LITHUANIA

1. LITHUANIA LIETUVA

2. Officially the Republic of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuvos Respublika) is a country in Northern Europe, the southernmost of the three Baltic states. Situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, it shares borders with Latvia to the north, Belarus to the southeast, Poland, and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad to the southwest. Lithuania is a member of NATO, the Council of Europe, and the European Union. Lithuania became a full member of the Schenge Agreement on 21 December 2007. Its population is 3.6 million. Its capital and the largest city is Vilnius. In 2009, Vilnius is the European Capital of Culture and Lithuania celebrates the millennium of its name.

3. During the 14th century, Lithuania was the largest country in Europe: present-day Belarus, Ukraine, and parts of Poland and Russia were territories of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. With the Lublin Union of 1569 Poland and Lithuania formed a new state, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Commonwealth lasted more than two centuries, until neighboring countries systematically dismantled it from 1772 to 1795, with the Russian Empire annexing most of Lithuania's territory. In the aftermath of World War I, Lithuania's Act of Independence was signed on 16 February 1918, declaring the re-establishment of a sovereign state. Starting in 1940, Lithuania was occupied first by the Soviet Union then Nazi Germany. As World War II neared its end in 1944 and the Nazis retreated, the Soviet Union reoccupied Lithuania. On 11 March 1990, Lithuania became the first Soviet republic to declare its renewed independence. Prior to the global financial crisis of 2008–2009, post-Soviet Lithuania had one of the fastest growing economies in the European Union.

4. Basics • Capital- Vilnius. • Population- 3,6 mln. • Area- 65,200 km².  • Official languages-Lithuanian. • President- Dalia Grybauskaitė. • Prime Minister- Andrius Kubilius. • Seimas Speaker- Irena Degutienė.

5. President

6. History

7. Vytautas the Great. Lithuania reached the height of its power under his reign. (17th century painting)

8. During World War I, the Council of Lithuania declared independence of Lithuania on 16 February 1918. Lithuania's foreign policy was dominated by territorial disputes with Poland and Germany. Vilnius Region, including Vilnius, the designated capital in the Constitution of Lithuania, was taken over by Polish forces during the Żeligowski's Mutiny in October 1920 and remained under Polish control until the outbreak of World War II. Acquired during the Klaipėda Revolt of 1923, the Klaipėda Region was ceded back to Germany after a German ultimatum in March 1939. The domestic affairs were controlled by authoritarian Antanas Smetona and his Lithuanian National Union, who came to power after the coup d'état of 1926.

9. In June 1940, the Soviet Union occupied and annexed Lithuania in accordance with the Molotov– Ribbentrop Pact.A year later Russia was attacked by Nazi Germany leading to Nazi occupation of Lithuania. The Nazis and their Lithuanian collaborators murdered around 190,000 Lithuanian Jews(91% of the pre-war Jewish community) during the Holocaust. After the retreat of the German armed forces, the Soviets re-established the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1944. From 1944 to 1952 approximately 100,000 Lithuanian partisans fought a guerrilla war against the Soviet system. An estimated 30,000 partisans and their supporters were killed and many more were arrested and deported to Siberian GULAGs. Population losses of Lithuania during World War II are estimated at 780,000.

10. The advent of perestroika and glasnost in the late 1980s allowed establishment of Sąjūdis, an anti-communist independence movement. After a landslide victory in elections to the Supreme Soviet, members of Sąjūdis proclaimed Lithuania's renewed independence on 11 March 1990 becoming the first Soviet republic to do so. The Soviet Union imposed economic blockade attempting to suppress this secession. The Soviet troops attacked the Vilnius TV Tower and killed 13 Lithuanian civilians on the night of 13 January 1991On 4 February 1991, Iceland became the first country to recognize Lithuanian independence. After the Soviet August Coup, independent Lithuania received wide recognition and joined the United Nations on 17 September 1991. The last Soviet troops left Lithuania on 31 August 1993 – even earlier than they departed from East Germany. Lithuania, seeking closer ties with the West, applied for NATO membership in 1994. After a difficult transition from planned economy to the free market, Lithuania became a full member of NATO and the European Union in spring 2004.

11. Climate Lithuania's climate, which ranges between maritime and continental, is relatively mild. Average temperatures on the coast are -2.5 °C in January and 16 °C in July. In Vilnius the average temperatures are -6 °C in January and 16 °C in July. Simply speaking, 20 °C is frequent on summer days and 14 °C at night although temperatures can reach 30 or 35 °C. Some winters can be very cold. -20 °C occurs almost every winter. Winter extremes are -34 °C in coastal areas and -43 °C in the east of Lithuania. The average annual precipitation is 800 millimeters on the coast, 900 mm in the Samogitia highlands and 600 millimeters in the eastern part of the country. Snow occurs every year, it can snow from October to April. In some years sleet can fall in September or May. The growing season lasts 202 days in the western part of the country and 169 days in the eastern part. Severe storms are rare in the eastern part of Lithuania but common in the coastal areas.

12. Sports Among all the sports personalities of Lithuania, the most popular individual known to the Western world is basketball player Žydrūnas Ilgauskas who plays as center for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the NBA. Another popular individual is professional ice hockey player Darius Kasparaitis who played for the New York Islanders, Pittsburgh Penguins, Colorado Avalanche, and New York Rangers of the NHL. Also Arvydas Sabonis, played in the NBA for a long time. Ignatas Konovalovas is a 23 year old professional cyclist with, in 2009, the Cervelo Test Team; he also has ridden for the French Credit Agricole team. Konovalovas won the final stage of the 2009 Giro d'Italia.

13. Beautiful Lithuania