Was the population of Moscow wildly overstated during the Cold War?
score:13
Russian urbanization in the Soviet and post-Soviet eras (2012), p. 22, states:
However, the GPW rapidically reshaped the population dynamics of the region. Even as late as 1959, the populations of St Petersburg and nearby cities remained far below their pre-war levels, and the Moscow conurbation had shrunk back towards its centre. In constrast, nonfront-line cities such as Orenburg, Ufa and Chelyabinsk experienced growth. For the rest of the Soviet period, the Moscow conurbation would grow towards these unscathed areas β
Note that GPW = Great Patriotic War in the above quote.
On p. 20 this paper notes that Moscow was growing by annexation in 1960:
todayβs cities have swallowed thousands of smaller settlements (in 1960 alone, Moscow was expanded to incorporate 150 villages)
So Moscow had lost population following the GPW, and the conurbation of Moscow had shrunk back towards it's center; to increase the official size of city it absorbed 150 nearby villages in 1960.
These two statements imply that the land area of the City of Moscow included many not-so-urban areas, and would have appeared very different than a similarly sized city in America, circa 1960.
Some of the statements attributed to Heinlein as "proof" don't stand up to even cursory analysis: why should shipping on the Moskva River be comparable to that of one of the busiest river systems in the world, the Rhine?
Are Heinlein's outlandish conjectures realistic? No, they are not. But the situation he observed was indeed that of a city that had suffered during the recent "Great Patriotic War", and should indeed have seemed a bit hollow in 1960. Moscow's official population was pumped up by incorporating 150 villages just that year - at 10,000 per village (a typical number for the very urban Germany), that would add 1,500,000 people! So if the official population was 5 million, then the inner regions held only 3.5 million.
Today it is over 11 million, with over 17 million in the larger metro region.
Additional note: The Soviet Union conducted a new census in January of 1959; footnote 1 links to a detailed analysis of Soviet census falsifications, but does not discuss the census of 1959. The 6th footnote is a report on the census of 1959; it states that the first preliminary results were published in May of 1959. The analysis provided is worth reading. Footnote 7 reports on the migration from rural to urban areas: 33% urban in 1939, increasing to 48% urban in 1959. This means that all cities were growing rapidly, despite the loss of population from GPW.
Upvote:1
Traffic on the river is absolutely irrelevant, Moskva river is not used much for transportation, neither for people, nor for goods. I do not know how one can make conclusions from this. At most people use tourist ships over it. Why one would use river if there is a lot of metro and commuter trains? Comparing to Panama Canal which connects two hemispheres is totally out of sense.
The census of 2002 had shown 10,382,754 official (permanent) residents (not counting illegal/temporary migrants, those who rents realty).
The census of 2010 had shown 11,503,501 official (permanent) residents.
Upvote:2
He told Virginia that he thought the city felt to him like it had a population of 600,000 to 800,000, not five million.
Such assumption is clearly wrong and marks your source as highly unreliable.
Is it possible that the USSR's official statements about the population of Moscow in that era were really inflated by an order of magnitude?
First population census held in 1897 in the time of Russian Empire. According to it, Moscow (should I remind that it wasn't a capital city at that time?) population already was slightly more than 1 million. And later Moscow population only grew on as all subsequent census show.
So any "estimate" less than 800,000 is totally absurd and needs no other disproof.
Upvote:3
I would have made first page headlines in the early 90s if true. No, I think Heinlein was led to this conclusion by ideology more than by observation.
ETA: A source about the subject:
Moscow: Governing the Socialist Metropolis, by Timothy J. Colton
More post
- π Why did Hitler order counter-attacks as late as 21/04/1945?
- π Is this medieval picture of hanging 5 royals showing an historical event?
- π Help identifying an old bayonet
- π Was von Manstein's Lack of Success at Leningrad (and later Stalingrad) due to the failure of German military intelligence?
- π In what contexts did male friends kiss in Europe in the 1700s?
- π WWI : odds to cross the man's land alive
- π Were aerial dogfights during WW2 and WW1 typically very one-sided?
- π Who first combined the lateen and square sails that led to the carrack?
- π How was Munich Captured in WWII?
- π What was the last profitable war?
- π Why the M24 Chaffee was not used as a tank at Dien Bien Phu?
- π Did Germany perceive Italy as a good partner in the Triple Alliance?
- π Did B-17 crews run into difficulty releasing their bombs and does data exist on this?
- π Which military commanders burned their own ships?
- π Are there any histories of indigenous Americans who were taken to Europe?
- π Is Lady Arabella Stuart wearing a Jewish symbol?
- π Could besieged medieval cities develop a micro-economy during wars to endure the siege for long time?
- π What were the largest companies in the world before and after the Great Depression?
- π America vs. Australia as a "Penal Colony"
- π Did Nazi Germany ever actually make it illegal to practice Judaism?
- π What factors contributed to the rise of national monarchies in the high middle ages?
- π What was the situation of h*m*sexuals in the early Soviet Union?
- π Did Hirohito offer to stand trial for war crimes, but was turned down by the US?
- π Why did Canada not join the American Revolution?
- π What prompted Cuba to fight against South African Imperialism?
- π Is Sumer considered by historians as a part of Western Civilization?
- π Bretton Woods System : The Meaning as International Monetary System
- π Was the Native American population already decimated before settlers and conquistadors arrived in America?
- π Historical Examples of Child Exchange between cultures or nations
- π Were soldiers in the World Wars paid?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- π Was the population of Moscow wildly overstated during the Cold War?
- π Was the danger of radiation in the case of nuclear war overestimated during the cold war?
- π Why was the Cold War carried out over the whole world instead of between Siberia and Alaska?
- π How was beer production affected by the war during WW2?
- π During World War I, why were church bells stopped until the war was over?
- π Was payment on Louisiana Bonds suspended during the War of 1812?
- π What was the nominal strength of a company in a British Regiment during the American war of Independence?
- π Was there a constant 'fear of the bomb' in the Soviet Union and America during the Cold War?
- π What was the English Civil War called during the Protectorate?
- π What was the estimated malaria death toll for US Forces during World War II?
- π What was the population within the Aurelian Walls of Rome during its peak?
- π To what extent was the Cold War caused by post World War 2 economics?
- π During World War II, were there any parts of the Japanese overseas empire that was capable of local re-supply?
- π Where was the Ixcanha Maya community located during the Caste War of the YucatΓ‘n?
- π How pro-Soviet was India join during the cold war?
- π Why was Hanford, Washington, selected during World War II as the site of Americaβs first nuclear energy plant?
- π Did USSR ever consider invading West Germany during the Cold War seriously?
- π Why were countries which were clearly aligned to one of the two power blocs during cold war a part of the non-aligned movement?
- π Was the treatment of US diplomats in Germany after the declaration of war during WW2 typical?
- π What factors contributed to the U.S economy flourishing during the early cold war period?
- π Is this true that the Russian economy was efficient during war II?
- π What was the most popular food staple among civilians during World War II?
- π Was there regular contact by the general population between the Spanish Netherlands and the Dutch Republic during the second half of the 17th Century?
- π Was there ever a strategic concern about East German refusing to fight against West Germans (and vice versa) if the cold war had gone hot?
- π Was the town Jadovno near GospiΔ named after the concentration camp during World War 2, or was it the other way around?
- π What was the extent of military conscription by the German Army during World War 2?
- π Why didn't Imperial Japan attack the Soviet Union during World War 2?
- π Why didnβt Japan attack the West Coast of the United States during World War II?
- π Why was World War I ended on Nov 11 11:00, rather than immediately upon signing the armistice?
- π Did the Soviets excel in one area of weaponry during World War II?