Пралетарыі ўсіх краін, яднайцеся! (Byelorussian) ("Workers of the world, unite!") | |||||
| Anthem | "State Anthem of the Byelorussian SSR" | ||||
| Capital (and largest city) |
Minsk | ||||
| Language official |
Byelorussian, Russian | ||||
| others | Polish, Ukrainian, Lithuanian | ||||
| Ethnic Groups main |
Byelorussians | ||||
| others | Russians, Poles, Ukrainians | ||||
| Demonym | Byelorussian, Belarusian, Soviet | ||||
| Government | Unitary one-party Marxist-Leninist socialist republic | ||||
| First Secretary | Igor Karpenko | ||||
| Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet | Sergey Kalyakin | ||||
| Area | 126,300 km² | ||||
| Population | 9,413,446 | ||||
| Currency | Soviet ruble | ||||
| Time Zone | UTC+03:00 | ||||
| Internet TLD | .by, .su | ||||
Byelorussia (Byelorussian: Беларусь, Russian: Белоруссия), officially the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (Byelorussian SSR, Byelorussian: Беларуская Савецкая Сацыялістычная Рэспубліка, Russian: Белорусская Советская Социалистическая Республика) is a constituent republic of the Soviet Union. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Minsk is the country's capital and largest city.
Until the 20th century, different states at various times controlled the lands of modern-day Byelorussia, including Kievan Rus', the Principality of Polotsk, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Russian Empire. In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution in 1917, different states arose competing for legitimacy amidst the Civil War, ultimately ending in the rise of the Byelorussian SSR, which became a founding constituent republic of the Soviet Union in 1922. During World War II, military operations devastated Byelorussia, which lost about a quarter of its population and half of its economic resources. The republic was redeveloped in the post-war years. In 1945, Byelorussia became a founding member of the United Nations, along with the Soviet Union.
| ||||||||||||
