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Lithuania

Table A. Chronology of Important Events

Period	Description

CA. 2500-1500 B.C.	Finno-Ugric and proto-Baltic tribes settle on Baltic shores.

FIRST CENTURY-SIXTH CENTURY A.D.	Early Baltic peoples experience rapid cultural progress and expansion of trade with Roman Empire and Germanic tribes.

EIGHTH CENTURY-TWELFTH CENTURY	Scandinavian Vikings and, subsequently, Slavic tribes engage in trade and war with Baltic peoples.

THIRTEENTH CENTURY	Northern Estonia conquered by Danes and rest of Estonia and Latvia by Germans.

1253	Mindaugas crowned king of Lithuania.

FOURTEENTH CENTURY	Grand Duke Gediminas and his descendants expand Lithuania's territories southward to Black Sea.

1343-45	Estonian peasant uprising prompts Danes to relinquish control of northern Estonia to Germans.

SIXTEENTH CENTURY

1558-83	Army of Russian tsar Ivan IV (the Terrible) invades Livonia; Sweden and Poland help repel invasion.

1569	Lithuania unites with Poland, forming Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

1584	Northern Estonia incorporated into Sweden's Duchy of Estland.

SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

1629	Swedish-Polish struggle for control of Livonia ends with Poland's being forced to cede entire territory, except southeastern province of Latgale, to Sweden.

1632	Tartu University founded by Swedes.

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

1710	Russian tsar Peter I (the Great) succeeds in wresting control of Estland and Livland (southern Estonia and northern Latvia) from Sweden.

1795	Poland partitioned; Lithuania annexed by Russian Empire.

NINETEENTH CENTURY

1816-19	Serfdom formally abolished in Estland and Livland.

TWENTIETH CENTURY

1905	Tsarist Russian authorities respond with violence and repression to Baltic demands for radical political change during Revolution of 1905.

1917	Tsar Nicholas II abdicates Russian throne; tsarist regime collapses. Russian provisional government allows Estonia's territorial unification as one province. Bolsheviks take power in Russia and make significant political inroads in Baltic region.

1918 February	Estonia and Lithuania proclaim independence.

November	Latvia proclaims independence.

1918-20	Baltic states engage in war to defend independence; Bolshevik, White Russian, German, Polish, and other forces struggle for control of territories. Lithuania fails to regain Polish-occupied Vilnius region.

1920	Baltic states sign peace treaties with Soviet Russia; Moscow recognizes their independence and renounces all claims to their territories.

1920-22	Land reform carried out in Baltic states. Democratic constitutions introduced.

1921	Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania admitted to League of Nations.

1923	Lithuania annexes Klaipeda region.

1924	Soviet-backed communist coup attempt in Estonia fails.

1926-29	Military coup in Lithuania; authoritarian regime gradually introduced.

1934	State of emergency declared in Estonia and Latvia amidst growing political instability; parliaments suspended and authoritarian regimes introduced.

1939 August	Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact signed; Estonia, Latvia, and, soon, Lithuania assigned to Soviet sphere of influence.

October	Baltic states pressured into signing treaties allowing Moscow to station troops on their soil; Vilnius given back to Lithuania.

1940	Red Army occupies Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania; pro-Soviet governments "elected," and Baltic states annexed to Soviet Union.

1941 June	Soviet authorities arrest and deport tens of thousands of Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians to Siberia; deportations interrupted by Nazi Germany's invasion of Soviet Union; Lithuanian resistance movement launches revolt against Soviet rule.

1941-45	Baltic states under German occupation; Nazi regime institutes compulsory draft of Balts into labor or military service; Jews and Gypsies subjected to mass annihilation; nationalist and communist resistance movements active.

1944-45	Soviet forces reoccupy Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania; hundreds of thousands of refugees flee to West.

1945-52	Anti-Soviet guerrilla war in Baltic republics claims tens of thousands of casualties on both sides.

1947-51	Agriculture collectivized in Baltic republics.

1949 March	Soviet authorities resume campaign of terror in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania; more than 100,000 people from Baltic republics deported to Siberia.

1953	Repression eases after death of Joseph V. Stalin.

1959	Nikita S. Khrushchev purges Eduards Berklavs and other national communists in Latvia.

1968	Repression increases after Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia; dissident movement grows, particularly in Lithuania.

1970-82	Period of stagnation under Leonid I. Brezhnev; living standards decline; Russification intensifies.

1972	Lithuanian student Romas Kalanta immolates himself in protest against Soviet rule.

1973	Publication of The Chronicle of the Catholic Church in Lithuania begins.

1985	Mikhail S. Gorbachev introduces policies of glasnost and perestroika .

1987-88	Baltic dissidents hold public demonstrations in Tallinn, Riga, and Vilnius.

1988 April	Estonian Popular Front founded.

June	Estonian communist leader Karl Vaino removed. Sajudis founded in Lithuania.

October	Popular Front of Latvia holds first congress. Sajudis congress in Lithuania elects Vytautas Landsbergis chairman. Algirdas Brazauskas becomes Lithuanian communist leader.

November	Estonian Supreme Soviet adopts declaration of sovereignty.

1989 March	Soviet loyalist Intermovement founded in Estonia.

May	Lithuanian Supreme Soviet proclaims Lithuania's sovereignty.

July	Latvian Supreme Soviet adopts declaration of sovereignty.

August	Human chain forms from Tallinn to Vilnius as a protest on fiftieth anniversary of Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact. Intermovement stages strikes in Estonia.

December	Communist Party of Lithuania splits from Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

1990 February	Elections held for Congress of Estonia, rival parliament to Estonian Supreme Soviet.

March	Lithuanian Supreme Soviet elects Vytautas Landsbergis chairman of presidium; votes for declaration of independence. Estonian Supreme Soviet votes for transition to independence.

April	Moscow imposes economic blockade on Lithuania. Baltic Agreement on Economic Cooperation signed by Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

May	Latvian Supreme Council votes for transition to independence. Baltic countries renew 1934 Baltic Treaty on Unity and Cooperation.

June	Lithuanian Supreme Council agrees to six-month moratorium on independence declaration; Moscow lifts economic blockade.

1991 January	Lithuanian prime minister Kazimiera Prunskiene resigns after dispute with Vytautas Landsbergis. Soviet military intervention in Vilnius and Riga results in massacre of civilians.

February-March	Referenda in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania show overwhelming support for independence.

August	Estonian Supreme Council and Latvian Supreme Council vote for full independence following coup in Moscow; coup collapses; Baltic states restore diplomatic relations with many countries.

September	Soviet Union recognizes independence of Baltic states. Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania admitted to United Nations.

November	Estonian Supreme Council decides to require naturalization of Soviet-era immigrants.

1992 January	Estonian prime minister Edgar Savisaar resigns; Tiit Vähi forms new government. Latvian Supreme Council reaffirms validity of Latvia's pre-Soviet borders.

June	New Estonian constitution adopted by referendum.

July	Lithuanian prime minister Gediminas Vagnorius resigns after vote of no confidence; replaced by Aleksandras Abisala.

September	Election of new parliament, Riigikogu, in Estonia yields center-right coalition government led by Fatherland Party (Isamaa).

October	Lithuanian Democratic Labor Party wins absolute majority of seats in Seimas; Algirdas Brazauskas elected chairman; Sajudis fares poorly. Lennart Meri elected president of Estonia; Mart Laar becomes prime minister.

October-November	Lithuania's new constitution approved by referendum and adopted by Seimas.

December	Seimas chairman Brazauskas appoints Bronislovas Lubys prime minister of Lithuania.

1993 February	Algirdas Brazauskas elected president of Lithuania.

March	Lithuanian prime minister Bronislovas Lubys resigns; replaced by Adolfas Slezevicius.

June	Political crisis in Estonia follows passage of Law on Aliens; measure amended after presidential veto. Latvia's Way finishes first in first post-Soviet national elections to Saeima.

July	Saeima restores 1922 constitution and elects Guntis Ulmanis president of Latvia; Valdis Birkavs becomes prime minister.

August	Russian military forces withdrawn from Lithuania.

October	Isamaa fares poorly in Estonia's first post-Soviet local elections; Tiit Vähi's Coalition Party finishes first.

1994 May	Latvian National Independence Movement finishes first in Latvia's first post-Soviet local elections; ex-communists fare worst.

July	Ruling coalition in Latvia breaks up; Birkavs government resigns.

August	Russian military forces withdrawn from Estonia and Latvia. Citizenship bill signed into law in Latvia; controversial restrictive quota on naturalization excluded.

September	Estonian prime minister Mart Laar loses vote of no confidence; Andres Tarand confirmed as prime minister. Maris Gailis confirmed as prime minister of Latvia.

1995 February	Latvia admitted to Council of Europe, after abandoning restrictive quotas on naturalization.

March	Coalition Party-Rural Union alliance finishes first in Estonian parliamentary elections; Russophone community gains representation. Lithuanian Democratic Labor Party fares poorly in local elections.

April	Tiit Vähi confirmed as Estonia's prime minister.

May	Latvia's Baltija Bank collapses.

July	Lithuanian economics minister Aleksandras Vasiliauskas resigns after cabinet dispute over economic reform.

September-October	Democratic Party Saimnieks finishes first in Latvian parliamentary elections; followed closely by far-right For Latvia.

October	Estonian interior minister Edgar Savisaar implicated in scandal; Vähi government resigns.

Data as of January 1995

Lithuania - TABLE OF CONTENTS