Duchy of Courland and Semigallia (1918)

Duchy of Courland and Semigallia
Herzogtum Kurland und Semgallen (German)
Kurzemes un Zemgales hercogiste (Latvian)
1918
Map of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia in Europe in 1918
Map of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia in Europe in 1918
StatusProposed client state of the German Empire
CapitalMitau
Common languagesGerman · Latviana
Religion
Demonym(s)Courlander, Couronian, Courish, Courlandish
GovernmentProvisional monarchy
Historical eraWorld War I
3 March 1918
• Recognised by Kaiser Wilhelm
8 March 1918
• Baltic Union establishedb
22 September
• Latvia established
18 November 1918
Currency
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Courland Governorate
Ober Ost
Latvia
United Baltic Duchy
  1. Also Livonian and Latgalian.
  2. The Duchy of Courland was absorbed on September 22, 1918 by the United Baltic Duchy.[citation needed] Neither state, however, had any recognition other than by the German Empire.

The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia[a] was the name for a proposed client state of the German Empire during World War I which did not come into existence. It was proclaimed on 8 March 1918, in the German-occupied Courland Governorate by a council composed of Baltic Germans, who offered the crown of the once-autonomous duchy to Kaiser Wilhelm II, despite the existence of a formerly sovereign reigning family in that duchy, the Biron descendants of Ernst Johann von Biron[citation needed]. Although the German Reichstag supported national self-determination for the peoples of the Baltic provinces (what is now Latvia and Estonia), the German High Command continued the policy of attaching these territories to the German Reich by relying on the local Baltic Germans.[1]

In October 1918, the Chancellor of Germany, Prince Maximilian of Baden, proposed to have the military administration in the Baltic replaced by civilian authority. After the German Revolution on 18 November 1918, Latvia proclaimed independence and on 7 December, the German military handed over authority to the Latvian national government headed by Kārlis Ulmanis.[2]


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  1. ^ Kevin O'Connor, The History of the Baltic States, page 78, ISBN 0-313-32355-0.
  2. ^ John Hiden, The Baltic States and Weimar Ostpolitik