Following the
partitions of Poland, most of the lands that formerly constituted the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania were annexed by the
Russian Empire. The Imperial government increasingly pursued a policy of
Russification of the newly acquired lands, which escalated after the failed
January Uprising of 1864. The discrimination against local inhabitants included restrictions and outright bans on the usage of the
Polish,
Lithuanian (see
Lithuanian press ban),
Belarusian, and
Ukrainian (see
Valuyev circular) languages. These measures, however, had limited effects on the
Polonisation effort undertaken by the Polish patriotic leadership of the
Vilnius Educational District. A similar effort was pursued during the 19th century
Lithuanian National Revival, which sought to distance itself from both Polish and Russian influences. 's bi-lingual
Proclamation to the inhabitants of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania (April 1919).
The ethnic composition of the area has long been disputed, since
censuses from that time and place are often considered unreliable. According to the first census of the Russian Empire in 1897, known to have been intentionally falsified, the population of the
Vilna Governorate was distributed as follows:
Belarusians at 56.1% (including Roman Catholics),
Lithuanians at 17.6%,
Jews at 12.7%,
Poles at 8.2%,
Russians at 4.9%,
Germans at 0.2%,
Ukrainians at 0.1%,
Tatars at 0.1%, and 'Others' at 0.1% as well. The German censuses of 1915, 1916 and 1917 of the
Vilnius Region (published in 1919) however, reported strikingly different numbers. In 1917 in the Vilnius city Poles were at 53.65%, Jews at 41.45%, Lithuanians at 2.1%, Belarusians at 0.44%, Russians at 1.59%, Germans at 0,63% and 'Other' at 0.14%. According to
the 1916 census, Poles constituted 89.8% of the inhabitants of Vilnius county (excluding the city) and Lithuanians only 4.3%. Censuses had encountered difficulties in the attempt to categorise their subjects.
Ethnographers in the 1890s were often confronted with those who described themselves as both Lithuanians and Poles. According to a German census analyst, "Objectively determining conditions of nationality comes up against the greatest difficulties."
Aftermath of World War I In the
aftermath of the First World War, both Poland and Lithuania regained independence. The conflict between them soon arose as both Lithuania and Poland claimed Vilnius (known in Polish as Wilno) region. Demographically, the main groups inhabiting Vilnius were Poles and Jews, with Lithuanians constituting a small fraction of the total population (2.0%–2.6%, according to the Russian census of 1897 and the German census of 1916). While Poland under Józef Piłsudski attempted to create a Polish-led federation in the area that would include a number of ethnically non-Polish territories (
Międzymorze), Lithuania strove to create a fully independent state that would include the
Vilnius region. Two early 20th-century censuses indicated that Lithuanian speakers,
whose language in the second half of the 19th century was suppressed by the Russian policies and had unfavourable conditions
within the Catholic church, became a minority in the region. Based on this, Lithuanian authorities argued that the majority of inhabitants living there, even if they at the time did not speak Lithuanian, were thus
Polonized (or
Russified) Lithuanians. Further complicating the situation, there were two Polish factions with quite different views on creation of the modern state in Poland. One party, led by
Roman Dmowski, saw modern Poland as an ethnic state, another, led by
Józef Piłsudski, wished to rebuild the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Both parties were determined to take the Poles of Vilnius into the new state. Piłsudski attempted to rebuild the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in a canton structure, as part of the
Międzymorze federation: Following the start of the
Polish–Soviet War, during the next two years, the control of Vilnius and its environs changed frequently. In 1919 the territory was briefly occupied by the
Red Army, which defeated the
local self-defense units, but shortly afterwards the Soviets
were pushed back by the
Polish Army. 1920 saw the Vilnius region occupied by the Red Army for the second time. However, when the Red Army was defeated in the
Battle of Warsaw, the Soviets, knowing that they wouldn't be able to hold Vilnius, decided to hand it over to Lithuania. By making such a move, the Soviets hoped to intensify the Polish-Lithuanian dispute over the region. The regular
Polish–Lithuanian War broke out on 26 August 1920, when the Polish Army clashed with Lithuanian troops occupying Suwałki region during the Polish autumn offensive following the Battle of Warsaw. The League of Nations intervened and arranged negotiations in
Suwałki. The League negotiated a cease-fire, signed on 7 October 7, placing the city of Vilnius in Lithuania. The
Suwałki Agreement was to have taken effect at 12:00 on 10 October.
stamps with
overprints of Central Lithuania (
Środkowa Litwa), made in 1920 The Lithuanian authorities entered Vilnius in late August 1920. The
Grinius cabinet rejected the proposal to hold a plebiscite to confirm the will of the region's inhabitants, knowing that a plebiscite would inevitably legitimize Polish claims to the region. His declaration was promptly accepted by the Seimas, Poland disclaimed all responsibility for the action, maintaining that Żeligowski had acted entirely on his own initiative. Żeligowski, a native to Lithuania, proclaimed a new state, the Republic of Central Lithuania (
Litwa Środkowa). According to historian
Jerzy J. Lerski, it was a "
puppet state" which the Lithuanian Republic refused to recognize. The seat of Lithuanian government moved to Lithuania's second-largest city,
Kaunas. Armed clashes between Kaunas and Central Lithuania continued for a few weeks, but neither side could gain a significant advantage. Due to the mediation efforts of the League of Nations, a new ceasefire was signed on November 21 and a truce six days later.
Founding of the Republic of Central Lithuania On 12 October 1920, Żeligowski announced the creation of a
provisional government. Soon the courts and the police were formed by his decree of 7 January 1921, and the
civil rights of Central Lithuania were granted to all people who lived in the area on January 1, 1919, or for five years prior to August 1, 1914. The symbols of the state were a red flag with Polish
White Eagle and Lithuanian
Vytis. Its coat of arms was a mixture of Polish, Lithuanian and Vilnian symbols and resembled the
Coat of arms of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Extensive diplomatic negotiations continued behind the scenes. Lithuania proposed creating a
confederation of Baltic Western Lithuania (with Lithuanian as an
official language) and Central Lithuania (with Polish as an official language). Poland added the condition that the new state must be also federated with Poland, pursuing
Józef Piłsudski's goal of creating the
Międzymorze Federation. Lithuanians rejected this condition. With nationalistic sentiments rising all over Europe, many Lithuanians were afraid that such a federation, resembling the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from centuries ago, would be a threat to
Lithuanian culture, as during the Commonwealth times many of the Lithuanian nobility was
Polonized.
General elections in Central Lithuania were decreed to take place on 9 January, and the regulations governing this election were to be issued prior to 28 November 1920. However, due to the
League of Nations mediation, and the Lithuanian boycott of the voting, the elections were postponed.
Mediation Peace talks were held under the auspice of the
League of Nations. The initial agreement was signed by both sides on 29 November 1920, and the talks started on 3 March 1921. The League of Nations considered the Polish proposal of a
plebiscite on the future of Central Lithuania. As a compromise, the so-called "Hymans' plan" was proposed (named after
Paul Hymans). The plan consisted of 15 points, among them were: • Both sides guarantee each other's independence. • Central Lithuania is incorporated into the Federation of Lithuania, composed of two
cantons: Lithuanian-inhabited
Samogitia and multi-ethnic (Belarusian, Tatar, Polish, Jewish and Lithuanian) Vilnius area. Both cantons will have separate governments, parliaments,
official languages and a common federative capital in Vilnius. • Lithuanian and Polish governments will create interstate commissions on both foreign affairs, trade and industry measures and local policies. • Poland and Lithuania will sign a defensive alliance treaty. • Poland will gain usage of ports in Lithuania. The talks came to a halt when Poland demanded that a delegation from Central Lithuania (boycotted by Lithuania) be invited to
Brussels.
Resolution . After the talks in Brussels failed, the tensions in the area grew. The most important issue was the huge army Central Lithuania fielded (27,000). General
Lucjan Żeligowski decided to pass the power to the civil authorities and confirmed the date of
the elections (8 January 1922). There was a significant electioneering
propaganda campaign as Poles tried to win the support of other ethnic groups present in the area. The Polish government was also accused of various strong-arm policies (like the closing of Lithuanian newspapers The elections were boycotted by Lithuanians, most of the Jews and some Belarusians. Poles were the only major ethnic group out of which the majority of people voted. The request was accepted by the Polish
Sejm on 22 March 1922. All of the Republic's territory was eventually incorporated into the newly formed
Wilno Voivodeship. Lithuania declined to accept the Polish authority over the area. Instead, it continued to treat the so-called
Vilnius Region as part of its own territory and the city itself as its constitutional capital, with
Kaunas being only a
temporary seat of government. The dispute over the Vilnius region resulted in much tensions in the
Polish–Lithuanian relations in the
interwar period. ==Aftermath==