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The Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Galicia and Lodomeria, or simply Galicia is a secondary constituent of the Austro-Hungarian Empire within lands of Austrian Empire, also known as Cislethania. It is bordered by Hungary to the south, Romania to the southeast, Ukraine to the east, Poland to the north, Bohemia to the west, and Germany to the northwest.

History[]

Early History[]

The Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria has been a part of Austria since the First Partition of Poland in 1772. Initially just another province of the Habsburg Empire, its status changed in 1860. A regional Sejm (diet) was established, and the country gained a great extent of autonomy. This, combined with acknowledging Polish as an official language on the same terms as German, allowed the Polish population to organise itself and create an illusion of independence.

The Great War[]

During the Weltkrieg the Polish population of Galicia would attempt to use the occasion to restore an independent Polish state with the most important of these actions being the creation of Polish Legions under Józef Piłsudski and the Supreme National Comittee unifying the various political forces of Galicia. For a time it seemed like a real possibility with Wilhelm II and Franz Joseph I announcing their decision to create a "Self-Governing" Polish Kingdom on 5th November 1916. However, few truly believed the Central Powers' mere "declarations" and most recieved the news of various projects rather coldly all the more due to a string of false moves made by both Austria and Germany.

After three years of war and with little to nothing concrete gained, the Poles were mobilising to force the Central Powers to give them more concessions. Among other things this culminated in the events of 28 May, 1917 when the Polish Parlimentary Group (made up of Polish representatives of the Austrian Imperial Council, the Austrian House of Lords and the Galician Sejm) would uninamously pass a declaration demanding the creation of a fully independent Polish state consisting of all ethnically Polish lands and with access to the sea. The news of this declaration quickly spread across Poland and was even officially read out and explained by the Polish representatives in the Imperial Council.

The Austrian government, which tried to prevent this declaration from ever happening in the first place, quickly decided more decisive measures were needed. After a few weeks, conservative representatives, particularly in the House of Lords, would start to claim that they were pressured into voting for this declaration by the massive crowds of patriotic Poles gathered in Kraków during the sessions of the Polish Parlimentary Group. Yet despite attempts of the conservatives to try to reactivate the Supreme National Comitee (a de facto Polish government in Galicia which had lost most of its influence and members in the last years of the war due to the dominance of Austrophilic Conservatives), their motions were defeated by the Interparty Union created by the parties supporting the Declaration of the 28th May. The intense conflict caused the fall of the president of the Polish Parlimentary Group but neither side had enough representatives to claim the chair for themselves resulting in the reelection of the old president.

But the worst was yet to came - following the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Poles particularly in Galicia went up in arms protesting what many called the "fourth partition". A wave of strikes and various manifestations sweeped Galicia with the region coming to a complete standstill, eventually forcing Austria to withdraw from the treaty and from agreeing to divide Galicia based on ethnicity. By this point relations between Austria and the Poles were at their worst and both sides did not stay idle in the conflict. Acting Vice-Regent Governor-General Karl Georg Huyn would even send out secret instructions which outlined actions to be taken against the "All-Polish Propaganda" and ideas "aimed against the monarchy, the dynasty and its allies" so that the unrest could be contained.

Post War[]

Despite popular support, Karl Stephan von Habsburg was rejected as a candidate for the Polish throne and the Austrian government, which had long been opposed to the union of Galicia and Poland, had the justification to finally bury such plans. The people of Galicia would then have to return their attention to their own lands which next to Bukovina were the only occupied parts of Austria-Hungary and still were severly devastated by the horrors of the war.

Politics[]

Military[]

Galicia and Lodomeria is under the military authority of the Imperial and Royal Army of Austria-Hungary and the Imperial-Royal Landwehr of Austrian Empire.

The crown prince of Austria, Archduke Otto von Habsburg, currently serves as Lieutenant of the k.u.k. Ulanenregiment „Ritter von Brudermann“ Nr. 1, which is stationed in Galicia and Lodomeria.

Foreign Relations[]

As a lesser part of Austria-Hungary it does not have the ability to conduct diplomacy on its own and instead is represented by Austrian Empire.

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