Why does Belarus Exist? (Short Animated Documentary)

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Why is Belarus a thing? By successive governments slowly giving in over time.

Sources:

Understanding Belarus: Belarusian Identity by Grigory Ioffe

Russification: Word and Practice 1863-1914 by Theodore R. Weeks

[silenthunteruk]

Fun fact: There have been more Presidents of Israel born in Belarus than Presidents of Belarus.

[theeNappy]

You neglected to mention how WWII really really REALLY hit Belarus hard. In 1940 there were approximately 9 million people living within the borders of modern day Belarus. By the end of the war approximately 2.29 million were dead, civilians and military personnel counted together. That's 25.3% or a little over 1 in 4 people killed durring the war. That's by far the highest per capita death toll of any single modern nation in WWII, with Poland coming in at a distant but still horrifying second with a death rate of about 17.3%.

Fun Fact: The Belorussian People's Republic is the longest government in exile in existence.

[PerryPerry]

Everyone asks "why is Belarus?" but nobody asks "how is Belarus?"

[Robbstark]

2:01 I like how France is peeking inside wanting to be a part of the victory but nobody is letting him in

[someguy]

Why does Belarus exist?
Russia: "You ask good questions."

[justnoob]

USSR: Dissolve
Yugo: So anyway, I started blasting

[gagetolinwrites]

Fun fact: The Belarusian government from 1919 is officially still in exile and is thusly the oldest government in exile in the modern era

[w]

I want to know how Tannu Tuva became a thing because it’s so bizarre to me

[rolandramos]

Belarusian people: *looks at title*
Am I a joke to you?

Edit: I thought Ukraine was a war zone, not Belarus. Calm down replies

[andreman]

As a belarusian, some mistakes:

Mentioned terminology (other's comment) - "Belarus does not mean "white Russia" it means 'white Rus'.
The Rus were the eastern slavic people who were organized by the vikings into the Kiev-Rus state. So the Belarussians, Russians and Ukranians are descendants of the Rus, but Rus should not be confused as being synonymous with Russia alone."

BNR wasn't puppet state of Germany, because when BNR was declared after All-Belarusian Congress, Germans not even recognize it unlike either Lithuania or Ukraine. It hasn't all state power, however.

There are acrually 3 enlargements: in 1924, 1926 and 1939, but those in 1926 was not big and i understand why it was'n mentioned. Also, on map of 1939 enlargement we can see terrotory of USSR to the West of Belarus - it's was actually a part of B. and that time, but after 1945 this territory was transferred to Poland

[sultanmustafa]

"Why does Belarus exist?", asked Putin calmly.

[PitofTrogness]

0:03 Stalin trying to sneak into heaven lol

[xaviersaavedra]

0:03 lol Stalin trying to sneak into heaven

[ramantarasov]

As a Belarussian I can definitely confirm that I exist, but then again, our culture is dying, since we our main language is russian, and that’s quite sad.

[onyazuka]

You: Why does Belarus Exist?
Me: Do you ohuel?

[zakiducky]

Anything: *exists*
History Matters: _Why do you exist?_

[petartoshkov]

"Was Belarus another successor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania?"
No it is probably yet another successor of the Roman Empire

[mjr_schneider]

Glad we got that cleared up. Now I just need to figure out why Moldova exists.

[jacobharvey]

Belarus has always been a problematic thing for me. Growing up we were always simply told, “your grandfather’s parents were both from Russia.” (Maybe it was his grandparents, I don’t recall off the top of my head.) Later on I found out they were both from Minsk, their families moved to NYC separately when they were young, they met and got married. This was all around the turn of the 20th century. So I’ve taken to simply calling them Belarusian. But it’s obviously not all that simple.