Vistula Land

Vistula Land

Привислинский край(Russian)

*Kraj Nadwiślański*(Polish)
Vistula Land Привислинский край(Russian); Kraj Nadwiślański(Polish);
Krai of theRussian Empire
1867–1915
	Flag Coat of arms
	; Russian map of Vistula Land from 1896
Capital	Warsaw
History
• Established	1867
• Disestablished	1915
Preceded by	Succeeded by
	Congress Poland
Government General of Warsaw
Military Government of Lublin
Ober Ost
Today part of	Poland; Lithuania; Belarus;

Vistula Land,^[1]^[2]also known asVistula Country(Russian:Привислинский край,romanized:Privislinskiy kray;Polish:Kraj Nadwiślański),^[3]was the name applied to the lands ofCongress Polandfrom 1867, following the defeats of theNovember Uprising(1830–1831) andJanuary Uprising(1863–1864) as it was increasingly stripped of autonomy and incorporated intoImperial Russia.It also continued to be formally known as theKingdom of Poland(Polish:Królestwo Polskie) until the fall of the Russian Empire.^[a]

Russia lost control of the region in 1915, during the course of theFirst World War.Following the 1917October Revolution,it was officially ceded to theCentral Powersunder the terms of the 1918Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.

History

In 1831, in the aftermath of theNovember Uprising,thePolish Army,theConstitution of the Kingdom of Poland,its parliament (Sejm) and local self-administration were disbanded. The constitution was replaced by the much less liberal and never fully implementedOrganic Statute of the Kingdom of Poland.Also all universities were closed, and replaced several years later by purely Russian-language high schools.

For a short time the territory maintained certain degree of autonomy. The former Kingdom of Poland continued to use the Polish currency (złoty) and theAdministrative Councilretained some of its privileges (although it was directly controlled by the Russian governor Field MarshalIvan Paskevich). However, by 1832 the currency and the customs border were abolished, as was themetric systemand the Polishpenal code(which was replaced by the Russian penal code,de factoin use since the Uprising began). Also theCatholic Churchwas persecuted and most monasteries were closed and nationalized. In 1839, following the Synod of Polotsk, theGreek Catholic Churchdisbanded itself and united with theRussian Orthodox Church.

After 1837 allvoivodeshipsthat constituted the Kingdom of Poland were turned intoguberniasand became an integral part of Russian administrative division, ruled directly by theRussian tsars.

After theJanuary Uprisingin 1863, thecoat of armsof the Congress Kingdom was abandoned, thePolish languagewas banned from office and education and the process of incorporation of the Polish gubernias andRussificationof its administration was completed.

The 1867 reform, initiated after the failure of the January Uprising, was designed to tie the Kingdom of Poland more tightly to the administration structure of the Russian Empire. It divided larger governorates into smaller ones and introduced a new lower-level entity,gminas.There were 10Governorates:five on the right bank of theVistula River—Сувалкская (Suvalkskaya), Ломжинская (Lomzhinskaya), Плоцкая (Plotskaya), Седлецкая (Sedletskaya) and Люблинская (Lublinskaya)—and the remaining five on the left bank: Калишская (Kalishskaya), Варшавская (Varshavskaya), Петроковская (Petrokovskaya), Радомская (Radomskaya) and Келецкая (Keletskaya).

Thecoat of arms of the Kingdom of Polandwas abolished at this time.

Despite the abolition of the Kingdom of Poland, thetsars of Russiaretained the title "Tsar of Poland".

The territory was anamestnichestvountil 1875 and laterGovernorate General,ruled by theNamestniks and Governor Generals of Poland.

In the 1880s, the official language was changed toRussian,andPolishwas banned both from official use and education.

The name Vistula Land first appeared in official documents in 1888^[4]although more recent scholarship traced it back to 1883.^[5]

A minor reform of 1893 transferred some territory from thePłockandŁomża GovernoratestoWarsaw Governorate.A more extensive 1912 reform created a new governorate—Chełm Governorate(KholmskayaGuberniyain Russian)—from parts of the Siedlce and Lublin Governorates. However this was split off from the Privislinsky Krai and made part of theSouthwestern Kraiof theRussian Empire,in order to facilitate itsrussification.

World War I

TheFirst World Warinitially expanded Russian control of Poland after theImperial Russian Armyscored a series of early defeats againstAustria-Hungaryon theEastern Frontandoccupied Eastern Galicia.Within a year theAustro-Hungarian Armyand theImperial German Armyreoccupied the territory and counterattacked into Russian Poland in theGorlice–Tarnów offensive.^[6]During the Imperial Russian Army's subsequentGreat Retreat,it looted and abandoned theKingdom of Poland,trying to emulate thescorched-earthpolicy adopted during the1812 invasion.^[7]^[8]The Russians also evicted and deported hundreds of thousands of the area's inhabitants whom they suspected of collaborating with the enemy.^[7]^[9]^[10]

As the Russians retreated, theCentral Powersoccupied the area (1915); subsequently, they proposed the establishment of theKingdom of Poland.In the March 1918Treaty of Brest-Litovsk,Russia (by then embroiled in acivil war), effectively ceded all Polish territories it had formerly possessed to theGerman EmpireandAustria-Hungary.

Administrative divisions

Notes

a^{^}Sources agree that after the fall of theJanuary Uprisingin 1864, the autonomy of Congress Poland was drastically reduced. However, they disagree on whether the state of the Kingdom of Poland (colloquially known asCongress Poland) was officially replaced by the Vistula land as a province of the Russian Empire, as many sources still use the term Congress Poland for the post-1864 period. The sources are also unclear as to when the Kingdom of Poland (or Vistula land) officially ceased to exist; some argue it ended with the assumption of control by the German and Austro-Hungarian occupying authorities; others, that it ended with the proclamation of theRegency Kingdom of Polandin 1916; finally, some argue that it occurred only with the creation of the independentSecond Polish Republicin 1918. Examples:

Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Geographical and Spatial Organization,p. 539,[1]
- (in Polish)Mimo wprowadzenia oficjalnej nazwy Kraj Przywiślański terminy Królestwo Polskie, Królestwo Kongresowe lub w skrócie Kongresówka były nadal używane, zarówno w języku potocznym jak i w niektórych publikacjach.
- (in English)Despite the introduction of the official name Vistula Land, terms such as, Kingdom of Poland, Congress Poland, or in short Kongresówka were still in use, both in everyday language and in some publications.
POWSTANIE STYCZNIOWE,Encyklopedia Interia:
- (in Polish)po upadku powstania zlikwidowano ostatnie elementy autonomii Królestwa Pol. (łącznie z nazwą), przekształcając je w "Kraj Przywiślański";
- (in English)after the fall of the uprising the last elements of autonomy of the Kingdom of Poland (including the name) were abolished, transforming it into the "Vistula land";
Królestwo Polskie.Encyklopedia WIEM:
- (in Polish)"Królestwo Polskie po powstaniu styczniowym: Nazwę Królestwa Polskiego zastąpiła, w urzędowej terminologii, nazwa Kraj Przywiślański." [...] "Po rewolucji 1905-1907 w Królestwie Polskim..." [...] "W latach 1914-1916 Królestwo Polskie stało się...".
- (in English)"Kingdom of Poland after the January Uprising: the name Kingdom of Poland was replaced, in official documents, by the name of Vistula land." However the same article also inconsistently states: "After the revolution 1905-1907 in the Kingdom of Poland" and "In the years 1914-1916 the Kingdom of Poland became...".
Królestwo Polskie, Królestwo Kongresowe,Encyklopedia PWN:
- (in Polish)1915–18 pod okupacją niem. i austro-węgierską; K.P. przestało istnieć po powstaniu II RP (XI 1918).
- (in English)[Congress Poland was] under German and Austro-Hungarian occupation from 1915 to 1918; K.P [abbreviation for Królestwo Polskie (Kingdom of Poland)] was finally abolished after the creation of the Second Polish Republic in November 1918

References

^The name of the kingdom was changed to Vistula Land, which was reduced to a tsarist province; it lost all autonomy and separate administrative institutions.Richard C. Frucht, Eastern Europe: An Introduction to the People, Lands, and Culture. 2005
^The name of the territory, which had been Congress Poland, was changed to the more innocuous Vistula Land. Vistula Land was administered by Russians;Alison Fleig Frank, Oil Empire: Visions of Prosperity in Austrian Galicia, 2005
^The name of Poland ceased to be used by the Russian authorities, who designated the region once occupied by the kingdom as the "Vistula Country",John Clark Ridpath: Ridpath's History of the World: Being an Account of the Principal Events in... 1910
^Wojciech Bartel et al.Historia państwa i prawa Polski.Juliusz Bardach i Monika Senkowska-Gluck (ed.). T. III: od rozbiorów do uwłaszczenia. Warszawa: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1981, p. 67.ISBN 83-01-02658-8
^Andrzej Szwarc.Od Wielopolskiego do Stronnictwa Polityki Realnej zwolennicy ugody z Rosją, ich poglądy i próby działalności politycznej (1864–1905).Warszawa: Wydział Historyczny UW, 1990, pp. 208-209.
^Robson, Stuart (2007).The First World War(1 ed.). Harrow, England: Pearson Longman. pp. 21–30.ISBN 978-1-4058-2471-2– via Archive Foundation.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: date and year (link)
^^a ^bJohn N. Horne, Alan Kramer,German Atrocities, 1914: A History of Denial,Yale University Press, 2001,ISBN 0-300-10791-9,Google Print, p. 83
^Roger Chickering, Stig Förster,Great War, Total War: Combat and Mobilization on the Western Front, 1914-1918,Cambridge University Press, 2000,ISBN 0-521-77352-0,Google Print, p.160
^Barnett R. Rubin, Jack L. Snyder,Post-Soviet Political Order: Conflict and State Building,Routledge, 1998,ISBN 0-415-17069-9,Google Print, p.43
^Alan Kramer,Dynamic of Destruction: Culture and Mass Killing in the First World War,Oxford University Press, 2007,ISBN 0-19-280342-5,Google Print, p.151

External links

Sammlung historischer Landkarten zur deutsch-polnischen Geschichte

[1] The name of the kingdom was changed to Vistula Land, which was reduced to a tsarist province; it lost all autonomy and separate administrative institutions.Richard C. Frucht, Eastern Europe: An Introduction to the People, Lands, and Culture. 2005

[2] The name of the territory, which had been Congress Poland, was changed to the more innocuous Vistula Land. Vistula Land was administered by Russians;Alison Fleig Frank, Oil Empire: Visions of Prosperity in Austrian Galicia, 2005

[3] The name of Poland ceased to be used by the Russian authorities, who designated the region once occupied by the kingdom as the "Vistula Country",John Clark Ridpath: Ridpath's History of the World: Being an Account of the Principal Events in... 1910

[4] Wojciech Bartel et al.Historia państwa i prawa Polski.Juliusz Bardach i Monika Senkowska-Gluck (ed.). T. III: od rozbiorów do uwłaszczenia. Warszawa: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1981, p. 67.ISBN 83-01-02658-8

[5] Andrzej Szwarc.Od Wielopolskiego do Stronnictwa Polityki Realnej zwolennicy ugody z Rosją, ich poglądy i próby działalności politycznej (1864–1905).Warszawa: Wydział Historyczny UW, 1990, pp. 208-209.

[6] Robson, Stuart (2007).The First World War(1 ed.). Harrow, England: Pearson Longman. pp. 21–30.ISBN 978-1-4058-2471-2– via Archive Foundation.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: date and year (link)

[JHAK-7] John N. Horne, Alan Kramer,German Atrocities, 1914: A History of Denial,Yale University Press, 2001,ISBN 0-300-10791-9,Google Print, p. 83

[8] Roger Chickering, Stig Förster,Great War, Total War: Combat and Mobilization on the Western Front, 1914-1918,Cambridge University Press, 2000,ISBN 0-521-77352-0,Google Print, p.160

[9] Barnett R. Rubin, Jack L. Snyder,Post-Soviet Political Order: Conflict and State Building,Routledge, 1998,ISBN 0-415-17069-9,Google Print, p.43

[10] Alan Kramer,Dynamic of Destruction: Culture and Mass Killing in the First World War,Oxford University Press, 2007,ISBN 0-19-280342-5,Google Print, p.151

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v t e Vistula River
Tributaries	Brda Bzura Drwęca Dunajec Narew Nida Pilica San Wda Wieprz Wisłoka
Cities	Gdańsk Elbląg Tczew Grudziądz Bydgoszcz Toruń Włocławek Płock Warsaw Sandomierz Kraków
Notable crossings	Anna Jagiellon Bridge Cross-City Bridge Gdańsk Bridge General Stefan Grot-Rowecki Bridge John Paul II Bridge Łazienki Bridge Maria Skłodowska-Curie Bridge Poniatowski Bridge Siekierki Bridge Silesian–Dąbrowa Bridge Solidarity Bridge Third Millennium John Paul II Bridge
Channels and artificial waterways	Augustów Canal Przekop Wisły Vistula Spit canal Bydgoszcz Canal
Historical and prehistoric inhabitants	Oksywie culture Przeworsk culture Wielbark culture Lusatian culture Vistulans Polans Pomeranians Vistula Veneti Vistula delta Mennonites Vistula Germans
Related articles	Vistula–Bug offensive Vistula–Oder offensive Vistula, Indiana(likely named after the Vistula) Vistula Land Vistula Spit Vistula Lagoon Vistula University