Editing Belarus (section)

===Early states and interwar period===
[[File:Dziejačy BNR.jpg|thumb|right|The first government ("activists") of the Belarussian People's Republic (BNR, Беларуская Народная Рэспубліка), 1918.<br />Sitting, left to right:<br />[[Aliaksandar Burbis]], [[Jan Sierada]], [[Jazep Varonka]], [[Vasil Zacharka]].<br />Standing, left to right:<br />[[Arkadź Smolič]], [[Pyotra Krecheuski]], [[Kastuś Jezavitaŭ]], [[Anton Ausianik]], [[Liavon Zayats]].]]
The [[Belarusian People's Republic]] was the first attempt to create an independent Belarusian state under the name "Belarus". Despite significant efforts, the state ceased to exist, primarily because the territory was continually dominated by the [[Imperial German Army]] and the [[Imperial Russian Army]] in [[World War I]], and then the [[Bolshevik]] [[Red Army]]. It existed from only 1918 to 1919 but created prerequisites for the formation of a Belarusian state. The choice of name was probably based on the fact that core members of the newly formed government were educated in tsarist universities, with corresponding emphasis on the ideology of West-Russianism.<ref name="Jr.Zaprudnik2010">{{cite book|author1=Vitali Silitski, Jr.|author2=Jan Zaprudnik|title=The A to Z of Belarus|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bQXyAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA308|date=7 April 2010|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-1-4617-3174-0|pages=308–}}</ref>

The [[Republic of Central Lithuania]] was a short-lived political entity, which was the last attempt to restore Lithuania to the historical confederacy state (it was also supposed to create Lithuania Upper and Lithuania Lower). The republic was created in 1920 following [[Żeligowski's Mutiny|the staged rebellion]] of soldiers of the [[1st Lithuanian–Belarusian Division]] of the [[Polish Army]] under [[Lucjan Żeligowski]]. Centered on the historical capital of the [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]], [[Vilna]] ({{langx|lt|Vilnius}}, {{langx|pl|Wilno}}), for 18 months the entity served as a [[buffer state]] between [[Poland]], upon which it depended, and Lithuania, which claimed the area.<ref name="von Rauch">{{cite book | first=Georg von |last=Rauch |author-link=Georg von Rauch | editor=Gerald Onn | title =The Baltic States: Years of Independence – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, 1917–40 | year =1974 | pages = 100–102 | chapter =The Early Stages of Independence | chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=emBIdi4LPz8C&pg=PA101 |publisher =C. Hurst & Co| isbn=0-903983-00-1 }}</ref> After a variety of delays, [[1922 Republic of Central Lithuania general election|a disputed election]] took place on 8 January 1922, and the territory was annexed to Poland. Żeligowski later in his memoir which was published in London in 1943 condemned the annexation of the Republic by Poland, as well as the policy of closing Belarusian schools and general disregard of Marshal [[Józef Piłsudski]]'s confederation plans by Polish ally.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://history-belarus.by/images/img-figures/zeligowski/Zeligowski_Zapomnianae-prawdy.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://history-belarus.by/images/img-figures/zeligowski/Zeligowski_Zapomnianae-prawdy.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live|title=Zapomniane prawdy|author=Żeligowski, Lucjan|year=1943|publisher=F. Mildner & Sons|language = pl}}</ref>

[[File:Kurapaty 1989 meeting.jpg|thumb|Meeting in the [[Kurapaty]] woods, 1989, where between 1937 and 1941 from 30,000 to 250,000 people, including Belarusian [[intelligentsia]] members, were [[Soviet repressions in Belarus|murdered]] by the [[NKVD]] during the [[Great Purge]]]]

In January 1919, a part of Belarus under Bolshevik Russian control was declared the [[Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia]] (SSRB) for just two months, but then merged with the [[Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic]] (LSSR) to form the [[Socialist Soviet Republic of Lithuania and Belorussia]] (SSR LiB), which lost control of its territories by August.

The [[Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic]] (BSSR) was created in July 1920.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ioffe |first1=Grigorij Viktorovič |last2=Silitski |first2=Vitali |title=Historical dictionary of Belarus |date=2018 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |location=Lanham (Md.) |isbn=978-1-5381-1706-4 |page=282 |edition=3rd}}</ref>

The contested lands were divided between Poland and the [[Soviet Union]] after the war ended in 1921, and the Byelorussian SSR became a founding member of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1922.<ref name="birgerson" /><ref>{{cite book|last=Marples|first=David|title=Belarus: A Denationalized Nation|publisher=Routledge|year=1999|page=5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EMCYfOSaLSgC&q=Belarusian+People%27s+Republic&pg=PA8|isbn=90-5702-343-1}}</ref> In the 1920s and 1930s, Soviet agricultural and economic policies, including [[collectivization]] and [[Five-year plans of the Soviet Union|five-year plans for the national economy]], led to famine and political repression.<ref>{{cite web |title=Belarus history |url=http://www.belarus.by/en/about-belarus/history |access-date=17 March 2017 |publisher=Official website of the Republic of Belarus}}</ref>

The [[Western Belorussia|western part of modern Belarus]] remained part of the [[Second Polish Republic]].<ref name="ocu1">{{cite book|title=The global and the local: understanding the dialectics of business systems|last=Sorge|first=Arndt|year=2005|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn=978-0-19-153534-5}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Nick Baron|author2=Peter Gatrell|title=Homelands|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FCBVPqAWuUsC&pg=PA19|access-date=18 September 2015|year= 2004|publisher=Anthem Press|isbn=978-1-84331-385-4|page=19|chapter=War, Population Displacement and State Formation in the Russian Borderlands 1914–1924}}</ref> After an early period of liberalization, tensions between increasingly nationalistic Polish government and various increasingly separatist ethnic minorities started to grow, and the [[Belarusian minority in Poland|Belarusian minority]] was no exception.<ref name="Davies">[[Norman Davies]], ''[[God's Playground]]'' (Polish edition), second tome, pp. 512–513</ref><ref name="Stosunki">{{Cite web|url=http://www.bialorus.pl/index.php?secId=49&docId=60&&Rozdzial=historia|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080623073822/http://www.bialorus.pl/index.php?secId=49&docId=60&&Rozdzial=historia|title=Stosunki polsko-białoruskie pod okupacją sowiecką (1939–1941)|archive-date=23 June 2008}}</ref> The [[polonization]] drive was inspired and influenced by the Polish [[National Democracy (Poland)|National Democracy]], led by [[Roman Dmowski]], who advocated refusing Belarusians and Ukrainians the right for a free national development.<ref>{{cite book |last=Mironowicz |first=Eugeniusz |year=2007 |trans-title=Białorusini i Ukraińcy w polityce obozu piłsudczykowskiego |title=Belarusians and Ukrainians in the policies of the Piłsudski camp |url=http://kamunikat.org/usie_knihi.html?pubid=2006 |language=pl |pages=4–5 |publisher=Wydawn. Uniwersyteckie Trans Humana |isbn=978-83-89190-87-1}}</ref> A Belarusian organization, the ''[[Belarusian Peasants' and Workers' Union]]'', was banned in 1927, and opposition to Polish government was met with state repressions.<ref name="Davies" /><ref name="Stosunki" /> Nonetheless, compared to the (larger) [[Ukrainian minority in Poland|Ukrainian minority]], Belarusians were much less politically aware and active, and thus suffered fewer repressions than the Ukrainians.<ref name="Davies" /><ref name="Stosunki" /> In 1935, after the death of Piłsudski, a new wave of repressions was released upon the minorities, with many [[Belarusian Orthodox Church|Orthodox churches]] and Belarusian schools being closed.<ref name="Davies" /><ref name="Stosunki" /> Use of the [[Belarusian language]] was discouraged.<ref>Bieder, H. (2000): Konfession, Ethnie und Sprache in Weißrußland im 20. Jahrhundert. In: Zeitschrift für Slawistik 45 (2000), 200–214.</ref> Belarusian leadership was sent to [[Bereza Kartuska prison]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Lubachko |first=Ivan |title=Belorussia under Soviet Rule, 1917–1957 |title-link=Belorussia under Soviet Rule, 1917–1957 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |year=1972|page=137}}</ref>