During the 18th century, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth declined as a political power. Attempts at reform triggered foreign intervention. Following three partitions, the old state ceased to exist. During the first two partitions, in 1772 and 1793, Lithuania lost only lands inhabited by East Slavs. The Third Partition (1795) resulted in a division of the land inhabited by ethnic Lithuanians. The bulk of it went to Russia. However, lands southwest of the Nemunas River were annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia. This region was incorporated in the Grand Duchy of Warsaw established by Napoleon in 1807. In 1815, at the Congress of Vienna, the duchy became the Kingdom of Poland and was placed under Russian rule, although as a separate political entity. As a result, this region of Lithuania retained the separate administrative and judicial system introduced under French rule. These changes, including the abolition of serfdom, were significant and made the region distinct from the rest of the Lithuanian lands.

The uprisings of 1830–31 and 1863 in Poland found resonance in the Lithuanian lands. The suppression was particularly harsh after the second revolt. Both insurrections were followed by waves of Russification. The tsarist government treated the Northwest Region—as historic Lithuania, apart from the southeastern lands, was called after 1832—as an integral part of Russia. In 1832 the University of Vilnius, founded in 1579, was closed. In 1840 the Lithuanian legal code, which dated back to the 16th century, was abolished. After the revolt of 1863 the policy of Russification was extended to all areas of public life. Russian was the only language sanctioned for public use, including education. Books and magazines in the Lithuanian language could be printed only in the Cyrillic (Russian) alphabet. Such cultural imperialism triggered an indigenous reaction that fueled a national renaissance. An informal system of Lithuanian “schools of the hearth” in the villages was organized. Books in the Cyrillic alphabet were boycotted, while Lithuanian publications in the Latin script, printed mostly across the German border in neighbouring East Prussia, were smuggled into the country in large numbers.

A liberalization occurred after the Russian Revolution of 1905. The press prohibition had been annulled in 1904, allowing the appearance of the first Lithuanian daily newspaper, Vilniaus žinios (“Vilnius News”). On Dec. 4–5, 1905, a congress of some 2,000 delegates was held in Vilnius. The congress demanded an autonomous political entity formed from the ethnic Lithuanian lands. Its frontiers were to be formed in accordance with the freely expressed wish of the inhabitants.

Independence

By late 1915 Lithuania had come under German military occupation. The goal of the German administration was to create a Lithuanian state that would be a satellite of Germany after the final peace treaty. It authorized a gathering in Vilnius, on Sept. 18–22, 1917, of a congress of 214 Lithuanian delegates. The gathering called for an independent Lithuanian state within ethnic frontiers with Vilnius as its capital, and it elected a 20-member Taryba, or council. On Feb. 16, 1918, the Taryba proclaimed an independent Lithuanian state.

The country remained under German occupation, however. The Germans began to withdraw after the armistice of Nov. 11, 1918. The newly independent Lithuanian government was faced with an invasion by the Soviets from the east. On Jan. 5, 1919, Vilnius was occupied by the Red Army, and a communist Lithuanian government was installed. The national government was evacuated to Kaunas. By mid-1919 the tide had turned, and the Russians were successfully pushed back east.

Foreign relations

Lithuania joined the League of Nations on Sept. 22, 1921, as a recognized member of the international community of states. At that time, its frontiers had not been clearly established, and unresolved border questions characterized Lithuania’s foreign relations throughout the interwar period. The problem of Vilnius and its surrounding region bedeviled Polish-Lithuanian relations. Modern Lithuanian nationalism was based on a fusion of ethnicity and historic identity. Vilnius, the capital of the historic state, was a multiethnic city with a heavily Polish cultural veneer. Many in Poland, while not averse to Lithuania’s claim, felt that Lithuania itself had historically become a part of a wider Polish cultural realm and sought to resurrect some form of the common political entity that had existed until 1795. On April 20, 1919, the Polish army took Vilnius from the Red Army and prevented the Lithuanians from reoccupying the city. The Western Allied powers then intervened and set up a line of demarcation between the Polish and Lithuanian forces, leaving Vilnius in Polish hands. In 1920 Lithuania concluded a peace treaty with Soviet Russia according to which Vilnius was recognized as Lithuanian. During the Polish-Russian war of 1920, Vilnius was occupied by the Red Army on July 14. The Lithuanians occupied it in the wake of the Soviet retreat a month later. A Polish-Lithuanian armistice signed in Suvalkai on Sept. 5, 1920, left the city in Lithuanian hands. However, two days later, Polish forces overran the area in dispute and set up a government of Central Lithuania. Vilnius remained under Polish control and was formally annexed in 1922. Lithuania, however, refused to recognize the situation and continued to claim Vilnius and its surroundings.

The status of Klaipėda also presented problems. The city, Lithuania’s sole potential outlet to the sea, had been part of Prussia and had never belonged to the historic Lithuanian state. Although the city itself was largely German in character, the surrounding countryside was largely populated by Lithuanians. The port was occupied by Allied forces after World War I. The Treaty of Versailles left its status undetermined. In January 1923 Lithuania occupied the territory. The following year an agreement was concluded with the Allied powers according to which Klaipėda became an autonomous part of Lithuania. Although Weimar Germany acceded to Lithuanian control of Klaipėda, the question resurfaced after Hitler’s accession to power. Nazi propaganda agitated Germans to rise up against Lithuania.

Border problems figured prominently during the last two years of the independent interwar republic. In the wake of a frontier incident, a Polish ultimatum of March 17, 1938, demanded the establishment of diplomatic relations and normal interstate ties. Lithuania, which had refused to maintain relations with Poland because of the dispute over Vilnius, yielded. On March 21, 1939, Lithuania yielded to another ultimatum and ceded the port to Germany.