The Russians banned Lithuanian language and suppressed Catholic religion. In the late 18th century (1772-1795) the country was completely partitioned and annexed by Prussia, Austria, and Russia with the main Lithuanian lands falling under the Russian rule.
COSSACKS EUROPEAN WARS SLOWING IT DOWN SERIES
The Commonwealth lost a series of wars that wiped out its great power position. However, the political union led to gradual Polonization of the Lithuanian nobility as Lithuanians of the time regarded Polish culture to be superior.īy the 17th century, Poland-Lithuania was weakened due to a unique yet hard-to-manage political system of "Noble democracy" where a consensus was a prerequisite for any important decision. Initially, it was successful in deterring enemies. In response, Lithuania and Poland formed a Commonwealth in 1569. Streets and sports franchises are named after Žalgiris.Ī new threat came from the east with Moscow rapidly gaining power and conquering lands. This vanquishing of the Teutonic knights is seen as the main medieval triumph of Poles and Lithuanians by romanticist historians. Ruled by Grand Duke Vytautas Lithuania became the largest state in Europe, stretching from Baltic to the Black sea in the 15th century.īattle of Žalgiris (Grunewald) by Jan Matejko. Lithuanians forged a long-lasting alliance with Poland that eventually extinguished the Teutonic threat. The eventual adoption of Christianity by Grand Duke Jogaila (1387) did not stop the knights.
After his death, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania fell back to pagan ways leading to a centuries-long conflict with Teutonic Knights. This process accelerated under king Mindaugas who became a Christian and received a crown from the Pope in 1253. In the era, only one small tribe from the area around Vilnius was known as Lithuanians but it was this tribe that consolidated the majority of other Baltic tribes. These Baltic peoples traded amber with Romans and then fought Vikings. These forefathers of Lithuanians were outside the main migration routes and thus are among the oldest European ethnicities to have settled in approximately the current area. The origin of Baltic tribes in the area is disputed but it probably dates to 2500 BC. The hunter-gatherers were slowly replaced by farmers. First known habitation of Lithuania dates back to the final ice age, 10 000 BC.