Belarus' History
Belarusian History: Abridged
It’s depressing. The end!
In the Beginning
Circa 6th C: Slavic tribes settle in the area. Let there be light, etc. This was before Christianity was the status quo, her people pagan. It’s not until the 8th C that major signs of civilization sprung up in the area. Economically speaking, she was involved in trade, and during the 9th C Vikings established trading routes from Scandinavia to the good old Byzantine Empire.
The trade routes were profitable for those involved and after awhile they took sovereignty just enough to make sure things kept being that way.
9th C: Kievan Rus' was a rather impressive anomaly at this time and came to be due to an agreement to bring Christianity to those early people. First mention of Polatsk (central hub of modern day Belarus) emerges.
This is where major acculturation happens. She goes from being this child with folklore about her people turning to wolves at night to housing a political capital. Euphronsyne of Polatsk further contributed (and earned herself memorandum to this day) to the culture of this time by promoting art and literacy, transcribing texts, and building monasteries. The Cross of Euphronsyne is a lost relic (more like National treasure) these days, stolen during WWII.
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
In 1240 Belorussia and some of the Ukraine switched hands to Lithuania. This happened after the Mongols attacked Kiev and disintegrating the already loose ties of Kievan Rus'. A lot of further development happened while under this rule.
The Belarussians (and in part Ukrainians) at this time were referred to as Ruthenians and they had a strong hand in shaping political and otherwise cultural aspects of this new country and their language was widely used.
This is a point, canonically, that Bela is separated from her brother the longest. The groundwork to the present-day language was laid in print by Francysk Skaryna who did his part in publishing the Bible in the language (and we all know the Bible has a habit of being one of the first translated texts in developing civilizations) as well as over 20 other texts.
1385: Poland joins in on the shenanigans in the Union of Krevo, joining them as a Federation.
1569: the relations between the Duchy and Poland grow stronger with the Union of Lublin where they become a ~single state~ called the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. She was now part of the largest multinational state in Europe though she was still mainly considered Lithuania’s. Ugh. Poland overtook the political gusto.
Life with Poland involved went as such: Polish became the aristocratic language, and while a good portion of HER people were involved in agriculture and trade, she probably understood it. Her own language continued to develop. People were fleeing to the plains and to Russia though to avoid religious persecution as Catholicism tried to replace the Orthodox faith as big boy on the block. (Maybe this is why she went to America after the USSR disbanded? …nah)
In 1569 the Commonwealth started to find itself in more pressing matters than religious conflict (which is saying something). The Tatars invaded numerous times, capturing people to become slaves and the south-east was in on again-off again warfare until the 18th C.
Worse news! Economic and cultural growth comes to a screeching halt at the end of the 1650s thanks to a series of wars - against her brother, Sweden, Brandenburg, and Transylvania. And the Deluge (internal conflict, trouble in paradise, what have you). By the time the Swedes and Russia were driven back (1662), the country was “ruined”. In these battles it was estimated that the Commonwealth had lost a third of its population.
Some parts of Belarus lost HALF. No, not half of 33%. A whopping 50% of its population. With this loss, the country became vulnerable to other nations’ influence.
Oh, Poland and Lithuania tried to keep it together (for the kids) but the War of Polish succession and the Great Northern War just damaged the economy further. An uprising happened in 1794 as a last ditch attempt though the leader, one Kościuszko, was apprehended and that was the end of that mess. So, here we are, with a young girl having just endured major loss and on pause as it were. Poland was being partitioned by its neighbors and big brother in the form of the Russian Empire, who at this time was working on gathering back the old Rus’ lands.
Russian Empire
1812 found Belarussians active in guerrilla warfare against Napoleon’s army, and with his defeat Belarus was part of Russia’s jurisdiction again. Any opposition was quieted by government forces. That wasn’t the only thing quieted; national culture was in lieu of “Russification”, though they got back their Orthodox faith. With the backing of Russia, Belarus gained self-confidence.
However Nicholas I demanded that Belarussia be renamed the North-Western Territory - horribly romantic, he was. The language was forbidden to be used in schools and he campaigned against Belarussian literature. A failed revolt later led Belarus into the Industrial Revolution - something good for most of Europe really. Too bad this meant over 1M people LEAVING.
20th C
It’s bad when the catalyst for a short period of cultural expansion comes out of WWI, but there you go. The Germans (I really wasn’t kidding about her just being passed around all over the place) let the language be taught again in schools. In 1918 she became the Belarus National Republic…for a short time. So short that after the Germans withdrew it was renamed …let’s get ready for it, the Soviet Socialist Republic of Byelorussia. Holy hell. This was in EARLY 1919. Lithuania came back into the picture. Unfortunately. Same with Poland.
The Polish-Soviet War ended with Belarus being divided between the two feuding nations. Soviet Belarus was a key factor in the USSR. Things aren’t fantastic with her brother though as many scholars were executed in the Great Purge, thousands deported… Her language was once again discouraged as anti-soviet. Neither side of Belarus was encouraged to have its own identity.
WWII
The BSSR was annexed from Poland and once again Belarus enjoyed a moment of having its culture back. I say a moment because it seems as if the country cannot keep this identity for long when involved with more powerful strongholds like Russia suppressing it. In ’41 the Axis powers invaded and evacuated a portion of Belarus’ population before destroying its food supply (thanks, guys).
The times are messy and if Belarus hadn’t been through enough, this was comparatively hell on earth. The country suffered greatly fighting against the Germans, who captured Minsk and by August 1941 the entire country was captured. The Germans burned down roughly 9,000 villages, departed nearly 400,000 citizens for slave labor, and killed others in the hundreds of thousands. Previously, Belarus had had a decent population of Jewish citizens. Those that didn’t get out were obviously killed.
A bit of badass happens when her people set up a resistance to intercept German intelligence. The Asipovichy, a civilian group, diverted German trains with supplies. A game of tug and war over the lands commenced; Belarussians fought against one another, some trained by the Germans. By the end of WWII Belarus was down a quarter of its population and major cities were in ruin. They were rewarded for their valor and resistance, however.
Post-WWII
The UN? Belarus was one of the founding members. The Soviet Union and Ukraine followed suit. At this time though, her economy had been devastated… not as if Belarus had been affluent before. Whatever existed prior to the war had been vastly muted thanks to businesses being moved out of country never to return. The Soviet Union, however, once again stepped in - and due to this Belarus became a major manufacturing center. Russians immigrated to Belarus and in turn, Russian became the official language, even in the peasant class - which for any country is traditionally native tongue. It literally ceased to exist.
This continued, business as usual, until Chernobyl in 1986. This was no ~little~ incident, oh no. The plant was located on the Belarussian border with Ukraine and was noted as the worst nuclear accident in the history of nuclear incidents. The plume of debris covered a wide area from Scandinavia to the western Soviet Union. About 60% of the fallout landed in Belarus.
The effects were horrible. A fifth of the population had to have regular radioactive monitoring, over 100, 000 were permanently resettled, and after 10 years it’s been noted that children are being diagnosed with thyroid cancer - noted as ‘fifteenfold’.
FINALLY CLAIMING INDEPENDENCE
July 1990: Belarus declares its national sovereignty, finally, from the Soviet Union and on August 25, 1991 Belarus took on the title Republic of Belarus and by December 8 of the same year Belarussian leaders met with Boris Yeltsin (Russia) and Leonid Kravchuck (Ukraine) to formally declare the USSR’s formal dissolution.
Belarus’ president is seen as being authoritarian and flawed by other countries in the EU. Just another check in a very long list.
It’s depressing. The end!
In the Beginning
Circa 6th C: Slavic tribes settle in the area. Let there be light, etc. This was before Christianity was the status quo, her people pagan. It’s not until the 8th C that major signs of civilization sprung up in the area. Economically speaking, she was involved in trade, and during the 9th C Vikings established trading routes from Scandinavia to the good old Byzantine Empire.
The trade routes were profitable for those involved and after awhile they took sovereignty just enough to make sure things kept being that way.
9th C: Kievan Rus' was a rather impressive anomaly at this time and came to be due to an agreement to bring Christianity to those early people. First mention of Polatsk (central hub of modern day Belarus) emerges.
This is where major acculturation happens. She goes from being this child with folklore about her people turning to wolves at night to housing a political capital. Euphronsyne of Polatsk further contributed (and earned herself memorandum to this day) to the culture of this time by promoting art and literacy, transcribing texts, and building monasteries. The Cross of Euphronsyne is a lost relic (more like National treasure) these days, stolen during WWII.
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
In 1240 Belorussia and some of the Ukraine switched hands to Lithuania. This happened after the Mongols attacked Kiev and disintegrating the already loose ties of Kievan Rus'. A lot of further development happened while under this rule.
The Belarussians (and in part Ukrainians) at this time were referred to as Ruthenians and they had a strong hand in shaping political and otherwise cultural aspects of this new country and their language was widely used.
This is a point, canonically, that Bela is separated from her brother the longest. The groundwork to the present-day language was laid in print by Francysk Skaryna who did his part in publishing the Bible in the language (and we all know the Bible has a habit of being one of the first translated texts in developing civilizations) as well as over 20 other texts.
1385: Poland joins in on the shenanigans in the Union of Krevo, joining them as a Federation.
1569: the relations between the Duchy and Poland grow stronger with the Union of Lublin where they become a ~single state~ called the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. She was now part of the largest multinational state in Europe though she was still mainly considered Lithuania’s. Ugh. Poland overtook the political gusto.
Life with Poland involved went as such: Polish became the aristocratic language, and while a good portion of HER people were involved in agriculture and trade, she probably understood it. Her own language continued to develop. People were fleeing to the plains and to Russia though to avoid religious persecution as Catholicism tried to replace the Orthodox faith as big boy on the block. (Maybe this is why she went to America after the USSR disbanded? …nah)
In 1569 the Commonwealth started to find itself in more pressing matters than religious conflict (which is saying something). The Tatars invaded numerous times, capturing people to become slaves and the south-east was in on again-off again warfare until the 18th C.
Worse news! Economic and cultural growth comes to a screeching halt at the end of the 1650s thanks to a series of wars - against her brother, Sweden, Brandenburg, and Transylvania. And the Deluge (internal conflict, trouble in paradise, what have you). By the time the Swedes and Russia were driven back (1662), the country was “ruined”. In these battles it was estimated that the Commonwealth had lost a third of its population.
Some parts of Belarus lost HALF. No, not half of 33%. A whopping 50% of its population. With this loss, the country became vulnerable to other nations’ influence.
Oh, Poland and Lithuania tried to keep it together (for the kids) but the War of Polish succession and the Great Northern War just damaged the economy further. An uprising happened in 1794 as a last ditch attempt though the leader, one Kościuszko, was apprehended and that was the end of that mess. So, here we are, with a young girl having just endured major loss and on pause as it were. Poland was being partitioned by its neighbors and big brother in the form of the Russian Empire, who at this time was working on gathering back the old Rus’ lands.
Russian Empire
1812 found Belarussians active in guerrilla warfare against Napoleon’s army, and with his defeat Belarus was part of Russia’s jurisdiction again. Any opposition was quieted by government forces. That wasn’t the only thing quieted; national culture was in lieu of “Russification”, though they got back their Orthodox faith. With the backing of Russia, Belarus gained self-confidence.
However Nicholas I demanded that Belarussia be renamed the North-Western Territory - horribly romantic, he was. The language was forbidden to be used in schools and he campaigned against Belarussian literature. A failed revolt later led Belarus into the Industrial Revolution - something good for most of Europe really. Too bad this meant over 1M people LEAVING.
20th C
It’s bad when the catalyst for a short period of cultural expansion comes out of WWI, but there you go. The Germans (I really wasn’t kidding about her just being passed around all over the place) let the language be taught again in schools. In 1918 she became the Belarus National Republic…for a short time. So short that after the Germans withdrew it was renamed …let’s get ready for it, the Soviet Socialist Republic of Byelorussia. Holy hell. This was in EARLY 1919. Lithuania came back into the picture. Unfortunately. Same with Poland.
The Polish-Soviet War ended with Belarus being divided between the two feuding nations. Soviet Belarus was a key factor in the USSR. Things aren’t fantastic with her brother though as many scholars were executed in the Great Purge, thousands deported… Her language was once again discouraged as anti-soviet. Neither side of Belarus was encouraged to have its own identity.
WWII
The BSSR was annexed from Poland and once again Belarus enjoyed a moment of having its culture back. I say a moment because it seems as if the country cannot keep this identity for long when involved with more powerful strongholds like Russia suppressing it. In ’41 the Axis powers invaded and evacuated a portion of Belarus’ population before destroying its food supply (thanks, guys).
The times are messy and if Belarus hadn’t been through enough, this was comparatively hell on earth. The country suffered greatly fighting against the Germans, who captured Minsk and by August 1941 the entire country was captured. The Germans burned down roughly 9,000 villages, departed nearly 400,000 citizens for slave labor, and killed others in the hundreds of thousands. Previously, Belarus had had a decent population of Jewish citizens. Those that didn’t get out were obviously killed.
A bit of badass happens when her people set up a resistance to intercept German intelligence. The Asipovichy, a civilian group, diverted German trains with supplies. A game of tug and war over the lands commenced; Belarussians fought against one another, some trained by the Germans. By the end of WWII Belarus was down a quarter of its population and major cities were in ruin. They were rewarded for their valor and resistance, however.
Post-WWII
The UN? Belarus was one of the founding members. The Soviet Union and Ukraine followed suit. At this time though, her economy had been devastated… not as if Belarus had been affluent before. Whatever existed prior to the war had been vastly muted thanks to businesses being moved out of country never to return. The Soviet Union, however, once again stepped in - and due to this Belarus became a major manufacturing center. Russians immigrated to Belarus and in turn, Russian became the official language, even in the peasant class - which for any country is traditionally native tongue. It literally ceased to exist.
This continued, business as usual, until Chernobyl in 1986. This was no ~little~ incident, oh no. The plant was located on the Belarussian border with Ukraine and was noted as the worst nuclear accident in the history of nuclear incidents. The plume of debris covered a wide area from Scandinavia to the western Soviet Union. About 60% of the fallout landed in Belarus.
The effects were horrible. A fifth of the population had to have regular radioactive monitoring, over 100, 000 were permanently resettled, and after 10 years it’s been noted that children are being diagnosed with thyroid cancer - noted as ‘fifteenfold’.
FINALLY CLAIMING INDEPENDENCE
July 1990: Belarus declares its national sovereignty, finally, from the Soviet Union and on August 25, 1991 Belarus took on the title Republic of Belarus and by December 8 of the same year Belarussian leaders met with Boris Yeltsin (Russia) and Leonid Kravchuck (Ukraine) to formally declare the USSR’s formal dissolution.
Belarus’ president is seen as being authoritarian and flawed by other countries in the EU. Just another check in a very long list.