Lithuania

Lithuania is a country in eastern-Europe which borders Poland to the southwest, Germany to the west, the United Baltic Duchy to the north, and the Belarusian People's Republic to the east.

Great War
In the summer of 1915, the surprising success of the Gorlice–Tarnów offensive saw Germany come to occupy all of the Lithuanian-based Russian governorates. Shortly afterwards the German military forces set up the Ober Ost in the formerly Russian governorates of Kovno, Courland, Vilna, Grodno, and part of Livonia. However, German rule would come to be characterized by strict repression of the local populations. Eventually however the German authorities saw use in cooperating with the local populations to counter Russian and Polish influence in the region. By 1917, Lithuanian politicians gathered in Vilnius to hold a conference to realize their aspirations for the independence of the Lithuanian people. The Council of Lithuania was elected, being composed of twenty members across the political establishment, with the first chairman being nationalist Antanas Smetona. The Council would prepare several declarations of independence.

The first, declared on December 11th proclaimed that Lithuania would establish permanent ties to the German Empire, a cause the second declaration would echo on January 8th. However, the third declaration, made on February 16th, 1918, made no mention of Germany and declared that Lithuania would determine their own form of government through the holding of democratic elections to a constituent assembly. The third declaration was received negatively by the military, who had desired to reduce Lithuania to a German client state. It also revealed the cracks forming within the Council of Lithuania, as the Social Democrats were able to oust Smetona for his collaborative demeanor towards Germany. Smetona would be replaced by the widely respected statesman, Jonas Basanavičius, who would go on to pass the Act of February 16th.

However, the future of Lithuania would remain vague and dependent on the desires of Berlin. Meanwhile Germany was intent on installing a monarchy, but was divided on who the monarch would be. The military administration favored the region being unified with Germany through a personal union with Prussia. Frederick Augustus III, King of Saxony, citing the historic ties of his familial house to Lithuania, proposed himself as a candidate. His proposal was rejected by the Catholic states within Germany, detesting Protestant influence over a Catholic country. Catholic politician Matthias Erzberger proposed that Würtemburger Prince Wilhelm Karl von Urach take the throne. Impressed by the credentials of Wilhelm, the Council of Lithuania moved to accept the proposal of Erzberger, and on July 11th proclaimed him Mindaugas II, King of Lithuania. Initially this move was opposed by the Ober Ost administration, but as the war continued, the situation became increasingly acceptable to the wartime administration. Eventually the military caved to exterior pressure and threw their support behind Lithuanian statehood, once again supporting the Council of Lithuania, though demanding that the Social Democrats be replaced and Smetona be restored as Chairman.

Nascent statehood
The Act of February 16th would be codified into law as well, though it was supported with the guarantee that the Constituent Assembly would shift the relationship between Lithuania and Germany in the latter’s favor. On January 1st, 1920, Wilhelm Karl von Urach would officially be crowned king, surprising his audience by giving his speech in Lithuanian. To the surprise of many Mindaugas II did not appoint Smetona as the Prime minister of the newly founded Kingdom, instead the king favored a coalition of the Christian Democrats, Santara Party, and the various agrarian parties under the leadership of Baron Stasys Šilingas. Smetona took this rejection poorly and began to distance himself from his former German allies, leading his Party of National Progress into a more nationalist direction. Around this time Lithuania would secure an agreement with Germany regarding the return of the Palanga strip to Lithuania from Baltic administration, ultimately giving Lithuania access to the Baltic Sea.