Page 66 - The Baltic Capitals & St. Petersburg

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years that the university was founded, Lithuanian literature experienced a renaissance, and
Baroque palaces and churches were constructed throughout Vilnius.

With the outbreak of the Livonian War in 1558, Poland and Lithuania became embroiled in the
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language, but as a Grand Duchy, Lithuania continued to keep its own laws, army, and treasury.

Russian Rule and Early Independence

Unfortunately for the Commonwealth, their territories and wealth did not go unnoticed by
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Commonwealth was weakened enough that Russia simply partitioned it. Lithuania was now
reduced from a partner to a subordinate, and a rebellious one at that. When Napoleon’s troops
attacked Russia in 1812 they were enthusiastically supported, and when the Polish revolted in
1830 the Lithuanians were with them. In an attempt to divide-and-conquer, Russia began to
crack down on all aspects of Polish heritage in Lithuania—books could only be printed using
the Cyrillic alphabet, Polish was not allowed to be spoken, Catholic churches were closed and
replaced with Russian orthodox ones.

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Latvia or Estonia, Lithuania initially declared independence from Germany, not Russia, as it
was occupied during the war. After Germany surrendered to the Allies, Poland was eager to
re-unite with Lithuania, or at least re-claim Vilnius. Russia was equally eager to recapture the
entire country. Soon a tug-of-war broke out, and as a result Vilnius and a small surrounding
area was ceded to Poland, but the rest of the country was prey to the Russian army. In an
attempt to stem Russia’s possible control of the rest of Lithuania, the local government staged
a coup d’etat in 1926 and installed an authoritarian leader, Antans Smetona, who would
remain in power until 1940.

World War II and the Soviet Era

In 1939 Russia and Germany secretly signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which divided
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to go to the Germans, but was later re-assigned to the Russia sphere. As the war escalated,
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the advancing German line. With the German conquest of Poland and the arrival of 150,000
Russian soldiers in 1940, Lithuania became the front line between the two giant powers.
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before peace was declared. Afterwards it was absorbed into the USSR.

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Brothers” began rebelling against the Soviets as early as 1944. Sadly, this only seemed to
result in a particularly oppressive retaliation—between 1944 and 1952 over 29,923 families

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