Volgograd vs Skopje

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Volgograd (Russian: Волгогра́д), formerly Tsaritsyn (Цари́цын) (1589–1925), and Stalingrad (Сталингра́д) (1925–1961), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Volgograd Oblast, Russia. The city lies on the western bank of the Volga, covering an area of 859.4 square kilometres (331.8 square miles), with a population of over 1 million residents. Volgograd is the fifteenth-largest city in Russia, the second-largest city on the Southern Federal District, and the fourth-largest city on the Volga. The city was founded as the fortress of Tsaritsyn in 1589. By the nineteenth century, Tsaritsyn became an important river-port and commercial centre, leading to its population expanding rapidly. During the Russian Civil War, Tsaritsyn came under Soviet control. On April 10, 1925, the city was renamed Stalingrad in honor of Joseph Stalin.

During World War II, the Axis forces attacked the city, leading to the Battle of Stalingrad, one of the largest and bloodiest battles in the history of warfare. On 10 November 1961, Nikita Khrushchev's administration changed the name of the city to Volgograd. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the city became the administrative centre of Volgograd Oblast. Known locally as the "Hero City", Volgograd today is the site of The Motherland Calls, an 85-meter high statue dedicated to the heroes of the battle, which is the tallest statue in Europe, as well as the tallest statue of a woman in the world. The city has many tourist attractions, such as museums, sandy beaches, and a self-propelled floating church. Volgograd was one of the host cities of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Source: Wikipedia

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Skopje ( SKOP-yee, -⁠yay, US also SKOHP-; Macedonian: Скопје [ˈskɔpjɛ] (listen); Albanian: Shkup) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre. The territory of Skopje has been inhabited since at least 4000 BC; remains of Neolithic settlements have been found within the old Kale Fortress that overlooks the modern city centre. Originally a Paeonian city, Scupi became the capital of Dardania in the second century BC. On the eve of the 1st century AD, the settlement was seized by the Romans and became a military camp. When the Roman Empire was divided into eastern and western halves in 395 AD, Scupi came under Byzantine rule from Constantinople. During much of the early medieval period, the town was contested between the Byzantines and the Bulgarian Empire, whose capital it was between 972 and 992. From 1282, the town was part of the Serbian Empire, and acted as its capital city from 1346 to 1371. In 1392, Skopje was conquered by the Ottoman Turks, who called it Üsküb, with this name also being in use in English for a time. The town stayed under Ottoman control for over 500 years, serving as the capital of pashasanjak of Üsküp and later the Vilayet of Kosovo. In 1912, it was annexed by the Kingdom of Serbia during the Balkan Wars.

During the First World War the city was seized by the Kingdom of Bulgaria, and, after the war, it became part of the newly formed Kingdom of Yugoslavia as the capital of Vardarska Banovina. In the Second World War the city was again captured by Bulgaria and in 1944 became the capital of SR Macedonia, a federated state within the Yugoslavia. The city developed rapidly, but this trend was interrupted in 1963 when it was hit by a disastrous earthquake. Skopje is located on the upper course of the Vardar River, and is located on a major north–south Balkan route between Belgrade and Athens. It is a centre for metal-processing, chemical, timber, textile, leather, and printing industries. Industrial development of the city has been accompanied by development of the trade, logistics, and banking sectors, as well as an emphasis on the fields of transportation, culture and sport. According to the last official count from 2002, Skopje had a population of 428,988 inhabitants in its urban area and 506,926 in ten municipalities that form the city and, beside Skopje, include many other less urbanized and rural settlements some of which are located 20 kilometres away from the city itself or even border the neighbouring Kosovo.

Source: Wikipedia