Belarusian History in The Russian Empire - Industrialisation & Rise of Belarusian Nationality

Industrialisation & Rise of Belarusian Nationality

The 1860s marked a turning point of Belarus in the Russian Empire. The emancipation of the serfs in 1861, followed by the January Uprising fully left the Polish influence on Belarus behind. A number of authors started publishing in the Belarusian language, including Jan Czeczot, Władysław Syrokomla and Konstanty Kalinowski. What followed was the Industrial Revolution under Alexander III and with it the arrival of the railways Peasants sought a better lot in growing industrial centres in Belarus and a further 1.5 million people leaving to other parts of the Empire in the half-century preceding the Russian Revolution of 1917.

During this time the Russification of Belarusian culture brought to the results that in the 1897 Russian Empire Census, about 5.89 million people declared themselves speakers of Belarusian language rather than Litvin or Ruthenian, as they did under Polish rule. The Belarusian nobility and middle class had a firm footing in the regions and Stolypin's reforms allowed the peasants standard of living to greatly increase. However at the same time, many rising Belarusian nationalists, were fearing that the growth of the Russian influence on their culture, and as a result played a decisive role in the 1905 Revolution afterwards Nicholas II officially recognised Belarusian language as independent and allowed its teachings.