Lithuania of the past as seen at the beginning of the 21st century

ENThe members of the European Union who joined a decade ago (2004), Poland and Lithuania, have neighbored one another since the Middle Ages (at that time as the Polish Kingdom and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania) maintaining a union of states for over four centuries, from the Union of Krewo in 1385 to the third partition of Poland (1795). Lithuania fell under the Russian rule at that time, whereas Poland was partitioned by Russia, Prussia and Austria. Both states regained their statehood as separate entities after World War I (1918). During the period of subjugation both nations were becoming increasingly integrated with each other in terms of culture, although this integration was threatened in the late 19th century, when a national movement emerged in Žemaitija, or Samogitia, as it is known in English, aiming to revive Lithuania. These tendencies conflicted with the integration of the Polonized landed gentry with the historical Polish Kingdom. In the interwar period, this generated conflicts between the two states, which were concluded by the outbreak of World War II and the transformation into a new reality after the war ended, the reality that came to an end for Poland after June 4,1989 and for Lithuania - after the collapse of the Soviet Union.