The First Request for Recognition of Lithuania’s Independence of 8–9 February 1918: the Text and The Context

Abstract

The secession from Russia, the declaration of independence, and the request to recognise the independent state of Lithuania were the three steps which had to be made by the Council of Lithuania (in Vilnius) in order to bring Lithuania back into the international community after 120 years of occupation. The first two steps were made after all members of the Council of Lithuania signed the Statement of 11 December 1917, but it was not made public anywhere. Part I of the Statement was the Declaration of Independence, which declared the termination of all state ties which formerly bound the state to other nations and proclaimed the re-establishment of the independent state of Lithuania. Another step that ensued the secession and the declaration of independence had to be a request for the recognition of the independent state of Lithuania for it to become a full-fledged member of the international community. However, first and foremost, it had to be announced publicly. The article publishes the note handed over by the Lithuanian National Council (in Lausanne) to the German envoy on 8 February 1918 and to the envoys of the Entente Powers and neutral states on 9 February 1918 and analyses its text and context. The text of the note in French is identical. The note includes the first request to recognise the independence of the Lithuanian state based on the modified text of Part I of the Statement of 11 December 1917 signed by the Council of Lithuania (in Vilnius). The note dated 7 February 1918 was submitted to the German envoy in Bern and the note dated 9 February 1918 was handed over to the diplomatic and consular representatives of the Entente Powers (France, Great Britain, the USA, Italy) and neutral states (the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden) in Switzerland and the Swiss Political Department. Historiography includes no mention of the note delivered to Gisbert von Romberg, the German envoy in Bern, on 8 February 1918. The démarche made by Pranciškus Karevičius and Konstantinas Olšauskas at the same time, on 7–9 February 1918, to Gen. Erich Ludendorff and the German Chancellor Georg von Hertling in Berlin is not mentioned either. Both démarches, one by the Lithuanian National Council (in Lausanne) in Bern and the other by the two Lithuanian priests in Berlin, were, in fact, coordinated. The reaction to the note and the evaluations of the démarches found in historiography are similar, but the fact that on 10 February 1918, in the aftermath of the said démarches, the Chancellery of the German Chancellor prepared the draft document on the recognition of Lithuania’s independence has not been known before. The aim of the research is to investigate the context and the text of the first request to recognise Lithuania’s independence expressed on 8–9 February 1918, to reveal the reaction towards it and the results achieved. The chronological boundaries of the research cover the period from the sitting of the Lithuanian National Council (in Lausanne) of 25 January 1918, which put forward the idea to issue a memorandum with annexes, to 25 February 1918, when the German Military Administration completed the investigation into the circumstances of authorising the Lithuanian National Council (in Lausanne) to represent Lithuanian affairs abroad. The research employed the logical-analytical method (the notional analysis of the content of the note and the information provided by the sources in German, French, Norwegian, English languages was conducted), synthesis (the new material of the sources was supplemented with the information circulating in historiography), comparison (the facts from Lithuanian, German and Norwegian archives and the Lithuanian, German and Swiss press were compared), comparative analysis (the texts of documents in different languages were compared), descriptive, inductive, and interpretive methods (the idea and meaning of the content of the sources was reconstructed with regard to the question wording). The research consists of three parts. The first part analyses the context of the origin of the note (25 January 1918–7 February 1918) and concludes that: (1) the uncoordinated efforts of the Lithuanian National Council (in Lausanne), the Council of Lithuania (in Vilnius), and the Supreme Lithuanian Council in Russia to send Lithuanian delegates to the negotiations in Brest-Litovsk clearly demonstrated the equal rights of all three councils in representing the interests of the Lithuanian nation without any of them being more superior than the others; (2) the Lithuanian National Council (in Lausanne) and the Council of Lithuania (in Vilnius) sought to declare the independence of Lithuania and to obtain the recognition of Lithuania’s independence first from Germany and then from the Entente Powers and neutral states on the basis of the Statement of 11 December 1917; only the (non)presentation of the parts of the text in the documents of the notification of the Lithuanian National Council (in Lausanne) and the Council of Lithuania (in Vilnius) and the wording of different text parts differed; (3) to obtain as prompt recognition of Lithuania’s independence as possible, the Lithuanian National Council (in Lausanne) and the Council of Lithuania (in Vilnius) exerted pressure on the German Government in Berlin, and the Lithuanian National Council (in Lausanne) did the same in the Swiss capital Bern; (4) the Lithuanian National Council (in Lausanne) actively sought to participate in the formation of the Provisional Government of Lithuania and its work in taking up the posts of ministers and gradually taking over the competences in both foreign and domestic affairs from the Council of Lithuania (in Vilnius) by reducing its functions to the function of approval only; the publication of Part I of the Statement of 11 December 1917 before the same was done by the Council of Lithuania (in Vilnius) had to ensure that the leadership was in the hands of the Lithuanian National Council (in Lausanne). The second part of the study analyses the structure, content, and the essence of the note and the chronology of its submission. It is revealed that the introductory part of the note substantiates the powers exercised by the Lithuanian National Council (in Lausanne) and its function. Its first part contains the first-ever publication of the modified text of Part I of the Statement of 11 December 1917 signed by the Council of Lithuania (in Vilnius), i.e., the Declaration of Independence. The second part provides the justification for the declaration of independence; the third part specifies and describes the elements of Lithuania as a state; the fourth part repeats the Declaration on the Secession from Russia adopted by the Lithuanian National Council (in Lausanne) on 25 December 1917. The fifth part expresses the request to recognise the independent state and justifies such a request, and the final part expresses respect for the Government of the foreign state to which the note is addressed. It was ascertained that the purpose of the text of the note was to obtain the recognition of Lithuania’s independence from the belligerent and neutral states, to accelerate the procrastinated recognition from Germany, to initiate the formation of the Provisional Government of Lithuania, and to create preconditions for re-orienting Lithuanian foreign policy from Germany towards the Entente Powers. The third part of the article addresses the reaction of Germany, the Entente Powers, and neutral states towards the note and the results of the démarche made by the Lithuanian National Council (in Lausanne) in Bern and by the two Lithuanian priests in Berlin. It appeared that the German Foreign Office and the Military Administration believed that the Lithuanian National Council (in Lausanne) sought to take over the competence of the Council of Lithuania (in Vilnius), to put Germany in front of a fait accompli or perhaps even abandon Part II of the Statement of the Council of Lithuania of 11 December 1917, and to change the Lithuanian foreign policy orientation towards the Entente Powers. The reaction of the German Military Administration and the German Chancellor towards the visit of Bishop Karevičius and prelate Olšauskas in Berlin was positive, helping to dot the i’s and cross the t’s in the history of Lithuania’s recognition. As a result, on 10 February 1918, the Chancellery of the German Chancellor drafted the document on the recognition of Lithuania’s independence. The investigation into the competence of the Lithuanian National Council (in Lausanne) by the German Foreign Office and the General Staff revealed the immense influence made by Juozas Gabrys and Friedrich von Ropp and the confidence in the information provided by them. On receipt of the note, the Entente Powers and the neutral states showed different, yet reserved, reactions: some refrained from any specific statements and did not reply (Switzerland, Norway), others limited themselves to the expression of their sympathies (France), or briefly informed that the final decisions would be made by the peace conference (Great Britain). To sum up the findings of the research, the text of the note and the context of its submission are significant for several essential aspects: (1) the foreign press, the diplomats of the Entente Powers and neutral states learnt about Part I of the Statement of the Council of Lithuania of 11 December 1917, i.e., the Declaration of Independence, which could not be published before; (2) the text of the note included all (published and unpublished) declarations by the Lithuanians in Lithuania and abroad about the secession from Russia, the declaration of independence, and the re-establishment of the Lithuanian state, which demonstrated the unanimous aim of all Lithuanians; (3) three steps were made by a single text: the secession from Russia was declared, the independence was proclaimed, and the request was expressed to recognise the Lithuanian state, bringing it back into the international community.