At the end of the 1st century AD, the area we know today as Belarus was inhabited by the Slavic population groups Krivichis, Radmichis and Dregóvichis. The earliest principals were Polotsk and Túrov-Pinsk. The East Slavic tribes, which formed part of western Russia, united in the 9th century with other Slavic peoples from the East and moved to Kiev, the territory that became the forerunner of present-day Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. During the period between the 9th and the 11th centuries, cities such as Polotsk, Túrov, Brest, Vitebsk, Orsha, Pinsk and Minsk emerged.
In the 14th century, the Lithuanian princes conquered western Russia. Since the Lithuanians did not have a written language, Belarusian, which at that time was the only Russian language, became the official spoken language. Between the 14th and 16th centuries, the Belarusians began to distance themselves from the Russians and Ukrainians. The Belarusian language was strengthened, as something different from the ancient Russian language. Gueorgui Skorina became the first Belarusian emperor.
In the Union Treaty between Poland and Lithuania from 1569, Belarus was incorporated in Poland. The Belarusians rejected Polish supremacy and maintained their own linguistic and cultural distinctiveness. With the first division of Poland in 1772, Russia took over the eastern part of Belarus, after which the rest of Belarus followed in 1793-1795. The revival of the life trait in Russia, 1861, accelerated the development of Belarus. Important rail links were established from Moscow to Brest and from Libava to Romni. By the end of the 19th century, Belarus was the second largest province in Russia in terms of the number of rail links.
According to thesciencetutor, the Czar of Russia abolished the peasants’ livelihood in 1861, thereby punishing its feudal connection to the land part, but it did not help solve the land problems. Only 35% of the land is allocated to the Belarusian farmers. This led to several uprisings, the most important of which occurred in 1863, led by K. Kalinovski. The first Congress of the Russian Socialist Workers Party was held in secret in Minsk, in March 1899, inspired by Marxist socialism who intended to overthrow the Tsar regime. Based on the peasants, other – intellectual – groups in 1902 founded an independent Belarusian movement that sought to revive national culture. During this time, the Czar displaced the Jewish population, which in number had reached 20% of the local population.
During World War I, 1914-1917, part of Belarus was occupied by German troops. After the Russian Revolution in February 1917, workers’ councils – or Soviets – were formed in Minsk, Gómel, Bobruisk and Orsha. At the end of the year -1917 – the process of establishing the Soviet system began. In February 1918, the major goods were nationalized; a few months later the distribution of land to the farmers started. Under pressure from the Bolsheviks – the revolutionary socialists of the Russian social democracy – the first collective uses, the so-called kolkhoser, were founded, but in reality the land remained in the hands of the state.
At the 6th Congress of the Russian Communist Party, held in Smolensk, it was decided to found the Belarusian Socialist Soviet Republic, and at the first King of Belarusian Soviets, in January 1918, it decided to enter into an alliance with Lithuania, a decision, who also found support from the Lithuanians. In the capital of Lithuania, Vilnius, on February 28, 1919, a joint Lithuanian-Belarusian government was appointed under the leadership of V. Mickevicius-Kapsukas.
Poland, which had declared itself independent of Russia after the Bolshevik takeover of power in St. Petersburg. Petersburg, occupied in February 1919 part of Belarus. Under the Riga Treaty, concluded between Poland and Soviet Russia in 1921, western Belarus became part of Poland. On August 1, 1920, the Council of Representatives of the Communist Parties of Lithuania and Belarus and of the trade unions in Minsk and the surrounding area adopted a Declaration of Independence for the Belarusian Republic. On December 30, 1922, Belarus was admitted into the Soviet Union as one of its founders, along with the Russian Federation, Ukraine and the Transcaucasian Confederation; the latter consisting of Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan.
