User:Halibutt/Vilnius region
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Vilnius region refers to the territory of Polish Wilno and parts of Nowogródek Voivodship, claimed by the Republic of Lithuania in the period between the Great War and the World War II. It was centered around the cities of Vilna (Lithuanian Vilnius), Hrodna (Gardinas) and Lida (Lyda).
History
[edit]The Lithuanian claim was based mostly on historical reasons as all these areas were previously part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until 18th century. After the Partitions of Poland, the area became part of Imperial Russia and after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was gained by Germany. The latter state passed the sovereignity over the area to Poland and short-lived Belarusian National Republic. During the Polish-Bolshevik War the claimed area got briefly under the control of the Red Army and, in the effect of the Moscow talks of June 12, 1920, was given to Lithuania in exchange for the right of passage and military cooperation against Poland. However, Lithuanian authority was never established on most of the area as the Polish Army won the Battle of Warsaw and retook most of it by the end of September of that year, before the Lithuanian authorities actually took control over it.
The exception was the area around the city of Vilna, which was initially left under Lithuanian control. Both sides tried to resolve the controversy peacefuly, but initial talks failed. Also, the Polish side feared that accepting the legitimity of Bolshevik-Lithuanian aggreement would encourage the Conference of Ambassadors to accept the fait accompli and grant the area to Lithuanian permanently.
After the staged coup of a Lithuanian-Belarusian Division of the Polish Army, composed mostly of local Poles and led by Gen. Lucjan Żeligowski, the area was recaptured by the Polish forces who set up a short-lived Republic of Central Lithuania there. As the Polish-Lithuanian talks over the future of the area held in Brussels failed, the Central Lithuanian parliament was elected and soon after its creation in 1921, voted for unification of Central Lithuania with Poland. This was later acepted by the Conference of Ambassadors, the predecessor of the League of Nations.
Neither the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Treaty of Riga, the effect of the Central Lithuanian elections nor the Conference of Ambasadors' ruling were accepted by Lithuania, which continued to claim the area in the interbellum and regarded Vilna (Polish Wilno) its' constitutional capital, while Kaunas was considered a temporary capital. It was not until the 1938 Ultimatum, when the Lithuanian authorities finally settled the disputes with its neighbour.
Ethnography
[edit]As most of the censae organised for the area prior to 1991 are disputed by Lithuanian historians, it is difficult to measure the exact ethnic and cultural pattern. According to both the 1916 census organised there by the German authorities and the post-war Polish censae of 1921 and 1931, there were approximately 5% of Lithuanians living in the area, with several almost purely-Lithuanian enclaves located to the south-west of Wilno and to the north of Święciany (Lithuanian Švenčionys). The majority of the population was composed of Poles (roughly 60%), Belarusians (roughly 25%) and Jews (roughly 8%). However, the Lithuanian government claimed that the majority of local Poles were in fact polonised Lithuanians and that sovereignity upon the territory they settled should be passed to Lithuania. On the other hand, it was the Lithuanian side to boycott the idea of a plebiscite that would decide on the future of the region.