Duchy of Courland and Semigallia (1918)

Duchy of Courland and Semigallia
Herzogtum Kurland und Semgallen  (German) Kurzemes un Zemgales hercogiste  (Latvian)
Client state of the German Empire
1918
Flag Coat of arms
Shown in red on the Baltic coast on this map of East European states resulting from the collapse of the Russian Empire, late 1918
Capital		Riga
Languages		German · Latviana
Religion		Lutheranism Roman Catholicism Russian Orthodoxy
Government		Monarchy
Historical era		World War I
•	Treaty of Brest-Litovsk	3 March 1918
•	Recognised by Kaiser Wilhelm	8 March 1918
•	Baltic Union establishedb	22 September 1918
•	Latvia established	18 November 1918
Currency		Ostmark Ostruble Papiermark Ruble
Preceded by Succeeded by Courland Governorate Ober Ost Republic of Latvia (1918)
a.	Also Livonian and Latgalian.
b.	The Duchy of Courland was absorbed on September 22, 1918 by the United Baltic Duchy. Neither state, however, had any recognition other than by the German Empire.

The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia was briefly a client state of the German Empire. It was proclaimed on 8 March 1918, in the German-occupied Courland Governorate by a Landesrat composed of Baltic Germans, who offered the crown of the once-autonomous Duchy to Kaiser Wilhelm II, despite the existence of a formerly sovereign reigning family in that duchy, the Biron descendents of Ernst Johann von Biron. Although the German Reichstag supported national self-determination for the Baltic peoples, the German High Command continued the policy of attaching the Baltic to the Reich by relying on Baltic Germans.

In October 1918, the Chancellor of Germany Prince Maximilian of Baden proposed to have the military administration in the Baltic replaced by civilian authority. After the German Revolution on 18 November 1918, Latvia proclaimed independence and on 7 December, the German military handed over authority to the Latvian national government headed by Kārlis Ulmanis.

During World War I, the German Army had occupied the Courland Governorate of the Russian Empire by the autumn of 1915. A front was established along a line stretched between Riga, Daugavpils and Baranovitch.