European Kingdoms

Russian Governors of Livonia (Riga Governate)
AD 1710 - 1915

The European region which today is known as the Baltic States sits at the junction in Eastern Europe with Northern Europe. While the southern two states of Lithuania and Latvia are counted as Eastern European, Estonia is more typically grouped with its Northern European cousins.

The captured territories including 'Swedish Livonia' were largely in Russian hands from 1710. Subsequently the were divided by the Russian empire into three 'Baltic Provinces': Courland, Estonia, and Livonia (the 'Riga Governorate', to which Ösel was attached).

In 1801-1809 and from 1819 onwards supreme authority was vested in a governor-general who was based in Riga, but at other times the provinces were governed independently. The governor-general was also the military governor of Riga until 1864 and then commanders of the military district of Riga until 1870.

In 1718 the region's new ruler, Czar Peter the Great, took it upon himself to investigate the reasons behind Livonia's high levels of orderliness. It transpired that the former Swedes and now their native Livonian successors were spending as much administering Livonia (which was approximately three hundred times smaller in territory than was the Russian empire) as Peter was spending on the entire Russian bureaucracy. Despite Livonia's success in this area, Peter dismantled the province's government.

(Additional information from Russia Under the Old Regime, Richard Pipes (1974), and from External Link: Jewish Encyclopaedia.)

1710 - 1711

Interim governor to replace 'Swedish Livonia'.

1711 - 1719

Also governor of Estonia.

1719 - 1726

Second term of office.

1726 - 1727

Acting governor.

1727 - 1729

1729 - 1751

Governor (1729-1740), then governor-general.

1751 - 1753

Acting governor. Governor of Estonia (1753).

1753 - 1758

Acting governor.

1758 - 1761

Second term of office after Estonia.

1761 - 1762

1762 - 1783

With an increase of direct Russian control of the Baltic states in mind, Catherine the Great orders Livonia to be administered directly by the governor-general of the Baltic Provinces, Count George Browne. Local governors are re-introduced in 1783.

Vastseliina Castle (now in Võrumaa in Estonia but in the 1700s still well within Livonia) was destroyed by the Russians during the Great Northern War which ended in 1721

1783

Died in office.

1783 - 1790

1790 - 1792

1791

Russia begins to administer an area known as the Pale of Settlement. Initially this is small, but it increases greatly from 1793 and the Second Partition of the former Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth. By the mid-nineteenth century it incorporates modern Belarus (eastern Poland at the time), eastern Latvia, Lithuania, the province of Bessarabia (modern Moldova), and western Ukraine.

Having formerly been citizens of the defunct commonwealth, the Jewish Diaspora population of the 'Pale' (mainly Ashkenazi Jews) is restricted from moving eastwards into Russia proper.

1792 - 1795

1795 - 1797

1795

The joint kingdoms of Poland-Lithuania are extinguished. Lithuania and the unconquered remains of Livonia, known as Latgallia, are submerged within imperial Russia. The following year, the Riga Governorate is renamed the governorate of Livonia.

1797

1797

1797 - 1808

1808 - 1811

1811 - 1827

1812

Napoleon invades the Russian empire with one of the largest armies Europe has ever seen, occupying the Baltic Provinces for several months until he is forced to drag his French-led army back to Germany. The governor of Courland flees to Riga and remains there for the period of French occupation.

1817 - 1819

The emancipation of the serfs in Latvia is something which is advantageous to the nobility, as it dispossesses the peasants of their land without compensation. The social structure changes dramatically, and a class of independent farmers establishes itself after reforms allow the peasants to repurchase their land.

1827 - 1829

1829

Acting governor.

1829 - 1847

1847

Acting governor for the second time.

1847 - 1862

1862 - 1868

1863 - 1880

The January Uprising takes place across much of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, including Poland, Lithuania, the Baltic Provinces, Latgallia, and Livonia. Although it is entirely ended by 1865 it results in a policy of Russification after spreading from Latgallia to the rest of what is now Latvia.

The January Uprising took place across the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as a result of Russian occupation and control, but the last of its leaders were captured in 1865

1868 - 1871

1871 - 1872

Acting governor.

1872 - 1874

1874 - 1882

Acting governor until 18 Dec 1874.

1876 - 1905

Between these years, authority over the Baltic Provinces is devolved, with the governor in each province apparently gaining more power. Revolution in the Baltics takes on a nationalist character, and in the same year the position of governor-general of Courland and Livonia, but not Estonia, is revived.

1881

The first modern-era wave of Jewish Diaspora migrations back to Palestine begins with an event known as the First Aliyah. The Jews are fleeing pogroms in Eastern Europe, most notably in the territories of the Russian empire under Alexander III and his imposition of anti-liberalisation reforms. These may be partially the result of the January Uprising of 1863 (see above).

Russia operates an area known as the Pale of Settlement, largely territory to the west which has been acquired from the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Today this forms Russia's western border region, and from 1791-1793 it has incorporated modern Belarus (eastern Poland at the time), eastern Latvia, Lithuania, the province of Bessarabia (modern Moldova), and western Ukraine.

The Jewish population of the 'Pale' (mainly Ashkenazi Jews) is restricted from moving eastwards into Russia proper and is now being discouraged from remaining in the western border regions of the empire. Some of their number end up elsewhere in the world, especially the USA, but also China where they form the Chinese Jews.

1882 - 1883

Acting governor.

1883 - 1885

1885

Acting governor for the second time.

1885 - 1895

Died in office.

1895 - 1896

Acting governor.

1896 - 1900

1900 - 1901

Acting governor for the second time.

1901 - 1905

1903 - 1914

The Second Aliyah to Palestine is triggered in 1903 by an anti-Jewish riot in the city of Kishinev (modern Chişinău), the capital of the province of Bessarabia (modern Moldova), part of the Russian empire. Something like forty thousand members of the Jewish Diaspora settle in Palestine (mainly Ashkenazi Jews), although only half remain permanently.

Many others, evicted from their settlements in the 'Pale' head towards western Poland or America (something which is dramatically highlighted, if with a touch of artistic licence, in the film musical, Fiddler on the Roof, 1971. which has its final scenes set in 1905).

1905

Acting governor.

1905

Acting governor.

1905 - 1914

1905 - 1906

Leaders of the rebel Federated Committee of Riga, Oct-Jan.

1905 - 1906

Leaders of the rebel Federated Committee of Riga, Oct-Jan.

1914 - 1916

1914

The position of special plenipotentiary for the civil administration of the Baltic Provinces of Livonia, Estonia and Courland is created. The first incumbent is given responsibility for Estonia and Livonia, but excluding the district of Riga in 1914, then Reval (Tallinn), Baltischport (Paldiski), and Dünamünde (Daugavgriva).

1916

Acting governor.

1916 - 1917

Feb 1916 - Feb 1917.

1916 - 1917

Feb-Mar 1917.

1915 - 1918

Thanks to Russian First World War defeats up to 1917, the Baltic Provinces are conquered by Germany between 1915 (Courland) and 1918 (Estonia), much to the relief of the German-descended land-owning aristocracy.

In 1917, Bolshevik-inspired thoughts of revolution are swiftly put down by the Germans and a semi-independent pro-German regime is established. The Baltic provinces are formally transferred to German authority by Russia in 1918 following the Treaties of Brest-Litovsk and of Berlin but soon break away in former Livonia to form the republic of Latvia.