[1][2][3] Kraŭcoŭ became actively involved in the Belarusian independence movement while serving in the Russian Imperial Army during World War I.

[1][2] After the February Revolution he came to Minsk and took an active part in the preparation of the First All-Belarusian Congress.

[1][3][4] A participant in the Slucak Uprising, he was in charge of the insurgents’ printing house in Klieck.

[1][3] After the defeat of the Belarusian independence movement by the Red Army, Kraŭcoŭ went into exile and lived in Vilnia, then within the Second Polish Republic.

After being set to music by composer Uladzimier Teraŭski, it became the national anthem of the Belarusian Democratic Republic and later used as a popular patriotic song.