Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic

Infobox SSR
name = Byelorussian SSR
rus-name = Белорусская Советская Социалистическая Республика
loc-name = Беларуская Савецкая Сацыялістычная Рэспубліка
full-name = Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic
year_start = 1919
year_end = 1991
p1 = Lithuanian-Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic
flag_p1 = Flag of the Lithuanian-Byelorussian SSR.svg
s1 = Belarus
flag_s1 = Flag of Belarus 1991.svg

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arms = Coat of arms of Belorussian SSR.png

capital = Smolensk, Minsk
language = Belarusian, Russian
Lang-ISO = be
established = 1 January 1919
ussr-start = 30 December 1922
ussr-end = 25 August 1991
area-rank = 6th
area = 207,600
water = negligible
pop-rank = 5th
pop = 10,151,806 (1989)
density = 48.9
time-zone = + 3
anthem = Anthem of Byelorussian SSR
medals =

The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (abbreviated as Byelorussian SSR or BSSR) ( _be. Беларуская Савецкая Сацыялістычная Рэспубліка [БССР] "Belaruskaya Savetskaya Satsyyalistychanaya Respublika [BSSR] "; _ru. Белору́сская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респу́блика [БССР] "Belorusskaya Sovetskaya Sotsalisticheskaya Respublika [BSSR] ") was one of fifteen constituent republics of the Soviet Union. It was one of the four original founding members of the Soviet Union in 1922, together with the Ukrainian SSR, the Transcaucasian SFSR and the Russian SFSR. The Soviet Republic, along with the Ukrainian SSR and the Soviet Union, were founder members of the United Nations Organization in 1945.

The Soviet republic, Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia, in the lands of Belarus was declared on 1 January 1919, but it took a few years to define its status. Byelorussia was also one of several Soviet Republics occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II. The end of the Soviet Republic occurred in 1991 and the county was later renamed into the current Republic of Belarus.

History

Being part of the Russian Empire before World War I, Belarus declared its first statehood on 25 March 1918, forming the Belarus National Republic. The Republic was, however, short-lived, and was overthrown soon after the German withdrawal. On 1 January 1919 the Soviet Socialist Republic of Belarus (SSRB) was created. Soon it was disbanded, its territory merged into the RSFSR and the new Lithuanian-Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. The latter one was also short-lived, overridden by the 1919 Polish invasion. After Polish-Soviet War ended in 1921, Byelorussian lands were split between Poland, Russia, and the recreated SSRB [In Soviet historiography the term "SSRB" was suppressed, but there is documentary evidence of the usage of the term SSRB rather than BSSR, see, e.g., [http://zakon2006.by.ru/part28/doc37855.shtm A 1992 cancellation of a 1921 SSRB laws] ] , which became a founding member of the Soviet Union in 1922 and became known as BSSR.

Polish Autonomous District Dzierzynszczyzna was created within BSSR in 1932 and disbanded in 1935.

In September 1939, the Soviet Union annexed the Polish-held West Belarus during the 1939 invasion of Poland and incorporated it into the BSSR. Part of it was later transferred to the Lithuanian SSR.

After World War II, the Byelorussian SSR was given a seat in the United Nations General Assembly together with the Soviet Union and Ukrainian SSR, becoming one of the founding members of the UN.

Following the August Coup, the Supreme Soviet of Belarus declared independence from the Soviet Union on 25 August 1991. The republic was renamed the "Republic of Belarus" on September 19 1991. On 8 December 1991 it was a signatory, along with Russia and Ukraine, of the Belavezha Accords, which replaced the Soviet Union with the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Demographics

According to the 1959 Soviet Census, the population of the republic were made up as follows:

Nationalities (1959):
* Belarusians - 81%
* Poles - 16%
* Ukrainians - about 1%
* Russians - <1%

Other ethnic/religious groups (1959):
* Jews - about 1%

The largest cities were:

* Minsk
* Brest
* Gomel (Homel)
* Hrodna (Grodno)
* Mogilev (Mahilyow)
* Vitebsk (Vitsebsk)
* Bobruisk (Babruysk)

External links

* [http://www.archive.org/details/ByelorussiaSpeedingTowardsAbundance "Byelorussia : speeding towards abundance"] by Tikhon Kiselev

References