Acta Historica Universitatis Klaipedensis

The events that took place in Lithuania, both during the struggle for the revival of the Lithuanian state (1917–1918) and during the years of its sovereignty up to 1940, aroused the interest of the Ukrainian public. Both nations, Lithuania and Ukraine, went a similar way in implementing their national state projects. As the project of sovereign Ukraine failed, however, Lithuania became important, because it provided significant support to the Ukrainian liberation movement, and was perceived among nationalist Ukrainian elites as a historical and natural ally. The article shows how the priorities and vectors of Lithuanian foreign policy were covered by the Ukrainian press. The author discusses the period between the world wars. An integral part of the article is a list of publications in Ukrainian and Ukrainian-language periodicals devoted to these questions.

Wilsonianism, the political philosophy of President Woodrow Wilson of the USA, was seen in Europe in 1919 as a way out of the chaotic and almost hopeless situation in international relations that had emerged in the autumn of 1918. The philosophy established a new ideology of international relations based on the equality of sovereign states, a doctrine of collective security, and the preservation of peace and stability. In European and world political history, this was the beginning of a geo-political experiment that, to a large extent, continues to this day. New entities in international politics, such as the Lithuanian state, proclaimed in 1918, had to adapt to the new ideology as well. The essay provides an outline of the stimuli and obstacles to Lithuanian foreign policy in that direction in the period between the two world wars. Based on sources from Lithuanian and Russian archives, published documents and historical research, the author discusses the links between Lithuanian foreign policy and its controversial historical heritage, complex domestic political processes, and attempts to solve the problems it faced in its cooperation with Bolshevik Russia (the USSR).

On 17 March 1938, Warsaw delivered an ultimatum to Kaunas. After the 18 years of non-existent official diplomatic relations with Poland due to the occupation of Vilnius in 1920, Lithuania was forced to renew them. The acceptance of the ultimatum in Lithuania heavily influenced the prestige of the authoritarian regime, but opened a new stage in relations between Lithuania and Poland on the eve of the Second World War. In addition to the envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to Lithuania Franciszek Charwat, Poland appointed Leon Mitkiewicz (1896–1972) as its military attaché to the diplomatic mission in Kaunas. Having scrupulously documented his life and service, Mitkiewicz observed Lithuania both before and after his appointment. He also conducted numerous political-military analyses, trying to assess the direction of international and geopolitical events. The article gives an overview of Mitkiewicz’s notes on Polish-Lithuanian relations, and Lithuania and its war potential both before and after the 1938 ultimatum.

The article is devoted to the new historical investigations on the problem of Lithuanian-Polish relations in interwar period, as a first signs of a thaw. In the beginning of the 1930’s the political situation in Europe changed. Lithuanian and Polish politicians had to look for new ways to resolve the conflict between the two countries. Lithuanian foreign minister S. Lozoraitis had a real opportunity to put an end to the prolonged conflict. He had to finish the period of Lithuania’s previous political orientation and to start a new period of foreign policy, which is mentioned in historiography as a beginning of “the new course”.