Michael Moser:
Ausbau, Aufklärung und Emanzipation
Abstract:
When traditionally multicultural and multilingual Galicia was annexed by the Habsburg Empire in 1772, Polish culture, with Polish and partly Latin as its linguistic media, clearly predominated in the area. Galicia proper, i. e. Eastern Galicia or roughly Galicia to the east of the river San, had been part of the Polish Kingdom since the 14th century. The Ruthenians (Ukrainians) were the “autochthonous” ethnic group of Eastern Galicia and constituted the majority of its population, especially in the rural areas. After the unsuccessful Polish revolution of 1830/1, Polish revolutionaries strove to mobilize the Ruthenians for the restoration of a Polish state.