Quote:
Originally Posted by yuriandrade
Montreal-Toronto and Rio de Janeiro-São Paulo are the two most dramatic leading city shifts in history.
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An older but equally dramatic flip: St. Petersburg to Moscow.
Before the Revolution, St. Petersburg ruled supreme in Russia. Cultural, economic, population, foreign ties, and of course the crown itself. Moscow was seen as an economic backwater with historic/cultural appeal, still big but not the juggernaut of St. Petersburg.
The Revolution ushering in a central-planning government hyperfocused on Moscow, Stalin's suspicion of Leningrad, then the horrid blow of World War II, Leningrad being too close to the border, then the post-1991 new rich continuing to concentrate Russia's wealth on Moscow...
Now, Moscow and St. Petersburg have completely flipped their roles from 1913. One is the juggernaut, the other is a historical trinket...