156-671: The Lithuanian Navy ( Lithuanian : Lietuvos Karinės jūrų pajėgos ) is the naval arm of the Lithuanian Armed Forces . Though formally established on 1 August 1935 its roots stretch back as far as naval engagements on the Baltic Sea in the Medieval period. Lithuanian naval units saw some service with Soviet naval forces during World War II, and the navy has been re-established in its own right and continues to expand since Lithuania's independence in 1990. Although
312-470: A "Naval Commission" with Gerard Denhoff as a chairman to fulfill this task. The choice of other members of this Commission was not random, it contained wealthy king supporters, like the merchant and owner of a merchant fleet from Danzig, Georg Hewel ( Gdańsk , Jerzy Hewel ). Because the Sejm (Polish Diet ) was at best reluctant to pay for new ships and royal chest was permanently empty it was due to Hewel that
468-652: A Proto-Balto-Slavic stage, from which the Baltic languages retain exclusive and non-exclusive lexical, morphological, phonological and accentual isoglosses in common with the Slavic languages , which represent their closest living Indo-European relatives. Moreover, with Lithuanian being so archaic in phonology, Slavic words can often be deduced from Lithuanian by regular sound laws ; for example, Lith. vilkas and Polish wilk ← PBSl. *wilkás (cf. PSl. *vьlkъ ) ← PIE *wĺ̥kʷos , all meaning " wolf ". Initially, Lithuanian
624-582: A badly executed alliance with the Habsburgs who in 1629 took over the fleet. The Commission of Royal Ships ( Komisja Okrętów Królewskich ) was created in 1625. This commission, along with the ultimate allocation of funds by the Sejm in 1637, attempted to create a permanent Commonwealth Navy. Władysław IV Waza who took the throne in 1632 bought 12 ships, and built a dedicated port for the royal navy ( Władysławowo ). The 58th article signed and sworn by king Władysław IV Pacta conventa announced creation of
780-811: A court verdict. On the request of the organisation King Casimir IV of Poland reincorporated the territory to the Kingdom of Poland in 1454. This led to the Thirteen Years' War between Poland and the State of the Teutonic Order (1454–1466). Since 1454, the city was authorized by the King to mint Polish coins. The local mayor pledged allegiance to the King during the incorporation in March 1454 in Kraków , and
936-461: A free and secure access to the sea"), the Poles hoped the city's harbour would also become part of Poland. However, in the end – since Germans formed a majority in the city, with Poles being a minority (in the 1923 census 7,896 people out of 335,921 gave Polish, Kashubian, or Masurian as their native language) – the city was not placed under Polish sovereignty. Instead, in accordance with the terms of
1092-415: A maritime defense force. However, due to various political and economical reasons, the maritime defense force was only partially implemented. In 1923, Lithuania gained the control of Klaipėda harbor and gradual development of the maritime defense force started. The purchase of a minesweeper in 1927 was one of the first significant steps to implement Lithuanian Government aims. The ship was commissioned as
1248-590: A non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union. The German attack began in Danzig, with a bombardment of Polish positions at Westerplatte by the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein , and the landing of German infantry on the peninsula. Outnumbered Polish defenders at Westerplatte resisted for seven days before running out of ammunition. Meanwhile, after a fierce day-long fight (1 September 1939), defenders of
1404-528: A population of approximately 1.5 million. The city has a complex history, having had periods of Polish, German and self rule. An important shipbuilding and trade port since the Middle Ages , in 1361 it became a member of the Hanseatic League which influenced its economic, demographic and urban landscape . It also served as Poland's principal seaport, and was the largest city of Poland in
1560-516: A result of a decrease in the usage of spoken Lithuanian in the eastern part of Lithuania proper, in the 19th century, it was suggested to create a standardized Lithuanian based on the Samogitian dialect. Nevertheless, it was not accomplished because everyone offered their Samogitian subdialects and the Eastern and Western Aukštaitians offered their Aukštaitian subdialects. In the second half of
1716-575: A series of Polish-Teutonic Wars , in the Treaty of Kalisz (1343) the Order had to acknowledge that it would hold Pomerelia as a fief from the Polish Crown . Although it left the legal basis of the Order's possession of the province in some doubt, the city thrived as a result of increased exports of grain (especially wheat), timber, potash , tar, and other goods of forestry from Prussia and Poland via
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#17327810945041872-627: A single language. At a minimum, transitional dialects existed until the 14th or 15th century and perhaps as late as the 17th century. The German Livonian Brothers of the Sword occupied the western part of the Daugava basin, which resulted in colonization of the territory of modern Latvia (at the time it was called Terra Mariana ) by Germans and had a significant influence on the language's independent development due to Germanisation (see also: Baltic Germans and Baltic German nobility ). There
2028-651: A single sound, the velar fricative [ x ] , while dz and dž are pronounced like straightforward combinations of their component letters (sounds): Dz dz [ dz ] (dzė), Dž dž [ dʒ ] (džė), Ch ch [ x ] (cha). The distinctive Lithuanian letter Ė was used for the first time in the Daniel Klein 's Grammatica Litvanica and firmly established itself in Lithuanian since then. However, linguist August Schleicher used Ë (with two points above it) instead of Ė for expressing
2184-633: A stronghold on the site in the 980s, thereby connecting the Polish state ruled by the Piast dynasty with the trade routes of the Baltic Sea . Traces of buildings and housing from the 10th century have been found in archaeological excavations of the city. The site was ruled as a duchy of Poland by the Samborides . It consisted of a settlement at the modern Long Market, settlements of craftsmen along
2340-585: A war fleet "according to needs of Commonwealth". Władysław, taking the throne after his father Sigismund III Vasa died in 1632, was in favour of expanding and modernising the Commonwealth military. One of his plans was the expansion of the Commonwealth Navy. Despite his attempts he did not recover ships taken by Swedes in Wismar and Travemuende. Władysław decided to build a new fleet and created
2496-470: Is a matter of expanding our Lebensraum in the east", adding that there will be no repeat of the Czech situation, and Germany will attack Poland at first opportunity, after isolating the country from its Western Allies. After the German proposals to solve the three main issues peacefully were refused, German-Polish relations rapidly deteriorated. Germany attacked Poland on 1 September after having signed
2652-878: Is a translation dating from about 1503–1525 of the Lord's Prayer , the Hail Mary , and the Nicene Creed written in the Southern Aukštaitian dialect. On 8 January 1547 the first Lithuanian book was printed – the Catechism of Martynas Mažvydas . At the royal courts in Vilnius of Sigismund II Augustus , the last Grand Duke of Lithuania prior to the Union of Lublin , both Polish and Lithuanian were spoken equally widely. In 1552 Sigismund II Augustus ordered that orders of
2808-692: Is an important source for the reconstruction of the Proto-Indo-European language despite its late attestation (with the earliest texts dating only to c. 1500 AD , whereas Ancient Greek was first written down about three thousand years earlier in c. 1450 BC). According to hydronyms of Baltic origin, the Baltic languages were spoken in a large area east of the Baltic Sea , and in c. 1000 BC it had two linguistic units: western and eastern. The Greek geographer Ptolemy had already written of two Baltic tribe/nations by name,
2964-442: Is augmented by the fact that Proto-Balto-Slavic is easily reconstructible with important proofs in historic prosody. The alleged (or certain, as certain as historical linguistics can be) similarities due to contact are seen in such phenomena as the existence of definite adjectives formed by the addition of an inflected pronoun (descended from the same Proto-Indo-European pronoun), which exist in both Baltic and Slavic yet nowhere else in
3120-549: Is divided into West, North and South; Aukštaitian into West (Suvalkiečiai), South ( Dzūkian ) and East. Lithuanian uses the Latin script supplemented with diacritics . It has 32 letters . In the collation order, y follows immediately after į (called i nosinė ), because both y and į represent the same long vowel [ iː ] : In addition, the following digraphs are used, but are treated as sequences of two letters for collation purposes. The digraph ch represents
3276-637: Is known that Jogaila , being ethnic Lithuanian by the male-line , himself knew and spoke Lithuanian with Vytautas the Great , his cousin from the Gediminids dynasty. During the Christianization of Samogitia none of the clergy, who arrived to Samogitia with Jogaila, were able to communicate with the natives, therefore Jogaila himself taught the Samogitians about Catholicism ; thus he
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#17327810945043432-498: Is largely phonemic, i.e., one letter usually corresponds to a single phoneme (sound). There are a few exceptions: for example, the letter i represents either the vowel [ ɪ ] , as in English sit , or is silent and merely indicates that the preceding consonant is palatalized . The latter is largely the case when i occurs after a consonant and is followed by a back or a central vowel , except in some borrowed words (e.g.,
3588-509: Is usually pronounced [ˈdantsɪç] , or alternatively [ˈdantsɪk] in more Southern German-speaking areas. The city's Latin name may be given as either Gedania , Gedanum , or Dantiscum ; the variety of Latin and German names typically reflects the difficulty of pronunciation of the Polish/Slavonic city's name, all German- and Latin/Romance-speaking populations always encounter in trying to pronounce
3744-605: The Baltic coast of northern Poland , and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship . With a population of 486,492, it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport . Gdańsk lies at the mouth of the Motława River and is situated at the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , close to the city of Gdynia and the resort town of Sopot ; these form a metropolitan area called the Tricity ( Trójmiasto ), with
3900-708: The Compendium Grammaticae Lithvanicae singled out that the Lithuanians of the Vilnius Region ( Latin : in tractu Vilnensi ) tend to speak harshly, almost like Austrians , Bavarians and others speak German in Germany . Due to the historical circumstances of Lithuania , Lithuanian-speaking territory was divided into Lithuania proper and Lithuania Minor , therefore, in the 16th–17th centuries, three regional variants of
4056-544: The Danzig gulden . With the growth of Nazism among Germans, anti-Polish sentiment increased and both Germanisation and segregation policies intensified, in the 1930s the rights of local Poles were commonly violated and limited by the local administration. Polish children were refused admission to public Polish-language schools, premises were not allowed to be rented to Polish schools and preschools. Due to such policies, only eight Polish-language public schools existed in
4212-580: The European Union . There are approximately 2.8 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 1 million speakers elsewhere. Around half a million inhabitants of Lithuania of non-Lithuanian background speak Lithuanian daily as a second language. Lithuanian is closely related to neighbouring Latvian , though the two languages are not mutually intelligible. It is written in a Latin script . In some respects, some linguists consider it to be
4368-764: The Galindai ( Γαλίνδαι ) and Sudinoi ( Σουδινοί ), in the 2nd century AD. Lithuanian originated from the Eastern Baltic subgroup and remained nearly unchanged until c. 1 AD, however in c. 500 AD the language of the northern part of Eastern Balts was influenced by the Finnic languages , which fueled the development of changes from the language of the Southern Balts (see: Latgalian , which developed into Latvian , and extinct Curonian , Semigallian , and Selonian ). The language of Southern Balts
4524-582: The Grand Duchy of Lithuania (1/3 residents in Lithuania proper and up to 1/2 residents in Samogitia ) and 53% of residents in Lithuania Minor (more than 90% of the deceased were Prussian Lithuanians ). Since the 19th century to 1925 the amount of Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania Minor (excluding Klaipėda Region ) decreased from 139,000 to 8,000 due to Germanisation and colonization . As
4680-466: The House of Vasa , and was involved in a series of wars with Sweden (see also dominium maris baltici ). Vasa kings attempted to create a proper fleet, but their attempts met with repeated failures, due to lack of funds in the royal treasury (Polish nobility saw little need for the fleet and refused to raise taxes for its construction, and Gdańsk continued its opposition to the idea of a royal fleet). During
4836-811: The January Uprising , Mikhail Muravyov , the Russian Governor General of Lithuania , banned the language in education and publishing and barred use of the Latin alphabet altogether, although books continued to be printed in Lithuanian across the border in East Prussia and in the United States . Brought into the country by book smugglers (Lithuanian: knygnešiai ) despite the threat of long prison sentences, they helped fuel growing nationalist sentiment that finally led to
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4992-699: The Kingdom of Prussia in 1793, in the Second Partition of Poland . Both the Polish and the German-speaking population largely opposed the Prussian annexation and wished the city to remain part of Poland. The mayor of the city stepped down from his office due to the annexation. The notable city councilor Jan (Johann) Uphagen, historian and art collector, also resigned as a sign of protest against
5148-727: The Klaipėda harbor administration, and a tug and dive cutter Lokys from Sweden. Another milestone in Lithuanian naval history was the establishment of the Sea Coastal Surveillance Company in 1993 which was then transformed into the Sea Coastal Surveillance Service. In 2004, Lithuania became an official member of the NATO alliance. In 2006, the Navy acquired the ex- HNoMS Vidar (N52) from
5304-582: The Kristallnacht riots in November 1938, the community decided to organize its emigration and in March 1939 a first transport to Palestine started. By September 1939 barely 1,700 mostly elderly Jews remained. In early 1941, just 600 Jews were still living in Danzig, most of whom were later murdered in the Holocaust . Out of the 2,938 Jewish community in the city, 1,227 were able to escape from
5460-587: The Lithuanian nobility to participate in the social-political life of the state. In 1599, Mikalojus Daukša published his Postil and in its prefaces he expressed that the Lithuanian language situation had improved and thanked bishop Merkelis Giedraitis for his works. In 1776–1790 about 1,000 copies of the first Catholic primer in Lithuanian – Mokslas skaitymo rašto lietuviško – were issued annually, and it continued to be published until 1864. Over 15,000 copies appeared in total. In 1864, following
5616-588: The Magistrate of Vilnius be announced in Lithuanian, Polish, and Ruthenian. The same requirement was valid for the Magistrate of Kaunas . In the 16th century, following the decline of Ruthenian usage in favor of Polish in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Lithuanian language strengthened its positions in Lithuania due to reforms in religious matters and judicial reforms which allowed lower levels of
5772-888: The Museum of the Second World War , the Polish Baltic Philharmonic , the Polish Space Agency and the European Solidarity Centre . Among Gdańsk's most notable historical landmarks are the Town Hall , the Green Gate , Artus Court , Neptune's Fountain , and St. Mary's Church , one of the largest brick churches in the world. The city is served by Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport , the country's third busiest airport and
5928-418: The November and January uprisings and refugees from the Russian Partition of Poland fleeing conscription into the Russian Army, and insurgents of the November Uprising were also imprisoned in Biskupia Górka ( Bischofsberg ). In May–June 1832 and November 1833, more than 1,000 Polish insurgents departed partitioned Poland through the city's port, boarding ships bound for France , the United Kingdom and
6084-458: The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , the city inhabitants largely became bi-cultural sharing both Polish and German culture and were strongly attached to the traditions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The city suffered a last great plague and a slow economic decline due to the wars of the 18th century. After peace was restored in 1721, Danzig experienced steady economic recovery. As a stronghold of Stanisław Leszczyński 's supporters during
6240-568: The Royal Norwegian Navy . The ship was designated as Jotvingis (N42) and has been serving as a command-and-supply ship. In the period spanning 2008–2016 the Navy bought four Flyvefisken-class patrol vessels from Denmark which received the names P11 Žemaitis , P12 Dzūkas , P14 Aukštaitis and P15 Sėlis . The Navy also received SAR ship Šakiai which was transferred from the Klaipėda harbour administration. In 2013, ex- HMS Cottesmore and ex- HMS Dulverton were acquired, modernized and commissioned as M53 Skalvis and M54 Kuršis . Both are used in
6396-465: The Russian and Ukrainian territory. Hydronyms and archaeology analysis show that the Slavs started migrating to the Baltic areas east and north-east directions in the 6–7th centuries, before then, the Baltic and Slavic boundary was south of the Pripyat River . In the 1960s, Vladimir Toporov and Vyacheslav Ivanov made the following conclusions about the relationship between the Baltic and Slavic languages: These scholars' theses do not contradict
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6552-419: The Sicherheitsdienst camp Stutthof some 50 km (30 mi) from Danzig, and murdered. Many Poles living in Danzig were deported to Stutthof or executed in the Piaśnica forest . During the war, Germany operated a prison in the city, an Einsatzgruppen -operated penal camp, a camp for Romani people , two subcamps of the Stalag XX-B prisoner-of-war camp for Allied POWs, and several subcamps of
6708-558: The Stutthof concentration camp within the present-day city limits. In 1941, Hitler ordered the invasion of the Soviet Union , eventually causing the fortunes of war to turn against Germany. As the Soviet Army advanced in 1944, German populations in Central and Eastern Europe took flight, resulting in the beginning of a great population shift. After the final Soviet offensives began in January 1945, hundreds of thousands of German refugees converged on Danzig, many of whom had fled on foot from East Prussia , some tried to escape through
6864-401: The Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR restored Lithuanian as the official language of Lithuania, under from the popular pro-independence movement Sąjūdis . On 11 March 1990, the Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania was passed. Lithuanian was recognized as sole official language of Lithuania in the Provisional Basic Law (Lithuanian: Laikinasis Pagrindinis Įstatymas ) and
7020-453: The United States (see Great Emigration ). The city's longest serving mayor was Robert von Blumenthal, who held office from 1841, through the revolutions of 1848 , until 1863. With the unification of Germany in 1871 under Prussian hegemony , the city became part of the German Empire and remained so until 1919, after Germany's defeat in World War I . Starting from the 1850s, long-established Danzig families often felt marginalized by
7176-413: The United States , Uruguay , and Spain . 2,955,200 people in Lithuania (including 3,460 Tatars ), or about 86% of the 2015 population, are native Lithuanian speakers; most Lithuanian inhabitants of other nationalities also speak Lithuanian to some extent. The total worldwide Lithuanian-speaking population is about 3,200,000. Lithuanian is the state language of Lithuania and an official language of
7332-496: The Versailles Treaty , it became the Free City of Danzig , an independent quasi-state under the auspices of the League of Nations with its external affairs largely under Polish control. Poland's rights also included free use of the harbour, a Polish post office, a Polish garrison in Westerplatte district, and customs union with Poland. The Free City had its own constitution, national anthem , parliament , and government ( Senat ). It issued its own stamps as well as its currency,
7488-404: The Vistula River trading routes , although after its capture, the Teutonic Knights tried to actively reduce the economic significance of the town. While under the control of the Teutonic Order German migration increased. The Order's religious networks helped to develop Danzig's literary culture. A new war broke out in 1409, culminating in the Battle of Grunwald (1410), and the city came under
7644-414: The War of the Polish Succession , it was taken by the Russians after the Siege of Danzig in 1734. In the 1740s and 1750s Danzig was restored and Danzig port was again the most significant grain exporting ports in the Baltic region . The Danzig Research Society , which became defunct in 1936, was founded in 1743. In 1772, the First Partition of Poland took place and Prussia annexed almost all of
7800-410: The comparative method . Lithuanian is spoken mainly in Lithuania . It is also spoken by ethnic Lithuanians living in today's Belarus , Latvia , Poland , and the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia, as well as by sizable emigrant communities in Argentina , Australia , Brazil , Canada , Denmark , Estonia , France , Germany , Iceland , Ireland , Norway , Russia , Sweden , the United Kingdom ,
7956-444: The industrialization in the Soviet Union ). Russian consequently came into use in state institutions: the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Lithuania (there were 80% Russians among the 22,000 Communist Party members in the Lithuanian SSR in 1948), radio and television (61–74% of broadcasts were in Russian in 1970). Lithuanians passively resisted Russification and continued to use their own language. On 18 November 1988,
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#17327810945048112-467: The 13th–16th centuries under the influence of Curonian . Lithuanian dialects are closely connected with ethnographical regions of Lithuania . Even nowadays Aukštaitians and Samogitians can have considerable difficulties understanding each other if they speak with their dialects and not standard Lithuanian, which is mandatory to learn in the Lithuanian education system. Dialects are divided into subdialects. Both dialects have three subdialects. Samogitian
8268-449: The 15th-17th centuries. In 1793, within the Partitions of Poland , the city became part of Prussia , and thus a part of the German Empire from 1871 after the unification of Germany . Following World War I and the Treaty of Versailles , it was a Free City under the protection of the League of Nations from 1920 to 1939. On 1 September 1939 it was the scene of the first clash of World War II at Westerplatte . The contemporary city
8424-453: The 18th century, was successful due to many publications and research. In contrast, the development of Lithuanian in Lithuania proper was obstructed due to the Polonization of the Lithuanian nobility , especially in the 18th century, and it was being influenced by the Samogitian dialect. The Lithuanian-speaking population was also dramatically decreased by the Great Northern War plague outbreak in 1700–1721 which killed 49% of residents in
8580-432: The 19th century, when the Lithuanian National Revival intensified, and the preparations to publish a Lithuanian periodical press were taking place, the mostly south-western Aukštaitian revival writers did not use the 19th-century Lithuanian of Lithuania Minor as it was largely Germanized . Instead, they used a more pure Lithuanian language which has been described by August Schleicher and Friedrich Kurschat and this way
8736-401: The Baltic and Slavic languages closeness and from a historical perspective, specify the Baltic-Slavic languages' evolution. So, there are at least six points of view on the relationships between the Baltic and Slavic. However, as for the hypotheses related to the "Balto-Slavic problem", it is noted that they are more focused on personal theoretical constructions and deviate to some extent from
8892-403: The Baltic languages form their own distinct branch of the family of Indo-European languages , and Endzelīns thought that the similarity between Baltic and Slavic was explicable through language contact. There is also an opinion that suggests the union of Baltic and Slavic languages into a distinct sub-family of Balto-Slavic languages amongst the Indo-European family of languages. Such an opinion
9048-462: The Constitution of 1992, written during the Lithuanian constitutional referendum . Lithuanian is one of two living Baltic languages , along with Latvian , and they constitute the eastern branch of Baltic languages family. An earlier Baltic language, Old Prussian , was extinct by the 18th century; the other Western Baltic languages, Curonian and Sudovian , became extinct earlier. Some theories, such as that of Jānis Endzelīns , considered that
9204-406: The Danzig Patriciate eyes and under their pressure were destroyed in 1640s. The Swedes were without king after the death of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden and lost battles in Germany. The Polish nobles did not want to fight a new war so when the Swedes returned most of the lands they captured in the previous war, a new armistice for 35 years was signed. The cost of the Polish preparations for this war
9360-487: The European Union . In the Compendium Grammaticae Lithvanicae , published in 1673, three dialects of Lithuanian are distinguished: Samogitian dialect ( Latin : Samogitiae ) of Samogitia , Royal Lithuania ( Latin : Lithvaniae Regalis ) and Ducal Lithuania ( Latin : Lithvaniae Ducalis ). Ducal Lithuanian is described as pure ( Latin : Pura ), half-Samogitian ( Latin : SemiSamogitizans ) and having elements of Curonian ( Latin : Curonizans ). Authors of
9516-422: The European languages of the participants in the Council of Constance in 1414–1418. From the middle of the 15th century, the legend spread about the Roman origin of the Lithuanian nobility (from the Palemon lineage ), and the closeness of the Lithuanian language and Latin, thus this let some intellectuals in the mid-16th century to advocate for replacement of Ruthenian with Latin, as they considered Latin as
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#17327810945049672-434: The German influx on the general outlook of the city. Boosted by heavy investment in the development of its port and three major shipyards for Soviet ambitions in the Baltic region , Gdańsk became the major shipping and industrial centre of the People's Republic of Poland . In December 1970, Gdańsk was the scene of anti-regime demonstrations , which led to the downfall of Poland's communist leader Władysław Gomułka . During
9828-498: The Indo-European family (languages such as Albanian and the Germanic languages developed definite adjectives independently), and that is not reconstructible for Proto-Balto-Slavic, meaning that they most probably developed through language contact. The Baltic hydronyms area stretches from the Vistula River in the west to the east of Moscow and from the Baltic Sea in the north to the south of Kyiv . Vladimir Toporov and Oleg Trubachyov (1961, 1962) studied Baltic hydronyms in
9984-566: The King and his brother: Władysławowo and Kazimierzowo (the small town of Władysławowo still exists on the Hel peninsula nowadays - the fort was more or less on its current edge). Additionally about 500 Cossacks under Konstanty Kołek with their small boats ( Chaika ) were brought. It is uncertain if they were used at all. Their main goal was to plague Swedish communication and supply lines near Piława and on Zatoka Wiślana ( Vistula Bay ). There were plans to use Cossacks in their light but very fast boats against Inflanty ( Livonia ) and even to raid
10140-407: The Lithuanian Navy as a branch of the Lithuanian Armed Forces. Before the beginning of World War II on 22 March 1939 the region of Klaipėda was occupied by Germany . Once the war started Lithuanian naval ships were forced to leave Klaipėda for Liepāja harbor in Latvia . During the Soviet occupation , 3 Russian boats blocked ship Prezidentas Smetona in Sventoji harbor (1940). The Lithuanian Navy
10296-645: The Mine Countermeasures Squadron. In May 2020, it was announced that the procurement of a third Hunt-class minehunter for the Lithuanian Navy was approved by the UK defense ministry. In April 2022, it was announced that the Navy will acquire Jehu-class patrol boats from Finland. Main tasks of the Lithuanian Naval Force are: Former ships included: Grisha III-class corvettes (F11 Žemaitis, F12 Aukštaitis), Lindau-class minehunters (M51 Kuršis, M52 Sūduvis), Storm-class patrol boats (P31 Dzūkas, P32 Selis, P33 Skalvis) and some support ships and cutters (A41 Vėtra, H23 Lokys). The rank insignia for commissioned officers for
10452-518: The Nazis before the outbreak of war. Nazi secret police had been observing Polish minority communities in the city since 1936, compiling information, which in 1939 served to prepare lists of Poles to be captured in Operation Tannenberg . On the first day of the war, approximately 1,500 ethnic Poles were arrested, some because of their participation in social and economic life, others because they were activists and members of various Polish organisations. On 2 September 1939, 150 of them were deported to
10608-414: The Old Ditch, German merchant settlements around St Nicholas' Church and the old Piast stronghold. In 1215, the ducal stronghold became the centre of a Pomerelian splinter duchy . At that time the area of the later city included various villages. In 1224/25, merchants from Lübeck were invited as hospites (immigrants with specific privileges) but were soon (in 1238) forced to leave by Swietopelk II of
10764-436: The Polish Ł for the first sound and regular L (without a following i) for the second: łupa , lutas . During the Lithuanian National Revival in the 19th century the Polish Ł was abolished, while digraphs sz , cz (that are also common in the Polish orthography ) were replaced with š and č from the Czech orthography because formally they were shorter. Nevertheless, another argument to abolish sz and cz
10920-424: The Polish Post office were tried and executed then buried on the spot in the Danzig quarter of Zaspa in October 1939. In 1998 a German court overturned their conviction and sentence. The city was officially annexed by Nazi Germany and incorporated into the Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia . About 50 percent of members of the Jewish community had left the city within a year after a pogrom in October 1937. After
11076-406: The Polish courtiers. Casimir IV Jagiellon's son Saint Casimir , who was subsequently announced as patron saint of Lithuania, was a polyglot and among other languages knew Lithuanian. Grand Duke Alexander Jagiellon also could understand and speak Lithuanian as multiple Lithuanian priests served in his royal chapel and he also maintained a Lithuanian court. In 1501, Erazm Ciołek , a priest of
11232-472: The Polish crown to condemn the Teutonic Knights in a subsequent papal lawsuit. The knights colonized the area, replacing local Kashubians and Poles with German settlers. In 1308, they founded Osiek Hakelwerk near the town, initially as a Slavic fishing settlement. In 1340, the Teutonic Knights constructed a large fortress, which became the seat of the knights' Komtur . In 1346 they changed
11388-514: The Polish dialect in the Vilnius Region and in the northeastern areas in general are very interesting variant of the Polish language as this dialect developed in a foreign territory which was mostly inhabited by the Lithuanians who were Belarusized (mostly) or Polonized, and to prove this Otrębski provided examples of Lithuanianisms in the Tutejszy language . In 2015, Polish linguist Mirosław Jankowiak [ pl ] attested that many of
11544-559: The Polish press. German students attacked and expelled Polish students from the technical university. Dozens of Polish surnames were forcibly Germanized, while Polish symbols that reminded that for centuries Gdańsk was part of Poland were removed from the city's landmarks, such as the Artus Court and the Neptune's Fountain . From 1937, the employment of Poles by German companies was prohibited, and already employed Poles were fired,
11700-493: The Polish province of Royal Prussia , and later also of the Greater Poland Province . The city was visited by Nicolaus Copernicus in 1504 and 1526, and Narratio Prima , the first printed abstract of his heliocentric theory , was published there in 1540. After the Union of Lublin between Poland and Lithuania in 1569 the city continued to enjoy a large degree of internal autonomy (cf. Danzig law ). Being
11856-552: The Samborides during a war between Swietopelk and the Teutonic Knights , during which Lübeck supported the latter. Migration of merchants to the town resumed in 1257. Significant German influence did not reappear until the 14th century, after the takeover of the city by the Teutonic Knights. At latest in 1263 Pomerelian duke, Swietopelk II granted city rights under Lübeck law to the emerging market settlement. It
12012-617: The Soviet Army, which captured the heavily damaged city on 30 March 1945 , followed by large-scale rape and looting. In line with the decisions made by the Allies at the Yalta and Potsdam conferences, the city became again part of Poland, although with a Soviet-installed communist regime, which stayed in power until the Fall of Communism in the 1980s. The remaining German residents of
12168-667: The Swedes (even if they belonged to neutral powers, for example ships belonging to the Netherlands, England or German duchies/cities were captured and sequestrated). The king's plan never had strong support from Polish nobles ( szlachta ): high costs and reluctance to strengthen the king's power were always crippling Władysław's plans. Thus not even all the king's expenses for the modernization of those ten ships were fully repaid. Unfortunate international alliances (with Denmark and Muscovy) did not allow him to mount any offensive actions and
12324-496: The Swedish shore (to burn, pillage, capture merchant ships etc.). Cossacks were known from their plundering raids on Black Sea (they even burned suburbs of Istanbul once or twice). Because of the overall tonnage and armament difference between Polish and Swedish naval fleets even before (in 1620s), the main role of the Polish fleet was to disrupt Swedish communication and supply lines, to capture merchant ships bringing supplies for
12480-644: The Town Law of the city, which then consisted only of the Rechtstadt , to Kulm law . In 1358, Danzig joined the Hanseatic League , and became an active member in 1361. It maintained relations with the trade centres Bruges , Novgorod , Lisboa , and Sevilla . Around 1377, the Old Town was equipped with city rights as well. In 1380, the New Town was founded as the third, independent settlement. After
12636-818: The Vilnius Cathedral, explained to the Pope that the Lithuanians preserve their language and ensure respect to it ( Linguam propriam observant ), but they also use the Ruthenian language for simplicity reasons because it is spoken by almost half of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. A note written by Sigismund von Herberstein in the first half of the 16th century states that, in an ocean of Ruthenian in this part of Europe, there were two non-Ruthenian regions: Lithuania and Samogitia where its inhabitants spoke their own language, but many Ruthenians were also living among them. The earliest surviving written Lithuanian text
12792-511: The Vilnius Region's inhabitants who declare Polish nationality speak a Belarusian dialect which they call mowa prosta (' simple speech '). Currently, Lithuanian is divided into two dialects: Aukštaitian (Highland Lithuanian), and Samogitian (Lowland Lithuanian). There are significant differences between standard Lithuanian and Samogitian and these are often described as separate languages. The modern Samogitian dialect formed in
12948-464: The Vilnius Region, especially when Vilnius Voivode Ludwik Bociański issued a secret memorandum of 11 February 1936 which stated the measures for suppressing the Lithuanians in the region. Some Lithuanian historians, like Antanas Tyla [ lt ] and Ereminas Gintautas, consider these Polish policies as amounting to an " ethnocide of Lithuanians". Between 1862 and 1944, the Lithuanian schools were completely banned in Lithuania Minor and
13104-435: The acquirement of a foreign speech." Lithuanian was studied by several linguists such as Franz Bopp , August Schleicher , Adalbert Bezzenberger , Louis Hjelmslev , Ferdinand de Saussure , Winfred P. Lehmann and Vladimir Toporov , Jan Safarewicz, and others. By studying place names of Lithuanian origin, linguist Jan Safarewicz [ pl ] concluded that the eastern boundaries of Lithuanian used to be in
13260-585: The annexation. His house exemplifies Baroque in Poland and is now a museum, known as Uphagen's House . An attempted student uprising against Prussia led by Gottfried Benjamin Bartholdi was crushed quickly by the authorities in 1797. During the Napoleonic Wars , in 1807, the city was besieged and captured by a coalition of French , Polish , Italian , Saxon , and Baden forces. Afterwards, it
13416-473: The beginning of the 10th century, it began becoming an important centre for trade (especially between the Pomeranians ) until its annexation in c. 975 by Mieszko I . The first written record thought to refer to Gdańsk is the vita of Saint Adalbert . Written in 999, it describes how in 997 Saint Adalbert of Prague baptised the inhabitants of urbs Gyddannyzc , "which separated the great realm of
13572-438: The blockade of Riga city. But generally the loss of territories near the Baltic Sea had a negative impact on Lithuania's maritime development. The Commonwealth Navy was small and played a relatively minor role in the history of the Commonwealth. Despite having access to the Baltic Sea , neither Poland nor Lithuania had any significant navy throughout their histories. At the turn of the seventeenth century, Poland became ruled by
13728-606: The castle of Riga coming by ships. It is also known about the victory of Lithuanians in the ship battle in Nemunas River at the time when Duke Vytenis ruled the Duchy of Lithuania . The most known and important naval victory was achieved by great hetman Jan Karol Chodkiewicz on 24 March 1609 near Salismünde (now Salacgrīva in Latvia) where he defeated a Swedish fleet burning two enemy ships and losing none and hence breaking
13884-579: The city again solemnly pledged allegiance to the King in June 1454 in Elbląg , recognizing the prior Teutonic annexation and rule as unlawful. On 25 May 1457 the city gained its rights as an autonomous city. On 15 May 1457, Casimir IV of Poland granted the town the Great Privilege , after he had been invited by the town's council and had already stayed in town for five weeks. With the Great Privilege ,
14040-496: The city was home to a large number of Polish-speaking Poles, Jewish Poles, Latvian-speaking Kursenieki , Flemings , and Dutch . In addition, a number of Scots took refuge or migrated to and received citizenship in the city, with first Scots arriving in 1380. During the Protestant Reformation , most German-speaking inhabitants adopted Lutheranism . Due to the special status of the city and significance within
14196-489: The city was most likely derived from Gdania , a river presently known as Motława on which the city is situated. Other linguists also argue that the name stems from the Proto-Slavic adjective / prefix gъd- , which meant ' wet ' or ' moist ' with the addition of the morpheme ń / ni and the suffix -sk . The name of the settlement was recorded after St. Adalbert's death in 997 CE as urbs Gyddanyzc and it
14352-474: The city who had survived the war fled or were expelled to postwar Germany. The city was repopulated by ethnic Poles ; up to 18 percent (1948) of them had been deported by the Soviets in two major waves from pre-war eastern Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union . In 1946, the communists executed 17-year-old Danuta Siedzikówna and 42-year-old Feliks Selmanowicz , known Polish resistance members, in
14508-474: The city's port in a large-scale evacuation involving hundreds of German cargo and passenger ships. Some of the ships were sunk by the Soviets, including the Wilhelm Gustloff after an evacuation was attempted at neighbouring Gdynia . In the process, tens of thousands of refugees were killed. The city also endured heavy Allied and Soviet air raids. Those who survived and could not escape had to face
14664-852: The city, and Poles managed to organize seven more private Polish schools. In the early 1930s, the local Nazi Party capitalised on pro-German sentiments and in 1933 garnered 50% of vote in the parliament. Thereafter, the Nazis under Gauleiter Albert Forster achieved dominance in the city government, which was still nominally overseen by the League of Nations' High Commissioner . In 1937, Poles who sent their children to private Polish schools were required to transfer children to German schools, under threat of police intervention, and attacks were carried out on Polish schools and Polish youth. German militias carried out numerous beatings of Polish activists, scouts and even postal workers, as "punishment" for distributing
14820-580: The city, encouraged by the secret support of Denmark and Emperor Maximilian , shut its gates against Stephen. After the Siege of Danzig , lasting six months, the city's army of 5,000 mercenaries was utterly defeated in a field battle on 16 December 1577. However, since Stephen's armies were unable to take the city by force, a compromise was reached: Stephen Báthory confirmed the city's special status and her Danzig law privileges granted by earlier Polish kings . The city recognised him as ruler of Poland and paid
14976-424: The combination "ns" became "nts" ( Danczk from 1311)., and finally an epenthetical "i" broke up the final cluster ( Danczik from 1399). In Polish, the modern name of the city is pronounced [ɡdaj̃sk] . In English (where the diacritic over the "n" is frequently omitted) the usual pronunciation is / ɡ ə ˈ d æ n s k / or / ɡ ə ˈ d ɑː n s k / . The German name, Danzig ,
15132-607: The common language emerged. Lithuanians in Lithuania Minor spoke Western Aukštaitian dialect with specifics of Įsrutis and Ragainė environs (e.g. works of Martynas Mažvydas , Jonas Bretkūnas , Jonas Rėza , and Daniel Klein 's Grammatica Litvanica ). The other two regional variants of the common language were formed in Lithuania proper: middle, which was based on the specifics of the Duchy of Samogitia (e.g. works of Mikalojus Daukša , Merkelis Petkevičius , Steponas Jaugelis‑Telega , Samuelis Boguslavas Chylinskis , and Mikołaj Rej 's Lithuanian postil ), and eastern, based on
15288-565: The control of the Kingdom of Poland . A year later, with the First Peace of Thorn , it returned to the Teutonic Order. In 1440, the city participated in the foundation of the Prussian Confederation which was an organisation opposed to the rule of the Teutonic Knights. The organisation in its complaint of 1453 mentioned repeated cases in which the Teutonic Knights imprisoned or murdered local patricians and mayors without
15444-465: The crew training period in June 1992, both corvettes participated in the international military exercise US BALTOPS 93. This marked the beginning of Lithuania's international cooperation with other navies. In the period spanning 1992–2000 the Lithuanian Navy received three Storm-class patrol boats from Norway, two Lindau-class minehunter from Germany , a cutter (ex- Vilnele 1983) from
15600-532: The cultural and historical connections between the city and the region of Kashubia are debatable and use of such names raises controversy among Kashubians. The oldest evidence found for the existence of a settlement on the lands of what is now Gdańsk comes from the Bronze Age (which is estimated to be from 2500–1700 BCE). The settlement that is now known as Gdańsk began in the 9th century, being mostly an agriculture and fishing -dependent village. In
15756-478: The demolition of New Town , which had sided with the Teutonic Knights . By 1457, New Town was demolished completely, no buildings remained. Gaining free and privileged access to Polish markets, the seaport prospered while simultaneously trading with the other Hanseatic cities. After the Second Peace of Thorn (1466) between Poland and the Teutonic Order the warfare ended permanently; Gdańsk became part of
15912-574: The difficult and complex Polish/Slavonic words. On special occasions, the city is also referred to as "The Royal Polish City of Gdańsk" (Polish: Królewskie Polskie Miasto Gdańsk , Latin: Regia Civitas Polonica Gedanensis , Kashubian: Królewsczi Pòlsczi Gard Gduńsk ). In the Kashubian language the city is called Gduńsk . Although some Kashubians may also use the name "Our Capital City Gduńsk" ( Nasz Stoleczny Gard Gduńsk ) or "Our (regional) Capital City Gduńsk" ( Stoleczny Kaszëbsczi Gard Gduńsk ),
16068-616: The duke [i.e., Bolesław the Brave of Poland] from the sea." No further written sources exist for the 10th and 11th centuries. Based on the date in Adalbert's vita , the city celebrated its millennial anniversary in 1997. Archaeological evidence for the origins of the town was retrieved mostly after World War II had laid 90 percent of the city centre in ruins, enabling excavations. The oldest seventeen settlement levels were dated to between 980 and 1308. Mieszko I of Poland erected
16224-544: The eastern Prussian Lithuanians ' dialect spoken in Lithuania Minor . These dialects had preserved archaic phonetics mostly intact due to the influence of the neighbouring Old Prussian , while other dialects had experienced different phonetic shifts . Lithuanian became the official language of the country following the restoration of Lithuania's statehood in 1918. The 1922 Constitution of Lithuania (the first permanent Lithuanian constitution ) recognized it as
16380-399: The end of the 18th century, Gdańsk was still one of the most economically integrated cities in Poland. It was well-connected and traded actively with German cities , while other Polish cities became less well-integrated towards the end of the century, mostly due to greater risks for long-distance trade , given the number of violent conflicts along the trade routes. Danzig was annexed by
16536-571: The enormous sum of 200,000 guldens in gold as payoff ("apology"). During the Polish–Swedish War of 1626–1629 , in 1627, the naval Battle of Oliwa was fought near the city, and it is one of the greatest victories in the history of the Polish Navy . During the Swedish invasion of Poland of 1655–1660, commonly known as the Deluge , the city was unsuccessfully besieged by Sweden . In 1660,
16692-432: The first consonant in lūpa [ˈ ɫ ûːpɐ] , "lip", is a velarized dental lateral approximant ; on the other hand, the first consonant in liūtas [ˈ lʲ uːt̪ɐs̪] , "lion", is a palatalized alveolar lateral approximant ; both consonants are followed by the same vowel, the long [ uː ] , and no [ ɪ ] can be pronounced in liūtas ). Due to Polish influence , the Lithuanian alphabet included sz , cz and
16848-426: The formation of standard Lithuanian. The conventions of written Lithuanian had been evolving during the 19th century, but Jablonskis, in the introduction to his Lietuviškos kalbos gramatika , was the first to formulate and expound the essential principles that were so indispensable to its later development. His proposal for Standard Lithuanian was based on his native Western Aukštaitian dialect with some features of
17004-463: The former Royal Prussia, which became the Province of West Prussia . However, Gdańsk remained a part of Poland as an exclave separated from the rest of the country. The Prussian king cut off Danzig with a military controlled barrier, also blocking shipping links to foreign ports, on the pretense that a cattle plague may otherwise break out. Danzig declined in its economic significance. However, by
17160-419: The highest population literacy rates: Vilna Governorate (in 1897 ~23.6–50% Lithuanian of whom 37% were literate), Kovno Governorate (in 1897 66% Lithuanian of whom 55.3% were literate), Suwałki Governorate (in 1897 in counties of the governorate where Lithuanian population was dominant, 76,6% of males and 50,2% of females were literate). Jonas Jablonskis (1860–1930) made significant contributions to
17316-680: The independent Republic of Lithuania to the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic within the Soviet Union . Soviet authorities introduced Lithuanian– Russian bilingualism, and Russian, as the de facto official language of the USSR, took precedence and the use of Lithuanian was reduced in a process of Russification. Many Russian-speaking workers and teachers migrated to the Lithuanian SSR (fueled by
17472-794: The language was almost completely eliminated there. The Baltic-origin place names retained their basis for centuries in Prussia but were Germanized (e.g. Tilžė – Tilsit , Labguva – Labiau , Vėluva – Wehliau , etc.); however, after the annexation of the Königsberg region into the Russian SFSR , they were changed completely, regardless of previous tradition (e.g. Tilsit – Sovetsk , Labiau – Polesk , Wehliau – Znamensk , etc.). The Soviet occupation of Lithuania in 1940 , German occupation in 1941 , and eventually Soviet re-occupation in 1944 , reduced
17628-421: The largest and one of the most influential cities of Poland, it enjoyed voting rights during the royal election period in Poland. In the 1560s and 1570s, a large Mennonite community started growing in the city, gaining significant popularity. In the 1575 election to the Polish throne, Danzig supported Maximilian II in his struggle against Stephen Báthory . It was the latter who eventually became monarch but
17784-952: The lifting of the ban in 1904. According to the Russian Empire Census of 1897 (at the height of the Lithuanian press ban), 53.5% of Lithuanians (10 years and older) were literate, while the average of the Russian Empire was only 24–27.7% (in the European part of Russia the average was 30%, in Poland – 40.7%). In the Russian Empire Lithuanian children were mostly educated by their parents or in secret schools by "daractors" in native Lithuanian language, while only 6.9% attended Russian state schools due to resistance to Russification . Russian governorates with significant Lithuanian populations had one of
17940-474: The local prison. The port of Gdańsk was one of the three Polish ports through which Greeks and Macedonians , refugees of the Greek Civil War , reached Poland. In 1949, four transports of Greek and Macedonian refugees arrived at the port of Gdańsk, from where they were transported to new homes in Poland. Parts of the historic old city of Gdańsk, which had suffered large-scale destruction during
18096-642: The majority of the wars he participated in were defensive ones (like the Smolensk War with Muscovy in 1634). A new armistice with Sweden signed in Stumsdorf ( Sztumska Wies ) knocked the last argument out of the king's hand. After that the king wanted to use his ships to organize the first Polish merchant company (with help of Hewel), however Hewel's death stopped even those plans. Finally the ships were sold. The built fortifications were salt in Denmark's and
18252-585: The most conservative of the existing Indo-European languages , retaining features of the Proto-Indo-European language that had disappeared through development from other descendant languages . Anyone wishing to hear how Indo-Europeans spoke should come and listen to a Lithuanian peasant. — Antoine Meillet Among Indo-European languages, Lithuanian is conservative in its grammar and phonology, retaining archaic features otherwise found only in ancient languages such as Sanskrit (particularly its early form, Vedic Sanskrit ) or Ancient Greek . Thus, it
18408-586: The most important international airport in northern Poland. Gdańsk is among the most visited cities in Poland, having received 3.4 million tourists according to data collected in 2019. The city also hosts St. Dominic's Fair , which dates back to 1260, and is regarded as one of the biggest trade and cultural events in Europe. Gdańsk has also topped rankings for the quality of life, safety and living standards worldwide, and its historic city centre has been listed as one of Poland's national monuments . The name of
18564-500: The native language of Lithuanians. Initially, Latin and Church Slavonic were the main written ( chancellery ) languages of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, but in the late 17th century – 18th century Church Slavonic was replaced with Polish. Nevertheless, Lithuanian was a spoken language of the medieval Lithuanian rulers from the Gediminids dynasty and its cadet branches: Kęstutaičiai and Jagiellonian dynasties . It
18720-478: The navy. The rank insignia for enlisted personnel for the navy. Lithuanian language Lithuanian ( endonym : lietuvių kalba , pronounced [lʲiəˈtʊvʲuː kɐɫˈbɐ] ) is an East Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family . It is the language of Lithuanians and the official language of Lithuania as well as one of the official languages of
18876-399: The new 'Polish fleet' consisted of 10 ex-merchant ships: "Czarny Orzeł" (Black Eagle – 420 tons, 32 cannons), "Prorok Samuel" (Prophet Samuel – 400 tons, 24 cannons), "Wielkie Słońce" (Great Sun – 540 tons, 24 cannons), "Nowy Czarny Orzeł" (New Black Eagle – 24 cannons). Four smaller ships "Biały Orzeł" (White Eagle), "Charitas", "Gwiazda" (Star) and "Strzelec" (Saggitarius) had 200 tons and two
19032-475: The new fleet was created at all. He gave to the king's disposal 10 ships, a few of them were carrying small caliber cannons. These ships had to be modernized in order to allow them to carry heavier cannons. Additionally the king wanted to build a few galleons in Danzig and Puck and because of long construction times, also to purchase a few ships abroad, but those plans were not realized (except of purchase of one Danish ship - requiring quite serious repair). Thus
19188-546: The new town elite originating from mainland Germany. This situation caused the Polish to allege that the Danzig people were oppressed by German rule and for this reason allegedly failed to articulate their natural desire for strong ties with Poland. When Poland regained its independence after World War I with access to the sea as promised by the Allies on the basis of Woodrow Wilson 's " Fourteen Points " (point 13 called for "an independent Polish state", "which should be assured
19344-490: The origin of the Lithuanian Navy dates back to the period between World War I and World War II , the history of the involvement in naval battles existed earlier. The Baltic tribe of Aistians that settled down in the Baltic Sea shore built ships and used them for trade as well as for military purposes. Furthermore, according to annals, in the 13th century other Baltic tribes, the Coronians and Samogitians, tried to destroy
19500-606: The reign of Sigismund III , the most celebrated victory of the Commonwealth Navy under command of Admiral Arend Dickmann took place at the Battle of Oliwa in 1627 against Sweden , during the Polish-Swedish War . The victory over Sweden secured for Poland permanent access to the Atlantic , and laid the foundations for expeditions beyond Europe. The plans for the independent fleet fell through shortly afterwards due to
19656-532: The return of Danzig to Germany along with an extraterritorial (meaning under German jurisdiction ) highway through the area of the Polish Corridor for land-based access from the rest of Germany. Hitler used the issue of the status of the city as a pretext for attacking Poland and in May 1939, during a high-level meeting of German military officials explained to them: "It is not Danzig that is at stake. For us it
19812-547: The same. In the Grammatica Litvanica Klein also established the letter W for marking the sound [v], the use of which was later abolished in Lithuanian (it was replaced with V , notably by authors of the Varpas newspaper). The usage of V instead of W especially increased since the early 20th century, likely considerably influenced by Lithuanian press and schools. The Lithuanian writing system
19968-801: The shape of zigzags through Grodno , Shchuchyn , Lida , Valozhyn , Svir , and Braslaw . Such eastern boundaries partly coincide with the spread of Catholic and Orthodox faith, and should have existed at the time of the Christianization of Lithuania in 1387 and later. Safarewicz's eastern boundaries were moved even further to the south and east by other scholars (e.g. Mikalay Biryla [ be ] , Petras Gaučas [ lt ] , Jerzy Ochmański [ pl ] , Aleksandras Vanagas , Zigmas Zinkevičius , and others). Proto-Balto-Slavic branched off directly from Proto-Indo-European, then sub-branched into Proto-Baltic and Proto-Slavic . Proto-Baltic branched off into Proto-West Baltic and Proto-East Baltic. The Baltic languages passed through
20124-462: The smallest "Święty Piotr" (Saint Peter) or "Fortuna" (Fortune) 160 tons and "Mały Biały Orzeł" (Small White Eagle) 140 tons and 4 small caliber cannons and additionally one small galley . Command of the newly created fleet was given to rear admiral Aleksander Seton . The King did not forget to ensure a safe base for the newly created fleet. The Harbor in Puck was too shallow for the biggest ships and
20280-499: The sole official language of the state and mandated its use throughout the state. The improvement of education system during the interwar period resulted in 92% of literacy rate of the population in Lithuania in 1939 (those still illiterate were mostly elderly). Following the Żeligowski's Mutiny in 1920, Vilnius Region was detached from Lithuania and was eventually annexed by Poland in 1922. This resulted in repressions of Lithuanians and mass-closure of Lithuanian language schools in
20436-695: The specifics of Eastern Aukštaitians, living in Vilnius and its region (e.g. works of Konstantinas Sirvydas , Jonas Jaknavičius , and Robert Bellarmine 's catechism ). In Vilnius University , there are preserved texts written in the Lithuanian language of the Vilnius area, a dialect of Eastern Aukštaitian, which was spoken in a territory located south-eastwards from Vilnius: the sources are preserved in works of graduates from Stanislovas Rapolionis -based Lithuanian language schools, graduate Martynas Mažvydas and Rapalionis relative Abraomas Kulvietis . The development of Lithuanian in Lithuania Minor, especially in
20592-482: The town was granted full autonomy and protection by the King of Poland. The privilege removed tariffs and taxes on trade within Poland, Lithuania, and Ruthenia (present day Belarus and Ukraine ), and conferred on the town independent jurisdiction, legislation and administration of her territory, as well as the right to mint its own coin. Furthermore, the privilege united Old Town , Osiek , and Main Town , and legalised
20748-445: The town. Primary sources record a massacre carried out by the Teutonic Knights against the local population, of 10,000 people, but the exact number killed is subject of dispute in modern scholarship. Multiple authors accept the number given in the original sources, while others consider 10,000 to have been a medieval exaggeration, although scholarly consensus is that a massacre of some magnitude did take place. The events were used by
20904-551: The trade with Eastern Europe . Low on funds, the Samborides lent the settlement to Brandenburg, although they planned to take the city back and give it to Poland. Poland threatened to intervene, and the Brandenburgians left the town. Subsequently, the city was taken by Danish princes in 1301. In 1308, the town was taken by Brandenburg and the Teutonic Knights restored order. Subsequently, the Knights took over control of
21060-523: The training ship Prezidentas Smetona ( President Smetona ). Captain Antanas Kaskelis was assigned as ship's commanding officer. Several small boats carried out patrol duties (Coast Guard 3-6 cutter) and one small yacht in Klaipėda harbor. Naval officers were educated abroad. On 1 August 1935, the commander in chief of the Lithuanian Armed Forces , General Stasys Rastikis , officially established
21216-730: The usage of Wisłoujście (a fortress near Gdansk) was constantly plagued by difficulties from the Danzig Patricians (afraid that a king with a strong naval arm would step upon their "liberties", control tolls, exert taxes etc.). The royal engineers Friederich Getkant ( Fryderyk Getkant ), Jan Pleitner and Eliasz Arciszewski selected a location for two new fortifications with naval bases on the Hel peninsula . They were quite impressive and raised in record time (finished in 1634, consisting of strong wooden (oak) palisades, earthen walls, trenches and moats ). These fortifications were named after
21372-407: The use of Polish in public places was banned and Poles were not allowed to enter several restaurants, in particular those owned by Germans. In 1939, before the German invasion of Poland and outbreak of World War II , local Polish railwaymen were victims of beatings, and after the invasion, they were also imprisoned and murdered in concentration camps . The German government officially demanded
21528-440: The war was ended with the Treaty of Oliwa , signed in the present-day district of Oliwa . In 1677, a Polish-Swedish alliance was signed in the city. Around 1640, Johannes Hevelius established his astronomical observatory in the Old Town . Polish King John III Sobieski regularly visited Hevelius numerous times. Beside a majority of German-speakers, whose elites sometimes distinguished their German dialect as Pomerelian ,
21684-473: The war, were rebuilt during the 1950s and 1960s. The reconstruction sought to dilute the "German character" of the city, and set it back to how it supposedly looked like before the annexation to Prussia in 1793. Nineteenth-century transformations were ignored as "ideologically malignant" by post-war administrations, or regarded as "Prussian barbarism" worthy of demolition, while Flemish/Dutch, Italian and French influences were emphasized in order to "neutralize"
21840-411: The writings has survived. The first recorded Lithuanian word, reported to have been said on 24 December 1207 from the chronicle of Henry of Latvia , was Ba , an interjection of a Lithuanian raider after he found no loot to pillage in a Livonian church. Although no writings in Lithuanian have survived from the 15th century or earlier, Lithuanian ( Latin : Lingwa Lietowia ) was mentioned as one of
21996-462: The written language of Lithuania Minor was transferred to resurgent Lithuania. The most famous standardizer of the Lithuanian, Jonas Jablonskis , established the south-western Aukštaitian dialect, including the Eastern dialect of Lithuania Minor, as the basis of standardized Lithuanian in the 20th century, which led to him being nicknamed the father of standardized Lithuanian. According to Polish professor Jan Otrębski 's article published in 1931,
22152-506: Was a free city from 1807 to 1814, when it was captured by combined Prussian-Russian forces. In 1815, after France's defeat in the Napoleonic Wars , it again became part of Prussia and became the capital of Regierungsbezirk Danzig within the province of West Prussia . Since the 1820s, the Wisłoujście Fortress served as a prison, mainly for Polish political prisoners, including resistance members , protesters, insurgents of
22308-431: Was a spoken language in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Duchy of Prussia , while the beginning of Lithuanian writing is possibly associated with the introduction of Christianity in Lithuania when Mindaugas was baptized and crowned King of Lithuania in 1250–1251. It is believed that prayers were translated into the local dialect of Lithuanian by Franciscan monks during the baptism of Mindaugas, however none of
22464-480: Was able to communicate in the Samogitian dialect of Lithuanian. Soon afterwards Vytautas the Great wrote in his 11 March 1420 letter to Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor , that Lithuanian and Samogitian are the same language. The use of Lithuanian continued at the Lithuanian royal court after the deaths of Vytautas the Great (1430) and Jogaila (1434). For example, since the young Grand Duke Casimir IV Jagiellon
22620-569: Was an autonomy charter similar to that of Lübeck, which was also the primary origin of many settlers. In a document of 1271 the Pomerelian duke Mestwin II addressed the Lübeck merchants settled in the city as his loyal citizens from Germany. In 1300, the town had an estimated population of 2,000. While overall the town was far from an important trade centre at that time, it had some relevance in
22776-463: Was attached to the Soviet Union's Baltic maritime defense force. Prezidentas Smetona was renamed Korall and participated in the sea battles against Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine . On 11 January 1945, the ship triggered a mine and sank in the Gulf of Finland . After the restoration of independence on 11 March 1990, Lithuania began organization of its Armed Forces. On 4 July 1992 the Lithuanian Navy
22932-500: Was caused by independent parallel development, and the Proto-Balto-Slavic language did not exist. An attempt to reconcile the opposing stances was made by Jan Michał Rozwadowski . He proposed that the two language groups were indeed a unity after the division of Indo-European, but also suggested that after the two had divided into separate entities (Baltic and Slavic), they had posterior contact. The genetic kinship view
23088-551: Was comparable with the costs of the king's relief of Smolensk in 1634 and his campaign against Muscovy. The fleet was destroyed in 1637 by Denmark , without declaration of war. The remaining ships were sold in the years 1641-1643, which marked the end of the Commonwealth Navy. The ships of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth navy included: After World War I, the Government of Lithuania attempted to establish
23244-472: Was fascination with the Lithuanian people and their language among the late 19th-century researchers, and the philologist Isaac Taylor wrote the following in his The Origin of the Aryans (1892): "Thus it would seem that the Lithuanians have the best claim to represent the primitive Aryan race , as their language exhibits fewer of those phonetic changes, and of those grammatical losses which are consequent on
23400-468: Was first represented by August Schleicher . Some supporters of the Baltic and Slavic languages unity even claim that Proto-Baltic branch did not exist, suggesting that Proto-Balto-Slavic split into three language groups: East Baltic , West Baltic and Proto-Slavic . Antoine Meillet and Jan Baudouin de Courtenay , on the contrary, believed that the similarity between the Slavic and Baltic languages
23556-428: Was later written as Kdanzk in 1148, Gdanzc in 1188, Danceke in 1228, Gdańsk in 1236, Danzc in 1263, Danczk in 1311, Danczik in 1399, Danczig in 1414, and Gdąnsk in 1656. In Polish documents, the form Gdańsk was always used. The German form Danzig developed later, simplifying the consonant clusters to something easier for German speakers to pronounce. The cluster "gd" became "d" ( Danzc from 1263),
23712-399: Was less influenced by this process and retained many of its older features, which form Lithuanian. According to glottochronological research, the Eastern Baltic languages split from the Western Baltic ones between c. 400 BC and c. 600 BC. The differentiation between Lithuanian and Latvian started after c. 800 AD; for a long period, they could be considered dialects of
23868-421: Was re-established and Juozapas Algis Leisis was appointed as a commander of the Coast Guard Squadron. The first commissioned ship in the Lithuanian Navy was the A41 Vėtra , which at that point belonged to the Klaipėda harbour administration. Vėtra was used for SAR and supply operations. In 1992, the Lithuanian Navy received two Grisha-class corvette , Zemaitis (F11) and Aukstaitis (F12) from Russia. After
24024-430: Was shaped by extensive border changes , expulsions and new settlement after 1945. In the 1980s, Gdańsk was the birthplace of the Solidarity movement, which helped precipitate the collapse of the Eastern Bloc , the fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact . Gdańsk is home to the University of Gdańsk , Gdańsk University of Technology , the National Museum , the Gdańsk Shakespeare Theatre ,
24180-406: Was to distinguish Lithuanian from Polish . The new letters š and č were cautiously used in publications intended for more educated readers (e.g. Varpas , Tėvynės sargas , Ūkininkas ), however sz and cz continued to be in use in publications intended for less educated readers as they caused tension in society and prevailed only after 1906. Gda%C5%84sk Gdańsk is a city on
24336-430: Was underage, the supreme control over the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was in the hands of the Lithuanian Council of Lords , presided by Jonas Goštautas , while Casimir IV Jagiellon was taught Lithuanian and customs of Lithuania by appointed court officials. During the Polish szlachta 's envoys visit to Casimir in 1446, they noticed that in Casimir's royal court the Lithuanian-speaking courtiers were mandatory, alongside
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