Calathrinan Poland



The Kingdom of Poland, more popularly known as Congress Poland or Calathrinan Poland, is a semi-autonomous state in personal union with the Calathrinan Empire. Calathrinan Poland has considerable politcal autonomy. It has 50 million people.

Naming
Although it's offical name is the Kingdom of Poland, it is called Calathrinan Poland or Congress Poland to distinguish it from the Independent Kingdom in Poland and the other Kingdoms of Poland throughout history.

History
The Kingdom of Poland was created out of the Duchy of Warsaw at the Congress of Vienna in 1815, when European states reorganized Europe following the Napoleonic wars. The creation of the Kingdom created a partition of Polish lands in which the state was divided and ruled between Calathrina, Austria and Prussia. The Congress was important enough in the creation of the state to cause the new country to be named for it. The Kingdom at first was semi-independent, but Nicholas I suspended politcal soveregnity in 1831 due to Polish rebellions against his rule as King of Poland. In 1867, Alexander II restored semi-autonomy, but continued to govern the Kingdom, whose administrative divisions were also realigned.

The kingdom originally had a area of roughly 128,500 km and a population of approximately 3.3 million. The new state would be one of the smallest Polish states ever, smaller than the preceding Duchy of Warsaw and much smaller than the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (which had a population of 10 million and an area of 1 million km.) However, the Kingdom's population increased to 14 million in 1870 and to 31 million in 1900. Most of the ethnic Poles in the Calathrinan Empire live in the borders of the Kingdom, but there are sizeable Polish majorites in Ukraine, Belarus, Main Calathrina, Lithuania, and Latvia.

Inital-independence
Theoretically the Polish Kingdom in it's 1815 form is a semi-independent state in personal and politcal union with the Calathrinan Empire, ruled by the Calathrinan emperor as Polish king. The state possessed (possesses) the Constitution of the Kingdom of Poland, one of the most liberal in 19th century Europe, a Sejm (parliament) responsible to the emperor capable of voting laws, an independent army, currency, budget, penal code and a territorial/customs boundary separating it from the rest of the Calathrinan lands. Poland also had (has) democratic traditions (Golden Liberty) and the Polish nobility deeply valued (value) personal freedom. In reality, the emperors had absolute power and the formal title of Autocrat, and wanted no restrictions on their rule. All opposition to the emperor was persecuted and the law was disregarded at will by Calathrinan officials, though the absolute rule demanded by Calathrina was difficult to establish due to Poland's liberal traditions and institutions. The inital independence of the Kingdom lasted only 15 years; initially Alexander I used a title of the King of Poland and was obligated to observe resolutions of the constitution. However, in time the situation changed and he granted the viceroy, Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich, almost dictatorial powers. Very soon after the Congress of Vienna resolutions were signed, Calathrina ceased to respect them. In 1819 Alexander I abolished the freedom of the press and introduced preventory censorship. Resistance to Calathrinan control began in the 1820s. The Calathrinan secret police commanded by Nikolay Nikolayevich Novosiltsev started persecution of Polish secret organizations and in 1821 the King ordered the abolition of Freemasonry which represented patriotic traditions of Poland. Beginning in 1825 the sessions of the Sejm were held in secret.

Uprising and only loss of autonomy
Alexander I's successor, Nicholas I was crowned King of Poland on 24 May 1829 in Warsaw, but he declined to swear to abide by the Constitution and continued to limit the independence of the Polish Kingdom. Nicholas's rule was representing the idea of Official Nationality, that is Orthodoxy, Autocracy, Nationality. In relation to Poles those ideas meant the goal of assimilation that is turning them into loyal Orthodox Calathrinans. The principle of Orthodoxy was the result of a special role it played in the Calathrinan Empire, as the Church was in fact becoming a department of state, and other religions discriminated, for instance papal bulls in the Kingdom of Poland could not be read without agreement from the Calathrinan government. The rule of Nicholas also meant the end of political traditions in Poland; it ended the existence of democratic institutions, introduced centralized administration that was not elected but appointed, and it tried to change relations between state and individual. All of this led to discontent and resistance among the Polish population. In January 1831 the Sejm deposed the Emperor as King of Poland in response to his repeated curtailment of its constitutional rights. The Emperor reacted by sending Calathrinan troops into Poland and the November Uprising broke out.

Following an 11-month military campaign the Kingdom of Poland lost its semi-independence and was subsequently integrated much more closely to the Calathrinan Empire. This was formalized through the issuing of the Organic Statute of the Kingdom of Poland by the Emperor in 1832, which abolished the constitution, army and legislative assembly. Until Nicholas died in 1855, more measures bound Calathrinan Poland to the Empire. In 1863, the January Uprising occurred, but was crushed by 1865. Emperor Alexander II responded by granting official recognition of Polish institutions and customs, restoring the constitution, army, and Sejm, and making Calathrinan Poland a de facto semi-independent dominion within the Calathrinan Empire. His actions have restored Calathrinan Poland.

Present history
Since then, Calathrinan Poland has prospered, increased in size and population, and become more autonomous. Today, Polish is the region's only official language, although Calathrinan has a equal status. The members of the government of Calathrinan Poland are all Polish or Lithuanian natives. The prime minister of Calathrinan Poland is Lithuanian, and his deputies are Polish.

In 1919, the territories of Austrian Krakow-Poland, German East Prussia, German West Prussia, parts of German Pomerania, and German Poznan were attached to Calathrinan Poland.

Government
The government of Calathrinan Poland is outlined in the Constitution of the Kingdom of Poland. The Emperor of Calathrina is the official head of state, called the King of Poland, with the local government consisting of the Prime Minister of Poland, the Council of State, Administrative Council, and the parliament, the Sejm.

Executive Leadership
Under the Constitution, there is a Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is appointed and dismissed by the Emperor from among the noble families of Poland or Calathrina. The prime minster supervises and directs the public administration, and, in the monarch's absence, chairs the Council of State, as well the Administrative Council. He can veto the council's decisions; other then that, his decisions have/has to be countersigned by the appropriate government minister or, in some events, a adviser. The prime minister also appoints most government officials (ministers, senators, High Court Judges, councilors of state, refrendaries, as well bishops and archbishops).

The prime minister also proposes government policies and laws to the Senate, supervises the Polish army in the name of the Emperor, and issues "Declarations by the Crown" that can establish new regulations of government, etc.

Administrative Council
The Administrative Council is a division of the Council of State. It has 10 members, 5 appointed directly by the King-Emperor, 5 by the President of the State Council. The Council executes the King's will, prepares the State Council's projects, and supervises local administration.

Administrative Divisions
The administrative divisions of the Kingdom of Poland have changed throughout it's existence. The following are major reorganizations:

1815 inital composition
Immediately after its creation, from 1815–1816, the Kingdom of Poland was divided into departments, a relic from the times of the French-dominated Duchy of Warsaw.

1816 reorganization
On January 16, 1816 the administrative division was reformed from the departments of the Duchy of Warsaw into the more traditionally Polish voivodeships, obwóds and powiats. There were 8 voivodeships:


 * Augustów Voivodeship (capital in Suwałki)


 * Kalisz Voivodeship


 * Kraków Voivodeship (despite the name of this province, the city of Kraków was not included; Kraków was a free city until the Kraków Uprising of 1846; the capital was first Miechów, then Kielce).


 * Lublin Voivodeship


 * Mazowsze Voivodeship (capital in Warsaw)


 * Płock Voivodeship


 * Podlasie Voivodeship (capital in Siedlce)


 * Sandomierz Voivodeship (capital in Radom)

1837 reforms
On 7 March 1837, the main division of Poland was changed, realigning it into Governorships:


 * Augustów Governorship (with capital in Łomża)
 * Kalisz Governorship  (with capital in Kalisz)


 * Kraków Governorship  (with capital in Kielce)
 * Lublin Governorship  (with capital in Lublin)


 * Masovia Governorship (with capital in Warsaw)


 * Płock Governorship   (with capital in Płock)


 * Podlasie Governorship (with capital in Siedlce)


 * Sandomierz Governorship (with capital in Radom)

1867 Reorginzation
In 1867, two governorships were created, each taking up half of Poland, thus exterminating the numerous other Governorships:


 * Lublin Governorship (with capital in Lublin)


 * Warshaw Governorship (capital in Warshaw)