Nizhny Novgorod

Nizhny Novgorod (Ни́жний Но́вгород), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, is, with a population of 1,250,619 (in 2010), the fifth-largest city in Russia and the administrative center of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast and Volga Federal District. From 1932 to 1990, it was known as Gorky (Горький), after the writer Maxim Gorky, who was born there. The city is an important economic, transportation and cultural center of Russia and the vast Volga-Vyatka economic region. It is located about 400 km east of Moscow, where the Oka empties into the Volga.

The city has been founded in 1221 by Prince Yuri II of Vladimir. By 1817, Nizhny Novgorod had become a great trade center of the Russian Empire. In 1896 a fair was organized as the All-Russia Exhibition. During the Soviet period, the city became an important industrial center. During the Second World War, Gorky became the biggest provider of the military equipment to the front. Due to this, the Luftwaffe constantly bombed the city from the air. The Gorky Automobile Plant was destroyed, but the citizens reconstructed the factory after 100 days.

After the war, Gorky turned in a "closed city," a status which ended in 1985. In 1990, not long before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the city was renamed back to Nizhny Novgorod.

Nizhny Novgorod in The War That Came Early
German and Russian tanks clashed just outside of Gorki in 1943.