Lithuania

Lithuania is a modern, democratic country that is a member of the European Union and NATO. The country is known for its beautiful natural scenery, rich cultural heritage, and welcoming people.

 

HISTORY

An entry dated March 9, 1009 in the annals of the monastery of Quedlinburg (in modern Germany) is an important historical record that provides evidence of the existence of Lithuania in the early 11th century.  The entry mentions the name "Litua" in reference to a peace treaty that was signed between the Holy Roman Emperor Henry II and a pagan tribe known as the "Litwani" or "Lithuanians". This is the earliest known written record of the name Lithuania, and it provides important insight into the early history of the region.

At the time, Lithuania was a pagan state that was still in the process of consolidating its power in the region. 

In 1219, twenty-one Lithuanian dukes signed a peace treaty with Galicia–Volhynia – the first proof that the Baltic tribes were uniting.

After continuous warfare with two Christian orders, the Livonian Order and the Teutonic Knights, the Lithuanian lands were united in the 1230s by Mindaugas, the King of Lithuania. The first unified Lithuanian state, the Kingdom of Lithuania, was created on July 6, 1253.

Lithuania State Day is a national holiday observed on July 6. On this day, Lithuanians honor the coronation of Mindaugas.

In 1261, Mindaugas broke the peace with the Livonian Order, and his assassination two years later by Treniota ended the early Christian kingdom in Lithuania.

King Mindaugas was the only King Lithuania has ever had. For most of the middle ages its ruler was a Grand Duke.

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a pagan empire for the next 120 years, fighting against the Teutonic and Livonian Orders during the Northern Crusades.

During the 14th century, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was the largest country in Europe; present-day Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, and parts of Poland and Russia were the territories of the Grand Duchy.

The Christianization of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania took place in 1387. It was initiated by the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Władysław II Jagiełło and his cousin Vytautas and signified the official adoption of Christianity by Lithuanians, the last pagan nation in Europe.

The Gollub War was a two-month war of the Teutonic Knights against the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It ended with the signing the Treaty of Melno, which was signed on September 27, 1422. The treaty established the Prussian–Lithuanian border, which afterwards remained unchanged for about 500 years.

Monument commemorating the treaty By Margoz

The Lithuanian Civil War of 1431–1435 was a conflict over the succession to the throne of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, after Vytautas the Great died in 1430 without leaving an heir.

The first printed Lithuanian-language book, The Simple Words of Catechism (Katekizmas prastu kalba), was compiled by Protestant pastor and published on January 8, 1547. It was primarily a religious text aimed at educating Lithuanians about the basics of Christianity, including prayers, the Ten Commandments, and the Apostles' Creed.

The first Lithuanian printed book Catechism of Martynas Mažvydas (1547, Königsberg)

Lithuania was taken over by the Russian Empire in 1795.

Realizing that the Russification of Lithuania was not working, the Russian Empire lifted in 1904 the 40-year-old ban on publications using the Lithuanian language.

Twenty Lithuanian men signed the Act of Independence of Lithuania on February 16, 1918. After Lithuania lost its independence during World War II, six of the surviving signatories were sent to prison or executed by the Soviet government, and six others went into exile.

The original 20 members of the Council of Lithuania after signing the Act of Independence of Lithuania, 16 February 1918. Owned by Lietuvos nacionalinis muziejus (National Museum of Lithuania), CC BY-SA 2.5, Wikipedia Commons

On June 16, 1940, Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union. This marked the beginning of Soviet control over the country and the incorporation of Lithuania into the Soviet Union as a constituent republic. The occupation was carried out under the pretext of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, a non-aggression treaty between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany that included secret protocols dividing Eastern Europe into spheres of influence.

During the Nazi occupation from 1941 to 1944, Lithuania fell under German control as part of the wider German-occupied territories in Europe during World War II. This period was marked by repressive policies, persecution, and the Holocaust, resulting in the extermination of a significant portion of the country's Jewish population.

Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara signed transit visas in Lithuania for more than 6,000 Jews in 1940. He wrote visas for 18-20 hours every day, continuing to sign them through the window of a train and throw them into the crowd as he fled Lithuania.

Of the approximately 220,000 Jews who lived in the Republic of Lithuania in June 1941, almost all were entirely annihilated during the Holocaust. The community numbered about 4,000 at the end of 2009.

Lithuanian Jews and a German Wehrmacht soldier during the Holocaust in Lithuania. By Bundesarchiv, 

Following the defeat of Nazi Germany, Lithuania was once again occupied by the Soviet Union in 1944. The Soviet control over the country continued until 1990 when Lithuania, along with other Baltic states, regained its independence as the Soviet Union began to dissolve.

On March 11, 1990, a year before the formal dissolution of the Soviet Union, Lithuania became the first Soviet republic to declare itself independent. The move followed months of political and social upheaval in the country, as Lithuanians grew increasingly dissatisfied with Soviet rule and began calling for greater autonomy.

The declaration of independence marked the beginning of the country's journey towards becoming a fully independent nation once again. The move was met with a strong response from the Soviet Union, which initially refused to recognize Lithuania's independence and attempted to use military force to prevent the secession.

However, the Lithuanian people remained steadfast in their determination to achieve independence, and over the course of the next year, several other Soviet republics followed Lithuania's lead and declared their own independence. In December 1991, the Soviet Union officially dissolved, and Lithuania became a fully independent nation once again.

The flag of Lithuania was first used in Lithuania's first period of independence (in the 20th century) from 1918 to 1940. It was re-adopted on March 20, 1989, a year before the re-establishment of Lithuania's independence.

The colors of the Lithuanian flag are yellow (at the top), for The Sun, green (in the middle), for the fields, and red (at the bottom), for the blood of Lithuanians fighting for its independence.

Lithuania became the 19th member of the Eurozone on January 1, 2015.

FUN LITHUANIA FACTS

In Lithuania, Midsummer Day (June 24) is a public holiday.

After a re-estimation of the boundaries of the continent of Europe in 1989, Jean-George Affholder, a scientist at the Institut Géographique National determined that the Geographic Centre of Europe is located in Lithuania, specifically 16 miles (26 kms) north of its capital city, Vilnius.

The Geographic Centre of Europe is in Lithuania. By Wojsyl 

There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 0.2 million abroad.

Of all languages spoken today, Lithuanian is the closest to ancient Sanskrit.

Lithuanian is believed to be the linguistically most conservative living Indo-European tongue, retaining many archaic features otherwise found only in ancient languages such as Sanskrit or Ancient Greek.

As per the 2011 census, 77.2% of Lithuanians belonged to the Roman Catholic Church. The Church has been the majority denomination since the Christianisation of Lithuania at the end of the 14th century.

Lithuania ranked first as of October 30, 2011 in the world by the internet upload speed and download speed. The high speeds are largely due to the fact that Lithuania has Europe's most available FTTH network. According to a study published by the FTTH Council Europe,  by 2013 the country had connected 100% of households to the FTTH network.

Lithuania was the first country to introduce Local Breakout (LBO) technology offering cheap mobile internet for travelers which allows to avoid big data roaming charges.

Lithuania is the only country in the world with its own official scent called, appropriately enough, the Scent Of Lithuania.

Basketball is the national sport of Lithuania. The Lithuania national basketball team has won the EuroBasket on three occasions (1937, 1939 and 2003), as well a total of 8 other medals in the Eurobasket, the World Championships and the Olympic Games.

Source Daily Express