Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
On 20 March 1939, Nazi Germany's foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop presented an oral ultimatum to Juozas Urbšys, foreign minister of Lithuania. Germany demanded that Lithuania give up the Klaipėda Region (also known as the Memel Territory) which had been detached from Germany after World War I, or the Wehrmacht would invade Lithuania ...
After the March 1939 ultimatum regarding the Klaipėda Region, Germany accounted for 75% of Lithuanian exports and 86% of its imports. [1] To solidify its influence, Germany suggested a German–Lithuanian military alliance against Poland and promised to return the Vilnius Region, but Lithuania held to its policy of strict neutrality. [2]
28 September 1939, Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact amended pursuant to German-Soviet Boundary and Friendship Treaty; most of Lithuania now falls into the Soviet "sphere of influence". 28 September 1939 Estonia submits to Soviet ultimatum, accepts military bases. 2 October 1939, Soviet Union demands establishment of military bases in neutral Latvia ...
The initial Soviet invasion and occupation of the Baltic states began in June 1940 under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, made between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany in August 1939 before the outbreak of World War II. [1] [2] The three independent Baltic countries were annexed as constituent Republics of the Soviet Union in August 1940.
At the beginning of World War II, which began with the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, Lithuania remained a neutral country. However, after Poland's defeat, pressure intensified on Lithuania, which was forced to sign he mutual assistance pact of October 10, 1939, with the Soviet Union, making it a de facto Soviet protectorate. [4]
This is a list of wars, armed conflicts and rebellions involving Lithuania throughout its history as a kingdom (1251–1263), grand duchy (1236–1251; 1263–1795, although part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth during 1569–1795) and a modern republic (1918–1940; 1990 – present), including as well the uprisings of the 19th and 20th centuries to recreate Lithuanian statehood.
By 1920, German troops had withdrawn and the Russian Civil War was in its final phase. Consequently, the Baltic states signed peace treaties with Soviet Russia. Estonia signed the Treaty of Tartu on 2 February, Lithuania signed the Soviet–Lithuanian Peace Treaty on 12 July and Latvia signed the Latvian–Soviet Peace Treaty on 15 August 1920. [3]
A growing proportion of the local populations turned against the Nazi regime as Germany turned the Baltic states—except for the Memel (Klaipėda) region annexed into Greater Germany in 1939—and most of Belarus into the Reichskommissariat Ostland, a colony in all but name in which the four predominant nationalities had little role in governance.