LITHUANIAN HISTORY

Made by Ugnius Bieliūnas

 PAGAN ROOTS
• Baltic tribes were among the
oldest inhabitants in Europe and
Lithuanians were the last ones to
be christianized. These tribes
acted as seperate entities, except
the Lithuanians, who united two
of these tribes.
 CHRISTIANIZATION
• The conquest and conversion of the
Baltic began after the crusaders in the
Holy Land lost Jerusalem and their
eyes were set on the last pagan areas
in Europe. The first crusaders to
arrive were the Livonian Order and
later the Teutonic Order. They raided
pagan lands from their arrival in 1202
until their defeat in 1410.
• In 1236, after the battle of
Saulė (The Sun), the Livonians
suffered a major defeat and
merged with their southern
counterparts.
• Over the years, up to a million balts
died from the endless crusader
warfare. The turning point was the
taking of Kaunas, a castle and a
city, 60 miles from the capital
Kernavė, Lithuanians started to
contenplate their defeat was a
matter of time.
• In 1386, the Polish nobility invited
Grand Duke Jogaila to become their
king, but on one condition- that he
and his people became christians.
Jogaila agreed and the next year the
official Christianization of Lithuania
took place.
 CRUSHING THE ORDER

• Right after the Christianization, the

military might of the Teutonic Order
started to fade. They no longer
received support from Western
Europe. The military balance
quickly shifted, and in 1410 the joint
forces of Lithuanians and Poles
defeated the order entirely in the
battle of Žalgiris (Grunwald)
 RULERS

MINDAUGAS GEDIMINAS
ALGIRDAS VYTAUTAS
KĘSTUTIS JOGAILA
GDL
UNION WITH POLAND

• Unofficialy, the union began in

1385, when Jogaila took the
Polish throne and with the Union
of Lublin in 1569, a real union
was formed between GDL and the
Polish Kingdom, leading to the
Republic of the Two Nations
(Polish-Lithuanian
Commonwealth)
 PARTITIONS

• There were 3 partitions of Poland-

Lithuania, in 1772, 1793 and 1795.
The Russian Empire took the eastern
part of the Commonwealth, Austria
took the southern part and Prussia
took the western part. Neither nation
protested, because of the powerful
nations surrounding them.
FIRST INDEPENDACE

• After World War I, Lithuania

became free after Germany
forced the Russian gorverment to
let go of previously conquered
territories. Lithuania at this time
was the smallest it ever was,
losing Vilnius to Poland and
Klaipėda (Memel) to Germany.
 OCCUPATION

• As the Soviet Union was building

buffer states between Moscow and its
enemies, it occupied the Baltic states in
1940 and the eastern half of Poland. But
in 1941, Germany advanced into the
Union, shattering Stalin‘s dreams of a
great nation. In 5 years, Lithuania
changed hands 3 times.
 ANNEXATION
• As the second World War came to an end, the Soviets
annexed Lithuania. This time, Lithuanians knew what
was coming and were prepared to fight.
 FIGHT FOR FREEDOM

• The resistance started as soon as the Soviets

entered Lithuania in 1944 and lasted until
1953. The partisans were supported by the
CIA, MI6 and SÄPO. Lithuania was
sectioned and let by partisan chiefs. At first,
the Partisans fought open battles and only
later took to guerilla warfare. Out of 50,000
partisans, 21,000 were killed and 20,00
were arrested.
BALTIC WAY

• This was a peaceful political

demonstration that occurred on
23 August 1989.
Approximately two million
people joined their hands to
form a human chain spanning
420 miles across the three
Baltic states.
 DECLARATION OF INDEPENDANCE

• Sąjūdis, created in 1988, was the first such

organisation in the USSR, though not even
being a political party, were voted for elections.
The result was the FIRST ever post-war, non-
communist gorverment in the Eastern Bloc.
And on the 11th of March, 1990, this party
issued the declaration of independece,
strangely, the Soviets did not protest, but were
preparing for something worse.
 FREEDOM AT A PRICE

• After the declaration of independence,

all the products from the Eastern Bloc
were cut, no food, no clothes, no gas,
no fuel. The closest point was Belarus,
people went there for supplies in troves.
THE EVENTS OF JANUARY

• Soviets, suddenly losing their control

of Lithuania decided to launch an
operation to overthrow the newly
formed gorverment, thus began „The
Events of January“.
 RESTORATION

• After the Soviet forces pulled back, Lithuania

began to rebuild. Lithuania tooks its time, but
did so efficiently, first creating currency of its
own: Talonai or stamps. After that, the
country took years to recover and then
changed the currency to Litas in 1993, which
was the currency until 2015. People were
handed „vouchers“ for buying out property,
since noone had much money at the time,
everyone got the same ammount.
SEEKING ALLIES

• In April of 1993, a partnership

with the Pennsylvania National
Guard was established. Lithuania
applied for NATO and EU
memberships in 1994, but wasn‘t
accepted until 2004. The country
had a difficult transition to
satisfy the requirements.
 BECOMING A BALTIC POWER

• After fully recovering,

Lithuania has grown to the
largest Baltic power, having
nearly the same economy of
Latvia and Estonia combined,
the largest military of the three
and the largest population of 3
million.
LITHUANIA‘S IRON LADY

• Dalia Grybauskaitė, the fifth president of

Lithuania, served two terms in a row. Being the
only female president, who Donald Trump pushed
other people out of the way to talk with. In addition
to her native Lithuanian, she is fluent in English,
Russian and Polish, and also speaks French.
Grybauskaitė has a black belt in karate.
NATIONAL HOLIDAYS
 DAY OF STATE RESTORATION

• Celebrated on the 16th of

February, this holiday is
Lithuania's National Day
and marks the act of
independence from Germany
in 1918.
DAY OF INDEPENDENCE
RESTORATION

• Celebrated on the 11th of

March, it marks Lithuanian
independence from the Soviet
Union in 1990.
 STATEHOOD DAY

• Celebrated on the 6th of July to

commemorate the coronation
of Mindaugas as the only King
of Lithuania
ANTHEM AROUND THE WORLD
LITHUANIAN HEROES
DARIUS AND GIRĖNAS
„ŽALGIRIS“
VYTAUTAS LANDSBERGIS
 SWIMERS

DANAS RAPŠYS RŪTA MEILUTYTĖ

LT UNITED