Stalingrad, named after
Joseph Stalin, was the temporary name of a city both earlier and later called
Volgograd. It is a city in the southwest [Volgograd province]
? (formerly Stalingrad oblast) in what was the
Soviet Union. The city was known as Stalingrad from
1925 until
1961. The reversion of the name back to Volvograd was part of [Nikita Khrushchev]
?'s attempt to liberalize the Soviet Union somewhat after Stalin's rule. See
Volgograd.
Stalingrad is also a brief way of referring to a vicious World War II battle taking place in the Russian city of Stalingrad from 1942–43--in terms of loss of human life, one of the costliest battles in history. See Battle of Stalingrad.