other · Scandinavia and the Baltic

Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic

1940 CE – 1990 CE · capital Vilnius

Soviet Lithuania, created by the annexation of 1940, which became the first Soviet republic to declare independence in 1990.

Origins

Under the secret protocols of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the Soviet Union occupied the Republic of Lithuania in June 1940. A rigged election produced a People's Seimas that requested admission to the Soviet Union, and Lithuania was annexed in August 1940, with Vilnius, regained in 1939, as its capital.

Rule and society

Soviet rule brought nationalisation, collectivisation and mass deportations in 1941 and after the war. German occupation in 1941-1944 saw the murder of most of Lithuania's Jews. After 1944 armed partisans, the Forest Brothers, resisted until the early 1950s. Antanas Sniečkus led the Communist Party from 1940 to 1974, and the republic industrialised while Catholic dissent remained strong.

Decline and legacy

In 1988 the Sąjūdis reform movement emerged, and in 1989 the Lithuanian Communist Party under Algirdas Brazauskas broke from Moscow. On 11 March 1990 the Supreme Council declared the restoration of the independent Republic of Lithuania, recognised internationally in 1991.

Lineage

Lithuanian Soviet Socialist RepublicRepublic of Lithuania 1918 CE – present

Connections (2)

Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic was part of Soviet Union1940 CE – 1990 CE
Provisional Government of Lithuania (1941) split from Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic1941 CE

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Cite this page

APA: The Epoch Institute. (2026). Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/lithuanian-soviet-socialist-republic
MLA: “Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/lithuanian-soviet-socialist-republic. Accessed .
Chicago: The Epoch Institute. “Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/lithuanian-soviet-socialist-republic.
Harvard: The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/lithuanian-soviet-socialist-republic (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻