Chapter 2
GLIMPSES OF
LITHUANIAN HISTORY
ALFREDAS BUMBLAUSKAS
LITHUANIA — GEOGRAPHICAL CENTER OF EUROPE
It was noted long ago that, if one drew lines on the map of Europe connecting Gibraltar and the northern part of the Urals, Scotland and the Caucasus mountains, the southern islands of Greece and the North of Norway, almost all of those lines would intersect in Lithuania. This is the geographical center of Europe.
Quite recently the French National Geography Institute carried out new calculations, according to which the perpendicular of the center, dropped geographically from the altitude of 180 km, is located 25 km to the north of the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius. These are the co-ordinates of Europe’s center: latitude 54' 55' N, longitude 25' 19' E. Lithuania lies on the same geographical latitude as the westward-situated South Sweden, Denmark, Scotland; the same longitude as Finland to the north and Romania, Bulgaria and Greece to the south.
Lithuania lies on the road between East and West Europe; the most direct route from Germany to Russia crosses Lithuania. The great German eastward assault, as well as that of the Russians to the West, went through Lithuania. Somebody has remarked to this point: "If Switzerland is characterized by high mountains, Italy by its works of art, and Finland by its lakes, then Lithuania should be characterized as a land that is very unsafe for a small nation".
In spite of Lithuania being the center of Europe, it is often considered a part of East Europe. But this is in terms of the country’s geopolitical, not geographical, situation, as it was occupied frequently and made part of the Eastern neighbor in the 19th and 20th centuries. Lithuania belongs to Central Europe from the point of view of its civilization. Unlike Eastern Europe, since the Middle Ages individual peasant farms rather than communities were formed here. A civil society rather than an Eastern despotism was rising; Catholicism and a Western cultural orientation predominated over Orthodoxy and Byzantine civilization.
Today Lithuania guides itself in terms of its politics not only to Central, but also to Northern Europe and desires to maintain good relations with all her neighbors.
MAIN DATA ABOUT LITHUANIA
The state: Official name, the Republic of Lithuania; Highest political body, Supreme Council; System, parliamentary; Republic capital, Vilnius.
Borders: with Latvia, 610 km; with Byelorussia, 724 km; with Poland, 110 km; with Russia, (Kaliningrad region) 303 km; sea border (Baltic Sea), 99 km.
Area: 65.2 sq.km.
Longest distances: from the east to the west, 373 km; from the north to the south, 276 km. Population, 3,723,000; density of population, 57.1 per square kilometer; 68.5 percent of the population resides in towns. Major towns: Vilnius, 592,500; Kaunas, 429,700; Klaipeda, 206,200.
THE MAIN DATES OF LITHUANIA’S HISTORY
- 1009, St. Bruno discovers Lithuania, July 6;
- 1253, Mindaugas, the ruler of the newly formed Lithuanian state, crowned King;
- 1385, by the treaty of Kreva Jogaila, the Grand Duke of Lithuania becomes King of Poland and the rapprochement between Lithuania and Poland commenced;
- 1387, baptism of Lithuania;
- 1410, the battle of Zalgiris (Gruenwald); joint forces of Poland and Lithuania crushed the Teutonic Order, which had greatly menaced the existence of both states;
- 1569, The Lublin Union established a joint Polish-Lithuanian state;
- 1795, Russia, Austria and Prussia divided the Polish-Lithuanian state among themselves, with the larger part of Lithuania going to Russia;
- 1863, the largest uprising, directed against the Russian oppression. Its suppression began a period of very harsh reprisals and Russification;
- February 16, 1918, under German occupation, the Council of Lithuania headed by J. Basanavicius, proclaimed the reconstitution of the independent state of Lithuania;
- June 15, 1940, implementing the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, the Soviet Union invaded the Republic of Lithuania which it then annexed. A puppet government was formed, and the establishment of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic was announced;
- 1944-1953, the period of reprisals, deportations, mass collectivization, organized by thc Soviet Union, and of armed resistance in Lithuania;
- March 11, 1990, the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Lithuania proclaimed the reconstitution of The Republic of Lithuania.
THE GRAND DUCHY OF LITHUANIA:
STATE AND CIVILIZATION
Lithuania’s difference from the other two Baltic states — Latvia and Estonia — lies in the fact that in the Middle Ages, from the 13th and up to the 18th century, it had created and sustained its own state, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Its territory extended far to the East (the area of the state was 1 million square kilometers at the beginning of the 15th century). It became a great power and a significant political force in the East and Middle Europe. This enabled it to oppose the aggression of the Teutonic Order and to achieve, together with Poland, the decisive victory at Gruenwald in 1410. For 200 years after the end of the 14th century the Lithuanian dynasty of Jogailaiciai held the throne in Poland (and at the beginning of the 16th century also in Bohemia and Hungary). Most often the representatives of that dynasty ruled both Poland and Lithuania. However, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania remained an independent state till the second half of the 16th century, when the might of the Russian state became perceptibly stronger, and Lithuania was forced to conclude a closer alliance with Poland. In 1569 the joint Polish-Lithuanian state was formed within which the Grand Duchy of Lithuania retained its sovereignty. This is important because European historians often erroneously consider the Polish-Lithuanian state to have been purely Polish and refer to it as Poland. In the 17th and 18th centuries that state experienced economic and political decline. Although at the end of the 18th century attempts to reform and reinforce the state were obstructed by neighboring Russia, Prussia and Austria who in 1795 divided and eliminated the Polish-Lithuanian state, with the main part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Lithuanian territories going to Russia.
After its baptism in 1387, Lithuania took a decisive turn towards Western culture. In the following 200 years it could only study the experiences of other Middle European peoples and try to catch up. The spread of learning in Western universities began to yield its first perceptible results in the 16th century. The printing of books began (1522); the Reformation soon followed, creating the conditions for the appearance of the first Lithuanian book (1547). In 1579 Vilnius University was established.
The process of Europeanization found its expression also in Lithuania’s efforts to develop Gothic and Renaissance architecture. European architecture in Lithuania attained its highest achievements in the Baroque epoch, when a unique and independent Baroque school was formed. Generally the development of the European architectural styles, starting with Gothic and ending with Classicism, are best reflected in the old part of Vilnius, which is an impressive manifestation of the old civilization of Lithuania.
VILNIUS — THE CAPITAL OF LITHUANIA
Vilnius is the historical capital of Lithuania. Some specialists guess that the capital of Mindaugas, the first King of Lithuania, was here. The first written mention of Vilnius was in 1323, when Gediminas, Grand Duke of Lithuania, wrote his letters to the Western rulers from Vilnius as his capital.
In 1387, during the baptism of Lithuania, Vilnius acquired the right to self-administration — the Magdeburg Rights. Although Lithuania and Poland had common rulers Scorn that period, some were buried at the Vilnius Cathedral, rather than in Cracow. Vilnius remained the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania also after the joint Polish-Lithuanian state was established and up to its elimination in 1795.
During the formation of the new Lithuanian state, the Act of the Reconstitution of the Independent Lithuanian state was signed in Vilnius in 1918, proclaiming Vilnius the capital of that state. Although the Soviet Union ceded Vilnius and the surrounding area to Lithuania, Poland seized it in 1920. As capital, Vilnius was returned to Lithuania only in 1939.
Now Vilnius is not only the capital of the Republic of Lithuania, but also its largest town. Its population is 592,500 people, among whom 51 percent are Lithuanians, 20 percent are Russians, 19 percent Poles. The area of the town is 26,000 hectares of which forests and parks account for half.
The Neris, Lithuania’s second largest river, flows through Vilnius.
VILNIUS UNIVERSITY
Its sources lie in the Collegium, established by the Jesuits in 1570. On April 1, 1579, the Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland, Stephen Batory, signed a privilege, according to which the Collegium was transformed into the Academia et Universitas Vilnensis, which was confirmed on October 29, 1579 by Pope Gregory XIII. It was the most easterly of the European universities.
Vilnius University was famous for the high level of its teaching in logic, rhetoric and poetics. The University flourished especially in the Age of Enlightenment, when it began to pay more attention to secular sciences. Adam Mickiewicz, a poet of European fame, was a graduate of Vilnius University. The university functioned till 1832, when it was closed by the authorities of the Russian Empire. When the Poles seized Vilnius, the University began to function once again. Future Nobel prize winner, poet Cz. Milosz, studied at Vilnius University at that time. The University’s activities were resumed after World War I, when Vilnius became part of Poland. After Lithuania regained Vilnius in 1939, the University was reorganized as Lithuanian. At present it contains, among other departments, internationally recognized schools of mathematicians, physicists and Baltic linguistics, all functioning at Vilnius University.
Vilnius University
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