How is World War 2 known to the Russians?
"Latvia. In Soviet times, this period was known as the Great Patriotic War, a term that retains resonance with the Russian community of Latvia today. A part of the local Russian population chose to resist the invaders by serving in the Red Army and in the partisan movement, and supporting the underground Communist Party. But, at the same time, there were quite a number of Russians collaborating with the Nazi authorities. They worked on the newspapers propagandising the myth of ""a national Russia"" free of Bolsheviks and Jews, and ""the liberating mission"" of the Wehrmacht. Russians were won over to"
"than all the other European fronts combined—the Wehrmacht suffered 80% to 93% of all of its total World War II combat casualties on the Eastern Front. Russia's casualties in this war were the highest of all nations, and numbered more than 20 million dead (Russians composed 80% of the 26.6 million people lost by the USSR), which is about half of all World War II casualties and the vast majority of Allied casualties. Russians Russians (, ""russkiye"") are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. The majority of Russians inhabit the nation state of Russia, while notable minorities"
"War II. Though there had been popular support for the war among the Russian public following the Japanese attack at Port Arthur in 1904, that popular support soon turned to discontent after suffering multiple defeats at the hands of the Japanese forces. For many Russians, the immediate shock of unexpected humiliation at the hands of Japan caused the conflict to be viewed as a metaphor for the shortcomings of the Romanov autocracy. Popular discontent in Russia after the war added more fuel to the already simmering Russian Revolution of 1905, an event Nicholas II had hoped to avoid entirely by"
"World War II World War II (often abbreviated to WWII or WW2), also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history,"
"II's government. A show of national unity had accompanied Russia's entrance into the war, with defense of the Slavic Serbs the main battle cry. In the summer of 1914, the Duma and the zemstva expressed full support for the government's war effort. The initial conscription was well organized and peaceful, and the early phase of Russia's military buildup showed that the empire had learned lessons from the Russo-Japanese War. But military reversals and the government's incompetence soon soured much of the population. German control of the Baltic Sea and German-Ottoman control of the Black Sea severed Russia from most of"
"Russian Civil War. Beginning in February 1946, the Red Army, along with the Soviet Navy, embodied the main component of the Soviet Armed Forces; taking the official name of ""Soviet Army"", until its dissolution in December 1991. The Red Army is credited as being the decisive land force in the Allied victory in the European theatre of World War II, and its invasion of Manchuria contributed heavily to the ultimate unconditional surrender of Imperial Japan. During operations on the Eastern Front, it accounted for 75–80% of casualties the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS suffered during the war and ultimately captured the Nazi"
"Eastern Front (World War II) The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of conflict between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union (U.S.S.R.), Poland and other Allies, which encompassed Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Northeast Europe (Baltics), and Southeast Europe (Balkans) from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945. It has been known as the Great Patriotic War (, ""Velikaya Otechestvennaya Voyna"") in the former Soviet Union and modern Russia, while in Germany it was called the Eastern Front (), or the German-Soviet War by outside parties. The battles on the Eastern Front of"
"Napoleonic Wars, the Crimean War, the Russo-Japanese War, the First and Second World Wars, and the Chechen and Georgian conflicts. Under the leadership of Admiral Gorshkov during the Cold War, the Soviet Navy expanded the reach of the Naval Infantry and deployed it worldwide on numerous occasions, but since the dissolution of the Soviet Union its role has been greatly reduced. The Soviet Marines and their Russian successors have a reputation as elite shock troops. For their black uniforms and ferocious performance in combat in the Black Sea and Baltic Sea regions during World War II they received the nickname"
"German failure was the Siege of Leningrad, in which the city was fully blockaded on land between 1941 and 1944 by German and Finnish forces, and suffered starvation and more than a million deaths, but never surrendered. Under Stalin's administration and the leadership of such commanders as Georgy Zhukov and Konstantin Rokossovsky, Soviet forces took Eastern Europe in 1944–45 and captured Berlin in May 1945. In August 1945 the Soviet Army ousted the Japanese from China's Manchukuo and North Korea, contributing to the allied victory over Japan. The 1941–45 period of World War II is known in Russia as the"
"half of the 20th century in Russia and the Soviet Union was marked by a succession of wars, famines and other disasters, each accompanied by large-scale population losses. Stephen J. Lee estimates that, by the end of World War II in 1945, the Russian population was about 90 million fewer than it could have been otherwise. The common Slavic experience of communism combined with the repeated usage of the ideology by Soviet propaganda after World War II within the Eastern bloc (Warsaw Pact) was a forced high-level political and economic hegemony of the USSR dominated by Russians. A notable political"
"that 49 Russians were killed in the war. Mikhail Polikarpov, a historian and participant in the war, numbered Russian soldiers at the hundreds, about 40 of whom died and 20 injured. Primary Russian forces consisted of two organized units known as ""РДО-1"" and ""РДО-2"" (РДО stands for ""Русский Добровольческий Отряд"", which means ""Russian Volunteer Unit""), commanded by Yuriy Belyayev and Alexander Zagrebov, respectively. РДО-2 was also known as ""Tsarist Wolves"", because of the monarchist views of its fighters. There also was a unit of Russian cossacks, known as the ""First Cossack Sotnia"". All these units were operating mainly in Eastern"
"in the Winter War. The Soviet Union also annexed Bessarabia, leading Romania to ally with Germany. On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany launched a massive surprise attack on the Soviet Union. Despite its colossal losses, Soviets alone were responsible for 80% of Germans WWII military casualties. Consequently, since most of the German forces were concentrated on the Eastern Front, USSR was able to push the Germans back once the Allies opened a second front in Europe. After an initial devastating advance, the Wehrmacht suffered its first defeat in war at Moscow. The Germans and their allies tried in 1942 to"
"to 161,475 men. Napoleon lost at least 30,000 men in this battle, to gain a narrow and Pyrrhic victory almost into hostile territory. Napoleon's invasion of Russia is listed among the most lethal military operations in world history. Napoleon's invasion of Russia is better known in Russia as the ""Patriotic War of 1812"" (Russian , ). It should not be confused with the ""Great Patriotic War"" (, ), a term for Adolf Hitler's invasion of Russia during the Second World War. The ""Patriotic War of 1812"" is also occasionally referred to as simply the """"War of 1812"""", a term which"
"II began in September 1939 with Germany's invasion of Poland, as France and Britain declared war in response. Western leaders were stunned when the Soviet Union and Germany split control of Poland; the two powers had reached a non-aggression pact in August 1939, which contained a secret protocol for the partition of Poland. Though few Americans wanted to intervene in the war, an October 1939 Gallup poll showed that over 80 percent of the country favored Britain and France over Germany. Per the terms of the Neutrality Act, Roosevelt recognized a state of war in Europe, imposing an arms embargo"
"on 6 November 1931. The Kichkas Bridge was demolished afterwards. The war (World War II) between the USSR and Germany began on 22 June 1941. In the USSR this war was called the Great Patriotic War, 1941–1945. After the outbreak of the war, the Soviet government started the evacuation of the industrial equipment from the city to Siberia . The Soviet security forces NKVD shot political prisoners in the city. On 18 August 1941, elements of the German 1st Panzergruppe reached the outskirts of Zaporizhia on the right bank and seized the island Khortytsia. The Red Army blew a 120m"
"Cold War II Cold War II (also called the New Cold War or Second Cold War) is a term used to describe an ongoing state of political and military tension between opposing geopolitical power-blocs, with one bloc typically reported as being led by Russia and/or China, and the other led by the United States, European Union, and NATO. It is akin to the original Cold War that saw a stand-off and proxy wars between the Western Bloc led by the United States, and the Eastern Bloc led by the Soviet Union, Russia's predecessor. Past sources, such as academics Fred Halliday,"
"passing out of Belarus, the Soviet Fronts name ""Byelorussian"" kept their name until the end of the war, and were to distinguish themselves in the battles in Poland and Germany in 1944 and 1945. In the Soviet Union the end of World War II in Europe is considered to be 9 May, when the surrender took effect Moscow time. This date is celebrated as a national holiday, Victory Day, or ""День Победы"" in Belarus, Russia and some other post-Soviet countries. Byelorussia in World War II Byelorussia (also known as the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic), known today as Belarus was a"
"towards the end of the Cold War and after the death of the authoritarian Franco. During the Cold War II, a new definition emerged. More specifically, Cold War II, also known as the Second Cold War, New Cold War, Cold War Redux, Cold War 2.0, and Colder War, refers to the tensions, hostilities, and political rivalry that intensified dramatically in 2014 between the Russian Federation on the one hand, and the United States, European Union, NATO and some other countries on the other hand. Tensions escalated in 2014 after Russia's annexation of Crimea, military intervention in Ukraine, and the 2015"
"historians writing that it was Russia that played the greatest role in the victory; and Prussian and later German historians writing that it was Prussia that made the difference. In such a context, various historians liked to diminish the contributions of their allies. Leo Tolstoy was not a historian, but his extremely popular 1869 historical novel ""War and Peace"" which depicted the war as a triumph of what Lieven called the ""moral strength, courage and patriotism of ordinary Russians"" with military leadership a negligible factor has shaped the popular understanding of the war in both Russia and abroad from the"
"Russian Revolution of 1917. World War II was the most financially costly conflict in history; its belligerents cumulatively spent about a trillion U.S. dollars on the war effort (as adjusted to 1940 prices). The Great Depression of the 1930s ended as nations increased their production of war materials. By the end of the war, 70% of European industrial infrastructure was destroyed. Property damage in the Soviet Union inflicted by the Axis invasion was estimated at a value of 679 billion rubles. The combined damage consisted of complete or partial destruction of 1,710 cities and towns, 70,000 villages/hamlets, 2,508 church buildings,"
"However, he admitted that the accuracy of his estimates was not high. In 2007, Memorial estimated about 15,000 Russian soldiers have died in total, while others estimated up to 40,000. According to Amnesty International in 2007 the second war has killed up to 25,000 civilians since 1999 (many in the first months of the conflict), while up to another 5,000 people are missing. ""Many thousands"" of people are believed to be buried in unmarked graves. A report of the Society for Threatened Peoples in November 2005 said that the total number casualties of the first war was 80,000 and the"
"Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War (; 7 November 1917 – 25 October 1922) was a multi-party war in the former Russian Empire immediately after the two Russian Revolutions of 1917, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. The two largest combatant groups were the Red Army, fighting for the Bolshevik form of socialism led by Vladimir Lenin, and the loosely allied forces known as the White Army, which included diverse interests favoring political monarchism, economic capitalism and alternative forms of socialism, each with democratic and antidemocratic variants. In addition, rival militant socialists and nonideological Green armies"
"on the Western front. On 9 April 2015, the Ukrainian parliament replaced the term ""Great Patriotic War"" (""Velyka vitchyzniana viina"") in the country's law with ""Second World War"" (""Druga svitovna viina""), as part of a set of decommunization laws. Great Patriotic War (term) The Great Patriotic War (; , ""Velyka Vitčyznjana vijna""; , ""Vjalikaja Ajčynnaja vajna""), is a term used in Russia and other former republics of the Soviet Union (except for the Baltic states) to describe the conflict fought during the period from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945 along the many fronts of the Eastern Front of"
"Great Patriotic War (term) The Great Patriotic War (; , ""Velyka Vitčyznjana vijna""; , ""Vjalikaja Ajčynnaja vajna""), is a term used in Russia and other former republics of the Soviet Union (except for the Baltic states) to describe the conflict fought during the period from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945 along the many fronts of the Eastern Front of World War II between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany and its allies. For some legal purposes its period might be extended to 11 May 1945 to also include the end of the Prague Offensive. The Great Patriotic War"
"2nd Army (Russian Empire) The Russian 2nd Army (2-я армия, ""2А"") was an army-level command of the Imperial Russian Army in World War I. It was formed just prior to the outbreak of hostilities from the units of Warsaw Military District and was mobilized in August 1914. The army was effectively destroyed at Battle of Tannenberg in August 1914. However, it was rebuilt soon thereafter and fought until almost the end of the war. The field headquarters of the 2nd Army was formed from the staff of the Warsaw Military District in July 1914. Towards the end of 1917, the"
"is commemorated on 9 May. The term ""Patriotic War"" refers to the Russian resistance to the French invasion of Russia under Napoleon I, which became known as the ""Patriotic War of 1812"". In Russian, the term originally referred to a war on one's own territory ( means ""the fatherland""), as opposed to a campaign abroad (), and later was reinterpreted as a war the fatherland, i.e. a defensive war for one's homeland. Sometimes the Patriotic War of 1812 was also referred to as the ""Great Patriotic War"" (); the phrase first appeared no later than 1844 and became popular on"
"War II, conditions in Russia worsened, especially following the Revolution and the Great Famine of 1921. Many Volga Germans sought to leave the USSR, but faced opposition from a government that did not wish to see so large a portion of its population leave. The Russian government imposed a fee for obtaining a passport, which lead to protests as many would-be immigrants flooded the streets of Moscow. Many Mennonites were eventually able to leave, and between the World Wars, over 20,000 left destined for Canada. Beginning in the second decade of the twentieth century, and continuing until several years after"
"World War II, with the cramped and subpar living conditions. Before 1917 there were 300,000 Zionists in Russia, while the main Jewish socialist organization, the Bund, had 33,000 members. Only 958 Jews had joined the Bolshevik Party before 1917; thousands joined after the Revolution. The chaotic years of World War I, the February and October Revolutions, and the Russian Civil War had created social disruption that led to anti-Semitism. Some 150,000 Jews were killed in the pogroms of 1918–1922, 125,000 of them in Ukraine, 25,000 in Belarus. The pogroms were mostly perpetrated by anti-communist forces; sometimes, Red Army units engaged"
"French invasion of Russia The French invasion of Russia, known in Russia as the Patriotic War of 1812 () and in France as the Russian Campaign (), began on 24 June 1812 when Napoleon's crossed the Neman River in an attempt to engage and defeat the Russian army. Napoleon hoped to compel Tsar Alexander I of Russia to cease trading with British merchants through proxies in an effort to pressure the United Kingdom to sue for peace. The official political aim of the campaign was to liberate Poland from the threat of Russia. Napoleon named the campaign the Second Polish"
"in the Balkans and deter Austria-Hungary and Germany. This led Germany to declare war on Russia on 1 August, ultimately expanding the local conflict into a world war. A few months after the Russian Revolution in November 1917, the Russian Civil War ensued, in which a small number of mercenaries from Yugoslavia fought for both the Russian Whites and the Bolsheviks. After the Civil War ended in 1922 in a Bolshevik victory, relations between the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union remained frosty. It was not until June 1940 that the Kingdom of Yugoslavia formally recognised the USSR and"
"Soviet Storm: World War II in the East Soviet Storm: World War II in the East (Russian title: Советский Шторм: Вторая мировая война на Востоке; original Russian title — Великая война, English: ""The Great War"") is a 2011 17-episode Russian television World War II series created by Anna Grazhdan, Artem Drabkin, and Aleksey Isaev. An online version includes 18 episodes, ordered chronologically. The series consists of 2 seasons, which document and recount the most important, bloody, costly, and decisive events, battles, and personalities on the Eastern Front in World War II. Episodes generally last between 40 and 45 minutes and"
"of Russia. The phenomenon was a hindrance in the early 20th century in the Soviet Union since 40% of rural villages were not served by paved roads. ""Rasputitsa"" seasons of Russia are well known as a great defensive advantage in wartime. Common nicknames are ""General Mud"" or ""Marshal Mud"". During the French invasion of Russia in 1812, Napoleon found the mud to be a great hindrance. During the Second World War, the month-long muddy period slowed down the German advance during the Battle of Moscow and may have helped save the Soviet capital from German occupation. Rasputitsa Rasputitsa () is"
"in various countries. But in eastern Europe and Russia, World War II casualties include approximately two million missing Germans, and many mass graves remain to be found. Almost a half million German MIAs have been buried in new graves since the end of the Cold War. Most of them will stay unknown. The German War Graves Commission is spearheading the effort. Similarly, there are approximately 4 million missing Russian service personnel scattered across the former Eastern Front, from Leningrad down to Stalingrad, though around 300 volunteer groups make periodic searches of old battlefields to recover human remains for identification and"