The Russians in the VTsIOM survey called the heroes of the Fatherland of all eras: the Minister of Defense Shoiga bypassed Suvorov and Kutuzov

The Russians consider the Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov, the great Russian commander Alexander Suvorov and the Minister of Defense of Russia Sergey Shoiga by the heroes of the Fatherland of all eras. This is evidenced by a survey published on the website of the All -Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM).

“Among the representatives of Russian military personnel of all eras, the Russians consider the hero of the Fatherland, first of all, Georgy Zhukov - 37% of respondents named his name when answering a question without the proposed options. Every fifth also considers the hero of the Fatherland of the current Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu (19%),” the authors of the study pointed out, saying that spontaneous answers to the question of a proposal to remember the heroes of all epics. The first five also included commanders Alexander Suvorov (15%), Mikhail Kutuzov (12%) and Konstantin Rokossovsky (11%). Less commonly, respondents called such historical personalities as Joseph Stalin (8%), Ivan Konev (5%), Alexander Lebed (3%) and Alexander Nevsky (3%).

Also, the survey participants were invited to choose the names of famous commanders from the list. In this embodiment, the name of Zhukov was the leader - 62%, and often it was called fellow citizens of 60 years and older (68%). The following was Suvorov (51%), the outstanding commanders Mikhail Kutuzov (42%), Konstantin Rokossovsky (33%) and Alexander Nevsky (30%).

It should be noted that Suvorov and Zhukov were also named in the list of heroes of the Patriotic War of 1812: in a survey conducted on the 200th anniversary of the war, the name of the hero of the novel “War and Peace” Andrei Bolkonsky also appeared. However, 66% of respondents nevertheless remembered that the army in the war was commanded by Mikhail Kutuzov. The Russians and the names of other real heroes of the war Peter Bagration (20%), Denis Davydov (11%) and Mikhail Barclay de Tolly (7%) called.

No less interesting are the answers of the Russians to the question of what, in their opinion, caused the defeat of the French in the war of 1812 in Russia. The main reason for the loss of France was called a harsh winter (46%) and only then remembered the heroism of Russian soldiers (41%). The merit of commanders in the war in the war was called 32% of respondents. A quarter praised the works of partisans and a patriotic rise among the population (26%). Also, among the answers about the causes of the defeat of the French troops, such as bad roads (13%), typhoid epidemic (6%) and heomory composition (Italians, Dutch, Germans) of Napoleon’s army (4%) sounded. As for the question of who won the Battle of Borodino, only 10% of respondents rightly noticed that there were no triumphs. 70% announced the victory of the Russian army, another 13% awarded the victory of Bonaparte.

On December 9, Russia celebrates the Heroes of the Fatherland, also known as the Day of St. George Cavaliers. On this day in 1769, the Russian Empress Catherine II established the imperial military order of the Holy Great Martyr and victorious George - the highest military award of the empire. Since then, this day has been celebrated as the Day of St. George Cavaliers until October 1917. After that, the order was abolished and restored only in 2000.

The commemorative date of the Heroes of the Fatherland was established by the State Duma on January 26, 2007, when Russian parliamentarians adopted the appropriate bill in the first reading. The explanatory note to the document said that the authors of the bill not only pay tribute to the heroic ancestors, but also honor the living heroes of the Soviet Union, the Heroes of the Russian Federation, the gentlemen of the Order of St. George and the Order of Glory. The authors of the bill expressed the hope that the new commemorative date of Russia will contribute to the "forming in society of the ideals of selfless and disinterested service to the Fatherland."