Russian occupation of Eastern Galicia, 1914–15

Russian occupation of Eastern Galicia, 1914–1915. On August 18, 1914, the Imperial Russian Army invaded the Austrian Crownland of Galicia. On August 19, Russian troops defeated the Austro-Hungarian Army, advanced 280–300 kilometers into Austrian territory and captured most of eastern Galicia. The principal city, Lemberg, fell into Russian hands on September 3. Eastern Galicia had a population of approximately 4.8 million people

Greek Catholic Ukrainians made up approximately 65% of the population of Eastern Galicia while Poles made up 22% of the population. It was the last large Eastern Slavic territory and the last historic part of the medieval state of Kievan Rus to fall under Romanov rule. The Russian Empire controlled and administered this territory from September 1914 until June 1915. Throughout the occupation, the Tsarist officials pursued a policy of integrating Galicia with the Russian Empire, forcibly Russifying local Ukrainians, and persecuting both Jews and Byzantine Catholics.

The territory of eastern Galicia had once been an integral part of the medieval state of Kievan Rus before existing as an independent kingdom and principality until 1349. From the mid 14th century until 1772 it had been ruled by Poland. Following the First Partition of Poland in 1772 it became a part of the Austrian Empire (see Austrian partition). The Austrian government emancipated the Ukrainian peasants from serfdom, introduced a rudimantary educational system, and raised the status of Ukrainian Catholic priests in a way that made them equal to Roman Catholic priests. These reforms insured the loyalty of most of the Ukrainian population to the Austrian state. When the Austrian Empire was reorganized as Austria–Hungary eastern Galicia continued to be under Austria's jurisdiction and remained this way until the Empire's collapse following World War I.

...
Wikipedia