The proposed ideas for the new state included the creation of a Duchy of Courland and Semigallia, and of a Duchy of Estonia and Livonia, which would be in personal union with the Kingdom of Prussia.[3] Some historians have claimed that the state received formal recognition from the German Empire,[citation needed] however Germany was defeated, the Emperor Wilhelm II abdicated, the Empire capitulated, and the World War ended just a few weeks later, in November 1918, making the planned German Baltic client state irrelevant as well.
As a parallel political movement under the German military administration, Baltic Germans began forming provincial councils between September 1917 and March 1918.
On 8 March 1918, the local Baltic German-dominated Kurländischer Landesrat declared the restoration of Duchy of Courland (Herzogtum Kurland), which was formally recognised by German Emperor Wilhelm II on 15 March 1918.
On 12 April 1918, a newly created "(United) Assembly of Baltic Lands" (Baltische Landesrat), composed of 35 Baltic Germans, 13 Estonians, and 11 Latvians, passed a resolution calling upon the German Emperor to recognise the Baltic provinces as a monarchy, and to make them a German protectorate.[7] The Assembly decided to beg the King of Prussia and Emperor of Germany Kaiser to accept the throne of the "Grand Duchy of Livonia"[8]
The new state was to have its capital in Riga and was to be a confederation of seven cantons: Kurland (Courland), Riga, Lettgallen (Latgale), Südlivland (South Livonia), Nordlivland (North Livonia), Ösel (Saaremaa) and Estland (Estonia), the first four cantons correspondings to today's Latvia and the last three corresponding to today's Estonia.
The first head of state of the United Baltic Duchy was to be Duke Adolf Friedrich of Mecklenburg, not as a sovereign monarch, but as a subordinate to the German Kaiser, similar to other princes or kings of the German Empire. However, Adolf Friedrich never assumed office. The appointed Regency Council, consisting of four Baltic Germans, three Estonians and three Latvians, functioned until 28 November 1918 without any international recognition (except from Germany[citation needed]).
In October 1918, the Chancellor of Germany, Prince Maximilian of Baden, proposed to have the military administration in the Baltic replaced by civilian authority. The new policy was stated in a telegram from the German Foreign Office to the military administration of the Baltic: "The government of the Reich is unanimous in respect of the fundamental change in our policy towards the Baltic countries, namely that in the first instance policy is to be made with the Baltic peoples".[4]
On 18 November 1918, Latvia proclaimed its independence. August Winnig, the last representative of the German government, signed an agreement with representatives of the Estonian Provisional Government on handing over power in Estonian territory on 19 November.[9] In Latvia, the German military authorities formally handed over power to the Latvian national government, headed by Kārlis Ulmanis on 7 December 1918.[4]
The Baltic nations of Estonia and Latvia were established as republics.
↑ Latvian Legation in the United States of America (1942). Latvia in 1939–1942: Background, Bolshevik and Nazi Occupation, Hopes for Future. Press Bureau of the Latvian Legation, 1942. p.15. Retrieved 2015-06-30. The... Latvian National Council was constituted on the basis of the law of self-government granted to Latvia on July 5, 1917, by Prince Lvov, head of the Russia Provisional Government.
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