European Kingdoms

Kingdom of Galicia & Lodomeria
AD 1772 - 1918

Eastern Europe All Modern States Caucuses Tribes Slavic Tribes The Rus / Old Russia

The ancient region of Galicia today is divided between south-eastern Poland and western Ukraine, being bordered to the east by the Pripet Marshes (now in Belarus). The Rus presence here appears to have been very low key until the eleventh century formation of a series of minor city-state principalities which were ultimately under the guidance of the mother city of the Rus: Kyiv. That city's sacking in 1169 permitted a rapid dilution of power between Kyiv, the new principal seat of Vladimir, and the increasingly influential lesser grand duchies.

The name 'Galicia' is mirrored in the name of the city which formed its capital, Halych (Ukrainian), Galych (Russian), or Halicz (Polish) next to the modern city of the same name on the Dniester in western Ukraine. However, 'Galicia' itself was a much older name, one which referred to Celts who had long ago settled the region (see Galatia for an explanation).

The collapse of the Kievan Rus created a host of independent principalities across those territories which had formerly been controlled by Kyiv, and Halych proved to be one of the most important of these, along with Novgorod and Vladimir-Suzdal.

Founded in 1142 and soon considerably expanded, the principality of Halychyna-Volynia became the most important of the western Rus states until it fell into the hands of the kingdom of Poland and Lithuania in 1349. They divided it back into its constituent parts, with Lithuania retaining Volynia (Volodymyr).

On 5 August 1772, during the 'First Partition' of Poland-Lithuania, Habsburg Austria was able to gain parts of Little Poland (Malopolska) and Red Ruthenia (Rus Czerwona), including territory which almost corresponded to the former principality of Halych-Volynia, thanks to the Hungarian claim of ownership of 1205-1214, which Austria inherited.

The following month, Austria created the kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria (Halychyna and Volodymyr) as an administrative body to govern the newly acquired territories, with the Austrian emperor himself as head of state. Governors were put in place to control the day-to-day administrative duties within the kingdom. Twenty-three years later, the 'Third Partition' saw Austria add the rest of Little Poland to the kingdom, as well as Kraków, as Poland itself ceased to exist as a state.

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information by Edward Dawson & Michael Hickson, from The Russian Primary Chronicle (Laurentian Text), Samuel Hazzard Cross & Olgerd P Sherbowitz-Wetzor (Eds and translators, Mediaeval Academy of America), from A History of Russian Architecture (Chapter 3: Vladimir and Suzdal Before the Mongol Invasion), William Craft Brumfield (Cambridge University Press, 1993), and from External Links: Worldstatesman, and The Fragmentation & Decline of Kievan Rus, and Encyclopaedia.com, and The Map Archive, and the Internet Encyclopaedia of Ukraine, and The Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, 1772, V J Kaye (Canadian Slavonic Papers, Vol 14, No 3 (Autumn, 1972), pp 454-464, Taylor & Francis Ltd, and available via JSTOR).)

1772 - 1774

'Persen' or 'Pergen'. First governor for Austria.

1773

As the recently-installed Austrian governor of Galicia, Count Pergen reports back to the emperor on the state of this new sub-kingdom. 'The Ruthenians form two-thirds of the population and differ also in language from the Poles: all peasants from Red Rus', Beiz, and Podolia are Ruthenians, those of Cracow and Sandomierz are Poles.'

The city of Olsztyn (or Allenstein in German) was seized by Prussia in the 1772 partition of Poland-Lithuania, but Russia and Austria also seized their own prizes

In essence, those subjects who live in the north-west of the kingdom are Poles (and these areas are generally part of today's Poland), while the rest are the ancestors of today's western Ukrainians. The implementation of Austrian taxation and service rules shocks the nobility, but the act of freeing the serfs greatly improves their lot in life.

1774

Austrian general. Commander-in-chief of army of occupation.

1774 - 1780

Prince of Auersperg. Died 1783.

1780 - 1794

Italian-Austrian. Formerly vice-governor. Died 1817.

1794 - 1795

Hungarian politician.

1795 - 1801

Austrian politician. Died in office.

1801

Acting governor.

1801 - 1806

Hungarian nobleman. Died 1825.

1806 - 1809

Acting governor.

1806

With Napoleon I of France having defeated Austria in 1805, the following year sees the Holy Roman empire terminated. Prussia's Polish territory is annexed and an imperial satellite state called the grand duchy of Warsaw is formed from them. Austria appoints military governors to oversee its own Galician satellite kingdom which includes areas of the former Polish state.

As depicted in 'The Coronation of Napoleon', by Jacques-Louis David, Napoleon was crowned king of Italy in Milan, in May 1805, virtually completing his domination of Southern Europe as far east as the Adriatic Sea

For a short time (between March 1809 and March 1810) these military governors displace the position of governor entirely, albeit with a gap in their own governance (1808-1809). The military governors continue to oversee matters until the French are expelled from German lands in 1814. Military governors are shown in red.

1806 - 1808

Austrian military governor of Galicia & Lodomeria.

1808 - 1809

No military governor is appointed following the utter defeat of the Austrian and Russian armies by Napoleon's France at the Battle of Friedland in 1807. A further disastrous Austrian defeat occurs in 1809, at the Battle of Wagram. In 1809, western Galicia is ceded to the grand duchy of Warsaw, but previous annexations remain part of Austria.

1809 - 1813

Second term of office between Napoleonic battles.

1810 - 1815

Austrian politician.

1813 - 1814

Austrian military governor of Galicia & Lodomeria.

1815

Acting governor.

1815

The Congress of Vienna reshapes Europe in a post-Napoleonic guise, albeit without particularly taking apart many of Napoleon's changes to the political structure in the German principalities. Austria itself cedes the Lublin region and surrounding areas - including much of West Galicia - to Congress Poland.

Contrary to expectations, the post-Napoleonic Congress of Vienna decided to keep many of Napoleon's German territorial reforms, albeit in amended fashion, and not to restore an independent Poland

The Ternopil region - which includes southern Podolia - is returned to Austria by Russia. The city of Kraków and surroundings are removed from West Galicia to become a semi-autonomous free city under the supervision of Austria, Russia, and Prussia.

1815 - 1822

Acting governor until Sep 1817. Died 1863.

1822 - 1826

Austrian lawyer & politician.

1826

The position of governor is raised to that of governor-general. The position of governor has largely been filled by Austrians, but some Hungarian presence has been included. Now with the position having been raised in importance, relatives of the Austrian emperor are now more likely to fill it.

1826 - 1832

Prince of the Austrian empire. First governor-general.

1831

Following the suppression of the First (November) Insurrection in Poland, Russian control is restored on 26 September 1831 after a great deal of hard fighting by the Poles. Many Polish soldiers who are involved in the uprising choose to seek protection in Prussia, where they are disarmed and are not particularly welcome.

The Polish kingdom of Poland was created as a result of agreement between the partitioning powers of Austria, Prussia, and Russia, rather than being the sovereign decision of the Polish people themselves, so there was always going to be resistance against a Russian king of the Poles - which led to the outbreak of open warfare in 1830

Others flee to Galicia. When Russia offers the Polish troops amnesty, Prussian treatment of the rapidly dwindling number of surviving Poles becomes increasingly harsh.

1832 - 1846

Grandson of Austrian Emperor Franz I.

1846

Having been administered by a government senate since 1815, a defeated Polish Kraków Uprising (which also involves western, predominantly Polish-dominant, parts of Galicia) ensures that the 'Kraków Republic' is now absorbed into the Austrian empire (see feature link).

Its official designation becomes that of a grand duchy, with the Austrian emperor himself holding the title. This arrangement remains in place until 1918.

Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph enters his possession, the grand duchy of Kraków, in 1880, having benefited from the territory's enforced acquisition by his father in 1846

1846 - 1847

Acting governor.

1847 - 1848

Count of Warthausen. Died 1853 (aged 46).

1848

In a year of European revolutions in 1848 (France, Hessen-Darmstadt, Ireland, Lichtenstein, Lombardy-Ventia, and Wallachia also experience problems), and subsequent to the February Revolution in Paris, liberal tendencies begin to be felt in Galicia, and even in Vienna.

Governor Stadion abolishes all remnants of serfdom in an attempt to outmanoeuvre the revolutionary sentiment, but Lviv has to be bombarded before the uprising is extinguished.

1848

Hanoverian German politician.

1848

Acting governor. A Pole. Working with von Hammerstein.

1848 - 1849

Polish nobleman. Published collected Polish/Russian songs.

1849 - 1859

First term of office as full governor.

1859

The Second Italian War of Independence sees Lombardy taken from Austrian hands. The change in ownership is ratified in the same year by the Treaty of Zurich, creating the beginnings of a unified kingdom of Italy. Venice is captured in 1866, formally terminating the Austrian kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia.

Garibaldi in his distinctive red jacket hails victory during the Italian War of Unification in which Austria was removed of its dominance of the country and a single Italian kingdom was forged in its place

Austria enters a period of internal reorganisation which includes the setting up of a legislative assembly for Galicia (a diet). At first it is dominated by pro-Habsburg Polish and Galician peasantry. The breaking out of disturbances in Russian-controlled Poland which spill over into Galicia means the diet soon ceases to sit.

1859 - 1860

Acting governor.

1860 - 1861

Acting governor.

1861 - 1864

Grandson of Duke Francis of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (1800).

1863

The period between 22 January 1863 to April 1865 witnesses the 'Second (January) Insurrection', or January Uprising. It owes a great deal to Count Lüders for its triggering, thanks to his brutal repression of Poles and the Catholic Church in Poland. The far more liberal hand of Grand Duke Konstatin Romanov arrives far too late to change the course of events.

The uprising takes place across much of the former Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth, including Poland, Lithuania, the Baltic Provinces, Latgallia, Livonia, and even Austrian-controlled Galicia. Following this, Poland is administered as an integral part of Russia.

The January Uprising of 1863 took place in Poland, but it disrupted Russian governance much further afield and caused the policy of Russification to be firmly enforced

1864 - 1866

Austrian general. Died in Graz in 1866.

1866

Prussia fights the Austro-Prussian War against Austria, essentially as a decider to see which of the two powers will be dominant in Central Europe. Prussia gains the newly-created kingdom of Italy as an ally in the south and several minor German states in the north.

Austria and its southern German allies are crushed in just seven weeks (giving the conflict its alternative title of the Seven Weeks' War), and Prussia is now unquestionably dominant.

Bismark oversees the seizure of four of Austria's northern German allies, the kingdom of Hanover, the electorate of Hessen-Kassel, and the duchy of Nassau, along with the free city of Frankfurt.

Prussia also subsumes Schleswig and Holstein, although the former has technically been Prussian since 1864, and forces Saxe-Lauenberg into personal union (annexation in all but name, which turns into fact in 1876). Many of these gains ensure that Prussian territories in the east and west are now connected through the Rhineland and Westphalia.

Austria's slow-moving forces were outpaced by Prussia's fully modern army during the Austro-Prussian War, which decided the power balance in Central Europe, as shown in this oil by Georg Bleibtreu

1866 - 1867

Acting governor. Second term of office.

1867

The 'Austro-Hungarian Compromise' (Ausgleich in German and Kiegyezés in Hungarian) sets in place a dual structure for what henceforth will be the Austro-Hungarian empire. The compromise arrangement is a result of Austria's weakened position in Europe, especially in Italy and in German lands.

The sovereignty of the kingdom of Hungary is restored following its loss in 1848. Emperor Francis Joseph is formally crowned king of Hungary on 8 June as the dual monarch of both nations. He will officially be known as the emperor and king.

The sub-kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria is now a crown land under the Austrian side of the power arrangement. Pressure gradually forces through increasing levels of autonomy within the region, and a gradual increase in Ukrainianisation.

The delegates of the 1871 Plenipotentiary Conference in Rome pose for a group photo, shortly after Italy achieved full unification under the House of Savoy

1867 - 1871

Acting governor.

1871 - 1875

Acting governor. Third term of office. Died aged 63.

1875 - 1883

Polish nobleman. Grandson of Jan Potocki, writer.

1883 - 1888

Son of Wenzel Zalewski (1848).

1888 - 1895

Polish nobleman. Pushed for Czech statehood but failed.

1895 - 1898

Polish nobleman. Died 1903.

1898 - 1903

Polish scholar & historian. Highly conservative. Dismissed.

1903 - 1908

Related to Alfred Józef (1875).

1908 - 1913

Polish Galician professor and politician. Died 1935.

1913 - 1915

Lost much of Galicia 1914-1915.

1914 - 1917

Having jointly guaranteed in 1839 to support the neutrality of Belgium, when the country is invaded by Germany, Britain, France, and Russia are forced to declare war against imperial Germany and Austria-Hungary at midnight on 4 August 1914 in what becomes known as the Great War or First World War.

The Russian army occupies most of Galicia following a rather disastrous Austro-Hungarian defence of the frontier in 1914. They reach Lemberg (Lvov) on 3 September 1914 and Przemysl on 22 March 1915. Military governors are appointed to the occupied territory in Galicia, with their names being shown in green.

The western Ukrainian region of Galicia found itself being incorporated into the Eastern Front during the First World War

1914 - 1915

Russian military governor in occupied Galicia.

1915

A combined Austro-Hungarian and German offensive in the east largely repulses the Russians from Galicia. The Gorlice-Tarnów offensive starts out as a simple German attempt to relieve pressure on the Austro-Hungarian defences, but develops into the most major campaign of the year, with the Russian lines collapsing and Russian troops fleeing far into the Russian interior. Only bad weather in October ends the offensive.

1915 - 1916

Austrian governor in restored Galicia.

1916 - 1917

Austrian governor in restored Galicia until 1916.

1916 - 1917

Russian military governor in occupied Galicia.

1917 - 1918

Austrian military governor of Galicia and then governor.

1917

Russia's February Revolution of 1917 begins with riots in Petrograd over food rations and the conduct of the war against Germany, and it ends with the creation of a Bolshevik Soviet republic following the October Revolution.

Vladimir Lenin was the figurehead of the October Revolution and also its key instigator and controller, but the revolution plunged Russia into three years of bitter civil war

Mismanaging their own administration of the country and badly handling the war effort, the Bolsheviks start to lose control of some of Russia's imperial dominions, and the former empire slides into civil war. Several Ukrainian republics emerge, with the Ukrainian People's Republic being internationally recognised.

1917 - 1918

Polish general commissar of Galicia & Lodomeria.

1918

Towards the last days of the First World War, the Austro-Hungarian empire begins to collapse. On 1 November 1918, Galicia and Lodomeria are incorporated into the new republic of Poland, which itself is declared on 7 November. This has replaced the 'Regency of the Polish Kingdom' which has only existed on paper since 1917.

Eastern parts of Galicia are claimed as the West Ukrainian People's Republic, while the Lemko-Rusyn republic which is formed in western Galicia tries to link up with Russia before being suppressed by Poland.

With the various peoples who made up its ethnically-diverse population pulling apart from it in 1918, Vienna was left with a rump state which greatly reduced its power and significance in post-Austro-Hungarian empire Europe

The competing territorial claims lead to war between Poland, Russia, and Ukraine, with the immediate result that Galicia remains a Polish possession of its 'Second Republic'. The short-lived 'Galitzian Socialist Soviet Republic' is declared at Ternopol in eastern Galicia in 1920.

Today, following post-Second World War border changes, the former kingdom is almost entirely within Ukraine, except for its westernmost edge.