The Presidential Library illustrates the courage and heroism of the defenders of the Fatherland

Defender of the Fatherland Day is celebrated on February 23. Officially it was established by the first decrees of the Soviet government: On the Creation of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army and the Socialist Homeland is in Danger!, published on February 22, 1918, which declared that "...a sacred duty of Russian workers and peasants is the selfless defence of the Soviet Republic...".

The next day, February 23, Petrograd, Moscow and other Russian cities hosted mass meetings. Workers were called for defending their Fatherland. This day was marked by the mass induction of volunteers into the Red Army. Exactly one year later, on February 23, 1919, the Pravda newspaper published an editorial about the celebration of the Red Army's anniversary. The collection The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA) on the Presidential Library's portal introduces documents of that time.

But the overall historical significance of the Defender of the Fatherland Day is much vital. Since the dawn of time, people rose to defend the Russian land - young and old, volunteers, ordinary soldiers and generals.

The Presidential Library has formed and keeps on improving numerous collections devoted to famous Russian military leaders - grand general Alexander Nevsky (1221-1263); Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky, the leaders of the People's Militia; Generalissimus Alexander Suvorov (1730-1800), General Mikhail Skobelev (1843–1882), as well as major battles and wars: the Battle of Kulikovo, the Patriotic War of 1812, the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, the Soviet-Japanese War of 1945, the Defence and Siege of Leningrad. The extensive collection Memory of the Great Victory highlights the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.

Russian military leaders of all times had the same devotion to their native land, courage and military talent. For example, the priest Nikolai Voskresensky describes Alexander Nevsky in the short biography Holy Grand Prince Alexander Nevsky (1898): "An excited leader, he knew how to encourage the people and the army. ... His decisive and fearless genius inspired his squad".

Academician Pavel Lvov writes about Dmitry Pozharsky in his book Pozharsky and Minin, Saviors of the Fatherland (1810): "...When the battle began, he was an example for imitation for everyone. <...> Prince Pozharsky was a brave knight and a skilful general, a merciful victor, a wise leader...".

The publicist Matvey Peskovsky called Alexander Suvorov a "Russian knight" in the essay Alexander Suvorov, His Life and Military Career (1899), highlighting that the famous commander "himself was the best and most perfect soldier, as a living example and model for the entire army".

The publication Mikhail Dmitrievich Skobelev, His Life and Service to the Fatherland (1882), devoted to the military leader who went down in history as a "white general", quotes the words of Bishop Amvrosiy: "Love for the Fatherland was... the source of that selfless bravery and fearless courage in the face of death, which made him a legendary hero in the memory of the people".

The history of the Russian state is full of many wars. Fearless warriors always were ready to defend their native land.

During the Great Patriotic War, everyone became the defenders of our Fatherland - commanders, soldiers, partisans, fighters of the underground movement and rare workers... Men, women, children. "Where did their sheer, unbending willpower that amazed and fascinated the whole world come from? Sure, they were defending their homes, children, loved ones and families. However, what they shared was the love for their homeland, their Motherland. That deep-seated, intimate feeling is fully reflected in the very essence of our nation and became one of the decisive factors in its heroic, sacrificial fight against the Nazis", says the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin in the article 75th Anniversary of the Great Victory: Shared Responsibility to History and our Future, released on the Presidential Library's portal.