Baltic Governorates

{{Short description|Administrative units of the Russian Empire in the Baltic region (1721-1918)}} {{For|information about independent Baltic countries|Baltic states}} {{Infobox former country |native_name = {{native name|ru|Прибалтийские губернии}}<br/>{{translit|ru|Pribaltiyskiye gubernii}} |conventional_long_name = Baltic Governorates |common_name = Baltic Governorates |era = Russian Empire |status = Governorate in the Russian Empire |status_text = <!-- A free text to describe status at the top of the infobox. Use sparingly. --> |empire = Russia |government_type = Monarchy <!-- Rise and fall, events, years and dates --> <!-- only fill in the start/end event entry if a specific article exists. Don't just say "abolition" or "declaration" --> |event_start = Treaty of Nystad |date_start = <!-- Optional: Date of establishment, in format 1 January (no year) --> |year_start = 1721 |event_end = Treaty of Brest-Litovsk |date_end = 3 March |year_end = 1918 |event1 = Annexation of Courland and Semigallia |date_event1 = 1795 |event_pre = Capitulation of Estonia and Livonia |date_pre = 1710 <!-- Flag navigation: Preceding and succeeding entities p1 to p5 and s1 to s5 --> |p1 = Duchy of Estonia (1561–1721) |flag_p1 = Flag_of_the_Swedish_Empire.svg |image_p1 = <!-- Use: 20px|Image missing --> |p2 = Swedish Livonia |flag_p2 = Flag_of_the_Swedish_Empire.svg |p3 = Duchy of Courland and Semigallia |flag_p3 = Flag_of_Courland_(state).svg |s1 = Ober Ost |flag_s1 = War_Ensign_of_Germany_(1903–1919).svg |image_s1 = <!-- Use: 20px|Image missing --> |s2 = United Baltic Duchy |flag_s2 = United_Baltic_Duchy_flag.svg |s3 = Estonia |flag_s3 = Flag_of_Estonia.svg |s4 = Latvia |flag_s4 = Flag_of_Latvia.svg

|image_coat = Герб Области прибалтийские 1882.svg |image_map = BalticGovernorates1914.png |image_map_caption = Map of Baltic governorates, which were the governorates of Courland, Livonia, and Estonia

<!-- Titles and names of the first and last leaders and their deputies --> |leader1 = Peter I |leader2 = Nicholas II |year_leader1 = 1721-1725 (first) |year_leader2 = 1894-1917 (last) |title_leader = Emperor |representative1 = Alexander Danilovich Menshikov |representative2 = Pyotr Romanovich Bagration |year_representative1 = 1710–1726 (first) |year_representative2 = 1870–1876 (office abolished) |title_representative = Governor-General

<!-- Area and population of a given year --> |stat_year1 = 1897 |stat_area1 = 94567.57 |stat_pop1 = 2,386,181 |today = {{ubl|Estonia|Latvia}} }}

The '''Baltic Governorates''',{{efn|{{Langx|ru|Прибалтийские губернии}}, {{Langx|ru|Прибалтійскіе губерніи|translit=Pribaltiyskiye gubernii|label=<small>pre-reform orthography</small>}}}} originally the '''Ostsee Governorates''',{{efn|{{bulleted list|{{Langx|de|Ostseegouvernements}}|{{Langx|ru|Остзейские губернии}}, {{Langx|ru|Остзейскіе губерніи|translit=Ostzeyskiye gubernii|label=<small>pre-reform orthography</small>}}}}}} were the administrative units of the Russian Empire established in the territories of Swedish Estonia, Swedish Livonia (1721), and later the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia (1795).

The three governorates were known as '''Baltic Krai''' ({{langx|ru|Прибалтийский край}}) or '''Ostsee Krai''', Although they did not constitute a separate administrative entity, the three gevernorates had much in common and considerably differed from the rest of Russia..<ref>{{cite Efron|Прибалтийский край}}</ref>

==History== The Treaty of Vilnius of 1561 included the ''Privilegium Sigismundi Augusti'' by which the Polish King Sigismund II Augustus guaranteed the Livonian estates several privileges, including religious freedom with respect to the Augsburg Confession, the ''Indigenat'' ({{langx|pl|Indygenat}}), and continuation of the traditional German jurisdiction and administration.<ref>Tuchtenhagen, Ralph (2005) (in German). Geschichte der baltischen Länder. Beck'sche Reihe. 2355. C.H.Beck.</ref> The terms regarding religious freedom forbade any regulation of the traditional Protestant order by religious or secular authorities, and ruled that cases of disagreements be judged only by Protestant scholars. When in 1710 Estonia and Livonia capitulated to Russia during the Great Northern War, the capitulations explicitly referred to the ''Privilegium Sigismundi Augusti'', with the respective references being confirmed in the Treaty of Nystad (1721).<ref>Kahle, Wilhelm (1984). "Die Bedeutung der Confessio Augustana für die Kirche im Osten". In Hauptmann, Peter (in German). Studien zur osteuropäischen Kirchengeschichte und Kirchenkunde. Kirche im Osten. 27. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. pp. 9–35.</ref>

The dominions of Swedish Estonia (in what is now northern Estonia) and Swedish Livonia (in what is now southern Estonia and northern Latvia) became the governorates of Reval and Riga when they were conquered by Russia during the Great Northern War, and then ceded by Sweden in the Treaty of Nystad in 1721. Notably, both Reval Governorate and Riga Governorate were each at the time subdivided into one province only: the province of Estonia and the province of Livonia, respectively. In the period of the so-called Regency (or Namestnichestvo), 1783–1796, the Regent's (later Governor-General's) Office in Riga was created. It consisted of two subdivisions dealing with local matters and Russian affairs.

After an administrative reform in 1796, the Reval Governorate was renamed the Estland Governorate ({{langx|ru|Эстляндская губерния}}), and the Riga Governorate was renamed the Livland Governorate ({{langx|ru|Лифляндская губерния}}). The third Baltic province, Courland, was annexed into the Russian Empire after the third partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795.

The Baltic Governor-General ({{langx|ru|Прибалтийский генерал-губернатор}}) was the representative of the Russian Emperor in the provinces of Livland, Estland, and Courland. He was appointed by the Emperor and was subject to the latter as well as to the Senate. His duties were regulated by laws and instructions from central authorities. From the beginning of the 19th century, he acted as an intermediate between the ministries in Saint Petersburg and the administration of the Baltic governorates on the spot.

The Governor-General, the highest local executive official and military authority, was in charge of the internal order in the provinces and had to take care of their overall security. He was in charge of recruiting troops and had to keep an eye on the garrisons and fortifications. His civil duties included supervising the provincial administration and prisons, maintaining land roads and bridges, issuing passports, and overseeing the collection of state taxes and customs duties. He appointed and dismissed higher officials. The Office of the Baltic Governor-General was abolished at the beginning of the Russification in the Baltic Provinces in 1876.

Similar to the guberniyas of the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland, the Baltic Governorates were not subject to the common civil and administrative laws of the Russian Empire until the end of the 19th century. However, they did not have a monetary, fiscal, and passport system of their own.<ref>Thaden, Edward C. (Hrsg.), Russification in the Baltic Provinces and Finland, 1855-1914. Princeton: Princeton University Press 1981. {{ISBN|0-691-05314-6}}.</ref> Like the guberniyas of the Kingdom of Poland, they were treated as an integral entity, and Russian law provided them the preservation of local authorities.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://civil-law.narod.ru/wissled/teslya/igpri7.html |title=Тесля А. А. Источники (формальные) гражданского права Российской Империи в XIX – начале XX века. — 2003 |access-date=2011-03-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110813160111/http://civil-law.narod.ru/wissled/teslya/igpri7.html |archive-date=2011-08-13 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In the Baltics, these were the Landtags. The special legislation which set rules for municipal administration and entrepreneurship according to local traditions, as well as the privileges of the local nobility, was known under the collective name of ''Ostsee Right'' ({{langx|ru|Остзейское право}}).

From the end of the 18th century through 1917, the names and territories of the Courland Governorate , the Livonia Governorate, and the Estonia Governorate remained unchanged. The February Revolution of 1917 was followed by an internal redistribution of Latvian and Estonian lands between the latter two. The October Revolution of 1917 and the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk of 1918 created the prerequisites for the declaration of independence of these governorships from Russia as the independent states of Estonia and Latvia.

thumb|right|Map of the Baltic Governorates

== List of governors-general == {{main|Governor-General of Baltic provinces}}

{{colbegin}} * Alexander Menshikov (1710–1719) as governor-general of Ingria * Fyodor Apraksin (1719–1728) * Friedrich von Löwen (1728–1736) * {{ill|Platon Musin-Pushkin|ru|Мусин-Пушкин, Платон Иванович}} (1736) * Gustaf Otto Douglas (1736–1740) * Ulrich Friedrich Woldemar von Löwendal (1740–1743) * Duke Peter August of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck (1743–1753, 1758–1775) * {{ill|Vladimir Dolgorukov (1708−1761)|lt=Vladimir Dolgorukov|et|Vladimir Dolgorukov (1708−1761)}} (1753–1758) * George Browne (1775–1792) * Nicholas Repnin (1792–1798) * {{ill|Ludwig von Nagel|ru|Нагель, Ларион Тимофеевич}} (1798–1800) * Peter Ludwig von der Pahlen (1800–1801) * {{ill|Sergey Golitsyn|ru|Голицын, Сергей Фёдорович}} (1801–1803) * Friedrich Wilhelm von Buxhoeveden (1803–1808) * Duke George of Oldenburg (1808–1809) * {{ill|Berend Johann von Uexküll|et|Berend Johann von Uexküll (1762–1827)}} (1809–1811, 1816–1818) * Grand Duke Augustus of Oldenburg (1811–1816) * Filippo Paulucci (1818–1829) * {{ill|Carl Magnus von der Pahlen|de|Carl Magnus von der Pahlen}} (1829–1845) * Yevgeny Golovin (1845–1847) * Alexander Suvorov (1848–1861) * {{ill|Wilhelm Heinrich von Lieven|et|Wilhelm Heinrich von Lieven}} (1861–1864) * Pyotr Shuvalov (1864–1866) * {{ill|Eduard Baranov|ru|Баранов, Эдуард Трофимович}} (1866) * Pyotr Albedinsky (1866–1870) * Pyotr Bagration (1870–1876) ''Office abolished in 1876; administrative functions transferred to the Ministry of the Interior.'' {{colend}}

== The Three Governorates ==

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center" ! Coat of arms ! Name ! Russian (Transliteration) ! Historic German Name ! Current Territory |- | 60px | '''Estonia Governorate'''<br><small>(Estland)</small> | Эстляндская губерния<br>(''Estlyandskaya guberniya'') | ''Estländisches Gouvernement'' | North Estonia |- | 60px | '''Livonia Governorate'''<br><small>(Livland)</small> | Лифляндская губерния<br>(''Liflyandskaya guberniya'') | ''Livländisches Gouvernement'' | South Estonia, North Latvia<br>(Vidzeme) |- | 60px | '''Courland Governorate'''<br><small>(Kurland)</small> | Курля́ндская губерния<br>(''Kurlyandskaya guberniya'') | ''Kurländisches Gouvernement'' | West & South Latvia<br>(Kurzeme, Zemgale, Selonia) |}

== See also == * Administrative division of Congress Poland * Lithuania Governorate

== Notes == {{Notelist}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{Subdivisions of the Russian Empire}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baltic Governorates}} Category:Baltic governorates Category:Governorates-General of the Russian Empire Category:1721 establishments in Russia