Lithuania

The Balts entered the region of Lithuania in the 1000s. They were raided by Vikings and the Danish would constantly pester the Balts for tribute. Lithuania would then go under the influence of the Kievan Rus' and invaded numerous times by the Ruthenians, Then, in the 1100s, the Lithuanians turned and invaded the Rus'. Polotsk and Pskov were destroyed by the Lithuanians, and Novgorod would be aware of the Lithuanian war machine.

Lithuanian and Polish raids would happen continually on the Rus'. The Germans moved to Latvia, threatening the Lithuanians, who fought them back.

The Lithuanian military would be founded in the 12th century and raids, plundering, and enslavement would follow, Lithuania would eventually grow into a Grand Duchy, expanding far and wide,

The Lithuanians raided the Rus', Poland, and Latvia and burned Pskov, Galicia-Volhynia had peace with Lithuania in 1219 which cemented itself as a nation,

The Livonian Order and the Teutonic Order would attempt to catholicise Lithuania, but the Lithuanians would be able to defeat them with Mindaugas, He then took over Western Belarus, He killed rivals, more rivals, and even relatives, He sent Lithuanians to settle Ruthenia, and conquered Ruthenia, Lithuania was able to even defeat all its neighbours at once,

Lithuania converted to Catholicism in 1251 to size his realm to a Kingdom, He was then able to get the support of the Teutonic Order and create the Kingdom of Lithuania, Peace with Galicia followed and the Lithuanians would convert back to paganism to swallow the Samogitians, Mindaugas would die in 1263,

In 1285, the Gediminid Dynasty took over Lithuania, and would continue repelling the Teutons, They attempted to conquer Lithuania although it would fail, Christianisation of Lithuania would also fail, and would attempt to germanify Lithuania instead, Due to this, the Pope forced peace with the Teutons and the Lithuanians, The Knights would continue to refuse allowing them to Christianise, and Orthodox Christianity was a threat taking southern Lithuania to the Knights, In 1325, however Ladislav I of Poland married Aldona, a Lithuanian noble, This became stronger upon the ascension of Ladislav in 1333 and made an alliance between Poland and Lithuania,

This would make Lithuania a Great Power of Europe , despite being pagan, It expanded east into the Rus' to keep its power, and challenged the Mongol Empire, Because the Rus' collapsed, Lithuania quickly expanded into its former territories, Then it would fight against the Prussians

and Latvians, and raid the Teutons,

By the 13th century, Lithuania had took over lands from the Baltic to the Black Sea, Many Lithuanian Princes converted to orthodoxy, and Lithuania would thrive with Ruthenian support, and at times even make peace with Mongol states, Until the rule of Vytautas, Ruthenian lands were both under Lithuania and the Golden Horde, and that would end the Mongol rule over Ruthenia,

Moscow and Lithuania would skirmish for 1335, quickly ending,

Jogaila became Grand Duke of Lithuania in 1377, and Lithuania would attempt to keep its empire stable, Then Lithuania would convert to Christianity via marriage with the Union of Krewo in 1385, By marrying Jadwiga, King of Poland (Note that Jadwiga was a female, but she could bypass laws by calling herself a King, since there was no specific definition that said a King had to be male,) Poland and Lithuania would be allies yet again, fighting the Teutons and Moscow, Jogaila was baptised in 1386 with the final Christianisation of Lithuania,

He gathered his court and forced them to convert to Christianity for political reasons such as being against the Teutons,

In 1403, the Teutonic Order was no longer allowed to invade Lithuania by the Pope's decree, ending centuries of Teuton-Lithuanian conflict,

The Union of Krewo would be constantly renewed and Poland and Lithuania would unite constantly, such as in 1413 where Lithuania and Poland became equal and could only have their next ruler if both agreed with one, and continue with a new dynasty even, Lithuanians and Polands also became equal in the nobility, In 1422 however, Teutons and Lithuanians went to war and the Lithuanians won, taking over Samogitia,

Because of their relations, Prussia would become German over time,

Samogitia was Christianised in 1413,

Vytautas had a success with making the Crimeans and Tatars subjects of Lithuania, and were once able to rule Moscow as well, Lithuania was rich, and Lithuania almost became a Kingdom, until Vytautas suddenly died,

Vytautas is remembered in history as a great ruler,

Poland and Lithuania would become very similar and Western influence would go to Lithuania, Unions would continue forming, and eventually progress,

In 1508 however, Lithuania was close to being absorbed into Poland as Poland would keep doing acts such as defending Lithuania, and more, Lithuanian nobility would become more Polonised, In 1569, the Union of Lublin would be passed, forming Poland-Lithuania, Lithuania would cede half of its territory in Ruthenian lands to Poland,

The Renaissance would reach Lithuania in this era where Lithuania would prosper culturally, and some Lithuanians would write in Latin, First texts in Lithuanian would emerge and the Lithuanian Language would finally be written, led by scholars,

Because of the Union of Lublin, Latin was an official language in Lithuania and Poland, as well as Polish, Lithuanian language would be in disuse in the nobility in favor of the Polish language, and Polish would become the regular spoken language of the nobility, The Lithuanian language yet survived still, in religious context and poorer contexts,

West Lithuania would also hold on to Lithuanian language, Protestantism encouraged local languages in literature, which is why the Catechism of Martynas Mazvydas in 1547, was published in Lithuanian, but published in Königsberg, Catholicism would also spread to Ruthenia,

The liberum veto, was one of privileges given to the Polish-Lithuanian nobility which meant all decisions had to be unanimous, meaning Poland would slowly become less effective in war, such as in the Northern War and the GREAT Northern War ravaging Lithuania continuously, There would also be a plague in the Commonwealth destroying 40% of the Commonwealth's population,

The Partition of Poland would begin in 1772, decreasing the size of Lithuania, In 1791, Poland and Lithuania attempted to centralise further but in 1793 most of Lithuania ceased to exist, In 1795, Lithuania was completely under Russia and Prussia, In 1812, Lithuanians supported Napoleon's invasion of Russia but they lost anyway, In 1830 and 1863 Lithuanians would attempt a revolt that both failed and Russians would continue repressing Lithuania, Serfdom was only abolished in 1861 in Lithuania, The Uniate Church was absorbed into the Orthodox Church, a major Lithuanian church,

Lithuanians would continue enlightenment and push for more autonomy,

On February 16, 1918, Lithuania became a democratic state, It was independent until World War II, when the Soviet Union occupied it because of the terms of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, Lithuania was briefly occupied by Nazi Germany in World War II but was then absorbed into the Soviet Union again, In 1990–1991, Lithuania became a sovereign state again after its separation from the Soviet Union, Lithuania joined NATO and the EU in 2004,