Congress Poland

Kingdom of Poland Królestwo Polskie (Polish) Царство Польское (Russian)
1815–1915
Top: Royal Standard Bottom: Brown-Water Navy Ensign Coat of arms
Motto: Z nami Bóg! "God is with us!"
Anthem:  Pieśń narodowa za pomyślność króla "National Song to the King's Well-being"
Map of Congress Poland, c. 1815, following the Congress of Vienna. The Russian Empire is shown in light green.
Administrative divisions of Congress Poland in 1914
Status	Personal union with the Russian Empire (1815–1831) Real union with the Russian Empire (1832–1915)
Capital	Warsaw
Official languages	Polish, Russian (from 1867)[1]
Common languages	Polish, Yiddish, German, Russian[2]
Religion	Roman Catholicism Minorities: Nicholas II
Namiestnik (Viceroy)
• 1815–1826 (first)	Józef Zajączek
• 1914–1915 (last)	Pavel Yengalychev
Legislature	Sejm
• Upper house	Senate
• Lower house	Chamber of Deputies
History
• Congress of Vienna	9 June 1815
• Constitution adopted	27 November 1815
• November Uprising	29 November 1830
• January Uprising	23 January 1863
• Vistula Land established	1867
• Russian withdrawal	19 September 1915
Population
• 1897 census	9,402,253
Currency	Polish złoty (1815–1841)
Preceded by Succeeded by Duchy of Warsaw Government General of Warsaw Military Government of Lublin Polish National Government (November Uprising) Vistula Land

Congress Poland,^[a] Congress Kingdom of Poland,^[3] or Russian Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland,^[b] was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It was established when the French ceded a part of Polish territory to the Russian Empire following France's defeat in the Napoleonic Wars. In 1915, during World War I, it was replaced by the German-controlled nominal Regency Kingdom^[c] until Poland regained independence in 1918.

Following the partitions of Poland at the end of the 18th century, Poland ceased to exist as an independent nation for 123 years. The territory, with its native population, was split among the Habsburg monarchy, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Russian Empire. After 1804, an equivalent to Congress Poland within the Austrian Empire was the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, also commonly referred to as "Austrian Poland". The area incorporated into Prussia initially also held autonomy as the Grand Duchy of Posen outside of German Confederation, but later was demoted to merely a Prussian province (the Province of Posen), and was subsequently annexed in 1866 into the North German Confederation, the predecessor of the German Empire.

The Congress Kingdom of Poland was theoretically granted considerable political autonomy by the liberal

The territory of Congress Poland roughly corresponds to modern-day Kalisz Region and the Lublin, Łódź, Masovian, Podlaskie and Holy Cross Voivodeships of Poland as well as southwestern Lithuania and a small part of the Grodno District of Belarus.

The Kingdom of Poland effectively came to an end with the

Although the official name of the state was the Kingdom of Poland (Polish: Królestwo Polskie; Russian: Царство Польское), in order to distinguish it from other Kingdoms of Poland, it is often referred to as "Congress Poland".^[11]

History

The Congress Kingdom of Poland was created out of the

Following the Congress, Russia gained a larger share of Poland (with Warsaw) and, after crushing an insurrection in 1831, the Congress Kingdom's autonomy was abolished. Poles faced confiscation of property, deportation, forced military service, and the closure of their own universities.^[12][13] The Congress was important enough in the creation of the state to cause the new country to be informally named for it.^[14][15] The kingdom lost its status as a sovereign state in 1831 and the administrative divisions were reorganized. It was sufficiently distinct that its name remained in official Russian use, although in the later years of Russian rule it was replaced^[16] with the "Vistula Land" (Russian: Привислинский Край). Following the defeat of the November Uprising its separate institutions and administrative arrangements were abolished as part of increased Russification to be more closely integrated with the Russian Empire. However, even after this formalized annexation, the territory retained some degree of distinctiveness and continued to be referred to informally as Congress Poland until the Russian rule there ended as a result of the advance by the armies of the Central Powers in 1915 during World War I.

The kingdom was 128,500 km² in area and originally had a population of approximately 3.3 million. The new state would be one of the smallest Polish states ever, smaller than the preceding Duchy of Warsaw and much smaller than the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth which had a population of over 10 million and an area of 1 million km².^[15] Its population reached 6.1 million by 1870 and 10 million by 1900. The majority of ethnic Poles within the Russian Empire lived in the Congress Kingdom, although some areas outside its borders were also inhabited by strong Polish and Roman Catholic minorities.

The Kingdom of Poland largely re-emerged as a result of the efforts of

Initial independence

Theoretically, the Polish Kingdom in its 1815 form was a semi-autonomous state in

Alexander I's successor, Nicholas I was crowned King of Poland on 24 May 1829 in Warsaw, but he declined to swear to abide by the Constitution and continued to limit the independence of the Polish kingdom. Nicholas' rule promoted the idea of Official Nationality, consisting of Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality. In relation to Poles, those ideas meant assimilation: turning them into loyal subjects through gradual religious and cultural conversion.^[10] The principle of Orthodoxy was the result of the special role it played in the Russian Empire, as the Church was in fact becoming a department of state,^[10] and other religions discriminated against; for instance, papal bulls could not be read in the largely Catholic kingdom of Poland without agreement from the Russian government.

The rule of Nicholas also meant the end of political traditions in Poland; democratic institutions were removed, an appointed—rather than elected—centralized administration was put in place, and efforts were made to change the relations between the state and the individual. All of this led to discontent and resistance among the Polish population.

The government of Congress Poland was outlined in the

In theory, Congress Poland possessed one of the most liberal governments of the time in Europe,^[17] but in practice, the area was a puppet state of the Russian Empire. The liberal provisions of the constitution, and the scope of the autonomy, were often disregarded by the Russian officials.^[15][17][18]

Polish remained an official language until the mid-1860s when it was replaced by Russian.^[1] This resulted in bilingual street signs and documents, however, the full implementation of Cyrillic script into the Polish language failed.

Executive leadership

The office of "

). He had no competence in the realms of finances and foreign policy; his military competence varied.

The office of "namiestnik" or viceroy was never abolished; however, the last "namiestnik" was Friedrich Wilhelm Rembert von Berg, who served from 1863 to his death in 1874. No "namiestnik" was named to replace him;^[20] however, the role of "namestnik"—viceroy of the former kingdom passed to the governor-general of Warsaw^[21]—or, to be more specific, of the Warsaw Military District (Polish: Warszawski Okręg Wojskowy, Russian: Варшавский Военный Округ).

The governor-general answered directly to the emperor and exercised much broader powers than had the "namiestnik". In particular, he controlled all the military forces in the region and oversaw the judicial systems (he could impose

death sentences without trial). He could also issue "declarations

with the force of law," which could alter existing laws.

Administrative Council

Main article: Administrative Council

The Administrative Council (Polish: Rada Administracyjna) was a part of the Council of State of the kingdom. Introduced by the Constitution of the Kingdom of Poland in 1815, it was composed of five ministers, special nominees of the king and the viceroy of the Kingdom of Poland. The council executed the king's will and ruled in the cases outside the minister's competence and prepared projects for the Council of State.

Administrative divisions

Main article:

Administrative division of Congress Poland

The administrative divisions of the kingdom changed several times over its history, and various smaller reforms were also carried out which either changed the smaller administrative units or merged/split various subdivisions.

Immediately after its creation in 1815, the Kingdom of Poland was divided into

a relic from the times of the French-dominated Duchy of Warsaw

.

On 16 January 1816 the administrative division was reformed, with the departments being replaced with more traditionally Polish

okręgs, and the obwóds

were renamed powiats. In 1844 several governorates were merged with others, and some others were renamed; five governorates remained.

In 1867, following the failure of the

Sedlets and Lublin Governorates. It was split off from the Vistulan Country and made part of the Southwestern Krai of the Russian Empire.^[22]

Economy

Despite the fact that the economic situation varied at times, Congress Poland was one of the largest economies in the world.

industrialized,^[24] however, agriculture still maintained a major role in the economy.^[25] In addition, the export of wheat, rye and other crops was significant in stabilizing the financial output.^[25] An important trade partner of Congress Poland was Great Britain

, which imported goods in large amounts.

Since agriculture was equivalent to 70% of the national income, the most important economic transformations included the establishment of mines and the textile industry; the development of these sectors brought more profit and higher tax revenues. The beginnings were difficult due to floods and an intense diplomatic relationship with

Danzig (Gdańsk) and high Prussian tariffs.^[27] Drucki-Lubecki also founded the Bank Polski, for which he is mostly remembered.^[26]

The first Polish steam mill was built in 1828 in Warsaw-Solec; the first textile machine was installed in 1829.^[24] Greater use of machines led to production in the form of workshops. The government was also encouraging foreign specialists, mostly Germans, to upkeep larger establishments, or to undertake production.^[24] The Germans were also relieved of the tax burden.^[28] This allowed to create one of the largest European textile centres in Łódź and in surrounding towns like Ozorków and Zduńska Wola.^[29] These small and initially insignificant settlements later developed into large and multicultural cities, where Germans and Jews were the majority in the population. With the abolition of border customs in 1851 and further economic growth, Polish cities were gaining wealth and importance. Most notably, Warsaw, being associated with the construction of railway lines and bridges, gained priority in the entire Russian market.

Although the economic and industrial progress occurred rapidly, most of the farms, called

serfs and paid workforce. Only a few experimented by obtaining proper machinery and plowing equipment from England.^[24] New crops were being cultivated like sugar beet, which marked the beginning of Polish sugar refineries. The use of iron cutters and plows was also favoured among the farmers. During the January Uprising the occupying authorities sought to deprive peasant insurgents of their popularity among landed gentry.^[24] Taxes were raised and the overall economic situation of commoners worsened. The noblemen and landowners were, on the other hand, provided with more privileges, rights and even financial support in the form of bribery

. The aim of this was to weaken their support for the rebellion against the Russian Empire.

Congress Poland was the largest supplier of zinc in Europe. The development of the zinc industry took place at the beginning of the 19th century. It was mostly caused by the significant increase of demand for zinc mainly in industrialized countries of Western Europe.^[30]

In 1899, Aleksander Ginsberg founded the company FOS (Fabryka Przyrządów Optycznych-"Factory of Optical Equipment") in Warsaw. It was the only firm in the Russian Empire which crafted and produced

St. Petersburg

.

Demographics

According to the

Russian Empire Census of 1897, Congress Poland had a population of 9,402,253: 4,712,090 men and 4,690,163 women.^[31]

Linguistic composition of Congress Poland in 1897^[31]

Language	Native speakers	%
Polish	6,755,503	71.85
Yiddish	1,267,194	13.48
German	407,274	4.33
Little Russian	335,337	3.57
Lithuanian	305,322	3.25
Russian	267,160	2.84
Belarusian	29,347	0.31
Other	35,116	0.37
TOTAL	9,402,253	100.00

Population
^{(by year)}

Year	Pop.
1814	2,815,000
1820	3,520,355
1825	3,911,000
1830	3,998,000
1835	4,188,112
1840	4,488,009
1845	4,798,658
1850	4,810,735
1855	4,673,869
1860	4,840,466
1865	5,336,210
1870	6,078,564
1875	6,515,153
1880	7,104,864
1885	7,687,893
1890	8,256,562
1897	9,402,253
1904	11,588,585
1909	11,935,318
1913	13,058,000
Source: Golab (1977)[32]

See also

• Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland
• Grand Duchy of Finland (1809–1917)
• Grand Duchy of Posen
• Great Retreat
  – the withdrawal of Russian forces from Poland in 1915
• History of Poland (1795–1918)
• Pale of Settlement

References

Note

1. ^ Polish: Królestwo Kongresowe [kruˈlʲɛstfɔ kɔnɡrɛˈsɔvɛ]; Russian: Конгрессовая Польша, romanized: Kongressovaya Polsha
2. ^ Russian: Царство Польское, romanized: Tsarstvo Polskoye
3. ^ Sources agree that after the fall of the January Uprising in 1864, the autonomy of Congress Poland was drastically reduced. They disagree however on whether the Kingdom of Poland, colloquially known as Congress Poland, as a state, was officially replaced by Vistula Land (Privislinsky Krai), 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 Congress Poland (or Vistula land) officially ended; some argue that it ended when the German and Austro-Hungarian occupying authorities assumed control of the area during World War I; others, that it ended with the creation of the Kingdom of Poland in 1917; finally, some argue that it ended only with the creation of the independent Republic of Poland in 1918. Examples:^[4][5][6][7]

Citations

1. ^
   ISBN 978-0-230-58347-4
   .
2. ^ "The Social and Political History of the Polish Language in the Long 19th Century". Kamusella. 24 January 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
3. ^ Britannica (8 January 2010). "Congress Kingdom of Poland". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
4. ^ * Ludność Polski w XX Wieku = The Population of Poland in the 20th Century / Andrzej Gawryszewski. Warszawa: Polska Akademia Nauk, Instytut Geografii i Przestrzennego Zagospodorowania im. Stanisława Leszczyckiego, 2005 (Monografie; 5), 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.
   • • Despite the official name Kraj Przywiślański terms such as, Kingdom of Poland, Congress Poland, or in short Kongresówka were still in use, both in everyday language and in some publications.
5. Encyklopedia Interia
   :
   • • (in Polish) po upadku powstania zlikwidowano ostatnie elementy autonomii Królestwa Pol. (łącznie z nazwą), przekształcając je w "Kraj Przywiślański";
     • after the fall of the uprising last elements of autonomy of the Kingdom of Poland (including the name) were abolished, transforming it into the "Vistula land;"
6. ^ * Królestwo Polskie Archived 2017-04-24 at the Wayback Machine. WIEM Encyklopedia:
   • • (in Polish) Królestwo Polskie po powstaniu styczniowym: Nazwę Królestwa Polskiego zastąpiła, w urzędowej terminologii, nazwa Kraj Przywiślański. Jednakże w artykule jest także: Po rewolucji 1905-1907 w Królestwie Polskim... i W latach 1914-1916 Królestwo Polskie stało się....
     • 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 states: After the revolution 1905-1907 in the Kingdom of Poland and In the years 1914-1916 the Kingdom of Poland became....
7. ^ * 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).
     • [Congress Poland was] under German and Austro-Hungarian occupation from 1915 to 1918; it was finally abolished after the creation of the Second Polish Republic in November 1918
8. ^
   ISBN 0-8021-3744-X
   .
9. ^
   ISBN 0-87113-665-1
   .
10. ^
    The University of Texas at Austin
    , pp. 169-88
11. ^ "Poland - Partitioned Poland". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
12. ^ W. Caban, ‘The Nineteenth-Century Ideas of Polish Roads to Independence’, Yearbook of the Institute of East-Central Europe, 2018, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 105-127.
13. ^ Henderson, WO (1964). Castlereagh et l'Europe, w: Le Congrès de Vienne et l'Europe. Paris: Bruxelles. p. 60.
14. ^
    ISBN 0-520-04477-0
    . Retrieved 2008-04-10.
15. ^
    ISBN 0-8021-3744-X
    . Retrieved 2008-04-10.
16. Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedia (1890–1906). Archived from the original
    on 2006-09-02. Retrieved 2006-07-27.
17. ^
    ISBN 0-8223-1802-4
    .
18. ^ ^{a b} "Królestwa Polskiego" (in Polish). Encyklopedia PWN. Archived from the original on 2006-10-01. Retrieved 2006-01-19.
19. ISBN 963-9241-18-0
    . Retrieved 2008-04-10.
20. ^ Hugo Stumm, Russia's Advance Eastward, 1874, p. 140, note 1. Google Print [2]
21. ^ Thomas Mitchell, Handbook for Travellers in Russia, Poland, and Finland, 1888, p. 460. Google Print [3]
22. ISBN 0-231-12819-3, Print, p. 278
23. ^ "Home Maddison". 27 July 2016. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
24. ^ ^{a b c d e} "Życie gospodarcze Królestwa Polskiego w latach 1815-1830". Retrieved 29 April 2017.
25. ^ ^{a b} "Gospodarka w Królestwie Polskim od roku 1815 do początku XIX wieku". Sciaga.pl. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
26. ^ ^{a b} "Polityka gospodarcza – druckilubecki.pl". Retrieved 29 April 2017.
27. ^ "The Augustów Canal". Retrieved 29 April 2017.
28. ^ "Wyborcza.pl". Retrieved 29 April 2017.
29. ^ "Łódź". Retrieved 29 April 2017.
30. ^ Rafał Kowalczyk. "DEVELOPMENT OF ZINC INDUSTRY IN THE KINGDOM OF POLAND 1815–1904" (PDF). Aul.uni.lodz.pl. Retrieved 11 November 2017.
31. ^ ^{a b} "Демоскоп Weekly - Приложение. Справочник статистических показателей". www.demoscope.ru. Retrieved 2022-08-03.
32. ISBN 978-0877221098
    .

Further reading

Main article: Bibliography of the history of Poland

• Davies, Norman. God's Playground: A History of Poland. Vol. 2: 1795 to the Present (Oxford University Press, 1982) pp. 306–33
• Getka-Kenig, Mikolaj. "The Genesis of the Aristocracy in Congress Poland," Acta Poloniae Historica (2009), Issue 100, pp. 79–112;
  ISSN 0001-6829
  . Covers the transition from feudalism to capitalism; the adjustment of the aristocracy's power and privilege from a legal basis to one of only social significance; the political changes instigated by the jurisdictional partitions and reorganizations of the state.
• Kropotkin, Peter Alexeivitch; Bealby, John Thomas (1911). "Poland, Russian" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 21 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 929–932.
• Leslie, R. F. (1956). Polish politics and the Revolution of November 1830. Greenwood Press.
  ISBN 9780837124162
  .
• Leslie, R. F. "Politics and economics in Congress Poland," Past and Present (1955), 8#1, pp. 43–63
  JSTOR 649777
• Mykhed, Oksana (2014). "Not by Force Alone: Public Health and the Establishment of Russian Rule in the Russo-Polish Borderland, 1762–85". Borderlands in World History, 1700–1914. Palgrave Macmillan UK. pp. 123–142.
  ISBN 978-1-137-32058-2
  .
• Zamoyski, Adam. Poland: a history. New York: Hippocrene Books, 2012

External links

• Media related to Congress Poland at Wikimedia Commons