Lithuania's first president who led the declaration of independence, later leader of the 1926 coup
Before leaving the presidential palace he declared, "I do not want to make Lithuania a bolshevik country with my own hands."
Chairman of the Lithuanian Council, he signed the 1918 declaration of independence and as first president from 1919 led the governments that fought the Red Army, Bermondt's troops and the Poles. He built an authoritarian regime after the 1926 coup and, fleeing the Soviet occupation of 1940, died in a fire in the United States in 1944.
Activities and affiliations
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1919–1940
Lithuania state institutionsPresidentMain
Government and administration -
1924–
Lithuanian Nationalists' Union
Political and party leadership
Career Timeline
- 1902Graduated in law from St. Petersburg University; journalist and national activist in Vilnius
- 1917Chairman of the Council of Lithuania
- 1918Signed the Act of Independence (16 February)
- 1919First President of Lithuania
- 1925Chairman of the Lithuanian Nationalist Union
- 1926Led the December coup; returned as president and ruled with authoritarian powers
Related historical events
- 1918–1922The Civil War and Foreign InterventionLithuania’s first presidentElected first president in April 1919, he led the first governments that fought the Red Army, Bermondt's troops and the Polish army.
- 1918.11–1920.10Baltic wars of independence and border settlementsLithuania’s first presidentElected first president in April 1919, he led the first governments that fought the Red Army, Bermondt's troops and the Polish army.
- 1939.09–1941.06The annexation of the Baltic states and the June 1941 deportationPresident of LithuaniaArgued for at least symbolic resistance to the ultimatum and, overruled, fled to Germany.
Revolution and independence wars
A journalist who had studied law in St Petersburg, he chaired the Lithuanian Council (Taryba) formed under German occupation in September 1917 and signed the declaration of independence of 16 February 1918. He had also signed the December declaration premised on alliance with Germany and took part in the election of Duke Wilhelm of Urach as king in July 1918, leaving a controversy inside the independence movement. Elected first president by the State Council in April 1919, he led the first governments that fought the Red Army, Bermondt's troops and the Polish army, and stepped down when the Constituent Assembly met in 1920. A military coup in December 1926 made him president again; he banned the parties and built an authoritarian regime, and lived through the Polish ultimatum of 1938 and Germany's seizure of Klaipėda in 1939. Urging resistance to the Soviet ultimatum of June 1940, he fled to Germany and then the United States, where he died in a house fire in Cleveland in 1944.