Victory Day parades (Russian: Парад Победы, romanized: Parad Pobedy) are military parades that are held on 9 May in some post-Soviet nations, primarily Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Ukraine. They are held to honor the traditional Victory Day holiday, which commemorates the German Instrument of Surrender on 8 May, 1945 (which was early midnight on 9 May in Moscow Time) and the end of the Second World War in Europe (also known as the Great Patriotic War in Russia). In 2015, the Ukrainian government renamed the holiday as "Victory Day over Nazism in World War II" as part of decommunization laws and in 2023 moved the holiday to 8 May, renaming it to Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism in World War II 1939 – 1945.
The People's Republic of China, once also an Eastern Bloc member until the Sino-Soviet split in 1961, also started holding decennial military parades on 3 September from 2015 onwards to commemorate the Victory over Japan Day (V-J Day). Prior to 2015, the V-J Days were commemorated every ten years, but with only civilian events and official evening galas.
Victory parades as a holiday tradition
As Victory Day is the principal military holiday of Russia and of almost all member the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the celebrations in Moscow and other capital cities serve as national events to mark the important holiday, which commemorates the anniversary of the capitulation of Nazi Germany to the Allied Powers in 1945. The annual or semiannual parades mark the Allied victory in World War II on the Eastern Front, on the same day as the signing of the German act of capitulation to the victorious Allies in Berlin, at midnight of May 9, 1945 (Soviet time), officially concluding the Second World War in Europe and northern parts of Africa.
During the entire history of the Soviet Union, only a total of four parades ever took place in Moscow and throughout the entire Soviet Union. In December 1947, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet under Josef Stalin, decreed that May 9th (Victory Day) would become a working day, effectively making the celebrations cancelled and ceased completely.
However, on April 26, 1965, nearly twenty years after the first parade, under Leonid Brezhnev, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet reversed the actions made in 1947, thus making May 9 a non-working holiday, this would be the first time Victory Day was made as an actual holiday. Further parades would be held in 1985 and 1990.
Until 1989 celebrations of Victory Day were held in most Warsaw Pact countries (save for East Germany, whose celebrations fell on 8 May except in 1975, when it was marked on 9 May). Of all the countries that observed it, only Czechoslovakia held celebration parades every 5 years, also in honor of the successful Prague Uprising that ended on that day in 1945. In addition, Poland and Yugoslavia (which was outside the Iron Curtain) also held occasional parades, with the former staging a massive parade in 1985 to mark the ruby jubilee anniversary and the latter following the practice of Czechoslovakia of parades every 5th anniversary beginning with the 20th anniversary in 1965.
In 2020, many of the traditional parades were cancelled, with the only ones being held in Belarus and Turkmenistan. The main parade in Russia, as well as parades in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan were cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to these massive cancellations, World Health Organization regional director for Europe Hans Kluge referred to these cancellations as "a brave decision", highlighting their holiday significance.
According to Russian anthropologist Sergey Ushakin, modern victory parades are intended to demonstrate the direct and immediate connection of the present with the past and to materialize the connection between generations. General Oleg Salyukov, who has commanded the parade for close to a decade, described them in an interview with TASS as a "celebration for people, not show of militarism", referring to accusations of the parade being used as show of Russian military might.
Parades in the Russian Federation
Today, Russia, as the largest of the countries of the former Soviet Union, continues the practice of parades held in honor of the victory won in the Great Patriotic War – the Eastern Front of the Second World War as called by the Soviet Union. The first of these parades was held in 1995 (5 years after the fall of the Soviet Union) under the auspices of President Boris Yeltsin, who held the parade to commemorate the golden jubilee of the Soviet and allied victory in the war. The parade was the only one to date that had to be divided into two parts (a full military parade on Poklonnaya Hill and a veterans ceremony on Red Square).
The most important parade of those being held on May 9 is the one held on Moscow's Red Square, with the President of Russia as the guest of honor and keynote speaker in virtue of his constitutional mandate as Supreme Commander of the Russian Armed Forces. On the morning of the day, an estimated 14,000 military personnel, including a regiment of female cadets and youth cadets, assemble by battalions on the square together with the Massed Bands of around 1,100 bandsmen under the direction of the Senior Director of Music of the Military Band Service of the Armed Forces of Russia (an appointment bestowed to either a colonel or a general rank officer), together with more than 210 vehicles and 3,800 vehicle crews assembled on Tverskaya Street just north of the Manezhnaya Square, Moscow, during the major parades a battalion or company of historical Red Army vehicles, estimated at around 36 vehicles and composed of just the T-34, GAZ-67 and the SU-100 plus the optional BM-13N (or at around an estimated 480 when counting other vehicles of the war which would take part just like in the parades of 1985 and 1990) assemble on the street as well with modern military hardware of the Armed Forces and the National Guard (and optionally by the other uniformed organizations). Each of the contingents, since 1996, carry historical military colors of the 1942 (Red Army, Soviet Air Force, People's Militia) and 1932–1944 (Navy) patterns at the head of their formations honoring the millions of men and women who served in the ranks of the military and law enforcement services of the former Soviet Union during the long period of the Eastern Front of the Second World War, and the millions among them who were either killed or were missing in action.
The celebrations begin at 9:55 am Moscow Standard Time with the arrival of the President and the Prime Minister of Russia to a special grandstand in front of Lenin's Mausoleum, where six of the past parades were reviewed by national leaders. They greet the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, service commanders, deputy ministers in the Ministry of Defence and commanders of the support units within the Armed Forces, together with veterans, veterans' families and representatives of the Suvorov and Nakhimov Schools assembled. To the left and right of the grandstand are the stands wherein veterans, veterans' families, and descendants and families of personnel killed in action are gathered. In between the grandstand to the south of the stands are two platoons of armed linemen and markers from the 154th Preobrazhensky Independent Commandant's Regiment in the Imperial-styled military uniforms and some unarmed half-companies of the Kremlin Regiment, both of which would be later taking post to mark the distance of the troops marching past and to line the square's western side facing the Kremlin together with extra drum majors from the Band Service, which are there to coordinate the march past to be timed in with the music of the bands since the parade of 1995.
As the Spasskaya Tower of the Kremlin sounds the chimes at 10 am the parade commander orders the parade to present arms as the 154th PICR's 1st Honor Guard Company Colour Guard, to the melody of The Sacred War being played by the Massed Bands, marches into the square and past the dignitaries with guard carrying both the Flag of Russia and the Victory Banner. As the colour guards approach the grandstand, the colour officers execute eyes left and resume above face after passing by. This is followed by the parade being commanded to stand at ease after the colours take their place at the northwest end of the square fronting the State Historical Museum, besides the colour of the Armed Forces. Then the Minister of Defence (usually a billet of a General of the Army) is driven on the limousine to the center of the square nearest the tribune, the parade presenting arms again at this point. The parade commander informs him of the readiness of the parade to be inspected. The report is received, and to the tune of the Massed Bands, the Minister and the parade commander are driven to inspect the parading contingents each together with the bands. As the limousines stop the Minister sends Victory Day greetings to each of the parading contingents, in which they respond with a threefold loud Oorah that is heard all over the grounds. After the final greeting, the Massed Bands strike up to Slavsya from A Life for the Tsar as the PC returns to his place, the Minister driven to the grandstand amidst loud shouts of Oorah by the parade contingents where he dismounts the limousine and the Corps of Drums of the Moscow Military Music College, an affiliate of the Suvorov Military Schools, take their place behind the parade commander's car led by the Commandant of the college and the college colour guard. The parade is ordered to stand at ease after the Minister informs the President that the parade is formed up for the march past in review and its inspection officially completed. In 1965, 1985 and 1990 parades, the limousines would inspect the personnel of the mobile column at the Manezhnaya Square formed into battalions, in remembrance of the mounted inspection of the original 1945 parade, which included cavalry, tachankas and horse artillery in addition to the huge mobile column. Following the report of the Minister of Defence, the keynote holiday address to the nation of the President follows, preceded by a fanfare by the Massed Bands, usually Govovin's Moscow Fanfare.