Lithuania
The largest and most populous of the Baltic states, Lithuania is
situated on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, in northeastern
Europe. It is bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the
southeast, Poland to the southwest, and Kaliningrad, a territory of
Russia, to the west. It has 60 miles of sandy coastline, of which
only 24 miles face the open Baltic Sea. Lithuania's major warm-water
port of Klaipeda lies at the narrow mouth of Kursiu Gulf, a shallow
lagoon extending south to Kaliningrad. The Nemunas River and some of
its tributaries are used for internal shipping. Situated between the
54th and 56th latitudes and the 20th and 27th longitudes, Lithuania
is glacially flat, except for the hills (of no more than 300 meters)
in the western and eastern highlands. The terrain is marked by
numerous small lakes and swamps, and a mixed forest zone covers 30%
of the country. According to some geographers, Lithuania's capital,
Vilnius, lies at the geographical center of Europe.
Lithuanians are neither Slavic nor Germanic, although the union with
Poland and the colonization by Germans and Russians has influenced
the culture and religious beliefs of Lithuania. This highly literate
society places strong emphasis upon education, which is free and
compulsory until age 16. Most Lithuanians and ethnic Poles belong to
the Roman Catholic Church; the Russian Orthodox Church is the
largest non-Catholic denomination.
In spite of several border changes, Soviet deportations, a massacre
of its Jewish population, and German and Polish repatriations, the
population of Lithuania has maintained a fairly stable percentage of
ethnic Lithuanians (from 79.3% in 1959 to 84.6% in 2007).
Lithuania's citizenship law and constitution meet international and
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
standards, guaranteeing universal human and civil rights.
The Lithuanian language still retains the original sound system and
morphological peculiarities of the prototypal Indo-European tongue
and, therefore, is fascinating for linguistic study. Between 400 and
600 AD, the Lithuanian and Latvian languages split from the Eastern
Baltic (Prussian) language group, which subsequently became extinct.
The first known written Lithuanian text dates from a hymnal
translation in 1545. Written with the Latin alphabet, Lithuanian has
been the official language of Lithuania since 1989. While Lithuania
was a member of the U.S.S.R., Russian was the official language, so
many Lithuanians speak Russian as a second language. The resident
Slavic populace generally speaks Russian or Polish as a first
language. |
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Between the 7th and 2nd centuries BC, Baltic tribes established
themselves on what is presently known as Lithuanian territory. These
tribes were made up of a distinct Indo-European ethnic group whose
descendents are the present-day Lithuanian and Latvian nations. The
name of Lithuania, however, did not appear in European records until
1009 AD, when it was mentioned in the German manuscript Annals of
Quedlinburg. During the period 1236-1263, Duke Mindaugas united the
various Baltic tribes and established the state of Lithuania, which
was better able to resist the eastward expansion of the Teutonic
Knights. In 1253, Mindaugas embraced Christianity for political
reasons and accepted the crown from the Pope of Rome, becoming the
first and only king in Lithuanian history.
After the assassination of Mindaugas and the ensuing civil war,
Grand Duke Gediminas took control of Lithuania. He reigned from 1316
to 1341, during which the long-term expansion of Lithuania into the
lands of the eastern Slavs began. He founded the modern capital city
of Vilnius and started the Gediminas dynasty, which ruled Lithuania
until 1572.
By the end of the 14th century, Lithuania was the largest country in
Europe, stretching from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea. In 1386,
Grand Duke Jogaila of Lithuania was crowned the King of Poland,
which intensified Lithuania's economic and cultural development and
oriented it toward the West. It was at this time that the people of
Lithuania embraced Christianity.
In 1401, the formal union between Poland and Lithuania was
dissolved. While Jogaila remained the King of Poland, his cousin
Grand Duke Vytautas became the ruler of Lithuania. In 1410, the
armies of Poland and Lithuania together defeated the Teutonic Order
in the Battle of Grunewald, the biggest battle of medieval Europe.
The 16th century witnessed a number of wars against the growing
Russian state over the Slavic lands ruled by Lithuania. Needing an
ally in those wars, Lithuania again united with Poland through The
Union of Lublin in 1569. As a member of this Commonwealth, Lithuania
retained its sovereignty and its institutions, including a separate
army and currency. In 1795, the joint state was dissolved by the
third Partition of the Commonwealth, which forfeited its lands to
Russia, Prussia, and Austria. Over 90% of Lithuania was incorporated
into the Russian Empire and the remainder into Prussia. Attempts to
restore independence in the uprisings of 1794, 1830-31, and 1863
were suppressed and followed by a tightened police regime and
increasing Russification, including the 1864 ban on printing
Lithuanian books in traditional Latin characters.
A market economy slowly developed with the abolition of serfdom in
1861. Lithuanian farmers grew stronger, and an increase in the
number of intellectuals of peasant origin led to the growth of a
Lithuanian national movement. In German-ruled East Prussia, also
called Lithuania Minor, or Kaliningrad, Lithuanian publications were
printed in large numbers and then smuggled into Russian-ruled
Lithuania. The ban on the Lithuanian press was lifted in 1904.
During World War I, the German Army occupied Lithuania, and the
occupation administration allowed a Lithuanian conference to convene
in Vilnius in September 1917. The conference adopted a resolution
demanding the restoration of an independent Lithuanian state and
elected the Lithuanian Council. On February 16, 1918, the council
declared Lithuania's independence. The Seimas (Parliament) of
Lithuania adopted a constitution on August 1, 1922 and declared
Lithuania a parliamentary republic.
The interwar period of independence gave birth to the development of
Lithuanian press, literature, music, arts, and theater as well as a
comprehensive system of education with Lithuanian as the language of
instruction. However, territorial disputes with Poland (over the
Vilnius region and the Suvalkai region) and with Germany (over the
Klaipëda region) preoccupied the foreign policy of the new state.
During the interwar period, the constitutional capital was Vilnius,
although the city itself was annexed by Poland from 1920 to 1939.
During this period the Lithuanian Government was relocated to
Kaunas, which officially held the status of temporary capital.
The German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact of 1939 first pulled Lithuania
into the German sphere of influence and then brought it under Soviet
domination. Soviet pressure and a complicated international
situation forced Lithuania to sign an agreement with the U.S.S.R. on
October 10, 1939. By means of this agreement, Lithuania was given
back the city of Vilnius and the part of the Vilnius region seized
by the Red Army during the Soviet-Polish war; in return, some 20,000
Soviet soldiers were deployed in Lithuania. On August 3, 1940,
Lithuania was proclaimed a Soviet Socialist Republic. Totalitarian
rule was established, Sovietization of the economy and culture
began, and Lithuanian state employees and public figures were
arrested and exiled to Russia. During the mass deportation campaign
of June 14-18, 1941, about 12,600 people were deported to Siberia
without investigation or trial, 3,600 people were imprisoned, and
more than 1,000 were killed.
Between 1940 and 1954, under the Nazi and then Soviet occupations,
Lithuania lost over 780,000 residents. In World War II, German
occupiers sent Lithuanians to forced labor camps in Germany. Almost
200,000, or 91%, of Lithuanian Jews were killed, one of the worst
death rates of the Holocaust. After the retreat of the Wehrmacht in
1944, Lithuania was re-occupied by the Soviet Union, and an
estimated 120,000 to 300,000 Lithuanians were either killed or
deported to Siberia and other remote parts of the Soviet Union.
Conversely, Soviet authorities encouraged the immigration to
Lithuania of other Soviet workers, especially Russians, as a way of
integrating Lithuania into the U.S.S.R.
With the advent of perestroika and glasnost, Gorbachev's programs of
social and political reforms in the late 1980s, communist rule
eroded. Lithuania, led by Sàjûdis, an anti-communist and anti-Soviet
independence movement, proclaimed its renewed independence on March
11, 1990 -- the first Soviet republic to do so. The Lithuanian
Supreme Soviet formed a new Cabinet of Ministers and adopted the
Provisional Fundamental Law of the State with a number of by-laws.
In response, on the night of January 13, 1991, the Red Army attacked
the Vilnius TV Tower, killing 14 civilians and injuring 700. Soviet
forces, however, were unsuccessful in suppressing Lithuania's
secession.
On February 4, 1991, Iceland became the first country to recognize
Lithuanian independence. Sweden was the first to open an embassy in
the country. The United States never recognized the Soviet claim to
Lithuania and views the present Lithuanian Government as the legal
continuation of the interwar republic. In July 2007, Lithuania
celebrated the 85th anniversary of continuous diplomatic relations
with the United States. Lithuania joined the United Nations on
September 17, 1991.
Despite Lithuania's achievement of complete independence, sizable
numbers of Russian forces remained on its territory. Withdrawal of
those forces was one of Lithuania's top foreign policy priorities.
On August 31, 1993, Lithuania and Russia signed an agreement whereby
the last Red Army troops left the country.
On May 31, 2001, Lithuania became the 141st member of the World
Trade Organization. Desiring closer ties with the West, Lithuania
became the first of the Baltic states to apply for membership in the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and on March 29, 2004, it
joined the Alliance. On May 1 of the same year, Lithuania also
joined the European Union.
Lithuania has been a staunch U.S. ally in the war on terror,
contributing to military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. In
Afghanistan, Lithuania has led a Provincial Reconstruction Team in
Ghor Province since 2005, and approximately 60 Lithuanian Special
Forces troops operate under NATO's International Security Assistance
Force (ISAF) in southern Afghanistan. In Iraq, Lithuania had an
infantry platoon serving in Multinational Division Center near Al
Kut until July 2008; and four trainers currently serve in the NATO
Training Mission-Iraq in Baghdad. Lithuania also participates in the
peacekeeping operations in Bosnia and Kosovo.
Similarly, Lithuania is a strong supporter of U.S. objectives in the
area of democracy promotion. Making this a high priority for its
foreign policy, Lithuania has provided development assistance and
advice to Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, and other Caucasus states.
Lithuania also actively supports democratization efforts in Belarus.
The Lithuanian economy has shown strong growth in recent years, as
Lithuania has actively pursued economic reforms. In 2007,
Lithuania's GDP increased by 8.9%. Large growth rates driven by
domestic consumption have made analysts talk about the potential for
overheating of the economy. Growth for 2008 is predicted to be
positive overall, between 3% and 5%, but Lithuania is likely to
enter a recessionary period in 2009. |
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