The Great Patriotic War

[123everton]

That's the name the Russians use for WW2, so what do they call WW1?

[Octavius]

The Great War / The Eastern Front

[123everton]

Thanks Octavius, funnily enough I still call WW1 The Great War

[mike b]

Surely from the Russian point of view, it would have been the Western Front?

[Octavius]

It refers to the central spread in all directions, the frontiers. If we were to take your theory, then we would have been fighting on the Eastern Frontier. The direction generally refers to the �front� you are trying to prevent, so we (British Allies) were trying to stop the Nazis coming West on the Western Frontier (France/German border), the Russians were trying to stop the Germans and Austro-Hungarians coming East.