Abstract
Abstract This chapter provides an overview of the geography and history of Belarus. It discusses the territory’s history as part of successive polities—the Kyivan Rus’, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Russian Empire, and the Soviet Union. It argues that this varying history affords the materials for two competing nation-building projects in post-Soviet Belarus. One nation-building project, which the book labels “west-oriented,” emphasizes historical ties to polities in the north and west of contemporary Belarus. This nation-building project is closely associated with the short-lived Belarusian People’s Republic (1918) and since 1994 has been associated with the opposition to autocratic leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka. The other, an “east-oriented” project, emphasizes continuity with the polities in the east, above all Russia, and the role of Belarusians in the Soviet partisan resistance during World War 2; this project has been adopted by the political regime of Lukashenka.
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