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Grand Duchy of Posen

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Grand Duchy of Poznań (Polish: Wielkie Księstwo Poznańskie, German: Grossherzogtum Posen) was a Polish political body in years 1815-1918 in personal union with the Kingdom of Prussia and since 1870 the German Empire ruled by the Hohenzollern dynasty.

The area was 28 951 km2, and the population 776,000. It contained most of the territories of the historical province of Greater Poland, which comprised the western parts of the Duchy of Warsaw (Departments of Poznan, Bydgoszcz, partly Kalisz) that were ceded to the Kingdom of Prussia according to the Congress of Vienna (1815) with an international guarantee of self administration and free development of the Polish nation. Later the territory was also called the Province of Poznań (Polish: Prowincja Poznańska, German: Provinz Posen) by the Prussian administration.

The monarch of the Duchy was the Prussian King (a Hohenzollern) and his representative was the governor-general: the first was prince Antoni Radziwiłł (1815-1831), married to Princess Luise of Prussia, the king's cousin. The governor was assigned to give advice in matters of Polish nationality, and had the right to veto the administration decisions, in reality however all administrative power was in the hands of Prussian over-president of the province.

Teritorial administration

The territory of the duchy was divided into 2 districts (Polish: Rejencja, German: Regierungsbezirk): Poznań Disctrict, Bydgoszcz District, which were further divided into 26 original counties (Polish: Powiat(y), German: Kreis(e)) administered by the landrats and the county councils. Later, these were redivided into 40 counties, plus 2 urban districts. In 1824, the Duchy also received the provincial council (term started in 1827) but with little administrative power, limited to providing advice. In 1817 Chelmno land was moved to West Prussia.

The teritorial administration in 1897:

Poznan District, (Rejencja Poznańska), Poznań

(English county name, Polish county name, county town) (plase note that at this time Polish county names were written with capital letters)

Bydgoszcz District (Rejencja Bydgoska), Bydgoszcz

(English county name, Polish county name, county town) (plase note that at this time Polish county names were written with capital letters)

History

Up to 1830 the Prussian authorities were relatively tolerant to the Polish people, only the Prussian administrative schemes were introduced and the role of German language was strengthened in education.

Repression system after 1830

After the November Uprising (1830 in Congress Poland against Russia) which was significantly supported by the Poles from the Grand Duchy of Poznań, the Prussian administration under over-president Edward Flotwell introduced a system of police and repression against the Poles. He started to expel the Poles from administration, tried to weaken the Polish nobility by buying its lands, and after 1832 the role of the Polish language in education was significantly suppressed.

Milder period after 1840

to be written

Autonomy abolished

In 1848 the Frankfurt parliament attempted to divide the Duchy into two parts: the Province of Poznań, which should be given to the Germans and annexed to the German Empire and the Province of Gniezno, which should be given to the Poles, and held outside Germany, but because of the protest of Polish parliamentarians these plans failed, and the integrity of the Duchy was preserved. However on February 9th, 1849, after a series of broken assurances, the Prussian administration renamed the Duchy to the Province of Poznan. The line that divided the two proposed parts was ignored into oblivion. However the Grand Duchy of Poznan remained a posession of the Hohenzoller dynasty and the name remained in unofficial use until 1918.

The Kulturkampf

In the 1880s Bismarck started the Germanization policies: increase of police forces, colonization comission, Hakata, Kulturkampf). In 1904 special legislation was passed against the Polish population. The legislation of 1908 allowed confiscation of Polish landed property. The Prussian authorities did not allow the develpment of industries, so the Duchy's economy was dominated by high-level agriculture.

The liberation

After the World War I the fate of the Grand Duchy was undecided. The Poles demanded this historical Polish region to be included in Poland newly regaining independence, while the Germans refused any territorial cincessions. The Greater Poland Uprising that broke out on 27 December 1918, a day after the speech of Ignacy Jan Paderewski allowed the region to be liberated from German occupation. The treaty of Versaiiles decided that most of the territory of Grand Duchy to be included in Poland.

Polish organizations in the Grand Duchy of Poznań

Famous people of the Grand Duchy of Poznań

File:Poznan ratusz.jpg
Poznań town hall

(in alphabetical order)

See also

References

  • T.Dohnalowa, Z dziejów postępu technicznego w Wielkopolsce w pierwszej połowie XIX wieku, in: S.Kubiak, L.Trzeciakowski (ed.), Rola Wielkopolski w dziejach narodu polskiego
  • F.Genzen, Z.Grot, F.Paprocki, Zabór pruski w Powstaniu Styczniowym. Materiały i dokumenty, Wrocław-Warszawa-Kraków 1968
  • B.Grześ, J.Kozłowski, A.Kramarski, Niemcy w Poznańskiem wobec polityki germanizacyjnej 1815-1920, Poznań 1976
  • Witold Jakóbczyk, Przetrwać nad Wartą 1815-1914. Dzieje narodu i państwa polskiego, vol. III-55, Krajowa Agencja Wydawnicza, Warszawa 1989
  • Witold Jakóbczyk (ed.), Studia nad dziejami Wielkopolski w XIX w., vol.I-III, Poznań 1951-1967
  • Witold Jakubczyk (ed.), Wielkopolanie XIX w., Poznań 1969
  • Witold Jakubczyk (ed.), Wielkopolska. Wybór źródeł, t. I 1815-1850, Wrocław 1952
  • Witold Jakubczyk (ed.), Wielkopolska. Wybór źródeł, t. II 1851-1914, Wrocław 1954
  • T.Klanowski, Germanizacja gimnazjów w Wielkim Księstwie Poznańskim i opór młodzieży polskiej w latach 1870-1814, Poznań 1962
  • Czesław Łuczak, Życie społeczno-gospodarcze w Poznaniu 1815-1918, Poznań 1965
  • K.Malinowski (ed.), X wieków Poznania, Poznań-Warszawa 1956
  • W.Molik, Kształtowanie się inteligencji wielkopolskiej w Wielkim Księstwie Poznańskim 1840-1870, Warszawa-Poznań 1979
  • F.Paprocki, Wielkie Księstwo Poznańskie w okresie rządów Flottwella (1830-1842), Poznań 1970
  • B.Pleśniarski, Poglądy Wielkopolan na sprawy wychowawcze i oświatowe w świetle prasy Księstwa Poznańskiego 1814-1847,
  • A.Skałkowski, Bazar Poznański. Zarys stuletnich dziejów (1838-1938), Poznań 1938
  • L.Słowiński, Nie damy pogrześć mowy. Wizerunki pedagogów poznańskich XIX wieku, Poznań 1982
  • J.Stoiński, Szkolnictwo średnie w Wielkim Księstwie Poznańskim w I połowie XIX wieku (1815-1850), Poznań 1972
  • J.Topolski (ed.), Wielkopolska przez wieki, Poznań 1973
  • S.Truchim, Historia szkolnictwa i oświaty polskiej w Wielkim Księstwie Poznańskim 1815-1915, Łódź 1967
  • Lech Trzeciakowski, Kulturkampf w zaborze pruskim, Poznań 1970
  • Lech Trzeciakowski, Pod pruskim zaborem 1850-1914, Warszawa 1973
  • Lech Trzeciakowski, Walka o polskość miast Poznańskiego na przełomie XIX i XX wieku, Poznań 1964
  • Lech Trzeciakowski, W dziewiętnastowiecznym Poznaniu, Poznań 1987
  • Wielkopolski Słownik Biograficzny, 2nd edition, Warszawa-Poznań 1983


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