Lithuania in 1938–1940: Geopolitical and Diplomatic Contexts of the Loss of Independence

The paper discusses the contexts of the political process that led to the subjugation of the Lithuanian state to the Soviet policy, and following annexation of Lithuania by the Soviet Union. The main focus of the text is on the development of the political situation in the Baltic region, that led to the disintegration of the local political agreements, starting from the 1938 Munich crisis, through 1939 March crisis up to the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, Polish defeat in 1939, forced dissolution of the Baltic Entente, and finally the annexation of the Baltic states, resulting in the Soviet occupation of Lithuania.