The Lublin Military Government: Austria-Hungary’s “Utilisation” of Poland in the First World War Cover Image

Das Militärgeneralgouvernement Lublin: Die "Nutzbarmachung" Polens durch Österreich-Ungarn im Ersten Weltkrieg
The Lublin Military Government: Austria-Hungary’s “Utilisation” of Poland in the First World War

Author(s): Stephan Lehnstaedt
Subject(s): Agriculture, Economic history, Military history, Political history, Government/Political systems, Pre-WW I & WW I (1900 -1919)
Published by: Verlag Herder-Institut
Keywords: The Lublin Military Government; Austria-Hungary’s “Utilisation” of Poland; First World War;

Summary/Abstract: During the First World War it was not only Germany that played an active role as an occupying power, but also Austria-Hungary. Thus, for example, from 1915 onwards the Central Powers shared hegemony over the occupied Kingdom of Poland, with Germany occupying the north west with the capital, Warsaw, while the Dual Monarchy set up a military government in Lublin in the more agricultural south east. The present text examines the “utilisation” of this part of Poland by Austria-Hungary. In contrast to the few existing studies, this paper comes to the conclusion that the occupation cannot in any sense be regarded as having been bearable for the population, let alone to their advantage. The most that may be said is that political considerations and the agricultural nature of the area preserved it from demographic and economic catastrophe. But even this did not happen intentionally, but was rather the result of inefficiency with which an orderly and efficient exploitation of the country was pursued – a policy, which in any case would have been impossible to implement successfully due to a lack of language skills and empathy. Altogether, in spite of enormous efforts and the use of a large number of staff, the economic utilisation of the area achieved only a very small measure of success. Be that as it may, as an occupying power, Austria-Hungary was able to win the battle of public opinion in comparison with Germany. Vienna successfully propagated the “myth of the benevolent occupier”. The structural differences within Poland clearly worked in favour of the Dual Monarchy: with Warsaw and Lodz the Germans had two major cities to take care of, in which hunger and unemployment rapidly arose, whereas in the agricultural region of Lublin a sizeable proportion of the population were able to provide for themselves. Nevertheless the military authorities in Lublin found the task of administering Poland beyond their capacities, which led to a constant fluctuation in the level of cooperation on the part of the local population – something which had consequences in other political areas. This process was entirely guided by self-interest, the Dual Monarchy had not the least interest in gaining the support of the Poles. As the exploitation of agriculture shows, Austria-Hungary abolished self-administration – although this was only possible by the use of force – as soon as it failed to produce the desired results. Seen in this light, the proclamation (together with the Germans) of the Kingdom of Poland in 1916 proved to be a piece of unfulfilable propaganda.

  • Issue Year: 61/2012
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 1-26
  • Page Count: 6
  • Language: German