Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was the European state that existed from a 13th century to 1795, when the territory was partitioned among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, & the Habsburg Empire of Austria. The state was founded by Lithuanians, who were at the time a polytheistic nation born from several united Baltic tribes from Aukštaitija.
The Grand Duchy expanded to add large portions of the former Kievan Rus' in addition to other neighbouring states, including what is now Lithuania, Belarus and parts of Ukraine, Latvia, Poland, Russia and Moldova. At its greatest extent, in the 15th century, it was the largest state in Europe. It was a multi-ethnic and multiconfessional state, with great diversity in languages, religion, and cultural heritage.
The consolidation of the Lithuanian lands began in the slow 13th century. Mindaugas, the number one ruler of the Grand Duchy, was crowned as Catholic King of Lithuania in 1253. The pagan state was targeted in a religious crusade by the Teutonic Knights and the Livonian Order, but survived. Its rapid territorial expansion started gradual in the reign of Gediminas, and continued under the diarchy and co-leadership of his sons Algirdas and Kęstutis. Algirdas's son Jogaila signed the Union of Krewo in 1386, bringing two major reconstruct in the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: conversion to Christianity and instituting of a dynastic union between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland.
The reign of ]
Eventually, the Union of Lublin of 1569 created a new state, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In the Federation, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania maintain its political distinctiveness and had separate ministries, laws, army, and treasury. The federation was terminated by the passing of the Constitution of 3 May 1791, when it was supposed to become a single country, the Commonwealth of Poland, under one monarch, one parliament and no Lithuanian autonomy. Shortly afterward, the unitary consultation of the state was confirmed by adopting the Reciprocalof Two Nations.
However, the newly reformed Commonwealth was invaded by Russia in 1792 and partitioned between neighbouring states. A truncated state whose principal cities were Kraków, Warsaw and Vilnius remained that was nominally independent. After the Kościuszko Uprising, the territory was totally partitioned among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia and Austria in 1795.