Concept
Council of Lithuania
Related concepts (13)
Lithuanian Wars of Independence
The Lithuanian Wars of Independence, also known as the Freedom Struggles (Laisvės kovos), refer to three wars Lithuania fought defending its independence at the end of World War I: with Bolshevik forces (December 1918 – August 1919), Bermontians (June 1919 – December 1919), and Poland (August 1920 – November 1920). The wars delayed international recognition of independent Lithuania and the formation of civil institutions. After the Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was annexed by the Russian Empire.
Flag of Lithuania
The national flag of Lithuania (Lietuvos vėliava) consists of a horizontal tricolour of yellow, green, and red. It was adopted on 25 April 1918 during Lithuania's first period of independence (in the 20th century) from 1918 to 1940, which ceased with the occupation first by the Soviet Union, and then by Nazi Germany (1941–1944). During the post-World War II Soviet occupation, from 1945 until 1989, the Soviet Lithuanian flag consisted first of a generic red Soviet flag with the name of the republic, then changed to the red flag with white and green bands at the bottom.
Constitution of Lithuania
The Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania (Lietuvos Respublikos Konstitucija) defines the legal foundation for all laws passed in the Republic of Lithuania. The first constitution of the contemporary republic was enacted on 1 August 1922. The current constitution was adopted in a referendum on 25 October 1992. Statutes of Lithuania The first attempt to codify the laws of Grand Duchy of Lithuania took the form of Statutes of Lithuania, with the First Statute in power in 1529.
Lithuanian litas
The Lithuanian litas (ISO currency code LTL, symbolized as Lt; plural litai (nominative) or litų (genitive) was the currency of Lithuania, until 1 January 2015, when it was replaced by the euro. It was divided into 100 centų (genitive case; singular centas, nominative plural centai). The litas was first introduced on 2 October 1922 after World War I, when Lithuania declared independence, and was reintroduced on 25 June 1993 following a period of currency exchange from the Soviet ruble to the litas with the temporary talonas then in place.
Act of Independence of Lithuania
The Act of Independence of Lithuania (Lietuvos Nepriklausomybės Aktas) or the Act of February 16, also the Lithuanian Resolution on Independence (Lietuvos Nepriklausomybės Nutarimas), was signed by the Council of Lithuania on February 16, 1918, proclaiming the restoration of an independent State of Lithuania, governed by democratic principles, with Vilnius as its capital. The Act was signed by all twenty representatives of the Council, which was chaired by Jonas Basanavičius.
Constituent Assembly of Lithuania
The Constituent Assembly of Lithuania (Steigiamasis Seimas) was the first parliament of the independent state of Lithuania to be elected in a direct, democratic, general, secret election. The Assembly assumed its duties on 15 May 1920 and was disbanded in October 1922. Following the last Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795, Lithuania was annexed by and became part of the Russian Empire.
Vilnius Conference
In the history of Lithuania, the Vilnius Conference (Vilniaus konferencija) or Vilnius National Conference met between September 18, 1917, and September 22, 1917, and began the process of establishing a Lithuanian state based on ethnic identity and language that would be independent of the Russian Empire, Poland, and the German Empire. It elected a twenty-member Council of Lithuania that was entrusted with the mission of declaring and re-establishing an independent Lithuania.
Vilnius Region
Vilnius Region is the territory in present-day Lithuania and Belarus that was originally inhabited by ethnic Baltic tribes and was a part of Lithuania proper, but came under East Slavic and Polish cultural influences over time. The territory included Vilnius, the historical capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Lithuania, after declaring independence from the Russian Empire, claimed the Vilnius Region based on this historical legacy. Poland argued for the right of self-determination of the local Polish-speaking population.
History of Lithuania
The history of Lithuania dates back to settlements founded about 10,000 years ago, but the first written record of the name for the country dates back to 1009 AD. Lithuanians, one of the Baltic peoples, later conquered neighboring lands and established the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 13th century (and also a short-lived Kingdom of Lithuania). The Grand Duchy was a successful and lasting warrior state. It remained fiercely independent and was one of the last areas of Europe to adopt Christianity (beginning in the 14th century).
Lithuanians
Lithuanians (lietuviai) are a Baltic ethnic group. They are native to Lithuania, where they number around 2,378,118 people. Another two millions make up the Lithuanian diaspora, largely found in countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Brazil, Russia, and Canada. Their native language is Lithuanian, one of only two surviving members of the Baltic language family along with Latvian. According to the census conducted in 2021, 84.6% of the population of Lithuania identified themselves as Lithuanians, 6.