Suvorov — not a hero, and Muravyov — a hangman. Zygar explained the history of Belarus to Russians from Ragnvalod to Kurapaty without Moscow's myths

Mikhail Zygar in his video about the history of Belarus. Video screenshot

Polotsk as an alternative line in the history of Ancient Rus'

Zygar begins with a blow to the model familiar to Russians: while their textbooks are fixated on Rurik, he puts forward the figure of the Polotsk prince Ragnvalod, whom he calls one of the founders of Belarusian statehood. Polotsk in his presentation is not a province, but an independent center that competed with Kyiv.

The story of Rahneda and Vladimir is presented by the author not as a poetic legend, but as a "Freudian plot" about violence and political revenge. Zygar emphasizes that the arrival of Vladimir the Red Sun in Polotsk, around whom a cult is now built in Russia, the murder of Rahneda's father and the violence against her became the starting point for two different dynasties.

The Polotsk line, through Iziaslav, who sided with his mother, is presented as older and independent, opposing Kyiv – "the political predecessor of modern Ukraine" – for three centuries.

The figure of Vseslav the Sorcerer Zygar describes through an unexpected image – "a shapeshifter in uniform." The author explains: this is not about mysticism, but about an incredible political gift for re-enlisting opponents and changing strategies faster than anyone could expect. It was during his reign that Polotsk, according to the writer, became the third largest capital of Rus'.

The Kyiv uprising of 1068 Zygar explains through modern realities: "civil society rises in revolt against the corruption and incompetence of the Grand Princely family." Thus, the liberation of the Sorcerer from prison and his election as prince by the will of the people makes the Belarusian prince a symbol of early democratic processes in the region.

Grand Duchy of Lithuania — a regional superpower

Moving to the period of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Zygar ironically exposes the Moscow-centricity of Russian historical science. While Moscow remained "the occupation administration of the Golden Horde," the Grand Duchy of Lithuania became one of the most developed and free states in Europe.

Павялічыць

In the section on the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Mikhail Zygar explains why the emergence of a new state led by Lithuanian princes cannot be considered an occupation of Slavs, unlike the status in which Moscow found itself under Mongol captivity. Video screenshot

The author emphasizes that the arrival of Mindaugas was not an occupation of Slavs:

"Prince Mindaugas, his family, his army spoke a Baltic language, but the absolute majority of the state's population were Slavs. Their language was then called 'Ruthenian language.' In today's historiography, it is called Old Belarusian. It was in this language that chronicles were kept, laws were drafted, charters were written, and all official correspondence was conducted."

Zygar ironically comments on Russian historical mythology, where the Battle on the Ice occupies a central place.

In his opinion, if Russian propagandists knew history, they would refer to the Battle of Grunwald, because it was "an ideal illustration of the eternal confrontation between Russia and the West invented by them."

On one side — Vytautas' army, a significant part of which spoke Old Belarusian, on the other — the Teutonic Order as a symbol of German expansion.

Zygar presents the intellectual leaders of that era through analogies as close as possible to a contemporary audience. He compares the invention of the printing press with today's "revolution of mobile phones and artificial intelligence," which completely changed the methods of information transfer, and calls Francysk Skaryna "the Gutenberg of Eastern Europe."

Павялічыць

Lew Sapieha — Belarusian Thomas Jefferson. Video screenshot

No less admiration in the author is evoked by Lew Sapieha, whom he calls "the Thomas Jefferson of medieval Europe." The Statute of 1588 is described as one of the most progressive legal documents in the world, where the rule of law was enshrined two centuries before the Age of Enlightenment.

Zygar emphasizes that Belarus already had a high legal culture then, and laws were created "not for the king, but for the fatherland," so that not the monarch, but the law would reign.

Moscow — the main antagonist of Belarusian history

The section about the conflicts with Moscow in the 17th century in Zygar's video is the most uncompromising. The author dwells in detail on Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich's campaign of 1654, which he describes as a catastrophe of national scale for Belarus.

The central point becomes the "Trubetskoy Massacre" in Mstsislaw: Zygar reminds that the city was completely destroyed, about 15 thousand inhabitants died, and the few survivors were driven as slaves deep into Muscovite lands.

Even more grim for the Russian viewer appears the account of the capture of Vilnius in 1655: the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania burned for 17 days, all churches, monasteries, and printing houses were plundered, priceless archives and libraries disappeared.

Zygar places special emphasis on the religious paradox: the majority of Vilnius residents at that time were Orthodox, but for the Muscovite streltsy, Cossacks, and Tatars, this had no significance – they did not consider the locals co-religionists.

The author compares these events with the raids of the crusaders, noting a significant difference: if Catholic knights attacked Orthodox people consciously, here the violence was absolutely irrational and devoid of religious motivation.

The author summarizes the result of this war with a terrible figure – about 40% of the region's population perished. Zygar adds that this was followed by total Polonization and the official prohibition of the Old Belarusian language in state administration in 1696.

Zygar is no less critical of the following century, recalling Peter the Great's order to burn Mahiliou in 1708.

The author openly states that by the middle of the 18th century, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth practically ceased to exist as a great power due to "the costs of democracy" – the absence of a "strong hand" and a vertical of power, which Catherine II exploited.

The Partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the annexation of Belarusian lands by Russia are presented not as "reunification," but as a violent absorption that met with desperate resistance.

The annexation of Belarusian lands by the Russian Empire at the end of the 18th century is presented in the film through the sharp confrontation of two antagonists – Tadeusz Kościuszko and Alexander Suvorov. Zygar portrays Kościuszko as a hero of the struggle for independence, who went through the war in America under the command of George Washington and tried to apply this experience to his homeland.

Павялічыць

Tadeusz Kościuszko is a hero of the struggle for independence, while Suvorov is an antagonist of Belarusian history. Video screenshot

The author makes a fundamental remark for the Russian viewer: "For Belarusian historical memory, Suvorov, of course, is no hero, but clearly a negative character."

Zygar without censorship describes the storming of the Warsaw suburb, where Suvorov's soldiers killed about 15,000 people, mostly civilians, and mentions the cynical reward for the general – an estate in Kobryn, on the very land he had just "pacified" with blood.

Similarly, Zygar deconstructs the myth of the "Patriotic War" of 1812. For the Russian tradition, this is a patriotic epic, but for the inhabitants of then-Belarus, it was "a foreign war," where both armies – Napoleon's and Alexander I's – acted as occupiers.

The author recalls how French troops took the last grain and burned houses, while Russian and Cossack detachments destroyed mills and executed everyone suspected of collaborating with the enemy. As a result, Belarus once again turned into scorched earth.

The 19th century in Zygar's account is a time of systemic and ruthless extermination of Belarusian identity. The author describes in detail the policy of Nicholas I, who after the uprising of 1830 began total Russification: the closure of Vilnius University, which was the intellectual heart of the region, the abolition of the Statute of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the complete expulsion of the Old Belarusian language from official use, and the liquidation of Uniatism.

The birth of a nation

The culmination of resistance to the empire in the 19th century in Zygar's video is the uprising of 1863–1864 and the figure of Kastus Kalinouski. The author highlights him as the first politician of the region who consciously appealed not to the nobility, but to the people, publishing "Muzhytskaya Prauda" (Peasant's Truth) in simple language.

Zygar quotes his dying "Letters from Under the Gallows" and the famous "I die so that you may live," calling this text one of the key documents of Belarusian history.

Павялічыць

Kalinouski's "Letters from Under the Gallows" Zygar calls one of the key documents of Belarusian history. Video screenshot

The antipole to Kalinouski is Governor-General Mikhail Muravyov, nicknamed "the Hangman." Zygar provides a characteristic cynical quote from Muravyov: "I am not one of those who are hanged, but of those who hang," and describes his intimidation campaign as consistent ethnocide: through the prohibition of Belarusian Latin script, the closure of schools, and the forced conversion of Uniates to Orthodoxy.

The next stage – the birth of the modern Belarusian nation – Zygar closely links with the newspaper "Nasha Niva," which began to be published in 1906. He emphasizes that it was not just a newspaper, but a large-scale "cultural program for a new nation," formed through the efforts of Lutskievich, Kupala, and Kolas.

The author places especially important emphasis for the Russian viewer on the social origin of this elite: almost all of them were descendants of impoverished nobility who spoke Polish in their youth but later consciously chose the Belarusian language. This process of intellectual choice led to the proclamation of the Belarusian People's Republic in March 1918.

Павялічыць

Although Zygar calls the BNR a rather symbolic step, he recognizes it as the most important precedent for Belarusian independence. Video screenshot

Although Zygar calls the BNR a rather symbolic step, he recognizes it as the most important precedent for Belarusian independence, which the Bolsheviks branded as "counter-revolution," and Polish socialists as "bourgeois separatism."

The video concludes with a story about the tragic end of the Belarusian revival within the USSR. Zygar describes the short period of Korenizatsiya (indigenization) in the 1920s, which was replaced by bloody Stalinist terror. A key moment for him is the Night of Executed Poets in October 1937, when in one night the NKVD destroyed the entire flower of Belarusian literature and science.

The author draws a direct line from these executions to Kurapaty, calling it the most terrible place of mass burials. It was with the investigation into Kurapaty in 1988, according to Zygar, that perestroika and "glasnost" began in Belarus, when independent journalists revealed to society the truth about how the empire tried to finally solve the "Belarusian question."

History, says Zygar, which Russia tries to appropriate or forget, always returns through such terrible finds as Kurapaty, forcing new generations to finally look at themselves from the outside.

Mikhail Zygar's video becomes an important inoculation against imperial thinking for the Russian audience. Even with certain gaps, the general message is clear. The author shows Belarus not as a province of an empire with its capital in Moscow, but as a self-sufficient European nation with deep democratic roots.

• 75
• 1
• 0
• 2
• 0
• 0
• 0
• 1