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Volgograd (Волгогра́д) (population: 1,100,000), formerly called Tsaritsyn (Цари́цын) (1598 - 1925) and Stalingrad (Сталингра́д) (1925 - 1961), is a city on the west bank of Volga river in southwestern Volgograd Oblast (province), Northern Caucasus district, Russia.
The city originated with the foundation of the fortress of Tsaritsyn in 1589 to defend the southern border of tsarist Muscovy. This name (in Tartar) came about because the town lies where the river Tsaritsa meets the river Volga. The city gained its new name of Stalingrad (literally: Stalin city) in 1925 because Stalin's allegedly decisive leadership there during the Russian Civil War became legendary. The name change typifies the way in which a much larger role in the Russian Revolution than he actually had became attributed to Stalin retroactively.
The Stalingrad area became the site of the Battle of Stalingrad, which raged through the city from the summer of 1942 to February 2, 1943 - in terms of loss of human life, one of the costliest battles in history.
The city gained its new name of "Volgograd" (Volga city) in 1961 as part of Nikita Khrushchev's attempt to liberalize the Soviet Union somewhat after Stalin's rule. Today a surprisingly large movement exists in Volgograd that wants to change the name back to "Stalingrad". This trend builds on the general feeling that the Great Patriotic War and the battle had an importance greater than the bad associations of Stalin's name.