 Lithuania is the southernmost and largest of the three Baltic nations, which also include Estonia and Latvia. The earliest known mention of the name "Lithuania" is found in the German (Teutonic) chronicles of 1009. Lithuania emerged as a larger state in the middle of the 13th century through a union of Baltic territories with Mindaugas becoming the state's first grand duke. The country, however, did not adopt Christianity until 1387 and was, for the most part, under constant military attack by the Germanic Livonian and Teutonic Orders for the first 200 years of its existence as a united territory. Not only did the Teutonic and Livonian Orders fail to conquer Lithuania, however, but by the end of the 14th century Lithuania became one the most powerful states in eastern Europe. In 1410, a joint Lithuanian, Polish, Russian, Tatar, and Czech army under the leadership of Lithuanian Grand Duke Vytautas crushed the Teutonic Order once and for all at the Battle of Tannenberg. The power of the Lithuanian state began to decline following the death of Grand Duke Vytautas in 1430. In 1569, Lithuania agreed to be governed as an independent part of a joint Lithuanian-Polish state, but later become merely one of Poland's provinces. The life of this joint state ended with the eventual total annexation of its territories by Russia, Austria, and Prussia. Russian domination characterized most of Lithuania's history thereafter, until the country achieved independence in 1991. |
