Vasily Zaitsev

About Vasily Zaitsev

Vasily Zaitsev (1915–1991) was a decorated Soviet military sniper who gained significant renown during the Battle of Stalingrad in World War II. His confirmed kills of enemy soldiers, often cited in historical accounts, made him a potent symbol of Soviet resistance against the German invasion. This military impact secures his placement at #972 on MIT's Historical Popularity Index, reflecting his global cultural weight across military history and 20th-century conflict.

Despite this historical ranking, Zaitsev's modern digital footprint suggests a considerable attention gap. In 2025, his annualized Wikipedia views stand at 378K, which is only about 1x what might be expected relative to his importance score. This figure is starkly contrasted when compared to Mehmed the Conqueror (#128 importance), who garners only 98K views, or Theodora (#599 importance) with a mere 18K views, indicating that Zaitsev is relatively well-recalled compared to several more historically significant figures in this dataset.

Interestingly, while his overall attention is close to parity, recent interest shows fluctuations: Zaitsev's pageviews are up over 30% year-over-year, yet his Q1 to Q3 momentum dropped by 6%, suggesting a recent peak in curiosity that may be beginning to wane.