freedom to operate, and Polish parties could formally participate in Austro-Hungarian politics of the empire. Austria-Hungary also de facto encouraged (the flourishing) Ukrainian organizations as a divide and rule tactic. This led to accusations by Poles that "Austria-Hungary had invented Ukrainians". Ukrainians maintained schools (from elementary to higher levels) and newspapers in the Ukrainian language. After 1848 Ukrainians also moved into Austrian politics with their own political parties. Austria-Hungary gave Ukrainians more rights than Ukrainians living in the Russian Empire. Decades after it had ceased to exist its former Ukrainian citizens had positive emotions about Austria-Hungary. Economy On the other hand, economically, Galicia was rather backward, and universally regarded as the poorest of the three partitions. There was much corruption during the elections, and the region was seen by the Viennese government as the low priority for investment and development. It was a vast, but constantly struggling region with inefficient agriculture and little industry. In 1900, 60% of the village population (age 12 and over) could not read or write. Education was obligatory until the age of 12, but this requirement was often ignored. Between the years 1850 and 1914 it is estimated that about 1 million people from Galicia (mostly Poles) emigrated to United States. Poverty in Austrian Galicia to this day has survived in Polish as an expression of hopelessness (adage: or ). Administrative division The Austrian Empire divided the former territories of the Commonwealth it obtained into: Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria – from 1772 to 1918. West Galicia – from 1795 to 1809 Free City of Kraków – from 1815 to 1846 Two important and major cities of the Austrian partition were Kraków (German: ) and Lwów (German: ). In the first partition, Austria received the largest share of the formerly Polish population, and the second largest land share (83,000 km² and over 2.65 million people). Austria did not participate in the second partition, and in the third, it received 47,000 km² with 1.2 million people. Overall, Austria gained about 18 percent of the former Commonwealth territory (130,000 km²) and about 32 percent of the population (3.85 million people). From the geographical perspective, much of the Austrian partition corresponded to the Galicia region. See also History of Poland (1795–1918) Notes References Further reading Norman Davies: God's Playground, p. 102-119: GALICIA: The Austrian Partition (1773–1918) History of Poland (1795–1918) Partitions of Poland 1772 establishments in the Habsburg