User:Ajh1492/PK

Privislyansky Krai (Привислянский Край, Kraj Przywiślański) was the name applied for the lands of the former Kingdom of Poland (Congress Poland). It is sometimes referred to as Vistula Land or Vistula Country.



The territory was a namestnichestvo until 1875 and later Governorate General.

History
The 1867 reform, initiated after the failure of the January Uprising, was designed to tie the Congress Kingdom more tightly to the administration structure of the Russian Empire. It divided larger governorates into smaller ones and introduced a new lower level entity, gminas. In the 1880s, the official language was changed to Russian and Polish was banned both from the office and education. A minor reform of 1893 transferred some territory from the Płock and Łomża Governorates to Warsaw Governorate. The 1912 reform created a new governorate - Chełm Governorate - from parts of the Siedlce and Lublin Governorates. However this was split off from the Privislinsky Krai and made part of the Southwestern Krai of the Russian Empire.

During World War I, in 1915 the area was occupied by the Central Powers who proposed the Kingdom of Poland (1916–1918). In 1915 during World War I the Krai was looted and abandoned by the retreating Russian army, trying to emulate the scorched earth policy of 1812; the Russians also evicted and deported hundreds of thousands of its inhabitants suspected of collaborating with the enemy.

Government
The office of namestnik was never officially abolished; however, after the January 1863 Uprising it disappeared along with the Kingdom. The last namestnik was Friedrich Wilhelm Rembert von Berg, who served from 1863 to his death in 1874. No namestnik was named to replace him; however, the role of namestnik—viceroy of the former Kingdom passed to the Governor-General of Warsaw —or, to be more specific, of the Warsaw Military District (Warszawski Okręg Wojskowy, Варшавский Военный Округ). However, in the internal correspondence of Russian Imperial offices this functionary was still called namestnik.

The governor-general answered directly to the Tsar and exercised much broader powers than had the namestnik. 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.

Viceroys of the Kingdom of Poland

 * Friedrich Wilhelm Rembert von Berg (1863–74)

Governors-general of Warsaw

 * Count Paul Demetrius Kotzebue (1874–80)
 * Pyotr Albedinsky (1880–83)
 * Joseph Vladimirovich Gourko (1883–94)
 * Pavel Andreyevich Shuvalov (1894–1896)
 * Alexander Imeretinsky (1896–1900)
 * Mikhail Chertkov (1900–05)
 * Konstantin Maximovich (1905)
 * Georgi Skalon (1905–14)
 * Yakov Zhilinskiy (1914)
 * Pavel Yengalychev (1914–1915)

Administrative Divisions
The 1867 reform, initiated after the failure of the January Uprising divided larger governorates into smaller ones. A new lower level entity, gmina, was introduced. This time 10 governorates were formed:

A minor reform of 1893 transferred some territory from the Płock and Łomża Governorates to Warsaw Governorate.

The 1912 reform created a new governorate - Kholm Governorate - from parts of the Sedlets and Lublin Governorates. However this was split off and made part of the Southwestern Krai of the Russian Empire.