Lithuanian Wars of Independence

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Lithuanian War of Independence
Date December 1918 - December 1920
Location Lithuania
Result Independence of Lithuania, Polish control of Vilnius
Belligerents
Flag of Lithuania Lithuania
Flag of Weimar Republic German mercenaries		 Flag of the Russian SFSR Russian SFSR
Lithuanian-Byelorussian SSR		 Flag of Poland Poland
Flag of Russia White Movement
Strength
Flag of Lithuania 8,000 Lithuanians in 1919
Flag of Germany 10,000 Germans

Wars of Independence, traditionally known as Freedom Struggles (Lithuanian: Laisvės kovos), refer to three wars Lithuania fought defending its independence at the end of World War I: with Bolsheviks (December 1918 - August 1919), Bermontians (June 1919 - December 1919), and Poland (August 1920 - November 1920). The wars delayed international recognition of independent Lithuania and formation of political structures.

Contents

[edit] Background information and forming the army

After 1795, Lithuania was annexed by the Russian Empire. During the course of World War I it was occupied by German forces from 1915 to the end of the war. On February 16, 1918 the Council of Lithuania declared the re-establishment of independence from Russia. This declaration was initially suppressed by the occupying forces of the German Empire but on the 23rd of March, 1918, the Germans acknowledged this fact in hopes of creating a network of satellite countries, so called Mitteleuropa. However, Germany did not allow the Council to establish Lithuanian military, police, or other state institutions. In November 11, 1918 Germany lost the war and, with it, control over Lithuania. The first national government, led by Augustinas Voldemaras, was formed. Voldemaras soon declared that Lithuania did not need a military force, as it was not going to fight anyone, and only a small militia would suffice.

The first legislative act creating an army was passed on November 23, 1918. Its development and organization moved slowly due to lack of funding, guns and ammunition, and experienced military commanders. On December 20 Antanas Smetona and Augustinas Voldemaras went to Germany to ask for help.

Mykolas Sleževičius became Prime Minister of Lithuania. Seeing that there was a direct threat to the state, six days later he wrote a proclamation to Lithuanian men, inviting volunteers to join a voluntary force to defend country. At the very end of 1918, Germany paid the Lithuanian government a hundred million marks. The gradual formation of the Lithuanian army proceeded under the auspices of the German army, who did not totally withdraw from the territory after their defeat.

Lithuanian volunteers who agreed to join the military force were promised free land. Germany sent a division of German volunteers, about 10,000 men, who were paid 5 marks per day plus 30 marks per month. The German volunteers were mainly from Saxony so the Freikorps in Lithuania were called "Saxon volunteers." On March 5, 1919 a mobilization was declared for men born 1897-1899. At the end of summer, the Lithuanian army had about 8,000 men. During the battles that followed 1,700 Lithuanian volunteers perished, more than 2,600 were injured, and 800 were Missing In Action.

[edit] War against the Bolsheviks

The Bolsheviks attacked Lithuania from the east trying to prevent independence and to spread the global proletarian revolution. These actions succeeded in some states, such as Georgia, Belarus and Ukraine, which were also briefly independent but then fell under Soviet rule soon after the civil war in Russia had ended. In Lithuania this effort was not successful.

On December 8, 1918, a temporary revolutionary government in Vilnius was formed solely from Communist Party of Lithuania members. Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas became the chairman. The following day a workers' soviet was formed and declared its control over Vilnius. However, at the same time Voldemaras' government and Polish committee declared the same. The Germans left Vilnius on December 31, 1918. The Red Army advanced and on January 5, 1919 took Vilnius and advanced further to the west. On January 1, 1919 local Lithuanian communists in the town of Šiauliai rebelled and created a 1000-men-strong "Samogitian platoon", thus when the Red army captured the town on January 15 a soviet power already existed there.

German paid German volunteers led by Rüdiger von der Goltz arrived in Lithuania, took positions along the Hrodna-Kaišiadorys-Kaunas line, and stopped the Red Army. On February 27, 1919, the Freikorps defeated the "Samogitian platoon" in battle near Luokė. On March 7, 1919 the Freikorps liberated the town of Kuršėnai, on March 11 - Šiauliai, on March 12 - Radviliškis, on March 14 - Šeduva. The Freikorps was active in Lithuania until May 31, 1919. On February 10 the first battle between the newly formed Lithuanian army and the Bolsheviks took place near Kėdainiai. On February 27, 1919, the Lithuanian-Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (Litbel) was declared. In March the Lithuanian army under the leadership of general Silvestras Žukauskis started to push the Red Army back. On April 19, 1919, the Polish Army captured Vilnius, forcing the Bolsheviks to withdraw the left wing of their army from territory south of the river Neris. In May Lithuanians together with the Freikorps captured Panevėžys and Ukmergė, in June - Utena. At the end of August, the Bolsheviks were defeated near Zarasai and the front stabilized. The Litbel ceased to exist. However, Vilnius, historic capital of Lithuania, remained under Polish control.

On June 12, 1920, Lithuania signed a peace treaty with the Russian SFSR. Russia recognized Lithuania's independence and its right to the Vilnius region, though this treaty was not recognized by Poland or by the Belarusian National Republic. Lithuania itself was not recognized internationally.

Despite of peace treaty with the Bolsheviks (Soviet-Lithuanian Treaty of 1920) and the war with Poland, Lithuania was very close to being invaded by the Soviets in the summer of 1920 and having to face an attempt to forcibly convert into a socialist republic. It was only the Polish victory against the Soviets in the Polish-Soviet War that disrupted the Bolshevik plans.[1] [2] [3] [4]

[edit] War against the Bermontians

The Bermontians, nicknamed after their leader opportunist Pavel Bermondt-Avalov and formally known as the West Russian Volunteer Army, were a mixed German-Russian army. The army included Russian POWs, released by the German Empire on their promise to fight against the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War, and Freikorps members, stationed in Latvia and Lithuania when Germany lost the war.[5] The official goal of the army was to fight Bolsheviks as part of Aleksandr Kolchak's forces, but the real purpose was to retain German power in the territories they had taken during World War I.[6]

At first the Bermontians operated mostly in Latvia, but in June 1919, they crossed the Lithuanian-Latvian border and took the town of Kuršėnai. At the time the Lithuanains were engaged in the battles with the Bolsheviks and could only send diplomatic protests.[5] By October, the Bermontians had taken considerable territories in western Lithuania (Samogitia) with the cities of Šiauliai, Biržai, Radviliškis. Once they annexed a town, the Bermontians enforced the Russian language as the only language in administration.[7] They became notorious for robbing and looting the local people, who started to form local partisan groups.

In October 1919, Lithuanian forces attacked the Bermontians, achieving an important victory on November 21-22 near Radviliškis, a major railway center. The Lithuanians collected significant spoils of war, including 30 planes and 10 cannons.[5] Later clashes were stopped by Entente representative French General Henri A. Niessel, who oversaw withhdrawal of German troops to Germany.[7] The Lithuanian military followed retreating soldiers to prevent them from further looting and to ensure all of them evacuated. By December 15, the Bermontians were completely pushed from Lithuania.

[edit] War against Poland

Main article: Polish-Lithuanian War

In June 1920 the Russian army took Vilnius. Shortly after their defeat in the Battle of Warsaw, the withdrawing Red Army handed the city over to Lithuania under terms of the peace treaty signed on June 12. Negotiations were started in an attempt to avoid an armed conflict between Poland and Lithuania. On October 7, a cease fire in Suwałki was signed. However, the very next day, before the agreement formally went into effect, a staged mutiny by Polish troops lead to an attack on the disputed area. The Vilnius and the Suvalki regions were overrun. Initially Polish forces did not meet much resistance, and later they were able to withstand a Lithuanian counter-offensive. Since the Vilnius region and the Suvalkai region were effectively controlled by Poland, the Lithuanian government declared Kaunas a temporary capital.

[edit] Armed conflict with Latvia

In the summer of 1919 the Lithuanian army, advancing against the Bolsheviks, crossed the Latvian border and reached the Daugava river, thus occuping the eastern part of the Augšzeme region. Promises were made to leave the area as soon the war with the Bolsheviks was ended. In January, 1920, the Latvian and Polish armies liberated Daugavpils and the Lithuanian army lost a direct front line against the Bolsheviks. Nevertheless, in the summer of 1920 the Lithuanian army was still in Latvia. On October 12, 1920 the Latvian army attacked Lithuanian positions.[dubious – discuss][citation needed]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Alfred Erich Senn, The Formation of the Lithuanian Foreign Office, 1918-1921, Slavic Review, Vol. 21, No. 3. (Sep., 1962), pp. 500-507.: "A Bolshevik victory over the Poles would have certainly meant a move by the Lithuanian communists, backed by the Red Army, to overthrow the Lithuanian nationalist government... Kaunas, in effect, paid for its independence with the loss of Vilna."
  2. ^ Alfred Erich Senn, Lietuvos valstybes... p. 163: "If the Poles didn't stop the Soviet attack, Lithuania would fell to the Soviets... Polish victory costs the Lithuanians the city of Wilno, but saved Lithuania itself."
  3. ^ Antanas Ruksa, Kovos del Lietuvos nepriklausomybes, t.3, p.417: "In summer 1920 Russia was working on a communist revolution in Lithuania... From this disaster Lithuania was saved by the miracle at Vistula."
  4. ^ Jonas Rudokas, Józef Piłsudski - wróg niepodległości Litwy czy jej wybawca? (Polish translation of a Lithuanian article) "Veidas", 25 08 2005: [Piłsudski] "defended both Poland and Lithuanian from Soviet domination"
  5. ^ a b c "Bermondtists". Encyclopedia Lituanica I. (1970-1978). Ed. Simas Sužiedėlis. Boston, Massachusetts: Juozas Kapočius. 335-336. LCC 74-114275. 
  6. ^ (Lithuanian) Kamuntavičius, Rūstis; Vaida Kamuntavičienė, Remigijus Civinskas, Kastytis Antanaitis (2001). Lietuvos istorija 11–12 klasėms. Vilnius: Vaga, 354-355. ISBN 5-415-01502-7. 
  7. ^ a b Eidintas, Alfonsas; Vytautas Žalys, Alfred Erich Senn (September 1999). in Ed. Edvardas Tuskenis: Lithuania in European Politics: The Years of the First Republic, 1918-1940, Paperback, New York: St. Martin's Press, 38-39. ISBN 0-312-22458-3. 
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