The influence of historical hertiage on idea of Belarusian statehood in 1914-1918

Анотація

At the beginning of the 20th century, Belarusians were over 5 million people and lived in the five western governorates of the Russian Empire. Most of them (92%) belonged to the low educated peasant class. Only a very small of Belarusians formed the upper classes. Belarusians belonged mainly to two churches: the Orthodox and the Roman Catholic, but neither of them supported the Belarusian
national idea. The lack of an national elite was a consequence of cultural and religious processes from the past. In consequence the upper classes were gradually Polonized and Russified, especially under the influence of the ideology of the Russian state known as “Western Russianism”. Under the influence of the past experiences, the Belarusian state idea was formed (references were made to the previous statehoods in Belarus: the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Russia, from the other side the tradition of the Commonwealth was reject). Before World War I, the Belarusian Socialist Group were formulated a postulate to establish an autonomy of Lithuania and Belarus in the Russian Empire with the National Seym in Vilno. In the years 1915–1919 the following concepts have been put forward: he restitution of The Grand Duchy of Lithuania, The Baltic-Black Sea Confederation, political autonomy of Belarus, the proclamation of The Republic of Belarus with strong relation with democratic Russia, the proclamation of an independent Belarus, and the declaration of The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic.