Belarusian Democratic Republic

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 — A. Smolich, V. Lastouski, A. Tsviakevich, J. Liosik, and others — returned to the Byelorussian SSR, only to be later repressed.

Currently, its government in exile, the Rada (Council) of the Belarusian Democratic Republic is the oldest still functioning government in exile.