The author attends the contribution of the modernization processes, that pervaded the Russian Empire of the mid-19th century through the early 20th century, to the Belarusian national idea. The influence of industrialization, peasants’ seasonal work, urbanization, networks of all-Russian and regional communication, public education, military duty on the progression of narrowing of the cultural and linguistic gap between Great Russians and Belarusians is observed. The new horizons, which broke open in front of the Belarusian national movement before the revolution of 1905-1907, the February and October revolutions of 1917, the Civil War and the foreign occupation of the Belarusian lands, are identified. The ups and downs of the numerous currents within the Belarusian national movement struggle around the scenarios of Belarus self-determination and the statehood patterns are unfolded. The fatal consequences of the Belarusian movement leaders betting on Kaiser’s Germany are elucidated.
Key words: Belarusian ethnos, modernization, population-nation, Belarusian movement, factors of revolution, World War, occupation, scenarios of statehood.
33_1_БуховецCitation link: Buchovets O.G. Modernization processes in the Russian empire and the belarussian national movement // Humanities researches of the Central Russia. – 2024. – №3. – P. 7-18.
DOI: 10.24412/2541-9056-2024-433-7-18