| The Austrian Partition | |
|---|---|
| The Commonwealth | |
 ThePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1772 | |
| Elimination | |
 The three partitions of thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. TheRussian Partition (pink and brown), the Austrian Partition (green), and thePrussian Partition (blue) | |
TheAustrian Partition (Polish:zabór austriacki) comprises the former territories of thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth acquired by theHabsburg monarchy during thePartitions of Poland in the late 18th century. The threepartitions were conducted jointly by theRussian Empire, theKingdom of Prussia and the Habsburg monarchy (subsequently,Habsburg Austria), resulting in the completeelimination of thePolish Crown. Austria acquired Polish lands during theFirst Partition of 1772, andThird Partition of Poland in 1795.[1] In the end, the Austrian sector encompassed the second-largest share of the Commonwealth's population after Russia;[note 1] over 2.65 million people living on 128,900 km2 (49,800 sq mi) of land constituting the formerly south-central part of the Republic.[3]
The territories acquired byAustrian Empire (later theAustro-Hungarian Empire) during theFirst Partition included the PolishDuchy of Zator andDuchy of Oświęcim, as well as part ofLesser Poland with the counties of Kraków, Sandomierz and Galicia, less the city of Kraków. In theThird Partition, the annexed lands included so called "Western Galicia": northern Lesser Poland (voivodeships of Lublin and Sandomierz) and southern Masovia. Major historical events of the Austrian Partition included: the formation of the NapoleonicDuchy of Warsaw in 1807, which was followed by the 1809Austro-Polish War aided by the French, and the victoriousBattle of Raszyn resulting in Austriantemporary defeat (1809) marked by the recapture ofKraków andLwów by the Duchy. However, the fall of Napoleon, leading to abolition of the Duchy at theCongress of Vienna (1815) allowed Austria to regain control. TheCongress created theFree City of Kraków protectorate ofAustria,Prussia andRussia, which lasted for a decade. It was abolished by Austria, after the crushing ofKraków Uprising in 1846. The formation of thePolish Legions byPiłsudski initially to fight alongside theAustro-Hungarian Army,[4] helped Polandregain its sovereignty inaftermath of World War I.
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For most of the 19th century, the Austrian government made few or no concessions to their Polish constituents,[5] their attitude being that a "patriot was a traitor – unless he was a patriot for the[Austrian] Emperor."[6] However, by the early 20th century – just before the outbreak of World War I and the collapse of Austria-Hungary – out of the three partitions, the Austrian one had the most local autonomy.[7] The local government called the Governorate Commission (Polish:Komisja Gubernialna) had considerable influence locally,Polish was accepted as the official regional language on Polish soil, and used in schools; Polish organizations had some freedom to operate, and Polish parties could formally participate in Austro-Hungarian politics of the empire.[7]
Austria-Hungary also de facto encouraged (the flourishing[8]) Ukrainian organizations as a "divide and rule" tactic.[9][10] This led to accusations by Poles that "Austria-Hungary had invented Ukrainians".[10] Ukrainians maintained schools (from elementary to higher levels)[note 2] and newspapers[note 3] in theUkrainian language.[8][12] After 1848 Ukrainians also moved into Austrian politics with their own political parties.[8] Austria-Hungary gave Ukrainians more rights than Ukrainians living in theRussian Empire.[13] Decades after it had ceased to exist its former Ukrainian citizens had positive emotions about Austria-Hungary.[13]
On the other hand, economically, Galicia was rather backward, and universally regarded as the poorest of the three partitions.[7] There was much corruption during the elections, and the region was seen by the Viennese government as the low priority for investment and development.[7] It was a vast, but constantly struggling region with inefficient agriculture and little industry. In 1900, 60% of the village population (age 12 and over) could not read or write.[7] Education was obligatory until the age of 12, but this requirement was often ignored.[7] Between the years 1850 and 1914 it is estimated that about 1 million people from Galicia (mostly Poles) emigrated to United States.[7] "Galician poverty" and "Galician misery" to this day have survived in Polish as expressions of hopelessness (adage:bieda galicyjska ornędza galicyjska).[7][14]
The Austrian Empire divided the former territories of the Commonwealth it obtained into:
Two important and major cities of the Austrian partition wereKraków (German:Krakau) andLwów (German:Lemberg).
In the first partition, Austria received the largest share of the formerly Polish population, and the second largest land share (83,000 square kilometres (32,000 sq mi) and over 2.65 million people). Austria did not participate in the second partition, and in the third, it received 47,000 square kilometres (18,000 sq mi) with 1.2 million people. Overall, Austria gained about 18 percent of the former Commonwealth territory (130,000 square kilometres (50,000 sq mi)) and about 32 percent of the population (3.85 million people).[15] From the geographical perspective, much of the Austrian partition corresponded to theGalicia region.
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