Russian Partition - Administrative Division

Administrative Division

The Russian Empire divided the former territories of the Commonwealth it obtained (Rech Pospolitaya in Russian) by creating or enlarging the following guberniyas (Tsarist governorates, or provinces).

• Belarus Governorate (Belorussian Gubernya, 1802) divided into Vitebsk and Mogilev Gubernya
• Bratslav Governorate (or Bratslav uyezd, see Podolia Governorate)
• Chernigov Governorate
• Izyaslav Governorate
• Yekaterinoslav Governorate/Novorossiya Governorate (1764)
• Kiev Governorate (1708)
• Lithuania Governorate (1795), later split into Lithuania-Grodno Governorate and Lithuania-Vilna Governorate, the last one later split into Vilna and Kovno Governorates
• Minsk Governorate (1793)
• Mogilev Governorate (1772)
• Podolia Governorate (1773)
• Polotsk Governorate
• Pskov Governorate
• Slonim Governorate (1795) (several months after creation connected to Lithuania Governorate in and split off from it in 1801 as Lithuania-Grodno Governorate)
• Volhynia Governorate (1793)

After the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the Russian Empire created a separate entity called Congress Poland out of some of the above governorates. See administrative division of Congress Poland for details. Territories in the Russian partition which were not incorporated into Congress Poland were officially known as the Western Krai, and in Poland as the taken lands (Polish: ziemie zabrane).

The Western Krai comprised the following lands of the Commonwealth:

• From the first partition of Poland (1772): Polish Inflants (Latgale), the northern part of the Polotsk Voivodeship, the entire Mstsislaw Voivodeship and Vitebsk Voivodeships, and the southeastern part of the Minsk Voivodeship (about 92,000 km²)
• From the second partition of Poland (1793): the remaining part of the Minsk Voivodeship, the entire Kiev Voivodeship, Bracław Voivodeship and Vilnius Voivodeships, parts of Podole Voivodeship and eastern parts of the Wołyń Voivodeship and Brest Litovsk Voivodeships (about 250,000 km²)
• From the third partition of Poland (1795): all the territories east of the Bug River(about 120,000. km²) and after 1807 the Belostok Oblast)

It consisted of 9 guberniyas: six Belarusian and Lithuanian ones that constituted the Northwestern Krai (Vilna Governorate, Kovno Governorate, Grodno Governorate, Minsk Governorate, Mogilev Governorate and Vitebsk Governorate) and three Ukrainian ones that constituted the Southwestern Krai (Volhynia Governorate, Podolia Governorate and Kiev Governorate).

In the first partition, Russia gained 92,000 km² and 1.3 million people. In the second, 250,000 km² and 1 million people. In the third, 120,000 km² and 1.2 million people. Overall, Russia had gained about 62 percent of the former Commonwealth territory (462,000 km²) and about 45 percent of the population (3.5 million people). The Russian partition was thus the largest and most populous of the three partitions (the other two being the Austrian Partition and the Prussian Partition).

For changes in the administrative division of Russian partition in the 19th century, see administrative division of Congress Poland.

During World War I (1914–1918), many of the territories were occupied by the Central Powers (primarily, German Empire) and came to be administered by the Ober Ost.