Over the years, the Russians gradually extended their control westward into Polish-ruled Ukraine while simultaneously attempting to make Ukraine a mere province of Russia. They followed a policy of complete Russification, denying the existence of a separate Ukrainian state, culture or language.

During the 1800s, Ukrainian nationalism again emerged. Ukraine's greatest poet and artist, Taras Shevchenko, wrote poems attacking social injustice in his country and reminding the Ukrainians of their proud national heritage. For a short period in the 1860s, a more liberal attitude prevailed on the part of the Russians. Serfdom was abolished to some degee. Before long, however, the heavy hand of the Russians clamped down on Ukraine again and unrestrained Russification resumed.

(The two paintings shown on this page are a self-portrait of Taras Shevchenko done in 1840 when he was 26 and one of his most famous paintings, "Katerina", done in 1842. The symbolism in Shevchenko's works is readily apparent in "Katerina" which shows a Ukrainian village girl who has been jilted by the Russian army officer riding off in the background.)

In the Ukrainian lands under Polish rule, the old religious and social problems remained, resulting in frequent uprisings. The Poles attempt to gradually win the Ukrainians over to Catholicism via the compromise Uniate religion back-fired. The eastern Ukrainians gradually accepted the Uniate religion but resisted all attempts to make them Roman Catholics. During the late 1700s and early 1800s, the Polish empire crumbled. As a result some of its Ukrainian territories went to Russia while those in the far west, eventually becoming Galacia and Bukovina, went to Austria. Under Austria, serfdom was eventually abolished and Ukrainian national expression went through ups and downs but conditions were generally less severe than those in the Russian Ukraine.

During the late 1800s, the Ukrainians, primarily from Galacia and Bukovina, began their emigration to the Americas in large numbers. They came as a result of the old problems, lack of religious freedom, the oppression of the peasants by the landlords and suppression of Ukrainian national expression. But also because the population was rapidly increasing, resulting in a severe scarcity of land.