Volgograd (Волгогра́д) (population: 1,012,000), 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 Russia. This name (in Tatar) 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 role much larger than he actually played in the Russian Revolution became attributed to Stalin retroactively. See also List of places named after Stalin.

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. For the heroism shown during the battle, the city was awarded the title Hero City in 1945. A memorial complex commemorating the battle, dominated by a tall allegorical sculpture of Mother Russia, was erected on Mamayev Kurgan, a hill that saw some of the most intense fighting during the battle.

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.

There were once serious talks on reverting the name during Konstantin Chernenko's government in 1985 shortly before his death.

da:Volgograd de:Wolgograd eo:Volgogrado fr:Volgograd nl:Wolgograd ja:ヴォルゴグラード no:Volgograd pl:Wołgograd ru:Волгоград fi:Volgograd sv:Volgograd