ULMANIS, KARL ), Latvian statesman, first prime minister and organizer of the independent republic of Latvia. Born Sept. 4, 1877, in Zemgale (Courland). He is an agronomist. He also studied agriculture in Germany and the United States of America, and, before Latvia became an inde pendent State, he gave many lectures in Latvia on agricultural questions. He was an active supporter of the movement to liberate the Latvian people from Russian and German domination. After the Allied victory of 1918, when Latvia was still occupied by German military forces, he organized all political parties in Latvia around the Democratic block, which later in the same year, united with other political organizations of Latvian refugees in Russia, became the Latvian National Council. On behalf of this national council and in the name of the Latvian nation, the independence of Latvia was proclaimed on Nov. 18, 1918, and K. Ulmanis was appointed first prime minister of the interim Latvian Government. Under his leadership the young State waged its fight for freedom against the Russian Bolshevists and the combined German and Russian irregular forces, i.e., the Bermondt army.
After the Latvian army's complete victory, K. Ulmanis led his country until the Constituent Assembly was elected and gave the country a Constitution. Peace was concluded with Russia and Germany, and the young State concentrated all its force on the reconstruction and building up of the administration.
Ulmanis was prime minister from Nov. 18, 1918, to June 18, 1921, when a Coalition Government was formed by his party colleague, Z. Meierovics. He was again prime minister from Dec. 24, 1925, to May 5, 1926; from March 1931 to Dec. 1932, and from May 1934. In Apr. 1936 he became president also.
He is leader of the strongest bourgeois party in the parliament, the Farmers' Union, is a member of the Latvian parliament, and, notwithstanding the fact that he has a strong opposition in the left wing political parties, is still considered the most popular and strongest political figure in Latvia.