Halychyna!
Galicia! Galicja! Galizien! Gácsország!
My motherland - Homeland page

Historic land in Western Ukraine
of magnificent history and heritage.

by Roman Zakharii from Berezhany
of the very heart of Galicia

All its names: Galicia - English (adjective form: Galician, personal: Galician); Galicja - Polish (adj. Galicyjski/Galicyjska); Halychyna - Ukrainian (adj. Halytskyi/Halytska, pers. Halychnyn/Halychanka); Galiciya - Russian (adj. Galitskiy/Galitska. Pers. Galichanin/Galichanka); Galizia - Italian (adj. Galiziano. Pers. Galiziano/Galiziana), Gácsország - Hungarian (adj. Gacsi, pers.: Gacs); Galizien - German/Austrian (adj. Galizische, pers.: Galitzianer/Galitzianerin).

Halychyna [in Ukrainian] Galicia [in English], Gaszorszag [in Hungarian], Galitsiya [in Russian], Galizia [in Italian] or Galizien [in German] is Ruthenian (=Ukrainian) historic land in West Ukraine (present day oblasts of Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Ternopil). Name derives from the city of Halych (Latin name: Galic) which was the first capital of Galician principality. And name Galic itself derives from Ukrainian word "halka" meaning "crow" in English. That is why we have a crow on coat of arms of this land. Though there is other, version of the name (more truthful, on my opinion), that the name Halych - Galic (and from it Halychyna - Galizia) derives from Greek word "hals", which means "salt" in English. Byzantium and the Greeks had strong influence on these lands and it was from the Greeks that Galicia and Kyivan Rus were converted to the Greek Orthodoxy. The thing was that Halych was rich in "hals" - salt and from there salt being mined was exported to many faraway lands. Nowadays though there is no more salt mining in Halych and salt mining and Halych itself declined yet a long time ago. But during early medieval period salt was the main export product coming from Halych.

Galicia was formerly a crown land of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy (from 1772 until 1918) and before 1370 it was an independent and powerful medieval Ruthenian (Ukrainian) Kingdom with capital in Halych which was built by Prince Volodymyrko in 1140. Since then the name Halychyna was applied to whole land. Galician king Danylo took and ruled over Kyiv (Kiev) even. In 1264 Danylo's son king Lev moves capital to Lviv. In 1349 Poland won a battle against Galicia and it stopped to exist as independent state for a long time until 1918 when short lived West Ukrainian Republic with capital in Lviv was proclaimed but quickly taken by Poles. Former territories of Galicia are now shared between southern Poland and Western Ukraine, with most of Galicia in Ukraine and small minor part in Poland. Other names for the area are Galicja (in Polish. Adjective form: Galicyjski), Gácsország (in Hungarian. Adj.: Gacsi) and Galizia (in Italian. Adj.: Galiziano). In Ukrainian history this land was very often referred as Red Rus' (Chervona Rus) or Red Ruthenia. During Austrian times, Galicia extended from the Biala River (minor tributary of the Vistula) in the west to the Zbrucz / Zbruch, (tributary of the Dniester in the east). From the Carpathians in the south, the land drops off to the north, passing over the Sarmatian Plain. At its largest during Austrian period, Galicia comprised approximately 78,000 square kilometers.

Present day Galicia (central part). Map is in Russian from The Small Atlas of the USSR.
Click to enlarge

In 1152-87 Galicia was ruled by prince Iaroslav Osmomysl (Yaroslav Os'momysl). He expaneded the Galician principality to the Danube.  Hungarian king Bela III occupied Galicia in 1189 and  became "King of Halychyna". Galicia was ruled by Hungarians until Roman, prince of Volhynia managed to take it back. Roman started his rule in 1170 in Vohlynia. Vohlynia (Volyn/Vohlyn) was a principality north of Galicia. In 1199 Volyn (Volhynia) and Galicia were united under the rule of Prince Roman (of Smolensk) . In 1205 Prince Roman dies and the struggles for his legacy begin. In 1214, Boiaryn Volodyslav Kormylchych became Prince of Galicia. The political situation during his rule in Galicia was very unstable and Hungarians and Poles concluded Hungarian-Polish treaty regarding the government of Galicia in town of Spish. It was a time when firts Mongol invasion started and in 1223 Battle at the Kalko River, th first conflict with the Mongol-Tatars.

Shortly Volyn was united by the sons of Roman in 1227. Roman's son prince Danylo (Daniel / Danilo / Daniil) took Galician throne in 1238. The dominance of Halychyna by Prince Danylo was the greatest page in Galician History. In 1239 Kyiv (Kiev) was taken under the rule of Prince Danylo. 1239-42 Massive Mongol-Tatar invasion of Batia (1240 fall of Kyiv). 1245 Battle at Iaroslav (Jaroslaw). Danylo defeated Poles and Hungarian there and it was the end of the Hungarians-Polish kings in the struggle for Prince Roman's Legacy. 1250s Settlement of Lviv (Lemberg, Lwow) by Prince Danylo. Danylo named Lviv after his son Lev (Leo). In I253 Prince Danylo was coronated by a Papal Delegate. Great Danylo dies in 1264 and dark times start in Galician history. In 1259-60: Tatar campaigns (Byrynday) against Halychyna and Volyn. 1264- c. 1301 reighn of Lev I, son of Danylo. Lev moves capital of Galicia from Halych to Lviv/Lwow/Lvov/Lemberg (which was established by his father Danylo in 1250 and named after Lev's name).

Above: Modern Map of Western Ukraine, most of which is Galicia.
I have higlighted my hometown Berezhany with a green marker. Click the map to enlarge.

SEE MY NEW SITE: History of principality of Galicia and Volhynia in second half of 13th century
After battles for Lublin between Galicia and Poland in 1300s Lublin was annexed to Polish Kingdom. Galicia dominates Transcarpathia meanwhile.
1286 Devastation of Galicia and Volyn by the Tatars (Telebuha).
1292 Last of the Galicia-Volhynia Chronicles.
1300s: Yuriy I, "King of Rus', Prince of Volodymyr".
c. 1303: Beginnings of the Metropolitan in Halychyna (-1347).
1316: Union of Andrew and Lev, Princes "of all of Rus', Halychyna and Volodymyr" with Teutonic Princes.
1320s: Last of the descendents of Prince Roman. Boleslav Iuriy, Prince "of all Malo Rus'".
1330s: Marriage of Prince Yurij with the daughter of Gedymin (1331); campaign on the territories of Lublin (1337).
1339: Prince Yuri deeds the town of Sianok to German rule.
1340: † Yuriy-Boleslav. Boyaryn Dmytro Dedko -- "steward of the Rus' lands"; Liubart -- prince of Volyn.

1463: First citation of the Church Brotherhood (Uspensky in Lviv).
1490-92: Uprising against Poland in Galicia led by Mukha.
1538: Final transfer of Bukovyna/Bukowin (former Galician Land) to Turkish sovereingty, Moldovan commander Bohdan marches on Galicia.
1573: Ivan Fedorovych established a printing press in Lviv/Lwow, marking the beginning of printing in Ukraine.
1586: Lviv brotherhood maintains Stavropehian Laws.
1596: Union of Brest. Beginning of Religious struggles.
1648: Beginning of the  Ukraine's struggle for liberation from Poland by
Bohdan Khmelnytskiy (1648-57) and his failure.
Galicia was devasted by Khmelnytsky's Cossack Troops and Tatars.
1649 and 1651: Khmelnytsky's attempts at peace with Poland (Zboriv. and Bilotserk. agreements).

For more detailed info on medieval history of Galicia
at town level, see: History of Berezhany

The negotiations between the three powers, Russia, Prussia and Austria, over the first partition of Poland were concluded on August 5, 1772. The cession treaty between the last King of Poland and Empress Maria Theresia took effect on September 18, 1773. Austria received Galicia including the Zamosc (Zamosz) district, but excluding Cracow. In the course of the later Napoleonic wars, Zamosc was to be detached from Austria as a new duchy centered at Cracow was established. It was to be subsquently annexed by Austria in 1846. In 1775 Bukovyna (Bukowin) was conqured by Austria and became another Austrian province, separete from Galicia. On the 1st of September in 1774, the Empress issued the first settlement patent. The second settlement patent was issued on September 17, 1781, by Emperor Josef II which also allowed emigration of foreigners. This patent was supplemented by the Toleranzpatent of October 13, 1781, which proclaimed religious toleration for Protestants. In the years to come, thousands of German families emigrated into Galicia, mostly out of the Palatinate (Pfalz) and settled in newly-founded German communities or in the cities as craftsmen and artisans.

1744-64: Construction of St. George Cathedral in Lviv/Lwow/Lemberg (Rococo style).
1848: Annullment of Feudalism; Political Rebirth of Galicia.
1861: First railroad on Ukrainian territory in Galicia (Peremyshyl - Lviv).
1890: First Ukrainian Galician political party (1900 - Naddniapranska).

For more detailed info on History of Galicia in Austrian times
at town level see: Berezhany Genealogy Page

Map above: General map (in Russian) of Galicia (Western Ukraine),
including Transcarpathia, West Bukovyna and southern parts of Volyn on the north.
Click to enlarge.

Map above (in Russian): Southern part of Galicia (Ukrainian Carpathians mountaisn area). Bukovyna (Chernivtsi) region is to the right (yellow like color) and Transcarpathia (Uzhhorod) is to the left (blue like color). Click to enlarge

Western Ukrainian Republic fell and Eastern Galicia was annexed to Poland being divided into Lwow, Tarnopol and Stanislawow voivodships (area known as Malopolska in Polish, or Kleinpolen in German/ Little Poland in English) and this was confirmed by the Treaty of Riga of 1921, between the USSR and Poland, followed a truce concluded late in 1920. In these agreements Poland promised vast autonomy and rights for local Ukrainian population but in reality it came out to be the opposite. Ukrainians were trated as second class people in Polish state, being banned from state employment even. After the partition of spheres of influences in Poland and East Europe signed between Nazi Germany and the USSR (so called Molotov - Ribbentrop Pact), East Galicia (including Przemysl /Peremyshl) was occupied by Soviet troops on 17 th of September, 1939 (the date of "Unification of West and east Ukraine" according to Soviet historiography) and became part of Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (in the USSR then, now independent Ukraine) while minor part of West Galicia (Jaroslaw area) was a part of the provisional government of Warsaw. This division has remained to this day. Only Peremyshl area was given back to Poland the treaty was replaced in 1945 by a new Soviet-Polish border agreement. A large part of the Polish and German population of East Galicia was, following negotiations, resettled out of the Soviet area and into Poland. 1945 saw the end of the history of the settlement of Galicia by the so-called "Pfälzer Schwaben". Only a few remained, most of them having married into Polish or Ukrainian families and hoping to escape repression. Many who fled went to Germany and emigrated to the USA and Canada where their relatives had already begun to emigrate since the beginning of the 20th century. Poles populating Eastern Galicia were moved primarily to former Germany's Western Poland, in partucular to Wroclaw and all the Ukrainians  living in their native lands in Poland were moved to Ukraine (primarily ethnic Ukrainian group Lemky) and to the North of Poland (where they were not allowed to settle more than one family in the same village, in order to polonize them). This was a tragedy for Lemky people. The resettlememt operation was called "Vistula". During the II World War Galicia was place of fighting of UPA (Ukrainian Insurgent Army, which faught aginst Soviets/Germans and Poles for Ukrainian Independence) formed in 1942. "Galicia" (Galizien) German SS division was formed in 1943 out of local Ukrainian Galician population. With the start of German Nazi occupation of Soviet Galicia in 1941, it was included into the Reich's General Gouvernement (under the Nazi-era occupation goverment of Poland), unlike Eastern Ukraine which was formed into a separate Reichskommisariat Ukraine. Hitler thought Ukrainians should get no preferential treatment and personally appointed Erich Koch to rule Reichskommissariat Ukraine (eastern Ukraine) with an iron fist.

Koch, as a member of the superior German Herrenvolk master race, started a reign
of terror and oppression in East Ukraine. Koch often said that the Ukrainian people
were inferior to the Germans, that Ukrainians were half-monkeys, and that
Ukrainians "must be handled with the whip like the negroes." He once said that "no
German soldiers would die for these niggers [Ukrainians]." Unlike Eeastern Ukrainians, Hitler palnned to germanize the Galicians. That is why Galicia was included into Reich itself, unlike Eastern Ukraine.

1943-44: Red Army fights ro regain Eastern Galicia. Emmigration starts.
Eastern Galicia regained by Red Army and agan incorporated in the USSR's Soviet Ukraine. Western Galicia remained part of Poland.
8/24/1991: Verkhovna Rada adopts a resolution proclaiming Ukraine's independence.
12/1/1991: Ukraine becomes an independent nation;
Firts President Leonid Makarovych Kravchuk (who comes from Volhynia, former Galician Kingdom Lands) elected (1991-1994). Eastern Galicia becomes part in the independent Ukraine. Meanwhile minor parts of Western Galicia (Chelm - Jaroslav - Przemysl areas) remain in Poland, forming newly created Polish provinces Podkarapckie and Malopolskie Wjowodstwos, since Polish authorities did not find it proper to give a true Ukrainian name of "Galicja" to those Ukrainian areas in Poland, which they found as "non historic" and forcefully applied by Austrians to that territory of Poland.

Map above (in Russian): Eastern part of Galicia, namely Ternopil region with river Zbruch on the East. Zbruch was the eastern border of Galicia and Austria since it was also a border between Russian and Austrian Empires. Now river Zbruch is administrative border between Ternopil and Khmelnytsky (former Proskuriv/Proskurov) regions of Ukraine. Click to enlarge.