After the Tatar raids on the region, the Swedes and Russians fought with the Poles and Lithuanians to control the land the Belarusians lived in. This slow crumbling of the Polish-Lithuanian kingdom began in the mid-1600s and ended in the late 1700s when the country was partitioned by the Russians, Prussians, and Austrians; most of the Belarusian people fell under Russian rule in 1795.
After the Russians took over the region they tried to expel Polish influence by Rusifying the Belarusians. The Russians implemented a number of changes and tried to make the people view themselves as Russian, but instead the Belarusian people, for the first time, found an independent identity that was neither Polish nor Russian.
The 1800s brought the industrial revolution to the region and destroyed all remnants of the feudal system, including the freeing of all serfs. These changes were followed by many Belarusians fleeing the region to find a better life.
During World War I the Germans took over much of the Belarusians, but by war's end the Germans fell and the Belarusians were quickly retaken by the Russians, under their new Soviet government. At first this relationship was cordial, but under Josef Stalin in the 1930s the Belarusians, like many ethnic minorities, were severely condemned as Russia's culture and language was forced upon the people. Their difficulties continued during World War II (WWII) when the Germans ruthlessly destroyed the land and the Soviets came back through, acting in much the same way. During this time most of the Jews and Poles in the region left or were killed.