United Baltic Duchy

During World War I the German Imperial Army had occupied the Courland Governorate of the Russian Empire by the autumn of 1915. The front stabilised along the line Riga–Daugavpils–Baranovichi.

Following the February Revolution of 1917 in Russia, the Russian Provisional Government declared the establishment of the Autonomous Governorate of Estonia on 12 April [O.S. 30 March] 1917, amalgamating the former Russian Governorate of Estonia and the northern portion of the Governorate of Livonia. After the October Revolution later in the same year, the elected Estonian Provincial Assembly declared itself the sovereign power in Estonia on 28 November 1917. On 24 February 1918, a day before the arrival of German troops, the Estonian Salvation Committee of the Provincial Assembly issued the Estonian Declaration of Independence. The Western Allies recognized the Republic of Estonia de facto in May 1918.[5]

The term 'Grand Duchy of Livonia' refers to the Livonia region, which made up most of the proposed United Baltic Duchy.

The Latvian Provisional National Council was constituted on the basis of the law of self-government which the Russian Provisional Government granted to Latvia on 5 July 1917.[6] The Latvian Provisional National Council first met on 16 November 1917 in Valka. On 30 November 1917, the Council declared an autonomous Latvian province within ethnographic boundaries, and a formal independent Latvian republic was declared on 15 January 1918.[5]

In the beginning of 1918, German troops started advancing from Courland, and by the end of February 1918 the German military administered the territories of Estonia that had declared independence and the Russian Governorate of Livonia. With the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on 3 March 1918, Bolshevist Russia accepted the loss of the Courland Governorate, and by agreements concluded in Berlin on 27 August 1918, the loss of the Autonomous Governorate of Estonia and the Governorate of Livonia.[5]

Adolf Friedrich, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 1910

As a parallel political movement under the German military administration, Baltic Germans began forming provincial councils between September 1917 and March 1918.

On 8 March 1918, the local Baltic German-dominated Kurländische Landesrat declared the restoration of Duchy of Courland (Herzogtum Kurland), which was formally recognised by Kaiser Wilhelm on 15 March 1918. On 12 April 1918, a Provincial Assembly (Vereinigter Landesrat) composed of 35 Baltic Germans, 13 Estonians, and 11 Latvians passed a resolution calling upon the German Emperor to recognize the Baltic provinces as a monarchy and make them a German protectorate.[7]

The United Baltic Duchy was nominally recognized as a sovereign state by emperor Wilhelm II only on 22 September 1918, half a year after Soviet Russia had formally relinquished all authority over former Russian Imperial Baltic governorates to Germany in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. On 5 November 1918, a temporary Regency Council (Regentschaftsrat) for the new state led by Baron Adolf Pilar von Pilchau was formed on a joint basis from the two local Land Councils.

The capital of the new state was to be Riga. It was to be a confederation of seven cantons: Kurland (Courland), Riga, Lettgallen (Latgale), Südlivland (South Livonia), Nordlivland (North Livonia), Ösel (Saaremaa), and Estland (Estonia), the four first cantons thus covering the territory corresponding to today's Latvia and the latter three corresponding to today's Estonia.

The first head of state of the United Baltic Duchy was to be Duke Adolf Friedrich of Mecklenburg, not as a sovereign monarch, but as a subordinate to the German Kaiser, similar to other princes of the German Empire. But Adolf Friedrich never assumed office. The appointed Regency Council consisting of four Baltic Germans, three Estonians and three Latvians functioned until 28 November 1918, without any international recognition, except Germany.

In October 1918, the Chancellor of Germany Prince Maximilian of Baden proposed to have the military administration in the Baltic replaced by civilian authority. The new policy was stated in a telegram from the German Foreign Office to the military administration of the Baltic: "The government of the Reich is unanimous in respect of the fundamental change in our policy towards the Baltic countries, namely that in the first instance policy is to be made with the Baltic peoples."[5]

On 18 November 1918, Latvia proclaimed independence. August Winnig, the last representative of the German government, signed an agreement with representatives of the Estonian Provisional Government about handing over power on Estonian territory on 19 November.[8] In Latvia, the Germans formally handed over authority to the Latvian national government headed by Kārlis Ulmanis on 7 December 1918.[5]

The Baltische Landeswehr was formed in 1919 largely by the leaders of the local Livonian and Curonian nobility, who had been the proponents of the United Baltic Duchy in 1918.

The defeat of Germany in World War I in November 1918, followed by the defeat in 1919 of the Baltische Landeswehr and German Freikorps units of General Rüdiger von der Goltz in Latvia by the 3rd Estonian Division and North Latvian Brigade, rendered any ideas for the creation of a "United Baltic Duchy" irrelevant.

To ensure its return to Latvian control, the Baltische Landeswehr was placed under British authority. After taking command of the Baltische Landeswehr in mid-July 1919, Lt Col Harold Alexander (the future Alexander of Tunis), gradually dismissed the Baltic German elements. The Baltic nations of Estonia and Latvia were established as republics.

• Aftermath of World War I
• Baltische Landeswehr
• Duchy of Courland and Semigallia (1918)
• Estonian War of Independence
• Freikorps in the Baltic
• Latvian War of Independence
• Kingdom of Lithuania (1918)
• Kingdom of Finland (1918)
• Kingdom of Poland (1917–1918)
• Ukrainian State
• Pavel Bermondt-Avalov
• Ober Ost

• Latvia on World Statesmen
• Baltic flag on Encyclopædia Heraldica
• Baltic Duchy (1918) at Flags of the World