Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Volga begins its journey in the village of Volgoverkhov'e within the Tver Oblast at an elevation of 228 meters above sea level. It discharges into the Caspian Sea below Astrakhan at a depth of 28 meters below sea level.
The total length of the Volga measures 3,530 kilometers. Its catchment area covers approximately 1.36 million square kilometers.
Scythians called the river Irtys which literally meant wetness while Herodotus recorded two ancient Iranic names for the Volga as Rha and Oarces. Turkic peoples living along the river formerly referred to it as Itil or Atil and modern Tatar speakers call the river Ätlek.
Construction of Soviet Union-era dams involved enforced resettlement of huge numbers of people to create reservoirs like the Rybinsk Reservoir which became the largest artificial lake in the world at that time. These projects flooded 2,600 villages and 165 cities covering almost 78,000 square kilometers to support industrialization and navigation.
During World War II the city on the big bend of the Volga known as Volgograd witnessed the Battle of Stalingrad between Soviet Union and German forces. The conflict possibly represents the bloodiest battle in human history fought over access to the river itself.
On the 28th of August 1941 Stalin had the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet pass a decree on resettlement of Germans residing in the Volga region. Approximately 400,000 remaining Volga Germans were accused of collective collaboration and deported to Siberia and Central Asia where they faced forced labor camps known as Labour Army.