Editing History of Belarus (section)

==20th century==

===BNR and LBSSR===<!-- This section is linked from [[Government in exile]] -->
[[File:BNR (Ruthienie Blanche) Map 1918.jpg|thumb|280px|The territory claimed by the [[People's Republic of Belarus]], 1918]]
[[File:Flag of Belarus (1918, 1991-1995).svg|thumb|The [[Flag of Belarus#White-red-white flag|flag]] of the [[People's Republic of Belarus]] in 1918 and of the [[Republic of Belarus]] in 1991-1995]]
[[File:Coat of Arms of Belarus (1991).svg|thumb|upright|[[Pahonia]], the [[National emblem of Belarus#Pahonia|Coat of Arms]] of the [[People's Republic of Belarus]] in 1918 and of the [[Republic of Belarus]] in 1991-1995]]
{{main|People's Republic of Belarus|Lithuanian–Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic}}
On 21 February 1918, Minsk was captured by German troops. [[World War I]] was the short period when [[Belarusian culture]] started to flourish. German administration allowed schools with [[Belarusian language]], previously banned in Russia; a number of [[Education in Belarus|Belarusian school]]s were created until 1919 when they were banned again by the Polish military administration.{{Citation needed|date=March 2018}} At the end of World War I, when Belarus was still [[military occupation|occupied]] by Germans, according to the [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (Russia–Central Powers)|Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]], the short-lived [[People's Republic of Belarus]] was pronounced on 25 March 1918, as part of the German [[Mitteleuropa]] plan.

In December 1918, Mitteleuropa was obsolete as the [[German Empire]] withdrew from the [[Ober-Ost]] territory, and for the next few years in the newly created [[power vacuum]] the territories of Belarus would witness the struggle of various national and foreign factions. On 3 December 1918 the Germans withdrew from Minsk. On 10 December 1918 Soviet troops occupied Minsk. The [[Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic|Rada (Council) of the People's Republic of Belarus]] went into [[Government-in-exile|exile]], first to [[Kaunas]], then to [[Berlin]] and finally to [[Prague]]. On 2 January 1919, the [[Soviet Socialist Republic of Byelorussia]] was declared. On 17 February 1919 it was disbanded. Part of it was included into [[Russian SFSR]], and part was joined to the [[Lithuanian SSR]] to form the LBSSR, [[Lithuanian–Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic]], informally known as ''Litbel'', whose capital was Vilnius. While Belarus National Republic faced off with Litbel, foreign powers were preparing to reclaim what they saw as their territories: Polish forces were moving from the West, and Russians from the East. When Vilnius was captured by Polish forces on 17 April 1919, the capital of the Soviet puppet state Litbel was moved to Minsk. On 17 July 1919 Lenin dissolved Litbel because of the pressure of Polish forces advancing from the West. Polish troops [[Operation Minsk|captured Minsk]] on 8 August 1919.

===Republic of Central Lithuania===
The [[Republic of Central Lithuania]] was a short-lived political entity within a territory now split between modern Lithuania and Belarus. It was the last attempt to restore Lithuania in 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 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=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=Zapomniane prawdy|author=Żeligowski, Lucjan|year=1943|publisher=F. Mildner & Sons|language = pl}}</ref>

===Belarusian Soviet Republic and West Belarus===
{{See also|Soviet repression in Belarus}}
Some time in 1918 or 1919, [[Sergiusz Piasecki]] returned to Belarus, joining Belarusian anti-Soviet units, the "Green Oak" (in Polish, ''Zielony Dąb''), led by [[Ataman]] [[Wiaczesław Adamowicz]] ([[pseudonym]]: J. Dziergacz). When on 8 August 1919, the [[Polish Army]] captured [[Minsk]], Adamowicz decided to work with them. Thus Belarusian units were created, and Piasecki was transferred to a [[Warsaw]] school of [[infantry]] [[cadet]]s. In the summer of 1920, during the [[Polish–Soviet War]], Piasecki fought in the [[Battle of Radzymin (1920)|Battle of Radzymin]].

The frontiers between Poland, which had established an independent government after World War I, and the former Russian Empire were not recognized by the [[League of Nations]]. Poland's [[Józef Piłsudski]], who envisioned the formation of an [[Intermarium]] federation as a Central and East European bloc that would be a bulwark against Germany to the west and Russia to the east, carried out a [[Kiev offensive (1920)|Kiev offensive]] into Ukraine in 1920. This met with a Red Army counter-offensive that drove into Polish territory almost to [[Warsaw]], Minsk itself was re-captured by the Soviet Red Army on 11 July 1920 and a new [[Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic]] was declared on 31 July 1920. Piłsudski, however, halted the Soviet advance at the [[Battle of Warsaw (1920)|Battle of Warsaw]] and resumed his eastward offensive. Finally the [[Treaty of Riga]], ending the Polish–Soviet War, divided Belarus between Poland and Soviet Russia. Over the next two years, the [[People's Republic of Belarus]] prepared a [[Slutsk Defence Action|national uprising]], ceasing the preparations only when the [[League of Nations]] recognized the Soviet Union's western borders on 15 March 1923. The Soviets terrorised Western Belarus, the most radical case being [[Soviet raid on Stołpce]]. Poland created [[Border Protection Corps]] in 1924.

The Polish part of Belarus was subject to [[Polonization]] policies (especially in the 1930s), while the Soviet Belarus was one of the original republics which formed the [[USSR]]. For several years, the national culture and language enjoyed a significant boost of revival in the Soviet Belarus{{Citation needed|date=February 2007}}. A [[Polish Autonomous District]] was also formed. This was however soon ended during the [[Great Purge]], when almost all prominent Belarusian national [[intelligentsia]] were executed, many of them buried in [[Kurapaty]]. Thousands were deported to Asia. As the result of [[Polish operation of the NKVD]] tens of thousands people of many nationalities were killed. Belarusian [[orthography]] was [[Narkamauka|Russified]] in 1933 and use of Belarusian language was discouraged as exhibiting anti-soviet attitude.<ref name=Janowicz>[[Sokrat Janowicz|Janowicz, Sokrat]] (1999). ''Forming of the Belarussian nation''. RYTM. pp. 247–248.</ref>

In [[West Belarus]], up to 30,000 families of Polish [[veteran]]s (''[[osadnik]]s'') were settled in the lands formerly belonging to the Russian [[tsar]] family and Russian aristocracy.<ref>{{in lang|pl}} Stobniak-Smogorzewska, Janina (2003) ''Kresowe osadnictwo wojskowe 1920–1945'' (''Military colonization of Kresy 1920–1945''), Warsaw, RYTM, {{ISBN|83-7399-006-2}}</ref> Belarusian representation in [[Polish parliament]] was reduced as a result of the 1930 elections. Since the early 1930s, the Polish government introduced a set of policies designed to Polonize all minorities (Belarusians, Ukrainians, Jews, etc.){{Citation needed|date=February 2007}}. 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 exclusively Belarusian school (with only 44 schools teaching Belarusian language left).<ref>{{in lang|pl}} Ogonowski, Jerzy (2000) ''Uprawnienia językowe mniejszości narodowych w Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej 1918–1939'' (''The Language Rights of National Minorities in the Second Republic of Poland, 1918–1939'', Polish with an English summary), Wydawnictwo Sejmowe, Warsaw, pp. 164–165</ref>

===Belarus in World War II===
{{Main|German occupation of Byelorussia during World War II|The Holocaust in Belarus}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv N 1576 Bild-006, Minsk, Juden.jpg|thumb|Jews in the [[Minsk Ghetto]], 1941]]
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1970-043-52, Russland, bei Minsk, tote Zivilisten.jpg|thumb|Mass murder of Soviet civilians near [[Minsk]], 1943]]
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-137-1010-37A, Minsk, deutsche Truppen vor modernen Gebäuden.jpg|thumb|[[Wehrmacht|German troops]] in [[Minsk]] during their [[German occupation of Byelorussia during World War II|occupation]] of the city, August 1941]]
When the Soviet Union [[Invasion of Poland|invaded Poland]] on September 17, 1939, following the terms of the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]]'s secret protocol, Western Byelorussia, which was part of Poland, is included in the BSSR. Similarly to the times of German occupation during World War I, Belarusian language and Soviet culture enjoyed relative prosperity in this short period. Already in October 1940, over 75% of schools used the Belarusian language, also in the regions where no Belarus people lived, e.g. around [[Łomża]], what was Ruthenization.<ref>Ruchniewicz, ''Stosunki...'', p254</ref> Western Belarus was sovietised, tens of thousands were imprisoned in [[Gulag]] camps, exiled and many were executed as "[[enemies of the people]]". The victims were mostly Polish and Jewish.<ref>[http://press.princeton.edu/titles/2605.html][[Jan T. Gross]]<span>, Revolution from Abroad</span></ref><ref>Franziska Exeler, "What Did You Do during the War?" ''Kritika: Explorations in Russian & Eurasian History'' (Fall 2016) 17#4 pp 805-835 examines behaviour World War II in Belarus under the Germans, using oral history, letters of complaint, memoirs and secret police and party reports.</ref>

After twenty months of Soviet rule, [[Nazi Germany]] and its [[Axis Powers|Axis]] allies invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941. Soviet authorities immediately evacuated about 20% of the population of Belarus, [[NKVD prisoner massacres|killed thousands of prisoners]] and destroyed all the food supplies.<ref>{{in lang|pl}} Mironowicz, Eugeniusz (1999) ''Białoruś'', Trio, Warsaw, p. 136. {{ISBN|83-85660-82-8}}</ref> The country suffered particularly heavily during the fighting and the German occupation. Minsk was captured by the Germans on 28 June 1941. Following bloody encirclement battles, all of the present-day Belarus territory was occupied by the Germans by the end of August 1941.

During World War II, the [[Nazism|Nazis]] attempted to establish a puppet Belarusian government, [[Belarusian Central Rada]], with the symbolics similar to BNR. In reality, however, the Germans imposed a brutal [[racism|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. Local police took part in many of those crimes. Almost the whole, previously very numerous, Jewish populations of Belarus that did not evacuate were killed. One of the first uprisings of a Jewish [[ghetto]] against the Nazis occurred in 1942 in Belarus, in the small town of [[Lakhva]].

Since the early days of the occupation, a powerful and increasingly well-coordinated [[Belarusian resistance 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.<ref>Strużyńska, ''Anti-Soviet conspiracy...'', pp859–860.</ref> In the largest{{Citation needed|date=February 2007}} partisan sabotage action of the entire Second World War, the so-called [[Asipovichy]] diversion of 30 July 1943 four German trains with supplies and [[Tiger I|Tiger tank]]s were destroyed. To fight partisan activity, the Germans had to withdraw considerable forces behind their front line. On 22 June 1944 the huge Soviet offensive [[Operation Bagration]] was launched, Minsk was re-captured on 3 July 1944, and all of Belarus was regained by the end of August. Hundred thousand of Poles were expelled after 1944. As part of the Nazis' effort to combat the enormous [[Belarusian resistance during World War II]], special units of local [[collaborationist]]s were trained by the [[SS]]'s [[Otto Skorzeny]] to infiltrate the Soviet rear. In 1944 thirty Belarusians (known as [[Čorny Kot]] (''Black Cat'') and personally led by [[Michał Vituška]]) were [[airdrop]]ped by the [[Luftwaffe]] behind the lines of the [[Red Army]], which had already liberated Belarus during [[Operation Bagration]]. They experienced some initial success due to disorganization in the rear of the Red Army, and some other German-trained Belarusian nationalist units also slipped through the [[Białowieża Forest]] in 1945. The [[NKVD]], however, had already infiltrated these units. Vituška himself was hunted down, captured and executed, although he continued to live on in Belarusian nationalist [[hagiography]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The SS Hunter Battalions: The Hidden History of the Nazi Resistance Movement 1944-45 |author=Alexander Perry Biddiscombe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EeYhAQAAIAAJ&q=V.+I.+Rodko |publisher=Tempus |year=2006 |page=66/67 |isbn=0752439383}}</ref>

In total, Belarus lost a quarter of its pre-war population in World War II including practically all its intellectual elite. About 9,200 villages and 1.2 million houses were destroyed. The major towns of [[Minsk]] and [[Vitsebsk]] lost over 80% of their buildings and city infrastructure. For the defence against the Germans, and the tenacity during the German occupation, the capital Minsk was awarded the title ''[[Hero City (Soviet Union)|Hero City]]'' after the war. The fortress of [[Brest, Belarus|Brest]] was awarded the title ''[[Hero-Fortress]]''.

===Post-war BSSR===
After the end of War in 1945, Belarus became one of the founding members of the [[United Nations|United Nations Organisation]]. Joining Belarus was the Soviet Union itself and another republic [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic|Ukraine]]. In exchange for Belarus and Ukraine joining the UN, the United States had the right to seek two more votes, a right that has never been exercised.<ref>{{cite web| url= https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/wwii/17604.htm| title=United Nations | publisher= U.S. Department of State| quote=Voting procedures and the veto power of permanent members of the Security Council were finalized at the [[Yalta Conference]] in 1945 when Roosevelt and Stalin agreed that the veto would not prevent discussions by the Security Council. Roosevelt agreed to General Assembly membership for Ukraine and Byelorussia while reserving the right, which was never exercised, to seek two more votes for the United States. |access-date= 22 September 2014}}</ref>

[[File:The Soviet Union 1969 CPA 3721 stamp (Partisans and Sword).jpg|thumb|left|''50 years of Soviet Belarus'' — a Soviet [[postage stamp]] of 1969]]
More than 200,000 ethnic Poles left or were expelled to Poland in [[Polish population transfers (1944–46)#From Belarus|late 1940s]] and [[Repatriation of Poles (1955–59)|late 1950s]], some killed by the [[NKVD]] or deported to Siberia.{{citation needed|date=February 2016}} <ref>Andrew Savchenko, Belarus: A Perpetual Borderland, page 135, BRILL, 2009, {{ISBN|9789004174481}}</ref> [[Armia Krajowa]] and post-AK resistance was the strongest in the [[Grodno]], [[Vawkavysk]], [[Lida]] and [[Shchuchyn]] regions.<ref>[http://www.cultures-of-history.uni-jena.de/debating-20th-century-history/belarus/strangers-at-home-memorialisation-of-the-armia-krajowa-in-belarus/ Strangers at Home: Memorialisation of the Armia Krajowa in Belarus, Iryna Kashtalian, Imre Kertész Kolleg's Cultures of History Forum]</ref>

The Belarusian economy was completely devastated by the events of the war. Most of the industry, including whole production plants were removed either to Russia or Germany. Industrial production of Belarus in 1945 amounted for less than 20% of its pre-war size. Most of the factories evacuated to Russia, with several spectacular exceptions, were not returned to Belarus after 1945. 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]], [[Minsk Automobile Plant|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.<ref name=Janowicz/>
===Perestroika and Glasnost===
{{Main|History of the Soviet Union (1982–1991)|Perestroika|Glasnost}}
On 26 April 1986, the [[Chernobyl disaster]] occurred at the [[Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant]] in [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic|Ukraine]] situated close to the border with Belarus. It is regarded as the worst [[nuclear accident]] in the history of [[nuclear power]]. It produced a plume of [[radioactivity|radioactive]] debris that drifted over parts of the western Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and Scandinavia. Large areas of Belarus, Ukraine and Russia were contaminated, resulting in the evacuation and resettlement of roughly 200,000 people. About 60% of the radioactive fallout landed in Belarus. The [[Chernobyl disaster effects|effects of the Chernobyl accident in Belarus]] were dramatic: about 50,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> (or about a quarter of the territory of Belarus) formerly populated by 2.2 million people (or a fifth of the Belarusian population) now require permanent radioactive monitoring (after receiving doses over 37 [[Becquerel|kBq]]/m<sup>2</sup> of [[caesium]]-137). 135,000 persons were permanently resettled and many more were resettled temporarily. After 10 years since the accident, the occurrences of [[thyroid cancer]] among children increased fifteenfold (the sharp rise started in about four years after the accident).<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070715164257/http://expo2000.bsu.by/main.idc?id=500&id2=500 Последствия аварии на Чернобыльской АЭС]. expo2000.bsu.by</ref>