National Unity Day commemorates a Russian uprising that freed Moscow from Polish-Lithuanian occupation forces on the 4th of November 1612. 

Leaders of the uprising, Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky, became national heroes. 

In 1649, Russian Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich made November 4 (October 22 of the Julian calendar) a public holiday. Many Russians celebrated this day until 1917. 

In 1918, the Bolsheviks replaced it with a new holiday, November 7, to commemorate the Revolution of 1917. 

The 4th of November became a public holiday in 2005, when the Russian Parliament removed November 7 from the list of official public holidays and introduced The National Unity Day.

Historical background

 

It was a time when all Russians united in a common effort designed to preserve the integrity of the Russian state. For this reason, the date was chosen as a day for all ethnic, religious, and political factions within Russia to stand together for the common cause of national unity.

In the early 1600’s, Poland and Lithuania united under a single government and took advantage of the weakness of the state of Muscovy (Russia). 

They conquered most of Russia and even took Moscow. They had a dream of unifying the northern Slavs under a single state, but the Russian people demanded their independence. 

On November 4th, 1612, which was actually October 22nd on the calendar used at the time, Russians in Moscow revolted and drove out the invaders. All economic and social strata of Russian society united behind the effort even without any Tzar to lead them.

The two main leaders of the revolt were Dmitry Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin, both of whom are today considered to be Russian national heroes. 

The new Tzar who took the throne of Russia after the revolt, Mikhail Romanov, declared a holiday with the long title “Day of Moscow’s Liberation From Polish Invaders.” 

In 1649, Tzar Alexei Mikhailovich declared November 4th an official public holiday, which continued to be celebrated until the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. At that time, the new Communist government eliminated the holiday and replaced it with the November 7th remembrance of the Bolshevik Revolution. 

In 2005 November 7th was eliminated and November 4th reinstated as a national holiday called “National Unity Day”.