Acta Historica Universitatis Klaipedensis

In the western borderlands of the former Russian Empire, which the German army had taken over at the beginning of the First World War (1915), the state institutions of the newly declared independent Lithuania began to emerge in 1918. One of them was the Lithuanian army, established at the very end of the year, which lacked everything at the time, but which was to engage the approaching Bolshevik Red Army as early as January 1919. In the first years, as the Lithuanian army was being built up, it interacted with German troops, some of whom were units retreating from the Eastern Front, and others were newly formed from volunteers who were recruited in Germany to fight against Bolshevism in the east. As the political order in Europe was changing in a way that was very unfavourable to Germany, all hopes that the Germans would be able to maintain their control in the east collapsed. The article examines how under these circumstances the German military leadership’s attitude towards the evolving Lithuanian army changed during the period of the Lithuanian Wars of Independence. Drawing on material in the Political Archives of the German Foreign Ministry and the German Military Archives, the article shows the different impact that two factors, the assessment of the capabilities of the Lithuanian army and the political attitudes of the Germans, had on the image of the Lithuanian armed forces.

With the creation of the Lithuanian armed forces in the early 20th century, the question of having officers loyal to the idea of the nation-state inevitably arose. It became especially relevant during the Wars of Independence that followed the First World War. Due to the need to create the armed forces urgently, individuals from different backgrounds and with different experiences joined the corps of officers in the emerging Lithuanian army. Therefore, a variety of tensions of a political and social nature arose between them, which in some cases grew into open conflict. The article examines the question of whether these conflicts were based on differences in officers’ education, social background, national engagement or experience. Can we explain the conflicts between the officers by the generation gap? And what role was played in these conflicts by the experience of military service acquired by some officers in the Imperial Russian army, including experience in the First World War?

The paper examines a little-known unsuccessful attempt at a military coup in Poland in January 1919. The idea attracted notable members of the Polish National Committee, including Stanisław Grabski, and members of other right-wing organisations. Colonel Marian Januszajtis-Żegota took up the leadership at the military level, and Eustachy Sapieha at the political level. The coup was directed against the government led by the socialist Jędrzej Edward Moraczewski. The paper shows the political context of the uprising, the process, and the circumstances of its failure.

The beginning of the war in 1939 changed the geopolitical situation in the Baltic region. After Poland had lost its sovereignty and the Soviet Union approached the borders of Lithuania, the country’s defence concept also changed. Reforms of the army that had started in Lithuania as early as 1935 fundamentally changed the approach to the defence of the country. The vision was declared that every citizen was a defender of his country. After the reinforcement of border control, mobilisation plans were drawn up, and the Riflemen’s Union was included in Lithuania’s defence plans. In 1939, after the Mutual Assistance Treaty had been signed with the Soviet Union, 20,000 Soviet soldiers entered Lithuania. Given the new geopolitical circumstances, a detailed restructuring of the concept of national defence was undertaken. This paper looks into the directives for mobilisation drawn up in the spring of 1940, the mobilisation plan for the Riflemen’s Union, and the plans for the use of the riflemen for national defence.

This article discusses the process of the integration of the Lithuanian Riflemen’s Union (LRU) into the state’s defence system in the 1920s and 1930s. The key features and boundaries of the process are outlined, on the basis of archival materials and research literature. An analysis of relations between the military authorities and the LRU reveals individual characteristics of the relationship between the riflemen and the army. The regional context of the process is evaluated within the limitations of the sources available, by presenting the situations of similar paramilitary organisations in Latvia, Estonia, Finland and Poland during the period in question.