Editing History of Lithuania (section)

===Formation of modern national identity and push for self-rule (1864–1918)===
{{Main|Lithuanian press ban|Lithuanian National Revival}}
[[File:Lithuania-1867-1914-EN.svg|thumb|300px|Modern Lithuania with the former [[Russian Empire]]'s administrative divisions ([[governorate]]s) shown (1867–1914).]]
[[File:Lithuanians XIX final.png|thumb|Distribution of ethnic Lithuanian population during the 19th century {{legend|#710023|over 50% Lithuanian}} {{legend|#990030|30% – 50% Lithuanian}} {{legend|#e80000|20% – 30% Lithuanian}} {{legend|#ff2a00|10% – 20% Lithuanian}} {{legend|#ff5b00|5% – 10% Lithuanian}} {{legend|#fff600|3% – 5% Lithuanian}} {{legend|#fdff74|1% – 3% Lithuanian}}]]
<!-- [[File:Lithuania 1835.jpg|thumb|300px|Lithuania in Russian Empire (1835)]] -->
<!-- [[File:Vargo mokykla — 5 litai.jpg|thumb|"Vargo mokykla", a sculpture by Petras Rimša is featured on 5 [[Lithuanian litas|litas]] banknote. This sculpture depicts the efforts of parents to educate their children to read Lithuanian and resist assimilation into other nationalities.]] -->
The failure of the [[January Uprising]] in 1864 made the connection with Poland seem outdated to many Lithuanians and at the same time led to the creation of a class of emancipated and often prosperous peasants who, unlike often [[Polonized]] urban residents, were effectively custodians of the Lithuanian language. Educational opportunities, now more widely available to young people of such common origins, were one of the crucial factors responsible for the Lithuanian national revival. As schools were being de-Polonized and Lithuanian university students sent to [[Saint Petersburg]] or [[Moscow]] rather than [[Warsaw]], a cultural void resulted, and it was not being successfully filled by the attempted [[Russification]] policies.<ref name="Snyder 31-33">Snyder (2003), pp. 31–33</ref>

[[Russian nationalism|Russian nationalists]] regarded the territories of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania as an [[East Slavs|East Slavic]] realm that ought to be (and was being) "reunited" with Russia.<ref name="Snyder 49-51">Snyder (2003), pp. 49–51</ref> In the following decades however, a Lithuanian national movement emerged, composed of activists of different social backgrounds and persuasions, often primarily Polish-speaking, but united by their willingness to promote the Lithuanian culture and language as a strategy for building a modern nation.<ref name="Snyder 31-33"/> The restoration of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania was no longer the objective of this movement, and the territorial ambitions of its leaders were limited to the lands they considered historically Lithuanian.<ref name="True Lithuania"/>

[[File:Auksa altorius latin.jpg|thumb|left|180px|1864 Lithuanian prayer book, printed in the Latin characters and therefore prohibited.]]
In 1864, the Lithuanian language and the [[Latin alphabet]] were banned in junior schools. The prohibition on printing in the Lithuanian language reflected the Russian nationalist policy of "restoration" of the supposedly Russian beginnings of Lithuania. The tsarist authorities implemented a number of Russification policies, including a [[Lithuanian press ban]] and the closing of cultural and educational institutions. Those were resisted by Lithuanians, led by Bishop [[Motiejus Valančius]], among others.<ref name="True Lithuania"/> Lithuanians resisted by arranging printing abroad and smuggling of the books in from neighboring [[East Prussia]].

Lithuanian was not considered a prestigious language. There were even expectations that the language would become extinct, as more and more territories in the east were slavicized, and more people used Polish or Russian in daily life. The only place where Lithuanian was considered more prestigious and worthy of books and studying was in East Prussia, sometimes referred to by Lithuanian nationalists as "Lithuania Minor." At the time, northeastern East Prussia was home to numerous ethnic Lithuanians, but even there [[Germanization]] pressure threatened their cultural identity.

The language revival spread into more affluent strata, beginning with the release of the Lithuanian newspapers ''[[Aušra]]'' and ''[[Varpas]]'', then with the writing of poems and books in Lithuanian many of which glorified the historic Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

[[File:Ausra newspaper.jpg|thumb|180px|''[[Aušra]]'', originally spelled ''Auszra'', formulated the ideas of Lithuanian nationalism]]
The two most prominent figures in the revival movement, [[Jonas Basanavičius]] and [[Vincas Kudirka]], both originated from affluent Lithuanian peasantry and attended the [[Marijampolė Gymnasium|Mariampol Gymnasium]] (secondary school) in the [[Suwałki Governorate]]. The school was a Polish educational center, Russified after the January Uprising, with Lithuanian language classes introduced at that time.<ref name="Snyder 33-34">Snyder (2003), pp. 33–34</ref>

Basanavičius studied medicine at the [[Moscow State University]], where he developed international connections, published (in Polish) on Lithuanian history and graduated in 1879. From there he went to [[Bulgaria]], and in 1882 moved to [[Prague]]. In Prague he met and became influenced by the [[Czech National Revival]] movement. In 1883, Basanavičius began working on a Lithuanian language review, which assumed the form of a newspaper named ''[[Aušra]]'' (''The Dawn''), published in [[Ragnit]], Prussia, [[German empire|Germany]] (now [[Neman, Russia]]). ''Aušra'' was printed in Latin characters banned under Russian law, which mandated the [[Cyrillic]] alphabet for printing Lithuanian. It was smuggled to Lithuania, together with other Lithuanian publications and books printed in East Prussia. The paper (forty issues in total), building on the work of the earlier writers, sought to demonstrate continuities with the medieval Grand Duchy and lionize the Lithuanian people.<ref name="Snyder34-35">Snyder (2003), pp. 34–35</ref>

[[File:Jonas Basanavicius (1851-1927).jpg|thumb|left|175px|[[Jonas Basanavičius]], a preeminent figure in the [[Lithuanian National Revival]] movement]]
Russian restrictions at Marijampolė secondary school were eased in 1872 and Kudirka learned Polish there. He went on to study at the [[University of Warsaw]], where he was influenced by Polish [[socialism|socialists]]. In 1889, Kudirka returned to Lithuania and worked on incorporating the Lithuanian peasantry into mainstream politics as the main building block of a modern nation. In 1898, he wrote a poem inspired by the opening strophe of Mickiewicz's epic poem ''[[Pan Tadeusz]]'': "Lithuania, my fatherland! You are like health." The poem became the [[national anthem]] of Lithuania, ''[[Tautiška giesmė]]'': ("Lithuania, Our Homeland").<ref name="Snyder38-40">Snyder (2003), pp. 38–40</ref>

As the revival grew, Russian policy became harsher. Attacks took place against Catholic churches while the ban forbidding the Lithuanian press continued. However, in the late 19th century, the language ban was lifted<ref name="Department of State Lithuania"/> and some 2,500 books were published in the Lithuanian Latin alphabet. The majority of these were published in [[Tilsit]], [[Kingdom of Prussia]] (now Russian [[Sovetsk, Kaliningrad Oblast]]), although some publications reached Lithuania from the [[United States]]. A largely standardized written language was achieved by 1900, based on historical and [[Aukštaitija]]n (highland) usages.<ref>[http://www.lki.lt/index.php?test=206 Lithuanian Language Institute Abstracts] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070208102452/http://www.lki.lt/index.php?test=206 |date=8 February 2007 }}.</ref> The letters -č-, -š- and -v- were taken from the modern (redesigned) [[Czech language|Czech]] orthography, to avoid the Polish usage for corresponding sounds.<ref name=gied>[http://www.uic.edu/classes/lith/lith410/SUB_2004_double_orthography_SCHMA.pdf Double Orthography in American Lithuanian Newspapers at the Turn of the Twentieth Century] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120211134300/http://www.uic.edu/classes/lith/lith410/SUB_2004_double_orthography_SCHMA.pdf |date=11 February 2012 }}. Giedrius Subačius, [[University of Illinois at Chicago]], September 2003. Retrieved 2009-03-17</ref><ref name="Snyder36-37">Snyder (2003), pp. 36–37</ref> The widely accepted ''Lithuanian Grammar'', by [[Jonas Jablonskis]], appeared in 1901.<ref name=gied/>

[[File:Kudirka ret.png|thumb|155px|[[Vincas Kudirka]]]]
Large numbers of [[Lithuanian Americans|Lithuanians had emigrated to the United States]] in 1867–1868 after a [[famine]] in Lithuania.<ref>{{CathEncy|wstitle=Lithuanians in the United States}}</ref> Between 1868 and 1914, approximately 635,000 people, almost 20 percent of the population, left Lithuania.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Lithuanian Americans |url=http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761587498/lithuanian_americans.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091030055652/http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761587498/Lithuanian_Americans.html |archive-date=30 October 2009 }}</ref> Lithuanian cities and towns were growing under the Russian rule, but the country remained underdeveloped by the European standards and job opportunities were limited; many Lithuanians left also for the industrial centers of the Russian Empire, such as Riga and Saint Petersburg. Many of Lithuania's cities were dominated by non-Lithuanian-speaking Jews and Poles.<ref name="True Lithuania"/>

[[File:Great Seimas agenda.jpg|thumb|left|200px|A flyer with a proposed agenda for the [[Great Seimas of Vilnius]]; it was rejected by the delegates and a more politically activist schedule was adopted]]
Lithuania's nationalist movement continued to grow. During the [[1905 Russian Revolution]], a large congress of Lithuanian representatives in Vilnius known as the [[Great Seimas of Vilnius]] demanded provincial autonomy for Lithuania (by which they meant the northwestern portion of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania)<ref name="Snyder 53">Snyder (2003), p. 53</ref> on 5 December of that year. The tsarist regime made a number of concessions as the result of the 1905 uprising. The [[Baltic states]] once again were permitted to use their native languages in schooling and public discourse, and Catholic churches were built in Lithuania.<ref name="True Lithuania"/> Latin characters replaced the Cyrillic alphabet that had been forced upon Lithuanians for four decades. But not even Russian liberals were prepared to concede autonomy similar to that that had already existed in Estonia and Latvia, albeit under [[Baltic German]] hegemony. Many Baltic Germans looked toward aligning the Baltics (Lithuania and [[Courland]] in particular) with Germany.<ref name="TBNAE">Hiden, John and Salmon, Patrick. The Baltic Nations and Europe. London: Longman. 1994.</ref>

After the [[Russian entry into World War I]], the [[German Empire]] occupied Lithuania and Courland in 1915. Vilnius fell to the [[Imperial German Army]] on 19 September 1915. An alliance with Germany in opposition to both tsarist Russia and Lithuanian nationalism became for the Baltic Germans a real possibility.<ref name="TBNAE" /> Lithuania was incorporated into [[Ober Ost]] under a German government of occupation.<ref name=maks>{{cite book| first=Mindaugas |last=Maksimaitis |title=Lietuvos valstybės konstitucijų istorija (XX a. pirmoji pusė) |publisher=Justitia |location=Vilnius |year=2005 |isbn=9955-616-09-1 |pages=35–36|language=lt}}</ref> As open annexation could result in a public-relations backlash, the Germans planned to form a network of formally independent states that would in fact be dependent on Germany.<ref name=eidintas>{{cite book |last=Eidintas |first=Alfonsas |author2=Vytautas Žalys |author3=Alfred Erich Senn |editor=Edvardas Tuskenis |title=Lithuania in European Politics: The Years of the First Republic, 1918–1940 |edition=Paperback |date=September 1999 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |location=New York |isbn=0-312-22458-3 |pages=20–28 |chapter=Chapter 1: Restoration of the State}}</ref>

{{See also|Great Seimas of Vilnius}}