The term "Patriotic War" refers to Russian resistance to the
French invasion of Russia under
Napoleon I, which became known as the "
Patriotic War of 1812". In
Russian, the term "Patriotic War" (, ) 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 in 1844, and became popular on the eve of the centenary of the Patriotic War of 1812. After 1914, the phrase was applied to
World War I. It was found in the title of "The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet People", a long article by
Yemelyan Yaroslavsky, a member of the
Pravda editors' collegium. The phrase was intended to motivate the population to defend the Soviet fatherland and to expel the invader, and a reference to the Patriotic War of 1812 was seen as a great morale booster. During the Soviet period, historians attempted to make this history fit with the state's communist ideology, with Field Marshal
Mikhail Kutuzov and General
Pyotr Bagration transformed into peasant generals,
Alexander I alternatively ignored or vilified, and the war becoming a massive "People's War" fought by the ordinary people of
Russia, with almost no involvement on the part of the government. The invasion by Germany was called the "Great Patriotic War" by the Soviet government to evoke comparisons with the victory by Tsar Alexander I over Napoleon's invading army. The term "Patriotic War" was officially recognized by establishment of the
Order of the Patriotic War on 20 May 1942, awarded for heroic deeds. == Usage ==