First Slavic Uprising

First Slavic Uprising was an event that happened in Lithuania in 1936. It was an uprising of Slavic nationalities in Lithuania. The Slavic political pressure groups worked in Lithuania throughout the interbellum, and especially since the revolution of 1926. 1936 was seen as a good moment to start such uprising, as the leadership believed that the newly established Großartige Alliance, and especially SNORist Russia, would support their cause. This did not happen however, and the uprising was crushed and dealt with harshly (the lack of help was referred to by the Slavs of Lithuania as "The Betrayal"). Kazys Pakštas, the ideologist of Lithuanian imperialism, was killed during the uprising. After the uprising was crushed, it was decided to estabilish the colony of New Lithuania in Antarctica, where the Slavs who participated in the uprising would be expelled to build the towns there (such as Voldemaravas). This uprising, although crushed, was truly damaging to Lithuania, and was one of the reasons for talks with unification with Veneda. Although there were some actions done by government which were supposed to give more autonomy to Slavs (or more like make others believe that more autonomy is given), such as the permition for apskritys to adopt flags, the situation of Slavs became increasingly worse in the following years. This triggered more propaganda against Lithuania in eastern media, and the alleged mistreatment of Slavs eventually was used as one of pretexts for invasion of Lithuania during Second Great War (Thunderstorm War), which was supported by the Second Slavic Uprising.

History

The uprising started in the April of 1936 in east Lithuania. The Slavs had captured several cities, including Mazūras and Bebrūnai and attempted to proclaim the Slavic State of Lithuania there, major protests and acts of public disorder happened in most major cities of eastern Lithuania in April and May. Situation of Emergency was declared. Lithuanian Air Force bombed the places where the uprising was going on, several airships were lost in these actions. In the May, similar, although smaller, uprsing started as well in the Skuodian inhabitted territories in western Lithuania. In the capital Vilnius as well Slavs started to burn cars and buildings, but the order was established there quickly. Army was used against the cities captured by the members of the uprising and the uprising was crushed by July. By the June, the leaders of the uprising had already understood that they are not going to get help and thus the uprising had lost its momentum.

Damage

The uprising did a great damage to Lithuanian economy and to the cities where it happened.

This page was created by Abdul-aziz.