Belorussian, Slavic Lithuanian?

What if Belarus was never separated from Lithuania, and gained independence as "Grand Duchy of Lithuania" with modern Belarus+ Lithuania (without Memel) land after world war 1?
Would there still be Belorussian nationalism? Or would they embrace the Litvin status?
Would Lithuanian ruling classes try to "Lithuanianize" them?
 
Last edited:
and gained independence as "Grand Duchy of Lithuania" with modern Belarus+ Lithuania
This is a huge stretch, and it requires the Lithuanian National Revival to go in such a different direction that it'd be hard to even tell what this state would even look like.

The problem with this is somewhat paradoxical - the Lithuanians themselves did not want to restore the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The leaders of the Lithuanian nationalist movement saw Lithuania as a democratic nation-state centered around the ethnic Lithuanian territories, and as a result, they were against doing a some sort of union with Belarus, Poland or Latvia.

There were intellectuals who fought for a Lithuania united by citizenship, rather than ethnicity (thus including Belarus) - the Krajowcy - but their support was weak pretty much everywhere, including in Poland and Belarus, and I can't see them taking the reins of the National Revival in any way.
 
After World War I it's pretty much pointless to group Lithuania and Belarus together because the cultures had gone on separate paths, aside from certain groups.

If they gained independence together, you wouldn't have an exclusively Lithuanian ruling class either.

Before the dissolution of the PLC could be very interesting for this topic though.
 
Please, don't get me started on the very "Litsvin vs Lithuanian" thing. Also, they BOTH were annexed to the Russian Empire post partition of Commonwealth. GDL was a massive beast, and such a thing you propose would be Czechoslovakia level of unstable (and Czechoslovakia was two Western Slavic ethnic group). Any PoD in 19th century makes it meaningless for reasons @Augenis stated in post above, and I can only confirm what he said from Belarusian side of the border.
 
Please, don't get me started on the very "Litsvin vs Lithuanian" thing. Also, they BOTH were annexed to the Russian Empire post partition of Commonwealth. GDL was a massive beast, and such a thing you propose would be Czechoslovakia level of unstable (and Czechoslovakia was two Western Slavic ethnic group). Any PoD in 19th century makes it meaningless for reasons @Augenis stated in post above, and I can only confirm what he said from Belarusian side of the border.
Indeed. In my opinion, the only plausible way to have the GDL continue on into the 20th century and beyond (without a very early POD, like in my TL) is if you were to somehow have the Commonwealth survive, but at that point the questions posed by the OP are meaningless in light of the Polonization happening in both of the nations.

There's also the Michal Kleofas Oginski Proposal approach, and I know many Lithuanians see it as a very good potential POD for a surviving Grand Duchy of Lithuania, but I myself think that such a creation would not survive past the 1830 uprising.
 
The problem with this is somewhat paradoxical - the Lithuanians themselves did not want to restore the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
Thank you for the clarification.

I saw a statue of GDL's map in Lithuania, and thought Lithuanians still want to restore the old border.
 
Thank you for the clarification.

I saw a statue of GDL's map in Lithuania, and thought Lithuanians still want to restore the old border.
Nah. We are proud of the days long past, but now we mainly just joke about restoring the 1430 borders, much like I'd imagine some British people meme about restoring the Empire or something.

If the Grand Duchy was restored, we'd be a tiny minority in our own country (like 10% of the population or something), and nobody wants that.
 
Thank you for the clarification.

I saw a statue of GDL's map in Lithuania, and thought Lithuanians still want to restore the old border.
There is a romantic legacy that exists both in Belarus (the "Litsvin" heritage to differentiate from Muscovites) and in Lithuania. Pretty much "we were the civilized nations with balls, castles and knights while the weird Muscovites across the border slaved themselves to Mongols to the point of becoming crypto-Muslims/Nestorians" thing. Also Trakai attracts loads of tourists (and so does Belarusian Mir castle).
 
Top