Recent events have thrust Belarus into the international spotlight, but for years after declaring independence in 1991, Belarus remained a little-known republic in the West, despite its important geostrategic position between Poland and Russia, and as a conduit for Russian energy supplies to central Europe. In the late Soviet period, it was best known as a victim of the 1986 nuclear accident at Chernobyl, which covered its territory in dangerous radionuclides of cesium, strontium, and iodine. The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022; the unprecedented mass demonstrations after President Alexander Lukashenka declared himself the victor in his 2020 presidential race against challenger Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and the ensuing mass repression, imprisonment, and torture of civilians thrust the country into international attention.

This book probes the deep background to these tumultuous events even long before the collapse of the Soviet Union and Lukashenka's merciless dictatorship. Belarus: What Everyone Needs to Know® explains Belarus to outsiders, tracing its development, history, and formation of a modern identity. Marples and Laputska look at its place in contemporary Europe and its relations with Russia, Ukraine, China, and other states; and argue that the image of Belarus as a Soviet theme park or offshoot of Putin's Russian World are far-fetched and misguided.