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This article describes the history of Belarus. The Belarusian ethnos is traced at least as far in time as other East Slavs. After initial period of independent feudal consolidation, Belarussian lands were included in Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Russian Empire, and finally regained their own state only in the beginning of the 20th centry.

Early history

The history of Belarus, or, more correctly of the Belarusian ethnicity, begins with the migration and expansion of the Slavic peoples throughout Eastern Europe between the 6th and 8th centuries Anno Domini. East Slavs settled on the territory within present-day Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, assimilating local Baltic (Belarus), Ugro-Finnic (Russia) and steppe nomads (Ukraine) already living there, early ethnic integrations that contributed to the gradual differentiation of the three East Slavic nations. These East Slavs were pagan, animistic, agrarian people whose economy included trade in agricultural produce, game, furs, honey, beeswax and amber.

The modern Belarusian ethnos was probably formed on the basis of the three Slavic tribes - Kryvians, Drehovians, Radzimians as well as several Baltic tribes.

During the 9th and 10th century, Scandinavian Vikings established trade posts on the way from Scandinavia to the Byzantine Empire. The network of lakes and rivers crossing East Slav territory provided a lucrative trade route between the two civilizations. In the course of trade, they gradually took sovereignty over the tribes of East Slavs, at least to the point required by improvements in trade.

The Rus' rulers invaded the Byzantine Empire on few occasions, but eventually they allied against the Bulgars. The condition underlying this alliance was to open the country for Christianization and acculturation from the Byzantine Empire.

The common cultural bond of Eastern Orthodox Christianity and written Church Slavonic (a literary and liturgical Slavic language developed by 8th century missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius) fostered the emergence of a new geopolitical entity, Kievan Rus' -- a loose-knit network of principalities, established along preexisting trade routes, with major centers in Novgorod (currently Russia), Polatsk and Kiev (currently in Ukraine) — which claimed a sometimes precarious preeminence among them.

First Belarusian states

Between the 9th and 12th century, the principality of Polatsk (northern Belarus) emerged as the dominant center of power on Belarusian territory, with a lesser role played by the principality of Turaŭ in the south.

It repeatedly asserted its sovereignty in relation to other centers of Rus', becoming a political capital, the episcopal see of a bishopric and the controller of vassal territories among Balts in the west. The city's Cathedral of the Holy Wisdom (1044-1066), though completely rebuilt over the years, remains a symbol of this independent-mindedness, rivaling churches of the same name in Novgorod and Kiev, referring to the original Hagia Sophia in Constantinople (and hence to claims of imperial prestige, authority and sovereignty). Cultural achievements of the Polatsk period include the work of the nun Euphrosyne of Polatsk (1120-1173), who built monasteries, transcribed books, promoted literacy and sponsored art (including local artisan Lazarus Bohsha's famous "Cross of Euphrosyne," a national symbol and treasure stolen during World War II), and the prolific, original Church Slavonic sermons and writings of Bishop Cyril of Turau (1130-1182).

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania

In the 13th century, the fragile unity of Kievan Rus' disintegrated due to nomadic incursions from Asia, which climaxed with the Mongol Blue Horde's sacking of Kiev (1240), leaving a geopolitical vacuum in the region. The East Slavs splintered into a number of independent and competing principalities. Due to military conquest and dynastic marriages the Belarusian principalities were acquired by the expanding Lithuanians, beginning with the rule of King Mindouh (1240-1263). From the 13th to 15th century, Baltic, Belarusian and Ukrainian lands were consolidated into the multi-ethnic Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Ruthenia and Samogitia, with its capital initially in Horodno, later in Navahradak (now in western Belarus) and finally in Vilnia.

The Lithuanians' smaller numbers and lack of written language or Christian culture in this medieval state gave the Belarusians and Ukrainians a major and important role in shaping Lithuanian political, religious and cultural life, and further assimilation between the Slavs and Balts occurred. Owing to the predominance of East Slavs and Eastern Orthodox faith among the state's population, Ruthenian became the official language of the country, used for its official chancery, legal, diplomatic and judicial needs until 1696, when it was eventually replaced by Polish.

This period of political breakdown and reorganization also saw the rise of written local vernaculars in place of the literary and liturgical Church Slavonic language, a further stage in the evolving differentiation between the Belarusian, Russian and Ukrainian languages.

Several Lithuanian monarchs - the last being Svitrigailo in 1432-1436 - championed interests of the Eastern Orthodox Ruthenian majority, while most monarchs and magnates increasingly came to reflect opinions of the Roman Catholic Lithuanian minority.

Construction of Orthodox churches in some parts of Belarus had been initially prohibited, as was the case of Vitebsk in 1480. On the other hand, further unification of the, mostly Orthodox, Grand Duchy with mostly Catholic Poland led to liberalization and partial solving of the religious problem. In 1511 King and Grand Duke Sigismund I the Old granted the Orthodox clergy with autonomy enjoyed previously only by Catholic clergy. In 1531 the privilege was enhanced in 1531, when the Orthodox church was no longer responsible to the Catholic bishop and instead the Metropolite was responsible only to the sobor of 8 Orthodox bishops, the Grand Duke and the Patriarch of Constantinople. The privilege also extended the jurisdiction of the Orthodox hierarchy over all Orthodox people.

In such circumstances, vibrant Belarusian culture flourished, mostly in major Belarusian cities . Despite the legal usage of Old Ruthenian language (predecessor of both modern Belarusian and Ukrainian languages) which was used as a chancerry language in all territory of the Grand Duchy, the literature was mostly non-existent, outside of several chronicles and letopises. hence the first Belarusian book was published in Prague. It was not until 1517 that the first printing press using Cyrillic alphabet was founded in Kraków. Soon afterwards Francysk Skaryna, a leading representative of the renaissance Belarusian culture, founded a similar printing press in Polatsk and started an extensive work of publishing the Bible and other religious works there. Apart from the Bible itself, until his death in 1551 he published 22 other books thus laying foundations for the evolution of the Ruthenian language into modern Belarusian language.

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

The Lublin Union of 1569 constituted the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as an influential player in European politics and the largest multinational empire in Europe. While Ukraine and Podlasia became subject to the Polish Crown, Belarus was still regarded as part of Lithuania. The new polity was dominated by much more densely populated Poland, which had 134 representatives in the Sejm as compared to 46 representatives of the Grand Duchy. However the Grand Duchy retained much autonomy, and was governed by a separate code of laws called the Lithuanian Statutes, which codified both civil and property rights. Mogilyov was the largest urban centre of the territory of modern-day Belarus, followed by Vitebsk, Polotsk, Pinsk, Slutsk, and Berestye, whose population exceeded 10,000. In addition, Vilna, the former capital of the Grand Duchy, also had a significant Ruthenian population.

With time the ethnic pattern did not evolve much. Throughout their existence as a separate culture, Ruthenians (Belarusians) formed in most cases rural population, with the power held by local szlachta and boyars, often of Lithuanian, Polish or Russian descent. As in the rest of Central and Eastern Europe, the trade and commerce was mostly monopolized by Armenians and Jews, who formed a significant part of the urban population. Since the Union of Horodlo of 1413 local nobility started to be replaced with the Polish gentry and formed a significant part of it. Initially mostly Ruthenian and Orthodox, with time most of them became polonized. This was especially true for major magnate families (Sapieha and Radziwiłł clans being the most notable), whose personal fortunes and properties often surpassed those of the royal families and were huge enough to be called a state within a state. Many of them founded their own cities and settled them with settlers from other parts of Europe. For instance, there were some Scots, Germans and Dutch people inhabitating major towns of the area. Also, several Italian artists was "imported" to the lands of modern Belarus by the magnates. Contrary to Poland, in the lands of the Grand Duchy the peasants had little personal freedom in the Middle Ages. However, with time the magnates and the gentry gradually limited the few liberties of the serfs at the same time increasing their taxation, often in labour for the local gentry. This made many Ruthenians flee to the scarcely populated lands of the so-called Wild Fields in modern Ukraine, where they formed a large part of the Cossacks. Others sought refuge in the lands of other magnates, in Russia or Poland.

Also, with time the religious conflicts started to arise. The gentry with time started to adopt Catholicism while the common people by large remained faithful to Eastern Orthodoxy. Initially the Warsaw Compact of 1573 codified the pre-existant freedom of worship. However, the rule of an ultra-Catholic King Sigismund III Vasa was marked by numerous attempts to spread the Catholicism, mostly through his support for counterreformation and the Jesuits. Possibly to avoid such conflicts, in 1595 the Orthodox hierarchs of Kiev signed the Union of Brest, breaking their links with the Patriarch of Constantinople and placing themselves under the Patriarch of Rome. Although the union was generally supported by most local Orthodox bishops and the king himself, it was opposed by some prominent nobles and, more importantly, by the nascent Cossack movement. This led to a series of conflicts and rebellions against the local authorities. The first of such happened in 1595, when the Cossack insurgents under Severyn Nalivaiko took the towns of Slutsk and Mogilyov and executed Polish magistrates there. Other such clashes took place in Mogilyov (1606-10), Vitebsk (1623), and Polotsk (1623, 1633). This left the population of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by large divided onto Greek Catholic and Greek Orthodox parts. At the same time, after the schizm in the Orthodox Church (Raskol), some Old Believers migrated west, seeking refuge in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which allowed them to freely practice their faith .

Despite the abovementioned conflicts, the literary tradition of Belarus evolved. Until 17th century the Ruthenian language, the predecessor of modern Belarusian, was used in all of the Grand Duchy as a chancerry language, that is the language used for all official documents. Afterwards it was replaced with Polish language, commonly spoken by the upper classes of Belarusian society. Both Polish and Ruthenian cultures gained a major cultural centre with the foundation of the Academy of Vilna. At the same time the Belarusian lands entered a path of economic growth, with the formation of numerous towns that served as a centre of trade on the east-west routes. However, both economical and cultural growth came to an end in mid-17th century with a series of violent wars against Muscovy, Sweden, Brandenburg and Transylvania, as well as internal conflicts, known altogether as The Deluge. The misfortunes were started in 1648 by Bohdan Chmielnicki, who started a large-scale Cossack uprising in the Ukraine. Although the Cossacks were defeated in 1651 in the battle of Beresteczko, their rebellion gave opportinity to the Russians to liberate their East Slavic brethren from the Polish yoke 1655. The Swedes invaded and occupied the rest in the same year. The wars had shown internal problems of the state, with some people of the Grand Duchy supporting Russia while others (most notably Janusz Radziwiłł) supporting the Swedes. Although the Swedes were finally driven back in 1657 and the Russians were defeated in 1662, most of the country was ruined. It is estimated that the Commonwealth lost 1/3 of its population, with some regions of Belarus loosing as much as 50%.

This broke the power of the once-powerful Commonwealth and the country gradually became vulnerable to foreign influence. On several occasions, Russian armies operated in the Polish Empire, further damaging Belarusian economy during their hostilities against other powers in the Great Northern War and the War of Polish succession. There were also cases when the Russian armies kidnapped scores of eastern inhabitants of the Commonwealth, among them hundeds of thousands of Belarusian peasants. By mid-18th century their presence in the lands of modern Belarus became almost permanent and eventually by 1795 Poland was partitioned by its neighbors. All of the lands of Belarus were annexed by the Russian Empire, thus starting a new period in Belarusian history.

Russian Empire

Under Russian administration, the territory of Belarus was divided into the guberniyas of Minsk, Vitebsk, Mogilyov, and Hrodno. Belarusians were active in guerilla movement against Napoleon's occupation and did their best to annihilate the remains of the Grande Armée when it crossed the Berezina River in November 1812. With Napoleon's defeat, Belarus again became a part of Imperial Russia. National uprisings in 1830 and 1863, in which Belarusians took active part were bloodily subdued by the Russians.

Although under Nicholas I and Alexander III the national cultures were repressed due to the policy of de-Polonization or Russification which included the return to Orthodoxy, the 19th century was signified by the rise of the modern Belarusian nation and self-confidence. Belarusian economy was booming, particularly after the emancipation of the serfs in 1861. Peasants sought a better lot in large industrial centres, with some 1,500,000 people leaving Belarus in half a century preceding the Russian Revolution of 1917.

20th century

BNR and LBSSR

World War I was the short period when Belarusian culture started to fluorish. German administration allowed schools with Belarusian language, previously banned in Russia; a number of Belarusian schools were created until 1919 when they were banned again by Polish military administration. At the end of World War I, when Belarus was still occupied by Germans according to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, the short-lived Belarus National Republic was pronounced on March 25, 1918, as part of the German Mitteleuropa plan.

In December 1918 Mitteleuropa was obsolete as the Germans withdrew from the Ober-Ost territory, and for the next few years in the newly created political vaccum the territories of Belarus would witness the struggle of various national and foreign factions. On January 2, 1919 the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic was declared and a month later, on February 27, BSSR joined the Lithuanian SSR to form the LBSSR, Lithuanian-Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, informally known as Litbel. While BNR faced off with Litbel, foreign powers were preparing to reclaim what they deeded as their territories: Polish forces were moving from the West, and Russians from the East.

Eventually it was the foreigners who prevailed. When Red Army entered Minsk on January 5, 1919, the Rada (Council) of the BNR went into exile, first to Kaunas, then to Berlin and finally to Prague. Several month later, in August, the Litbel was also dissolved, this time because of the pressure of Polish forces advancing from the West.

Belarusian Soviet Republic and West Belarus

Within the USSR, the name of the country was Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. It was declared on January 1, 1919 in Smalensk.

The frontiers between Poland, which had established an independent government following World War I, and the former Russian Empire, were not recognized by the League of Nations. Poland's Józef Piłsudski, who envisioned a federation (Międzymorze), forming an East European bloc to form a bulwark against Russia and Germany, carried out Kiev Offensive into Ukraine in 1920, but was met by a Red Army counter-offensive that drove into Polish territory almost to Warsaw. However, Piłsudski halted the Soviet advance at the battle of Warsaw and resumed the offensive. Finally the Treaty of Riga, ending the Polish-Soviet War, divided Belarusian territories between Poland and Soviet Russia. For next two years BNR prepared for national uprising in Belarus and ceased the preparations only when the League of Nations recognised the eastern borders of Soviet Union on March 15 1923.

The Polish part of Belarus was subject to Polonization policies (especially in the 1930s), while the Soviet part of Belarus was set up as an officially autonomous republic. For several years, the national culture and language enjoyed a significant boost of revival in the Soviet Belarus. This was however soon tragically ended during the Great Purge, when almost all prominent Belarusian national intelligentsia were executed. Belarusian orthography was Russified in 1933 and use of Belarusian language was discouraged as exhibiting anti-soviet attitude.

In the West Belarus, up to 300 thousand Polish veterans were settled in the lands formerly belonging to the Russian tsar family and Russian aristocracy. Belarusian representation in Polish parliament was reduced in result of the 1930 elections. Since early 1930's Polish government introduced a set of policies designed to polonize all minorities (Belarusians, Ukrainians, Jews, etc.). The usage of Belarusian language was discouraged and the Belarusian schools were facing severe financial problems. In spring of 1939 there already was neither single Belarusian official organisation in Poland nor a single Belarusian school (with only 44 schools teaching Belarusian language).

Belarus in World War II

When the Soviet Union invaded Poland on September 17 1939, following the terms of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact's secret protocol, much of what had been eastern Poland was annexed to the BSSR. Similarly to the times of German occupation during First World War, Belarusian language and culture enjoyed relative prosperity in this short period. Already in October 1940, over 75% schools used Belarusian language. After twenty months of Soviet rule, Germany and its Axis allies invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941. Belarus suffered particularly heavily during the fighting and the German occupation. Following bloody encirclement battles, all of present-day Belarus was occupied by the Germans by the end of August 1941.

During the World War II the Nazis attempted to establish a puppet Belarusian government, Belarusian Central Rada, with the symbolics similar to BNR. The Germans imposed a brutal racist regime, burning down some 9,000 Belarusian villages, deporting some 380,000 people for slave labour, and killing hundreds of thousands of civilians more. Almost the whole, previously very numerous, Jewish population of Belarus which did not evacuate was killed. Since the early days of the occupation, a powerful and increasingly well-coordinated Soviet partisan movement emerged. Hiding in the woods and swamps, the partisans inflicted heavy damage to German supply lines and communications, disrupting railway tracks, bridges, telegraph wires, attacking supply depots, fuel dumps and transports and ambushing German soldiers. Not all anti-German partisans were pro-Soviet. In the largest partisan sabotage action of the entire Second World War, the so-called Asipovichy diversion of July 30, 1943, four German trains with supplies and Tiger tanks were destroyed. To fight partisan activity, the Germans had to withdraw considerable forces behind their front line. On June 22, 1944, the huge Soviet offensive Operation Bagration was launched, finally regaining all of Belarus by the end of August. Hundred thousand of Poles were expelled after 1944.

In total, Belarus lost a quarter of its pre-war population in the Second World War. For the defence against the Germans, and the tenacity during the German occupation, the capital Minsk was awarded the title Hero City after the War. The fortress of Brest was awarded the title Hero-Fortress.

BSSR from 1945 to 1990

After the end of War, in 1945 Belarus became one of the founding members of the United Nations Organisation.

During the immediate postwar period, the Soviet Union first rebuilt and then expanded the BSSR's economy, with control always exerted exclusively from Moscow. During this time, Belarus became a major center of manufacturing in the western region of the USSR. Huge industrial objects like the BelAZ, MAZ, and the Minsk Tractor Plant were built in the country. The increase in jobs resulted in a huge immigrant population of Russians in Belarus. Russian became the official language of administration and the peasant class, which traditionally was the base for Belarusian nation, ceased to exist.

On April 26, 1986 the Chernobyl accident occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine. It is regarded as the worst nuclear accident in the history of nuclear power. It produced a plume of radioactive debris that drifted over parts of the western Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and Scandinavia. Large areas of Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia were contaminated, resulting in the evacuation and resettlement of roughly 200,000 people. About 60 percent of radioactive fallout landed in Belarus.

Republic of Belarus

On 27 July 1990, Belarus declared its national sovereignty, a key step toward independence from the Soviet Union. The BSSR was formally renamed the Republic of Belarus on 25 August 1991. Around that time, Stanislav Shushkevich became the chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Belarus, the top leadership position in Belarus. Shushkevich, along with Boris Yeltsin of Russia and Leonid Kravchuk of Ukraine met on December 8, 1991, in Belavezhskaya Pushcha, to formally declare the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

In 1994, the first presidential elections were held and Alexander Lukashenko was elected president of Belarus. During his presidency, Lukashenko halted economic reform and re-established an authoritarian government reminiscent of the Soviet era. In 1996, Lukashenko disbanded parliament, and strengthened his control over the judiciary. In 2001, he was re-elected as president in elections condemned as undemocratic by Western observers. Western governments and NGOs consider Belarus to be the last dictatorship in Europe (, , , ).

On the economic front the Belorusian government policies had a mixed effect. On one hand, they allowed Belarus to bypass severe economic hardships and criseses that many former Soviet Union transition economies encountered (, , ). Today the country has one of the highest GNP per capita growth of all the former USSR nations. Nonetheless, on the other hand, poverty is a significant problem in Belarus (, , , )and the country is falling behind many of its neighbours, which are pursuing a more agressive economic liberalisation policies, like Poland with it's Balcerowicz plan.

Symbols from earlier history

The Chase/Pahonya CoA of Belarus in 1918 and 1991-1995

The images show the white-red-white flag (бел-чырвона-белы сцяг) and The Chase (Паго́ня, Pahonya) coat of arms. These historical symbols were adopted as the symbols of the Belarus National Republic and as the official national symbols of the Republic of Belarus from the time it got its independence in July 1991 and until the Referendum of 1995. The coat of arms is similar to that of Lithuania (Vytis).

References

1. "Литовско-русское государство" (?) in Russian language in "Culture of Vologda Region, Regional Web-Portal" (?)
2. "Братства" (?) in Russian language in "Culture of Vologda Region, Regional Web-Portal" (?)
3. "Внутриполитические результаты Люблинской унии" in Russian language in "belarus.by portal"
4. "Церковная уния 1596 г." in Russian language in "belarus.by portal"
5. "Белорусская Советская Социалистическая Республика" article in "Большая Советская Энциклопедия" (Great Soviet Encyclopedia), in Russian language, available online at www.oval.ru (last accessed in December 2005)
6. Strużyńska, Anti-Soviet conspiracy ..., pp. 859-860.
7. Żytko, Russian policy ..., p. 551.
8. Ibidem.
9. "ВОССОЕДИНЕНИЕ УНИАТОВ И ИСТОРИЧЕСКИЕ СУДЬБЫ БЕЛОРУССКОГО НАРОДА" in Russian language in http://www.pravoslavie.ru/ portal.
10. Janowicz, Forming ..., p. 247.
11. Ibidem, p. 248.
12. Janina Stobniak-Smogorzewska, "Kresowe osadnictwo wojskowe 1920-1945" (Military colonization of Kresy 1920-1945), Warsaw, RYTM, 2003, ISBN 8373990062, Polish language
13. Jerzy Czajewski, "Zbiegostwo ludności Rosji w granice Rzeczypospolitej" (Russian population exodus into the Rzeczpospolita), Promemoria journal, October 2004 nr. (5/15), ISSN 15099091, Table of Content online, Polish language
14. Ibidem.
15. Ogonowski, Uprawnienia językowe..., pp. 164-165.
16. Ruchniewicz, Stosunki ..., p. 254.

Bibliography

1. Nina Strużyńska, "Anti-Soviet conspiracy and partisan struggle of the Green Oak Party in Belarus", in "Non Provinicial Europe", London 1999, ISBN 8386759925
2. Sokrat Janowicz, "Forming of the Belorussian nation", RYTM, 1999
3. Małgorzata Ruchniewicz, "Stosunki narodowościowe w latach 1939-1948 na obszarze tzw. Zachodniej Białorusi" in "Przemiany narodowościowe na kresach wschodnich II Rzeczypospolitej 1931-1948" ("Nationality relations in 1939-1948 on the territory of so-called Western Belarus", in Polish), Toruń, 2004, ISBN 8373228616
4. Piotr Eberhardt, "Problematyka narodowościowa Białorusi w XX wieku" ("Nationality issue of Belarus in 20th century", in Polish), Lublin, 1996, ISBN 8385854169
5. Jerzy Ogonowski, "Uprawnienia językowe mniejszości narodowych w Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej 1918-1939" ("The Language Rights of National Minorities in The Second Republic of Poland, 1918-1939", in Polish, English summary), Wydawnictwo Sejmowe, Warsaw, 2000
6. Anatol Żytko, "Russian policy towards the Belorussian gentry in 1861-1914", Minsk

See also

• List of Belarusian rulers
• Soviet Union
• Collapse of the Soviet Union
• Commonwealth of Independent States
• History of Europe
• History of present-day nations and states
• Dzierzynszczyzna
• Kryvian

External links

• Belarus National Republic - the Belarusian Government in exile
• Stary Hetman - Belarusian history forums
• Belarus, by CIA World Factbook, 2000
• Belarus, by United States Department of State
• Belarusian diaspora
• Rulers.org — Belarus List of rulers for Belarus

• History of Europe
• History of Belarus