The Austrian Empire lost West Galicia to the Duchy of Warsaw in 1809, following its defeat by Napoleon [1] After the failed Kościuszko Uprising of 1794, Emperor Francis II of Habsburg agreed with Empress Catherine II of Russia to again divide and thereby completely abolish the remaining Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, a decision which Prussia joined on 24 October 1795.

The Habsburg Monarchy then occupied the entirety of Lesser Poland, stretching along the upper Vistula river to the outskirts of Praga and Warsaw, the tributaries of the Bug and the Pilica forming the northern border with New East Prussia.

Despite the archduke's plans to move in as a national liberator, he was challenged by the forces of Prince Józef Poniatowski at the Battle of Raszyn.

Austria was finally defeated at the Battle of Wagram on 6 July, whereafter New Galicia was attached to the Duchy of Warsaw by the Treaty of Schönbrunn.

With the Final Act of the Vienna Congress in 1815, the territory became part of Congress Poland, ruled in personal union by Emperor Alexander I of Russia, while Kraków nominally retained its independence as the Free City of Kraków.