Russophiles dominated western Ukrainian society in the mid 19th century but by the beginning of the First World War had been eclipsed by the Ukrainophiles. No longer widely popular within their own community, the Russophiles depended on support from Russia (such as from the Galician-Russian Benevolent Society based in St. Petersburg) and from Polish aristocrats who used their movement to split Ukrainian society. This support notwithstanding, both Russophiles and Ukrainophiles were opposed to the Poles whom they considered to be historical oppressors. However, the Russophiles were loyal to Russia and hoped that the war would bring about the integration of eastern Galicia with Russia while the Ukrainophiles, in contrast, were loyal to Austria and hoped that the war would bring about a dismemberment of the Russian Empire and the emergence of an independent Ukraine in its territory. Both factions within the Ukrainian community were bitterly opposed to each other. Galicia's Jews, seeing the Habsburg dynasty as their protectors and considering the Russian state to be antisemitic, were generally quite loyal to Austria during the war. On the eve of World War I, with war against Russia looming, the Austrian authorities began a wave of persecution against the Russophiles. Hundreds were arrested, and Russophile organizations and newspapers were shut. Former Russian Interior Minister Pyotr Durnovo was an outspoken opponent of the annexation of eastern Galicia. Writing in February 1914, he claimed that the people had for the most part lost all connection to the Russian fatherland, and that in addition to a "negligible handful" of Russophile Ukrainian Galicians, Russia would take in large numbers of Poles, Jews, and Ukrainophile Ukrainians. Durnovo wrote that currently Ukrainian separatism was not a threat to Russia but that annexing a territory with many Ukrainian nationalists could plant seeds within Russia for a dangerous movement and that this might have unexpected consequences. Despite this warning, most Russian political figures across the political spectrum supported annexing eastern Galicia. Mikhail Rodzianko, chairman of the State Duma, declared that war against a common enemy would unite all nationalities within Russia, a sentiment echoed by the liberal politician Alexander Kerensky. In his first orders to the Russian troops crossing into eastern Galicia, General Aleksei Brusilov, commander of the Russian forces, proclaimed "We are entering Galicia, which despite its being a constituent part of Austria-Hungary, is a Russian land from time immemorial, populated, after all, by Russian people ("russkim zhe narodom").