Polish–Lithuanian relations
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Polish–Lithuanian relations date to 13th century, when Grand Duchy of Lithuania under Mindaugas took over some of Rus' lands and thus established a border with then-fragmented Kingdom of Poland.
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[edit] Medieval ages
Until late 14th century most of contact between the two countries was limited to border military conflicts, with the brief exception of an 1320s alliance between king of Poland, Władysław Łokietek, and Grand Duke of Lithuania, Gediminas. In 1385 the growing threat of the Teutonic Order to both countries led to a firmer alliance, the Union of Krewo, which signaled the beginning of centuries-long Polish–Lithuanian union. The union reached an important milestone in 1569, when the Union of Lublin created a new federal state, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Commonwealth lasted till the Constitution of May 3, 1791 and partitions.
[edit] Interbellum
Despite proposals such as Międzymorze, after the First World War both countries chose to pursue independent statehoods instead of recreating a previous federations. Differences on border issues, particularly over the city of Vilnius (Wilno) led to the Polish-Lithuanian War, most of the interwar period states were de facto at war.
Lithuanian-Polish relations worsened, as Polish Military Organization staged Sejny Uprising,[1]. This was met with massive outrage in Lithuania.[1] Furthermore image of Poles deteriorated because of the uncovered plot to overthrow sovereign Lithuanian government by Polish Military Organization, that was supported by local Polish minority. The relations deteriorated further as Polish-Lithuanian War and Józef Piłsudski ordered Żeligowski's Mutiny happened. After these acts of imperialism Poland's actions were threatened with high level of suspicion in Lithuania.
Both governments - in the era nationalism was sweeping through Europe - treated their respective minorities harshly. In Lithuania, people declaring Polish ethicity were officially described as Lithuanians who merely needed to be re-Lithuanianized, Polish-owned land were confiscated, Polish religious services, schools, publications, and voting rights were restricted.[2] Lithuanian minority in Poland was an object of Polonisation, with government encouraging settlement of Polish army veterans in disputed regions.[3] Almost all Lithuanian schools were closed (closed 266, only 3[citation needed] remained) and almost all organizations were banned.
[edit] World War II
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For more details on this topic, see Polish-Lithuanian relations during World War II.
The issue of Polish and Lithuanian relations during the Second World War is a controversial one, and some modern Lithuanian and Polish historians still differ in their interpretations of the related events, many of which are related to the operations of Polish resistance organization of Armia Krajowa on territories inhabited by Lithuanians and Poles. In recent years a number of common academic conferences have started to bridge the gap between Lithuanian and Polish interpretations, but significant differences still remain.[4]
[edit] Communist era
Second World War put an end to independent Polish and Lithuanian states. After the war both former states fell under the sphere of influence of Soviet Union. Poland was shifted westwards, thus giving up most of the disputed territories previously containing significant Lithuanian minority in the Second Polish Republic, those territories were incorporated into Lithuanian SSR and Belarus SSR, itself one of the Soviet republics. At the same time many Poles from Kresy were allowed to leave Soviet Union, and mostly were transferred west to Recovered Territories, and Polish minority in Lithuania (or Lithuanian SSR) was also significantly downsized. Under the eye of the Soviet Union, the various ethnic groups in the Eastern Bloc were to cooperate peacefully, and that policy[dubious ], coupled with the population migrations limiting the size of both minorities in respective regions, resulted in lessening of tensions between Poles and Lithuanians.
[edit] Modern times
During the Second World War Polish and Lithuanian territories were both occupied by the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, but the relations between Poles and Lithuanians were still poor. After the end of World War II, both Poland and Lithuania found themselves in the Eastern Bloc, Poland as a Soviet satellite state, Lithuania as a Soviet republic. The fall of communism in the years of 1989-1991 led to a formal reestablishment of relations by the Polish and Lithuanian states. After a relative crisis in the early 1990s[5] those relations have been steadily improving over the past two decades, with both countries joining the NATO and European Union.
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b Lesčius, Vytautas; Editors: dr. Gintautas Surgailis; habil. dr. prof. Algirdas Ažubalis; habil. dr. prof. Grzegorz Błaszczyk; dr. doc. Pranas Jankauskas; dr. Eriks Jekabsons; habil. dr. prof. Waldemar Rezmer and others (2003). "Lietuvos ir Lenkijos krainis konfliktas del Seinu krasto 1919 metais", Karo archyvas XVIII. Vilnius: Generolo Jono Žemaičio Lietuvos karo akademija, pp.188-189. ISSN 1392-6489.
- ^ Fearon, James D.; Laitin, David D. (2006). Lithuania (pdf) (English) 4. Stanford University. Retrieved on 2007-06-18. “Lithuanian nationalists resented demands by Poles for greater cultural autonomy (similar to that granted to the Jewish minority), holding that most of Lithuania's Poles were really deracinated Lithuanians who merely needed to be re-Lithuanianized. Resentments were exacerbated when Lithuanian Poles expressed a desire to "re-unite" the country with Poland. As a result, the nationalizing Lithuanian state took measures to confiscate Polish owned land. It also restricted Polish religious services, schools, Polish publications, Polish voting rights. Poles were often referred to in the press in this period as the "lice of the nation"”
- ^ Fearon, James D.; Laitin, David D. (2006). Lithuania (pdf) (English) 4. Stanford University. Retrieved on 2007-06-18. “From 1936 till 1939, 266 Lithuanian schools were closed in the whole territory of the former Vilnius Territory. Activities of almost all Lithuanian cultural organizations were banned there. In the areas controlled by Poland, resentments grew as a new settlement of Polish army veterans with economic ties to Poland brought greater Polonization.”
- ^ Dovile, Budryte (September 30, 2005). Taming Nationalism?. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 188-189. ISBN 0-7546-4281-X.
- ^ Polish foreign relations with the former Soviet Republics from the mid-1990s perspective
[edit] External links
- Polish-Lithuanian Co-operation - on post-1991 Polish–Lithuanian relations, Polish Embassy in Lithuania
- B. Dundulis, A historiographic survey of Lithuanian-Polish relations, Lituanus, Lithuanian quarterly journal of arts and sciences, Volume 17, No.4 - Winter 1971
- Joanna Rohozinska, The Conquest of Pragmatism: A new chapter in Polish-Lithuanian relations, Central Europe Review, Vol 1, No 13, 20 September 1999
- Antanas Valionis, Evaldas Ignatavièius, Izolda Brièkovskienë. From Solidarity to Partnership: Lithuanian-Polish Relations 1988-1998, 1998, issue 2. Lithuanian Foreign Policy Review.
- Virgil Krapauskas, Political change in Poland and Lithuania: The impact on Polish-Lithuanian ethnic relations as reflected in Lithuanian-language publications in Poland (1945-1991), Journal of Baltic Studies, Volume 29, Issue 3 Autumn 1998 , pages 261 - 278, [1]
[edit] See also
- History of Lithuania and Foreign relations of Lithuania
- History of Poland and Foreign relations of Poland
- Lithuanian minority in Poland and Polish minority in Lithuania
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