The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia[a] was the name for a proposed client state of the German Empire during World War I which did not come into existence.

It was proclaimed on 8 March 1918, in the German-occupied Courland Governorate by a council composed of Baltic Germans, who offered the crown of the once-autonomous duchy to Kaiser Wilhelm II, despite the existence of a formerly sovereign reigning family in that duchy, the Biron descendants of Ernst Johann von Biron[citation needed].

[1] In October 1918, the Chancellor of Germany, Prince Maximilian of Baden, proposed to have the military administration in the Baltic replaced by civilian authority.

In October 1918, the Chancellor of Germany Prince Maximilian of Baden proposed to have the military administration in the Baltic replaced by civilian authority.

On 7 December 1918, the German Military handed over authority to the Latvian national government headed by Kārlis Ulmanis.