West Galicia

"New Galicia" redirects here. For the historical region in Mexico, see Nueva Galicia.

New Galicia or West Galicia (Polish: Nowa Galicja or Galicja Zachodnia; German: Neugalizien or Westgalizien) was an administrative region of the Habsburg monarchy, constituted from the territory annexed in the course of the Third Partition of Poland in 1795. In 1803, it was merged with another constituent possession of the Habsburg monarchy, the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria.

New Galicia Neugalizien (German)
Administrative region of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria (Habsburg Monarchy)
1795–1803
New Galicia is shown in yellow and green
Capital	Lublin Kraków (from 1797)
History
• Third Partition of Poland	24 October 1795
• Joined Galicia	1803
• Treaty of Schönbrunn	15 December 1809
Preceded by Succeeded by Masovian Voivodeship (1526–1795) Kraków Voivodeship (14th century – 1795) Sandomierz Voivodeship Lublin Voivodeship (1474–1795) Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Duchy of Warsaw
Today part of	Poland

The Austrian Empire lost West Galicia to the Duchy of Warsaw in 1809, following its defeat by Napoleon, at which point most of the territory became part of the Congress Poland.

History

After the failed Kościuszko Uprising of 1794, Emperor Francis II of Habsburg agreed with Empress Catherine II of Russia to again divide and thereby completely abolish the remaining Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, a decision which Prussia joined on 24 October 1795. The Habsburg Monarchy, which had not participated in the Second Partition, now received a share that comprised the lands north of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria gained in the First Partition of 1772. The Habsburg Monarchy then occupied the entirety of Lesser Poland, stretching along the upper Vistula river to the outskirts of Praga and Warsaw, the tributaries of the Bug and the Pilica forming the northern border with New East Prussia.

In 1803, it was merged with the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, but retained some autonomy. It remained a territory of the Austrian Empire even when, in 1807, Napoleon I of France created the Duchy of Warsaw from territories in Greater Poland which Prussia had annexed in the Second and Third Partition and now was forced to renounce according to the Treaty of Tilsit.

Austria lost New Galicia in 1809 War of the Fifth Coalition, after a corps under Archduke Ferdinand Karl Joseph of Austria-Este on 15 April 1809 started the Polish–Austrian War by invading the Duchy of Warsaw. Despite the archduke's plans to move in as a national liberator, he was challenged by the forces of Prince Józef Poniatowski at the Battle of Raszyn. Austria was finally defeated at the Battle of Wagram on 6 July, whereafter New Galicia was attached to the Duchy of Warsaw by the Treaty of Schönbrunn.

With the Final Act of the Vienna Congress in 1815, the territory became part of Congress Poland, ruled in personal union by Emperor Alexander I of Russia, while Kraków nominally retained its independence as the Free City of Kraków.

Administration

From 1797, the seat of the local government (Gubernium) was located at Kraków. The province was divided into twelve districts:

• Biała Podlaska
• Chełm
• Józefów
• Kielce
• Końskie
• Kraków
• Lublin
• Łuków at Radzyń Podlaski
• Mińsk at Wiązowna
• Radom
• Sandomierz, from 1798 at Opatów
• Siedlce

Civil code

Main article: West Galician Code

A civil code was introduced in West Galicia, prior to the introduction of the Austrian Civil Code in 1811. It contained little in the way of solving feudal-class problems and was based on the laws of nature.

Despite Joseph II issuing his Serfdom Patent in 1781, which did reduce its harshness, serfdom itself remained in Galicia until 1848. The serfdom patent gave serfs similar rights to those of indentured servants. Landlords actively opposed educating peasants, and sent literate peasants to serve in the military, to avoid peasant revolts. Despite this, serfs in Galicia were treated better than serfs in Russia, who were essentially treated like chattel slaves.

See also

• East Galicia
• Galicia (Eastern Europe)
• General Government

Further reading

• Himka, John-Paul (1988). Galician Villagers and the Ukrainian National Movement in the Nineteenth Century (PDF). Edmonton: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta. ISBN 0-920862-54-3.