ooo -
Canon History: Uh, yes. Here be what has been translated of the Hetalia series with historical fax for the win. So. In the beginning was a single point so unutterably small none would ever conceive it. Then, a second passed, and all the energy that ever could be existed. It started expanding. Several billion years later, and it is still expanding.
But stuff has gotten way more complex. Particularly on a little planet named Earth, home to a peculiar race of beings called humans. Strange they are, with even stranger tendencies. A time came when people began to spread across the land. Such patterns seemed fated, but what really went on is a question muddled by time and better left to the intelligentsia to debate over. And so on.
Anyway, these beings called people formed tribes and groups and, once they figured out that stones and minerals make awesome tools, eventually settled down and formed civilizations. One such cluster was situated among other clusters, and what made these clusters special is that they were fated to become the Baltic states. Then, in 1009, the name was laid down for the first time in print - Lithuania. So it had begun.
Between the 1230s and the 1240s, a man named Mindaugas united the lands of the Lithuanians, the Samogitians, the Yotvingians, and he Couranians. Because he was was a Duke, this new union became the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In July 6, 1253, he was, as a Catholic, crowned King of Lithuania. Unfortunately, he would only rule for a short while - ten years after his coronation he was assassinated. Civil war raged until a man named Vitenis took out the Germanic Teutonic Order and restored peace for the time being. This time also marked the beginning of the struggle with the Teutonic Knights. Since the Teutonic Knights had invaded most of Eastern Europe including parts of Lithuania, Mindaugas king of did a power grab and signed an agreement with him. They said, 'hey, okay, you can be king,' and then in 1253 he became a Catholic!king, and Lithuania was part of Teutonic Knights. But then Mindaugas decided to murder his nephew, and then there was all kinds of civil unrest, and the people ended up splitting away from Catholicism and reverting to paganism, and the new leader dispelled the Teutonic Knights from Lithuania. So yes, then began the epic war with the Teutonic Knights who declared Lithuania a pagan nation and thus scum of the earth, and so on.
Vitenis' successor was Grand Duke Gediminas, a pretty smart guy who recognised that poor Lithuania had both a fairly different culture and political landscape from the rest of nearby Europe. To remedy this isolation he attempted to embrace Christianity, though he appealed to the Pope John XXII and European cities rather than the Teutonic Order, seeing them as conquerors more than missionaries. Eventually Lithuania would become Christian, though the conversion did not happen immediately. Instead, Lithuania only converted in the end as part of an agreement with Poland, two years after, too.
In 1385, Lithuania and Poland signed the Kreva Union. It was pretty good, since for a while the Teutonic Order stopped its inveterate wars with Lithuania.
Back at home, now stretching from Belarus to Ukraine, the political landscape was a bit tumultuous, and Lithuania ended up becoming a grand duchy again, though it was still united with Poland. Then, in 1410, Lithuania (Though Poland helped quite a bit too, it just took him a bit longer to align himself correctly.) pulled an awesome feint and the Polish-Lithuania forces defeated the Teutonic Order for good, and supposedly the Germanic drive eastward was ceased. But, most importantly, the war with the Teutonic Order was finally over.
After that, the main threats came from Russia's expansion. Wars were fought over the Salvic lands controlled by Lithuania which Russia was trying to expand into. This, along with Poland's lower gentry's quest for the same rights as the upper gentry, pushed Lithuania and Poland closer. As much good as it did them, and times were relatively good for awhile. There was a lot of expansion thanks to good agriculture, though wars and internal political problems continued to take their toll.
In 1569, Poland and Lithuania united into a commonwealth under the Union of Lublin. Most of the power was with Poland, however, and already there were plenty of issues among the nobles. So, as it was, the union offered little real protection against conquest. And between wars with Sweden and Russia, things did not look too pretty.
So, inevitably, the commonwealth ended up partitioned three times between Russia, Prussia, and Austria. In 1795 most of Lithuania was absorbed into the Russian empire, so essentially Lithuania was forced into Russia's household. The other part of Lithuania was given to Prussia.
Then, after a century, World War I rolled around, and Germany began an occupation of Lithuania. And in 1917, Lithuania was bold enough to have a conference in Vilnuis. At this meeting a resolution was past, and on February 16th, 1918, the council declared Lithuania's independence as a country. As much good as that did him, since he had several strong factions to fight against: the Red Army, the Polish army, and the Bermondt army, a dual force of Russian and German soldiers under German control.
Two years later, in 1920, Russia recognised Lithuania's independence, though he kept him in his household. Around this time Russia also out-sourced Lithuania to America since times were hard in Europe after the first world war. The hardworking Lithuania got along well with America as many of his immigrants sought work there. Unfortunately, America was not too smart with his manufacturing capabilities and the Great Depression hit. Because Russia was socialist he was not affected by the Depression, and ended up taking Lithuania back since he figured America was no longer capable of taking care of him.
Eventually things began to heat up again in Europe, since the first world war had left European politics in a fine mess. Poland and Russia got into it despite Lithuania trying to warn Poland of Russia's plan and constantly fretting over him, which was more or less because Poland really did not take anything too seriously. The Polish-Soviet war only naturally ensued, and in this conflict Lithuania was left somewhere in the middle.
Then, in 1939, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was signed. Lithuania spent some time under Germany's influence. But then the Soviet-Germany agreement a little more than a month later brought him back under Soviet domination. On October 10th Lithuania signed an agreement with Russia which gave him back the city of Vilnuis and part of the Vilnuis region that the Red Army had seized during the Soviet-Polish War, which seemed like some sort of mercy, but nearly 20,000 soldiers were deployed to Lithuania in return.
Then Russia demanded that Lithuania form a new government and allow for more soldiers to be stationed - of course he caved in to Russia, and the next day he found 100,000 Red Army soldiers pouring into his borders. Russia slowly began to influence him and subtly work into his politics, and, by August 3rd , was proclaiming Lithuania a full-blown Soviet Social Republic.
Lithuania did have some revolt against Russia following the beginning of the war with Germany in 1941, but this was largely unsuccessful. After some fine deployment, Germany then “restored” Lithuania's independence and set up an occupational government. Now it was Germany's turn to oppress him, and so Lithuania lived under both German and Russia for the time. Though things changed as alliances between the powers shifted.
Russia drove Germany's force out of Lithuania in 1944. Lithuania was thus completely brought solely under Russia's control again. Things happened as they did, and the war finally drew to a close. Treaties were signed and talk of troop withdrawal began, though such a thing would not occur for some time. But as for the Soviet-occupied countries, such a hope was largely not maintained. Russia's armies remained. And, inevitably, Sovietisation would begin.
But stuff has gotten way more complex. Particularly on a little planet named Earth, home to a peculiar race of beings called humans. Strange they are, with even stranger tendencies. A time came when people began to spread across the land. Such patterns seemed fated, but what really went on is a question muddled by time and better left to the intelligentsia to debate over. And so on.
Anyway, these beings called people formed tribes and groups and, once they figured out that stones and minerals make awesome tools, eventually settled down and formed civilizations. One such cluster was situated among other clusters, and what made these clusters special is that they were fated to become the Baltic states. Then, in 1009, the name was laid down for the first time in print - Lithuania. So it had begun.
Between the 1230s and the 1240s, a man named Mindaugas united the lands of the Lithuanians, the Samogitians, the Yotvingians, and he Couranians. Because he was was a Duke, this new union became the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In July 6, 1253, he was, as a Catholic, crowned King of Lithuania. Unfortunately, he would only rule for a short while - ten years after his coronation he was assassinated. Civil war raged until a man named Vitenis took out the Germanic Teutonic Order and restored peace for the time being. This time also marked the beginning of the struggle with the Teutonic Knights. Since the Teutonic Knights had invaded most of Eastern Europe including parts of Lithuania, Mindaugas king of did a power grab and signed an agreement with him. They said, 'hey, okay, you can be king,' and then in 1253 he became a Catholic!king, and Lithuania was part of Teutonic Knights. But then Mindaugas decided to murder his nephew, and then there was all kinds of civil unrest, and the people ended up splitting away from Catholicism and reverting to paganism, and the new leader dispelled the Teutonic Knights from Lithuania. So yes, then began the epic war with the Teutonic Knights who declared Lithuania a pagan nation and thus scum of the earth, and so on.
Vitenis' successor was Grand Duke Gediminas, a pretty smart guy who recognised that poor Lithuania had both a fairly different culture and political landscape from the rest of nearby Europe. To remedy this isolation he attempted to embrace Christianity, though he appealed to the Pope John XXII and European cities rather than the Teutonic Order, seeing them as conquerors more than missionaries. Eventually Lithuania would become Christian, though the conversion did not happen immediately. Instead, Lithuania only converted in the end as part of an agreement with Poland, two years after, too.
In 1385, Lithuania and Poland signed the Kreva Union. It was pretty good, since for a while the Teutonic Order stopped its inveterate wars with Lithuania.
Back at home, now stretching from Belarus to Ukraine, the political landscape was a bit tumultuous, and Lithuania ended up becoming a grand duchy again, though it was still united with Poland. Then, in 1410, Lithuania (Though Poland helped quite a bit too, it just took him a bit longer to align himself correctly.) pulled an awesome feint and the Polish-Lithuania forces defeated the Teutonic Order for good, and supposedly the Germanic drive eastward was ceased. But, most importantly, the war with the Teutonic Order was finally over.
After that, the main threats came from Russia's expansion. Wars were fought over the Salvic lands controlled by Lithuania which Russia was trying to expand into. This, along with Poland's lower gentry's quest for the same rights as the upper gentry, pushed Lithuania and Poland closer. As much good as it did them, and times were relatively good for awhile. There was a lot of expansion thanks to good agriculture, though wars and internal political problems continued to take their toll.
In 1569, Poland and Lithuania united into a commonwealth under the Union of Lublin. Most of the power was with Poland, however, and already there were plenty of issues among the nobles. So, as it was, the union offered little real protection against conquest. And between wars with Sweden and Russia, things did not look too pretty.
So, inevitably, the commonwealth ended up partitioned three times between Russia, Prussia, and Austria. In 1795 most of Lithuania was absorbed into the Russian empire, so essentially Lithuania was forced into Russia's household. The other part of Lithuania was given to Prussia.
Then, after a century, World War I rolled around, and Germany began an occupation of Lithuania. And in 1917, Lithuania was bold enough to have a conference in Vilnuis. At this meeting a resolution was past, and on February 16th, 1918, the council declared Lithuania's independence as a country. As much good as that did him, since he had several strong factions to fight against: the Red Army, the Polish army, and the Bermondt army, a dual force of Russian and German soldiers under German control.
Two years later, in 1920, Russia recognised Lithuania's independence, though he kept him in his household. Around this time Russia also out-sourced Lithuania to America since times were hard in Europe after the first world war. The hardworking Lithuania got along well with America as many of his immigrants sought work there. Unfortunately, America was not too smart with his manufacturing capabilities and the Great Depression hit. Because Russia was socialist he was not affected by the Depression, and ended up taking Lithuania back since he figured America was no longer capable of taking care of him.
Eventually things began to heat up again in Europe, since the first world war had left European politics in a fine mess. Poland and Russia got into it despite Lithuania trying to warn Poland of Russia's plan and constantly fretting over him, which was more or less because Poland really did not take anything too seriously. The Polish-Soviet war only naturally ensued, and in this conflict Lithuania was left somewhere in the middle.
Then, in 1939, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was signed. Lithuania spent some time under Germany's influence. But then the Soviet-Germany agreement a little more than a month later brought him back under Soviet domination. On October 10th Lithuania signed an agreement with Russia which gave him back the city of Vilnuis and part of the Vilnuis region that the Red Army had seized during the Soviet-Polish War, which seemed like some sort of mercy, but nearly 20,000 soldiers were deployed to Lithuania in return.
Then Russia demanded that Lithuania form a new government and allow for more soldiers to be stationed - of course he caved in to Russia, and the next day he found 100,000 Red Army soldiers pouring into his borders. Russia slowly began to influence him and subtly work into his politics, and, by August 3rd , was proclaiming Lithuania a full-blown Soviet Social Republic.
Lithuania did have some revolt against Russia following the beginning of the war with Germany in 1941, but this was largely unsuccessful. After some fine deployment, Germany then “restored” Lithuania's independence and set up an occupational government. Now it was Germany's turn to oppress him, and so Lithuania lived under both German and Russia for the time. Though things changed as alliances between the powers shifted.
Russia drove Germany's force out of Lithuania in 1944. Lithuania was thus completely brought solely under Russia's control again. Things happened as they did, and the war finally drew to a close. Treaties were signed and talk of troop withdrawal began, though such a thing would not occur for some time. But as for the Soviet-occupied countries, such a hope was largely not maintained. Russia's armies remained. And, inevitably, Sovietisation would begin.