Kingdom of Lithuania (1918)
The Kingdom of Lithuania was an attempt to establish an independent constitutional Lithuanian monarchy in February 1918. It was created towards the end of World War I when Lithuanian-speaking lands were under military occupation by the German Empire. The state was officially dissolved in November 1918.
This article is about the short-lived twentieth-century state. For the historic state, see Kingdom of Lithuania.
Kingdom of Lithuania
Client state of the German Empire
18 September 1917
16 February 1918
3 March 1918
23 March 1918
4 June 1918
11 July 1918
2 November 1918
11 November 1918
The Council of Lithuania declared Lithuania's independence on 16 February 1918, but the council was unable to form a government, police, or other state institutions due to the continued presence of German troops. The Germans presented various proposals to incorporate Lithuania into the German Empire, particularly Prussia. The Lithuanians resisted this idea and hoped to preserve their independence by creating a separate constitutional monarchy.
On 4 June 1918, they voted to offer the Lithuanian throne to the German noble Wilhelm Karl, Duke of Urach. He accepted the offer in July 1918 and took the regnal name Mindaugas II. However, he never visited Lithuania. His election stirred up controversy, divided the council and did not achieve the desired results. As Germany was losing the war and was engulfed in the German Revolution, Lithuania suspended its decision to invite the Duke on 2 November 1918, thereby ending his reign.
Republic[edit]
As Germany was losing the war, the Lithuanians received more freedom of action. On 20 October 1918, Chancellor of Germany Prince Maximilian of Baden repeated recognition of independent Lithuania, promised to convert the German military administration into a civilian government, and to allow the Lithuanians to take over once they had sufficient capabilities.[27] After receiving this news, the Council of Lithuania convened on 28 October to discuss a provisional constitution and formation of the government. As no projects or drafts had been prepared beforehand, these decisions needed to be made by the council during its session and this process took several days.[28] The changed political situation also dictated the council's need to rescind its decision to elect Mindaugas II. Lithuania, hoping to receive recognition from the Entente, could not have the Entente's enemy as its king.[29] Duke William indicated that he was willing to abandon the throne. Therefore, on 2 November, the Council suspended its invitation to Duke William leaving the final decision to the future Constituent Assembly of Lithuania.[29] Later the same day the Council adopted the first provisional constitution, which did not declare either monarchy or republic. The constitution simply organized the government on a provisional basis until the Constituent Assembly made a final decision.[10] Further constitutions did not reconsider a monarchy.