi Germany. But why was this hero city soon renamed? And what is Stalingrad called now?

Tsaritsyn, Stalingrad, Volgograd

In 1961, by Decree of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR, the city was renamed, and now Stalingrad is called Volgograd. Until 1925, this city was called Tsaritsyn. When Joseph Stalin actually came to power in the USSR, the personality cult of the new leader began, and some cities began to bear his name. So Tsaritsyn became Stalingrad. But after Stalin’s death in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev became the new leader of the country and in 1956, at the 20th Congress of the Communist Party, he debunked Stalin’s cult of personality, pointing out all its negative consequences. Five years later, the massive dismantling of monuments to Stalin began, and the cities that bore his name began to return their former names. But the origin of the name Tsaritsyn did not fit into Soviet ideology somewhat; they began to choose a different name for the city and settled on Volgograd, since it stands on the great Russian Volga River.

Volgograd - on weekdays, Stalingrad - on holidays

True, in 2013, deputies of the Volgograd City Duma partially returned the old name to the city and decided to use the combination hero city Stalingrad as a symbol of Volgograd on holidays such as May 9, February 23, June 22 and others significant dates related to the history of the city. This was done as a tribute to the veterans of the Great Patriotic War.

Volgograd is one of the most famous and significant cities bearing the title of Hero City. In the summer of 1942, fascist German troops launched a massive offensive on the southern front, trying to capture the Caucasus, the Don region, the lower Volga and Kuban - the richest and most fertile lands of the USSR. First of all, the city of Stalingrad came under attack, the attack on which was entrusted to the 6th Army under the command of Colonel General Paulus.

On July 12, the Soviet command created the Stalingrad Front, the main task of which was to stop the invasion of German invaders in the southern direction. On July 17, 1942, one of the greatest and largest battles in the history of World War II began - the Battle of Stalingrad. Despite the fascists' desire to capture the city as quickly as possible, it continued for 200 long, bloody days and nights, ending in complete victory, thanks to the dedication and incredible efforts of the heroes of the army, navy and ordinary residents of the region.

The offensive operation continued for 75 days and, finally, the enemy at Stalingrad was surrounded and defeated. January 1943 brought complete victory on this section of the front. The fascist invaders were surrounded, and General Paulus and his entire army surrendered. During the entire Battle of Stalingrad, the German army lost more than 1.5 million people.

In the hero city of Volgograd there are many monuments dedicated to the heroes of the Great Patriotic War. Among them is the famous memorial complex on Mamayev Kurgan, a hill on the right bank of the Volga known since the time of the Tatar-Mongol invasion. During the Battle of Stalingrad, particularly fierce battles took place here, as a result of which approximately 35,000 heroic soldiers were buried on Mamayev Kurgan. In honor of all the fallen, in 1959 a memorial to the “Heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad” was erected here.

During street fighting in the city, a four-story building on what is now Lenin Square became an impregnable stronghold. In the second half of September, a reconnaissance and assault group, led by Sergeant Pavlov, captured the house and entrenched itself in it. Four days later, reinforcements arrived under the command of Senior Lieutenant Afanasyev, delivering weapons and ammunition - the house became an important stronghold in the defense system. For 58 days, a small garrison of the house repelled German attacks until Soviet troops launched a counterattack. In 1943, after the victory in Battle of Stalingrad, the house was rebuilt. It is considered the first restored building in the city. In 1985, a memorial wall-monument was opened on the end wall.

On October 2, 1942, in a battle near the Red October plant, a private of the 883rd Infantry Regiment and a former sailor of the Pacific Fleet, Mikhail Panikakha, destroyed a German tank at the cost of his life. A stray bullet broke the Molotov cocktail in his hand, the liquid instantly spread over the fighter’s body and ignited. But, without being confused and overcoming the pain, he grabbed the second bottle, rushed at the advancing tank and set it on fire. For this feat, on December 9, 1942, he was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree. On May 5, 1990, he was posthumously awarded the title of Hero Soviet Union. At the site of Mikhail Panikakha’s feat, on Metallurgov Avenue, in 1975, a monument was erected to him in the form of a six-meter copper sculpture on a reinforced concrete pedestal.

At the place where in January 1943 the troops of the Don Front, under the command of Colonel General K. Rokossovsky, completed the defeat of the southern group German troops, today there is the Square of Fallen Fighters and the Alley of Heroes. A special feature of its architectural ensemble is the marble steles of the Heroes of the Soviet Union, installed for the 40th anniversary of the Victory, on which the names of 127 heroes - Stalingrad residents are immortalized. And on the Square of Fallen Fighters, where on January 31, 1943, the commander of the 6th German Army, Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus, and his staff were captured in the basement of a department store, an eternal flame was lit in 1963.

In the second half of 1942, G. K. Zhukov, who then held the rank of army general, as a representative of the Supreme Command Headquarters, coordinated the actions of the armies of the Stalingrad Front. In memory of his contribution to the Victory, a monument was erected on the avenue that bears his name in 1996, on the 100th anniversary of Zhukov’s birth. It is a bronze half-figure of Marshal of Victory in a tunic mounted on a pedestal. On the left side of it is a granite slab depicting the four stars of the Hero of the Soviet Union, which he was awarded, and the battles in which he took part are recorded on the stone blocks.

The ships of the Volzhskaya made a great contribution to the Stalingrad victory military flotilla. They provided fire support to Soviet troops, landed troops, transported ammunition, and evacuated the population. In 1974, a monument to the Volga rivermen was erected - the boat “Gasitel”, a participant in the Battle of Stalingrad, located on a pedestal. Behind the boat there is a thirteen-meter stele, in the lower part of which there is an anchor, and at the top - a star. In 1980, in the fairway of the Volga opposite Mamayev Kurgan, a monument in the form of an anchor, 15 meters high, installed on a floating platform, was opened. There is an inscription on it - “To the Volga rivermen, ships that died in the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942–1943.” In 1995, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Victory, another monument to the sailors of the Volga Flotilla was unveiled on the embankment - the armored boat BK-13 installed on a pedestal.

In January 1942, the 10th was formed in Stalingrad from city residents. rifle division NKVD troops, units of border guards from the Urals and Siberia also joined it. Together with the militia, it took on the first blow of the German invasion in August 1942. On December 2, 1942, the division was awarded the Order of Lenin, and during the entire period of World War II, 20 security officers of the division were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In memory of their feat, in 1947, a monument “Chekists - Defenders of the City” was erected on Chekist Square. It is a 17-meter pedestal, which is crowned with a bronze figure of a warrior with a naked sword raised high in his hand.

Not far from the monument to the security officers, on May 28, 2011, on the day of the border guard, the “Monument to Demolition Dogs, Tank Destroyers” was erected. The 10th NKVD division included a 28th separate detachment of demolition dogs, which destroyed dozens of German armored vehicles.

The 62nd Soviet Army was commanded by General V. Chuikov, an excellent organizer and tactician of war. His contribution to the Stalingrad victory was invaluable. Later, his experience of fighting in the city would come in handy during the storming of Berlin in 1945. For the defense of Stalingrad, V. Chuikov received the Order of Suvorov, 1st degree. In total, during the Second World War he was twice awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. It was V. Chuikov who surrendered and capitulated the Berlin garrison. According to his will, after his death on March 18, 1982, he was buried on Mamayev Kurgan at the foot of the Motherland monument. In 1990, a monument to the marshal was erected on the street named after him, on the site where the headquarters of the 62nd Army was located during the war. The author of the monument was his son, architect A. Chuikov.

In July 1942, units of the people's militia were formed from workers and employees of the Stalingrad Tractor Plant. On August 23, 1942, a massive offensive of Wehrmacht units began from the north along the Volga towards Stalingrad. There was no active army in the city, but the factory militia, together with other volunteers, stopped the enemy, preventing the Germans from attempting to take Stalingrad outright. In memory of their feat, in 1983, a forged copper monument with a bas-relief of three militiamen was erected in the park near the plant.

During the war, the Stalingrad Tractor Plant completely switched to production military products- artillery and tanks. His role in creating the firepower of the Soviet army is invaluable, because he was the closest supplier of military products to the front line. In 1943, one of the T-34 tanks was installed near the main entrance of the plant in honor of the labor feat of the plant workers. It was one of the first monuments dedicated to the events of the Second World War. In 1949, the tank was placed on a pedestal, and in 1978, reconstruction was carried out.

A unique memorial complex, dedicated to events The Battle of Stalingrad was created in Volgograd in the post-war years. From 1948 to 1954, 17 T-34 tank turrets were installed on granite pedestals in four districts of the city. The monuments are installed at the points of maximum approach of German troops to the banks of the Volga and form a line 30 km long, the distance between pedestals is 2-3 kilometers. Tank turrets were assembled from equipment lost in the Battle of Stalingrad. Turrets of T-34 tanks of various modifications, manufacturers, with traces of battles and holes were selected.

The original location of the settlement was an island opposite the mouth of the Tsarina River, which has long since disappeared. The reason for the formation and development of Tsaritsyn was the historical need to gain a foothold on the banks of the lower Volga in order to ensure the security of the southern borders of Russia, and, in addition, to create the so-called “transport” for transporting timber from the Volga to the Don. The geographical location of the "transport" at the junction of the Volga and Don, at the place of their greatest convergence, has attracted the attention of various peoples to this area since ancient times. Several centuries before our era, the “perevoloka” served as a trade route along which goods came from Greece, and later from Rome in exchange for raw materials and slaves supplied by nomads and semi-sedentary tribes.

Volga-Donskaya

In the 8th-9th centuries AD, this region was in the possession of the huge kingdom of the Khozars, which were feudal associations of semi-nomadic heterogeneous tribes. Among the large Khozar cities and settlements on the lower Volga, the capital of the kingdom, Itil, located at the mouth of the Volga, became the most famous.

In the 11th-12th centuries, vast territories of the Lower Volga and Don steppes were inhabited by numerous nomadic tribes Polovtsy-Kipchak, who have long roamed the vast expanses near the Volga and Don. In the second half of the 13th century, the powerful Golden Horde Tatar kingdom arose in the Lower Volga region, which had a certain influence on life in the Volga basin.
The founder of the kingdom was Batu Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan, who became famous for his devastating wars. One of the centers of the Golden Horde kingdom was the city of Sarai-Berke on the Akhtuba River, the left tributary of the Volga, where the village of Tsarev still exists near the city of Leninsk.

Memorial pillar

The surviving maps compiled in the 14th century indicate the existence of a large city in the area of present-day Volgograd, which was essentially the predecessor of Tsaritsyn. One of the khan’s headquarters was located in the city, and in the place where the Church of the Baptist stood before the revolution, there was Batu’s palace. Traces of this city, in the form of ruins of stone walls, heaps of stones, fragments of bricks, as well as silver, gold and other things, were discovered even until the recent past in the area of the former village of Mechetnoye, which was included within the boundaries of modern Volgograd.

Excavations

From these places the Tatars launched raids on Russian lands. In 1380, from the lower reaches of the Volga and Mamai, he began another campaign against the Russian land, and here, after the defeat on the Kulikovo field, he sought refuge.

Weakened by the Battle of Kulikovo Golden Horde became easy prey for the formidable avalanches of new conquerors that fell upon it. Tamerlane devastated the capital of the Golden Horde, Sarai, and other Tatar cities and settlements in the Lower Volga region. As a result, this entire region was devastated for a long time. A Venetian envoy traveling along the Volga from Astrakhan to Moscow in 1476, in his words, “found terrible and vast deserts in this area without roads or habitation.” In 1556, the Russian army of Ivan the Terrible forever destroyed the remnants of the Golden Horde Khanate - the Astrakhan Kingdom, opening a new page in the history of the Russian state.

With the fall of the Kipchak kingdom, and then Kazan and Astrakhan, Russian settlements began to appear on the banks of the Volga. These were small fortresses or guard posts, one of which was located on the Volga Island opposite the mouth of the Tsarina River. After the name of the river, the island began to be called Tsaritsyn.

Tsaritsyn 16th century

At that time, the Tsarina was a high-water river about 10 kilometers long, originating at the heights of the Volga-Don watershed and flowing from west to east. Large Tatar settlements were concentrated in the area of this river for several centuries.
There are many legends about the origin of the name of the river. It is possible that it arose from the consonance of the Tatar words “sari-su”, which means “yellow water” or “sari-chin”, i.e. “yellow island”
with the word "Tsaritsyn". Other legends include the legend that the daughter of the Khan of the Golden Horde, who accepted the Christian faith, was thrown from a steep cliff into a river called “Tsaritseva”. There are also suggestions that the city was given its name by Ivan the Terrible, who erected a small fortress here in 1556 in honor of his wife Anastasia.
Tsaritsyn is one of the oldest Russian cities located on the Volga, on whose land, as history says, the Scythians, Huns, Khazars passed through, after them the Avars, Ugrians (Hungarians), Pechenegs, Polovtsians, Tatars and, finally, in the XVII-XVIII centuries Kalmyks and Kazakhs. Some peoples stayed here for a short time, leaving burial mounds and ruined cities as evidence of their stay.

The city of Tsaritsyn first appeared on the map in 1614, and it was already located on the right bank of the Volga. At this time, on the map, below Sviyazhsk and Kazan, only three cities were shown: Tetyush, Saratov and Tsaritsyn. According to some sources, it can be assumed that Tsaritsyn was founded in 1558, according to others - in 1559, and according to the historian Karamzin, Tsaritsyn was founded approximately around 1600 under Tsar Boris Godunov. It is generally accepted that the city was founded in 1589. The founder of the modern city is considered to be Grigory Zasekin, who arrived in these regions from Kazan and was engaged in trade affairs.

Grigory Zasekin

At the beginning of its existence, Tsaritsyn was one of many military cities built by Muscovite Russia after the conquest of the Kazan and Astrakhan Tatar kingdoms.

Sagittarius

In documents dating back to 1636 that have survived to this day, it is said that “Tsaritsyn is located 350 versts from Saratov, lies on the right bank on a hill, is small, built in the shape of a parallelogram... and inhabited only by archers, of whom 400 people live. These archers are obliged to keep guard against the Tatars and Kazakhs and serve as guards for ships passing by." The Tsaritsyn fortress, according to the same sources, had dimensions within the range of “80 fathoms in length and 40 in width.” To one of the descriptions of a journey along the Volga through the Caspian Sea to Persia, surrounded by a wooden wall with 12 towers. Outside the city walls there were up to three dozen houses, a church with three domes.
Founded in the Lower Volga region, far from the main settlements of Russia, surrounded by steppe nomads, Tsaritsyn was for many years one of the strategic points of the Russian state.