The Belarusian People's Republic (BNR; Belarusian: Беларуская Народная Рэспубліка, romanized: Biełaruskaja Narodnaja Respublika, БНР), also known as the Belarusian Democratic Republic, was a state proclaimed by the Council of the Belarusian Democratic Republic in its Second Constituent Charter on 9 March 1918 during World War I. The Council proclaimed the Belarusian Democratic Republic independent in its Third Constituent Charter on 25 March 1918 during the occupation of contemporary Belarus by the Imperial German Army.
The government of the Belarusian Democratic Republic never had power over the whole territory of Belarus. In 1919, it co-existed with an alternative Soviet Russia-controlled Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia (which later became part of the Lithuanian–Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic), moving its seat of government to Vilnius and Hrodna, but ceased to exist due to the partition of the whole Belarusian territory between the Bolshevik Red Army and the Polish Armed Forces as a result of the Polish–Soviet War of 1919–1921.
The idea of creating a new Belarusian state was proposed in December 1917 by a group of delegates at the First All-Belarusian Congress in Minsk, but the congress was dispersed by the Bolsheviks. Just a few hours before Minsk was occupied by troops of the German Empire on February 21, the Executive Committee of the All-Belarusian Congress, through its First Constituent Charter, declared itself the authority in the region and formed a provisional government (the People's Secretariat). On March 25, under conditions of German occupation, the Third Constituent Charter proclaimed Belarus an independent and free state.
After Germany’s defeat in the World War and the annulment of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, German forces began to withdraw from the occupied territories. By December 1918, units of the Red Army had already entered Minsk. The government of the Belarusian People's Republic (BNR) continued its activities in exile. In October 1925, the All-Belarusian Political Conference in Berlin announced the dissolution of the BNR. Many prominent figures of the BNR — Arkadź Smolič, Vatslaw Lastowski, Alaksandar Ćvikievič, Jazep Losik, and others — returned to the Belarusian SSR, only to be later repressed.
Currently, its government in exile is the Rada (Council) of the Belarusian Democratic Republic.
In some historical documents, the White Ruthenian Democratic Republic phrase was used initially. In the current scholarship, Belarusian Democratic Republic and Belarusian National Republic names dominate. The Rada BNR uses the Belarusian Democratic Republic name. It also appears in the publications originating in Belarus. The Belarusian People's Republic appears in publications, however, its use is comparatively limited, e.g. it does not appear in the titles of scholarly publications.
After the 1917 February Revolution in Russia, active discussions started in Belarus about either gaining autonomy within the new Russian Republic or declaring independence. Deputies of most Belarusian regions and of different political powers, including the Belarusian Socialist Assembly, the Christian democratic movement and the General Jewish Labour Bund, formed a Belarusian National Council in late 1917. The Council started working on establishing Belarusian governmental institutions. Both the Bolsheviks and Germans refused to recognize it and interfered in its activity. However, the Germans saw an independent Belarus as part of the implementation of their plan for buffer states within Mitteleuropa. The Bolsheviks had negotiations with the Belarusian Democratic Republic regarding eventual recognition, but later decided instead to establish a pro-Soviet government of Belarus – the Soviet Socialist Republic of Byelorussia.
Parallel with negotiations that started between the Germans and Bolsheviks, the Belarusian Council started actively demanding recognition of autonomous status for Belarus, with continuing internal discussions on whether it should become an autonomous region within Russia or declare national independence.
On 21 February 1918, the German army captured Minsk. On the same day, the Belarusian Council passed the First Constituent Charter declaring the council the only legitimate power on the territory of Belarus. Neither the occupying authorities, nor its government in Berlin, however, were interested in the idea of an independent Belarusian state.
On 3 March, Germans and Bolsheviks signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. On 6 March, the Belarusian Council passed the Second Charter declared the establishment of the Belarusian People's Republic. The Council became the provisional government of Belarus and was renamed the Council of the Belarusian People's Republic.
On March 25, 1918, the All-Belarusian Congress proclaimed the independence of the Belarusian People's Republic (Bielaruskaja Narodnaja Respublika, abbreviated as BNR). As the German army retreated and the Bolsheviks pushed westward, the Government of the BNR left Minsk in December 1918 for the Lithuanian Republic, and in the spring of 1919 went into exile.
In its Third Constituent Charter, the following territories were claimed for BNR: Mogilev Governorate (province), as well as Belarusian parts of Minsk Governorate, Grodno Governorate (including Belastok), Vilna Governorate, Vitebsk Governorate, and Smolensk Governorate, and parts of bordering governorates populated by Belarusians, rejecting the then split of the Belarusian lands between Germany and Russia. The areas were claimed because of a Belarusian majority or large minority (as in Grodno and Vilna Governorate), although there were also numbers of Lithuanians, Poles and people speaking mixed varieties of Belarusian, Lithuanian and Polish, as well as many Jews, mostly in towns and cities (in some towns they made up a majority). Some of the Jews spoke Russian as their native tongue; others spoke Yiddish.
There were attempts to create the armed forces of the newly established Belarusian People's Republic. Belarusian military units started to form within the disorganized Imperial Russian Army already in 1917.
According to the historian Oleg Łatyszonek, about 11,000 people, mostly volunteers, served in the Army of the Belarusian People's Republic.
General Stanisław Bułak-Bałachowicz supported the Government of the People's Republic and openly positioned his army as a Belarusian national army. In 1920, his units became a part of the Russian People's Volunteer Army led by the Russian SR revolutionary Boris Savinkov which established the short-lived Belarusian State during its actions against the Red Army.
The major military action of the Army of the People's Republic was the failed Slutsk defence action in late 1920. The Council of the BNR, based at that time in Lithuania, sent officers to help organize armed anti-Bolshevik resistance in the town of Slutsk. These events served as the basis for Vasil Bykau's story and the film based on it, On Black Slash-and-Burn Fields.
During its short existence, the government of Belarus established close ties with the Ukrainian People's Republic, organized food supplies to Belarus from Ukraine and thereby prevented hunger in the country.
Beginning in 1918, Anton Łuckievič, the prime minister of Belarus, met with Vladimir Lenin hoping to gain recognition for the independence of Belarus by Soviet Russia. The Belarusian delegation even proposed the creation of a federation with the RSFSR and the adoption of the Soviet Constitution in Belarus in exchange for Russia recognizing the independent status of Belarus, but Lenin did not agree to these proposals.