Lithuania

The Republic of Lithuania 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. Its population is 3.32 million. Its capital and the largest city is Vilnius.

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 independence.

Lithuania in Southern Victory
Lithuania was a part of the Russian Empire until Russia lost the Great War.

Lithuania in The War That Came Early
Thanks to the the war between the Soviet Union on one side, and Poland and Germany on the other, Lithuania saw an opportunity to regain what it deemed to be "lost" territory, even though this territory had not been part of Lithuania in centuries.

The Lituanian government was incensed by the Soviet bombing raid on the city Lithuanians called Vilnius in the Spring of 1939.

Lithuania in Worldwar
Lithuania was conquered by the Soviet Union at the beginning of World War II. The Soviet claim to Lithuania was recognized under the terms of the Peace of Cairo by all signators thereto.

During the war against the Race's Conquest Fleet, Vyacheslav Molotov sometimes sailed on ships flying the Lithuanian flag (that is, the flag of the old independent Lithuania, not the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic flag seen above) on the rationale that these ships were less likely to tempt killercraft pilots than would ships flying the Soviet flag, which would be recognized as belonging to one of the Race's principle opponents.

Lithuania in Gunpowder Empire
For more than two thousand years, the Roman Empire was the dominant power in much of Europe and the Middle East. When it was formed, the peoples beyond the eastern borders of Provincia Germania were in the tribal stage of development. Gradually, they started to absorb elements of Roman culture and build up kingdoms of their own. Of these, Lietuva proved the strongest, gradually absorbing all the others and creating an Empire of its own, embracing the territories known in the home timeline as the Baltic States, Poland, Belarus, and part of European Russia.

Slavic and other peoples under its rule were Lithuanised, coming to speak the Lietuvan language and worship the main Lietuvan deity, Perkunas - whose name was used as a battlecry by Lietuvan soldiers. Many Lietuvans were blond and tall. Lietuva was intolerant of Christianity, the few Christians in its territory being severely persecuted; nevertheless, missionaries went on going there, willing to face martyrdom.

Lietuva and Rome were evenly matched militarily, and periodically went to war against each other using the artillery both possessed. Such wars caused much devastation in peripheral areas, but - like Rome's earlier wars with Persia - never threatened the heartlands of either empire. In between wars, there was considerable trade and mutual cultural influence, Lietuvan and neo-Latin absorbing many words from each other. Except in wartime, Rome and Lietuva were pledged to return escaped slaves to the other empire, an arrangement satisfying to slave owners on either side of the border. Roman medicine was considered of a higher level than Lietuvan (though very primitive in the eyes of Crosstimers) and Roman doctors were highly sought after in Lietuva.

In the 28th Century after the creation of Rome (21st Century by the Christian Calendar), Lietuvan forces led by King Kuzmickas himself launched a large-scale invasion of the Roman province of Dacia and besieged Polisso, but were eventually beaten back by the Roman Legions.

Lietuva's northern shores were the target of periodic raids by Scandinavian pirates.

The banner of Lietuva was Red-White-Green.

Lithuania in The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump
While most European nations converted to Christianity during the Middle Ages, the Lithuanians did not - feeling perfectly satisfied with their ancestral Perkunas, a powerful god who could be relied on to manifest himself and give real help when called upon by worshippers. Lithuanians saw no reason to exchange Perkunas for a foreign god for whose time and energy many other peoples were competing.

In later times, some Lithuanians, like other Europeans, emigrated to America, after which also Perkunas started manifesting himself beyond the Atlantic. However, due to the small number of American Lithuanians, Perkunas was not well known in America, neither among humans nor among gods. This proved fortunate when vengeful and predatory Aztec gods threatened to destroy the City of the Angels. They were caught by surprise and driven off when a locally-based Lithuanian adept called upon Perkunas to help.