Vilnius province is one of the pages of Russian history

Vilnius province with a population exceeding one and a half million people, and once part of the Russian Empire as an independent administrative-territorial unit, became the property of history. Today its territory is divided between Belarus and Lithuania, and the main city of Vilna, changing the name, has turned into a well-known Vilnius.

Gubernia, formed by the decree of Catherine II

After the uprising of the Poles led by Kosciuszko ended in 1794, the Polish-Lithuanian state was finally liquidated. A year later, Russia, Austria and Prussia signed an agreement under which each of them withdrew part of the territory of the rebellious Rech Pospolita. This act went down in history under the title "The Third Section of Poland".

According to the signed document, the Russian Empire received land belonging to the east of the Bug and bordered by the Grodno-Nemirov line, the total area of which was one hundred twenty thousand square kilometers. A year later, by the order of the Empress Catherine II, the Vilna province was formed on them, the center of which was the city of Vilna (present-day Vilnius).

The subsequent transformation of Vilnius province

From the day of its formation, the province was divided into eleven districts: Shavelsky, Troki, Rossien, Kovensky, Vilkomirsky, Braslav, Upitsky, Telshevsky, Oshmyansky, Zavileysky and Vilensky. However, Paul I, who took the throne in 1796, began his reign with a number of administrative and territorial reforms that touched, in particular, the newly formed province.

According to his decree of December 12, 1796, Vilnius province was united with the Slonim governorship, as a result of which the Lithuanian province appeared on the map of Russia those years, the administrative center of which was still the city of Vilna.

This newly established administrative-territorial formation lasted only five years and after the accession to the throne of Alexander I was again divided into previously constituted independent territories. The former Slonim province was henceforth called Grodno, and the Vilna province until 1840 was called the Lithuanian-Vilnius province.

The last pre-revolutionary redistribution of the province

The last time the Vilna province of the Russian Empire changed its outline on the map in 1843, during the reign of Nicholas I. Seven of its former counties - Novoaleksandrovsky, Vilkomirsky, Shavelsky, Kovensky, Rossiensky, Tselchevsky and Panevezhsky - were separated into an independent subject of the federation and formed the Kovno Province.

Thus, its dimensions were significantly reduced, and until its abolition in 1920, the Vilna province consisted of the Troki, Oshmyansky, Sventsyansky and Vilna districts. They were also joined by those belonging to the Grodno and Minsk provinces of Disna, Vileika, and Lida counties.

Number and composition of the population of the province

In 1897, a general census was carried out in Russia, the results of which make it possible to judge who in those years the Vilna province was inhabited. The list of populated places in which the registration of the residing persons was conducted covers all of its territory at the end of the 19th century.

According to the surviving data, the total population was 1 591 308 people, of which Belarusians were 52.2%, Lithuanians - 13.7%, Jews - 17.1%, Poles - 12.4% and Russians only 4.7%. It is also known the ratio of population groups according to their religion. Most of them were Catholics - 58.7%, followed by Orthodox - 27.8%, the Jews were about 12.8%. So or so it looked in the last decades of the XIX century Vilnius province.

The nobility, as well as a significant number of ordinary citizens who lived on its territory, did not accept the revolution and during the Civil War provided support to the White Guard movement, thus placing themselves in the position of opponents of Soviet power. However, they could not significantly influence the course of history.

Abolition of the province and division of its territory

In 1920, after the end of the armed conflict between Russia, Belarus, as well as Ukraine on the one hand, and Poland on the other, a peace treaty was concluded. On the basis of this document, signed on March 18, 1921 in Riga, Vilnius province ceased to exist as an independent administrative-territorial unit.

The last points over i were placed in October 1939, when, ignoring the opinion of the Belarusian government, the leadership of the Soviet Union, the city of Vilna, as well as the Vilna region, were handed over to Lithuania for a period of fifteen years. This treaty also provided for the right to enter a 20,000-strong contingent of Soviet troops into the territory of Lithuania. Since then, becoming the capital of the Republic of Lithuania, which later became part of the USSR, the city changed its former name to Vilnius.