1940 Soviet ultimatum to Lithuania

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Soviet Union issued an ultimatum to Lithuania before midnight of June 14, 1940.

The Soviets, using a formal pretext, demanded to allow an unspecified number of Soviet soldiers to enter the Lithuanian territory and to form a new pro-Soviet government (later known as the "e;People's Government"e;).

The ultimatum and subsequent incorporation of Lithuania into the Soviet Union stemmed from the division of Eastern Europe into the German and Russian spheres of influence in the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939.

Lithuania, along with Latvia and Estonia, fell into the Russian sphere.

According to the Soviet-Lithuanian Mutual Assistance Treaty of October 1939, Lithuania agreed to allow some 20,000 of Soviets troops to be stationed at several bases within Lithuania in exchange for a portion of the Vilnius Region.

Further Soviet actions to establish its dominance in its sphere of influence were delayed by the Winter War with Finland and resumed in spring 1940 when Germany was making rapid advances in western Europe.

Despite the threat to the independence, Lithuanian authorities did little to plan for contingencies and were unprepared for the ultimatum.