The Republic of Lithuania is situated on the east coast of the Baltic Sea but has a surprisingly short stretch of coastline.  Most of that coast has been pilfered by the tiny Russian enclave of Kaliningrad Oblast to the south.  Latvia lies to the north, Belarus to the east and Poland to the south.  The capital is Vilnius and the population hovers at around 3 million people.

The area was first settled about 12000 years ago by tribes heading north and following the retreat of the glaciers.  Our first documentary evidence of activity here doesn’t appear until the end of the first millennium AD and by 1253, King Mindaugas had united the country.  Following his death, Lithuania was targeted by Christian crusaders but still managed to expand rapidly – by the end of the 14th century modern day Belarus, Ukraine and parts of Poland and Russia were all part of Lithuania.

By the 15th century, Russia was beginning to exert its power in the region, forcing Lithuania and Poland to create the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1569.  The two countries already had close ties but Russia’s expansionist policies forced them onto a more organised footing.  During this period, Lithuania became increasingly culturally dominated by Poland but things were about to get worse. From the middle of the 17th century, war with Sweden was followed by the Great Northern War (involving many of the neighbouring countries) and then disease and famine resulting in the deaths of around 40% of the population.

Vilnius circa 1900

These events were the precursor to Russian domination in the region and by the end of the 18th century, much of Lithuania’s territory had been appropriated by Russia, Austria and Prussia.  In 1863, all of Lithuania came under Russian control and Russia attempted to culturally alter Lithuanian society.  Despite this, Lithuania retained its independent spirit and underground networks helped the cause although by 1914, another 20% of the population had emigrated, many to the United States.

The independent spirit still lived on however but by this time, Germany had become the occupying force.  At the end of the First World War, independence was declared but an area which included the capital, Vilnius, was occupied by the Polish army.  This remained the case until the beginning of the Second World War when Vilnius was returned to Lithuania.  In 1940 it was re-occupied by Russia and then Germany (when the former declared war on the latter).  Lithuania was the scene of the death of some 190,000 Jews at the hands of the Nazis.

Kaunas Jewish ghetto

At the end of the Second World War, Russia once again took control and it wasn’t until the Soviet glasnost in the late 1980s that the independence movement came to the fore again.  On 11th March 1990, Lithuania declared independence.  In the following months, the Soviet Union made several (sometimes violent) attempts to keep hold of Lithuania but when Iceland became the first country to recognise the state in February 1991, the writing was on the wall.  The collapse of the Soviet Union helped speed things along.

Lithuania is now a member of NATO and the European Union, a participant in the Schengen Agreement and the owner of a free market economy.