GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR

The term 'Great Patriotic War' (, ''Velikaya Otechestvennaya Voyna''^[1]) is the term used in Russia and other states of the former Soviet Union to describe the war of 1941 to 1945 between Nazi Germany and its Axis allies and the Soviet Union. The term is not generally used outside the former Soviet Union (see Eastern Front). There is, however, a semantic difference between this term and "World War II", as the Russian term refers only to the war including Germany and the Soviet Union. The Far East front and the war on the Western front that occurred before the USSR was invaded are not referred to by this term.
The term was coined following the German attack against the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941 and was to mobilize the population to defend the motherland. Before then, the term referred to the Patriotic War of Russia against the French invaders under Napoleon in 1812 (which also began on June 22 and is now known as the 'Patriotic War of 1812').
The term Great Patriotic War appeared in the Soviet newspaper ''Pravda'' one day after Hitler invaded the Soviet Union, in a long article titled ''The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet People'' (Russian: Великая Отечественная война cоветского народа). The term 'war against aggression' was used by the Soviet Union before the involvement of the United States and Japan. The conflict was also known as ''The Sacred War'' or ''The Sacred People's War'' by Soviet media in the early days of the war.
In the Soviet lexicography, the war is sometimes presented as struggle between two ideologies, with the result of the war being Soviet victory over fascism.

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See also

Footnotes

See also

★ World War II

★ Museum of the Great Patriotic War in Kiev

★ Eastern Front (World War II)

Footnotes

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