stylistic:style_transfer
20th century

During World War I Rostov-on-Don was briefly occupied by the German Empire in 1918.

During the Russian Civil War, the Whites and the Reds contested Rostov-on-Don, then the most heavily industrialized city of South Russia. By 1928, the regional government had moved from the old Cossack capital of Novocherkassk to Rostov-on-Don.

In the Soviet years, the Bolsheviks demolished two of Rostov-on-Don's principal landmarks: St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (1908) and St. George Cathedral (1783–1807).

During World War II, Nazi German forces occupied Rostov-on-Don, at first from 19/20 November to 2 December 1941, after attacks by the German First Panzer Army in the Battle of Rostov, and then for seven months from 24 July 1942 to 14 February 1943. The town was of strategic importance as a railway junction and a river port accessing the Caucasus, a region rich in oil and minerals. It took ten years to restore the city from the damage during World War II.

In 1942 up to 30,000 Russian Jews were massacred by the German military in Rostov-on-Don at a site called Zmievskaya Balka.