 On March 8 and April 12, 1918 the local Baltic German-dominated Land Council of Courland and the United Land Council of Livonia, Estonia, Riga and Ösel had declared themselves independent states, known as the Duchy of Courland and the Baltic State ("Baltischer Staat"), respectively.Both states proclaimed themselves to be in personal union with Prussia, although the German government never responded and acknowledged that claim.The Baltic lands were nominally recognized as a sovereign state by Kaiser Wilhelm II on September 22, 1918, half a year after the newly Soviet Russia had formally relinquished all authority over its former Imperial Baltic provinces in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.