The Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Belarus (; ) was a political project proposed in 1918 by the leaders of the conservative indigenous Catholic and Polish-speaking nobility of the Minsk Governorate (primarily members of the ). The project envisioned the creation of a new state governed by a constitutional monarchy on the lands of Belarus and Lithuania (the Northwestern provinces of the former Russian Empire) under the curatorship (protection) of the German Empire. The capital was to be Vilnius.
The project represented both the desire of the local liberal-conservative nobility to create a joint Belarusian-Lithuanian state separate from Russia and Poland, and an alternative to the creation of possibly socialist republics in Belarus and Lithuania. The attempt to create the is one of the episodes in the struggle of local conservative nobles, led by Edward Woyniłłowicz (1847–1928), to realize the idea of the political subjectivity of the Lithuanian-Belarusian lands (or Belarus alone) in 1917–1921.
History of the project
The initiators of the creation of the in 1918 were the leaders of the conservative indigenous Catholic and Polish-speaking landed nobility of the Minsk Governorate. Many of them were leaders and members of the Minsk Agricultural Society (MAS), as well as former representatives of the liberal-conservative Krajowcy (Regionalist) movement, who had previously (in 1905–1907) demanded political subjectivity for the Lithuanian-Belarusian governorates (Northwestern Krai) from the Russian authorities and society in the form of autonomy within the Russian Empire.; The leader of the conservative Krajowcy was Edward Woyniłłowicz, the chairman of the MAS. Although the influence of the liberal-conservative Krajowcy movement in the Lithuanian-Belarusian lands peaked in 1905–1911, the leaders of this movement in the Minsk, Mogilev, and Vitebsk governorates did not abandon the idea of the political subjectivity of these lands even afterward. Even during the Russian Empire, Minsk conservative nobles expressed views at closed meetings of the Minsk Society of Agriculture that the planned independent Belarusian-Lithuanian state should have a constitutional monarchy system and support liberal conservatism (respect for private property rights; legal equality of all languages, cultures, and religions; support for family values and religiosity; development of the education system and universal literacy; abolition of estate distinctions, etc.).; Karol Niezabytowski (1865–1952), one of the society's leaders, once aphoristically stated at a meeting that a "republic" would lead to "cutting the public" (a play on words: republika – rezh publiku). It was planned that Vilnius would be the capital of the Grand Duchy.
1917
March–November After the overthrow of the Russian autocracy during the February Revolution (1917) and the establishment of the Russian Provisional Government in Petrograd, the leaders of the MAS, led by Edward Woyniłłowicz, moved towards realizing the political subjectivity of Belarus, although they did not postulate a clearly defined form—this depended on changing external circumstances. Through the vice-chairman of the MAS, Raman Skirmunt, who was Edward Woyniłłowicz's closest friend and right-hand man, the Minsk conservative nobles wanted to influence socialist parties and organizations in the Minsk Governorate. They aimed to secure a moderate program of agrarian reforms in Belarus (preventing the abolition of private land ownership and nationalization without compensation) and, in mid-April 1917, sought to achieve autonomy for Belarus within Russia from the Provisional Government, as well as the introduction of the Belarusian language and history in schools, democratic elections to local authorities, compensation for war damages, and more.;
November: Requesting German arrival in Minsk
After the October Revolution in Russia and the establishment of Bolshevik power in Petrograd (who abolished private land ownership via the Decree on Land on 26 October 1917), the MAS leaders sent a delegation of representatives of the Polish Council of the Minsk Land across the front line to meet with German General Max Hoffmann (1869–1927) in Brest-Litovsk. They proposed that the Germans occupy the territory of Belarus up to the Dnieper River, promising assistance through the creation of their own military units.According to the delegation participant Jerzy Osmołowski (1872–1952), the main desire was that Belarus "would only be torn away from Russia, would only be under the influence of the West," since the West was perceived primarily as a civilized and developed capitalist world, and Russia as a country where socialist and inhumane political forces were winning. See:
After the meeting in Brest, the delegation went to Warsaw to establish contact and achieve rapprochement with the semi-independent pro-German Polish Regency Council of the Kingdom of Poland. Their plans were guided by the principle "anything but Russia". The leaders of the MAS, also guided by the principle of maintaining the political subjectivity of Belarus, declared to the Polish Regency Council via their delegates that they desired Belarus's exit from the influence of Bolshevik Russia, but "without the intention of directly incorporating Belarus into Poland". The Regency Council in Warsaw included a longtime friend of Count Jerzy Hutten-Czapski, priest Zygmunt Chełmicki.
1918
February: German conquest of Minsk The result of the agreement was the German offensive on Minsk in February 1918. The German military authority (10th Army) rejected the claims to power of Jazep Varonka's People's Secretariat of Belarus and reacted negatively to its socialist composition and statements about "defending the gains of the revolution". Instead, they accepted a welcoming address and memorial from the conservative nobles, signed by Edward Woyniłłowicz among others, and approved the creation of the Minsk Belarusian Representation on 25 February 1918, headed by Raman Skirmunt.;
When German troops entered Minsk without a fight on 21 February 1918, Minsk landowners (Ignacy Witkiewicz, Edmund Iwaszkiewicz, Czesław Krupski and other members of the MAS and the Polish Council of the Minsk Land), including Raman Skirmunt and Paviel Aliaksiuk, expressed gratitude to German General Hoffmann in a welcoming speech at the Vilnius Station "for the return of social order, help in separating from Bolshevism and living together with the peoples of the West relying on the German state"
March–May: Competition from the Belarusian People's Republic The competitors of the conservative nobles (supporters of a capitalist state) in the process of creating Belarusian statehood were Belarusian socialist parties and organizations. The declaration of independence of the Belarusian People's Republic (BNR) on 25 March 1918 in German-occupied Minsk, which began to be created as a socialist state, was perceived negatively by the conservative Minsk nobles: the Second Constituent Charter of the BNR adopted on 9 March 1918 declared the abolition of private land ownership in its seventh point.
Raman Skirmunt, who was inducted into the Rada of the BNR on 12 April 1918, oriented the Rada towards cooperation with the German military administration in Minsk and Germany. On Skirmunt's initiative, on 25 April 1918, the Chairman of the Rada of the BNR Jan Sierada, the Chairman of the People's Secretariat Jazep Varonka, members of the Rada Raman Skirmunt, Paviel Aliaksiuk, Jazep Losik, and others sent a secret telegram to the German Emperor, in which they announced their desire for an independent and indivisible Belarus in alliance with the German Empire.; ; On the recommendation of the German military command in Minsk, the formation of a new cabinet of ministers of the BNR was entrusted to Raman Skirmunt. In May 1918, Skirmunt traveled to Berlin as a delegate of the BNR, where he unsuccessfully petitioned for an audience with the German Emperor.
Nevertheless, according to Belarusian historian Zachar Šybieka, it was only under the protection of the 10th German Army, brought to Minsk and the Minsk Governorate by local conservative Catholic and Polish-speaking landowners, that it was possible to deploy the creation of real elements of the BNR's power structures – the Rada, local councils in the districts – and to issue BNR passports, engage in international activities, open Belarusian-language schools and publish newspapers, and restore the activities of the Church, except for the creation of the BNR's own army and police, which the Germans did not allow. Šybieka believes that without German guarantees, amid the lack of interest and aggressive intentions of close neighbors (Russia, Ukraine, Poland, and Lithuania), it is unlikely that such a phenomenon as the BNR – an important experience in creating Belarusian statehood in the 20th century – could have occurred.
June
On 16 June 1918, the so-called "Woyniłłowicz group" in Minsk addressed a Declaration to the commander of the German 10th Army, General Erich von Falkenhayn, asking for assistance in recognizing the independence of the Belarusian state:"The General Meeting of the Minsk Agricultural Society, consisting of loyal sons and citizens of this country, expresses a fervent wish that Belarus, a country rich in historical, state traditions and ethnographic distinctiveness, a country with its own culture, with the help of the powerful German Reich, will be recognized as an independent state following the example of Lithuania and Ukraine and will flourish in alliance with the Central European states."This Declaration was signed by representatives of the MAS (Edward Woyniłłowicz, Mieczysław Porowski, Witold Łopatt, Zygmunt Rewieński, Ignacy Witkiewicz), the Union of Landowners (Count Jerzy Hutten-Czapski, Aleksander Lubański, Lew Wańkowicz, Michał Wołłowicz), and the Union of Minsk Nobility (Ludwik Uniechowski, Hieronim Kieniewicz, Józef Święcicki). In July 1918, the head of the Representation of the Regency Council of the Kingdom of Poland in Berlin, Count Adam Ronikier, received an order to acquaint the public of the German Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire with this document through the press. The cover letter to the order indicated that the Minsk landowners supported the independence of Belarus proclaimed by the Rada of the BNR, and their position was not connected with the Polish national movement.
July Raman Skirmunt, who was entrusted with forming a new cabinet of ministers of the BNR from 9 July 1918 and who was supported by the MAS leaders and conservative nobles, immediately proposed revising the seventh point of the Second Constituent Charter of the BNR regarding the agrarian question. With the approval of conservative noble landowners, Skirmunt proposed a compromise on the land issue to the Belarusian socialist parties (selling part of the landowners' land to peasants in small allotments at a price corresponding to their real value), but could not achieve an understanding with the socialists.
Ultimately, on 20 July 1918, Raman Skirmunt's cabinet was forced to officially resign, and the formation of a new cabinet on a coalition basis was entrusted to Ivan Sierada. The intention of the local conservative noble landowners was to form the BNR army of 200,000 soldiers at their own expense (financing was also promised by Vilnius bankers), which was crucial for strengthening Belarusian statehood. However, the German political leadership in Berlin was in no hurry to recognize and support Belarusian statehood and the formation of the Belarusian army.
Appeal to the German Emperor