Victory Day

English

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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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