Great Patriotic War

The Great Patriotic War is used in Russia and other states of the former Soviet Union to describe the period of the Second World War following the commencement of Operation Barbarossa (the Invasion of the Soviet Union) on June 22, 1941. The main reason of using this propaganda therm, was to avoid the impression, that in preceeding period of World War II, Soviet Union sided with Axis, from signing Nazi-Soviet pact through invasion on Poland and Finland and annexation of Baltic countries.