March 11
Lithuania Declares Independence from USSR
Summary
Under Soviet rule since 1940, Lithuania experienced growing nationalist sentiment in the late 1980s amid Gorbachev's perestroika reforms and the weakening of central control. The Lithuanian parliament, elected in multi-party elections, convened to address sovereignty. On March 11, 1990, it passed the Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania by a vote of 124-0 with six abstentions. The declaration asserted that the 1940 annexation had been illegal and restored the independent republic. Moscow responded with economic sanctions and later military pressure, but the move inspired similar declarations across the Baltic states and other republics.
Why It Matters
Lithuania became the first Soviet republic to declare independence, accelerating the dissolution of the USSR by December 1991. It demonstrated the limits of Gorbachev's reform policies and emboldened democratic movements in Eastern Europe. The event contributed to the broader collapse of communist regimes and the reconfiguration of European security structures.
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Sources
- March 11 - Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation. Accessed 2026-07-08.
- On This Day - What Happened on March 11 | Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica. Accessed 2026-07-08.