How old is pr: PR Timeline — The Museum of Public Relations

How PR Has Evolved: A Brief Timeline

The human race is wired for storytelling.

There is evidence of this as far back as prehistoric times when men drew on cave walls and wrote in hieroglyphics on tombs. Humans feel the need to tell their stories and communicate with the public. The same is true for entrepreneurs or companies, though when they tell their stories for business purposes, it’s called public relations (PR). 

While PR has existed through the ages, it became a recognized strategy and profession early this century.  It garnered widespread adoption and became a standard function for businesses of all sizes around the world.

The rapid growth of PR in this century can be traced to and correlated with the introduction of several technologies, specifically the internet. Each technology opened up new channels, new ways of operating, and shifted the profession and practice in ways that could not have been imagined when they were first introduced. 

A brief timeline of PR as practice and profession

Public relations is, “a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics,” according to the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA).  

The following is an outline of historical moments within the PR industry. 

A brief timeline of how PR has evolved

1. PR from the beginning 
2. The rise of PR practice and PR firms 
3. The internet changed everything for PR 
4. The rise of the public in PR
5. Social media and smartphones in the PR industry

PR from the beginning

Early philosophers like Plato and Aristotle recognized that public opinion matters. In 469 BC, Socrates spoke publicly to engage his crowds of young thinkers in a debate. This led to philosophers known as “sophists” teaching the art of persuasive speaking to nobleman seeking public office.

Many historians cite the establishment of the “Publicity Bureau,” a firm created in 1900, as the start of the modern public relations profession in the United States. It was a firm started by three former newspapermen and thought to be the first official PR company. 

In the early 1900s, PR outlets consisted of print media and radio stations. To get their stories out to the public, PR firms relied on postal mail and some telephone access, though this was often slow and limited.

In 1912, the post office started used airplanes to deliver mail. However, there was no overnight mail service. Telephones were becoming common in places of business and homes, but it wasn’t until 1915 that coast to coast calls were possible. Breaking news might have taken days to reach the public due to the available technology of the time. 

Activists used public relations during the war to spread propaganda, then moved into the private sector in the 1920s.

As a profession, PR became established first in the United States by Ivy Lee and Edward L. Bernays, then spread internationally. The Marshall Plan in 1948 helped spread the practice to Europe as American companies opened offices abroad and with them, PR departments. At this time, public relations had a direct relationship with the media, with little input from the public. The only feedback available was the occasional letter to the editor in response to a story.

In 1923, with the publication of his book Crystallizing Public Opinion, Edward L. Bernays introduced the idea of a ‘two -way-street’ of communication between a company and the public. In this relationship, public relations was expected to explain the public to the client and vise versa. This ran contrary to the popular misconception that public relations was deceptive and manipulative. A two-way approach allowed for the integration of the public’s experience and opinions with the practice of PR.

While the concept was revolutionary at the time, Bernays had no idea as to how later in the century, technology would help make this two-way conversation an easy reality and one that could happen in real-time.

The rise of the PR practice and PR firms

Once public relations became a recognized practice, trade associations, PR industry publications, and guidelines for the industry began emerging. They built on the press release format that Ivy had developed. Additionally, universities started offering curriculums around public relations.

In the 1950s, television became popular in homes, businesses, and institutions across the United States and United Kingdom. It became the primary medium for influencing public opinion.

It had the advantage over print and radio – a live human speaking directly to the viewer. This increased engagement, as people process images faster and retain them longer. It also provided an entirely new platform for public relations firms while demanding new skill sets, which created additional opportunities for them.

Not only did the PR professionals need to craft and pitch a story to the media, but they were also now responsible for helping their clients looking and sounding good during on-air interviews. 

In 1980, CNN was launched. It was the first television network to broadcast 24 hours a day, where television and radio stations had typically kept hours of operation from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. 

This was the beginning of a major shift in the news cycle as we knew it. It meant that news could be reported in real time, not just during the hours when a station was broadcasting.

The internet changed everything for PR 

The introduction of the internet changed everything in regard to public relations. As a platform, it offered universal access to anyone who could log on to it. This made it possible to reach anyone anywhere on the planet, in many instances, for free.

Building on the introduction of 24-hour news by CNN, the Internet made it so that every website, online magazine, or online news channel was now accessible 24 hours a day. It also was a great equalizer. Any of these online outlets could reach the top, irrespective of whether they were created by a professional media company or an ordinary citizen.

This growth in availability and accessibility created more outlets for PR and news and it changed the speed at which news traveled.

In contrast to a print publication, the internet was more akin to TV and radio in that news could be broadcast directly to the public. It also created the ability for the general public to collect, analyze, and disseminate news, information, and opinions. This became known as citizen journalism. Networks and the media were now competing with the public in some cases. 

The role of public relations grew again as practitioners and agencies needed to learn about websites, online advertising, and Search Engine Optimization (SEO). The lines were beginning to blur and the industry questioned where  PR’s role ended and marketing began. 

The rise of the public in PR 

The Internet also created the ability to have instant, two-way conversations. With TV, radio, or newspapers, readers or listeners could write in or call in to the media. Their response might be published or aired at a future date.

With the internet, the public could post comments on stories in real-time. This created a shift in the balance of power, as well as the role of the audience.

It also created a shift in the role and responsibility of PR professionals. Their role has now morphed from crafting and pitching a story to monitoring stories around the clock and be prepared to do damage control if the public reacts adversely to a story.

Social media expanded the number of channels and formats available for public relations. It also expanded the reach of the internet and the role of the individual in the PR conversation. Individuals could host blogs, YouTube channels, websites, Instagram stories, Facebook posts, Facebook live videos, and podcasts – some of which have become as popular as major networks. In other words, individuals could become the media or comment on, like, and share stories on major media platforms. Both cases helped further expand the functions and responsibilities of public relations, with the unique requirements needed for each platform.

Thanks to the internet and social media, stories now have the potential to go viral very quickly. Stories can be shared from offline to online and across various social media, as technology has made it easy to click and share. Comments optional.

The negative side of this for companies and their PR teams is that a story can quickly garner negative feedback and backlash, which can also go viral. Damage control can feel like trying to stop a tsunami with a few sandbags, as the speed of news and information travels rapidly. 

Image courtesy of Pexels

Social media and smartphones in the PR industry

Another way that the internet and social media have transformed PR is that journalists and media professionals, producers, and so on use them to find story ideas and identify sources (e.g. topic experts). 

Smartphones with internet access have given us the ability to be reached wherever we are. People carry their phones with them everywhere, so access to the audience is instant. 

Additionally, the advanced technology in smartphones, specifically the imaging and internet access, has advanced citizen journalism rapidly. The enhanced quality of the image capturing capabilities of phones continues evolving. This makes it easy to capture high-resolution photos and videos in a flash. News in this high-resolution is now being broadcast by everyday citizens as it occurs; there’s no longer even a 30-second delay. 

Smart PR firms and practitioners still craft and pitch stories in multiple formats on various media outlets and channels. They also find ways to invite the public to help create their stories. The latest media outlet is smart speakers. News is now being doled out in one or two minute segments called Flash Briefings on Amazon Alexa devices. 

What to expect from PR for the future

The fact that humans need to tell stories and companies want to manage their image and communications hasn’t changed. However, the how, what, and where the stories are shared continues to evolve.

While print publications still exist, many are disappearing in favor of online formats. It’s hard to know what technology will appear next and what shift it will create for public relations. Only the future will tell what new format it takes. 

Want to learn more about public relations? Check out our hub with over 30 resources to keep you engaged! 

Jane Tabachnick

Jane Tabachnick is book publisher and publicist. Named one of the Top 100 People Online by FastCompany, she is the founder of Simply Good Press, a publishing company that works with experts and thought leaders to help them reach wider audiences via book authorship and publicity. She is the host of the PR AUTHORity Minute Flash Briefing.

At what age do you peak in PR?

 27th May 2021
 Daney Parker, Editor, PRmoment. com

With age comes experience, but is this a useful asset in PR, or are you more appreciated when you are young? We ask PRs for their views on working in PR at different ages, the pros and the cons. 

20s and 30s

Younger does not mean inexperienced

Jessica Pardoe, senior PR Exec at agency The Source PR: “The average age across PR professionals seems to be getting younger, this is thanks (in my opinion) to digital PR and marketing becoming a more attractive and exciting option for graduates and young people. However, this also leads to an assumption of inexperience amongst older PR professionals. Younger people seem to be favoured more because of their dynamic experience with the changing media landscape, but regardless of this, I’ve found in my time that more established PR people seem to view us as more inexperienced and not having an in-depth understanding of PR. Whilst I do agree that years of experience are definitely a good thing, the PR industry changes so much that even just a year or so in industry can keep you abreast with all the latest knowledge and understanding that you would need, as it changes so often. I’m proud to be a young person in PR and think there’s never been a more exciting time to be a part of this industry.”

Don’t ask me to fix the computer!

Will Catterall, account executive at digital PR agency No Brainer: “I started in PR when I was 18, fresh out of school and only a few weeks’ marketing experience from a law firm internship. It was fantastic to be given a chance, and I think in general a lot of PR agencies do like to help young people into the industry.

“The challenges are adapting to the business world quite quickly – you can’t communicate with a client via Snapchat or Instagram. You soon learn the importance of a phone call, and even more so good email etiquette. Hiring a young person in PR can bring a lot of benefits, especially if they have a passion for the industry. You pick up good practice that stays with you for your whole career, and even after just three or four years you can build up great contacts through networking and training with the likes of the CIPR. I’ve had a positive experience so far and definitely made the right choice in going straight into work, rather than university.

“The main bugbear – don’t ask me to fix the computer, printer or anything else technical – just because I’m Gen Z doesn’t make me an IT expert!”

Younger team members have valuable insights

Cath McElroy, senior editor at PR agency Bottle: “Regardless of the industry you work in, your age will often correlate with your level of experience, so there’s no denying there’s benefits to being older when it comes to skills, knowledge and credibility with senior clients. That said, I couldn’t do my job without the younger members of my team; they have natural digital literacy and are living and breathing the trends we are advising our clients on, so I often consider their counsel far more valuable than mine!” 

Young people can suffer age discrimination too

Emma Streets, senior PR and brand reputation manager at delivery firm Hermes: “A lot of PR relies on intuition and making judgement calls, which are qualities that evolve in us over time and are based on life experience, so whilst there is definitely a perception out there that PR is an industry with an age expiry limit, I disagree! Looking back on my 16 years in the industry so far, although there have been moments where I experienced age discrimination for being too young and I was impatient, now that I’m older there is an understanding and appreciation that experience brings wisdom. The challenge now for people who’ve been in the industry as long as I have is channelling the knowledge gained from real life experiences that you just can’t fast track and combining it with continually learning new skills, as our world is evolving so fast.”

40s and 50s

With experience comes perspective

Catherine Warrilow, head of PR and content at digital gaming company Rank Interactive: “Having hit the sweet early 40s spot, it’s a very different game in PR to the one I remember of my early 20s. But it’s all good…

“The biggest advantage I find that has come with age and experience is that there’s absolutely no point crying over lost coverage when it’s entirely out of your hands. I used to lie awake at night envisaging how I could claw back an opportunity that had simply vanished into thin air because of a changing news agenda or something else that just wasn’t in my control.

“Having ALL of the PR battle scars of the last 20 years I’ve learnt to focus on continually moving forwards and finding new opportunities and alternative angles, rather than dwelling on what could have been.

“I also think you get far better at ‘talking’ to the press as opposed to selling to them, the older and wiser you get.”

Juggling kids and a high-profile career

Michelle Hatcher, founder of Michelle Hatcher Media: “I didn’t come into PR (albeit I jumped straight into high-profile PR) until I was 40. Before that, I had been a jobbing journalist in my spare time working for a Canadian media company because I could work through the night.

“By the time I got into PR, my son was 11 years old. I spent the first couple of years in-house working in local authority which suited me. However, the project was the Road Races through Surrey at the start of the London Olympics and to get my hours in, I would arrive at the office at 7am and work through until 2pm so I could hurry back to pick him up from school.”

“Most of my clients are still in London, but now with my son at 20 years old, work for me has got a lot easier, despite me being a lot older.  

“I did struggle for a time. Jon, my son, has special needs meaning I have put him first throughout my career. Now I am almost 50, I don’t feel pressured by the up-and-coming generation of PRs behind me. Many of them come to me for advice because of who I have worked for in my career. I have been lucky to still be high profile, which has kept me in business and allowed me to stay away from the rat race.” 

Support for women through the menopause

Pam Lyddon, CEO of agency Bright Star Digital: “With age comes the old adage of experience and hopefully a healthy outlook on what is and isn’t important. However, at some point in our lives comes peri-menopause and menopause …

“I suspect that in the past our PR sisters have just put up and shut up with the symptoms that include hot flushes, anxiety, forgetfulness, and insomnia (there are actually around 30 symptoms!!) but now more people are talking about it (thanks Davina) it’s not a taboo subject anymore.  

“So what can PR professionals do to support women going through this life change? 

• Educate everyone in the agency
• Nominate someone they can chat to about it
• Allow women to take time off if they need to
• Create a supportive environment 

“PR is a female-dominated industry and it’s time we started talking about an issue that affects 50% of the population.”

Age is just a number

PR suits all ages

Tamika Martin, director and PR consultant from agency Ucreate PR and Events Management: “When it comes to age and PR, it is fair from my viewpoint to say that age is merely a number and you can be a trail-blazing PR at the tender age of 25-plus to a seasoned 40-plus year old. The advantage of being in such a career at a later age in life is that you are more grounded, more patient and you are likely to have more experience. ” 

Age is irrelevant in purpose-driven PR

Andrea Hartley, founder and CEO of communications consultancy Skating Panda: “Age is irrelevant if you work in purpose-driven PR. It’s vocational and you just deliver. Your energy and commitment drives you forward. With young children, flexible working is possible. You’re always on, so provided the job’s done and the deadline’s met, it’s often easier to work non-traditional hours – and you get to see your kids too. With travel, less so, I put off starting a family for another year as I was working in LA on giving the biggest TV programme a soul, my husband thousands of miles away in the UK. In our work at Skating Panda on health and gender campaigns, your personal experience of the juggle of life enhances the delivery. Working on maternal mortality campaigns when pregnant, on gender inequity based on lived experience, and now, edging towards 50, we’ve just launched The Menopause Charity. What can I say – it’s been an immensely serendipitous journey.”

One of the advantages of working in PR is that there are opportunities at all ages and levels of experience. But it is worth remembering that different ages can have their challenges, and to be considerate of those experiencing these challenges.

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Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev. Interesting facts of the biography

There were an incredible number of anecdotes about him. But few of them have survived to this day. Too much they were tied to the realities of the time.

The time of his reign began to be called a period of stagnation. And, at the same time, the flourishing of the party nomenklatura. The reasons for the appearance of such assessments of the board are told in the historical parks “Russia-My History”.

Few people remember that Brezhnev’s “stagnant” time began with reforms. At 19In the year 65, the introduction of market relations (self-financing) into the industry of the USSR began. As a result, the eighth five-year plan (1966 – 1970) became the most successful in Soviet history and was called “golden”. 1900 large enterprises were built. And for the armed forces of the country, this period was marked by an unprecedented rise in their combat power.

He was the first to combine the highest party post – General Secretary of the Communist Party and Head of State – Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. But the country is ruled by his environment.
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He held the de facto highest post in the Soviet hierarchy for 18 years, from 1964 until his death in 1982.

And his main mistake, according to many historians, was that he did not leave power in time. And it’s not about biological age. It is contraindicated for the leader of a great power to think in stereotypes of the past. The level of his thinking should correspond to the dynamics of the development of the world.

The collapse of the Soviet system began to inevitably approach from the time when the Secretary General decided not to steer and not to command, but to rule, royally, lying on his side. Although, there is a version that he still wanted to leave. But he didn’t.
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Rise to power

Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev was born on December 19, 1906 in the family of Ilya Yakovlevich and Natalya Denisovna Brezhnev in the city of Kamenskoye (since 1936 – Dneprodzerzhinsk) of the Yekaterinoslav province in Ukraine.

In 1915 he entered the Kamensk Men’s Classical Gymnasium, but in 1921 he graduated from the First Labor School (as the former gymnasium was renamed).

He worked as a stoker at the Dnieper Metallurgical Plant, then as a worker at an oil mill in Kursk. At 19In the year 27 he graduated from the Kursk Land Management Technical School, began working as a land surveyor in the Kursk region. But soon he moved to Sverdlovsk and became the head of the land department in the Sverdlovsk region. Then he joins the CPSU(b).

In 1931 he returned to the city of Kamenskoye, entered the Institute. Arsenicheva and becomes the chairman of the trade union committee of the institute, and then the secretary of the party committee. After graduating from the institute and serving as a political instructor in a tank company, since 1936 he has been working as the director of a metallurgical technical school in his native city, already renamed Dneprodzerzhinsk.
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In 1937 – he was deputy chairman of the city council of Dneprodzerzhinsk, and in 1939 his party career began – he received the position of head of the trade department of the Dnepropetrovsk regional committee of the CP (b) U. Then he becomes secretary for propaganda and defense industry.

With the outbreak of war, in July 1941 he was sent to the political department of the Southern Front. Since 1942, he was deputy head of the political department of the Black Sea Group of Forces of the Transcaucasian Front, from 19At the age of 43, he was appointed head of the political department of the 18th Army. After the end of the war in 1945, he was appointed head of the political department of the Carpathian military district.

In 1950, after working in the Zaporozhye and Dnepropetrovsk regional committees, he was elected first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (b) of Moldova. In 1952, at the plenum after the end of the 19th Party Congress, he was elected, at the suggestion of Stalin, as a candidate member of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU.

In 1953, Lieutenant General Brezhnev was included by Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov in the group of generals who took part in the arrest of Lavrenty Beria.
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In 1956, at the plenum of the Central Committee of the Party after the end of the XX Congress of the CPSU, the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan, Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev, was elected a candidate member of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU, secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, in charge of defense, heavy engineering and capital construction. From that time began the Moscow period of Brezhnev’s party career. In 1957, having supported N.S. Khrushchev in his fight against the “anti-party group”, he was elected a member of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU, and then deputy chairman of the bureau of the Central Committee of the CPSU.
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Since 1960, he has been Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, and three years later, Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU. In the summer of 1964, on the eve of a conspiracy to dismiss Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev, he left the post of chairman of the presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, focusing on the activities of the secretary of the CPSU Central Committee.

Comrade Leonid Ilyich

On October 14, 1964, after the dismissal of N.S. Khrushchev, he occupied his post – the first secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. Since that time, Brezhnev has become the real head of state, since during the time of Khrushchev, the Leninist post of chairman of the government finally fades into the background.
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With the advent of power, he proclaimed a return to the “Leninist principles of collective leadership.” Along with Brezhnev, Alexander Nikolaevich Shelepin, Nikolai Viktorovich Podgorny and Alexei Nikolaevich Kosygin played an important role in the leadership.

Brezhnev knew that his position as general secretary was seen as temporary. However, the master of apparatus struggle Brezhnev managed to eliminate Shelepin and Podgorny in a timely manner and place people personally devoted to him in key positions: Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov, Nikolai Alexandrovich Tikhonov, Nikolai Anisimovich Shchelokov, Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko.
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In 1965, the Khrushchev economic councils (councils of the national economy), which were built according to the territorial principle, cease to exist. Instead of economic councils, union-republican and all-union ministries for industries were newly formed. In fact, the old centralized system of managing the national economy of the country through the ministries was restored. That is, the vertical of power has been restored. By 1965, there were 43 economic councils (the original 105 economic councils were enlarged) and the all-union economic council of the USSR, the Supreme Council of the National Economy of the USSR, to which Gosplan, Gosstroy, and other economic state committees were subordinate. All this has been replaced by ministries.
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In 1966, after the XXIII Congress of the Communist Party, Brezhnev occupied the restored Stalinist post of General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU.

XXIII Congress of the CPSU. 1966

Since 1970, a tradition was born that is still alive today. It was on December 31, 1970 that the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Leonid Brezhnev, delivered the first pre-New Year’s television address to the people on behalf of the country’s leadership. The speech of the first New Year’s address to the people can be read in the historical park “Russia-My History”.
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In 1976, he suffers a stroke, but, nevertheless, the next year he becomes chairman of the presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and, thus, combines the posts of general secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the highest state post – chairman of the presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. It is believed that from that time on, the government of the country finally passes into the hands of his entourage.

In the 1970s, a process called “détente” began in the international arena. Thanks to “détente”, a partial reconciliation of the two systems took place. It was at this time, at 1973, Brezhnev received the Lenin Prize for strengthening peace between peoples. Two years later, Brezhnev signed the Helsinki Accords, which confirmed the inviolability of borders in Europe.

In June 1979, together with American President D. Carter, he signed in Vienna the Treaty between the USSR and the USA on the limitation of strategic arms, and in December he authorized the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan. This was the beginning of the long-term participation of the USSR in the intra-Afghan conflict.
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Shrihi for a portrait

One of Brezhnev’s weaknesses were awards and titles. This weakness, among others, was the basis for many anecdotes. In connection with his 60th birthday in December 1966 he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, ten years later he was solemnly awarded the second star of the Hero. The third “Gold Star” of the Hero of the Soviet Union and the highest military order “Victory” became an award for literary activity. Literary creations themselves – “Small Land”, “Renaissance”, “Virgin Land” become obligatory for study in schools, universities and party organizations. December 1981 years old, in connection with the 75th anniversary of his birth, he is awarded the fourth Gold Star medal of the Hero of the Soviet Union. In the same year, 1981, only for him, a badge cast in gold “50 years of being in the CPSU” was issued. For other party veterans, this sign was made of silver with gilding. He is the only person in the entire history of the existence of the USSR who possessed five gold stars of the Hero: one star of the Hero of Socialist Labor and four stars of the Hero of the Soviet Union

And this is in addition to various awards, gold medals named after Karl Marx, named after F. Joliot Curie and other, and other things. It was believed that Brezhnev was awarded all the orders of the USSR, except for the order “Mother Heroine”.

November 10, 1982 Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, died. He was buried in Moscow near the Kremlin wall.

Leonid Brezhnev was married to Victoria Petrovna Brezhneva (née Denisova). They got married on December 11, 1927 years old. They had two children Galina and Yuri.

The halls of the Russia-My History project are devoted to little-known facts about the reign of Brezhnev.

The Great Patriotic War began | Presidential Library named after B.N. Yeltsin

“That very long day of the year, with its cloudless weather,
gave us a common misfortune for all, for all four years.
She pressed such a mark and laid so many on the ground,
That for twenty and thirty years the living cannot believe that they are alive … “. nine0096

K. M. Simonov

On June 22, 1941, at 4 a.m., without declaring war, after artillery and air preparation, the main forces of the Wehrmacht and the troops of the German allies (about 190 divisions) suddenly launched a powerful offensive throughout western border of the USSR from the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea.

Kyiv, Riga, Kaunas, Vindava, Libava, Siauliai, Vilnius, Minsk, Grodno, Brest, Baranovichi, Bobruisk, Zhitomir, Sevastopol and many other cities, railway junctions, airfields, and naval bases of the USSR were bombed. Artillery shelling of border fortifications and areas of deployment of Soviet troops near the border was carried out. At 5-6 o’clock in the morning, the Nazi troops crossed the state border of the USSR and launched an offensive deep into Soviet territory. Only an hour and a half after the start of the offensive, the German ambassador to the Soviet Union, Count Werner von Schulenburg, made a statement declaring war on the USSR. nine0003

At 12 noon, all the radio stations of the Soviet Union broadcast a government message about the attack on our country by fascist Germany. In a statement made by People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs V. M. Molotov on behalf of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the Soviet government, it was pointed out that the attack of fascist Germany on the USSR was treachery unprecedented in the history of civilized peoples.

Following the government message, the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on the mobilization of citizens liable for military service was transmitted 1905-1918 birth. On June 23, the Headquarters of the High Command of the Armed Forces of the USSR (later the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command) was created, headed by the People’s Commissar of Defense, Marshal of the Soviet Union S. K. Timoshenko.

In the frontier battles and in the initial period of the war (until mid-July), the Red Army lost 850,000 men killed and wounded; 9.5 thousand guns, over 6 thousand tanks, about 3.5 thousand aircraft were destroyed; about 1 million people were taken prisoner. The German army occupied a significant part of the country, advanced inland up to 300-600 km, while losing 100 thousand people killed, almost 40% of tanks and 950 aircraft. However, the plan for a lightning war, during which the German command intended to capture the entire Soviet Union in a few months, failed.

July 13, 1992, by the decision of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation, the day of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War was declared the Day of Remembrance of the Defenders of the Fatherland.

On June 8, 1996, President of Russia Boris N. Yeltsin declared June 22 the Day of Memory and Sorrow. On this day, national flags are flown at half mast throughout the country, entertainment events and programs are cancelled. The Day of Memory and Sorrow is also celebrated in Ukraine and Belarus, which were the first to take the hit of the Nazis, and in other CIS countries. nine0003

Lit.: 1941 – lessons and conclusions. M., 1992; The same [Electronic resource]. URL: http://militera.lib.ru/h/1941/index.html; Anfilov V.A. The beginning of the Great Patriotic War (June 22 – mid-July 1941). Military history essay. M., 1962; The same [Electronic resource]. URL: http://militera.lib.ru/research/anfilov/index.html; Libraries – Witnesses of the Victory: [Electronic resource]. URL: https://victory.libfl.ru/home; Halder F. War diary. Daily notes of the Chief of the General Staff of the Ground Forces 1939–1942 T. I. M., 1968. From the contents: June 22, 1941 (Sunday). 1st day of the war; The same [Electronic resource]. URL: http://militera.lib.ru/db/halder/1941_06.html; Zhukov G.K. Memories and reflections. In 2 vols. T. 1. Ch. 10. The beginning of the war. M., 2002; The same [Electronic resource]. URL: http://militera.lib.ru/memo/russian/zhukov1/10.html; Note of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs dated June 21, 1941 [Electronic resource] // Winners – Soldiers of the Great War. 2005–2018 URL: http://www.pobediteli.ru/documents/nota.html; I remember: [Electronic resource]. URL: http://www.iremember.ru/. nine0003

See also in the Presidential Library:

Memory of the Great Victory: [digital collection];

The Second World War in archival documents (a set of digitized archival documents, film and photographic materials): [digital collection];

1941: documents and materials: to the 70th anniversary of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War.