Duchy of Courland and Semigallia (1918)

Duchy of Courland and Semigallia Herzogtum Kurland und Semgallen (German) Kurzemes un Zemgales hercogiste (Latvian)
1918
Coat of arms
Map of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia in Europe in 1918
Status	Client state of the German Empire
Capital	Mitau
Common languages	German · Latviana
Religion	Lutheranism Roman Catholicism Russian Orthodoxy
Demonym(s)	Courlander, Couronian, Courish, Courlandish
Government	Monarchy
Historical era	World War I
• Treaty of Brest-Litovsk	3 March 1918
• Recognised by Kaiser Wilhelm	8 March 1918
• Baltic Union establishedb	22 September
• Latvia established	18 November 1918
Currency	Ostmark Ostrubel Papiermark
Preceded by Succeeded by Courland Governorate Ober Ost Latvia United Baltic Duchy
Also Livonian and Latgalian. 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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