Victory Day

English

Noun

Victory Day (plural Victory Days)

  1. Any of various public holidays in various countries to commemorate victories in important battles or wars in the countries' history.
  2. (specifically) 9 May, celebrated as Victory Day in Russia, which commemorates the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany.
    • 2025 May 8, Daniil Martikainen-Iarlykovskii, “The never-ending war : How have Putin’s Victory Day speeches evolved over the past quarter of a century?”, in Novaya Gazeta Europe[1]:
      Victory Day was first celebrated in the Soviet Union to mark the 20th anniversary of the German defeat in 1965. What had until then been just another workday became a public holiday which, as Russian historian Kirill Kobrin argues, was used from the outset as a political tool, with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev keen to use the event as a means of boosting the USSR’s image internationally.

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