History of Vilnius

Middle ages

The earliest settlements in the area of present Vilnius appear to be of mesolithic origin. Numerous archaeological findings in different parts of the city prove that the area has been inhabited by peoples of various cultures since the early Middle Ages. Initially a Baltic settlement, it was also inhabitated by Slavs and, since at least 11th century, by Jews. Some historians identify the city with Voruta, a forgotten capital of King Mindaugas.

The city was first mentioned in written sources in 1323. It was probably made capital city of Lithuania in the beginning on 14th century by Gediminas, Duke of Lithuania, who built his wooden castle on the hill there. The city became wider known after he wrote a circular letter of invitation to the principal Hansa towns in 1325, offering free access into his domains to men of every order and profession. Vilnius was granted city rights by Wladislaus II of Poland in 1387. The town was initially populated by local Lithuanians, but soon the population began to grow as craftsmen and merchants of other nationalities settled in the city.

According to a tale, tired after a busy hunting day, Gediminas had a prophetic dream about an iron wolf howling on a top of the hill. When he asked a krivis (priest?) Lizdeika for an explanation of the dream, he was told that he must build a castle on the top of that hill, which is strategically surrounded by three rivers (Vilnelė, Vilija (also known as Wilia or Neris) and Vingria (now underground)) and a grand city around that hill, so that "the iron-wolf-like sound about this great city would spread around the world". For his advice, Lizdeika was given a name of Radziwill (Polish "radzić" = to advise).

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Between 1503 and 1522 the city was surrounded with walls that had nine gates and three towers. Communities of Poles, Lithuanians and Belarusians were present in different areas of Vilnius. The town reached the peak of its development under the reign of Sigismund II of Poland, who moved his court there in 1544. In the following centuries, Vilnius became a constantly growing and developing city. This growth was due in part, to the establishment of Vilnius University by Stefan Batory, Grand Duke of Lithuania and king of Poland, in 1579. The university soon developed into one of the most important scientific and cultural centres of the region and the most notable scientific centre of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Political, economic and social life was in full swing there. This is proved by statutes issued in the 16th century, the last of which was still in force until the 19th century. In 1769 the Rossa cemetery was founded; today it is one of the oldest surviving cemeteries in the world.

Rapidly developing, the city was open to migrants from both East and West. In addition to old citizens, new Jewish, Orthodox and German communities established themselves in the city. Each group made its contribution to the life of the city: At that time crafts, trade and science were prospering. In 1655 Wilno was captured by the forces of Russia and was pillaged, burned and the population was massacred. City's growth lost its momentum for many years, yet the number of inhabitants quickly recovered and by the beginning of the 19th century the city was the third largest city in Eastern Europe. Russian occupation policy made the destruction of the city walls a must and after 1799-1805 period, only the Dawn Gate (also known as Aušros Vartai, Medininkų Gate or Ostra Brama) remained.

Russian occupation

After the Third Partition of Poland in 1795, Wilno was annexed by Russia and became the capital of a gubernya. In 1812 the city was seized by Napoleon on his push towards Moscow. After the failure of the campaign, the Grande Armee retreated to the area where thousands of French soldiers died and were buried in the trenches they had built months earlier. After the November Uprising the Vilna University was closed and repressions halted the further development of the city. During the January Uprising in 1863 heavy city fights occurred, but were brutally pacified by Mikhail Muravyov. Muravyov was nick-named The Hanger by the population because of the number of executions he organized. After the uprising all liberties were halted and the Lithuanian, Polish, and Belarusian languages were banned.

Conflict with Poland

During the World War I Wilna was occupied by Germany from 1915 until 1918. Still under German occupation, Council of Lithuania proclaimed the act of Restoration of Independence of Lithuania in Vilnius on February 16, 1918. Germans however denied the Council the right to elect a State Council. Instead, the Council attempted to elect a German prince, Wilhelm von Urach of Württemberg for a Lithuanian king (as Mindaugas II), although this was not successful.

After withdrawal of German forces the city was seized on January 1, 1919 by Polish self-defence units recruited from the local population. The institutions of the state were established but very soon, on January 3 1919 the city was taken by Bolshevik forces advancing from the east and proclaimed the capital of the short-lived Lithuanian-Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. On April 19, 1919 the city was seized by the Polish Army but on July 14 it was lost again to Soviet forces.

Shortly after the defeat in the Battle of Warsaw in 1920, the withdrawing Red Army handed the city over to the newly reborn Lithuania. One of reasons for this was that a strong country, which Poland could have became if it would have expanded according to Pilsudski's wishes "from Baltic sea to Black sea", was not good for Russia, and as well because after loose against Poland it would have been impossible to carry out ther reconquering of former empire further and take Baltic states. So Russia tried to create disputes between these countries, and not let any strong country arise in eastern Europe. On October 9, 1920 the the Lithuanian-Belarusian Division of the Polish Army under General Lucjan Żeligowski seized the city in a staged mutiny. Vilnius and its surroundings were proclaimed a semi-independent state of Central Lithuania (or a puppet state of Poland according to some versions) and, after parliamentary elections, in a result of the decision of Central Lithuanian Parliament, on February 20 1922 the whole area returned to Poland, with Wilno becoming the capital of the Wilno Voivodship, which was also soon approved by the Conference of Ambassadors of the League of Nations. The freedom of elections is however disputed. The Poles were the only significant ethnic group of which a majority of people participated. The area itself was multiethnic, and out of Belarussians less than 50% voted, less than 20% Jews and less than 10% of Lithuanians; this was due to the fact that some viewed Polish-administered elections as not free and/or not fair, because Vilnius and it's region were de jure a part of Lithuania. So most of pro-Lithuanians didn't voted, which is more or less proved by the percentages of nations voting (Jews usually were considered more pro-Lithuanian and that raised some concerns for the organisers of elections too; it was so because positions of Jews was better in Lithuania than Poland at the time). Also, election area wasn't fully corresponding to the area of Vilnius region, whch was overtaken by Poland. Some areas where the election was done actually were outside Vilnius region, and other, much larger, areas, including e.g. major city of Gardinas/Hrodna, were a part of Vilnius region, but despite of that elections weren't done there. It didn't fully corresponded to area of Central Lithuania either.

Lithuanian authorities never accepted the fact that Vilnians elected to be part of Poland. It wasn't understood by Poles, because Poles and Jews made up a majority in city of Vilnius itself; Lithuanians there were just a minority (of less than 3% after WW1, and less than 1% later in 30s). However, in parts of Vilnius region (which, along with Vilnius was taken by Poland), Lithuanians made a majority, and in fact no nationality made up a majority in Vilnius region: there were areas with Polish, Belarussian and Lithuanian majorities, while in some cities there was Jewish majority, and in other cities – clear Jewish minorities. Therefore Lithuania claimed that it also has a right to have a multinational territory, same as Poland, and because this territory was never part of Poland, but it, as well as city of Vilnius, always was historical part of Lithuania, therefore according to this view Lithuania had more rights to the area. Lithuanian constitution continued to mention Vilnius as the capital of the state. All diplomatic relations between Lithuania and Poland were broken and Lithuania declined to accept the Polish authority over the Eastern Lithuania until 1938, when Poland used a international situation of concern over nazi Germany actions and gave ultimatum to Lithuania to renew diplomatic relations and that way de facto recognise Vilnius region as part of Poland.

The university was reopened under the name Stefan Batory University, Polish was the language of instruction. Lithuanian language was persecuted by persecuting Lithuanian schools. By 1931 the city had 195,000 inhabitants, which made it the fifth largest city in Poland. The city became an important centre of Polish cultural and scientific life, while economically the whole Vilnius region remained poor. It's relative underdevelopment, among other issues, made problems for Lithuanian authorities to integrate it into their state after 1939.

Wilna was also an informal capital of Yiddish at that time. Museum of Jewish culture was founded there in 1919; YIVO (Institute for Research of Jewish Language and Culture) in 1924. There was a number of important Jewish cultural institution including theatres, newspapers and magazines, museums and schools, Jewish PEN-Club opened before Second World War in Wilna.

Second World War

In the beginning of Second World War Lithuanian government categorically refused German suggestions to participate in aggression against Poland. As an effect of Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and Soviet invasion, territories of Eastern Poland were occupied by Red Army, which seized the city on September 19, 1939. There were plans to be include the city and the region as a part of Belarussian SSR, but eventually it was decided that Vilnius might be used as a way to get significant influence on Lithuania. After talks in Moscow on October 10, 1939 the city and its surrounding areas were transferred to Lithuania in exchange for Soviet military bases established in various parts of the country. Lithuanians were initially inclined to refuse it, but in reality Russians left them no choice as their troops would enter the country anyway. Only one fifth of Vilnius region was actually given back to Lithuania, despite the fact that Soviets used to recognise the whole region as part of Lithuania while it was under Polish control. The Lithuanian authorities entered Vilnius shortly afterwards and the capital of Lithuania started to be slowly and cautiously transferred there from Kaunas. One of the unfortunate decisions of Lithuanian authorities in this period was closing down and liqudation of Vilnius University on December 15th, 1939. Apparently, Lithuanian side was deliberately slowing down the move of capital back to Vilnius because of the fears that due to Soviet military presence around city it would be much easier for Russians to overthrow Lithuanian government if it was based there. Indeed, the process of capital move was not yet finished when in June of 1940, despite Lithuanian defence, Vilnius was again seized by the Soviet Union and became the capital of the Lithuanian SSR. Approximately 35,000 – 40,000 of the city inhabitants were arrested by the NKVD and sent to Gulags at that time.

In June 1941 the city was again seized by Germany. In the old town centre 2 ghettos were set up for the large Jewish population, the smaller one of which was "liquidated" already in October. The second ghetto lasted until 1943, though its population was regularly decimated in so called Aktionen. A failed Jewish ghetto uprising on September 1 1943 could not prevent the final destruction of the ghetto. About 95% of the local Jewish population was murdered. Many of them were among 100,000 victims of the mass executions in Ponary, about 10km west of the old town centre. Most of the remaining 30,000 victims of the massacre were Poles: POWs, intelligentsia and members of the Armia Krajowa. Armia Krajowa in Lithuania was fighting against both Germans and Lithuanians.

Soviet occupation

Wilno was taken in July 1944 by Polish Home Army together with the Red Army, only to be shortly afterwards incorporated into Soviet Union again. After World War II, Soviet government decided to expel the Polish population from Lithuania and Belarus. This decision was soon implemented and most of the population was transferred during the so-called repatriation, organized by Soviet and Polish communist governments. Despite that the repatriation was claimed to be voluntary and though parts of the Polish population remained where they had lived, it was very questionable from the side of humanity and justice. This way many old inhabitants left Vilnius, in what is still seen by many people as a misfortune, especially due to its negative effect on the city's community and its traditions. Many of the remaining Poles were arrested, murdered or sent to Gulags or to remote parts of Soviet empire. However, in line with their divide and impera strategy, Russians attempted also a controlled polonization policy in some parts of the area ceded to Lithuanian SSR. This worked well in several zones, and proved valuable help for Russians in later years, when during Lithuanian struggle for independence, the promise to create Polish autonomy in Vilnius region won the votes of all regions of Polish majority for the Soviet communist candidates. Polish language generally enjoyed certain rights, there were and are Polish schools, while usually there weren't schools which would be teaching not in Russian nor in the ethnic language of SSR or ASSR; that was a part of policy by Soviets that every nation has its homeland and should live here (e.g. Polish homeland was Poland, and Lithuanian SSR was Lithuanian homeland), while if someone moved elsewhere he should adapt. In result the number of Polish schools gradually decreased. This policy didn't, however, apply to Russians; their language had to be learnt by everyone and they had schools and institutions for them throughout all Soviet Union, including Lithuania and Vilnius.

These events, coupled with the immigration of Lithuanian rural population and Russians from other Soviet republics the during post-war years and slow but steady repatriation of Jews to Israel, had a critical influence on the change of the demographic situation of the city. However, the growth of the cities in Lithuania during this period and decrease in rural population caused a rapid population upsurge in Vilnius since approximately 1960.

Independent Lithuania

Beginning in 1987 there were massive demonstrations against Soviet rule in the country. On March 11, 1990 the Supreme Council of the Lithuanian SSR announced its independence from the Soviet Union and restored the independent Republic of Lithuania, which had been annexed by Soviets back in 1940. The Soviets responded on January 9, 1991, by sending in troops, and on January 13 during the Soviet Army attack on the State Radio and Television Building and the Vilnius TV retranslation tower 14 people were killed and more than 700 were seriously injured. However, the Soviet Union finally recognized Lithuanian independence in August 1991.

Since then, Vilnius has been rapidly evolving and improving, transforming from a Soviet into a European city in less than 10 years.

See also

• History of Lithuania
• History of Poland
• Vilnius