alternatehistory.com

For the first time in the history of the Republic of Lithuania, a Democrat was elected by a majority of the representatives in the Prezidiumas - and it was Liudas Vasaris, the leader of the Democratic Unitarian Party of Lithuania (Lietuvos demokratinių jūnitarų partija). He commanded a coalition of the blue-wing - his party, the Unitarian Party and the Byelorusskiy Soviet, a Ruthenian autonomist coalition.

Vasaris is undoubtedly one of the most interesting figures of the Republican period. Much of his life was tied to priesthood - by his parents' wishes, despite his heart belonging to literature and art, he was sent to the Krėva Theological Seminary in order to become an Orthodox priest, which he eventually did, after forcing himself through those six years, according to his letters and writings. For a few years, he served as an auxillary bishop in Zhitomir, but the beginning of the Great European War saw him and much of the church's staff flee. Instead of returning home to Lithuania, however, he fled to the West through the Constantinople sea route, eventually arriving in France, where he spent the next ten years embroiled in philological studies and meetings with the Unitarian movement. He attended the Third World Unitarian Congress as an observer and a member of the LUP, but later distanced himself from them due to their radicalism. Vasaris only returned to Lithuania in 1921, well after finishing studies, and soon renounced his calling as a priest, which caused a scandal across the religious Lithuanian society.

Still, despite that, he was picked as the leader of the Democratic Unitarian Party in the 1925 elections due to his charisma, youth and energetic outlook, and now he stands as the fourth Democrat of the Republic of Lithuania.

Despite his religious background, Liudas Vasaris was a Democratic Unitarian by heart. He firmly believed that the current system of government and labor organization in the world is flawed, favoring the upper classes too much and causing social division, but it can be peacefully reformed by introducing labor reforms, enfranchisement and initiatives to amend social disparity. Upon his inaugural and ascension to become the fourth Democrat of Lithuania, he had his hands full with many problems within the country. The dilemma of paying reparations to Visegrad lingered above the head of the government, the economic recession caused by austerity measures had to be checked and repaired, and new problems arose during the election. Disorder was plaguing the streets - both the radical Unitarians and the extreme nationalists organized paramilitaries which used tactics of intimidation and racketeering to sway the normal citizens to their side. The unmentioned crisis with numerous ethnic minorities within Lithuania needed to be addressed, as well - after the fall of the Empire, the Lithuanians became the majority ethnicity in their country for the first time in many centuries, but that doesn't mean there weren't plenty of oppressed ethnic groups wishing to establish their own nation states.

Democrat Vasaris's solution to both the reparations and the recession was simple, and yet controversial - he restored much of the subsidies and government grants which were cut by the Bizauskas government, and instead opted to reduce the military budget. The Republican Army (Respublikos armija) was the direct successor of the Imperial Army of the late Empire of Lithuania, and it boasted one of the largest budgets in Europe by percentage of GDP - up to 4 percent by some accounts. Because of that, the army of Lithuania remained in top fighting shape and was armed with the most modern equipment available despite the domestic chaos. Why was that the case? Every Democrat before Vasaris feared the military, the "secret Hetmanate". Their loyalty was vital to the continued stability in the Lithuanian state.

The first year of Vasaris's term flew smoothly - the economic recession was contained, relations with Visegrad were restored and the Democratic Unitarians were already preparing a package of important labor and social reforms, including a minimum wage, shorter work days and voting reforms to grant more enfranchisement to the poor. However, Vasaris forgot one golden rule of ruling Lithuania since time immemorial.

Keep. The Army. Happy.

Reactionary and protectionist elements within Lithuania were worried with Vasaris's actions. Cutting the military budget, helping the poor, pardoning Unitarian prisoners and even collaborating with the LUP? Clearly, a secret Unitarian, a Turkish or Indian agent, elected to destroy Mother Lithuania and turn it into anarchy! In addition, much of the military was simply getting tired of republicanism. All these constantly changing and weak governments, all this political squabbling, all this danger of the wrong person getting elected. The slashing of the military budget presented a good "casus belli" to take charge and restore order. And so it began.

On October 22nd, 1926, landships and units began buzzing around Vilnius, both in day and night. Soldiers, carrying not the green and red Republican flag, but the purple-red Imperial banner, complete with the Vytis, began occupying important structures across the city - the Sengupta stations, telephone lines and the chancellery. Similar actions were being taken in other cities across the Republic. Often, they were followed by the activation of the Revival Front's Green Berets, Stankevičius's paramilitary force and bodyguards. They worked in tandem with the military. At 11 PM, landships and armored cars surrounded the Chamber of the Prezidiumas, formerly the Imperial Palace, as well as the humble palace of the Democrat. The Prezidiumas was in an ongoing night session, voting on a minor infrastructure project in Estonia, which was cut off by five soldiers, led by General Lukas Šinkevičius, marching into the chamber.

Three words were presented to the representatives: "Prezidiumas išsiskirsto" ("The Prezidiumas disperses"). The words were followed through.

Democratic Unitarians, Democratic-Republicans, LUP and numerous other parties and movements were forced to leave, while the United Christians and the Revival Front put their weight under the new military government, giving the coup some semblance of legitimacy. A Revival Front representative, Žygimantas Svaja, was officially elected as the new Democrat of Lithuania, but him, like the Prezidiumas or any other Republican institutions, became practically powerless - all the power was now vested in a junta of militarists and aligned politicians, the Council of Hetmans.

The public was informed about the military coup the day later. Šinkevičius was not cruel to the Democrat defeated in the coup, Liudas Vasaris was given a choice - stay in Lithuania and face likely arrest, or leave to "wherever his heart desires". Vasaris chose the latter and soon emigrated to France, where he became the head of numerous Lithuanian Unitarian exiles. However, the more radical Unitarians didn't get off lightly - 130 of them ended up court martialed.

Lukas Šinkevičius was one of many Great European War veterans within the leadership of the Lithuanian military, and his main interests were vested in ending the chaos of the Lithuanian Republic and restoring the order of the past. His Council of Hetmans was composed of members of numbers of political parties, from the United Christians to the Revival Front, and presented itself as "non-partisan" and only desiring to restore stability to the state. Foreign reactions to the October 22nd Coup were passive - in fact, many Westerners were even surprised that the Republican period in Lithuania lasted that long. Some thought that this experiment would fall as soon as it began - the Lithuanians were an autocratic people, right? Used to the Ciesor.

Ten years. The Lithuanian Republic lasted ten years. But it was still a vital turn in the nation's history.

But for now... the military has stepped in to vanquish a government which they perceived as unstable and unable to deal with a neighbour to the West.

Where have I seen that before?..