The word Belarus means white Russians. The Scandinavians who moved in the east were called Rus and from them came the word Russia. During the Mongol era, the Russians were classified into three different groups: Belarussians (white Russians), little Russians, and great Russians.
Belarus, landlocked country of eastern Europe. Until it became independent in 1991, Belarus, formerly known as Belorussia or White Russia, was the smallest of the three Slavic republics included in the Soviet Union (the larger two being Russia and Ukraine).
As the territory of modern Belarus lay in the western part of Rus between the 9th and 13th century, it was therefore called white.
On 2 January 1919, the Soviet Socialist Republic of Byelorussia was declared.
Occupied by Nazi Germany, Belarus was retaken by Stalin's Russia in 1944 and remained under Soviet control until declaring its sovereignty on July 27, 1990 and independence from the Soviet Union on August 25, 1991. It has been run by authoritarian PresidentAlexander Lukashenko since 1994.
Belarus, with a GNI per capita of $6,330, finds itself among the poorest countries in Europe. Despite its rich resources, the nation faces economic challenges. The GDP per capita is $6,411.23, and the total GDP stands at 60 billion.
Independence from the Russian Empire
The Bolsheviks created a puppet Soviet government of Belarus in Smolensk. In 1924, the Soviet Socialist Republic of Belarus joined the USSR together with Soviet-controlled Russia, Ukraine and Transcaucasia.
Like other Eastern Bloc countries (East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Albania), Poland was regarded as a satellite state in the Soviet sphere of influence, but it was never a part of the Soviet Union.
Belarus is famous for its forests and lakes – no wonder it is called the «lungs of Europe». There are many wide bright avenues and narrow cobbled streets, Catholic churches and Orthodox cathedrals, majestic castles and wooden huts in the villages, hearty and delicious national cuisine in Belarus.
Bartender Gustave Tops created the cocktail while working at the Hotel Metropole in the 1940s. It got its name due to the color of the Kahlua and vodka's association with Russia.
The Belarusian religious landscape is dominated by the Belarusian Orthodox Church. It is represented by 1,709 communities, 15 eparchies, 6 religious schools, 35 monasteries and convents, 15 brotherhoods, 10 sisterhoods and one mission.
The strategic partnership between Belarus and Russia is based on the geographic location, close historic and cultural links between both countries and peoples, economic ties and cooperation between the Belarusian and Russian businesses.
As a result of the division of Rzecz Pospolita into three parts, Belarus land became part of the Russian Empire. In these new territories the Russian Government started to pursue a policy of russification.
Belarus (then known as the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic), was divided between the Soviet Union and the Second Polish Republic when World War II began. The borders of Belarus were greatly expanded in the Soviet invasion of Poland of 1939.
1952. The constitution adopted by the communists introduces a new name for the Polish state, the Polish People's Republic (Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa, PRL), which replaces the previously used Republic of Poland (Rzeczpospolita Polska).
The “reason” given was that Russia had to come to the aid of its “blood brothers,” the Ukrainians and Byelorussians, who were trapped in territory that had been illegally annexed by Poland. Now Poland was squeezed from West and East—trapped between two behemoths.
In August 1939, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union agreed that Finland belonged in the Soviet Union's sphere of influence. Finland fought the Soviet Union twice during World War II. Finland lost both wars, but the Soviet Union never occupied Finland.
Belarus, a close ally of Russia, has supported its eastern neighbour in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
He was elected to the parliament of the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1990. In parliament Lukashenko created a faction called Communists for Democracy. He was the only deputy to oppose the December 1991 agreement that led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Belarus has no weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the country transferred all of its Soviet-era nuclear warheads to Russia in the 1990s. It does not possess biological or chemical warfare programs.
Australia is considered a wealthy nation with a market-based economy that has a comparatively high gross domestic product and per capita income. Its economy is driven by the service sector and the export of commodities. [Explore the top universities in Australia.]
While a genetic predisposition is typically the leading risk factor for non-communicable disease, lifestyle choices are commonly to blame in Belarus. The biggest risk factors for both Belarusian men and women are alcohol consumption, tobacco use and a lack of exercise.
The GDP per capita is calculated by dividing a country's GDP by its population. Thus, the richest countries in the world are those with the highest GDP per capita. Currently, the richest country in the world in terms of GDP per capita is Luxembourg, with a GDP per capita of $135,700.