Government-General of Warsaw and Lublin

After driving the Russians out in the summer of 1915 the Central Powers divided the Kingdom of Poland. The German Government-General of Warsaw, created by a decree of Wilhelm II of 24 August 1915, took the northern part of the country with Warsaw and Łódź; Hans von Beseler was appointed Governor-General on 4 September. The Suwałki region went to Ober Ost. The Austro-Hungarian government-general, seated first at Kielce and from October 1915 at Lublin, took the Lublin, Kielce and Radom provinces. Its governors-general were in turn Erich von Diller, Karl Kuk, Stanisław Szeptycki and Anton Lipošćak.

The occupiers requisitioned food and raw materials, carried off machinery and recruited workers for Germany, but allowed Polish schools. In the name of both emperors the governors-general proclaimed the Act of 5 November 1916, then set up the Provisional Council of State and the Regency Council, to which they gradually handed over the courts and schools. The Austrians handed power in the Lublin zone to the Regency Council in October 1918, and the German government-general ceased to exist on 11 November 1918.