THE BALTIC
See also ESTONIA LATVIA
THE RUSSIAN BALTIC SEA GOVERNMENTS 1848 - 1918
The Russian conquest of the Baltic principalities was achieved in two stages : - in 1710 the Swedish possessions of Estonia, of Livonia and ösel (Est.: Saaremaa) were occupied and annexed (Confirmed by the Treaty of Nystadt in 1721) - in 1795, during the third partition of Poland, Courland-Semigallia and Pilten were annexed. The annexed territories were divided into three provinces - Courland, Estonia and Livonia - which in 1801 - 1809 and again since 1819 were united into one Government General. In 1876 - as a prelude to the complete abolition of Baltic autonomy and to the full integration of the governments into Russia - the Government General was abolished and the governments became directly and separately depended of the Russian ministry of Home Affairs. (1) In 1905, as a consequence of revolutionary agitation, a Government General covering the governments of Courland and Livonia was re-established (until 1909). In 1914, at the start of WW I, the three governments were once again united into one overall administration, which formally lasted until the end of the Provisional Government in 1917, but which was actually ended in Courland and Riga at the moment of the German occupation. Also in 1917 the Provisional Government granted provincial autonomy to Estonia and Latvia (in practice only for those areas not uccupied by the Germans) (1) Within the provinces the five - later four, Pilten being integrated into Courland in 1818 - former principalities (or rather their leading German Baltic nobility or Ritterschaft) at first kept a large degree of autonomy in administrative, judicial, educational and religious affairs. In the course of the 19th century this autonomy was gradually abolished (1866 : traditional rural administration of the Ritterschaft replaced by Russian municipality administration, ...) and after the abolition of the traditional court system in 1889, only the church administration and most of its own internal affairs remained under the care of the Ritterschaft, until the formation of the new Baltic states. __________________________________________________________________________________HEADS OF STATE
The Emperors of Russia also had the style of "Prince of Estonia, Livonia, Courland and Semigallia" (Knyaz' Estlyandskiy, Liflyandskiy, Kurlyandskiy i Semigal'skiy). __________________________________________________________________________________MINISTERS FOR BALTIC AFFAIRS
Presidents of the Baltic Committee (The Baltic Committee defended German Baltic interests in the Russian capital) 1846 - 1859 Peter (Pyotr Petrovich) Graf von der Pahlen 1778 - 1864 1859 - 1876 Gen. Moritz (Rodion Egerovich) von Grünewaldt 1797 - 1877 Like the government general, the committee was abolished in 1876. __________________________________________________________________________________RUSSIAN CHIEF ADMINISTRATORS
Governors General of Livonia, Estonia and Courland (also Military Governors of Riga until 1864 and then Commanders of the Military District of Riga until 1870) 1845 - 1848 Gen. Graf Yevgeniy Aleksandrovich Golovin 1782 - 1858 1848 - 1861 InfGen. Graf Aleksandr Arkadyevich Suvorov-Rymnikskiy, Knyaz Italiskiy 1804 - 1882 1861 none 1861 - 1864 InfGen. Wilhelm Heinrich (Vil'gelm Karlovich) Baron von Lieven 1799 - 1880 1864 - 1866 Gen. Graf Pyotr Andreyevich Shuvalov, last Military Governor of Riga and first Commander of the Riga Military District 1827 - 1889 1866 Gen. Eduard (Trofimovich) Graf von Baranov 1811 - 1884 1866 - 1870 LtGen. Pyotr Pavlovich Albedinskiy, last Commander of the Riga Military District 1826 - 1883 1866 - 1876 LtGen. Knyaz Pyotr Romanovich Bagration 1818 - 1876 Governors General of Courland and Livonia 1905 Gen. Woldemar (Vladimir Aleksandrovich) von Böckmann, at first only for Courland, later also for Livonia 1848 - 1923 1905 - 1906 Gen. Graf Vasiliy Yustinovich Sollogub, for both governments 1848 - 1914 1906 - 1909 LtGen. Baron Aleksandr Nikolayevich Meller-Zakomel'skiy, for both governments 1844 - 1928 Special Plenipotentiaries for the Civil Administration of Livonia, Estonia and Courland 1914 Adm. Aleksandr Mikhailovich Gerasimov, for Estonia and Livonia (except the District of Riga) 1861 - 1931 1914 Gen. ... Churin for Courland and the District of Riga 1914 - 1915 Gen. Pavel Grigoryevich Komanov-Kurlov, for the three governments except Reval (now Tallinn), Baltischport (now Paldiski) and Dünamünde (now Daugavgrival) 1860 - 1923 1914 - 1917 Adm. Aleksandr Mikhailovich Gerasimov, for Reval, Baltischport and Dünamünde s.a. 1915 ...*, for the three governments except Reval, Baltischport and Dünamünde 1915 - 1917 Gen. Radko Ruskov Dmitrov*, for the three governments except Reval, Baltischport and Dünamünde 1859 - 1918 Commissioner for the Civil Administration of the Baltic governments (During the period of provincial autonomy) 1917 Vladimir S. Voytinskiy
THE BALTIC PROVINCES UNDER GERMAN OCCUPATION 1915 - 1918
The Baltic Provinces were conquered by the Germans between 1915 (Courland) and 1918 (Estonia). They were formally transferred to German authority by Russia in 1918 following the Treaties of Brest-Litovsk and of Berlin, their exact future position having however to be determinated later. __________________________________________________________________________________GERMAN MILITARY COMMANDERS AND ADMINISTRATORS
German Commanders of the Armies operating in the Baltic (subordinated to the Oberost - to be added) Commanders of the 8th Army Befehlshaber der VIII Armee (in charge of military and administrative affairs) 1914 - 1915 InfGen. Otto Ernst Vincent Leo von Below 1856 - 1844 1915 ArtGen. Friedrich Wilhelm von Scholtz 1851 - 1927 Commander of the Njemen army Befehlshaber der Njemen Armee (initially also in charge of administrative affairs) 1915 InfGen. Otto Ernst Vincent Leo von Below s.a. Commanders of the 8th Army Befehlshaber der VIII Armee 1915 - 1916 InfGen. Otto Ernst Vincent Leo von Below s.a. 1916 InfGen. Maximilian "Max" von Fabeck 1854 - 1916 1916 - 1917 InfGen. Karl Bruno Julius von Mudra 1851 - 1917 1917 ArtGen. Friedrich Wilhelm von Scholtz s.a. 1917 InfGen. Oskar Emil von Hutier 1857 - 1934 1917 - 1918 ColGen. Günther Emmanuel II Graf von Kirchbach 1850 - 1925 1918 InfGen. Hugo Karl Gottlieb von Kathen 1855 - 1932 German Military Administrators As German advance progressed military administrations (Etappenverwaltungen) were established : - Ösel (1917) and Estonia (1918) for Estonia - Courland (1915), Riga (1917) and Livonia (1918) for Latvia Courland was briefly subordinated to th 8th Army in 1915, but afterwards they all were directly subordinated to the Oberost. In 1918 they were all united into one Military Government of the Baltic, directly subordinated to the German military authorities in Berlin, Oberost now being only concerned with military affairs. Head of the Military Administration of the Baltic Lands Chef der Militärverwaltung der baltischen lande 1918 Maj. Alfred Freiherr von Gossler 1867 - 1946
THE BALTIC STATE
In 1918 the two Baltic German administrations which had been established in Courland (the Land Council of Courland) and in the rest of the Baltic (the Joint Council of Livonia, Estonia, Riga and Ösel) were united to form an independent Baltic State, a federation of seven cantons (Courland, Estonia, Lettgallia, North Livonia, Ösel, Riga and South Livonia) (1) (1) The new state, whose independence was recognized by Germany, coexisted with the German military administration in the region until the end of the war. Afterwards it also briefly coexisted with the governments of the new Baltic states. __________________________________________________________________________________GERMAN REPRESENTATIVE
Imperial General Plenipotentiary to the Baltic Countries Generalbevolmächtigter des Reiches für die baltischen Lande 1918 August Winnig 1878 - 1956 __________________________________________________________________________________HEAD OF STATE
Duke (2) Herzog 1918 Adolf Friedrich Albrecht Heinrich Herzog von Mecklenburg 1873 - 1969 Chairman of the Council of Regency 1918 Adolph Konstantin Jakob, Baron Pilar von Pilchau- Audern 1885 - 1958 (2) Originally the Baltic Germans had hoped to link their state to Prussia in a personal union. But as the King of Prussia apparantely was not interested, Adolf Friedrich was nominated as an alternative. He never assumed office and instead a Regency Council consisting of four Baltic Germans, three Estonians and three Latvians toke office just before the end of the war. __________________________________________________________________________________MINISTERS
Chairman of the Baltic Land Executive Committee 1918 Eduard Julius Alexander Freiherr von Dellingshausen 1863 - 1939 Commissioner for Foreign Affairs 1918 Heinrich Eduard Baron von Stryck-Tignitz Commissioner for Land Defence 1918 Lothar Schoeler
THE BALTIC 1918 - 1920
The formal end of the war and of the German domination and the establishment of the new independent states of Estonia and Latvia didn't bring peace. For nearly two years the region - especially Latvia - would remain a battle zone between Bolsheviks (both Baltic and Russian), Estonians, Latvians, White Russians, Germans and Western - mainly British - Allies. It was only after the withdrawal of the German troops and the defeat of the last White Russian Armies that Soviet Russia formally gave up its claims and recognized both Estonia and Latvia as independent states. (Treaties of Riga and Tartu in 1920) __________________________________________________________________________________GERMAN COMMANDERS AND REPRESENTATIVES
After the end of the war in 1918, German forces were allowed by the Allies to remain present in the Baltic to halt a possible further Bolshevik advance in the region, together with White Russian and indigenous troops. They however used this opportunity to protect German presence and interests in the area, not hesitating to intervene in the internal affairs of the new states, most notably in Latvia. In 1919 they briefly joined with the White Russian Western Army before being withdrawn. Commanders of the German troops in the Baltic Commanders of the 8th Army Befehlshaber der VIII Armee 1918 - 1919 InfGen. Hugo Karl Gottlieb von Kathen 1855 - 1932 1919 LtGen. Ludwig Gustav Adolf von Estorff* 1859 - 1943 1919 InfGen. Ferdinand von Quast 1850 - 1939 As the Commanders of the 8th Army had little real power - the army being actually controlled by leftist Soldiers' Councils - it was soon replaced by a new 6th Army Reserve Corps which did incorporate some regular troops, but was for the most made up of German Free Corps, the most important of these being the Eisernen Division headed by Maj. Josef Bischoff (1872 - 1948). Commanders of the 6th Army Reserve Corps Befehlshaber des VI Reserve Armeekorps 1919 MajGen. Gustav Adolf Joachim Rüdiger Graf von der Goltz 1865 - 1946 1919 LtGen. Walter von Eberhardt 1862 - 1944 General Plenipotentiaries of the Empire for the Baltic Countries Generalbevollmächtigter des Reiches für die Baltischen Lande 1918 - 1919 August Winnig s.a. 1919 Wilhelm Burchard (1) (1) After the withdrawal of Winnig, Max Erwin von Scheubner-Richter (1884 - 1923) proclaimed himself Representative of the German Interests - Vertreter der deutschen Interessen. He was however arrested by the Bolsheviks. __________________________________________________________________________________ALLIED COMMANDERS IN THE BALTIC
Western allied military presence in the area was very limited as a massive sending of troops, just after the end of WWI, would have been very unpopular at home. Furthermore, as France and the United States showed little interest it mainly was a British affair. (2) Commanders of the Allied Forces in the Baltic Sea 1918 - 1919 RAdm. Sir Edwin Alexander-Sinclair of Freswick (UK) 1865 - 1945 1919 VAdm. Sir Walter Henry Cowan (UK) 1871 - 1956 Head of the Allied Military Mission to the Baltic States 1919 Gen. Sir Hubert de la Poer Gough "Goughie" (UK) 1870 - 1963 (2) Although the British were also concerned with the command, the control and the coordination of the activities of the other allied armies in the region (which also included Estonian, Finnish, German, Latvian and White Russian troops), the main reason for their presence seems to have been the defence of British political influence in the region.
See also RUSSIA : WHITE COUNTERGOVERNMENTS 1917 - 1922 for the White Russian activities and leaderships in the region.
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