History facts
01 07 2013 - 31 12 2013 Lithuania presides over the EU for the first time.
2009 Lithuania marks its Millennium.
2009 Vilnius: the European Capital of Culture.
2004 Lithuania became member of the EU and NATO.
1993 Last troops of the Soviet Army left Lithuania.
1991 Lithuania became member of the United Nations.
On 11 March 1990 Lithuania declared the restoration of its independence.
On 3 June 1988 the Reform Movement of Lithuania (Lietuvos persitvarkymo sąjūdis) was established, which led the struggle for independence from the occupation of the USSR.
It was during the first years following the reestablishment of Lithuania’s independence that it became clear that acting together, the Baltic States could achieve more. On 23 August 1989 the Baltic Road, which united almost two million of Lithuanians, Latvians, and Estonians, extended from Vilnius to Tallinn. This unique human chain, which stretched for over 600 km and was devoted for the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, called the world’s attention to the 50 year long occupation of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.
During 1944-1953, an armed resistance movement fought against the Soviet occupation in the woods of Lithuania. Members of this partisan movement believed that they could stop the occupation, the forced collectivisation, and mass persecutions and deportations. During 1940-1953, around 250,000 Lithuanians were imprisoned or deported to Siberia and other remote areas of the USSR.
During the second half of 1944, the Soviet Army occupied the Republic of Lithuania for the second time.
1941-1944 marked the period of the occupation by the Nazi Germany. During that period, around 94% of the Lithuanian Jews were killed.
In 1940, the Soviet Union occupied and annexed the Republic of Lithuania, calling it the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic.
On 16 February 1918, the Council of Lithuania signed the Act of Independence of Lithuania.
During 1864-1904, the Tsarist Russia imposed a ban on all the Lithuanian language publications and the Latin alphabet.
In 1831 and in 1863, rebellions broke out, which expressed the opposition of the societies of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth against the occupation of the Russian Empire. The major aim of both rebellions was to break free from the Russian occupation.
In 1795, after the third partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the greater part of Lithuania was incorporated into the composition of the Russian Empire.
On 3 May 1791, a Constitution of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was adopted. This Constitution is recognised as Europe’s first and the world’s second modern codified national constitution.
In 1602, Pope Clement VIII named March 4 as the feast of St. Casimir, Prince of Poland and Lithuania (1458-1484). In 1613, he was declared Patron Saint of Lithuania.
In 1588, the Third Statute of Lithuania was adopted, which was in force until the destruction of the state at the end of the 18th century, while some of its articles were in effect even in the Russian Empire for as long as until 1840.
In 1579, Vilnius University was established. For two centuries, Vilnius University was the easternmost European university (the University of Tartu was established in the middle of the 17th century, and Moscow University, in the middle of the 18th century).
There have been numerous outstanding personalities among the alumni of Vilnius University: Kazimierz Siemienowicz (Kazimieras Simonavičius), pioneer of rocketry and famous artillery engineer (c. 1600 - c. 1651), prominent poets Adam Mickiewicz (Adomas Mickevičius, 1798-1855) and Czesław Miłosz (Česlovas Milošas, 1911-2004), and many others.
In 1569, Lithuania and Poland signed the Union of Lublin and created a single state, the Republic of the Two Nations.
In 1529, the First Statute of Lithuania came into force, which codified the customary laws and other legal norms of that period.
On 15 July 1410, the Polish and Lithuanian armies, led by Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas the Great and Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland Władysław Jagiełło, decisively defeated the State of the Teutonic Knights, which had threatened Lithuania’s statehood for as long as two centuries, in the Battle of Grunwald.
In 1387 Lithuania, the last pagan state in Europe, officially adopted Christianity.
In 1386, Grand Duke of Lithuania Jogaila was crowned King of Poland Władysław Jagiełło in Krakow, and the personal union between Poland and Lithuania was created.
In 1323, in his letters, Grand Duke of Lithuania Gediminas first mentioned Vilnius, which later on became capital of Lithuania.
“That is why we ask you to read out this letter to the people in cities, villages, and other places wherever you happen to preach. Also, if there will be among them knights or henchmen, we will bestow them proceeds of land as much as they would wish; for merchants, blacksmiths, wheelwrights, cannon makers, cobblers, and any other craftsmen with their wives, children, and cattle we grant the right to freely come to our land and leave it without any levy, charge, nor any other hindrance” (From Gediminas’s letter of 26 May 1323, addressed to the Dominicans).
On 6 July 1253, the date of coronation of King of Lithuania Mindaugas, generally considered the founder of the Lithuanian state and the first leader to unite the Balts, the state of Lithuania appeared on the map of the world.
In 1251 King of Lithuania Mindaugas was baptised as a Roman Catholic; however, following his death in 1263, Lithuania returned to paganism.
In 1009 the name of Lithuania was first mentioned in the Quedlinburg Annals.
“[In 1009] St. Bruno, alias Bonifacius, archbishop and monk, on the eleventh year of his conversion, smitten to head by pagans on the Russian-Lithuanian border, together with 18 of his brethren ascended to heaven on 9 March” (Quedlinburg Annals, c. 1009).