Belarusian National Republic
Encyclopedia
The Belarusian People's Republic ' onMouseout='HidePop("15210")' href="/topics/Transliteration">translit.
: Belaruskaya Narodnaya Respublika, historically referred to as the White Ruthenian Democratic Republic ) was a self-declared independent Belarusian state, which declared independence in 1918. It is also called the Belarusian Democratic Republic or the Belarusian National Republic, in order to distinguish it from Communist People's Republic
s. The BNR was recognized by several Central Powers
and former Russian countries, but not by the majority of the international community, and ceased to exist when Belarus was taken under Soviet control and the Belorussian SSR was founded in 1919, though BNR authorities later formed a government in exile
.
.
After the 1917 October Revolution
in Russia, active discussions started in Belarus about either gaining autonomy within the new democratic Russia or declaring independence. Representatives of most Belarusian regions and of different (mostly left-wing) political powers, including the Belarusian Socialist Assembly
, the Christian democratic movement
and the General Jewish Labour Bund, formed a Belarusian national council in late 1917. The Council started working on establishing Belarusian governmental institutions. Both the Bolsheviks and Germans refused to recognize it and interfered in its activity. However, the Germans saw an independent Belarus as part of the implementation of their plan for buffer state
s within Mitteleuropa
. The Bolsheviks had negotiations with the Belarusian Democratic Republic regarding an eventual recognition, but later decided instead to establish a Soviet puppet government of Belarus - the Soviet Socialist Republic of Belarus.
Parallel with negotiations that started between the Germans and Bolsheviks, the Belarusian Council started actively demanding recognition of an autonomous status for Belarus
, with continuing internal discussions on whether it should become an autonomy within Russia or declare national independence.
In its First Constituent Charter, passed on February 21, 1918, the Belarusian Council declared itself the only legitimate power in the territory of Belarus. On March 9, following the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
between the Germans and Bolsheviks, the Belarusian Council issued a Second Charter where it declared the establishment of the Belarusian People's Republic. The Belarusian Council became the provisional government of Belarus and was renamed the Council of the Belarusian People's Republic.
On March 25, 1918, the Council issued a third charter declaring the independence of Belarus. Following that, local meetings were held within Belarusian cities that issued resolutions supporting the creation of an independent republic.
(province), as well as Belarusian parts of Minsk Governorate
, Grodno Governorate
(including Belastok), Vilna Governorate
, Vitebsk Governorate, and Smolensk Governorate
, and parts of bordering governorates populated by Belarusians, rejecting the then split of the Belarusian lands between Germany and Russia. The areas were claimed because of a Belarusian majority according to demographic research, although there were also numbers of Lithuanians
, Poles
and people speaking pidgin
s of Belarusian
, Lithuanian
and Polish
, as well as many Jews, mostly in towns and cities (in some towns they made up a majority). Some of the Jews spoke Russian as their native tongue; others spoke Yiddish.
of the newly established Belarusian republic. Belarusian military units started to form within the disorganized Russian army
already in 1917.
According to the historian Oleg Latyszonek
, about 11 thousand people, mostly volunteers, served in the army of the Belarusian Republic
General Stanislau Bulak-Balakhovich supported the Government of BNR and openly positioned his army as a Belarusian national army. However, he ignored orders of the Belarusian Government, cooperated with White Russian
military leaders that opposed the idea of Belarus' independence and had ambitions to become dictator
of Belarus, therefore the Council of the BNR had mostly a negative attitude towards Bulak-Balakhovich.
The major military action of the Belarusian People's Republic army was the Slutsk defence action
in late 1920. The Council of the BNR, based at that time in Lithuania
, sent officers to help organize armed anti-Bolshevik
resistance in the town of Slutsk
. The Belarusian army managed to resist a month against the greater strength of the Red Army.
, organized food supplies to Belarus from the Ukraine and thereby prevented hunger in the country. Diplomatic representations of Belarus had been created in Germany, Estonia, Ukraine and other countries to lobby for Belarusian interests or to support Belarusian soldiers and refugees who landed in different parts of the former Russian Empire.
Besides that, the government managed to create between 150 and 350 schools, and preparations for the creation of a University in Minsk were initiated.
Being surrounded by more powerful neighbors and having no allies, the BNR lost its independence very fast and did not become a real state with a constitution
, definite territoriality, etc. However, many modern Belarusian historians suggest that creation of the Belarusian People's Republic was the reason for Bolsheviks creating the puppet Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic and allowing some elements of national cultural life in the 1920s.
started moving in to establish the Socialist Soviet Republic of Belarus, in December 1918, the Rada
(Council) of the BNR moved to Hrodna
, which was the centre of a semi-autonomous Belarusian region within the Republic of Lithuania. During the subsequent 1919 Polish invasion
, the Rada went into exile and facilitated an anti-Communist struggle within the country during the 1920s.
, Austria
, Lithuania
, Latvia
, Estonia
, Finland
, Poland
, Ukraine
, Czechoslovakia
, Armenia
, Georgia
and Turkey
. Belarusian diplomatic missions were established in many of these countries.
Beginning in 1918, Anton Lutskevich, the Prime Minister
of Belarus, met with Vladimir Lenin
hoping to gain recognition for the independence of Belarus by Soviet Russia. The Belarusian delegation even proposed the creation of a federation with the RSFSR and the adoption of the Soviet Constitution in Belarus in exchange for Russia recognizing the independent status of Belarus, but Lenin did not agree to these proposals.
When the Red Army
invaded Belarus in 1919, the government of Belarus fled first to Vilnius
and later to Hrodna
. The government of the Belarusian Democratic Republic protested the Polish military mobilization in the area of Vilnius, the Polish elections held there, and the annexation of the Augustów
area to Poland. They also appealed to the League of Nations
, Great Britain, France, the USA and other countries to recognize the independence of Belarus.
In April 1919 the Polish army seized Hrodna and Vilnius. Jozef Pilsudski
issued the Proclamation to the Inhabitants of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania
stating that the new Polish administration would grant them cultural and political autonomy. The proclamation was welcomed by the Belarusian leadership, especially considering Soviet plans for the Russification
of Belarus. However, in later negotiations with the Belarusian leaders Pilsudski proposed to limit the Belarusian government's functions to purely cultural issues, which was rejected by the Belarusian prime minister Anton Lutskevich. The government of Belarus managed to include a statement for minorities' rights in Poland in the resolutions of the Paris Peace Conference
.
In late 1920 the Belarusian government began negotiations anew with the Bolshevik
s in Moscow and tried to persuade them to recognize the independence of Belarus and to release Belarusian political prisoners being held in Russian jails. The negotiations were unsuccessful.
On November 11, 1920 the Belarusian Democratic Republic signed a partnership treaty with the Republic of Lithuania to cooperate in liberating Belarusian and Lithuanian lands from Polish occupation. The Council of the government of the Belarusian Republic relocated to Kaunas
in Lithuania. At that time the government's main goal was to prevent the ratification of the Polish-Soviet Peace of Riga
. Neither a delegation of the Belarusian democratic government, nor a delegation from the Belarusian Soviet puppet government, were invited to participate in the negotiations, which would ultimately divide Belarus into two parts.
In 1925 the exiled government of the Belarusian Democratic Republic discussed relinquishing its authority in favor of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic controlling the eastern part of Belarus
. By that time the Soviets had implemented a rather liberal regime towards the Belarusian language and national culture and this attracted the sympathies of many Belarusian organizations and activists in West Belarus
and abroad. Despite many members of the democratic government advocating this idea, the proposal was not approved.
and issued statements in support of the Western allies.
Upon declaration of independence of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1990, interest in the Belarusian Democratic Republic has increased in Belarusian society. The Belarusian Popular Front, which was the main pro-Perestroika anti-Communist opposition party, has in many aspects appealed to the restoration of an independent Belarus as the Belarusian Democratic Republic. A campaign of symbolic acceptation of citizenship
of the Belarusian Democratic Republic by people in Belarus has been organized by the BPF in the 1990s. In 1991 the Belarusian parliament adopted the state symbols of the Belarusian Democratic Republic, the Pahonia
and the White-red-white flag, as state symbols.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union
in the 1990s similar governments-in-exile of the neighboring countries (Lithuania, Poland and others) handed back their symbolic "authorities" to the corresponding independent governments. The BNR council has not done this because it did not want to hand its authority to the Communist-dominated parliament of Belarus in the early 1990s. More than that, it also sees the current Belarusian government of president Alexander Lukashenko
as an anti-Belarusian, anti-independence, and an anti-democratic power.
strongly opposing the rule of president Lukashenko. The Rada became a consolidating center for some exiled Belarusian opposition politicians like Zianon Pazniak
.
Since the late 1980s, March 25, the Independence Day of the Belarusian Democratic Republic, is widely celebrated by the Belarusian national democratic opposition as Freedom Day
. It is usually accompanied by mass opposition rallies in Minsk
and by celebration events of the Belarusian diaspora organizations supporting the Belarusian government in exile.
Chairmans of the Council of BNR:
), which was based on an emblem of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
.
and they constitute roughly 60% of all the BNR official documents from 1918. Another 20% of BNR official documentation is located in the Minsk archives, and the fate of the remaining 20% is unknown.
Transliteration
Transliteration is a subset of the science of hermeneutics. It is a form of translation, and is the practice of converting a text from one script into another...
: Belaruskaya Narodnaya Respublika, historically referred to as the White Ruthenian Democratic Republic ) was a self-declared independent Belarusian state, which declared independence in 1918. It is also called the Belarusian Democratic Republic or the Belarusian National Republic, in order to distinguish it from Communist People's Republic
People's Republic
People's Republic is a title that has often been used by Marxist-Leninist governments to describe their state. The motivation for using this term lies in the claim that Marxist-Leninists govern in accordance with the interests of the vast majority of the people, and, as such, a Marxist-Leninist...
s. The BNR was recognized by several Central Powers
Central Powers
The Central Powers were one of the two warring factions in World War I , composed of the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria...
and former Russian countries, but not by the majority of the international community, and ceased to exist when Belarus was taken under Soviet control and the Belorussian SSR was founded in 1919, though BNR authorities later formed a government in exile
Government in exile
A government in exile is a political group that claims to be a country's legitimate government, but for various reasons is unable to exercise its legal power, and instead resides in a foreign country. Governments in exile usually operate under the assumption that they will one day return to their...
.
History
The Belarusian People's Republic was declared on March 25, 1918 during World War I, when Belarus was occupied by the Germans according to the Treaty of Brest-LitovskTreaty of Brest-Litovsk
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a peace treaty signed on March 3, 1918, mediated by South African Andrik Fuller, at Brest-Litovsk between Russia and the Central Powers, headed by Germany, marking Russia's exit from World War I.While the treaty was practically obsolete before the end of the year,...
.
After the 1917 October Revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
in Russia, active discussions started in Belarus about either gaining autonomy within the new democratic Russia or declaring independence. Representatives of most Belarusian regions and of different (mostly left-wing) political powers, including the Belarusian Socialist Assembly
Belarusian Socialist Assembly
The Belarusian Socialist Assembly, BSA was a revolutionary party in the Belarusian territory of the Russian Empire. It was established in 1902 as the Belarusian Revolutionary Party, renamed in 1903....
, the Christian democratic movement
Belarusian Christian Democracy
The Belarusian Christian Democracy is a political movement in Belarus that was created at the beginning of the 20th century and is now being revived by several politicians.- Before World War II :...
and the General Jewish Labour Bund, formed a Belarusian national council in late 1917. The Council started working on establishing Belarusian governmental institutions. Both the Bolsheviks and Germans refused to recognize it and interfered in its activity. However, the Germans saw an independent Belarus as part of the implementation of their plan for buffer state
Buffer state
A buffer state is a country lying between two rival or potentially hostile greater powers, which by its sheer existence is thought to prevent conflict between them. Buffer states, when authentically independent, typically pursue a neutralist foreign policy, which distinguishes them from satellite...
s within Mitteleuropa
Mitteleuropa
Mitteleuropa is the German term equal to Central Europe. The word has political, geographic and cultural meaning. While it describes a geographical location, it also is the word denoting a political concept of a German-dominated and exploited Central European union that was put into motion during...
. The Bolsheviks had negotiations with the Belarusian Democratic Republic regarding an eventual recognition, but later decided instead to establish a Soviet puppet government of Belarus - the Soviet Socialist Republic of Belarus.
Parallel with negotiations that started between the Germans and Bolsheviks, the Belarusian Council started actively demanding recognition of an autonomous status for Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
, with continuing internal discussions on whether it should become an autonomy within Russia or declare national independence.
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a peace treaty signed on March 3, 1918, mediated by South African Andrik Fuller, at Brest-Litovsk between Russia and the Central Powers, headed by Germany, marking Russia's exit from World War I.While the treaty was practically obsolete before the end of the year,...
between the Germans and Bolsheviks, the Belarusian Council issued a Second Charter where it declared the establishment of the Belarusian People's Republic. The Belarusian Council became the provisional government of Belarus and was renamed the Council of the Belarusian People's Republic.
On March 25, 1918, the Council issued a third charter declaring the independence of Belarus. Following that, local meetings were held within Belarusian cities that issued resolutions supporting the creation of an independent republic.
Territory
In its Third Constituent Charter, the following territories were claimed for BNR: Mogilev GovernorateMogilev Governorate
The Mogilev Governorate or Government of Mogilev was a governorate of the Russian Empire in the territory of the present day Belarus. Its capital was in Mogilev....
(province), as well as Belarusian parts of Minsk Governorate
Minsk Governorate
The Minsk Governorate or Government of Minsk was a governorate of the Russian Empire. The seat was in Minsk. It was created in 1793 from the land acquired in the partitions of Poland, and lasted until 1921.- Administrative structure :...
, Grodno Governorate
Grodno Governorate
The Grodno Governorate, was a governorate of the Russian Empire.-Overview:Grodno: a western province or government of Europe lying between 52 and 54 N lat 23 and E long and bounded N by Vilna E by Minsk S Volhynia and W by the former kingdom of Poland The country was a wide plain in parts very...
(including Belastok), Vilna Governorate
Vilna Governorate
The Vilna Governorate or Government of Vilna was a governorate of the Russian Empire created after the Third Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795...
, Vitebsk Governorate, and Smolensk Governorate
Smolensk Governorate
Smolensk Governorate , or Government of Smolensk, was an administrative division of the Russian Empire, which existed, with interruptions, between 1708 and 1929....
, and parts of bordering governorates populated by Belarusians, rejecting the then split of the Belarusian lands between Germany and Russia. The areas were claimed because of a Belarusian majority according to demographic research, although there were also numbers of Lithuanians
Lithuanians
Lithuanians are the Baltic ethnic group native to Lithuania, where they number around 2,765,600 people. Another million or more make up the Lithuanian diaspora, largely found in countries such as the United States, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Russia, United Kingdom and Ireland. Their native language...
, Poles
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
and people speaking pidgin
Pidgin
A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a simplified language that develops as a means of communication between two or more groups that do not have a language in common. It is most commonly employed in situations such as trade, or where both groups speak languages different from the language of the...
s of Belarusian
Belarusian language
The Belarusian language , sometimes referred to as White Russian or White Ruthenian, is the language of the Belarusian people...
, Lithuanian
Lithuanian language
Lithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad. Lithuanian is a Baltic language, closely related to Latvian, although they...
and Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
, as well as many Jews, mostly in towns and cities (in some towns they made up a majority). Some of the Jews spoke Russian as their native tongue; others spoke Yiddish.
Military
There were attempts to create regular armed forcesArmed forces
The armed forces of a country are its government-sponsored defense, fighting forces, and organizations. They exist to further the foreign and domestic policies of their governing body, and to defend that body and the nation it represents from external aggressors. In some countries paramilitary...
of the newly established Belarusian republic. Belarusian military units started to form within the disorganized Russian army
Imperial Russian Army
The Imperial Russian Army was the land armed force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian army consisted of around 938,731 regular soldiers and 245,850 irregulars . Until the time of military reform of Dmitry Milyutin in...
already in 1917.
According to the historian Oleg Latyszonek
Oleg Latyszonek
Oleg Łatyszonek is a historian from Białystok, Poland, of Belarusian ancestry. His interests and his Ph.D. are the research of early cultural identity of Belarusians and the building of the Belarusian nation...
, about 11 thousand people, mostly volunteers, served in the army of the Belarusian Republic
General Stanislau Bulak-Balakhovich supported the Government of BNR and openly positioned his army as a Belarusian national army. However, he ignored orders of the Belarusian Government, cooperated with White Russian
White movement
The White movement and its military arm the White Army - known as the White Guard or the Whites - was a loose confederation of Anti-Communist forces.The movement comprised one of the politico-military Russian forces who fought...
military leaders that opposed the idea of Belarus' independence and had ambitions to become dictator
Dictator
A dictator is a ruler who assumes sole and absolute power but without hereditary ascension such as an absolute monarch. When other states call the head of state of a particular state a dictator, that state is called a dictatorship...
of Belarus, therefore the Council of the BNR had mostly a negative attitude towards Bulak-Balakhovich.
The major military action of the Belarusian People's Republic army was the Slutsk defence action
Slutsk defence action
The Slutsk defence action or the Slutsk uprising was an unsuccessful armed attempt to defend the independence of Belarus in the region of the town of Slutsk.-Peace of Riga:...
in late 1920. The Council of the BNR, based at that time in Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
, sent officers to help organize armed anti-Bolshevik
Anti-bolshevism
Anti-bolshevism has two principal forms:* Anti-bolshevik Anti-communism* Anti-Bolshevik Communism...
resistance in the town of Slutsk
Slutsk
Slutsk is a town in Belarus, located on the Sluch River south of Minsk. As of 2010 its population is of 61,400).-Geography:The town is situated in the south-west of its Voblast, not too far from from the city of Soligorsk.-History:...
. The Belarusian army managed to resist a month against the greater strength of the Red Army.
Other actions of the independent Belarusian government
During its short existence the government of Belarus established close ties with the Ukrainian People's RepublicUkrainian People's Republic
The Ukrainian People's Republic or Ukrainian National Republic was a republic that was declared in part of the territory of modern Ukraine after the Russian Revolution, eventually headed by Symon Petliura.-Revolutionary Wave:...
, organized food supplies to Belarus from the Ukraine and thereby prevented hunger in the country. Diplomatic representations of Belarus had been created in Germany, Estonia, Ukraine and other countries to lobby for Belarusian interests or to support Belarusian soldiers and refugees who landed in different parts of the former Russian Empire.
Besides that, the government managed to create between 150 and 350 schools, and preparations for the creation of a University in Minsk were initiated.
Being surrounded by more powerful neighbors and having no allies, the BNR lost its independence very fast and did not become a real state with a constitution
Constitution
A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...
, definite territoriality, etc. However, many modern Belarusian historians suggest that creation of the Belarusian People's Republic was the reason for Bolsheviks creating the puppet Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic and allowing some elements of national cultural life in the 1920s.
Exile
After the German army retreated from the territory of Belarus and the Red ArmyRed Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
started moving in to establish the Socialist Soviet Republic of Belarus, in December 1918, the Rada
Rada
Rada is the term for "council" or "assembly"borrowed by Polish from the Low Franconian "Rad" and later passed into the Czech, Ukrainian, and Belarusian languages....
(Council) of the BNR moved to Hrodna
Hrodna
Grodno or Hrodna , is a city in Belarus. It is located on the Neman River , close to the borders of Poland and Lithuania . It has 327,540 inhabitants...
, which was the centre of a semi-autonomous Belarusian region within the Republic of Lithuania. During the subsequent 1919 Polish invasion
Polish-Soviet War
The Polish–Soviet War was an armed conflict between Soviet Russia and Soviet Ukraine and the Second Polish Republic and the Ukrainian People's Republic—four states in post–World War I Europe...
, the Rada went into exile and facilitated an anti-Communist struggle within the country during the 1920s.
Struggle for international recognition in the 1920s
The Belarusian Democratic Republic was officially recognized as an independent country by GermanyGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
, Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
, Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
, Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
, Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
and Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
. Belarusian diplomatic missions were established in many of these countries.
Beginning in 1918, Anton Lutskevich, the Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
of Belarus, met with Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...
hoping to gain recognition for the independence of Belarus by Soviet Russia. The Belarusian delegation even proposed the creation of a federation with the RSFSR and the adoption of the Soviet Constitution in Belarus in exchange for Russia recognizing the independent status of Belarus, but Lenin did not agree to these proposals.
When the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
invaded Belarus in 1919, the government of Belarus fled first to Vilnius
Vilnius
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...
and later to Hrodna
Hrodna
Grodno or Hrodna , is a city in Belarus. It is located on the Neman River , close to the borders of Poland and Lithuania . It has 327,540 inhabitants...
. The government of the Belarusian Democratic Republic protested the Polish military mobilization in the area of Vilnius, the Polish elections held there, and the annexation of the Augustów
Augustów
Augustów is a town in north-eastern Poland with 29,600 inhabitants . It lies on the Netta River and the Augustów Canal. It is situated in the Podlaskie Voivodeship , having previously been in Suwałki Voivodeship . It is the seat of Augustów County and of Gmina Augustów.In 1970 Augustów became...
area to Poland. They also appealed to the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
, Great Britain, France, the USA and other countries to recognize the independence of Belarus.
In April 1919 the Polish army seized Hrodna and Vilnius. Jozef Pilsudski
Józef Pilsudski
Józef Klemens Piłsudski was a Polish statesman—Chief of State , "First Marshal" , and authoritarian leader of the Second Polish Republic. From mid-World War I he had a major influence in Poland's politics, and was an important figure on the European political scene...
issued the Proclamation to the Inhabitants of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Proclamation to the inhabitants of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The Proclamation to the Inhabitants of the Former Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a bilingual proclamation, formulated by Józef Piłsudski and distributed mainly in Vilnius on April 22, 1919. The proclamation was printed in the Polish and Lithuanian languages after Polish forces captured Vilnius in...
stating that the new Polish administration would grant them cultural and political autonomy. The proclamation was welcomed by the Belarusian leadership, especially considering Soviet plans for the Russification
Russification
Russification is an adoption of the Russian language or some other Russian attributes by non-Russian communities...
of Belarus. However, in later negotiations with the Belarusian leaders Pilsudski proposed to limit the Belarusian government's functions to purely cultural issues, which was rejected by the Belarusian prime minister Anton Lutskevich. The government of Belarus managed to include a statement for minorities' rights in Poland in the resolutions of the Paris Peace Conference
Paris Peace Conference, 1919
The Paris Peace Conference was the meeting of the Allied victors following the end of World War I to set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers following the armistices of 1918. It took place in Paris in 1919 and involved diplomats from more than 32 countries and nationalities...
.
In late 1920 the Belarusian government began negotiations anew with the Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
s in Moscow and tried to persuade them to recognize the independence of Belarus and to release Belarusian political prisoners being held in Russian jails. The negotiations were unsuccessful.
Kaunas
Kaunas is the second-largest city in Lithuania and has historically been a leading centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the biggest city and the center of a powiat in Trakai Voivodeship of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania since 1413. During Russian Empire occupation...
in Lithuania. At that time the government's main goal was to prevent the ratification of the Polish-Soviet Peace of Riga
Peace of Riga
The Peace of Riga, also known as the Treaty of Riga; was signed in Riga on 18 March 1921, between Poland, Soviet Russia and Soviet Ukraine. The treaty ended the Polish-Soviet War....
. Neither a delegation of the Belarusian democratic government, nor a delegation from the Belarusian Soviet puppet government, were invited to participate in the negotiations, which would ultimately divide Belarus into two parts.
In 1925 the exiled government of the Belarusian Democratic Republic discussed relinquishing its authority in favor of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic controlling the eastern part of Belarus
East Belarus
thumb|Coat of arms of East BelarusEast Belarus usually refers to the part of Belarus that was under Soviet occupation between 1919 and 1939, as opposed to West Belarus that was part of the Second Polish Republic in that time....
. By that time the Soviets had implemented a rather liberal regime towards the Belarusian language and national culture and this attracted the sympathies of many Belarusian organizations and activists in West Belarus
West Belarus
West Belarus is the name used in reference to the territory of modern Belarus which belonged to the Second Polish Republic between 1919 and 1939. The area of West Belarus was annexed into the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic following staged elections soon after the Nazi-Soviet Invasion of...
and abroad. Despite many members of the democratic government advocating this idea, the proposal was not approved.
In the Second World War
During World War II, the Belarusian government-in-exile refused to cooperate with the pro-German puppet government Belarusian Central RadaBelarusian Central Rada
The Belarusian Central Rada was nominally the government of Belarus from 1943–44. It was a collaborationist government established by Nazi Germany within the occupation and colonial administration of Reichskommissariat Ostland.- Timeline :...
and issued statements in support of the Western allies.
After the war
After the war, when many Belarusian Central Rada leaders and supporters emigrated from Belarus, tensions between pro-BNR and pro-BCR parties of the Belarusian diaspora remained. As time passed, the pro-BCR party dissolved and was mainly absorbed by the pro-BNR party. Many former Belarusian Central Rada activists became leaders of the Belarusian democratic government in exile.Upon declaration of independence of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1990, interest in the Belarusian Democratic Republic has increased in Belarusian society. The Belarusian Popular Front, which was the main pro-Perestroika anti-Communist opposition party, has in many aspects appealed to the restoration of an independent Belarus as the Belarusian Democratic Republic. A campaign of symbolic acceptation of citizenship
Citizenship
Citizenship is the state of being a citizen of a particular social, political, national, or human resource community. Citizenship status, under social contract theory, carries with it both rights and responsibilities...
of the Belarusian Democratic Republic by people in Belarus has been organized by the BPF in the 1990s. In 1991 the Belarusian parliament adopted the state symbols of the Belarusian Democratic Republic, the Pahonia
Pahonia
The Pahonia , transliteration: Pahonya, , Lithuanian: Vytis, Pagaunė, is a historical symbol of Grand Duchy of Lithuania, of which the eastern part later became known as Belarus...
and the White-red-white flag, as state symbols.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union was the disintegration of the federal political structures and central government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , resulting in the independence of all fifteen republics of the Soviet Union between March 11, 1990 and December 25, 1991...
in the 1990s similar governments-in-exile of the neighboring countries (Lithuania, Poland and others) handed back their symbolic "authorities" to the corresponding independent governments. The BNR council has not done this because it did not want to hand its authority to the Communist-dominated parliament of Belarus in the early 1990s. More than that, it also sees the current Belarusian government of president Alexander Lukashenko
Alexander Lukashenko
Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko has been serving as the President of Belarus since 20 July 1994. Before his career as a politician, Lukashenko worked as director of a state-owned agricultural farm. Under Lukashenko's rule, Belarus has come to be viewed as a state whose conduct is out of line...
as an anti-Belarusian, anti-independence, and an anti-democratic power.
Current state
The exiled government still exists and attempts to lobby interests of the Belarusian diaspora in countries where it has its representatives: USA, Canada, Great Britain, Estonia and others. It also makes regular statements about the current political situation in BelarusBelarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
strongly opposing the rule of president Lukashenko. The Rada became a consolidating center for some exiled Belarusian opposition politicians like Zianon Pazniak
Zianon Pazniak
Zianon Pazniak is a Belarusian nationalist politician, one of the founders of the Belarusian Popular Front and leader of the Christian Conservative Party of the BPF...
.
Since the late 1980s, March 25, the Independence Day of the Belarusian Democratic Republic, is widely celebrated by the Belarusian national democratic opposition as Freedom Day
Freedom Day (Belarus)
Freedom Day is an unofficial holiday in Belarus, which is celebrated on March 25 to commemorate the creation on that date in 1918 of the Belarusian People's Republic ....
. It is usually accompanied by mass opposition rallies in Minsk
Minsk
- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...
and by celebration events of the Belarusian diaspora organizations supporting the Belarusian government in exile.
Presidents
- Jan SieradaJan SieradaJan Sierada was a Belarusian statesman, pedagogist and writer, the first president of the Belarusian Democratic Republic.Sierada was born in the village Zadźwiej ....
(1918–1919) - Piotra Krečeŭski (1919–1928)
- Vasil ZacharkaVasil ZacharkaVasil Zacharka was a Belarusian statesman and the second president of the Belarusian People's Republic in exile.-Early life:Vasil Zacharka was born in a peasant family near Hrodna. In 1895 he became a certified church school teacher and later worked at school.In 1898 Zacharka was mobilized to the...
(1928–1943) - Mikoła Abramčyk (1944–1970)
- Vincent Žuk-Hryškievič (1970–1982)
- Jazep SažyčJazep SažyčJazep Sažyč was a Belarusian politician and military commander.Jazep Sažyč was born in Haradzieczna . He graduated from a Polish gymnasium in Navahrudak. In 1938 he was mobilized into the Polish army where he underwent an officer training course. During the German invasion of Poland Sažyč was...
(1982–1997) - Ivonka SurvillaIvonka SurvillaIvonka Survilla or Surviła is the current President of the Belarusian National Republic , the Belarusian government in exile.After emigration through East Prussia, she lived in Denmark, France and Spain before moving to Canada in 1969....
(1997–present)
Symbols
A national flag of three stripes — white-red-white — was adopted, as well as a state seal (PahoniaPahonia
The Pahonia , transliteration: Pahonya, , Lithuanian: Vytis, Pagaunė, is a historical symbol of Grand Duchy of Lithuania, of which the eastern part later became known as Belarus...
), which was based on an emblem of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state from the 12th /13th century until 1569 and then as a constituent part of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1791 when Constitution of May 3, 1791 abolished it in favor of unitary state. It was founded by the Lithuanians, one of the polytheistic...
.
Archives
In 1998, Belarusian linguist and translator Siarhiej Shupa published a two-volume collection of BNR archives (Архівы Беларускай Народнай Рэспублікі. Менск-Вільня-Прага-Нью-Ёрк). The total size of the two volumes is more than 1700 pages. Essentially these are the processed and re-organized documents from the Lithuanian archival fund #582 in VilniusVilnius
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...
and they constitute roughly 60% of all the BNR official documents from 1918. Another 20% of BNR official documentation is located in the Minsk archives, and the fate of the remaining 20% is unknown.
External links
- Belarusian National Respublic Rada website
- Belarusan Centre in Prague
- The sorrows of Belarus: A government in exile, a country in a mess, The EconomistThe EconomistThe Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
, 16 November 2006 - Europe.view | Heart of darkness, The EconomistThe EconomistThe Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
, March 13, 2008