History of Lithuania

The history of Lithuania dates back to at least 1009, the first recorded written use of the term. Lithuanians, a branch of the Baltic peoples, later conquered neighboring lands, establishing the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and in the 13th century the short-lived Kingdom of Lithuania. The Grand Duchy was a successful and lasting warrior state. The Duchy remained fiercely independent and was one of the last areas of Europe to adopt Christianity. In the 15th century, Lithuania became the largest state in Europe through the conquest of much of East Slav populated Ruthenia. The Grand Duchy, a formidable power, formed in 1385 a dynastic union with Poland and became Christianized, merging into the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1569. In 1795, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was erased from the political map with the Partitions of the Commonwealth. Afterwards the Lithuanians lived under the rule of the Russian Empire until the 20th century.

On February 16, 1918, Lithuania was reestablished as a democratic state. It remained independent until the outset of World War II, when it was occupied by the Soviet Union under the terms of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. Following a brief occupation by Nazi Germany when the Nazis declared war on the Soviet Union, Lithuania was again absorbed into the Soviet Union for nearly 50 years. In the early 1990s, Lithuania restored its sovereignty and in the following years became integrated into the European political structures.