Nizhny Tagil became a town officially in 1919. The intensive industrial development of the town in the 1930s was predetermined by objectives of building a new coal and metallurgical base in the east of the country. The whole area to the east of the old town turned into one huge construction site. By 1941, along with traditional mining, gold, and metallurgical production the city had developed engineering and chemical industries. During the Second World War, most of the T-34 tanks of the Red Army were produced in Nizhny Tagil.
