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130-551: The Concerned Christians believe that the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 signaled " the time of the end ". They interpret many biblical passages regarding the apocalypse through the lens of political events in world history. It is stated that they believe that the office of the U.S. President is the seat of the Antichrist . For example, in what is titled The Seed of Abraham , the group reports that Abraham Lincoln ,

260-530: A Lithuania–USSR agreement on mutual assistance was signed in Moscow on 10 October 1939, allowing a Soviet military presence in Lithuania. A total of 18,786 Red Army troops were deployed at strategically important locations within the country: Alytus , Prienai , Gaižiūnai , and Naujoji Vilnia . This move effectively ended Lithuanian neutrality and brought it directly under Soviet influence. While Germany

390-611: A Russian nationalist group, held an unsanctioned demonstration in Moscow. The authorities did not break up the demonstration and even kept traffic out of the demonstrators' way while they marched to an impromptu meeting with Boris Yeltsin. On 25 July 1987, 300 Crimean Tatars staged a noisy demonstration near the Kremlin Wall for several hours, calling for the right to return to their homeland, from which they were deported in 1944; police and soldiers looked on. On 23 August 1987,

520-923: A bag, at the doorway raped a seventy-year-old woman. On 10 December, two soldiers shot a passing elderly woman. In Klaipėda Lithuanian men aged 17 to 48 were arrested and deported. In December 1944, Chief of the Priekulė KGB Kazakov wrote to the LSSR Minister of the Interior Josifas Bertašiūnas that due to the soldiers' violence most of the houses in Priekulė were unsuitable for living in: windows were knocked out, fireplaces disassembled, furniture and agricultural inventory broken up and exported as scrap. Many Red Army soldiers engaged in robbery, rape, and murder, and Lithuanians who saw soldiers at night would often run from their homes and hide. "On

650-570: A bid to integrate the country into the economic system of the USSR. The output of major factories would be exported from the republic as there was a lack of local demand. This process of industrialisation was followed by urbanisation, as villages for the workers had to be established or expanded in the vicinity of the new factories, resulting in new towns such as Baltoji Vokė , Naujoji Akmenė , Elektrėnai and Sniečkus or expansion of old ones such as Jonava . Residents would be relocated from elsewhere in

780-542: A choice between multiple candidates, elected by secret ballot. However, the party delegates at the Plenum watered down Gorbachev's proposal, and democratic choice within the Communist Party was never significantly implemented. Gorbachev also radically expanded the scope of glasnost and stated that no subject was off limits for open discussion in the media. On 7 February, dozens of political prisoners were freed in

910-456: A national radio broadcast that he had deposed Smetona, and was now president in his own right. On 17 June, the cabinet resolved that Smetona had effectively abandoned his post by leaving the country and confirmed Merkys as president without any qualifiers. Later that day, under pressure from Moscow, on 17 June 1940, Merkys appointed Justas Paleckis prime minister and resigned soon after. Paleckis then assumed presidential duties, and Vincas Krėvė

1040-869: A new central legislature, the Congress of People's Deputies (although the ban on other political parties was not lifted until 1990). On 1 July 1985, Gorbachev sidelined his main rival by removing Grigory Romanov from the Politburo and brought Boris Yeltsin into the Central Committee Secretariat . On 23 December 1985, Gorbachev appointed Yeltsin First Secretary of the Moscow Communist Party , replacing Viktor Grishin . Gorbachev continued to press for greater liberalization . On 23 December 1986 Andrei Sakharov ,

1170-741: A new organization called the Popular Front of Azerbaijan , loosely based on the Estonian Popular Front . On 17 September, when gun battles broke out between the Armenians and Azerbaijanis near Stepanakert , two soldiers were killed and more than two dozen injured. This led to almost tit-for-tat ethnic polarization in Nagorno-Karabakh's two main towns: the Azerbaijani minority was expelled from Stepanakert , and

1300-495: A new supreme legislative body called the Congress of People's Deputies . Frustrated by the old guard's resistance, Gorbachev embarked on a set of constitutional changes to attempt separation of party and state, thereby isolating his Party opponents. Detailed proposals for the new Congress of People's Deputies were published on 2 October 1988, and to enable the creation of the new legislature. The Supreme Soviet, during its 29 November – 1 December 1988, session, implemented amendments to

1430-511: A public meeting lacking official permission at Ivan Franko State University . On 13 November 1988, approximately 10,000 people attended an officially sanctioned meeting organized by the cultural heritage organization Spadschyna , the Kyiv University student club Hromada , and the environmental groups Zelenyi Svit ("Green World") and Noosfera , to focus on ecological issues. From 14 to 18 November, 15 Ukrainian activists were among

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1560-486: A revised delegate list. Authorities attempted to disperse the rally in front of Druzhba Stadium. On 7 July, 10,000 to 20,000 people witnessed the launch of the Democratic Front to Promote Perestroika. On 17 July, a group of 10,000 gathered in the village Zarvanytsia for Millennium services celebrated by Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Bishop Pavlo Vasylyk. The militia tried to disperse attendees, but it turned out to be

1690-564: A seat on the Supreme Soviet, and in the summer he formed the first opposition, the Inter-Regional Deputies Group , composed of Russian nationalists and liberals . Composing the final legislative group in the Soviet Union, those elected in 1989 played a vital part in reforms and the eventual breakup of the Soviet Union during the next two years. On 30 May 1989, Gorbachev proposed that local elections across

1820-603: A significant amount of the Soviet Union's industrial and agricultural output: 22 percent of its electric welding apparatus, 11.1 percent of its metal-cutting lathes, 2.3 percent of its mineral fertilizers, 4.8 percent of its alternating current electric motors, 2.0 percent of its paper, 2.4 percent of its furniture, 5.2 percent of its socks, 3.5 percent of underwear and knitwear, 1.4 percent of leather footwear, 5.3 percent of household refrigerators, 6.5 percent of television sets, 3.7 percent of meat, 4.7 percent of butter, 1.8 percent of canned products, and 1.9 percent of sugar. Lithuania

1950-525: A smaller scale. The last deportations took place in 1953, when people were deported to the district of Tomsk and the regions of Altai and Krasnoyarsk. Even after the guerrilla resistance had been quelled, Soviet authorities failed to suppress the movement for Lithuania's independence. Underground dissident groups had been active from the 1950s, publishing periodicals and Catholic literature. They fostered national culture, celebrated historical events, instigated patriotism and encouraged hopes for independence. In

2080-544: A special report on the situation in the Klaipėda Region , the head of the local NKGB operational group wrote that: A beautiful city, Šilutė , left by the Germans without a battle, currently looks repulsive: there is not one remaining store, almost no flats that are suitable for living. ... Metal scrap collection teams are blowing up working agricultural machinery, engines of various kinds, stealing valuable equipment from

2210-476: A thousand police to stop the march, with the resulting clashes leaving two Azerbaijanis dead. These deaths, announced on state radio, led to the Sumgait Pogrom . Between 26 February and 1 March, the city of Sumgait (Azerbaijan) saw violent anti-Armenian rioting during which at least 32 people were killed. The authorities totally lost control and occupied the city with paratroopers and tanks; nearly all of

2340-696: A violent protest action in the capital on 28 October, many of Songalia's remaining holdovers within the CPL either resigned or retired in protest of the police brutality of that day. On 20 February 1988, after a week of growing demonstrations in Stepanakert , capital of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (the ethnically Armenian-majority area within the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic ),

2470-458: A year - with the relatively liberal Algirdas Mykolas Brazauskas . In October 1988, Brazauskas bowed to pressure from Sąjūdis members, and legalized the flying of the historic yellow-green-red flag of independent Lithuania, and in November 1988 he passed a law making Lithuanian the country's official language; also, the former national anthem, " Tautiška giesmė ", was later reinstated. Following

2600-778: Is said to currently reside in Greece or the Philadelphia , Pennsylvania area and its potential threat level has since been disputed. Dissolution of the Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration № 142-Н of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of

2730-402: The 1977 Soviet Constitution , enacted a law on electoral reform, and set the date of the election for 26 March 1989. On 29 November 1988, the Soviet Union ceased jamming all foreign radio stations, allowing Soviet citizens – for the first time since a brief period in the 1960s – to have unrestricted access to news sources beyond Communist Party control. In 1986 and 1987, Latvia had been in

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2860-562: The Al-Aqsa mosque from extremist Christian groups, codenamed "Operation Walk on Water". According to Israeli police, the Concerned Christians were one of several independent groups who believed it must be destroyed to facilitate the return of Jesus Christ . The group members said that they were law-abiding religious pilgrims there to await the return of Jesus but had no plans to participate in any illegal activity. The group

2990-511: The Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union lasted until 24 January 1989. For the next month, selection among the 7,531 district nominees took place at meetings organized by constituency-level electoral commissions. On 7 March, a final list of 5,074 candidates was published; about 85% were Party members. In the two weeks prior to the 1,500 district polls, elections to fill 750 reserved seats of public organizations, contested by 880 candidates, were held. Of these seats, 100 were allocated to

3120-683: The Freedom Monument , shouting, "Soviet Russia out! Free Latvia!" Security forces confronted the marchers, and several police vehicles were overturned. The Jeltoqsan ('December') of 1986 were riots in Alma-Ata , Kazakhstan , sparked by Gorbachev's dismissal of Dinmukhamed Kunaev , the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan and an ethnic Kazakh , who was replaced with Gennady Kolbin , an outsider from

3250-729: The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and the Prague Spring in 1968. Gorbachev abandoned the oppressive and expensive Brezhnev Doctrine , which mandated intervention in the Warsaw Pact states, in favor of non-intervention in the internal affairs of allies – jokingly termed the Sinatra Doctrine in a reference to the Frank Sinatra song " My Way ". Poland was the first republic to democratize following

3380-605: The NKVD performed secret killings in Kurapaty. Initially the Front had significant visibility because its numerous public actions almost always ended in clashes with the police and the KGB . Spring 1989 saw the people of the Soviet Union exercising a democratic choice, albeit limited, for the first time since 1917, when they elected the new Congress of People's Deputies. Just as important

3510-665: The Neris river ; on 19 August a fifteen-minute firefight took place between the garrison soldiers and prison guards; on 22 August drunk officers shot at each other. On 1 October 1944, Chief of the Kaunas NKVD G. Svečnikov reported that on the night of 19 October two aviation unit soldiers killed the Mavraušaitis family during a burglary. On 17 January 1945, Chairman of the Alytus Executive Committee requested

3640-702: The Politburo on 11 March 1985, just over four hours after his predecessor Konstantin Chernenko died at the age of 73. Gorbachev, aged 54, was the youngest member of the Politburo. His initial goal as general secretary was to revive the stagnating Soviet economy , and he realized that doing so would require reforming underlying political and social structures. The reforms began with personnel changes of senior Brezhnev-era officials who would impede political and economic change. On 23 April 1985, Gorbachev brought two protégés, Yegor Ligachev and Nikolai Ryzhkov , into

3770-670: The Romanian language and return to the Latin alphabet. The transition from "movement" (an informal association) to "front" (a formal association) was seen as a natural "upgrade" once a movement gained momentum with the public, and the Soviet authorities no longer dared to crack down on it. On 26 April 1988, about 500 people participated in a march organized by the Ukrainian Cultural Club on Kyiv's Khreschatyk Street to mark

3900-641: The Russian SFSR 's declaration of sovereignty on 12 June meant that the Soviet Union could not enforce Lithuania's retention. While other republics held the union-wide referendum in March to restructure the Soviet Union in a loose form , Lithuania, along with Estonia , Latvia , Armenia , Georgia , and Moldova did not take part. Lithuania held an independence referendum earlier that month, with 93.2% voting for it. Iceland immediately recognised Lithuania's independence. Other countries followed suit after

4030-497: The Russian SFSR . Demonstrations started in the morning of 17 December 1986, with 200 to 300 students in front of the Central Committee building on Brezhnev Square . On the next day, 18 December, protests turned into civil unrest as clashes between troops, volunteers, militia units, and Kazakh students turned into a wide-scale confrontation. The clashes could only be controlled on the third day. On 6 May 1987, Pamyat ,

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4160-659: The Soviet Union signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact , which contained agreements to divide Europe into spheres of influence , with Lithuania falling into Germany's sphere of influence. On 28 September 1939, the USSR and Germany signed the Frontier Treaty and its secret protocol, by which Lithuania was placed in the USSR's sphere of influence in exchange for Germany gaining an increased share of Polish territory, which had already been occupied. The next day,

4290-529: The Soviet occupation and annexation illegal and, like the other two Baltic States, claimed state continuity . This legal continuity has been recognised by most Western powers . The Soviet authorities considered the independence declaration illegal, but after the January Events in Lithuania and failed 1991 Soviet coup attempt in Moscow, the Soviet Union itself recognized Lithuanian independence on 6 September 1991. On 23 August 1939, Nazi Germany and

4420-651: The Spitak earthquake struck, killing an estimated 25,000 to 50,000 people. When Gorbachev rushed back from a visit to the United States, he was so angered with being confronted by protesters calling for Nagorno-Karabakh to be made part of the Armenian Republic during a natural disaster that on 11 December 1988, he ordered that the entire Karabakh Committee be arrested. In Tbilisi , the capital of Soviet Georgia , many demonstrators camped out in front of

4550-558: The Theater Square , by 22 February, there were 100,000, the next day 300,000, and a transport strike was declared, by 25 February, there were close to a million demonstrators—more than a quarter of Armenia's population. This was the first of the large, peaceful public demonstrations that would become a feature of communism's overthrow in Prague, Berlin, and, ultimately, Moscow. Leading Armenian intellectuals and nationalists, including

4680-688: The failed coup in August , with the State Council of the Soviet Union recognising Lithuania's independence on 6 September 1991. The Soviet Union officially ceased to exist on 26 December 1991. It was agreed that the Soviet Army (later the Russian Army) must leave Lithuania because it was stationed without any legal reason. Its troops withdrew in 1993. The first secretaries of the Communist Party of Lithuania were: Collectivization in

4810-709: The nuclear launch codes —to Yeltsin, who was now the first president of the Russian Federation . That evening, the Soviet flag was lowered from the Kremlin for the last time and replaced with the Russian tricolor flag . The following day, the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union's upper chamber, the Soviet of the Republics, formally dissolved the Union. The events of the dissolution resulted in its 15 constituent republics gaining full independence which also marked

4940-482: The revolutions of 1989 in which Soviet-imposed socialist regimes of the Warsaw Pact were toppled peacefully ( with the notable exception of Romania ), which in turn increased pressure on Gorbachev to introduce greater democracy and autonomy for the Soviet Union's constituent republics. Under Gorbachev's leadership, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) in 1989 introduced limited competitive elections to

5070-651: The 100 human-, national- and religious-rights advocates invited to discuss human rights with Soviet officials and a visiting delegation of the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (also known as the Helsinki Commission). On 10 December, hundreds gathered in Kyiv to observe International Human Rights Day at a rally organized by the Democratic Union. The unauthorized gathering resulted in

5200-605: The 14,000 Armenian residents of Sumgait fled. Gorbachev refused to make any changes to the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, which remained part of Azerbaijan. He instead sacked the Communist Party Leaders in both Republics in response – on 21 May 1988, Kamran Baghirov was replaced by Abdulrahman Vezirov as First Secretary of the Azerbaijan Communist Party . From 23 July to September 1988, a group of Azerbaijani intellectuals began working for

5330-574: The 16th President of the United States, was the archetypal Antichrist and helped build the "Babylonian nation that leads the entire world astray". They see American patriotism as a "foolish" compromise to their Christian beliefs. Founder, Monte "Kim" Miller proclaimed that he was "the Prophet of the Lord", and that God spoke through his mouth. A 1999 article published by The Guardian described it as originally an anti-cult group which worked alongside

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5460-814: The 1970s, dissidents established the Lithuanian Liberty League under Antanas Terleckas. Founded in Vilnius in the wake of an international conference in Helsinki , Finland, which recognised the borders established after the Second World War, the Lithuanian Helsinki Group demanded that Lithuania's occupation be recognised as illegal and the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact be condemned. The dissidents ensured that

5590-401: The 1980s, the USSR sank into a deep economic crisis. In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev was elected head of the USSR's Communist party and undertook internal reforms which had the effect of liberalising society (whilst actually increasing the economic chaos) and a new approach to foreign policy that effectively ended the Cold War. This encouraged the activity of anti-communist movements within the USSR,

5720-423: The 2,250 CPD seats were filled. In district races, run-off elections were held in 76 constituencies on 2 and 9 April and fresh elections were organized on 14 and 20 April to 23 May, in the 199 remaining constituencies where the required absolute majority was not attained. While most CPSU-endorsed candidates were elected, more than 300 lost to independent candidates such as Yeltsin, the physicist Andrei Sakharov and

5850-464: The 48th anniversary of the secret protocols of the 1939 Molotov Pact , thousands of demonstrators marked the occasion in the three Baltic capitals to sing independence songs and attend speeches commemorating Stalin's victims. The gatherings were sharply denounced in the official press and closely watched by the police but were not interrupted. On 14 June 1987, about 5,000 people gathered again at Freedom Monument in Riga , and laid flowers to commemorate

5980-611: The 542-member Supreme Soviet passed the measure 254–85 (with 36 abstentions). The decision required a constitutional amendment, ratified by the full congress, which met 12–25 December. It also passed measures that would allow direct elections for presidents of each of the 15 constituent republics. Gorbachev strongly opposed such a move during debate but was defeated. The vote expanded the power of republics in local elections, enabling them to decide for themselves how to organize voting. Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia had already proposed laws for direct presidential elections. Local elections in all

6110-400: The Armenian minority was expelled from Shusha . On 17 November 1988, in response to the exodus of tens of thousands of Azerbaijanis from Armenia, a series of mass demonstrations began in Baku 's Lenin Square, lasting 18 days and attracting half a million demonstrators in support of their compatriots in that region. On 5 December 1988, the Soviet police and civilian militiamen moved in, cleared

6240-432: The CPSU, 100 to the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions , 75 to the Communist Youth Union ( Komsomol ), 75 to the Committee of Soviet Women, 75 to the War and Labour Veterans' Organization, and 325 to other organizations such as the Academy of Sciences . The selection process was done in April. In the 26 March general elections, voter participation was an impressive 89.8%, and 1,958 (including 1,225 district seats) of

6370-568: The Communist Party and communist organisations. Science and art based on communist ideology and their expression controlled by censorship mechanisms. People were encouraged into atheism in an attempt to secularise Lithuania, with monasteries closed, religion classes prohibited and church-goers persecuted. The second Soviet occupation was followed by armed resistance in 1944–1953, aiming to restore an independent Lithuania, re-establish capitalism and eradicate communism, and bring back national identity and freedom of faith. Partisans were labelled bandits by

6500-448: The Communist Party, a post held by Antanas Sniečkus until 1974. Upon recapturing Lithuania from the retreating Germans in 1944, the Red Army immediately began committing war crimes . The situation was so extreme that even Sniečkus complained to Lavrentiy Beria on 23 July that "If such robbery and violence continues in Kaunas , this will burst our last sympathy for the Red Army". Beria passed this complaint on to Joseph Stalin . In

6630-482: The Estonian Popular Front and legalized the flying of the old blue-black-white flag of Estonia, and agreed to a new state language law that made Estonian the official language of the Republic. On 2 October, the Popular Front formally launched its political platform at a two-day congress. Väljas attended, gambling that the Front could help Estonia become a model of economic and political revival, while moderating separatist and other radical tendencies. On 16 November 1988,

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6760-557: The LSSR People's Commissars Council to withdraw the border guards unit, which was sent to fight the Lithuanian partisans , because it was burning not only the enemy's homes and farms, but also those of innocent people. They were also robbing local inhabitants cattle and other property. The Sovietisation of Lithuania began with the strengthening of the supervision of the Communist Party. Officials were sent from Moscow to set up bodies of local governance. They were exclusively Lithuanian, with trustworthy Russian specialists for assistants – it

6890-427: The LSSR included. On 23 August 1987, the Lithuanian Liberty League initiated an unsanctioned meeting in front of the monument to Adomas Mickevičius in Vilnius. At the meeting, the Molotov–Ribbentrop pact was condemned for the first time in public. The meeting and the speeches made at it were widely reported by western radio stations. Also meeting was reported by Central Television and even TV Vilnius . In May 1987,

7020-412: The LSSR, and from other USSR republics. By 1979, more than half of population lived in urban areas. All symbols of the former Republic of Lithuania were removed from public view by 1950, and the country had its history rewritten and its achievements belittled. The veneration of Stalin was spread and the role of Russia and the USSR in the history of Lithuania was highlighted. People were encouraged to join

7150-439: The Latvian Popular Front and legalized flying the former carmine red-and-white flag of independent Latvia, and on 6 October he passed a law making Latvian the country's official language. The Popular Front of Lithuania, called Sąjūdis ("Movement"), was founded in May 1988. On 19 October 1988, Gorbachev replaced Ringaudas Songaila , the "old guard" leader of the Communist Party of Lithuania - who had been in office for nearly

7280-451: The Lithuanian Cultural Fund was established to engage in environmental activity and the protection of Lithuanian cultural assets. On 3 June 1988, the Lithuanian Reformation Movement (LRM) was founded; its mission was to restore the statehood of Lithuania; LRM supporters formed groups across Lithuania. On 23 August 1988, a meeting took place at Vingis Park in Vilnius, with a turnout of about 250,000 people. On 23 August 1989, marking 50 years of

7410-477: The Lithuanian SSR took place between 1947 and 1952. The 1990 per capita GDP of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic was $ 8,591, which was above the average for the rest of the Soviet Union of $ 6,871. This was half or less of the per capita GDPs of adjacent countries Norway ($ 18,470), Sweden ($ 17,680) and Finland ($ 16,868). Overall, in the Eastern Bloc , systems without competition or market-clearing prices became costly and unsustainable, especially with

7540-446: The Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian people to part ways with the USSR. The LSSR de facto ceased to exist on 11 March 1990, with the Reconstituent Seimas declaring Lithuania's independence restored. It took the line that since Lithuania's membership in the USSR was a violation of international law, it was reasserting an independence that still legally existed. Therefore, the Reconstituent Seimas argued that Lithuania did not need to follow

7670-406: The Molotov–Ribbentrop pact and aiming to draw the world's attention to the occupation of the Baltic states, the Baltic Way event was staged. Organised by the Lithuanian Reformation Movement, the Baltic Way was a chain of people holding hands that stretched for nearly 600 kilometres (370 mi) to connect the three Baltic capitals of Vilnius, Riga, and Tallinn. It was a display of the aspiration of

7800-513: The Pact began to dissolve itself. The last of the countries to overthrow Communist leadership, Romania , only did so following the violent Romanian Revolution . Lithuanian SSR The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic ( Lithuanian SSR ; Lithuanian : Lietuvos Tarybų Socialistinė Respublika ; Russian : Литовская Советская Социалистическая Республика , romanized :  Litovskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika ), also known as Soviet Lithuania or simply Lithuania ,

7930-445: The Politburo as full members. He kept the "power" ministries favorable by promoting KGB Chief Viktor Chebrikov from candidate to full member and appointing Minister of Defence Marshal Sergei Sokolov as a Politburo candidate. The freedom of speech brought by Gorbachev's reforms allowed nationalist movements and ethnic disputes within the Soviet Union to be expressed and grow into dominant political movements. It also led indirectly to

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8060-712: The Regional Soviet voted to secede and join with the Soviet Socialist Republic of Armenia . This local vote in a small, remote part of the Soviet Union made headlines around the world; it was an unprecedented defiance of republican and national authorities. On 22 February 1988, in what became known as the " Askeran clash ", thousands of Azerbaijanis marched towards Nagorno-Karabakh, demanding information about rumors of an Azerbaijani having been killed in Stepanakert. They were informed that no such incident had occurred, but refused to believe it. Dissatisfied with what they were told, thousands began marching toward Nagorno-Karabakh, killing (or injuring?) 50. Karabakh authorities mobilised over

8190-415: The Soviet Union . It also brought an end to the Soviet Union's federal government and General Secretary (also President ) Mikhail Gorbachev 's effort to reform the Soviet political and economic system in an attempt to stop a period of political stalemate and economic backslide . The Soviet Union had experienced internal stagnation and ethnic separatism. Although highly centralized until its final years,

8320-451: The Soviet Union by the Act of 11 March 1990 with its Baltic neighbors and the Southern Caucasus republic of Georgia joining it over the next two months. During the failed 1991 August coup , communist hardliners and military elites attempted to overthrow Gorbachev and stop the failing reforms. However, the turmoil led to the central government in Moscow losing influence, ultimately resulting in many republics proclaiming independence in

8450-594: The Soviet Union, which were variously suppressed or tolerated. The CTAG ( Latvian : Cilvēktiesību aizstāvības grupa , lit.   'Human Rights Defense Group') Helsinki-86 was founded in July 1986 in the Latvian port town of Liepāja . Helsinki-86 was the first openly anti-Communist organization in the U.S.S.R., and the first openly organized opposition to the Soviet regime, setting an example for other ethnic minorities' pro-independence movements. On 26 December 1986, 300 Latvian youths gathered in Riga's Cathedral Square and marched down Lenin Avenue toward

8580-407: The Soviets. The clergy published chronicles of the Catholic Church of Lithuania, secretly distributed in Lithuania and abroad. The faithful would gather in small groups to teach their children religion, celebrate religious holidays, and use national and religious symbols. The most active repressed figures of the movement were Vincentas Sladkevičius , Sigitas Tamkevičius , and Nijolė Sadūnaitė . In

8710-433: The Soviets. They were forced into the woods and into armed resistance by the Soviet rule. Armed skirmishes with the Red Army were common between 1944 and 1946. From the summer of 1946 a partisan organisational structure was established, with units of 5–15 partisans living in bunkers. Guerrilla warfare with surprise attacks was the preferred tactic. In 1949 the Union of Lithuanian Freedom Fighters under Jonas Žemaitis–Vytautas

8840-425: The Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR adopted a declaration of national sovereignty under which Estonian laws would take precedence over those of the Soviet Union. Estonia's parliament also laid claim to the republic's natural resources including land, inland waters, forests, mineral deposits, and to the means of industrial production, agriculture, construction, state banks, transportation, and municipal services within

8970-408: The USSR and LSSR Ministers of the Interior that due to the violence and mass arrests by the counterintelligence units of SMERSH , many Kaunas inhabitants were forced into crime . Eleven SMERSH subdivisions did not obey any orders, not even those from the NKGB. Chief of the Vilnius Garrison, P. Vetrov, in his order described discipline violations: on 18 August a soldier went fishing with explosives in

9100-491: The USSR and of international law governing the relations of sovereign states . The last session of the government of the Republic of Lithuania was called to discuss the ultimatum, with most members in favour of accepting it. On 15 June, President Antanas Smetona left for the West, expecting to return when the geopolitical situation changed, leaving Prime Minister Antanas Merkys in Lithuania. Before his departure, Smetona transferred most presidential duties to Merkys. Under

9230-433: The USSR offered Lithuania an agreement on the establishment of Soviet military bases in its territory. During the negotiations, the Lithuanian delegation was told of the division of the spheres of influence. The Soviets threatened that if Lithuania refused to host the bases, Vilnius could be annexed to Belarus (at that time the majority of population in Vilnius and Vilnius region were Polish people ). In these circumstances

9360-506: The Ukrainian Cultural Club hosted its own observances in Kyiv at the monument to St. Volodymyr the Great , the grand prince of Kyivan Rus . On 16 June 1988, 6,000 to 8,000 people gathered in Lviv to hear speakers declare no confidence in the local list of delegates to the 19th Communist Party conference, to begin on 29 June. On 21 June, a rally in Lviv attracted 50,000 people who had heard about

9490-481: The adjacent park harboring Aleea Clasicilor (The " Alley of Classics [of Literature]"). On 15 January 1988, in a tribute to Mihai Eminescu at his bust on the Aleea Clasicilor, Anatol Șalaru submitted a proposal to continue the meetings. In the public discourse, the movement called for national awakening, freedom of speech, the revival of Moldovan traditions, and for the attainment of official status for

9620-622: The anniversary of Stalin 's mass deportation of Latvians in 1941. The authorities did not crack down on demonstrators, which encouraged more and larger demonstrations throughout the Baltic States. On 18 November 1987, hundreds of police and civilian militiamen cordoned off the central square to prevent any demonstration at Freedom Monument, but thousands lined the streets of Riga in silent protest regardless. On 17 October 1987, about 3,000 Armenians demonstrated in Yerevan complaining about

9750-462: The authorities put 28,981 persons into livestock cars and dispatched them deep into the USSR. Some people went into hiding and managed to escape the deportations, but then a manhunt began in April. As a result, another two echelons left for the remote regions of the USSR. During March–April 1949, a total of some 32,000 people were deported from Lithuania. By 1952, 10 more operations had been staged, but of

9880-463: The beginning of Yeltsin's rebranding as a rebel and rise in popularity as an anti-establishment figure. The following four years of political struggle between Yeltsin and Gorbachev played a large role in the dissolution of the Soviet Union. On 11 November, Yeltsin was fired from the post of First Secretary of the Moscow Communist Party . In the years leading up to the dissolution, various protests and resistance movements occurred or took hold throughout

10010-529: The companies. There is no electricity in Šilutė because an internal combustion engine was blown up. In the same report, the mass rape of Lithuanian women in the Klaipėda and Šilutė regions was reported: Seventy year old women and fourteen-year-old girls are being raped, even in the presence of parents. For example, in November 1944 eleven soldiers raped a Priekulė County resident in the presence of her husband. In Šilutė district, two soldiers, covering her head with

10140-716: The condition of Lake Sevan , the Nairit chemicals plant, and the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant , and air pollution in Yerevan. Police tried to prevent the protest but took no action to stop it once the march was underway. The following day 1,000 Armenians participated in another demonstration calling for Armenian national rights in Karabakh and the proposed unification of both Nakhchivan and Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia. The police tried to physically prevent

10270-561: The constitution, the prime minister became acting president whenever the president was unable to carry out his duties. Meanwhile, the 8th and 11th armies of the USSR, comprising a total of 15 divisions, crossed the border. Flying squads took over the airports of Kaunas, Radviliškis, and Šiauliai. Regiments of the Red Army disarmed the Lithuanian military, took over its assets, and supported local communists. On 16 June, Merkys announced in

10400-583: The country was made up of 15 top-level republics that served as the homelands for different ethnicities. By late 1991, amid a catastrophic political crisis, with several republics already departing the Union and Gorbachev continuing the waning of centralized power, the leaders of three of its founding members , the Russian, Belorussian, and Ukrainian SSRs, declared that the Soviet Union no longer existed . Eight more republics joined their declaration shortly thereafter. Gorbachev resigned on 25 December 1991 and what

10530-576: The country, scheduled for November 1989, be postponed until early 1990 because there were still no laws governing the conduct of such elections. This was seen by some as a concession to local Party officials, who feared they would be swept from power in a wave of anti-establishment sentiment. On 25 October 1989, the Supreme Soviet voted to eliminate special seats for the Communist Party and other official organizations in union-level and republic-level elections, responding to sharp popular criticism that such reserved slots were undemocratic. After vigorous debate,

10660-663: The destruction battalions, or istrebitels . On 18–21 February 1946, deportations began in four counties: Alytus, Marijampolė, Lazdijai, and Tauragė. On 12 December 1947 the Central Committee of the Lithuanian Communist Party resolved that actions against supporters of resistance were too weak and that additional measures were in order. A new series of deportations began and 2,782 people were deported in December. In January–February 1948, another 1,134 persons were exiled from every county in Lithuania. By May 1948,

10790-695: The detention of local activists. The Belarusian Popular Front was established in 1988 as a political party and cultural movement for democracy and independence, similar to the Baltic republics' popular fronts. The discovery of mass graves in Kurapaty outside Minsk by historian Zianon Pazniak , the Belarusian Popular Front's first leader, gave additional momentum to the pro-democracy and pro-independence movement in Belarus. It claimed that

10920-756: The enactment of the April Novelization , as agreed upon following the Polish Round Table Agreement talks from February to April between the government and the Solidarity trade union. The Polish Solidarity Union, as established through the 1980 August Accords, presented Lech Wałęsa as their candidate, who became the first democratically elected president of Poland. The elections in Poland inspired other Eastern European Soviet Nations to pursue peaceful democratic transitions, and soon

11050-607: The end of 1989, the year the Berlin Wall fell. This was also the year that CNN became the first non-Soviet broadcaster allowed to beam its TV news programs to Moscow. Officially, CNN was available only to foreign guests in the Savoy Hotel , but Muscovites quickly learned how to pick up signals on their home televisions. That had a major effect on how Soviets saw events in their country and made censorship almost impossible. The month-long nomination period for candidates for

11180-548: The fall of 1944, lists of 'bandits' and 'bandit family' members to be deported appeared. Deportees were marshaled and put on a USSR-bound trains in Kaunas in early May 1945, reaching their destination in Tajikistan in summer. Once there, they employed as forced labour at cotton plantations. In May 1945, a new wave of deportations from every county took place, enforced by battlegroups made of NKVD and NKGB staff and NKVD troops –

11310-839: The first days of the Holocaust in Lithuania ). Škirpa was named prime minister in the Provisional Government of Lithuania ; however, the Germans placed him under house arrest and dissolved the LAF on 5 August 1941. During the German occupation, Lithuania was made part of the Reichskommissariat Ostland . Between July and October 1944, the Red Army entered Lithuania once again, and the second Soviet government began. The first post-war elections took place in

11440-696: The first group release since the Khrushchev Thaw in the mid-1950s. On 10 September, Boris Yeltsin wrote a letter of resignation to Gorbachev. At the 27 October plenary meeting of the Central Committee, Yeltsin, frustrated that Gorbachev had not addressed any of the issues outlined in his resignation letter, criticized the slow pace of reform, and servility to the general secretary. In his reply, Gorbachev accused Yeltsin of "political immaturity" and "absolute irresponsibility". Nevertheless, news of Yeltsin's insubordination and "secret speech" spread, and soon samizdat versions began to circulate. That marked

11570-530: The following days and months. The secession of the Baltic states was recognized in September 1991. The Belovezha Accords were signed on 8 December by President Boris Yeltsin of Russia , President Kravchuk of Ukraine , and Chairman Shushkevich of Belarus , recognizing each other's independence and creating the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) to replace the Soviet Union. Kazakhstan

11700-452: The formal procedure of secession from the USSR. Lithuania declared the sovereignty of its territory on 18 May 1989 and declared independence from the Soviet Union on 11 March 1990 under its pre-1940 name, the Republic of Lithuania . Lithuania was the first Baltic state to assert state continuity , and the first Soviet Republic to declare full independence from the Union (though Estonia

11830-523: The future first president of independent Armenia Levon Ter-Petrossian , formed the eleven-member Karabakh Committee to lead and organize the new movement. On the same day, when Gorbachev replaced Baghirov with Vezirov as First Secretary of the Azerbaijan Communist Party, he also replaced Karen Demirchian with Suren Harutyunyan as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Armenia , however, Harutyunyan quickly decided to run before

11960-409: The government, and allow an unlimited number of Red Army troops to enter the country. The acceptance of the ultimatum would have meant the loss of sovereignty, but Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov declared to diplomat Juozas Urbšys that, whatever the reply may be, "troops will enter Lithuania tomorrow nonetheless". The ultimatum was a violation of every prior agreement between Lithuania and

12090-406: The increasing complexity of world economics. Such systems, which required party-state planning at all levels, collapsed under the weight of accumulated economic inefficiencies, with various attempts at reform merely contributing to the acceleration of crisis-generating tendencies. Lithuania accounted for 0.3 percent of the Soviet Union's territory and 1.3 percent of its population, but it generated

12220-471: The largest gathering of Ukrainian Catholics since Stalin outlawed the Church in 1946. On 4 August, which came to be known as "Bloody Thursday", local authorities violently suppressed a demonstration organized by the Democratic Front to Promote Perestroika. Forty-one people were detained, fined, or sentenced to 15 days of administrative arrest. On 1 September, local authorities violently displaced 5,000 students at

12350-421: The lawyer Anatoly Sobchak . In the first session of the new Congress of People's Deputies (from 25 May to 9 June), hardliners retained control but reformers used the legislature as a platform for debate and criticism, which was broadcast live and uncensored. This transfixed the population since nothing like such a freewheeling debate had ever been witnessed in the Soviet Union. On 29 May, Yeltsin managed to secure

12480-455: The leading rebel republic. On 5 July 1988, when a contingent of troops was sent in to remove demonstrators by force from Yerevan's Zvartnots International Airport , shots were fired and one student protester was killed. In September, further large demonstrations in Yerevan led to the deployment of armored vehicles. In the autumn of 1988 almost all of the 200,000 Azerbaijani minority in Armenia

12610-636: The legations appointed by the pre-1940 Baltic states, which functioned in various places through the Lithuanian Diplomatic Service . On 18 May 1989, the Lithuanian SSR declared itself to be a sovereign state , though still part of the USSR. On 11 March 1990, the Republic of Lithuania was re-established as an independent state , the first Soviet Republic to leave Moscow and leading other states to do so. Lithuania considered

12740-861: The major conclusion of the Revolutions of 1989 and the end of the Cold War . In the aftermath of the Cold War , several of the former Soviet republics have retained close links with Russia and formed multilateral organizations such as the CIS, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), and the Union State , for economic and military cooperation. On

12870-489: The march and after a few incidents, dispersed the demonstrators. In 1988, Gorbachev started to lose control of two regions of the Soviet Union, as the Baltic republics were now leaning towards independence, and the Caucasus descended into violence and civil war. On 1 July 1988, the fourth and last day of a bruising 19th Party Conference, Gorbachev won the backing of the tired delegates for his last-minute proposal to create

13000-422: The most prominent Soviet dissident , returned to Moscow shortly after receiving a personal telephone call from Gorbachev telling him that after almost seven years his internal exile for defying the authorities was over. At the 28–30 January Central Committee plenum , Gorbachev suggested a new policy of demokratizatsiya throughout Soviet society. He proposed that future Communist Party elections should offer

13130-575: The nationalist wind and on 28 May, allowed Armenians to unfurl the red-blue-orange First Armenian Republic flag for the first time in almost 70 years to mark the 1918 declaration of the First Republic. On 15 June 1988, the Armenian Supreme Soviet adopted a resolution formally approving the idea of Nagorno-Karabakh's unification as part of the republic. Armenia, formerly one of the most loyal republics, had suddenly turned into

13260-543: The night of 20 October, aviation unit senior M. Kapylov, by taking revenge against 14-year-old Marija Drulaitė who refused to have sexual intercourse, killed her, her mother, uncle Juozas and severely injured a 12-year-old." — Georgiy Vladimirovich Svechnikov, Chief of the Kaunas NKVD . Other regions of the LSSR also suffered heavily. For example, on 26 December 1944, Kaunas' NKGB representative Rodionov wrote to

13390-482: The other hand, the Baltic states and all of the other former Warsaw Pact states became part of the European Union (EU) and joined NATO , while some of the other former Soviet republics like Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova have been publicly expressing interest in following the same path since the 1990s, despite Russian attempts to persuade them otherwise. Mikhail Gorbachev was elected General Secretary by

13520-424: The peasants from the surrounding areas would be herded to their properties. Since kolkhozes had to donate a large portion of their produce to the state, the people working there lived in poorer conditions than the rest of the nation. Their pay would often be delayed and made in kind and their movement to cities was restricted. This collectivisation ended in 1953. Lithuania became home to factories and power plants, in

13650-552: The police and established churches "to preach against the dangers of mind control by extreme religious groups" before at some later point turning itself into a cult. Between 60 and 80 members of the group disappeared from their homes and jobs in Colorado in October 1998 and were the subject of a search. On January 3, 1999, they gained notoriety when they were arrested and deported from Israel as part of an Israeli effort to protect

13780-514: The process of secession because the entire process by which Lithuania joined the Soviet Union violated both Lithuanian and international law. Specifically, it contended that Smetona never resigned, making Merkys' takeover of the presidency illegal and unconstitutional. Therefore, Lithuania argued that all acts leading up to the Soviet takeover were ipso facto null and void, and it was simply reasserting an independence that still existed under international law. The Soviet Union threatened to invade, but

13910-731: The republic's legislature in November 1988 calling for Georgia's independence and in support of Estonia's declaration of sovereignty. Beginning in February 1988, the Democratic Movement of Moldova (formerly Moldavia) organized public meetings, demonstrations, and song festivals, which gradually grew in size and intensity. In the streets, the center of public manifestations was the Stephen the Great Monument in Chișinău, and

14040-587: The republics had already been scheduled to take place between December and March 1990. The six Warsaw Pact countries of Eastern Europe, while nominally independent, were widely recognized as the Soviet satellite states (along with Mongolia ). All had been occupied by the Soviet Red Army in 1945, had Soviet-style socialist states imposed upon them, and had very restricted freedom of action in either domestic or international affairs. Any moves towards real independence were suppressed by military force – in

14170-521: The results of the elections were likely falsified. At its first meeting on 21 July, the new People's Seimas declared that the Lithuanian people desired to join the Soviet Union. Accordingly, it unanimously changed Lithuania's official name to the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (LSSR) and formally petitioned to join the Soviet Union as a constituent republic. Resolutions to start the country's Sovietisation were passed

14300-533: The same day. On 3 August, a Lithuanian delegation of prominent public figures was dispatched to Moscow to sign the document by which Lithuania acceded to the USSR. After the signing, Lithuania was annexed to the USSR. On 25 August 1940, an extraordinary session of the People's Seimas reorganized itself as the provisional Supreme Soviet of the LSSR, ratified the Constitution of the LSSR, which in form and substance

14430-652: The second anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, carrying placards with slogans like "Openness and Democracy to the End". Between May and June 1988, Ukrainian Catholics in western Ukraine celebrated the Millennium of Christianity in Kyivan Rus in secret by holding services in the forests of Buniv, Kalush , Hoshi, and Zarvanytsia. On 5 June 1988, as the official celebrations of the Millennium were held in Moscow,

14560-486: The square by force, and imposed a curfew that lasted ten months. The rebellion of fellow Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh had an immediate effect in Armenia itself. Daily demonstrations, which began in the Armenian capital Yerevan on 18 February, initially attracted few people, but each day the Nagorno-Karabakh issue became increasingly prominent and the numbers swelled. On 20 February, a 30,000-strong crowd demonstrated in

14690-554: The terms of the 23 August 1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact , and established as a puppet state on 21 July. Between 1941 and 1944, the German invasion of the Soviet Union caused its de facto dissolution. However, with the retreat of the Germans in 1944–1945, Soviet hegemony was re-established and continued for forty-five years. As a result, many Western countries continued to recognize Lithuania as an independent, sovereign de jure state subject to international law, represented by

14820-625: The territory of Estonia's borders. At the same time the Estonian Citizens' Committees started registration of citizens of the Republic of Estonia to carry out the elections of the Congress of Estonia . The Latvian Popular Front was founded in June 1988. On 4 October, Gorbachev replaced Boris Pugo , the "old guard" leader of the Communist Party of Latvia , with the more liberal Jānis Vagris. In October 1988 Vagris bowed to pressure from

14950-446: The total number of deportees had risen to 13,304. In May 1948, preparations for very large-scale deportations were being made, with 30,118 staff members from Soviet organisations involved. On 22–23 May 1948, a large-scale deportation operation called Vesna began, leading to 36,932 arrests, a figure that later increased to 40,002. The second major mass deportation, known as Operation Priboi , took place on 25–28 March 1949, during which

15080-465: The vanguard of the Baltic states in pressing for reform. In 1988, Estonia took over the lead role with the foundation of the Soviet Union's first popular front and starting to influence state policy. The Estonian Popular Front was founded in April 1988. On 16 June 1988, Gorbachev replaced Karl Vaino , the "old guard" leader of the Communist Party of Estonia , with the comparatively liberal Vaino Väljas . In late June 1988, Väljas bowed to pressure from

15210-475: The winter of 1946 to elect 35 representatives to the LSSR Supreme Council. The results were again likely falsified to show an attendance rate of at over 90% and to establish an absolute victory for Communist Party candidates. The LSSR Supreme Council under Paleckis was formally the supreme governmental authority; in reality, power was in the hands of the first secretary of the Central Committee of

15340-424: The world would receive information about the situation in the LSSR and human rights violations, which caused Moscow to soften the regime. In 1972, young Romas Kalanta immolated himself in Kaunas in a public display of protest against the regime. This was followed by public unrest , demonstrating that a large portion of the population were against the regime. The Catholic Church took an active part in opposing

15470-411: Was de facto one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union between 1940–1941 and 1944–1990. After 1946, its territory and borders mirrored those of today's Republic of Lithuania , with the exception of minor adjustments to its border with Belarus . During World War II , the previously independent Republic of Lithuania was occupied by the Red Army on 16 June 1940, in conformity with

15600-468: Was also a net donor to the USSR budget. It was calculated in 1995 that the occupation resulted in 80 billion LTL (more than 23 billion euros ) worth of losses, including population, military, and church property losses and economic destruction among other things. Lithuania mostly suffered until 1958 when more than a half of the annual national budgets was sent to the USSR budgets, later this number decreased but still remained high at around 25% of

15730-610: Was appointed prime minister. The Communist Party was legalized again and began publication of its papers and staging meetings to support the new government. Opposition organizations and newspapers were outlawed, and ties abroad cut. On 14–15 July, elections took place for a " People's Seimas ." The only contender was the Union of the Working People of Lithuania , a front for the Communists. Citizens were mandated to vote, and

15860-750: Was conducting its military campaign in Western Europe in May and June 1940, the USSR invaded the Baltic states. On 14 June 1940, an ultimatum was served to Lithuania on the alleged grounds of abduction of Red Army troops. The ultimatum said Lithuania should remove officials that the USSR found unsuitable (the Minister of the Interior and the Head of the Security Department in particular), replace

15990-537: Was expelled by Armenian nationalists, with over 100 killed in the process. That, after the Sumgait pogrom earlier that year, which had been carried out by Azerbaijanis to ethnic Armenians and led to the expulsion of Armenians from Azerbaijan, was for many Armenians considered an act of revenge for the killings at Sumgait. On 25 November 1988, a military commandant took control of Yerevan as the Soviet government moved to prevent further ethnic violence. On 7 December 1988,

16120-425: Was founded. Partisan units became smaller still, consisting of 3 to 5 partisans. Open fighting was a rarity, with sabotage and terrorism preferred. Despite guerrilla warfare failing to achieve its objectives and claiming the lives of more than 20,000 fighters, it demonstrated to the world that Lithuania's joining the USSR had not been a voluntary act and highlighted the desire of many Lithuanians to be independent. In

16250-454: Was left of the Soviet parliament voted to dissolve the union. The process began with growing unrest in the country's various constituent national republics developing into an incessant political and legislative conflict between them and the central government. Estonia was the first Soviet republic to declare state sovereignty inside the Union on 16 November 1988. Lithuania was the first republic to declare full independence restored from

16380-536: Was similar to the 1936 Constitution of the Soviet Union . On 22 June 1941, Nazi Germany invaded the USSR and occupied all of Lithuania within a month. The Lithuanian Activist Front (LAF), a resistance organisation founded in Berlin and led by Kazys Škirpa whose goal was to liberate Lithuania and re-establish its independence, cooperated with the Nazis. The LAF was responsible for killing many Lithuanian Jews (during

16510-618: Was the first Soviet Republic to assert its national sovereignty and the supremacy of its national laws over the laws of the Soviet Union). All of the Soviet Union's claims on Lithuania were repudiated as Lithuania declared the restitution of its independence . The Soviet Union claimed that this declaration was illegal, as Lithuania had to follow the process of secession mandated in the Soviet Constitution if it wanted to leave. Lithuania contended that it did not need to follow

16640-495: Was the last republic to leave the Union, proclaiming independence on 16 December. All the ex-Soviet republics, with the exception of Georgia and the Baltic states, joined the CIS on 21 December, signing the Alma-Ata Protocol . Russia, as by far the largest and most populous republic, became the USSR's de facto successor state . On 25 December, Gorbachev resigned and turned over his presidential powers—including control of

16770-595: Was the uncensored live TV coverage of the legislature's deliberations, where people witnessed the previously feared Communist leadership being questioned and held accountable. This example fueled a limited experiment with democracy in Poland , which quickly led to the toppling of the Communist government in Warsaw that summer and in turn sparked uprisings that overthrew governments in the other five Warsaw Pact countries before

16900-457: Was these who were in effective control. By the spring of 1945, 6,100 Russian-speaking workers had been sent to Lithuania. When the Soviets reoccupied the territory, Lithuanians were deprived of all property except personal belongings. This was followed by collectivisation , which started in 1947, with people being forced to join kolkhozes . Well-off farmers would be exiled, and the livestock of

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