The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state that lasted from the 13th century to
1795, when the territory was partitioned among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia,
and the Habsburg Empire of Austria. The state was founded by Lithuanians, who were at the
time a polytheistic nation born from several united Baltic tribes from Aukštaitija.
The Grand Duchy expanded to include large portions of the former Kievan Rus' and other
neighbouring states, including what is now Belarus and parts of Ukraine, Latvia, Poland,
Russia and Moldova. At its greatest extent, in the 15th century, it was the largest state
in Europe. It was a multi-ethnic and multi-confessional state, with great diversity in languages,
religion, and cultural heritage.
The consolidation of the Lithuanian lands began in the late 12th century. Mindaugas,
the first ruler of the Grand Duchy, was crowned as Catholic King of Lithuania in 1253. The
pagan state was targeted in the religious crusade by the Teutonic Knights and the Livonian
Order. The rapid territorial expansion started at the late reign of Gediminas and continued
to expand under the diarchy and co-leadership of his sons Algirdas and Kęstutis. Algirdas's
son Jogaila signed the Union of Krewo in 1386, bringing two major changes in the history
of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: conversion to Christianity and establishment of a dynastic
union between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland.
The reign of Vytautas the Great, son of Kęstutis, marked both the greatest territorial expansion
of the Grand Duchy and the defeat of the Teutonic Knights in the Battle of Grunwald in 1410.
It also marked the rise of the Lithuanian nobility. After Vytautas's death, Lithuania's
relationship with the Kingdom of Poland greatly deteriorated. Lithuanian noblemen, including
the Radvila family, attempted to break the personal union with Poland. However, unsuccessful
wars with the Grand Duchy of Moscow forced the union to remain intact.
Eventually, the Union of Lublin of 1569 created a new state, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
In the Federation, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania maintained its political distinctiveness and
had separate ministries, laws, army, and treasury. The federation was terminated by the passing
of the Constitution of 3 May 1791, when it was supposed to become a single country, the
Commonwealth of Poland, under one monarch, one parliament and no Lithuanian autonomy.
Shortly afterward, the unitary character of the state was confirmed by adopting the Reciprocal
Guarantee of Two Nations.
However, the newly reformed Commonwealth was invaded by Russia in 1792 and partitioned
between neighbouring states. A truncated state remained that was nominally independent. After
the Kościuszko Uprising, the territory was completely partitioned among the Russian Empire,
the Kingdom of Prussia and Austria in 1795. History
Establishment of the state The first written reference to Lithuania is
found in the Quedlinburg Chronicle, which dates from 1009. In the 12th century, Slavic
chronicles refer to Lithuania as one of the areas attacked by the Rus'. Pagan Lithuanians
initially paid tribute to Polotsk, but they soon grew in strength and organized their
own small-scale raids. At some point between 1180 and 1183 the situation began to change,
and the Lithuanians started to organize sustainable military raids on the Slavic provinces, raiding
the Principality of Polotsk as well as Pskov, and even threatening Novgorod. The sudden
spark of military raids marked consolidation of the Lithuanian lands in Aukštaitija.
The Lithuanian Crusade began after the Livonian Order and Teutonic Knights, crusading military
orders, were established in Riga in 1202 and in Prussia in 1226, respectively. The Christian
orders posed a significant threat to pagan Baltic tribes, and further galvanized the
formation of the Lithuanian state. The peace treaty with Galicia–Volhynia of 1219 provides
evidence of cooperation between Lithuanians and Samogitians. This treaty lists 21 Lithuanian
dukes, including five senior Lithuanian dukes from Aukštaitija and several dukes from Žemaitija.
Although they had battled in the past, the Lithuanians and the Žemaičiai now faced
a common enemy. Likely Živinbudas had the most authority and at least several dukes
were from the same families. The formal acknowledgement of common interests and the establishment
of a hierarchy among the signatories of the treaty foreshadowed the emergence of the state.
Kingdom of Lithuania Mindaugas, the duke of southern Lithuania,
was among the five senior dukes mentioned in the treaty with Galicia–Volhynia. The
Livonian Rhymed Chronicle, reports that by the mid-1230s, Mindaugas had acquired supreme
power in the whole of Lithuania. In 1236, the Samogitians, led by Vykintas, defeated
the Livonian Order in the Battle of Saule. The Order was forced to become a branch of
the Teutonic Knights in Prussia, making Samogitia, a strip of land that separated Livonia from
Prussia, the main target of both orders. The battle provided a break in the wars with the
Knights, and Lithuania exploited this situation, arranging attacks towards the Ruthenian provinces
and annexing Navahrudak and Hrodna.
In 1248, a civil war broke out between Mindaugas and his nephews Tautvilas and Edivydas. The
powerful coalition against Mindaugas included Vykintas, the Livonian Order, Daniel of Galicia
and Vasilko of Volhynia. Taking advantage of internal conflicts, Mindaugas allied with
the Livonian Order. He promised to convert to Christianity and to exchange some lands
in western Lithuania in return for military assistance against his nephews and the royal
crown. In 1251, Mindaugas was baptized and Pope Innocent IV issued a papal bull proclaiming
the creation of the Kingdom of Lithuania. After the civil war ended, Mindaugas was crowned
as King of Lithuania on 6 July 1253, starting a decade of relative peace. Mindaugas later
renounced Christianity and converted back to paganism. Mindaugas tried to expand his
influence in Polatsk, a major centre of commerce in the Daugava River basin, and Pinsk. The
Teutonic Knights used this period to strengthen their position in parts of Samogitia and Livonia,
but they lost the Battle of Skuodas in 1259 and the Battle of Durbe in 1260. This encouraged
the conquered Semigallians and Old Prussians to rebel against the Knights.
Encouraged by Treniota, Mindaugas broke the peace with the Order, possibly reverted to
pagan beliefs. He hoped to unite all Baltic tribes under the Lithuanian leadership. As
military campaigns were not successful, the relationships between Mindaugas and Treniota
deteriorated. Treniota, together with Daumantas of Pskov, assassinated Mindaugas and his two
sons, Ruklys and Rupeikis, in 1263. The state lapsed into years of internal fighting.
Rise of the Gediminids From 1263 to 1269, Lithuania had three grand
dukes – Treniota, Vaišvilkas, and Švarnas. The state did not disintegrate, however, and
Traidenis came to power in 1269. He strengthened Lithuanian control in Black Ruthenia and fought
with the Livonian Order, winning the Battle of Karuse in 1270 and the Battle of Aizkraukle
in 1279. There is considerable uncertainty about the identities of the grand dukes of
Lithuania between his death in 1282 and the assumption of power by Vytenis in 1295. During
this time the Orders finalized their conquests. In 1274, the Great Prussian Rebellion ended,
and the Teutonic Knights proceeded to conquer other Baltic tribes: the Nadruvians and Skalvians
in 1274–1277, and the Yotvingians in 1283; the Livonian Order completed its conquest
of Semigalia, the last Baltic ally of Lithuania, in 1291. The Orders could now turn their full
attention to Lithuania. The "buffer zone" composed of other Baltic tribes had disappeared,
and Grand Duchy of Lithuania was left to battle the Orders on its own.
The Gediminid dynasty ruled the grand duchy for over a century, and Vytenis was the first
ruler from the dynasty. During his reign Lithuania engaged in constant warfare with the Order,
the Kingdom of Poland, and Ruthenia. Vytenis was involved in succession disputes in Poland,
supporting Boleslaus II of Masovia, who was married to a Lithuanian duchess, Gaudemunda.
In Ruthenia, Vytenis managed to recapture lands lost after the assassination of Mindaugas
and to capture the principalities of Pinsk and Turaŭ. In the struggle against the Order,
Vytenis allied with citizens of Riga; securing positions in Riga strengthened trade routes
and provided a base for further military campaigns. Around 1307, Polotsk, an important trading
centre, was annexed by military force. Vytenis also began the construction of a defensive
castle network along the Neman River. Gradually this network developed into the main defensive
line against the Teutonic Order.
Territorial expansion The expansion of the state reached its height
under Grand Duke Gediminas, who created a strong central government and established
an empire that later spread from the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea. In 1320, most of the
principalities of western Rus' were either vassalized or annexed by Lithuania. In 1321,
Gediminas captured Kiev, sending Stanislav, the last Rurikid to rule Kiev, into exile.
Gediminas also re-established the permanent capital of the Grand Duchy in Vilnius, presumably
moving it from Old Trakai in 1323. Lithuania was in a good position to conquer
the western and the southern parts of former Kievan Rus'. While almost every other state
around it had been plundered or defeated by the Mongols, the hordes stopped at the modern
borders of Belarus, and the core territory of the Grand Duchy was left mostly untouched.
The weak control of the Mongols over the areas they had conquered allowed the expansion of
Lithuania to accelerate. Rus' principalities were never incorporated directly into the
Golden Horde, maintaining vassal relationships with a fair degree of independence. Lithuania
annexed some of these areas as vassals through diplomacy, as they exchanged rule by the Mongols
or the Grand Prince of Moscow with rule by the Grand Duchy. An example is Novgorod, which
was often in the Lithuanian sphere of influence and became an occasional dependency of the
Grand Duchy. Lithuanian control resulted from internal frictions within the city, which
attempted to escape submission to Muscovy. Such relationships could be tenuous, however,
as changes in a city's internal politics could disrupt Lithuanian control, as happened on
a number of occasions with Novgorod and other East-Slavic cities.
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania managed to hold off Mongol incursions and eventually secured
gains. In 1333 and 1339, Lithuanians defeated large Mongol forces attempting to regain Smolensk
from the Lithuanian sphere of influence. By about 1355, the State of Moldavia had formed,
and the Golden Horde did little to re-vassalize the area. In 1362, regiments of the Grand
Duchy army defeated the Golden Horde at the Battle at Blue Waters. In 1380, a Lithuanian
army allied with Russian forces to defeat the Golden Horde in the Battle of Kulikovo,
and though the rule of the Mongols did not end, their influence in the region waned thereafter.
In 1387, Moldavia became a vassal of Poland and, in a broader sense, of Lithuania. By
this time, Lithuania had conquered the territory of the Golden Horde all the way to the Dnieper
River. In a crusade against the Golden Horde in 1398 , Lithuania invaded northern Crimea
and won a decisive victory. In an attempt to place Tokhtamish on the Golden Horde throne
in 1399, Lithuania moved against the Horde but was defeated in the Battle of the Vorskla
River, losing the steppe region.
Personal Union with Poland Lithuania was Christianized in 1387, led by
Jogaila, who personally translated Christian prayers into the Lithuanian language and his
cousin Vytautas the Great who founded many Catholic churches and allocated lands for
parishes in Lithuania. The state reached a peak under Vytautas the Great, who reigned
from 1392 to 1430. Vytautas was one of the most famous rulers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania,
serving as the Grand Duke from 1401 to 1430, and as the Prince of Hrodna and the Prince
of Lutsk . Vytautas was the son of Kęstutis, uncle of Jogaila, who became King of Poland
in 1386, and he was the grandfather of Vasili II of Moscow.
In 1410, Vytautas commanded the forces of the Grand Duchy in the Battle of Grunwald.
The battle ended in a decisive Polish-Lithuanian victory against the Teutonic Order. The war
of Lithuania against military Orders, which lasted for more than 200 years, and was one
of the longest wars in the history of Europe, was finally ended. Vytautas backed the economic
development of the state and introduced many reforms. Under his rule, the Grand Duchy of
Lithuania slowly became more centralized, as the governours loyal to Vytautas replaced
local princes with dynastic ties to the throne. The governours were rich landowners who formed
the basis for the nobility of the Grand Duchy. During Vytautas' rule, the Radziwiłł and
Goštautas families started to gain influence. The rapid expansion of the influence of Muscovy
soon put it into a comparable position as the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and after the
annexation of Novgorod in 1478, Muscovy was among the preeminent states in northeastern
Europe. Between 1492 and 1508, Ivan III further consolidated Muscovy, winning the key Battle
of Vedrosha and regaining such ancient lands of Kievan Rus' as Chernihiv and Bryansk.
On 8 September 1514, the allied forces of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Kingdom of
Poland, under the command of Hetman Konstanty Ostrogski, fought the Battle of Orsha against
the army of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, under Konyushy Ivan Chelyadnin and Kniaz Mikhail
Golitsin. The battle was part of a long series of Muscovite–Lithuanian Wars conducted by
Russian rulers striving to gather all the former lands of Kievan Rus' under their rule.
According to Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii by Sigismund von Herberstein, the primary
source for the information on the battle, the much smaller army of Poland–Lithuania
defeated the 80,000 Muscovite soldiers, capturing their camp and commander. The Muscovites lost
about 30,000 men, while the losses of the Poland–Lithuania army totalled only 500.
While the battle is remembered as one of the greatest Lithuanian victories, Muscovy ultimately
prevailed in the war. Under the 1522 peace treaty, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania made
large territorial concessions.
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The wars with the Teutonic Order, the loss
of land to Moscow, and the continued pressure threatened the survival of the state of Lithuania,
so it was forced to ally more closely with Poland, uniting with its western neighbour
as the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the Union of Lublin of 1569. During the period
of the Union, many of the territories formerly controlled by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
were transferred to the Crown of the Polish Kingdom, while the gradual process of Polonization
slowly drew Lithuania itself under Polish domination. The Grand Duchy retained many
rights in the federation until the May Constitution of Poland and Reciprocal Guarantee of Two
Nations were passed in 1791.
Partitions and the Napoleonic period Following the partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian
Commonwealth, most of the lands of the former Grand Duchy were directly annexed by the Russian
Empire, the rest by Prussia. In 1812, just prior to the French invasion of Russia, the
former Grand Duchy revolted against the Russians. Soon after his arrival in Vilnius, Napoleon
proclaimed the creation of a Commissary Provisional Government of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
which, in turn, renewed the Polish-Lithuanian Union. The union was never formalized, however,
as only half a year later Napoleon's Grande Armée was pushed out of Russia and forced
to retreat further westwards. In December 1812, Vilnius was recaptured by Russian forces,
bringing all plans of recreation of the Grand Duchy to an end. Most of the lands of the
former Grand Duchy were re-annexed by Russia. The Augustów Voivodeship , including the
counties of Marijampolė and Kalvarija, was attached to the Kingdom of Poland, a rump
state in personal union with Russia.