page_title: Russian occupation of Eastern Galicia, 1914–15
section_title: Russian rule
hierarchical_section_title: Russian occupation of Eastern Galicia, 1914–15 / Russian rule
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Брусилов, Алексей Алексеевич(1853, Тифлис — 1926, Москва) — русский и советский военачальник и военный педагог, генерал от кавалерии и генерал-адъютант. Верховный главнокомандующий Русской армии (22 мая — 19 июля 1917), главный инспектор кавалерии РККА (1923). English: Brusilov, Aleksey Alekseyevich - Russian General (b.1853-d.1926)
context_page_description: 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.
context_section_description: In his first orders to the Russian troops crossing into eastern Galicia, General Aleksei Brusilov, commander of the Russian forces, proclaimed "We are entering Galicia, which despite its being a constituent part of Austria-Hungary, is a Russian land from time immemorial, populated, after all, by Russian people (russkim zhe narodom). The Russian commander-in-chief, Grand Duke Nicholas issued a manifesto portraying the people of Galicia as brothers who had "languished for centuries under a foreign yoke" and urging them to "raise the banner of United Russia."
  Initially, General Aleksei Brusilov and Army Chief of Staff Nikolai Ianushkevich played a large role in formulating Russian policies in eastern Galicia. The first governor General was Sergei Sheremetev. He cooperated closely with Poles loyal to Russia and pursued a pro-Polish policy that included the opening of Polish schools. This aroused the outrage of local Russophiles, who successfully pushed for his removal. Sheremetev's replacement, Count Georgiy Bobrinsky, would govern eastern Galicia for approximately nine months until the Russian retreat in June 1915.
  The Russian administration in Galicia was marked by tension between General Brusilov and Bobrinsky on the one hand, and local Galician Russophiles, the Russian Orthodox Church, and Russian extremists both within the local administration and from Russia itself on the other hand. While all of these groups saw the Russification and integration of Galicia with Russia as their ultimate goal, Brusilov and Bobrinsky wanted to avoid any disturbances immediately behind the Russian front, and thus sought to moderate Russian policies in order to prevent the possibility of insurrection. The latter groups, on the other hand, wanted to pursue Russification as quickly as possible. This conflict was reflected in the fact that Galician Russophile newspapers closed by the Austrians were only allowed to resume working after considerable delay: Bobrinsky's administration often censored them due to their perceived extremist or inflammatory writings.
caption: Aleksei Brusilov, Commander of Russian forces occupying Galicia
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