History of Belarus

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History of Belarus

This article describes the history of Belarus. TheBelarusian ethnosis traced at least as far in time as otherEast Slavs.

After an initial period of independent feudal consol-idation, Belarusian lands were incorporated into theKingdom of Lithuania,Grand Duchy of Lithuania, andlater in the PolishLithuanian Commonwealth, and theRussian Empireand eventually theSoviet Union.Belarusbecame an independent country in 1991 after declaringitself free from the Soviet Union.

1 Early history

Principality ofPolatskwithinKievan Rusin the 11th century

The history of Belarus, or more precisely of theBelarusian ethnicity, begins with the migration and ex-pansion of theSlavic peoplesthroughoutEastern Europebetween the 6th and 8th centuries. East Slavssettled onthe territory of present-day Belarus,RussiaandUkraine,assimilating localBaltic (Yotvingians,Dniepr Balts),Ugro-Finnic(in Russia) andsteppenomads (in Ukraine)

already living there, their early ethnic integrations con-tributed to the gradual differentiation of the three EastSlavic nations. These East Slavs, a pagan, animistic,

agrarian people, had an economy which included tradein agricultural produce,game,furs,honey,beeswaxandamber.

The modern Belarusian ethnos was probably formedon the basis of the three Slavic tribes Kryvians,Drehovians,Radzimiansas well as severalBaltic tribes.

Map of theKievan Rus, 11th century

During the 9th and 10th centuries,Scandinavian Vikingsestablishedtrade posts on theway fromScandinavia to theByzantine Empire. The network of lakes and rivers cross-ing East Slav territory provided a lucrative trade route be-tween the two civilizations. In the course of trade, theygradually took sovereignty over the tribes of East Slavs,at least to the point required by improvements in trade.

TheRus rulers invaded the Byzantine Empire on fewoccasions, but eventually they allied against theBulgars.The condition underlying this alliance was to open thecountry for Christianizationand acculturation from theByzantine Empire.

The common cultural bond ofEastern Orthodox Chris-tianity and written Church Slavonic (a literary and liturgi-cal Slavic language developed by 8th century missionariesSaints Cyril and Methodius) fostered the emergence of anew geopolitical entity,Kievan Rus a loose-knit net-work of principalities, established along preexisting traderoutes, with major centers inNovgorod(currently Rus-

sia),Polatsk(in Belarus) andKiev(currently in Ukraine) which claimed a sometimes precarious preeminenceamong them.

1

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2 1 EARLY HISTORY

1.1 First Belarusian states

Vladimir Iand princessRahneda of Polatsk(painting of 1770)

Between the 9th and 12th centuries, the Principality ofPolotsk(northern Belarus) emerged as the dominant cen-ter of power on Belarusian territory, with a lesser roleplayed by thePrincipality of Turain the south.

It repeatedly asserted its sovereignty in relation toother centers of Rus, becoming a political capital,the episcopal see of a bishopric and the controller ofvassal territories amongBalts in the west. The citysCathedral of the Holy Wisdom(104466), though com-pletely rebuilt over the years, remains a symbol of thisindependent-mindedness, rivaling churches of the samename in Novgorod and Kiev, referring to the originalHagia SophiainConstantinople(and hence to claims ofimperial prestige, authority and sovereignty). Culturalachievements of thePolatsk periodinclude the work ofthe nun Euphrosyne of Polatsk (112073), who built

monasteries, transcribed books, promoted literacy andsponsored art (including local artisanLazarus Bohsha'sfamous "Cross of Euphrosyne", a national symbol andtreasure stolen during World War II), and the prolific,original Church Slavonic sermons and writings of BishopCyril of Turau(113082).

1.2 Grand Duchy of Lithuania

Main articles: Kingdom of LithuaniaandGrand Duchyof LithuaniaIn the 13th century, the fragile unity of Kievan Rus dis-

integrated due to nomadic incursions fromAsia, whichclimaxed with theMongolsacking of Kiev (1240), leav-ing a geopolitical vacuum in the region. The East Slavs

TheGrand Duchy of Lithuania in the 15th century vs. present-

day Belarus

Munsters map of Poland and Hungary. Russia Alba (Belarus)

is located in land ofChernihiv(upper right corner).

splintered into a number of independent and compet-ing principalities. Due to military conquest and dynas-tic marriages the West Ruthenian (Belarusian) principal-ities were acquired by the expandingLithuania, begin-ning with the rule ofLithuanian King Mindaugas(124063). From the 13th to 15th century, Baltic andUkrainianlands were consolidated into the Grand Duchy of Lithua-nia, with its initial capital unknown, but which presum-ably could have been eitherNavahrudak,Voruta,Trakai,KernavorVilnius. Since the 14th century, Vilnius hadbeen the only official capital of the state.

The Lithuanians smaller numbers in this medievalstate gave the Ruthenians (present-day Belarusians andUkrainians) an important role in the everyday cultural life

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Position of Grand Duchy of Lithuania in Eastern Europe until

1434.

of thestate. Owing to theprevalence of East Slavs andtheEastern Orthodoxfaith among the population in easternand southern regions of the state, theRuthenian languagewas a widely used colloquial language.

AnEast Slavicvariety (ruska mova, Old BelarusianorWest Russian Chancellery language), gradually influencedby Polish, was the language of administration in theGrand Duchy of Lithuania at least since Vytautasreignuntil the late 17th century when it was eventually replacedbyPolish language.[1]

This period of political breakdown and reorganizationalso saw the rise of written local vernaculars in place ofthe literary and liturgical Church Slavonic language, afurther stage in the evolving differentiation between theBelarusian,RussianandUkrainianlanguages.

Several Lithuanian monarchs the last beingvitrigailain 143236 relied on the Eastern Orthodox Ruthenianmajority, while most monarchs and magnates increasinglycame to reflect the opinions of the Roman Catholics.

Construction of Orthodox churches in some parts ofpresent-day Belarus had been initially prohibited, as wasthe case ofVitebskin 1480. On the other hand, fur-ther unification of the, mostly Orthodox, Grand Duchywith mostly Catholic Poland led to liberalization and par-tial solving of the religious problem. In 1511, King andGrand Duke Sigismund I the Oldgranted the Orthodoxclergy an autonomy enjoyed previously only by Catholic

clergy. Theprivilege was enhanced in 1531, when theOr-thodox church was no longer responsible to the Catholicbishop and instead theMetropolitewas responsible only

Church of the Saviours Transfiguration in Zaslavl(1577)

to thesoborof eight Orthodox bishops, the Grand Dukeand thePatriarch of Constantinople. The privilege alsoextended the jurisdiction of the Orthodox hierarchy over

all Orthodox people.[2]In such circumstances, a vibrant Ruthenian culture flour-ished, mostly in major present-day Belarusian cities.[3]

Despite the legal usage of the Old Ruthenian lan-guage(the predecessor of both modern BelarusianandUkrainian languages) which was used as a chancellerylanguage in the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithua-nia, the literature was mostly non-existent, outside of sev-eral chronicles. The first Belarusian book printed withthe firstprinting pressin theCyrillicalphabet was pub-lished inPraguein 1517, byFrancysk Skaryna, a lead-ing representative of therenaissanceBelarusian culture.

Soon afterwards he founded a similar printing press inPolatskand started an extensive undertaking of publish-ing the Bible and other religious works there. Apart fromthe Bible itself, before his death in 1551 he published 22other books, thus laying the foundations for the evolutionof theRuthenian languageinto the modern Belarusianlanguage.

2 PolishLithuanian Common-

wealth

The Lublin Union of 1569 constituted the PolishLithuanian Commonwealthas an influential player in Eu-

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4 2 POLISHLITHUANIAN COMMONWEALTH

Union of Lublinof 1569, oil on canvas by Jan Matejko, 1869,298512 cm, National Museum inWarsaw

ropean politics and the largest multinational state in Eu-rope. WhileUkraineand Podlaskiebecame subject tothePolish Crown, present-day Belarus territory was stillregarded as part of theGrand Duchy of Lithuania. Thenew polity was dominated by much more densely popu-lated Poland, which had 134 representatives in theSejmas compared to 46 representatives of the Grand Duchyof Lithuania. However the Grand Duchy of Lithuaniaretained much autonomy, and was governed by a sepa-rate code of laws called theLithuanian Statutes, whichcodified both civil and property rights. Mogilyovwas thelargest urban centre of the territory of present-day Be-larus, followed by Vitebsk, Polotsk, Pinsk, Slutsk, andBrest, whose population exceeded 10,000. In addition,Vilna (Vilnius), the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithua-nia, also had a significant Ruthenian population.[4]

Outline of thePolishLithuanian Commonwealthwith its major

subdivisions after the 1618Truce of Deulino, superimposed on

present-day national borders.

Crown of the Kingdom of Poland

Grand Duchy of Lithuania

Duchy of Livonia

Duchy of Prussia, Polishfief

Duchy of Courland and Semigallia, Commonwealth fief

With time, the ethnic pattern did not evolve much.Throughout their existence as a separate culture, Ruthe-nians formed in most cases rural population, with the

power held by localszlachtaandboyars, often of Lithua-nian, Polish or Russian descent. As in the rest of Centraland Eastern Europe, thetradeand commerce was mostlymonopolized byJews, who formed a significant part ofthe urban population. Since theUnion of Horodloof1413, local nobility was assimilated into thetraditional

clan systemby means of the formal procedure of adop-tion by theszlachta(Polishgentry). Eventually it formeda significant part of the szlachta. Initially mostly Ruthe-nian and Orthodox, with time most of them becamepolonized. This was especially true for majormagnatefamilies (SapiehaandRadziwiclans being the most no-table), whose personal fortunes and properties often sur-passed those of the royal families and were huge enoughto be called a state within a state. Many of them foundedtheir own cities and settled them with settlers from otherparts of Europe. Indeed, there wereScots,GermansandDutch peopleinhabiting major towns of the area, as well

as several Italian artists who had been imported to thelands of modern Belarus by the magnates. Contrary toPoland, in the lands of the Grand Duchy, the peasantshad little personal freedom in the Middle Ages. However,with time, the magnates and the gentry gradually limitedthe few liberties of theserfs, at the same time increas-ing their taxation, often in labour for the local gentry.This made many Ruthenians flee to the scarcely popu-lated lands,Dzikie Pola(Wild Fields), the Polish name oftheZaporizhian Sich, where they formed a large part oftheCossacks. Others sought refuge in the lands of othermagnatesor in Russia.

View ofNavahrudak, by Napoleon Orda

Also, with time the religious conflicts started to arise.The gentry with time started to adoptCatholicismwhilethe common people by large remained faithful toEasternOrthodoxy. Initially theWarsaw Compactof 1573 cod-ified the preexistingfreedom of worship. However, therule of an ultra-Catholic King Sigismund III Vasa wasmarked by numerous attempts to spread the Catholicism,mostly through his support for counterreformationandtheJesuits. Possibly to avoid such conflicts, in 1595 theOrthodox hierarchs of Kiev signed theUnion of Brest,

breaking their links with thePatriarch of Constantino-pleand placing themselves under thePope. Although theunion was generally supported by most local Orthodox

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bishops and the king himself, it was opposed by someprominent nobles and, more importantly, by the nascentCossackmovement. This led to a series of conflicts andrebellions against the local authorities. The first of suchhappened in 1595, when the Cossack insurgents underSeveryn Nalivaiko took the towns of Slutsk and Mogilyov

and executed Polish magistrates there. Other such clashestook place inMogilyov(160610), Vitebsk (1623), andPolotsk(1623, 1633).[5] This left the population of theGrand Duchy divided between Greek Catholic and GreekOrthodoxparts. At the same time, after theschismin theOrthodox Church (Raskol), someOld Believersmigratedwest, seeking refuge in the Rzeczpospolita, which allowedthemto freely practice their faith.[6]

From 1569, the PolishLithuanian Commonwealthsuf-fered a series ofTatar invasions, the goal of which was toloot, pillage and capture slaves into jasyr. The borderlandarea to the south-east was in a state of semi-permanent

warfare until the 18th century. Some researchers esti-mate that altogether more than 3 million people, pre-dominantly Ukrainians butalso Russians, Belarusians andPoles, were captured and enslaved during the time of theCrimean Khanate.

Foreign occupation of the Commonwealth during The Deluge

andChmielnickis Uprising

Despite the abovementioned conflicts, the literary tra-

dition of Belarus evolved. Until the 17th century,the Ruthenian language, the predecessor of modernBelarusian, was used in Grand Duchy as achancery lan-

guage, that is the language used for official documents.Afterwards, it was replaced with the Polish language,commonly spoken by the upper classes of Belarusian so-ciety. Both Polish and Ruthenian cultures gained a majorcultural centre with the foundation of the Academy ofVilna. At the same time the Belarusian lands entered apath of economic growth, with the formation of numer-ous towns that served as centres of trade on the east-westroutes.

However, both economic and cultural growth came to anend in mid-17th century with a series of violent warsagainst Tsardom of Russia, Sweden, Brandenburgand

Transylvania, as well as internal conflicts, known col-lectively asThe Deluge. The misfortunes were startedin 1648 byBohdan Chmielnicki, who started a large-scale Cossack uprisingin Ukraine. Although the Cos-sacks were defeated in 1651 in thebattle of Beresteczko,Khmelnytsky sought help from Russian tsar, and by the

Treaty of PereyaslavRussia dominated and partially oc-cupied the eastern lands of the Commonwealth since1655. TheSwedesinvaded and occupied the rest in thesame year. The wars had shown internal problems of thestate, with some people of the Grand Duchy supportingRussia[7] while others (most notablyJanusz Radziwi)supporting the Swedes. Although the Swedes were fi-nally driven back in 1657 and the Russians were defeatedin 1662, most of the country was ruined. It is estimatedthat the Commonwealth lost a third of itspopulation, withsome regions of Belarus losing as much as 50%. Thisbroke the power of the once-powerful Commonwealth

and the country gradually became vulnerable to foreigninfluence.

Subsequent wars in the area (Great Northern WarandtheWar of Polish succession) damaged its economy evenfurther. In addition, Russian armies raided the Com-monwealth under the pretext of the returning of fugitivepeasants.[6] By mid-18th century their presence in thelands of modern Belarus became almost permanent.

The last attempt to save the Commonwealths indepen-dence was aPolishBelarusianLithuanian national up-rising of 1794 led by Tadeusz Kociuszko, however it waseventually quenched.

Eventually by 1795 Poland waspartitioned by its neigh-bors. Thus a new period in Belarusian history started,with all its lands annexed by the Russian Empire,inacon-tinuing endeavor of Russian tsars of gathering the Ruslands started after the liberation from theTatar yokebyGrand DukeIvan III of Russia.

3 Russian Empire

Main article:Belarusian history in the Russian Empire

Under Russian administration, the territory of Belarus

Second battle of Polotsk(1812), as depicted byPeter von Hess

was divided into the guberniyas of Minsk, Vitebsk,

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6 4 20TH CENTURY

View ofPolatskin 1912

Mogilyov, and Hrodno. Belarusians were active intheguerrillamovement againstNapoleon's occupation..With Napoleons defeat, Belarus again became a part ofImperial Russiaand itsguberniyasconstituted part of theNorthwestern Krai. The anti-Russian uprisings of thegentry[8] in1830and1863were subdued by governmentforces.

Although under Nicholas I and Alexander III the na-tional cultures were repressed due to the policies of de-Polonization[9] andRussification,[8] which included thereturnto Orthodoxy, the 19th century was signified by the

rise of the modern Belarusian nation and self-confidence.A number of authors started publishing in the Belarusianlanguage, includingJan Czeczot,Wadysaw SyrokomlaandKonstanty Kalinowski.

In a Russification drive in the 1840s, Nicholas I for-bade the use of the term Belarusiaand renamed the re-gion the North-Western Territory. He also prohibitedthe use of Belarusian language in public schools, cam-paigned against Belarusian publications and tried to pres-sure those who had converted to Catholicism under thePoles to reconvert to the Orthodox faith. In 1863, eco-nomic and cultural pressure exploded into arevolt, led

by Kalinowski. After the failed revolt, the Russian gov-ernment reintroduced the use ofCyrillicto Belarusian in1864 and banned the use of theLatin alphabet.

In the second half of the 19th century, the Belarusianeconomy, like that of the entire Europe, was experienc-ing significant growth due to the spread of theIndustrialRevolutiontoEastern Europe,[10] particularly after theemancipation of the serfsin 1861. Peasants sought a bet-ter lot in foreign industrial centres, with some 1.5 millionpeople leaving Belarus in the half-century preceding theRussian Revolution of 1917.

4 20th century

4.1 BNR and LBSSR

The territory claimed by theBelarus National Republic, 1918

The flag ofBelarus National Republic

Pahoniathe Coat of Arms ofBelarus National Republic

Main articles:Belarus National Republic and Lithuanian-Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic

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4.2 Belarusian Soviet Republic and West Belarus 7

Minsk was captured by German troops on 21 Febru-ary 1918. World War Iwas the short period when Be-larusian culture started to flourish. German administra-tion allowed schools with Belarusian language, previouslybanned in Russia; a number of Belarusian schools werecreated until 1919 when they were banned again by the

Polish military administration. At the end of World WarI, when Belarus was stilloccupiedby Germans, accord-ing to theTreaty of Brest-Litovsk, the short-livedBelarusNational Republicwas pronounced on 25 March 1918, aspart of the GermanMitteleuropaplan.

In December1918, Mitteleuropa was obsoleteas the Ger-mans withdrew from theOber-Ostterritory, and for thenext few years in the newly created political vacuum theterritories of Belarus would witness the struggle of vari-ous national and foreign factions. On 3 December 1918the Germans withdrew from Minsk. On 10 December1918 Soviet troops occupied Minsk. The Rada (Council)

of the Belarus National Republic went into exile, first toKaunas, then toBerlinand finally toPrague. On 2 Jan-uary 1919, theSoviet Socialist Republic of Byelorussiawas declared. On 17 February 1919 it was disbanded.Part of it was included intoRSFSR, and part was joinedto theLithuanian SSRto form the LBSSR,Lithuanian-Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, informally knownas Litbel, whose capital was Vilnius. While Belarus Na-tional Republic faced off with Litbel, foreign powers werepreparing to reclaim what they saw as their territories:Polish forces were moving from the West, and Russiansfrom the East. When Vilnius was captured by Polish

forces on 17 April 1919, the capital of the Soviet pup-pet state Litbel was moved to Minsk. On 17 July 1919Lenin dissolved Litbel because of the pressure of Polishforces advancing from the West. Polish troops capturedMinsk on 8 August 1919.

4.2 Belarusian Soviet Republic and West

Belarus

Some time in 1918 or 1919, Sergiusz Piasecki re-turned to Belarus, joining Belarusian anti-Soviet units,

the Green Oak (in Polish,Zielony Db), led byAtamanWiaczesaw Adamowicz (pseudonym: J. Dziergacz).When on 8 August 1919, the Polish Army capturedMinsk, Adamowicz decidedto work with them. Thus Be-larusian units were created, and Piasecki was transferredto aWarsawschool ofinfantry cadets. In the summer of1920, during thePolish-Soviet War, Piasecki fought intheBattle of Radzymin.

The frontiers between Poland, which had established anindependent government after World War I, and the for-mer Russian Empire were not recognized by theLeagueof Nations. PolandsJzef Pisudski, who envisioned the

formation of anIntermarum Federationas a Central andEast European bloc that would be a bulwark against Ger-many to the west and Russia to the east, carried out a

Kiev Offensiveinto Ukraine in 1920. This met with aRed Army counter-offensive that drove into Polish ter-ritory almost toWarsaw, Minsk itself was re-capturedby the Soviet Red Army on 11 July 1920 and a newByelorussian Soviet Socialist Republicwas declared on31 July 1920. Pisudski, however, halted the Soviet ad-

vance at theBattle of Warsawand resumed his eastwardoffensive. Finally theTreaty of Riga, ending thePolishSoviet War, divided Belarus between Poland and SovietRussia. Over the next two years, the Belarus NationalRepublicprepared a national uprising, ceasing the prepa-rations only when theLeague of Nationsrecognized theSoviet Unions western borders on 15 March 1923.

Traditional Jewish life continued in Pinsk(Western Belarus) until

WWII. (Alter Kacyzne, 1924)

The Polish part of Belarus was subject to Polonizationpolicies (especially in the 1930s), while the Soviet Be-larus was one of the original republics which formed theUSSR. For several years, the national culture and lan-guage enjoyed a significant boost of revival in the So-viet Belarus. This was however soon ended during theGreat Purge, when almost all prominent Belarusian na-tionalintelligentsiawere executed, many of them buriedinKurapaty. Thousands were deported to Asia. As theresult ofPolish operation of the NKVD tens of thou-sands people of many nationalities were killed. Belaru-sian orthography was Russified in 1933 anduseof Belaru-

sian language was discouraged as exhibiting anti-sovietattitude.[11]

InWest Belarus, up to 30 000 families of Polishveterans(osadniks) were settled in the lands formerly belonging tothe Russiantsarfamily and Russian aristocracy.[12] Be-larusian representation inPolish parliamentwas reducedas a result of the 1930 elections. Since the early 1930s,the Polish government introduced a set of policies de-signed to Polonize all minorities (Belarusians, Ukraini-ans, Jews, etc.). The usage of Belarusian language wasdiscouraged and the Belarusian schools were facing se-vere financial problems. In spring of 1939, there al-

ready was neither single Belarusian official organisationin Poland nor a single Belarusian school (with only 44schools teaching Belarusian language left).[13]

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4.3 Belarus in World War II

When the Soviet Union invaded Polandon 17 Septem-ber1939, followingthe terms of theMolotovRibbentropPacts secret protocol, much of what had been eastern

Poland was annexed to the BSSR. Similarly to the timesof German occupation duringWorld War I, Belarusianlanguage and Soviet culture enjoyed relative prosperityin this short period. Already in October 1940, over 75%of schools used the Belarusian language, also in the re-gions where no Belarus people lived, e.g. aroundoma,what was Ruthenization.[14] After twenty months of So-viet rule, Germany and itsAxisallies invaded the SovietUnion on 22 June 1941. Soviet authorities immediatelyevacuated about 20% of the population of Belarus anddestroyed all the food supplies.[15] The country sufferedparticularly heavily during the fighting and the Germanoccupation. Minsk was captured by the Germans on 28June 1941. Following bloody encirclement battles, allof the present-day Belarus territory was occupied by theGermans by the end of August 1941.

During World War II, theNazisattempted to establish apuppet Belarusian government,Belarusian Central Rada,with the symbolics similar to BNR. In reality, however,the Germans imposed a brutal racist regime, burningdown some 9 000 Belarusian villages, deporting some380,000 people for slave labour, and killing hundredsof thousands of civilians more. Local police took partin many of those crimes. Almost the whole, previouslyvery numerous, Jewishpopulations of Belarus that didnot evacuate were killed. One of the first uprisings of aJewishghettoagainst the Nazis occurred in 1942 in Be-larus, in the small town ofLakhva.

Since the early days of the occupation, a powerful and in-creasingly well-coordinatedBelarusian resistance move-mentemerged. Hiding in the woods and swamps, thepartisans inflicted heavy damage to German supply linesand communications, disrupting railway tracks, bridges,telegraph wires, attacking supply depots, fuel dumps andtransports and ambushing German soldiers. Not all anti-German partisans were pro-Soviet.[16] In the largest par-tisan sabotage action of the entire Second World War, theso-calledAsipovichydiversion of 30 July 1943 four Ger-man trains with supplies andTiger tankswere destroyed.To fight partisan activity, the Germans had to withdrawconsiderable forces behind their front line. On 22 June1944 the huge Soviet offensiveOperation Bagrationwaslaunched, Minsk was re-captured on 3 July 1944, andall of Belarus was regained by the end of August. Hun-dred thousand of Poles were expelled after 1944. As partof the Nazis effort to combat the enormous Belarusianresistance during World War II, special units of localcollaborationists were trained by theSS'sOtto Skorzenyto infiltrate the Soviet rear. In 1944 thirty Belarusians

(known asorny Kot(Black Cat) and personally led byMichaVituka) were airdropped bythe Luftwaffe behindthe lines of theRed Army, which had already liberated

Belarus duringOperation Bagration. They experiencedsome initial success due to disorganization in the rear ofthe Red Army, and some other German-trained Belaru-sian nationalist units also slipped through theBiaowieaForestin 1945. TheNKVD, however, had already infil-trated these units. Vituka managed to escape to the West

following the war, along with several other BelarusianCentral Radaleaders.

In total, Belarus lost a quarter of its pre-war populationin World War II including practically all its intellectualelite. About 9 200 villages and 1.2 million houses weredestroyed. The major towns ofMinskandVitsebsklostover 80% of their buildings and city infrastructure. Forthe defence against the Germans, and the tenacity duringthe German occupation, the capital Minsk was awardedthe titleHero Cityafter the war. The fortress ofBrestwasawarded the titleHero-Fortress.

4.4 BSSR from 1945 to 1990

After the end of War in 1945, Belarus became one of thefounding members of theUnited Nations Organisation.Joining Belarus was the Soviet Union itself and anotherrepublicUkraine. In exchange for Belarus and Ukrainejoining the UN, theUnited Stateshad the right to seektwo more votes, a right that has never been exercised.[17]

50 years of Soviet Belarus a Sovietpostage stampof 1969

The Belarusian economy was completely devastated bythe events of the war. Most of the industry, includingwhole production plants were removed either to Russiaor Germany. Industrial production of Belarus in 1945amounted for less than 20% of its pre-war size. Most ofthe factories evacuated to Russia, with several spectacu-lar exceptions, were not returned to Belarus after 1945.During the immediate postwar period, the Soviet Unionfirst rebuilt and then expanded the BSSRs economy, withcontrol always exerted exclusively from Moscow. Duringthis time, Belarus became a major center of manufac-turing in the western region of the USSR. Huge indus-

trial objects like theBelAZ,MAZ, and theMinsk Trac-tor Plantwere built in the country. The increase in jobsresulted in a huge immigrant population of Russians in

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Belarus. Russian became the official language of admin-istration and the peasant class, which traditionally was thebase for Belarusian nation, ceased to exist.[11]

On 26 April 1986, the Chernobyl disaster occurred attheChernobyl nuclear power plant inUkraine situated

close to the border with Belarus. It is regarded as theworstnuclear accidentin the history ofnuclear power. Itproduced a plume ofradioactivedebris that drifted overparts of the western Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, andScandinavia. Large areas of Belarus, Ukraine andRussiawere contaminated, resulting in the evacuation and re-settlement of roughly 200,000 people. About 60% ofthe radioactive fallout landed in Belarus. Theeffects ofthe Chernobyl accident in Belaruswere dramatic: about50,000 km (orabout a quarter of the territoryof Belarus)formerly populated by 2.2 million people (or a fifth of theBelarusian population) now require permanent radioac-tive monitoring (after receiving doses over 37kBq/m of

caesium137). 135,000 persons were permanently re-settled and many more were resettled temporarily. After10 years since the accident, the occurrences of thyroidcanceramong children increased fifteenfold (the sharprise started in about four years after the accident).[18]

5 Republic of Belarus

See also:Politics of Belarus

On 27 July 1990, Belarus declared its nationalsovereignty, a key step toward independence fromthe Soviet Union. The BSSR was formally renamed theRepublic of Belaruson 25 August 1991. Around thattime,Stanislav Shushkevichbecame the chairman of theSupreme Sovietof Belarus, the top leadership positionin Belarus. On 8 December 1991, Shushkevich metwith Boris Yeltsin of Russia and Leonid KravchukofUkraine, inBelavezhskaya Pushcha, to formally declarethedissolution of the Soviet Unionand the formation oftheCommonwealth of Independent States.

In 1994, the first presidential elections were held andAlexander Lukashenko was elected president of Be-larus. The 1996 referendum resulted in the amend-ment of the constitution that took key powers off theparliament. In 2001, he was re-elected as presidentin electionsdescribed as undemocratic by Western ob-servers. At the same time the west began criticisinghim of authoritarianism. In 2006, Lukashenko wasonce again re-elected inpresidential electionswhich wereagain criticised as flawed by mostEuropean Unioncoun-tries. In 2010, Lukashenko was re-elected once again inpresidential elections, which were described as flawed bymost EU countries and institutions. A peaceful protest

against the electoral fraud was attacked by riot police andby armed men dressed in black. After that, up to 700opposition activists, including 7 presidential candidates,

were arrested by KGB.

6 See also

History of Lithuania History of Poland

History of Russia

History of Ukraine

List of Belarusian rulers

Polish Autonomous Districts: Dzierzynszczyzna,Marchlewszczyzna

7 References[1] Bjrn Wiemer. Dialect and language contacts on the ter-

ritory of theGrand Duchy of Lithuania from the15th cen-tury until 1939. Aspects of Multilingualism in EuropeanLanguage History. Edited by Kurt Braunmller and GisellFerraresi. John Benjamins Publishing. 2003. pp. 110111.

[2] (Russian) (Litovskorusskoye gosydarstvo) inBrockhaus and Efron Encyclope-dic Dictionary

[3] (Russian) "" (Bratstva) in Brockhaus and Efron

Encyclopedic Dictionary

[4] (Russian) (Vnutripolitieskie rezul'tati Lyublin-skoy unii),Belarus.by portal

[5] (Russian) 1596 . (Tserkovnaya uniya1596 g.) in "belarus.by portal"

[6] (Polish) Jerzy Czajewski, Zbiegostwo ludnoci Rosji wgranice Rzeczypospolitej(Russian population exodus intothe Rzeczpospolita), Promemoria journal, October 2004nr. (5/15), ISSN 1509-9091,Table of Contents online

[7] (Russian)

(Belorusskaya Sovyetskaya Socialis-tieskaya Respublika), article in " " (Great Soviet Encyclopedia). Lastaccessed in December 2005

[8] ytko, Anatol (1999)Russian policy towards the Belarus-sian gentry in 18611914, Minsk, p. 551.

[9] (Russian) (Vossoyedineniye uniatov iistorieskiye sud'bi Belorusskogo naroda),Pravoslavie por-tal

[10] (Russian) 18501900 .,Byelorussian Railways

[11] Janowicz, Sokrat (1999).Forming of the Belarussian na-tion. RYTM. pp. 247248.

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10 8 FURTHER READING

[12] (Polish) Stobniak-Smogorzewska, Janina (2003)Kresoweosadnictwo wojskowe 19201945 (Military colonization ofKresy 19201945), Warsaw, RYTM, ISBN 83-7399-006-2

[13] (Polish) Ogonowski, Jerzy (2000) Uprawnienia jzykowemniejszoci narodowych w Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej 1918

1939(The Language Rights of National Minorities in theSecond Republic of Poland, 19181939, Polish with anEnglish summary), Wydawnictwo Sejmowe, Warsaw, pp.164165

[14] Ruchniewicz,Stosunki..., p254

[15] (Polish) Mironowicz, Eugeniusz (1999) Biaoru, Trio,Warsaw, p. 136.ISBN 83-85660-82-8

[16] Struyska,Anti-Soviet conspiracy..., pp859860.

[17] United Nations. U.S. Department of State. Archivedfrom the original on 3 March 2003. Retrieved 22 Septem-

ber 2014. Voting procedures and the veto power of per-manent members of the Security Council were finalized attheYalta Conferencein 1945 when Roosevelt and Stalinagreed that the veto would not prevent discussions by theSecurity Council. Roosevelt agreed to General Assemblymembership for Ukraine and Byelorussia while reservingthe right, which was never exercised, to seek two morevotes for the United States.

[18] .expo2000.bsu.by

8 Further reading

Bennett, Brian M. The last dictatorship in Europe:Belarus under Lukashenko (Columbia UniversityPress, 2011)

Korosteleva, Elena A., Lawson Colin W. and Marsh,Rosalind J., eds. Contemporary Belarus(Routledge2003)

Marples, D.R. Belarus: from Soviet rule to nuclearcatastrophe(St. Martins Press, 1996)

Minahan, James (1998). Miniature Empires: A His-torical Dictionary of the Newly Independent States.Greenwood.ISBN 0-313-30610-9.

Olson, James Stuart; Pappas, Lee Brigance; Pappas,Nicholas C. J. (1994). Ethnohistorical Dictionary ofthe Russian and Soviet Empires. Greenwood Press.ISBN 0-313-27497-5.

Plokhy, Serhii (2001). The Cossacks and Religionin Early Modern Ukraine. Oxford University Press.ISBN 0-19-924739-0.

Rudling, Pers Anders.The Rise and Fall of Belaru-sian Nationalism, 19061931 (University of Pitts-burgh Press; 2014) 436 pages

Ryder, Andrew (1998). Eastern Europe and theCommonwealth of Independent States, Volume 4.Routledge. ISBN 1-85743-058-1.

Silitski, Vitali and Jan Zaprudnik (2010). The A toZ of Belarus. Scarecrow Press.

Skinner, Barbara. (2012) The Western Front of theEastern Church: Uniate and Orthodox Conflict in

Eighteenth-Century Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, and

Russia

Snyder, Timothy. (2004) The Reconstruction of Na-tions: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569

1999excerpt and text search

Struyska, Nina. Anti-Soviet conspiracy and par-tisan struggle of the Green Oak Party in Belarus,

inNon Provincial Europe, London 1999,ISBN 83-86759-92-5

Szporluk, Roman (2000). Russia, Ukraine, and theBreakup of the Soviet Union. Hoover InstitutionPress.ISBN 0-8179-9542-0.

Treadgold, Donald; Ellison, Herbert J. (1999).Twentieth Century Russia. Westview Press. ISBN0-8133-3672-4.

Vauchez, Andr; Dobson, Richard Barrie; Lapidge,Michael (2001). Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages.Routledge. ISBN 1-57958-282-6.

Zaprudnik, Jan. Historical dictionary of Belarus(Scarecrow Pr, 1998)

Zaprudnik, Jan (1993). Belarus: At A Crossroads InHistory.Westview Press.ISBN 0-8133-1794-0.

8.1 In Polish

(Polish)Piotr Eberhardt,Problematyka narodowo-ciowa Biaorusi w XX wieku(Nationality issue ofBelarus in the 20th century), Lublin, 1996, ISBN83-85854-16-9

(Polish)Ryszard Radzik,Kim s Biaorusini?(Whoare the Belarusians?), Toru 2003,ISBN 83-7322-672-9

(Polish) Magorzata Ruchniewicz, Stosunki naro-dowociowe w latach 19391948 na obszarze tzw.

Zachodniej BiaorusiinPrzemiany narodowociowena kresach wschodnich II Rzeczypospolitej 1931

1948(Nationality relations in 19391948 on the ter-ritory of so-called Western Belarus), Toru, 2004,ISBN 83-7322-861-6

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11

9 External links

Belarus National Republic the Belarusian Gov-ernment in exile

Stary Hetman forums and library (in Belarusian

and Russian) on Belarusian history

Belarus, byCIA World Factbook, 2000

Belarus, byUnited States Department of State

Belarusian diaspora

History of Grand Duchy of Lithuania

The lists of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth offi-cers

Belarus 1994 Presidential Election

Belarus historyon theOfficial Website of the Re-public of Belarus

Belarusian Historical Review. Independent Aca-demic Journal dedicated to history of Belarus (Be-larusian and English versions)

History of Belarus in five minutes. YouTube

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12 10 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

10 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

10.1 Text

History of BelarusSource:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Belarus?oldid=687549446Contributors:WojPob, Bryan Derksen,Szopen, Koyaanis Qatsi, Graham Chapman, LA2, Space Cadet, Olivier, Patrick, Gabbe, Mic, Koyaanisqatsi~enwiki, Alex756, Ruhrjung,Dcoetzee, RickK, David Latapie, Dysprosia, Tpbradbury, Robbot, Dirgela, RedWolf, Altenmann, Chris Roy, Postdlf, Der Eberswalder,Hemanshu, Halibutt, Guy Peters, Lysy, Everyking, DO'Neil, Mboverload, Bobblewik, Chowbok, Gdr, Knutux, Kjetil r, Piotrus, Kn-sterle~enwiki, Mzajac, OwenBlacker, Sam Hocevar, Irpen, RevRagnarok, Freakofnurture, EugeneZelenko, Rich Farmbrough, Guanabot,Rydel, Bender235, Aecis, Zscout370, Kwamikagami, Vervin, NetBot, Flxmghvgvk, Cmdrjameson, Dungodung, Pearle, Arthena, Caesura,ProhibitOnions, Ghirlandajo, Pierre Aronax, PANONIAN, Nuno Tavares, Kelly Martin, Woohookitty, PoccilScript, Lokyz, Tabletop, YuryTarasievich, Graham87, Descendall, BD2412, Monk, DePiep, Amire80, JHMM13, Czalex, FlaBot, SchuminWeb, Flowerparty, Russavia,Vmenkov, Roboto de Ajvol, RussBot, Snek01, Rjensen, Seeaxid, Molobo, Dbfirs, AjaxSmack, Deville, Curpsbot-unicodify, Appleseed,Yahnatan, SmackBot, Elonka, Kuban kazak, Herostratus, Skeezix1000, Hmains, Kazkaskazkasako, Kurykh, Polotet, Ksenon, Hibernian,Droll, Bonaparte, Xx236, Colonies Chris, Redline, D-Rock, Ajdz, Khoikhoi, Metta Bubble, Savidan, Christofor~enwiki, DDima, Epf, Be-jnar, Khazar, JohnI, 16@r, Wikipete, Iridescent, Woodshed, JForget, CmdrObot, ShelfSkewed, Cydebot, Ntsimp, Lugnuts, M.K, Kozuch,Iulius, Alphachimpbot, IndieRect, Ekotkie, Drcaldev, CommonsDelinker, Aleksandr Grigoryev, Carlosforonda, R. A. C., Red Thrush,VolkovBot, Johnfos, TXiKiBoT, Brugues, AlleborgoBot, SieBot, Antipoeten, Nihil novi, Flyer22 Reborn, Paintman, Belligero, JhannHeiar rnason, Anchor Link Bot, ClueBot, Panevezys1, Timberframe, Trivialist, MrKIA11, Auntof6, DragonBot, Galantereischik, SunCreator, Phlar, SilvonenBot, Addbot, Caydub, Lillian254, Jojhutton, Yelizandpaul, 37ophiuchi, CUSENZA Mario, Ginosbot, LinkFA-Bot,Luckas-bot, Ajh1492, Gobbleswoggler, Dzied Bulbash, AnomieBOT, Materialscientist, GenQuest, GrouchoBot, MerlLinkBot, M2545, , DobryBrat, Aamsse, Full-date unlinking bot, Rausch, SeikoEn, Hedviberit, MAXXX-309, EmausBot, John of Read-

ing, Dewritech, Mike612, Rodos01, Staszek Lem, Scythia, LWG, Matsievsky, Julia Bel, LD Draug, ClueBot NG, Widr, BattyBot, Dexbot,Makecat-bot, Hair, Dembr, Jean11, Filedelinkerbot, Omidahravanisalmasi and Anonymous: 115

10.2 Images

File:Ancient_Rus.PNG Source:https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Ancient_Rus.PNG License: Public domain Con-tributors:? Original artist:?

File:Anton_Losenko._Vladimir_and_Rogneda.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Anton_Losenko._Vladimir_and_Rogneda.jpgLicense:Public domainContributors:Originally uploaded to English Wikipedia byGhirlandajoasen:Image:Vladimir rogneda.jpgOriginal artist:Anton Losenko

File:BNR_(Ruthienie_Blanche)_Map_1918.jpgSource:https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/BNR_%28Ruthienie_Blanche%29_Map_1918.jpg License:Public domain Contributors:Dorota Michaluk: Biaoruska Republika Ludowa 19181920. U pod-staw biaoruskiej pastwowoci. Toru: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Mikoaja Kopernika, 2010, s. 597. ISBN 978-83-231-2484-9. Original artist:Unknown

File:Battle_polotsk.jpgSource:https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Battle_polotsk.jpgLicense:Public domainCon-tributors:

Original artist:Peter von Hess

File:Belarus_stub_blank.svg Source:https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Belarus_stub_blank.svgLicense:CC BY-SA 2.5Contributors:No machine-readable source provided. Own work assumed (based on copyright claims).Original artist:No machine-readable author provided.Zscout370assumed (based on copyright claims).

File:Coat_of_Arms_of_Belarus_(1991).svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Coat_of_arms_of_Belarus_%281918%2C_1991-1995%29.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Image:Pahonia.svg Original artist: Vectorized bySp.Shut and Zscout370

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