Gerashchenko Andrey Biography

Literary novelty of the year: Andrei Gerashchenko’s book “White Rus' from ancient times to the present”, its popularity stems to a certain extent thanks to a civil position. He does not accept the trendy interpretations of the past in the context of the pan -European history of Belarus, but in isolation from Rus', and with the political subtext of the eternal struggle of our ancestors with damaged Muscovites, allegedly ongoing to this now.

In the popularizer manner, his new book “White Rus' from ancient times to the present” is designed, it was a worthy circulation of eclusions. It begins with a long quote from Maxim Bogdanovich, dated G. All of them are the same root, but for a long time they lived separately, and so three different Russian people came from them; Each has its own name, its own speech, their own customs, their own songs, their own clothes.

One Russian people live near Moscow and further; It is called Great Russian. The second lives near Kyiv and is called Ukrainian. We are the third people of the Russian root, called by Belarusians, and our country is called Belarus. There are Orthodox among us, there are Catholics, but we have one people, because everyone has one speech, only customs, only songs, one clothes, one lifestyle.

” Perhaps this passage from Bogdanovich, carefully forgotten by the adherents of Russophobic trends, determines the content of the book. It is not a history textbook, does not claim to be its full coverage. Nevertheless, there are annoying gaps, which in such an extensive collection of historical essays should be eliminated. For example, the annexation of Polotsk, the oldest city of Ancient Rus', is likely - older than Kyiv and Novgorod the Great, by the Baltic Principality of the Principality, although this is a cornerstone event.

Western Rus, the descendants of the Krivichi and other East Slavic tribes, lost their independence, which, first depending on the Riga Knights, then to the Baltic and other nations - for many centuries, up to the adoption of the state sovereignty of the Republic of Belarus in the city of this gap is generally characteristic of popular literature about ancient times, the ancestors of Belarusians in quite independent Polotsk, in a completely independent Polotsk, And suddenly - Bach, they are already Litvin, and they rule the Baltic to the hard -pronounced and absolutely not Slavic names.

Unlike a scientific treatise, the author does not give alternative views on the events of the past. But long -standing affairs are known only from the most fragmentary information, the details have been lost irrevocably. For popularizers, this is not scary, such books are written in this way - in an imperative vein that does not suffer objections. But people, in history of erudite, many episodes seem to be soft, problematic.

Andrei Gerashchenko in a classic form reproduces the legend of the ice battle, which tells of the defeat of the "dogs-people" on Lake Peipsi. Not to mention the absence of at least minimal archaeological confirmations at the proposed place of battle and a lot of inconsistencies, the date of the event is striking when the riders in the armor weighing with the horse for many hundreds of kilograms drove into the “ice” of Lake Peipsi.

It seems that this happened on April 5 in the Middle Ages was colder, and the Lake of the Lake was a little north of Belarus. That is, translated into the modern climate of our latitudes, this approximately corresponds to the current weather on the Minsk Sea around March 20. Now let's try to imagine whether the ice, even theoretically able to withstand a horse with a rider in armor on the Minsk Sea, can stand on the Minsk Sea?

I can’t imagine this. That is, there was some kind of fight. But not there, not then or not under those circumstances. The next gap, which seems to me significant, applies to the Battle of Kulikovo. There is also a lot of disputes about its place and date, but I want to pay attention to another. Two European chronicles contain information that the army of Jagielo, who had not ripened to the aid of Mamai, attacked the returning army of Dmitry Donskoy, pretty borne by the battle, interrupted its good part and confiscated trophies.

And after a short time, Khan Tokhtamysh, a problematic ally of Jagielo, captures Moscow without any problems. Yes, because after the intervention of the Lithuanians, Muscovites suffered such a damage, that they did not recover in a couple of years! Of course, the victory of Jagielo in the Battle of Kulikovo does not look too honorable, by no means an example of military valor. But he achieved a result, preserving the lives of hundreds and thousands of ancestors of modern Belarusians who would have died if they were fighting to the side of Mamaia.

For some reason, it does not disappear in the description of the events after the accession of Zemaitia in the city, although the state was already called "the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Russian and Zhamoye and other lands." Well written about Francis Skorin. Earlier, I was amazed by the title of Belarusian external printer assigned to him, an inconspicuous fact that Skorina published books in Russian and outside the modern Belarus, and Belarusians and Belarus did not stand out in something separate.

But only Skorin is defined by the author as a Russian first printer with belonging to the Russian part of the GDL, everything falls into place.In anticipation of objections, I will say right away that the Bible of Skorina is never Belarusian. He himself wrote: "Bivilia Ruska." Maybe he knows better? We will not correct our outstanding fellow countryman after five centuries, we better recall Fiol, who created the “Osumglaznik” - the first book in Russian for our ancestors, the main thing is much earlier than Skorina, who, alas, is just a “second -printer”.

For some reason, there is not a word about the emergence of printing in the modern territory of the Republic of Belarus, it originates in the middle of the 16th century and arose in the birch bark. The serfdom is perfectly painted on the Russian part of the Grand Cup of the late Middle Ages, in contrast to the common myth, as if Russian invaders had come in the division of the Commonwealth and enslaved previously free Belarusians.

But with the use of the ethnonym "White Rus'" is not everything well. For example, in the year, “starting in small Rus', the war spread to white Rus'” pages. This is not so, more precisely, not quite so. Self -name - OBL, Lithuania, Litvin. Later, the word "Teshesh" will go into use. White Rus' is the name from the side, and the territory indicated by him drifted on the map of Eastern Europe.

The royal list of the “Belarusians” has been preserved, which is appropriate to relate to the root of the soil, it is decorated with the name “Belarusian” Bogdan Khmelnitsky. The division into “small Rus'”, that is, the Ukrainian Left Bank, which departed to Moscow, and “White Rus'”, preserved as part of the Lithuanian-Polish Union, was formed later, according to the results of these wars.

Having designated several key dates in the Polish -Lithuanian Commonwealth section, the author immediately moves on to the Napoleonic invasion. And in vain. And using these small knowledge among the wide masses, or rather, its absence, some grief historians with pathos claim: the Russian imperial army occupied ... Belarus! Not Poland, not Lithuania, namely - Belarus.

It would be worth recalling that when imperial troops entered Minsk, with all the desire and perseverance, they could not find there either Belarus or even the ON. At the sunset of their existence, the Polish -Lithuanian, finally, was waiting for the formal consolidation of the situation that existed for many decades: a single unitary Polish state, a single language - Polish, a single people - Polish, a single religion - Catholicism.

And Belarusians? No, they didn’t hear. All are the Poles. The GDL went down in history, having worked out the term allotted by fate. And I would also mention Tadeusz Kostyushko, one of the historical personalities, whose contribution to the history of Belarus cannot be overestimated. In the fall, G. Kostyushko brilliantly failed a defensive battle against the Russian troops under the Maceyovitsa and thereby irrevocably predetermined the failure of the uprising with the inevitable departing of the Eastern Slavs as a result of this failure.

O Kostyushko there is one bar in relation to the Polish uprising of GG. It would be better about him in more detail by reducing part of the book devoted to military operations outside the borders of modern Belarus. When, in fact, the indigenous inhabitants of our lands received the right to be called Belarusians? Probably an important point, it is not in the book. There are a lot of opinions, I think - by the middle of the 19th century, when they were turned from Uniagage to Orthodoxy.

Having missed this milestone, Andrei Evgenievich jumps to the pages of the UP uprising. By the way, about him. Gerashchenko writes about Kastus Kalinovsky as one of the leaders of the uprising, hanging in Kastus Kalinovsky, in the early version - Kasskiuk, this is an extremely bright person, a fighter for freedom of Belarusians, a patriot, humanist, passionarity, etc. Kastus Kalinovsky - this is a literary character of the historical fantasies of Vaclav Lastovsky.

And the character is impossible to hang. The very distant prototype of this Lithero, the Polish gentry Vincent Kalinovsky, the second name “Konstantin”, he did not enjoy his opposite. Psychopath, paranoid, pathological sadist, bloody maniac. He destroyed, according to the most approximate estimates, much more people than ants. I will not bring a selection of the most odious calls of this seriously ill on the head of a person such as "an ax of the rebel should not stop at the cradle of babies." The Belarusian history knows many great people who came to our land from Poland, but the geeks also met, Vincent Kalinovsky in the first lines.

It was not worth silent about it. Once again, the murderer surfaced in the text of the book closer to the end, mentioned for another reason, because of a petty coincidence with the biography of Sergei Prititsky. I completely share the author’s opinion about the essence of the BNR. Did this pseudo -state exist only on paper? Given the Lysobaste of the BNROVers in front of the German invaders, I would add - on the toilet.

Similar fecal epithets can be characterized by the last BNR, which correctly served the next generation of German invaders, Nazi. With a large number of statistical information, Andrei Gerashchenko threw a picture of the post -war development of the BSSR, gaining independence and entering the Union State. The text is clearly compiled up to two severe trials that befell us in the cityBut the literature differs from journalism, focusing on the experienced and meaningful, and not the latest, only from the telegraph tape; Literature cannot and should not compete with journalism serving the media.

As a separate undoubted advantage, very rare for the books of this genre, it should be noted the high saturation of the book with cards of Belarus with very detailed comments on each. Territorial changes are shown so clearly and clearly that visual information is greatly complemented by the text. Moreover, the discrepancies in historical views with the author do not always mean that he is wrong.

The reason to think, to twist the problem in the mind, to analyze from different sides is a useful occupation. In general, I recommend “white Rus'” to read for everyone. Especially for Gerashchenko’s loyal attitude to our eastern neighbor who do not share.