History-before-1900

By Henry L. Gaidis ALTHOUGH MOST LITHUANIAN Americans are aware of the Soviet and Nazi occupations of Lithuania during World War II and the subsequent heroic partisan struggle, few are aware of the heroic struggle fought by Lithuanian partisans during the 1831 and 1863-1864 insurrections. On three occasions, the Lithuanian …

By Miltiades Varvounis IN 1795, THE NAME OF LITHUANIA WAS ERASED from the map of the world. Most of the lands of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania were directly annexed by the Russian Empire, and a policy of Russification was fiercely implemented. Describing the horrible Russian occupation of Lithuania, …

by Henry L. Gaidis TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO, Napoleon embarked on his epic 1812 Russia Campaign with high hopes of securing his total control of the European Continent. Although the story of this tragic campaign is known by virtually every high school student, few are aware of Lithuanian involvement in …

By Miltiades Varvounis The British in the Grand Duchy  of Lithuania For over five hundred years Britons have visited the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Some came as warriors, others as diplomats, educators or traders, and still others as permanent settlers BRITONS HAVE BEEN VISITING LITHUANIA AND Lithuanians Great Britain since …

By Antanas Saulaitis, S.J. VILNIUS HAS BEEN THE center of Lithuania, both Grand Duchy and Replic, for seven centuries. For two of those centuries, Vilnius was the hub of a wheel of Jesuit education and ministry from Prussia to Russia, Estonia to northern Poland. The Jesuit heritage in the capital …

BY JOLANTA KARPAVIČIENĖ THE PALACE OF THE GRAND Dukes of Lithuania, which is now being reconstructed in Vilnius, embodies the whole course of Lithuanian history. The foundation signifies the beginnings of statehood in the thirteenth century and multiple layers of artifacts document the expansion of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania …

BY JŪRATĖ MIČIULIENĖ Historian Jolanta Karpavičienė states that women surrounding Lithuania’s rulers, from the time of Mindaugas, lived a more active public life than Slavic princesses shut up in their ivory towers.— JOLANTA KARPAVIČIENĖ, Assistant director of the National Museum Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania in Vilnius, said …

By Charles Perrin IN 1902 THE COAL MINERS IN THE ANTHRACITE region of Pennsylvania, which at that time had the most dangerous mines in the world, went on strike. It was one of the largest strikes the region ever experienced and Lithuanians played a prominent role in it. Jonas Šliūpas, …

by Al (Alvydas) Karaša Who were the people that comprised the tribes which Mindaugas united and ruled as their first king? BEFORE THERE WAS A LITHUANIA, AND BEFORE her first Christian king united her people in the 13th century, there were tribes. Made up of clans, and families extended to …

By Henry L. Gaidis “What am I if not a Lithuanian, one of your chosen countrymen?… Whom should I defend if not you and myself?… It angers me to be away from Lithuania and serving in Poland…” –Thaddeus Kosciusko I RECENTLY ATTENDED A SEMINAR AT THE U.S. Military Academy in …