From the 13th till the 16th century the territory of contemporary Belarus was the center of a medieval polyethnic state-Grand Duchy of Litva. The Grand Duchy of Litva which is sometimes called by historians Belarusan-Lithuanian state was one of the largest, most powerful and flourishing states in medieval Eastern Europe. The lands of contemporary Belarus, Lithuania, Ukraine and a part of Russia comprised this state. The large role of ethnic Belarusans in this state is proved by the fact that the state language in the Grand Duchy of Litva was Belarusan.

The period that started in the 15th century, when the crusaders' expansion was crushed in the west, and lasted until the middle of the 17th century, when Moscow launched its widescale aggression, is considered the Golden age in Belarusan history. In this period there was a wide growth of old and the foundation of many new cities and towns. There occurred significant evolutionary processes in the culture and economy of Belarusan people. A number of historic facts provide evidence for that. In 1517 the great Belarusan scholar from Polotsk Doctor Francisc Skaryna published the Bible in the Belarusan language. Thus the Belarusans became the third nation after Germans and Czechs that had a printed Bible in their native language. In 1588 the third edition of Grand Duchy Statute came out. It was a comprehensive and elaborate state code of laws that stood above the local legal norms. Written in the Belarusan language it was the only full code of laws in Europe since the Roman Law and until the Napoleonic Code adopted in 1804. The above historic facts prove the Grand Duchy of Litva to have been a major political and cultural center in Eastern Europe at that time.

In 1569 the Grand Duchy of Litva and the Polish Kingdom established a political union according to which the Litva-Poland confederation- Rzecz Pospolita-emerged. As a result of three divisions of Rzecz Pospolita in 1772, 1793 and 1795 between three empires - Russia, Austria and Prussia - the Belarusan lands were incorporated into the Russian Empire. So the third division of Rzecz Pospolita in 1795 practically checked the development of Belarusan statehood for more than 100 years.

But the Belarusans under the Russian rule did not want to lead slaves' lives. In 1794 on the territory of contemporary Poland, Belarus and Lithuania a national liberation uprising broke out. It was headed by Tadeusz Kosciuszko, a Belarusan nobleman by birth who received his military education in France (1770-1774), took part in the War of Independence in North America (1775-1783). The uprising was directed against Russia and Prussia that made the second division of Rzecz Pospolita and against the local reactionary aristocracy that had taken power in the lands. To support Russian and Prussian troops Austria entered the fighting against the rebels. Tadeusz Kosciuszko was injured in a battle, captured by tsarist troops and imprisoned in Petropavlovskaya Fortress in the Russian capital of that time - Sankt Petersburg. The uprising started in mid-spring and was brutally suppressed in mid-autumn 1794. The result of its suppression was the third division of Rzecz Pospolita in 1795. Nowadays a monument to Tadeusz Kosciuszko, the brave soldier, national hero of the U.S.A., honorable citizen of France, born on the territory of the contemporary Brest Region of Belarus can be seen in Lafayete Square opposite the White House in Washington.

During the Franco-Russian war of 1812 the Belarusan lands were the war arena of those two armies when the "Grand Armee" under Napoleon's command marched to Moscow and when it was in retreat. Of great significance for both armies was a battle near the Berezina river where French army was utterly defeated. During this war some divisions of the Russian Army fighting against Napoleon were manned by Belarusan soldiers. At the same time a lot of Belarusans, mainly the gentry and peasants, took part in the war on Napoleon's side which showed the will of Belarusans to overthrow the yoke of their slavemaster the Russian tsar. After Napoleon took the lands of Lithuania and Belarus he renewed the Grand Duchy of Litva but after the defeat of the Grand Armee the Russian rule on Belarusan lands was reestablished.