History Of Vilnius

MIDDLE AGES

The earliest settlements in the area of present day Vilnius appear to be of Mesolithic origin. Numerous Archaeological findings in different parts of the City prove that the area has been inhabited by peoples of various cultures since the early Middle Ages . Initially a Baltic settlement, it was also inhabitated by Slavs (the oldest Slavonic name for the city is ''Крывы горад'' - ''The Kryvy City'') and, since at least 11th Century , by Jews . Some historians identify the city with Voruta , a forgotten Capital of King Mindaugas .

The city was first mentioned in written sources in 1323 . It was probably made the Capital city of Lithuania in the beginning of the 14th century by Gediminas , Duke of Lithuania , who built his wooden castle on the hill there. The city became wider known after he wrote a circular letter of invitation to the principal Hansa towns in 1325 , offering free access into his domains to men of every order and profession. Vilnius was granted city rights by Wladislaus II Of Poland in 1387 . The town was initially populated by local Lithuanians , but soon the population began to grow as Craftsmen and Merchants of other nationalities settled in the city.

According to a tale, tired after a busy hunting day, Gediminas had a prophetic dream about an Iron Wolf howling on a top of the hill. When he asked a '' Krivis '' (priest?) Lizdeika for an explanation of the dream, he was told that he must build a Castle on the top of that hill, which is strategically surrounded by three Rivers ('' Vilnelė '', '' Vilija '' (also known as Wilia or '' Neris '') and '' Vingria '' (now underground)) and a grand city around that hill, so that "the iron-wolf-like sound about this great city would spread around the world". For his advice, Lizdeika was given a name of Radziwill ( Belarusian and Polish ''"радзіць"''/''"radzić"'' = ''to advise'').

POLISH-LITHUANIAN COMMONWEALTH

Between 1503 and 1522 the city was surrounded with Walls that had nine Gates and three towers. Communities of Poles , Lithuanians and Ruthenians were present in different areas of Vilnius. The town reached the peak of its development under the reign of Sigismund II Of Poland , who moved his court there in 1544 . In the following centuries, Vilnius became a constantly growing and developing city. This growth was due in part, to the establishment of Vilnius University by Stefan Batory , Grand Duke of Lithuania and king of Poland, in 1579 . The university soon developed into one of the most important scientific and cultural centres of the region and the most notable scientific centre of the Grand Duchy Of Lithuania . Political, economic and social life was in full swing there. This is proved by statutes issued in the 16th Century , the last of which was still in force until the 19th Century . In 1769 the Rossa Cemetery was founded; today it is one of the oldest surviving cemeteries in the world.

Rapidly developing, the city was open to Migrants from both East and West. In addition to old citizens, new Jewish , Orthodox and German communities established themselves in the city. Each group made its contribution to the life of the city, and crafts, trade and science prospered. In 1655 Vilnius was captured by the forces of Russia and was pillaged, burned and the population was massacred. The city's growth lost its momentum for many years, yet the number of inhabitants recovered and by the beginning of the 19th Century the city was the third largest city in Eastern Europe. Russian occupation policy made the destruction of the city walls a must and after 1799 - 1805 period, only the Dawn Gate (also known as ''Aušros vartai'', ''Medininkų vartai'' or ''Ostra Brama'', ''Вострая Брама'') remained.

UNDER RUSSIAN RULE

After the Third Partition Of Poland in 1795 , Vilnius was annexed by Russia and became the capital of a Gubernya . In 1812 the city was seized by Napoleon on his push towards Moscow . After the failure of the campaign, the Grande Armée retreated to the area where 80,000 of French soldiers died and were buried in the Trench es they had built months earlier. After the November Uprising the Vilnius University was closed and repressions halted the further development of the city. During the January Uprising in 1863 heavy city fights occurred, but were brutally Pacified by Mikhail Muravyov , nick-named ''The Hanger'' by the population because of the number of executions he organized. After the uprising all liberties were halted and the Lithuanian , Polish , and Belarusian languages were banned.

During the second half of 19th century Vilnius became a center of Belarus ian national rebirth. The most important Belarusian poets and writers published their works in Vilnius at that time. Vilnius was the place where the first Belarusian newspaper Naša Niva was founded.

INTERWAR PERIOD

Polish-Lithuanian conflict

During World War I , Vilnius was occupied by Germany from 1915 until 1918 .
Still under German occupation, the German-supported Council Of Lithuania proclaimed the act of ''Restoration of Independence of Lithuania'' in Vilnius on February 16 , 1918 . Germans however denied the Council the right to elect a State Council. Instead, the Council attempted to elect a German prince, Wilhelm Von Urach of Württemberg for a Lithuanian king under the name of Mindaugas II . In fact the monarch never assumed his powers and the Lithuanian-German cooperation deteriorated. The German civilian administration of the Ober-Ost declined to pass full authority to Lithuania, which was not controlled by the Germans any more. Instead, the Germans tried to control the area by means of promoting conflicts between local nationalities as it became clear that the German plan for creation of Mitteleuropa , a net of satellite buffer states, failed.

Finally, on January 1 , 1919 , the German garrison withdrew and passed the authority over the city to a local Polish committee, against the pleas of the Lithuanian administration. Polish self-defence units formed of local inhabitants took over the posts and Polish administration started to be formed while the Lithuanians withdrew along with the Germans.
However, only three days afterwards, on January 3 1919 the city was attacked and taken by Bolshevik forces advancing from the east. The city was proclaimed the capital of the short-lived Lithuanian-Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic . The Red Army attack on Vilnius is often cited as the beginning of the Polish-Soviet War . During the course of that conflict, on April 19 , 1919 the city was again seized by Poland, this time by forces of the regular Polish Army . A year later, on July 14 , 1920 it was lost to Soviet forces again.

Shortly after the defeat in the Battle Of Warsaw in 1920 , the withdrawing Red Army handed the city over to Lithuania , in accordance with the Russo-Lithuanian agreement of July 12 of that year. The treaty allowed for transfer to Lithuanian authority a large part of the areas of former Grand Duchy Of Lithuania and Kingdom Of Poland , disputed by Lithuania under the names of '' Vilnius Region '' or '' Southern Lithuania ''. Although the city itself, as well as its surroundings were actually transferred, the fast pace of the Polish offensive prevented additional territories to be handed over by the Red Army and the disputed area became split into Lithuanian and Polish-controlled parts.

Many historians argue that the main reason behind the Soviet agreement with Lithuania was to weaken Poland and hand the disputed territories to a weaker state, which Lithuania was at the time, in order to reconquer the area more easily after the retreat of the Red Army is halted. Also, the independence of the Baltic States was seen by Lenin as temporary. However, after the Battle Of The Niemen River the Red Army was again defeated and Bolshevik Russia was forced to abandon her plans for reincorporation of all the lands lost by the Russian Empire in the Treaty Of Brest-Litovsk .

As Russia ceased to be a major player in the area, the Polish-Lithuanian relations worsened. After the Bolshevik armies were pushed out of the area, the line reached by the Lithuanian forces before the Poles arrived was secured and diplomatic talks started. However, the negotiations on the future of the disputed area, held under the auspice of the Conferrence Of Ambassadors in Brussels and Paris came to a stalemate and the Polish head of state, Józef Piłsudski feared, that the Entente might want to accept the Fait Accompli created by the Bolshevik-Lithuanian agreement. As both countries were officially at peace and the Lithuanian side rejected the idea of a Plebiscite , the Poles decided to change the stalemate by creating ''fait accompli'' for their own cause.

On October 9 , 1920, the Lithuanian-Belarusian Division of the Polish Army under General Lucjan Żeligowski seized the city in a staged Mutiny , without officially declaring war on Lithuania. Vilnius was declared the capital of an independent state of Central Lithuania , with Żeligowski as its head of state. The negotiations in Brussels continued, but the Polish move did not simplify the situation. Among the plans proposed by the Entente was a creation of a Polish-Lithuanian state based on a Canton al system, with shared control over the disputed area. While this was acceptable to both sides, Poland insisted on inviting the representatives of Central Lithuania to the talks. At the same times the Lithuanian politicians argued that Central Lithuania is but a Puppet State of Poland and rejected the idea. Finally, the talks came to yet another stalemate and no proposal was accepted.

On January 8 , 1922 , general parliamentary elections were held in Central Lithuania. While there are no proofs of the elections being unfair, the Lithuanian politicians resented the fact that the voting was done solely on the area of Central Lithuania, that is the areas previously seized by the Lithuanian authorities and captured by Żeligowski, and not in all of the ''Vilnius region'' that was claimed as integral part of Lithuanian territory. Some of Lithuanian historians also claim that some Lithuanian candidates were not registered because they did not speak Polish . Apart from the Lithuanian organisations that eventually decided to Boycott the voting, most of the parties that took part in it were supporting the idea of incorporation of the area into Poland - with different grades of autonomy. 63,9% of the entire population took part in the voting, but among different ethnic groups the attendance was lower (41% of Belarusians , 15,3% Jews and 8,2% of Lithuanians ). Poles were the only major ethnic group out of which the majority of people voted. This and possibility of fraud were the pretexts for Lithuania not to recognise it. Also, the Lithuanian side argued that the election area covered only the territory of Central Lithuania, that is the areas under Lithuanian administration prior to Żeligowski's action, while it should also cover the areas promised to Lithuania in the Lithuanian-Soviet agreement of July 12, 1920, known as the Vilnius region.

After fierce discussions, a decision was reached in the Central Lithuanian Parliament on February 20 1922 , to return the whole area to Poland, with Vilnius becoming the Capital of the Wilno Voivodship . The situation was soon afterwards approved by the Conference Of Ambassadors and the League Of Nations . However, the Lithuanian authorities never recognized the Status Quo and continued to claim sovereignty over the ''Region of Vilnius''. Also, the city itself was declared the constitutional capital of the Lithuanian state while Kaunas was only a Temporary Capital Of Lithuania .

Poland

Lithuanian authorities never accepted the fact that Vilnians elected to be part of Poland. That in turn was not understood by Poles who, together with Jews, made up a majority in city of Vilnius itself; Lithuanians there formed a marginal minority (of less than 3% immediately after World War I, and less than 1% later in 1930s). However, in certain parts of Polish controlled region other nationalities (Belarusian, Jewish or Lithuanian) made up a majority.

Lithuania claimed its right to encompass a multinational territory, similarly as Poland did. It also claimed that based on historical criteria, its rights to the area were more justified. The Lithuanian constitution continued to name Vilnius as the capital of the country. Lithuania broke all diplomatic relations with Poland, closed the border and declined to accept the Polish authority over the territory in question until 1938 , when taking advantage of the international concern over Nazi Germany actions, Poland presented a ultimatum to Lithuania to renew diplomatic relations and that way abolished the pressure on Poland about the Vilnius Region .

In spite of the unfavourable geopolitical situation (which prevented the trade with the immediate neighbours: Lithuania, Germany and Soviet Russia) life in the town fluorished. A number of new factories, including modern " Elektrit " radio factory was opened. New houses and churches were being built throughout the city. Much of the development concentrated along the central Mickiewicz street (named '' Gedimino Prospektas '' today), where the modern Jabłkowski Brothers department store was opened, equipped with lifts and automatic doors. New radio buildings and towers were erected in 1927 , including the site where noted Polish poet and Nobel Prize winner Czesław Miłosz worked.
The University was reopened under the name '' Stefan Batory University'', with Polish as the language of instruction. The Lithuanian language was discouraged by limiting the number of Lithuanian schools. By 1931 the city had 195,000 inhabitants, which made it the fifth largest city in Poland. The city became an important centre of Polish cultural and scientific life, while economically the rest of the region remained relatively backward. It was claimed that this relative underdevelopment, among other issues, was the reason for difficulties with integrating the region and the city with Lithuania, when it regained Vilnius in 1939.

Vilnius was also an informal capital of Yiddish at that time. The Museum of Jewish culture was founded there in 1919, and YIVO - Institute for Jewish Research, was founded there in 1924 . A number of important Jewish cultural institutions including theatres, newspapers and magazines, museums and schools, and Jewish PEN-Club were created before Second World War in Vilnius. In addition to its Jewish heritage, it continued to be a centre of Belarusian national life in Poland-occupied West Belarus .

SECOND WORLD WAR

In the beginning of the , despite Lithuanian defence, Vilnius was again seized by the Soviet Union and became the capital of the Lithuanian SSR . Approximately 35,000 - 40,000 of the city inhabitants were arrested by the NKVD and sent to Gulag s at that time.

In June 1941 the city was again seized by Germany . In the old town centre two Ghetto s were set up for the large Jewish population - the smaller one of which was "liquidated" by October. The second ghetto lasted until 1943 , though its population was regularly decimated in so called ''Aktionen''. A failed Jewish ghetto uprising on September 1 , 1943, could not prevent its final destruction. About 95% of the local Jewish population was murdered. Many of them were among 100,000 victims of the mass executions in Paneriai , about 10 kilometers west of the old town centre. Most of the remaining 30,000 victims of the massacre were Poles - POW s, Intelligentsia and members of the Armia Krajowa , which at the time was fighting against both Germans and Lithuanians.

Military actions destroyed approximately forty-percent of Vilnius' buildings, but almost all architectural monuments survived. Only the ghetto area with the famous Great Synagogue was totally destroyed.

SOVIET OCCUPATION

Vilnius was taken in July 1944 by the Polish Home Army together with the Red Army , only to be incorporated into the Soviet Union again shortly afterwards. The Soviet government decided to Expel the Polish population from Lithuania and Belarus after the end of World War II. This decision was soon implemented and most of the population was transferred during the so-called " Repatriation ", organized by Soviet and Polish communist governments. Although the repatriation was claimed to be voluntary, and even though parts of the Polish population was able to remain where they had lived, it was very questionable from the point of view of humanity and justice. Most of the surviving inhabitants left Vilnius, which had and obvious impact on the city's community and its traditions. Many of the remaining Poles were arrested, murdered or sent to Gulag s or to remote parts of Soviet empire. These events, coupled with the policy of Russification and immigration of Russians from other Soviet republics the during post-war years and slow but steady repatriation of the surviving Jews to Israel , had a critical influence on the demographic situation of the city. Vilnius experienced a rapid population upsurge due to immigration of Lithuanian rural population after 1960 .

INDEPENDENT LITHUANIA

Beginning in 1987 there were massive demonstrations against Soviet rule in the country. On March 11 , 1990 , the Supreme Council of the Lithuanian SSR announced its independence from the Soviet Union and restored the independent Republic of Lithuania. The Soviets responded on January 9 , 1991 , by sending in troops. On January 13 , during the Soviet Army attack on the State Radio and Television Building and the Vilnius TV Tower , 14 people were killed and more than 700 were seriously injured. The Soviet Union finally recognized Lithuanian independence in August 1991 .

The importance of Vilnius for Belarus remained at the end of 20th century. In June 1989 Vilnius was the site of the Belarusian Popular Front conference as the Belarusian Soviet authorities would not allow the event to take place in Belarus. In the beginning of 21st century several institutes such as the European Humanities University and the independent sociology center NIESPI persecuted in Belarus by the regime of Alexander Lukashenko have found an asylum in Vilnius.

In the years following its independence, Vilnius has been rapidly evolving and improving, transforming from a Soviet dominated enclave into a modern European city in less than 10 years.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Juliusz Kłos , ''"Wilno"'', 3rd ed., Wilno 1937;

Jerzy Remer, ''Wilno'', Poznań

Piotr Łossowski, ''Litwa'', Trio, Warszawa 2001, ISBN 8385660593

Tomas Venclova , ''Vilnus - guide'', Paknio Leidykla, Vilnius 2001, ISBN 9986830478

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History Of Vilnius