Belarusian history in the Russian Empire

[2] Initially, most of the Polish feudal system was retained in Belarusian lands, the polonized Litvin Catholic Szlachta dominated the territories, whilst most of the Ruthenian population was peasantry.

First the ruling class was removed, and the Belarusian Greek Catholic Church, at the Synod of Polotsk reverted to Eastern Orthodoxy under the leadership of Joseph Semashko in 1839.

[4] Still, a large part of the literature had to hide itself behind the labels of "Polish" or sometimes even "Bulgarian", because Russian censorship did not tolerate the Belarusian national movement up until the Revolution of 1905.

In the beginning of the 1860s, both pro-Russian and pro-Polish parties in the Belarusian lands had begun to realise that the decisive role in the upcoming conflicts was shifting to the peasantry.

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.