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Belarus The Partitions of Poland
![[PDF]](http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/pdf.gif)
Figure 4. Russian and Prussian Acquisition of Belarusian Territory
in the Partitions of Poland, 1772-95
Source: Based on information from Paul Robert Magocsi,
Historical Atlas of East Central Europe, Seattle, 1993,
71.
Belorussia remained a part of Poland until Russia,
Prussia,
and Austria carried out the three partitions of Poland in
1772,
1793, and 1795. After the last partition, the entire
territory of
Belorussia found itself part of the
Russian Empire (see Glossary),
with the exception of a small piece of land in
the
west, which was held by Prussia
(see
fig. 4). Orthodox
Russia
tolerated the Uniate Church to a certain degree, but in
1839,
when three-quarters of all Belorussians were Uniates, Tsar
Nicholas I (with the support of the Russian Orthodox
Church)
abolished the Uniate Church and forced the Uniates to
reconvert
to Orthodoxy. He also banned the use of the name
"Belorussia" and
replaced it with the name "Northwest Territory"
(Severo-zapadnyy
kray, in Russian). Overall, the state pursued a policy of
Russification (see Glossary).
At the time serfdom was abolished in the Russian Empire
in
1861, Belorussia was essentially a nation of peasants and
landlords. Although they had their freedom, the peasants
had
little else: they remained poor and largely landless. The
imposition of the Russian language, the Orthodox religion,
heavy
taxes, and military service lasting twenty-five years made
the
past under Polish rule seem better than the present under
the
tsars.
Data as of June 1995
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