J. Skirius. As the United States recognized Lithuania in 1922
At the end of the First World War, with favorable conditions and the collapse of empires, first of all Tsarist Russia, the Lithuanian nation managed to establish its independent state, the Republic of Lithuania, on those ruins.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the recognition of Lithuania as a political entity by the great powers of the West. This road has been long and difficult: for example, USA at the same time linked the recognition of the Baltic States to their return to Russia.
In the long run, however, the limited nature of such recognition has benefited Lithuania itself.
In the first year, Lithuania’s recognition was slow
State-building is a difficult process designed to meet certain conditions. first, there needs to be a sufficient number of educated citizens capable of training and managing.
It is also necessary to create national understanding and culture, to create property values that would become the economic backbone of the state, to establish trade relations with foreign countries, to supply the internal market with the necessary products, and to accumulate foreign exchange reserves.
In addition, the existence of a new state must necessarily be recognized by the neighboring countries, the great states.
This recognition in the international sense stabilizes the functioning of the new state and creates a basis for mutual cooperation.
At the beginning of the country’s existence, the young diplomats of the new Lithuania made great efforts to draw the attention of foreign countries to the small state of Lithuania, seeking their approval and recognition. de facto and de jure form.
In the first year after the declaration of independence, Lithuania’s international recognition was slow. The largest major states chose to recognize our country only de facto (actually) but not de jure (officially, legally).
The delays of foreign states to officially recognize Lithuania are due to the uncertain situation inside the country, hostile relations with Poland and Russia, which was sunk in the civil war.
Sweden was the first country to recognized Lithuania in December de factoit was followed by Norway and Denmark in the early 1919s.
In September of that year our government de facto recognized by the United Kingdom, and in 1920. May – France.
However, international recognition only accelerated significantly after the signing of a peace treaty with Soviet Russia on July 12, 1920.
The first de jure Lithuania in 1921 recognized Latvia in February, and by the end of that year from all over Lithuania de jure recognized by 11 states.
But the great European states and the United States were in no hurry – their recognition had to wait until 1922, after four years of Lithuanian diplomatic efforts.
The focus is on the United States
Research shows that at that time, the attention of political figures in the Republic of Lithuania turned more to the United States than to any other country. why?
First, after the First World War, the United States was the most economically powerful country in the world, accounting for as much as 48 percent of production. worldwide production.
Secondly, the games had European financial control in their hands: their debtors became as many as 20 countries, including the main ones USA allies.
Third, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson in 1918. developed a 14-point program for peace and order in the post-war world.
This program has unleashed the hope of self-determination for the increasingly addicted and moody – in other words, can aspire.
All of this has helped the U.S. become an international leader. On Thursday, the United States was a reliable, well-educated and wealthy Lithuanian community of about 500 to 700 people.
Lithuanian leaders hoped to take advantage of US political support, loans and the longing of their compatriots for their homeland, as well as their activities and capital.
The efforts of the Lithuanian diaspora are patriotic and selfless
Lithuanian communities in Chicago, New York and other US cities had their own parish, cultural institutions, published dozens of newspapers, and printed Lithuanian books.
Lithuanians were focused on the organization: associations, clubs, societies. Their ideological division into Catholic, nationalist and socialist currents was already evident.
All of them carried out Lithuanian activities, invited their compatriots to the event, sensitively experienced the fate of their Homeland Lithuania, actively advocated the creation of an independent state, and supported Lithuanian policies financially.
As early as the beginning of 1917, Lithuanians in the United States, an organization of Catholics and nationalists, handed over memoranda to the United States government, advocating for an independent Lithuania and asking for its recognition.
O 1918 The General American Seimas of the Americas, convened by Lithuanians, was held on March 13–14, with more than a thousand delegates.
The aim is to join forces for political work. The Seimas once again spoke in favor of Lithuania’s statehood, asking the US authorities to recognize and support Lithuania at the forthcoming Peace Conference.
An American Lithuanian Executive Committee was established in Washington, DC, which was obliged to constantly remind Lithuania of the issue to the US government, the public, and foreign embassies.
The Committee became the temporary representation of Lithuania. Lithuanians in the United States financially supported the Lithuanian delegation at the Peace Conference in Paris and sent their representatives to assist.
In addition, in 1919. In 1921, the committee collected 1 million signatures requesting the recognition of Lithuania. In May, 138 signature books were presented at the White House to the new US President, Republican Warren Harding.
Lithuanians in the United States bought a commitment issued by Lithuania in 1920–1923 – lent 1.8 million to the country. the whole. True, the state undertook to pay interest and after some time redeem the loan.
At that time, several dozen Lithuanians from the United States returned to Lithuania with their money and work. It is simply astonishing the patriotic attitudes and selfless actions of the diaspora at that time in supporting the Homeland.
Lithuania still considered it part of Russia
In Lithuanian meetings with US representatives in 1918–1919. the following picture emerged: Lithuania is still considered part of the Russian state.
US President Democrat Wilson and Secretary of State Robert Lansing have taken the so-called “indivisible Russia” approach as an official line in foreign policy (with the exception of Poland and Finland).
At a peace conference in Paris, Paris supported the leadership of anti-Bolshevik forces, especially representatives of Admiral Alexander Kolchak of the Russian Empire.
In a letter to A. Kolchak, signed in May 1919 by the heads of state of the Entente and the presidents of the United States, the admiral is effectively recognized as the leader of a future democratic Russia, provided that the periphery, that is, non-Russian peoples, including Lithuanians, is given wide autonomy.
Therefore, in the official US circles, the representative of Lithuania is seen as the autonomous representatives of Lithuania in Russia.
Recognition – only while under Russian rule the Bolsheviks
Boris Bachmetyev, the ambassador of the anti-Bolshevik Russian forces in Washington in 1917–1922, represented Lithuanian affairs in the United States against the wishes of Lithuanians.
Another attitude of US politicians was vital – for a possible political-administrative union (union) between Lithuania and Poland.
Lithuanian politicians opposed such plans. There was a third attitude of the countries – temporary recognition of the Baltic countries until the Bolshevik regime is in charge of the government.
These three U.S. political trends were intertwined, with one or the other, more pronounced, than international conditions.
In 1921, Jonas Vileišis, the first unofficial representative of Lithuania in Washington, a signatory to the February 16 Act, wrote that US Secretary of State C. Hughes “did not oppose the recognition of our independence with little remark that it was granted temporarily.”
This is as long as the Bolsheviks are in power. If they fail, the Lithuanian government will have to agree with the new democratic Russian government and the representatives of the Russian people on its further fate. That was the political logic of the games at the time.
The Bolsheviks did not fail, withstood and defeated the Russian white movement in the civil war. At the end of this war, in 1922. Russian Ambassador B. Bachmetyev resigned.
On that day, France, Great Britain, Italy and Japan decided to prepare for Lithuania de jure recognition.
And U.S. diplomacy, in anticipation of these states, in 1922. “fully recognized” on 28 July (ie de facto and de jure together) the Governments of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
After recognition, the second unofficial representative of Lithuania, Valdemaras Čarneckis, has already become a legal representative of Lithuania and a temporary trustee and has been authorized to establish a Lithuanian embassy in Washington.
The Baltic nations were formerly returned to Russia
The recognition paper states: “The United States has consistently advocated that Russia’s uncertain political situation should not lead to the division and expropriation of Russian territory, and this view continues to hold true to the current recognition of the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian governments.”
It should be noted that it is not the states that are recognized, but the governments. why? This is temporary, because a discount is being made for the future democratic Russia (!!!).
The Baltic nations with their governments, with broad cultural and administrative autonomy, would be returned to Russia.
Thus, international games, avoiding obligations to the Baltic States, find not only an interesting but also an unconventional formula for recognition.
If this act of recognition was positively accepted and evaluated in the US press, it is quite restrained in Lithuania, without going into the essence of recognition.
The Lithuanian press wrote that “America recognized Lithuania”. In this case, the fact itself was recognition.
Limited recognition – a kind of benefit
It can be argued that the limited nature of such recognition was even kind of beneficial.
If the US government were recognized as the state of Lithuania, which would have been recognized by the Vilnius region, and Klaipėda by another, it would be diplomatically difficult to reclaim the said territories.
In addition, the United States was the first of the major Western nations to recognize Lithuania at any level, giving its government international confidence and moral strength in fighting for its national rights.
In the long run, the “principle of temporality” in US policy is another benefit for the Baltic States.
1933 November 16 After recognizing the Shevikite Soviet Union, the United States relinquished its limited treatment of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.
These states have become the same as Poland, Finland or Denmark. Evidence may be the official 1940 US Secretary of State BS Welles. July 23 a statement not recognizing the 1940 tragic events in the Baltic States.
The document notes that “these days a purposeful process is coming to an end, with the independence and territorial integrity of the three small Baltic republics – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – being destroyed by one of its powerful neighbors”, the Bolshevik USSR.
As we can see, the language is already talking about the independence of the Baltic republics. This is already a different approach for them than in 1922.
The author is the head of the Lithuanian Diaspora Institute of Vytautas Magnus University. researcher, professor