Modernization processes in Belarus in the second half of the XIX – the beginning of the XX cent.: general trends and national features

Abstract

The article examines the modernization processes in the territory of the Belarusian governorates in the second half of the XIX - beginning of the XX century. The author draws attention to the distinctive features of the Belarusian modernization, stipulated by the historical background, as well as economic and socio-cultural peculiarities, that were deeply rooted in the traditions of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The author goes on to show the measures of the Russian authorities aimed at the legislative uni cation and neutralizing of the Polish in uence. Kohanovsky A. concludes that Belarus had a fragmentary modernization that was developing irregularly and penetrating the different spheres of life unevenly. The author pays attention to the fact, that society, economy, and culture were the objects of the transformation, but virtually never the foundation for the realization of the reforms. In Belarus the social changes were preceded by the economic and technological modernization. The inconsistency of the unfolding processes became obvious in the regional peculiarities: in many respects the western part of Belarus was much more involved in the processes of the formation of the industrial society.