The proposed
United Baltic Duchy also known as the
Grand Duchy of Livonia was a state imagined by the Baltic German nobility after the Russian revolution and German occupation of the Courland, Livonian and Estonian governorates of the Russian Empire.
The idea included the creation of a
Duchy of CourlandThe Duchy of Courland and Semigallia was proclaimed on March 8, 1918 in German occupied Courland Governorate by a Landesrat composed of Baltic Germans, who offered the crown of the Duchy to Kaiser Wilhelm II...
and a Duchy of Estonia and Livonia that would be in personal union with the Crown of Prussia under the
German EmpireThe German Empire is the name commonly used in English to describe Germany from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871 to 1918, when it became a German republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of Wilhelm II .The term Second Reich...
's
occupiedBelligerent military occupation occurs when the control and authority over a territory passes to a hostile army.-Military occupation and the laws of war:...
territory
Ober OstOber Ost is short for Oberbefehlshaber der gesamten Deutschen Streitkräfte im Osten, which is a German term meaning "Supreme Commander of All German Forces in the East" during World War I. In practice it refers not only to said commander, but also to his governing military staff and the district...
before the end of
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
covering the territories of the
Medieval LivoniaTerra Mariana was the official name for Medieval Livonia or Old Livonia which was formed in the aftermath of the Livonian Crusade in the territories comprising present day Estonia and Latvia...
what are now
LatviaLatvia , officially the Republic of Latvia is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , and to the southeast by Belarus . Across the Baltic Sea to the west lies Sweden...
and
EstoniaEstonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by the Russian Federation...
.
Historical background
During
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
, German Armies had occupied the
Courland GovernorateThe Governorate of Courland, also known as the Province of Courland, Governorate of Kurland , and Government of Courland , was one of the Baltic provinces or governorates of the Russian Empire, now part of the Republic of Latvia....
of
Russian EmpireThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia, and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
by the autumn of 1915. The front was settled along a line stretched between
RigaRiga is the capital and largest city of Latvia, a major industrial, commercial, cultural and financial centre of the Baltics, and an important seaport, situated on the mouth of the Daugava...
,
DaugavpilsDaugavpils is the second largest city in Latvia. It is located approximately 230 km south-east of the Latvian capital, Riga, on the banks of the Daugava River. Daugavpils has a favorable geographical position as it borders Belarus and Lithuania . It is located some 120 km from the...
and Baranovitch.
Following the
February RevolutionThe February Revolution of 1917 was the first of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. It occurred March 8–12 and its immediate result was the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, the collapse of Imperial Russia and the end of the Romanov dynasty. The non-Communist Russian Provisional Government under...
in Russia, the
Autonomous Governorate of EstoniaThe local autonomy in Estonia was established as a result of the Russian Revolution of 1917. For the duration of control by Imperial Russia, Estonia was divided between two governorates . The Governorate of Estonia in the north corresponded roughly to the area of Danish Estonia and the northern...
was created on April 12 1917 (March 30 Old Style) from the former Russian Governorate of Estonia and northern Governorate of Livonia. After the
October RevolutionTheOctober Revolution , also known as the Soviet Revolution or Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution. It began with an armed insurrection in Petrograd traditionally dated to 25 October 1917 Julian calendar...
, the elected Estonian Provincial Assembly declared itself the sovereign power in Estonia on November 28, 1917 and on February 24, 1918, a day before the arrival of German troops the
Estonian Declaration of IndependenceThe Estonian Declaration of Independence, also known as the Manifesto to the Peoples of Estonia , is the founding act of the Republic of Estonia from 1918. It is celebrated on 24 February, the National Day or Estonian Independence Day....
was issued. The Western
AlliesThe Entente powers were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. The key members of the Entente were the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire. New Zealand, Belgium, Serbia, Canada, Australia, Italy, Romania and the United States were also drawn into the war...
recognized the Republic of Estonia de facto in May 1918.
The Latvian National Council was proclaimed on November 16, 1917. On November 30, 1917, the Council declared an autonomous Latvian province within ethnographic boundaries, and a formal independent Latvian republic was declared on January 15, 1918.
After the Russian revolution, German troops had started advancing from Courland, and by the end of February 1918 the German military administered the territories of the former Russian Governorate of Livonia and
Autonomous Governorate of EstoniaThe local autonomy in Estonia was established as a result of the Russian Revolution of 1917. For the duration of control by Imperial Russia, Estonia was divided between two governorates . The Governorate of Estonia in the north corresponded roughly to the area of Danish Estonia and the northern...
that had declared independence. With the
Treaty of Brest-LitovskThe Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a peace treaty signed on March 3, 1918, at Brest-Litovsk between the Russian SFSR and the Central Powers, marking Russia's exit from World War I....
on March 3, 1918,
Bolshevist Russia accepted the loss of the
Courland GovernorateThe Governorate of Courland, also known as the Province of Courland, Governorate of Kurland , and Government of Courland , was one of the Baltic provinces or governorates of the Russian Empire, now part of the Republic of Latvia....
, and by agreements concluded in
BerlinBerlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city and the eighth most populous urban area in the European Union...
on August 27, 1918, the loss of the Autonomous Governorate of Estonia and the Governorate of Livonia.
Attempt to create the United Baltic Duchy
As a parallel political movement under the German military administration, Baltic Germans began forming provincial councils between September 1917 and March 1918. On April 12, 1918, a Provincial Assembly composed of 35 Baltic Germans, 13 Estonians and 11 Latvians passed a resolution calling upon the German Emperor to recognize the Baltic provinces as a monarchy and make them a German protectorate.
On March 8 and April 12, 1918, the local Baltic German-dominated
Kurländische Landesrat and the
Vereinigter Landesrat of
Livland,
Estland* Estland is the modern name for Estonia in German, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Dutch and some other Germanic languages, with the notable exception of modern English....
,
RigaRiga is the capital and largest city of Latvia, a major industrial, commercial, cultural and financial centre of the Baltics, and an important seaport, situated on the mouth of the Daugava...
, and
ÖselSaaremaa is the largest island belonging to Estonia, measuring 2,673 km². The main island of Saare County, it is located in the Baltic Sea, south of Hiiumaa island, and belongs to the West Estonian Archipelago...
had declared themselves independent states, known as the
Duchy of CourlandThe Duchy of Courland and Semigallia was proclaimed on March 8, 1918 in German occupied Courland Governorate by a Landesrat composed of Baltic Germans, who offered the crown of the Duchy to Kaiser Wilhelm II...
(
Herzogtum Kurland) and Baltic State duchy (
Baltischer Staat), respectively. Both states proclaimed themselves to be in personal union with the
Kingdom of PrussiaThe Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918, until the defeat of Germany in World War I, was the leading state of the German Empire, comprising almost two-thirds of the area of the empire...
, although the German government never responded to acknowledge that claim.
The Baltic lands were nominally recognized as a sovereign state by emperor
Wilhelm IIWilhelm II was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia , ruling both the German Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia from 15 June 1888 to 9 November 1918....
only on September 22, 1918, half a year after
Soviet RussiaThe Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , also called the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, the Russian SFSR and the RSFSR for short, was the largest and most populous of the fifteen Soviet republics of the Soviet Union and became the Russian...
had formally relinquished all authority over its former Imperial
Baltic provincesThe Baltic governorates were independently administered governorates of the Russian Empire on the territory of what in 1918 became, and is now, independent Estonia and Latvia....
to Germany in the
Treaty of Brest-LitovskThe Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a peace treaty signed on March 3, 1918, at Brest-Litovsk between the Russian SFSR and the Central Powers, marking Russia's exit from World War I....
. On November 5, 1918, a temporary Regency Council (
Regentschaftsrat) for the new state led by Baron
Adolf Pilar von PilchauAdolf Konstantin Jakob Pilar von Pilchau was a Baltic German politician, regent of the United Baltic Duchy , and baron....
was formed on a joint basis from the two local Land Councils.
The capital of the new state was to be Riga. It was to be a confederation of seven cantons:
Kurland (
CourlandCourland is one of the cultural and historical regions of Latvia. The regions of Semigallia and Selonia are sometimes considered as part of Courland.- Geography and climate :...
), Riga,
Lettgallen (
LatgaleLatgalia or Latgale is one of the four cultural and historical regions of Latvia recognised in the Constitution of the Latvian Republic. It is the easternmost region north of the Daugava river...
),
Südlivland (South
LivoniaLivonia was once the land of the Finnic Livonians inhabiting the principal ancient Livonian County Metsepole with its center at Turaida...
),
Nordlivland (North Livonia),
Ösel (
SaaremaaSaaremaa is the largest island belonging to Estonia, measuring 2,673 km². The main island of Saare County, it is located in the Baltic Sea, south of Hiiumaa island, and belongs to the West Estonian Archipelago...
), and
Estland (Estonia), the four first cantons thus covering the territory corresponding to today's Latvia and the latter three corresponding to today's Estonia.
The first
head of stateHead of state is the generic term for the individual or collective office that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchy, republic, federation, commonwealth or other kind of state...
of the United Baltic Duchy was to be Adolf Friedrich, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, not as a
sovereignSovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...
monarchA monarch is the person who heads a monarchy, a form of government in which the country or entity usually ruled or controlled by an individual who usually rules for life or until abdication...
, but as a subordinate to the German Kaiser, similar to other dukes and grand dukes of the
German EmpireThe German Empire is the name commonly used in English to describe Germany from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871 to 1918, when it became a German republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of Wilhelm II .The term Second Reich...
. But Adolf Friedrich never assumed office. The appointed Regency Council consisting of four Baltic Germans, three
EstoniansEstonians are a Finnic people closely related to the Finns and inhabiting, primarily, the country of Estonia. The Estonians speak a Finno-Ugric language, known as Estonian...
and three
LatviansLatvians , the indigenous Baltic people of Latvia, occasionally refer to themselves by the ancient name of Latvji, which may have originated from the word Latve which is a name of the river that presumably flowed through what is now eastern Latvia...
functioned until November 28, 1918, without any international recognition, except from Germany.
In October 1918, the
Chancellor of Germany Prince Maximilian of BadenPrince Maximilian Alexander Friedrich Wilhelm of Baden was the cousin and heir of Grand Duke Frederick II of Baden , and succeeded Frederick as head of the Grand Ducal House in 1928...
proposed to have the military administration in the Baltic replaced by civilian authority. The new policy was stated in a telegram from the German Foreign Office to the military administration of the Baltic:
The government of the Reich is unanimous in respect of the fundamental change in our policy towards the Baltic countriesThe Baltic states , Baltic Nations or Baltic countries are three countries in Northern Europe, all members of the European Union: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania...
, namely that in the first instance policy is to be made with the Baltic peoples.
Independent Latvia
On November 18, 1918, Latvia proclaimed independence. Power was transferred the next day from the German military administration to the Estonian Government headed by
Konstantin PätsKonstantin Päts VR I/1 and III/1 was a politician and the first President of Estonia.Päts surname, which means a loaf of bread in Estonian, came from an ancestor who was a miller by profession...
. In Latvia, the Germans formally handed over authority to the Latvian national government headed by
Kārlis UlmanisKārlis Vilhelms Augusts Ulmanis was a prominent Latvian politician in pre-World War II Latvia during the Latvian period of independence from 1918 to 1940.- Education and early career :Ulmanis studied agriculture at the ETH Zurich, Switzerland, and at Leipzig University,...
on December 7, 1918.
The
Baltische LandeswehrBaltische Landeswehr was the name of the unified armed forces of the Baltic nobility from November 1918 to July 3, 1919. - Command structure :...
was formed by the government of the United Baltic Duchy as its national defense force. Upon taking command of the
Baltische Landeswehr, Major Alfred Fletcher, with the backing of the
Baltic GermanThe Baltic Germans were mostly ethnically German inhabitants of the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, which today form the countries of Estonia and Latvia. The Baltic German population had never made up more than 10% of the total. They formed the social, commercial, political and cultural elite in...
land barons, began dismissing native
LatviaLatvia , officially the Republic of Latvia is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , and to the southeast by Belarus . Across the Baltic Sea to the west lies Sweden...
n elements and replacing them with Baltic Germans and Reichsdeutsch troops. Concurrently, German officers assumed most of the command positions. In his book
Vanguard of Nazism: The Free Corps Movement in Postwar Germany, 1918-1923, author Robert G.L. Waite notes: “By mid-February 1919, Latvians composed less than one fifth of their own army.”
BritainThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
backed down after recognizing the gravity of the military situation, and the White Russian units and the Freikorps moved on and captured Riga on May 22, 1919.
After the capture of Riga, the
FreikorpsAfter 1918, the term Freikorps was used for the paramilitary organizations that sprang up around the German Empire, including in the Baltic states as soldiers returned in defeat from World War I...
were accused of killing 300 Latvians in Mitau, 200 in Tukkum, 125 in
DaugavgrivaDaugavgrīva is a neighbourhood in North West Riga, Latvia on the left bank of Daugava river. In this neighbourhood there is located Swedish built strong fortress commanding the mouth of the Daugava on the left bank of Daugava....
, and over 3,000 in Riga. After taking part in the capture of Riga, in June 1919 General von der Goltz ordered his troops not to advance east against the Red Army, as the
AlliesIn general, allies are people, groups, or nations that have joined together in an association for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose. In English usage, those who share a common goal and whose work toward that goal is complementary may be viewed as allies for various purposes even when...
had been expecting, but north, against the Estonians. On June 19 the Iron Division and
Landeswehr units launched an attack to capture areas around
CēsisCēsis , is a town in Latvia located in the northern part of the Vidzeme central upland. Cēsis is on the Gauja River valley, and is built on a series of ridges above the river overlooking the "blue woods" below...
(Wenden), the
Baltische Landeswehr continued its advance towards the Estonian coast preparatory for a push on Petrograd. However, the
Baltische Landeswehr was defeated by the 3rd
Estonian DivisionThe Maavägi, is the name of the unified ground forces of the Republic of Estonia. The Ground Forces have an offensive military formation role among the Estonian Defence Forces. The average size of the military formation in peacetime is about 5,000 of whom about 2,200 are conscripts...
(led by
Ernst PõdderErnst Põdder VR I/1 was a famous Estonian military commander during the Estonian War of Independence....
) and North Latvian Brigade in the Battle of Cēsis, 19-23 June 1919.
On the morning of June 23 the Germans began a general retreat toward Riga. The Allies again insisted that the Germans withdraw their remaining troops from Latvia, and intervened to impose a ceasefire between the Estonians and the Freikorps when the Estonians were about to march into Riga. Meanwhile, an
Allied missionThe Entente powers were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. The key members of the Entente were the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire. New Zealand, Belgium, Serbia, Canada, Australia, Italy, Romania and the United States were also drawn into the war...
composed of
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name and the state form of the United Kingdom from 1 January 1801 until 12 April 1927...
troops under General Sir Hubert de la Poer Gough had arrived in the
BalticThe Baltic region is an ambiguous term that refers to slightly different combinations of countries in the general area surrounding the Baltic Sea.- Etymology :...
to clear the Germans from the region and organize native armies for the Baltic states.
The defeat of Germany in World War I in November 1918, followed by the defeat in 1919 of the
Baltische Landeswehr and German
Freikorps units of General
Rüdiger von der GoltzGustav Adolf Joachim Rüdiger, Graf von der Goltz was German Army general during World War I. After World War I he was the commander of the army of the Baltic German-established Government of Latvia, which played an instrumental role in the defeat of Russian Bolsheviks and their local allies in...
in Latvia by the 3rd
Estonian DivisionThe Maavägi, is the name of the unified ground forces of the Republic of Estonia. The Ground Forces have an offensive military formation role among the Estonian Defence Forces. The average size of the military formation in peacetime is about 5,000 of whom about 2,200 are conscripts...
and North Latvian Brigade, rendered the United Baltic Duchy irrelevant.
Aftermath
To ensure its return to Latvian control, the
Baltische Landeswehr was placed under British authority. After taking command of the
Baltische Landeswehr in mid-July 1919, Lieutenant-Colonel Harold Alexander (the future Alexander of Tunis), gradually dismissed the Baltic German elements. The Baltic nations of Estonia and Latvia were established as republics.
See also
- Aftermath of World War I
The fighting in World War I ended when the Armistice took effect at 11:00 am GMT on November 11, 1918. In the aftermath of the war the political, cultural, and social order of the world was drastically changed in many places, even outside the areas directly involved in the war...
- Baltische Landeswehr
Baltische Landeswehr was the name of the unified armed forces of the Baltic nobility from November 1918 to July 3, 1919. - Command structure :...
- Duchy of Courland and Semigallia (1918)
The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia was proclaimed on March 8, 1918 in German occupied Courland Governorate by a Landesrat composed of Baltic Germans, who offered the crown of the Duchy to Kaiser Wilhelm II...
- Estonian War of Independence
- Freikorps in the Baltic
After 1918, the term Freikorps was used for the paramilitary organizations that sprang up around the German Empire, including in the Baltic states as soldiers returned in defeat from World War I...
- Latvian War of Independence
- Pavel Bermondt-Avalov
Pavel Rafalovich Bermont-Avalov was an Ussuri Cossack and warlord...
- Ober Ost
Ober Ost is short for Oberbefehlshaber der gesamten Deutschen Streitkräfte im Osten, which is a German term meaning "Supreme Commander of All German Forces in the East" during World War I. In practice it refers not only to said commander, but also to his governing military staff and the district...
External links