20th Century: From the Most Backward to the Most Perfect Soviet’ Republic
In all probability, had the recent energy crisis and underlying it geopolitical factors happened in the mid 20th century, Belarus would not be impacted all that much by it. Because of the above-mentioned historical transformations, before the Russian revolution as well as in the period of 1917-1945, Belarus was seen as one the most backward regions in the Imperial Russia and later the Soviet Union (Ioffe, 2004). Furthermore, according to Grigory Ioffe (2004) because of Belarus’ Western frontier and potential vulnerability to attacks and destruction from the Western powers, the Soviet leadership did not see much sense in building or developing industrial and agricultural sectors in Belarus.
The Second World War changed this perception of Belarus for now there was a “cordon sanitaire” (Ioffe, 2004) composed of newly dependent on the Soviet Union Central European satellites. Thus, the period after the WWII and up until 1989 could be subdivided into three distinct categories:
(i) 1945-1958: the Soviet government began injecting small amounts of investment into Belarusian economy (Bakanova, 2003).
(ii) 1959-1973: the previously started low-level investments become more intensive (Bakanova, 2003).
(iii) 1974-1989: industrial and agricultural production as well as a level of work force skills transitioned to the advanced stage of development (Bakanova, 2003).
Minsk_Belarus
Thus, the roots of current energy dependency could be traced to the period following the WWII because precisely at that moment a poorly endowed with natural resources Belarus began building huge factories and plants which all required imported energy and raw materials for production. The growth of Belarusian economy is fully supported by statistical and empirical data. For example, industrial growth data shows that industrial output in Belarus grew 326 times between 1913 and 1986 far outpacing similar output in Russia (206) and Ukraine (132) (Ioffe, 2004). At the same time, the GDP per capita was above most Republics in the Soviet Union and paralleled impressive economic developments. As a result, by 1990’s Belarus was one of the best managed economies, dominated by industrial sector and featured modernized agricultural economic sector and growing exports, thus making it “the most perfect Soviet’ republic of the USSR” (Balmaceda, 2006) and “undeniable Soviet success” (Ioffe, 2004).
Related posts:
- How do energy politics impact national sovereignty of Belarus? Situation overview
- How do energy politics impact national sovereignty of Belarus? Introduction.
- How do energy politics impact national sovereignty of Belarus? Geographical position
- Uncovering Our Past: the National anthem for the short-lived Belarusian People’s Republic (BNR)
- The Need for a Trans-Atlantic Energy Security Strategy. The US-Ukrainian Energy Dialogue Series.
