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Belarus: Difference between revisions
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In the havoc of the Russian Civil War, a German backed National Republic (actually called the People's Republic but idiomatically translated here as it was decidedly un-Bolshevik), flying a new white-red-white flag. When Germany left, the BNR found itself with about as much credibility as their German backers, and lasted only as long as it took the Red Army to arrive. The republic was carved up between the USSR (who commified it) and Poland (who denied its existence, considering it to be Poland, but swampier). Wars were fought between the USSR and Poland ([[World War II|no, not that one]]), which brought the Byelorussian SSR as it was called closer to its modern geographic divisions.
The Belarusians were not happy and as in Ukraine and the Baltic nations (and indeed Russia) some nationalists briefly co-operated with the Nazis before they realised that the whole "Slavic untermensch" thing [
The Soviets, of course, won and took over Poland's bit, dumping the substantial Polish population into eastern Germany in order to straighten up the lines on the map. Post-war Soviet Byelorussia had to be rebuilt largely from scratch (as did much of the USSR), and little resembled the pre-war nation: huge urban projects turned Minsk into a modern Soviet metropolis, and industry (traditionally concentrated in certain parts of Russia and Ukraine) was brought to the republic. State planning meant that Belarus would have an emphasis largely on ''light'' industry, not heavy or military industry, producing a disprorportionate part of the country's larger consumer products (refridgerators, televisions, washing machines, etc.) Consequently, with some mondery industry, a large agricultural base, and not being invaded by Poland, Germany, or the Tsars, the BSSR was considered to have one of the highest standards of living in the USSR. Since independence, though, Belarus' pre-war image as [[Ruritania]] has come back into vogue--outside the USSR, where Belarus was largely unknown, that has always been the image.
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An official union between Russia and Belarus was agreed in 1999 and came into effect in 2000 with talk of the two being officially unified under one flag, citizenship, currency and so on. However, enthusiasm seems to have waned again, with customs controls being re-introduced and no joint "national" symbols having been agreed. It seems likely that, while Belarus is keen to rejoin a stronger Russia, the Russians have no particular wish to subsume their new-found national pride to yet another union of states. Well, it's either that or, more likely, the leaders of Belarus and Russia can't agree on the details, and therefore, no progress.
Tropewise, most of what applies to Russia will apply to Belarus as well, and you'd be hard-pressed to find many westerners who would be able to tell you anything about the country. Russian media tends to portray Belarus as a [[Swamps Are Evil|swampy]] [[Ruritania]] where everyone [[Trademark Favorite Food|eats lots of potatoes]] and speaks <s>Belarusian</s> [[Just a Stupid Accent|Russian with a funny accent]] ([[Truth in Television]] to some extent, since Russian is the first language of more than 70% of Belarusians). Also, quite a lot of Soviet films that are set in Belarus are about [[World War II]] and the [[La Résistance|Belarusian partisans]]. When it was first independent, English-speaking media couldn't quite decide what to call it - Byelorussia or Bielorussia was popular at first but we seem to have settled on Belarus (pronounced "Bella-'''roos'''", or "byella-'''roosh''' if you're trying to impress someone<ref>the last consonant is actually not a sh-sound, but a [
Famous Belarusians include:
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