United Baltic Duchy
United Baltic Duchy | |||||||||||||
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| 1918 | |||||||||||||
Proposed territories for the United Baltic Duchy | |||||||||||||
| Status | Client state of the German Empire | ||||||||||||
| Capital | Riga | ||||||||||||
| Common languages | |||||||||||||
| Demonym(s) | German | ||||||||||||
| Government | Provisional semi-constitutional monarchy under military occupation | ||||||||||||
| Duke-elect | |||||||||||||
• 1918 | Adolf Friedrich | ||||||||||||
| Regent | |||||||||||||
• Nov 1918 | Adolf Pilar von Pilchau | ||||||||||||
| Historical era | World War I | ||||||||||||
| 3 March 1918 | |||||||||||||
• Proclamation of Duchy by Baltic German nobility | 12 April 1918 | ||||||||||||
• Recognized by Germany | 22 September 1918 | ||||||||||||
• Regency Council established | 5 November 1918 | ||||||||||||
| 11 November 1918 | |||||||||||||
• Regency Council disbanded | 28 November 1918 | ||||||||||||
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| Today part of | |||||||||||||
The United Baltic Duchy (German: Vereinigtes Baltisches Herzogtum; Latvian: Apvienotā Baltijas hercogiste; Estonian: Balti Hertsogiriik), or alternatively the Grand Duchy of Livonia, was the name of a short-lived state during World War I that was proclaimed by leaders of the local Baltic German nobility.
The attempt to establish a new client state of the German Empire on the territory of what is now Latvia and Estonia was made in 1918, during the German occupation of the former Courland, Livonian and Estonian governorates of the Russian Empire; which had ceased to exist after the Bolshevik coup in 1917. The unsuccessful proclamation of a pro-German duchy was first made in April 1918, after the Republic of Estonia had already formally declared full independence.
The proposed ideas for the new state included the creation of a Duchy of Courland and Semigallia and of a Duchy of Estonia and Livonia, which would be in personal union with the Kingdom of Prussia.