1569-1795 1863-1914






Lithuania Part of the Russian Empire, 1795-1863



The Grand Duchy of Lithuania, since 1569 in union with Poland, between 1772 and 1795 had been annexed by Russia. Within the Russian Empire, the region annexed in the third partition (1795) remained an administrative unit under the title Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The area to the south resp. west of the Nemunas (Njemen, Memel) River, alloocated to Prussia in the third Polish Partition of 1795, as part of CONGRESS POLAND became Russian in 1815.
In 1830 and 1863 the Lithuanians joined the Poles in their rebellions against Russian rule. Poles and Lithuanians shared a common history and religion, Catholicism. One aim of the rebels was to recreate the Polish kingdom in the borders of 1772; other demands were the abolition of serfdom. Both rebellions failed, and after 1863 the rump Grand Duchy of Lithuania was dissolved, the Lithuanian Catholic church forcefully integrated into the Russian orthodox church, her institutions (University of Vilnius) suppressed.
In 1831 the University of Vilnius was suppressed; the estates of Polish and assimilated Lithuanian nobles who had participated in the rebellion were confiscated, in 1840 Lithuanian Law replaced by Russian Imperial Law.
The early 19th century also saw rising Lithuanian national consciousness. The New Testament was translated into Lithuanian in 1816.







EXTERNAL
LINKS 		Links to Lithuanian history from SRC
History of Lithuania, from Scantours
Chronology of Catholic Dioceses - : Lithuania, from Den Katolske Kirke i Norge
DOCUMENTS
REFERENCE Manfred Hellmann, Grundzüge der Geschichte Litauens (Main Features of Lithuania's History), Darmstadt : Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft 1976 (in German)


This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2000, last revised on November 11th 2004

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