Eastern Europe · BLR

Belarus

The story · 12 chapters

How it was drawn

Lands of Polotsk and Minsk that belonged to Lithuania and Poland for four centuries, fought over by Muscovy, Sweden and Napoleon, then Russian, split and rejoined, and independent since 1991.

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Through the ages

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states Belarus fought or stood against, from the first to today.

Kievan Rus'980 to 1129
Vladimir of Kyiv took Polotsk around 980 and killed its prince Rogvolod. Later Polotsk princes fought Kyiv repeatedly: Vseslav was defeated on the Nemiga in 1067, and in 1129 Mstislav of Kyiv exiled Polotsk's princes.
Teutonic Order1236 to 1422
The German crusading orders fought Lithuania for nearly two centuries. Troops from Belarusian lands fought in the Lithuanian army that helped crush the Order at Grunwald in 1410.
Golden Horde1241 to 1362
Mongol armies raided the region after 1240. As Lithuania pushed south, Grand Duke Algirdas beat the Horde's forces at Blue Waters around 1362, opening Ukraine to Lithuanian rule.
Grand Duchy of Moscow, then Tsardom of Russia1492 to 1667
Muscovy fought Lithuania for the Rus' lands in a long series of wars. Lithuania won at Orsha in 1514 but lost Smolensk; Ivan IV took Polotsk in 1563. The war of 1654 to 1667 devastated Belarus.
Swedish Empire1700 to 1709
In the Great Northern War Charles XII fought Russia and its Polish allies across Belarus. A Swedish relief column was beaten at Lesnaya, near Mogilev, in 1708, before Charles's defeat at Poltava in 1709.
Russian Empire1772 to 1864
Russia annexed Belarus in three partitions from 1772 to 1795 and crushed the risings of 1830 to 1831 and 1863 to 1864, hanging the rebel leader Kastus Kalinouski in 1864.
First French Empire1812
Napoleon's Grande Armee crossed Belarus toward Moscow in 1812 and back again in retreat. At the Berezina river, in November, it escaped encirclement at a terrible cost.
German Empire1915 to 1918
German armies occupied western Belarus in 1915 and, after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in 1918, most of the rest, until their withdrawal at the end of the war.
Second Polish Republic1919 to 1921
Poland and Soviet Russia fought over Belarus in 1919 to 1920; Minsk changed hands several times. The Treaty of Riga in 1921 gave Poland the western half until 1939.
Nazi Germany1941 to 1944
Germany invaded in June 1941; the Brest Fortress held out for weeks. Occupation brought the murder of most of Belarus's Jews and the burning of villages in reprisal for partisan warfare.
Poland and LithuaniaSince 2021Still open
Since 2021 Belarus has pushed migrants toward the Polish, Lithuanian and Latvian borders, which those countries call a hybrid attack. Poland and Lithuania built border fences and have closed crossings.

Today

Belarus now

After seven decades as a constituent republic of the USSR, Belarus attained its independence in 1991. It has retained closer political and economic ties to Russia than any of the other former Soviet republics. In 1999, Belarus and Russia signed a treaty on a two-state union, envisioning greater political and economic integration. Although Belarus agreed to a framework to carry out the accord, serious implementation has yet to take place and negotiations on further integration have been contentious.

Capital: Minsk
Government: presidential republic in name, although in fact a dictatorship
Head of government: Alexander Turchyn
Head of state: Alexander Lukashenka
Languages: Belarusian, Russian
Area: 207,629 km²

Through time

Then and now

Population9.1 million2023 · 7.1 million in 1950
Life expectancy74.4 years2023 · 58.6 years in 1950
GDP per person$18,6992022
Living in cities79%2025 · 22% in 1950
Literacy100%2019
Political regimeClosed autocracy2025 · Closed autocracy in 1950
Military alliancesCSTO2024 · None of these in 1950
Military spending2.4% of GDP2025
War deathsNone2025

Population: HYDE 3.3, Gapminder and UN WPP. GDP per capita: Maddison Project Database 2023. Urban share: UN WPP. Life expectancy: Riley, HMD, UN WPP. Literacy: OWID historical estimates, World Bank, UNESCO. Military spending: SIPRI. War deaths: UCDP. Political regime: V-Dem, Regimes of the World. All via Our World in Data (CC BY 4.0). Alliances and organization memberships: compiled by Atlas. Satellites in orbit: CelesTrak SATCAT. Modern borders, backcast.

Relations

Close partners and tensions

Close partners

Russian Federation

Tensions

Ukraine
United States

Summarised from World Bank and Wikipedia data, updated 23 October 2026.

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states Belarus fought or stood against, from the first to today.

Kievan Rus'980 to 1129

Vladimir of Kyiv took Polotsk around 980 and killed its prince Rogvolod. Later Polotsk princes fought Kyiv repeatedly: Vseslav was defeated on the Nemiga in 1067, and in 1129 Mstislav of Kyiv exiled Polotsk's princes.

Teutonic Order1236 to 1422

The German crusading orders fought Lithuania for nearly two centuries. Troops from Belarusian lands fought in the Lithuanian army that helped crush the Order at Grunwald in 1410.

Golden Horde1241 to 1362

Mongol armies raided the region after 1240. As Lithuania pushed south, Grand Duke Algirdas beat the Horde's forces at Blue Waters around 1362, opening Ukraine to Lithuanian rule.

Grand Duchy of Moscow, then Tsardom of Russia1492 to 1667

Muscovy fought Lithuania for the Rus' lands in a long series of wars. Lithuania won at Orsha in 1514 but lost Smolensk; Ivan IV took Polotsk in 1563. The war of 1654 to 1667 devastated Belarus.

Swedish Empire1700 to 1709

In the Great Northern War Charles XII fought Russia and its Polish allies across Belarus. A Swedish relief column was beaten at Lesnaya, near Mogilev, in 1708, before Charles's defeat at Poltava in 1709.

Russian Empire1772 to 1864

Russia annexed Belarus in three partitions from 1772 to 1795 and crushed the risings of 1830 to 1831 and 1863 to 1864, hanging the rebel leader Kastus Kalinouski in 1864.

First French Empire1812

Napoleon's Grande Armee crossed Belarus toward Moscow in 1812 and back again in retreat. At the Berezina river, in November, it escaped encirclement at a terrible cost.

German Empire1915 to 1918

German armies occupied western Belarus in 1915 and, after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in 1918, most of the rest, until their withdrawal at the end of the war.

Second Polish Republic1919 to 1921

Poland and Soviet Russia fought over Belarus in 1919 to 1920; Minsk changed hands several times. The Treaty of Riga in 1921 gave Poland the western half until 1939.

Nazi Germany1941 to 1944

Germany invaded in June 1941; the Brest Fortress held out for weeks. Occupation brought the murder of most of Belarus's Jews and the burning of villages in reprisal for partisan warfare.

Poland and LithuaniaSince 2021Still open

Since 2021 Belarus has pushed migrants toward the Polish, Lithuanian and Latvian borders, which those countries call a hybrid attack. Poland and Lithuania built border fences and have closed crossings.

Belarus now

Capital

Minsk

Government

presidential republic in name, although in fact a dictatorship

Head of government

Alexander Turchyn

Head of state

Alexander Lukashenka

Languages

Belarusian, Russian

Area

207,629 km²

Then and now

Population9.1 million2023 · 7.1 million in 1950

Life expectancy74.4 years2023 · 58.6 years in 1950

GDP per person$18,6992022

Living in cities79%2025 · 22% in 1950

Literacy100%2019

Political regimeClosed autocracy2025 · Closed autocracy in 1950

Military alliancesCSTO2024 · None of these in 1950

Military spending2.4% of GDP2025

War deathsNone2025