1.
Lithuanian Air Force
–
The Lithuanian Air Force or LAF is the military aviation branch of the Lithuanian armed forces. It is formed from professional military servicemen and non-military personnel, units are located at Šiauliai military airfield near the city Šiauliai, at Radviliškis and Kaunas. The first order for the creation of a Lithuanian army came on November 23,1918, in January 1919, an Engineering Company was formed within the military, which contained an Aviation Squad. On March 12,1919, the group was reorganized into an Aviation Company and its leader was appointed to be marine engineer officer Petras Petronis. This date is considered to be the birthday of the Lithuanian Air Force, between March and December 1919 and between 1932 and 1940, the Kaunas Military Aviation School operated in that city. The school trained officers in many disciplines, pilots, observers, gunners. The first aircraft was taken by the Lithuanian military from the Red Army, on February 5,1919, on February 27,1919, eight new reconnaissance aircraft, LVG C. VI, were received. They had been purchased in Germany, in June, five more aircraft were purchased. The Lithuanian Military Aviation was active in battles with the Red Army, the pilot performing the most military sorties was Jurgis Dobkevičius, who later became the first Lithuanian aircraft designer and builder. On May 12,1920, Vytautas Rauba was the first Lithuanian aviator to lose his life in an aircraft crash, on October 4 of the same year, in a fight with the Polish military, the first aircraft with a Lithuanian crew was shot down. The pilot of the aircraft, Juozas Kumpis, leader of Lithuanias First Air Squadron, was injured and died as prisoner of the Polish military. Starting in 1920 the military branch was renamed a number of times. The Lithuanian Air Force supported and encouraged various aeronautics related activities, in 1940, the Lithuanian Air Force consisted of eight Air Squadrons, including reconnaissance, fighter, bomber and training units. Air Force bases had been established in the cities and towns of Kaunas /Žagariškės, Šiauliai /Zokniai, in the summer time, airports in the cities of Palanga and Rukla were also used. A total of 117 aircraft and 230 pilots and observers were listed in the books at that time, on 23 January 1992, the Minister of Defense signed an order establishing the staff for the Aviation Base of the Aviation Service. This date is considered to be the Aviation Base foundation date, in February 1993 four L-39C Albatros aircraft were brought from Kyrgyzstan. The Lithuanian Air Force Headquarters and the Airspace Surveillance and Control Command are located in Kaunas, Air Base and Air Force Armament and Equipment Repair Depot are located in Šiauliai. The Air defence battalion, formed in 2000, is located in the Radviliškis district, the staff, aircraft and equipment of the Air Base participated in many international training missions abroad and at home
2.
Lithuanian Land Force
–
The Lithuanian Land Forces form the backbone of the countrys defence force, capable of acting as an integral part of NATO forces. Lithuanian Land Forces consist of three brigades, the Engineer Battalion, and the National Defence Volunteers Division, the main element of the Land Forces is a single mechanised infantry brigade, the Iron Wolf Mechanised Infantry Brigade. This is formed around three mechanized infantry battalions and a battalion, all named after Lithuanian grand dukes as the tradition of the Lithuanian Armed Forces goes. The Explosive Ordnance Disposal Platoon is ready to participate in international operations, as an integral part of the Land Forces, the National Defence Volunteers have been developing since the beginning of the national movement for independence. To bring them up to NATO standards, current efforts focus on upgrading equipment and armaments, enhancing their operational effectiveness, the standard service assault rifle of the Lithuanian Armed Forces is the Heckler & Koch G36 and the standard pistol is the Glock 17. The Lithuanian Land Forces are also equipped with guns, including the GPMG MG-3, the FN MAG. The army also uses high-technology Lithuanian-made tactical automated commanding and controlling informational systems, Lithuanian Land Forces are formed from professional military servicemen and volunteers. In 2008 the minister of defence of Lithuania signed a law that ceased conscription in an effort to develop Lithuanias professional army. National defence is based on forces and mobilisation forces. The new minister plans to increase national defence capabilities by making all males from 18 to 24 take 7 week military basic training, after that the person will be added to the military reserves. The military conscription has been renewed in 2015 with a first draft of approx,3000 draftees including volunteers, who will be assigned to military units starting from August 2015 and will complete a 9-month basic training. The updated law specifies that a draft of 3000 soldiers annually will continue at least until 2020, Lithuania has participated in international missions in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Bosnia. The main force is currently in Afghanistan.0 Unported License, all relevant terms must be followed. Lithuanian Ministry of Defence site Stefan Marx, Lithuanias Defence Structure, Janes Intelligence Review, September 1993, p. 407–409
3.
Lithuanian Naval Force
–
The Lithuanian Navy is the naval arm of the Lithuanian Armed Forces. Though formally established on 1 August 1935 its roots back as far as naval engagements on the Baltic Sea in the Medieval period. Although the origin of the Lithuanian Navy dates back to the period between World War I and II, the history of the involvement in naval battles existed earlier. The Baltic tribe of Aistians that settled down in the Baltic Sea shore built ships, furthermore, according to annals, in the 13th century other Baltic tribes, the Coronians and Samogitians, tried to destroy the castle of Riga coming by ships. It is also known about the Lithuanians’ victory in the battle in Nemunas River at the time when Duke Vytenis ruled the Duchy of Lithuania. But generally the loss of territories near the Baltic Sea had a impact on Lithuanias maritime development. After World War I, the Government of Lithuania attempted to establish a defense force. However, due to political and economical reasons, the maritime defense force was only partially implemented. In 1923, Lithuania gained the control of Klaipėda harbor and gradual development of the defense force started. The purchase of a minesweeper in 1927 was one of the first significant steps to implement Lithuanian Government aims, the ship was commissioned as the training ship Prezidentas Smetona. Captain Antanas Kaskelis was assigned as commanding officer. Several small boats carried out duties in Klaipėda harbor. On 1 August 1935, the commander in chief of the Lithuanian Armed Forces, General Stasys Rastikis, before the beginning of World War II on 22 March 1939 the region of Klaipėda was occupied by Germany. Once the war started Lithuanian naval ships were forced to leave Klaipėda for Liepāja harbor in Latvia, during the Soviet occupation, the Lithuanian Navy was attached to the Soviet Unions Baltic maritime defense force. The Prezidentas Smetona was renamed Korall and participated in the sea battles against Nazi Germanys Kriegsmarine, on 11 January 1945, the ship triggered a mine and sank in the Gulf of Finland. After the declaration of independence on 11 March 1990, Lithuania had to re-establish its sovereignty as well as organize the defense system. From that time the units of the Lithuanian armed forces were formed, on 4 July 1992, the Lithuanian Navy was re-established. Juozapas Algis Leisis was appointed as commander of the Coast Guard Squadron, in the fall of 1992, the Lithuanian Navy procured two Grisha class corvettes, Zemaitis and Aukstaitis
4.
Lithuanian Special Operations Force
–
The Lithuanian Special Operations Force is a special operation unit of the Lithuanian Armed Forces, formed exclusively of carefully selected, motivated and specially trained professionals. The main tasks of the Special Operations Force are counter terrorism, special reconnaissance, SOF is formed from the Special Operations Unit. The structure of the Lithuanian Special Operations Force is flexible which makes it easy to form squadrons intended for operations and missions from its elements. The core of the Lithuanian SOF is, Special Purpose Service, Vytautas the Great Jaeger Battalion, Combat Divers Service, one of the main missions of the Lithuanian Special Operations Force is counter-terrorism operations beyond the territory of Lithuania. The SOF also carries out special missions, direct action, special reconnaissance, rescue of hostages. The SOF can be called upon inside the territory of Lithuania when law enforcement agencies lack necessary capabilities to react to terrorist attacks, soon after Lithuania re-established its independence from the Soviet Union on March 11,1990, the need arose to form armed units. One of the first such units was Aukščiausiosios Tarybos Apsaugos Skyrius, one of the main tasks of this unit was to protect the Lithuanian Parliament. In the following years, the Lithuanian army underwent various restructuring processes, unofficial formation of the Special Purpose Service was started in 1995, after two more years the Service was officially established. After the 9/11 terror attacks, the tasks of the Special Purpose Service became counter-terrorism, terrorist liquidation. Members of the Special Purpose Service are called Žaliukai, meaning green-men and were named after the Forest Brothers, after a 2007 reorganization, the Combat Divers Service was established, whose main task became special underwater and surface operations. Among the most secretive Lithuanian Special Operations Force units are referred to by the codename Aitvaras. The first public acknowledgment of the existence of Specialiųjų Operacijų Junginys Aitvaras was in 2000, the Lithuanian Special Operations Force units have participated in a number of missions. From 2002 to 2004 squadrons of the Aitvaras were deployed to the Enduring Freedom operation in Afghanistan, preparedness and execution of tasks by the SOF squadrons have been especially noted by the coalition partners. From 2005 to 2006, the Lithuanian Special Operations Force was on the operational half-year stand-by period in the NATO Response Force, since the autumn 2007, SOF have taken part in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force mission in southern Afghanistan. In 2008 soldiers of the SOF continued their service in the NATO Response Force
5.
Vilnius
–
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania and its largest city, with a population of 542,664 as of 2015. Vilnius is located in the southeast part of Lithuania and is the second largest city in the Baltic states, Vilnius is the seat of the main government institutions of Lithuania as well as of the Vilnius District Municipality. Vilnius is classified as a Gamma global city according to GaWC studies and its Jewish influence until the 20th century has led to it being described as the Jerusalem of Lithuania and Napoleon named it the Jerusalem of the North as he was passing through in 1812. In 2009, Vilnius was the European Capital of Culture, together with the Austrian city of Linz, the name of the city originates from the Vilnia River. The city has also known by many derivate spellings in various languages throughout its history. The most notable names for the city include, Polish, Wilno, Belarusian, Вiльня, German, Wilna, Latvian, Viļņa, Russian, Вильнюс, Yiddish, ווילנע , Czech. A Russian name from the time of the Russian Empire was Вильна/Вильно, the name Vilna is still used in Finnish, Portuguese, Spanish, and Hebrew. Wilna is still used in German, along with Vilnius, the neighborhoods of Vilnius also have names in other languages, which represent the languages spoken by various ethnic groups in the area. Historian Romas Batūra identifies the city with Voruta, one of the castles of Mindaugas, during the reign of Vytenis a city started to emerge from a trading settlement and the first Franciscan Catholic church was built. These letters contain the first unambiguous reference to Vilnius as the capital, According to legend, Gediminas dreamt of an iron wolf howling on a hilltop and consulted a pagan priest for its interpretation. He was told, What is destined for the ruler and the State of Lithuania, is thus, the Iron Wolf represents a castle and a city which will be established by you on this site. This city will be the capital of the Lithuanian lands and the dwelling of their rulers, the location offered practical advantages, it lay within the Lithuanian heartland at the confluence of two navigable rivers, surrounded by forests and wetlands that were difficult to penetrate. The duchy had been subject to intrusions by the Teutonic Knights, Vilnius was the flourishing capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the residence of the Grand Duke. Gediminas expanded the Grand Duchy through warfare along with strategic alliances and marriages, at its height it covered the territory of modern-day Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Transnistria, and portions of modern-day Poland and Russia. His grandchildren Vytautas the Great and Jogaila, however, fought civil wars, during the Lithuanian Civil War of 1389–1392, Vytautas besieged and razed the city in an attempt to wrest control from Jogaila. The two later settled their differences, after a series of treaties culminating in the 1569 Union of Lublin, the rulers of this federation held either or both of two titles, Grand Duke of Lithuania or King of Poland. In 1387, Jogaila acting as a Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland Władysław II Jagiełło, the city underwent a period of expansion. The Vilnius city walls were built for protection between 1503 and 1522, comprising nine city gates and three towers, and Sigismund August moved his court there in 1544
6.
Afghanistan
–
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located within South Asia and Central Asia. It has a population of approximately 32 million, making it the 42nd most populous country in the world. It is bordered by Pakistan in the south and east, Iran in the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan in the north and its territory covers 652,000 km2, making it the 41st largest country in the world. The land also served as the source from which the Kushans, Hephthalites, Samanids, Saffarids, Ghaznavids, Ghorids, Khiljis, Mughals, Hotaks, Durranis, the political history of the modern state of Afghanistan began with the Hotak and Durrani dynasties in the 18th century. In the late 19th century, Afghanistan became a state in the Great Game between British India and the Russian Empire. Following the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919, King Amanullah unsuccessfully attempted to modernize the country and it remained peaceful during Zahir Shahs forty years of monarchy. A series of coups in the 1970s was followed by a series of wars that devastated much of Afghanistan. The name Afghānistān is believed to be as old as the ethnonym Afghan, the root name Afghan was used historically in reference to a member of the ethnic Pashtuns, and the suffix -stan means place of in Persian. Therefore, Afghanistan translates to land of the Afghans or, more specifically in a historical sense, however, the modern Constitution of Afghanistan states that he word Afghan shall apply to every citizen of Afghanistan. An important site of historical activities, many believe that Afghanistan compares to Egypt in terms of the historical value of its archaeological sites. The country sits at a unique nexus point where numerous civilizations have interacted and it has been home to various peoples through the ages, among them the ancient Iranian peoples who established the dominant role of Indo-Iranian languages in the region. At multiple points, the land has been incorporated within large regional empires, among them the Achaemenid Empire, the Macedonian Empire, the Indian Maurya Empire, and the Islamic Empire. Archaeological exploration done in the 20th century suggests that the area of Afghanistan has been closely connected by culture and trade with its neighbors to the east, west. Artifacts typical of the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze, urban civilization is believed to have begun as early as 3000 BCE, and the early city of Mundigak may have been a colony of the nearby Indus Valley Civilization. More recent findings established that the Indus Valley Civilisation stretched up towards modern-day Afghanistan, making the ancient civilisation today part of Pakistan, Afghanistan, in more detail, it extended from what today is northwest Pakistan to northwest India and northeast Afghanistan. An Indus Valley site has found on the Oxus River at Shortugai in northern Afghanistan. There are several smaller IVC colonies to be found in Afghanistan as well, after 2000 BCE, successive waves of semi-nomadic people from Central Asia began moving south into Afghanistan, among them were many Indo-European-speaking Indo-Iranians. These tribes later migrated further into South Asia, Western Asia, the region at the time was referred to as Ariana
7.
Kosovo
–
Kosovo is a disputed territory and partially recognised state in Southeastern Europe that declared independence from Serbia in February 2008 as the Republic of Kosovo. Kosovo is landlocked in the central Balkan Peninsula, with its strategic position in the Balkans, it serves as an important link in the connection between central and south Europe, the Adriatic Sea, and Black Sea. Its capital and largest city is Pristina, and other urban areas include Prizren, Pejë. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, the Republic of Macedonia to the southeast, Montenegro to the west, while Serbia recognises administration of the territory by Kosovos elected government, it still continues to claim it as its own Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija. In antiquity, the Dardanian Kingdom, and later the Roman province of Dardania was located in the region, the area was inhabited by several ancient Illyrian tribes. In the Middle Ages, it was part of the Byzantine, Bulgarian and Serbian Empires, Kosovo was the core of the medieval Serbian state and it has been the seat of the Serbian Orthodox Church from the 14th century when its status was upgraded into a patriarchate. After being part of the Ottoman Empire from the 15th to the early 20th century, the war ended with a military intervention of NATO, which forced the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to withdraw its troops from Kosovo, which became a UN protectorate under UNSCR1244. On 17 February 2008 Kosovos Parliament declared independence and it has since gained diplomatic recognition as a sovereign state by 111 UN member states, Taiwan, the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, the Cook Islands and Niue. Serbia refuses to recognise Kosovo as a state, although with the Brussels Agreement of 2013 it has accepted the legitimacy of Kosovar institutions, the entire region is commonly referred to in English simply as Kosovo and in Albanian as Kosova or Kosovë. The name of the plain was applied to the Kosovo Province created in 1864, Albanians refer to Kosovo as Dardania, the name of a Roman province located in Central Balkans that was formed in 284 AD which covered the territory of modern Kosovo. The name is derived from the Albanian word dardha/dardā which means pear, the former Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova had been an enthusiastic backer of a Dardanian identity and the Kosovan flag and presidential seal refer to this national identity. However, the name Kosova remains more widely used among the Albanian population, the official conventional long name of the state is Republic of Kosovo, as defined by the Constitution of Kosovo, and is used to represent Kosovo internationally. This arrangement, which has dubbed the asterisk agreement, was agreed in an 11-point arrangement agreed on 24 February 2012. By the independence declaration in 2008, its long name became Republic of Kosovo. In prehistory, the succeeding Starčevo culture, Vinča culture, Bubanj-Hum culture, the area in and around Kosovo has been inhabited for nearly 10,000 years. During the Neolithic age, Kosovo lay within the area of the Vinča-Turdaş culture which is characterised by West Balkan black, bronze and Iron Age tombs have been found in Metohija. However, life during the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age is not confirmed yet, therefore, until arguments of Paleolithic and Mesolithic man are confirmed, Neolithic man, respectively the Neolithic sites are considered as the chronological beginning of population in Kosovo. From this period until today Kosovo has been inhabited, and traces of activities of societies from prehistoric, ancient, whereas, in some archaeological sites, multilayer settlements clearly reflect the continuity of life through centuries
8.
EU Navfor Med
–
The operational headquarters is located in Rome. EUNAVFOR Med consists of three phases, The first phase focuses on surveillance and assessment of human smuggling and trafficking networks in the Mediterranean, the second stage of the operation provides for the search and, if necessary, diversion of suspicious vessels. The third phase would allow the disposal of vessels and related assets, preferably before use, more than 13,000 migrants have been rescued from the sea in the course of the operation. Training of the Libyan coastguards and navy contributing to the implementation of the UN arms embargo on the seas off the coast of Libya. Operation Mare Nostrum Operation Triton European migration crisis Migrant vessels on the Mediterranean Sea EUNAVFOR MED EU agrees on Naval intervention Factsheet EU navfor med
9.
Mali
–
Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali is the eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of just over 1,240,000 square kilometres, the population of Mali is 14.5 million. The countrys economy centers on agriculture and fishing, some of Malis prominent natural resources include gold, being the third largest producer of gold in the African continent, and salt. About half the population lives below the poverty line of $1.25 a day. A majority of the population are Muslims, present-day Mali was once part of three West African empires that controlled trans-Saharan trade, the Ghana Empire, the Mali Empire, and the Songhai Empire. During its golden age, there was a flourishing of mathematics, astronomy, literature, at its peak in 1300, the Mali Empire covered an area about twice the size of modern-day France and stretched to the west coast of Africa. In the late 19th century, during the Scramble for Africa, France seized control of Mali, French Sudan joined with Senegal in 1959, achieving independence in 1960 as the Mali Federation. Shortly thereafter, following Senegals withdrawal from the federation, the Sudanese Republic declared itself the independent Republic of Mali. After a long period of one-party rule, a coup in 1991 led to the writing of a new constitution and the establishment of Mali as a democratic, multi-party state. In January 2012, a conflict broke out in northern Mali, in which Tuareg rebels took control of by April and declared the secession of a new state. The conflict was complicated by a coup that took place in March. In response to Islamist territorial gains, the French military launched Opération Serval in January 2013, a month later, Malian and French forces recaptured most of the north. Presidential elections were held on 28 July 2013, with a second round held on 11 August. The name Mali is taken from the name of the Mali Empire, the name was originally derived from the Mandinka or Bambara word mali, meaning “hippopotamus”, but it eventually came to mean the place where the king lives. The word carries the connotation of strength, D. Niane suggests in Sundiata, An Epic of Old Mali that it is not impossible that Mali was the name given to one of the capitals of the emperors. 14th century Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta reported that the capital of the Mali Empire was indeed called Mali and this name could have formerly been that of a city. In old Mali there is one village called Malikoma which means “New Mali. ”Another theory suggests that Mali is a Fulani pronunciation of the name of the Mande peoples. It is suggested that a sound shift led to the change, whereby in Fulani the alveolar segment /nd/ shifts to /l/, Mali was once part of three famed West African empires which controlled trans-Saharan trade in gold, salt, slaves, and other precious commodities
10.
Iraq
–
The capital, and largest city, is Baghdad. The main ethnic groups are Arabs and Kurds, others include Assyrians, Turkmen, Shabakis, Yazidis, Armenians, Mandeans, Circassians, around 95% of the countrys 36 million citizens are Muslims, with Christianity, Yarsan, Yezidism, and Mandeanism also present. The official languages of Iraq are Arabic and Kurdish, two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run south through Iraq and into the Shatt al-Arab near the Persian Gulf. These rivers provide Iraq with significant amounts of fertile land, the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, historically known as Mesopotamia, is often referred to as the cradle of civilisation. It was here that mankind first began to read, write, create laws, the area has been home to successive civilisations since the 6th millennium BC. Iraq was the centre of the Akkadian, Sumerian, Assyrian and it was also part of the Median, Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Parthian, Sassanid, Roman, Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid, Ayyubid, Mongol, Safavid, Afsharid, and Ottoman empires. Iraqs modern borders were mostly demarcated in 1920 by the League of Nations when the Ottoman Empire was divided by the Treaty of Sèvres, Iraq was placed under the authority of the United Kingdom as the British Mandate of Mesopotamia. A monarchy was established in 1921 and the Kingdom of Iraq gained independence from Britain in 1932, in 1958, the monarchy was overthrown and the Iraqi Republic created. Iraq was controlled by the Arab Socialist Baath Party from 1968 until 2003, after an invasion by the United States and its allies in 2003, Saddam Husseins Baath Party was removed from power and multi-party parliamentary elections were held in 2005. The American presence in Iraq ended in 2011, but the Iraqi insurgency continued and intensified as fighters from the Syrian Civil War spilled into the country, the Arabic name العراق al-ʿIrāq has been in use since before the 6th century. There are several suggested origins for the name, one dates to the Sumerian city of Uruk and is thus ultimately of Sumerian origin, as Uruk was the Akkadian name for the Sumerian city of Urug, containing the Sumerian word for city, UR. An Arabic folk etymology for the name is rooted, well-watered. During the medieval period, there was a region called ʿIrāq ʿArabī for Lower Mesopotamia and ʿIrāq ʿajamī, for the region now situated in Central and Western Iran. The term historically included the south of the Hamrin Mountains. The term Sawad was also used in early Islamic times for the region of the plain of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. In English, it is either /ɪˈrɑːk/ or /ɪˈræk/, the American Heritage Dictionary, the pronunciation /aɪˈræk/ is frequently heard in U. S. media. Since approximately 10,000 BC, Iraq was one of centres of a Caucasoid Neolithic culture where agriculture, the following Neolithic period is represented by rectangular houses. At the time of the pre-pottery Neolithic, people used vessels made of stone, gypsum, finds of obsidian tools from Anatolia are evidences of early trade relations
11.
Somalia
–
Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, the Gulf of Aden to the north, the Indian Ocean to the east, Somalia has the longest coastline on Africas mainland, and its terrain consists mainly of plateaus, plains and highlands. Climatically, hot conditions prevail year-round, with monsoon winds. Somalia has an population of around 12.3 million. Around 85% of its residents are ethnic Somalis, who have inhabited the northern part of the country. Ethnic minorities are largely concentrated in the southern regions, the official languages of Somalia are Somali and Arabic, both of which belong to the Afroasiatic family. Most people in the country are Muslim, with the majority being Sunni, in antiquity, Somalia was an important commercial centre. It is among the most probable locations of the fabled ancient Land of Punt, during the Middle Ages, several powerful Somali empires dominated the regional trade, including the Ajuran Empire, the Adal Sultanate, the Warsangali Sultanate, and the Geledi Sultanate. The toponym Somalia was coined by the Italian explorer Luigi Robecchi Bricchetti, Italian occupation lasted until 1941, yielding to British military administration. British Somaliland would remain a protectorate, while Italian Somaliland in 1949 became a United Nations Trusteeship under Italian administration, in 1960, the two regions united to form the independent Somali Republic under a civilian government. The Supreme Revolutionary Council seized power in 1969 and established the Somali Democratic Republic, led by Mohamed Siad Barre, this government later collapsed in 1991 as the Somali Civil War broke out. Various armed factions began competing for influence in the power vacuum, during this period, due to the absence of a central government, Somalia was a failed state, and residents returned to customary and religious law in most regions. A few autonomous regions, including the Somaliland and Puntland administrations emerged in the north, the early 2000s saw the creation of fledgling interim federal administrations. The Transitional National Government was established in 2000, followed by the formation of the Transitional Federal Government in 2004, in 2006, the TFG, assisted by Ethiopian troops, assumed control of most of the nations southern conflict zones from the newly formed Islamic Courts Union. The ICU subsequently splintered into more radical groups such as Al-Shabaab, by mid-2012, the insurgents had lost most of the territory that they had seized. In 2011–2012, a political process providing benchmarks for the establishment of permanent democratic institutions was launched, within this administrative framework a new provisional constitution was passed in August 2012, which reformed Somalia as a federation. Somalia has maintained an informal economy, mainly based on livestock, remittances from Somalis working abroad, Somalia has been inhabited since at least the Paleolithic. During the Stone Age, the Doian and Hargeisan cultures flourished here, the oldest evidence of burial customs in the Horn of Africa comes from cemeteries in Somalia dating back to the 4th millennium BCE
12.
United States
–
Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
13.
Denmark
–
Denmark, officially the Kingdom of Denmark, is a Scandinavian country in Europe and a sovereign state. The southernmost and smallest of the Nordic countries, it is south-west of Sweden and south of Norway, Denmark also comprises two autonomous constituent countries in the North Atlantic Ocean, the Faroe Islands and Greenland. Denmark has an area of 42,924 square kilometres. The country consists of a peninsula, Jutland, and an archipelago of 443 named islands, with the largest being Zealand, the islands are characterised by flat, arable land and sandy coasts, low elevation and a temperate climate. The unified kingdom of Denmark emerged in the 10th century as a proficient seafaring nation in the struggle for control of the Baltic Sea, Denmark, Sweden and Norway were ruled together under the Kalmar Union, established in 1397 and ending with Swedish secession in 1523. Denmark and Norway remained under the monarch until outside forces dissolved the union in 1814. The union with Norway made it possible for Denmark to inherit the Faroe Islands, Iceland, beginning in the 17th century, there were several cessions of territory to Sweden. In the 19th century there was a surge of nationalist movements, Denmark remained neutral during World War I. In April 1940, a German invasion saw brief military skirmishes while the Danish resistance movement was active from 1943 until the German surrender in May 1945, the Constitution of Denmark was signed on 5 June 1849, ending the absolute monarchy which had begun in 1660. It establishes a constitutional monarchy organised as a parliamentary democracy, the government and national parliament are seated in Copenhagen, the nations capital, largest city and main commercial centre. Denmark exercises hegemonic influence in the Danish Realm, devolving powers to handle internal affairs, Home rule was established in the Faroe Islands in 1948, in Greenland home rule was established in 1979 and further autonomy in 2009. Denmark became a member of the European Economic Community in 1973, maintaining certain opt-outs, it retains its own currency, the krone. It is among the members of NATO, the Nordic Council, the OECD, OSCE. The etymology of the word Denmark, and especially the relationship between Danes and Denmark and the unifying of Denmark as a kingdom, is a subject which attracts debate. This is centred primarily on the prefix Dan and whether it refers to the Dani or a historical person Dan and the exact meaning of the -mark ending. Most handbooks derive the first part of the word, and the name of the people, from a word meaning land, related to German Tenne threshing floor. The -mark is believed to mean woodland or borderland, with references to the border forests in south Schleswig. The first recorded use of the word Danmark within Denmark itself is found on the two Jelling stones, which are believed to have been erected by Gorm the Old and Harald Bluetooth
14.
Finland
–
Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a sovereign state in Northern Europe. A peninsula with the Gulf of Finland to the south and the Gulf of Bothnia to the west, the country has borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north. Estonia is south of the country across the Gulf of Finland, Finland is a Nordic country situated in the geographical region of Fennoscandia, which also includes Scandinavia. Finlands population is 5.5 million, and the majority of the population is concentrated in the southern region,88. 7% of the population is Finnish people who speak Finnish, a Uralic language unrelated to the Scandinavian languages, the second major group are the Finland-Swedes. In terms of area, it is the eighth largest country in Europe, Finland is a parliamentary republic with a central government based in the capital Helsinki, local governments in 311 municipalities, and an autonomous region, the Åland Islands. Over 1.4 million people live in the Greater Helsinki metropolitan area, from the late 12th century, Finland was an integral part of Sweden, a legacy reflected in the prevalence of the Swedish language and its official status. In the spirit of the notion of Adolf Ivar Arwidsson, we are not Swedes, we do not want to become Russians, let us therefore be Finns, nevertheless, in 1809, Finland was incorporated into the Russian Empire as the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland. In 1906, Finland became the nation in the world to give the right to vote to all adult citizens. Following the 1917 Russian Revolution, Finland declared itself independent, in 1918, the fledgling state was divided by civil war, with the Bolshevik-leaning Reds supported by the equally new Soviet Russia, fighting the Whites, supported by the German Empire. After a brief attempt to establish a kingdom, the became a republic. During World War II, the Soviet Union sought repeatedly to occupy Finland, with Finland losing parts of Karelia, Salla and Kuusamo, Petsamo and some islands, Finland joined the United Nations in 1955 and established an official policy of neutrality. The Finno-Soviet Treaty of 1948 gave the Soviet Union some leverage in Finnish domestic politics during the Cold War era, Finland was a relative latecomer to industrialization, remaining a largely agrarian country until the 1950s. It rapidly developed an advanced economy while building an extensive Nordic-style welfare state, resulting in widespread prosperity, however, Finnish GDP growth has been negative in 2012–2014, with a preceding nadir of −8% in 2009. Finland is a top performer in numerous metrics of national performance, including education, economic competitiveness, civil liberties, quality of life, a large majority of Finns are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, though freedom of religion is guaranteed under the Finnish Constitution. The first known appearance of the name Finland is thought to be on three rune-stones. Two were found in the Swedish province of Uppland and have the inscription finlonti, the third was found in Gotland, in the Baltic Sea. It has the inscription finlandi and dates from the 13th century, the name can be assumed to be related to the tribe name Finns, which is mentioned first known time AD98. The name Suomi has uncertain origins, but a candidate for a source is the Proto-Baltic word *źemē, in addition to the close relatives of Finnish, this name is also used in the Baltic languages Latvian and Lithuanian
15.
Germany
–
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
16.
Italy
–
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
17.
Norway
–
The Antarctic Peter I Island and the sub-Antarctic Bouvet Island are dependent territories and thus not considered part of the Kingdom. Norway also lays claim to a section of Antarctica known as Queen Maud Land, until 1814, the kingdom included the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Iceland. It also included Isle of Man until 1266, Shetland and Orkney until 1468, Norway has a total area of 385,252 square kilometres and a population of 5,258,317. The country shares a long border with Sweden. Norway is bordered by Finland and Russia to the north-east, Norway has an extensive coastline, facing the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea. King Harald V of the Dano-German House of Glücksburg is the current King of Norway, erna Solberg became Prime Minister in 2013, replacing Jens Stoltenberg. A constitutional monarchy, Norway divides state power between the Parliament, the Cabinet and the Supreme Court, as determined by the 1814 Constitution, the kingdom is established as a merger of several petty kingdoms. By the traditional count from the year 872, the kingdom has existed continuously for 1,144 years, Norway has both administrative and political subdivisions on two levels, counties and municipalities. The Sámi people have an amount of self-determination and influence over traditional territories through the Sámi Parliament. Norway maintains close ties with the European Union and the United States, the country maintains a combination of market economy and a Nordic welfare model with universal health care and a comprehensive social security system. Norway has extensive reserves of petroleum, natural gas, minerals, lumber, seafood, the petroleum industry accounts for around a quarter of the countrys gross domestic product. On a per-capita basis, Norway is the worlds largest producer of oil, the country has the fourth-highest per capita income in the world on the World Bank and IMF lists. On the CIAs GDP per capita list which includes territories and some regions, from 2001 to 2006, and then again from 2009 to 2017, Norway had the highest Human Development Index ranking in the world. It also has the highest inequality-adjusted ranking, Norway ranks first on the World Happiness Report, the OECD Better Life Index, the Index of Public Integrity and the Democracy Index. Norway has two names, Noreg in Nynorsk and Norge in Bokmål. The name Norway comes from the Old English word Norðrveg mentioned in 880, meaning way or way leading to the north. In contrasting with suðrvegar southern way for Germany, and austrvegr eastern way for the Baltic, the Anglo-Saxon of Britain also referred to the kingdom of Norway in 880 as Norðmanna land. This was the area of Harald Fairhair, the first king of Norway, and because of him
18.
Poland
–
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe, situated between the Baltic Sea in the north and two mountain ranges in the south. Bordered by Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, the total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres, making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. With a population of over 38.5 million people, Poland is the 34th most populous country in the world, the 8th most populous country in Europe, Poland is a unitary state divided into 16 administrative subdivisions, and its capital and largest city is Warsaw. Other metropolises include Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk and Szczecin, the establishment of a Polish state can be traced back to 966, when Mieszko I, ruler of a territory roughly coextensive with that of present-day Poland, converted to Christianity. The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented a political association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. This union formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th and 17th century Europe, Poland regained its independence in 1918 at the end of World War I, reconstituting much of its historical territory as the Second Polish Republic. In September 1939, World War II started with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, followed thereafter by invasion by the Soviet Union. More than six million Polish citizens died in the war, after the war, Polands borders were shifted westwards under the terms of the Potsdam Conference. With the backing of the Soviet Union, a communist puppet government was formed, and after a referendum in 1946. During the Revolutions of 1989 Polands Communist government was overthrown and Poland adopted a new constitution establishing itself as a democracy, informally called the Third Polish Republic. Since the early 1990s, when the transition to a primarily market-based economy began, Poland has achieved a high ranking on the Human Development Index. Poland is a country, which was categorised by the World Bank as having a high-income economy. Furthermore, it is visited by approximately 16 million tourists every year, Poland is the eighth largest economy in the European Union and was the 6th fastest growing economy on the continent between 2010 and 2015. According to the Global Peace Index for 2014, Poland is ranked 19th in the list of the safest countries in the world to live in. The origin of the name Poland derives from a West Slavic tribe of Polans that inhabited the Warta River basin of the historic Greater Poland region in the 8th century, the origin of the name Polanie itself derives from the western Slavic word pole. In some foreign languages such as Hungarian, Lithuanian, Persian and Turkish the exonym for Poland is Lechites, historians have postulated that throughout Late Antiquity, many distinct ethnic groups populated the regions of what is now Poland. The most famous archaeological find from the prehistory and protohistory of Poland is the Biskupin fortified settlement, dating from the Lusatian culture of the early Iron Age, the Slavic groups who would form Poland migrated to these areas in the second half of the 5th century AD. With the Baptism of Poland the Polish rulers accepted Christianity and the authority of the Roman Church
19.
Sweden
–
Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and Finland to the east, at 450,295 square kilometres, Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of 10.0 million. Sweden consequently has a low density of 22 inhabitants per square kilometre. Approximately 85% of the lives in urban areas. Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats/Götar and Swedes/Svear, Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested. Sweden is part of the area of Fennoscandia. The climate is in very mild for its northerly latitude due to significant maritime influence. Today, Sweden is a monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with a monarch as head of state. The capital city is Stockholm, which is also the most populous city in the country, legislative power is vested in the 349-member unicameral Riksdag. Executive power is exercised by the government chaired by the prime minister, Sweden is a unitary state, currently divided into 21 counties and 290 municipalities. Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages, in the 17th century, it expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire, which became one of the great powers of Europe until the early 18th century. Swedish territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were gradually lost during the 18th and 19th centuries, the last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Norway was militarily forced into personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, maintaining a policy of neutrality in foreign affairs. The union with Norway was peacefully dissolved in 1905, leading to Swedens current borders, though Sweden was formally neutral through both world wars, Sweden engaged in humanitarian efforts, such as taking in refugees from German-occupied Europe. After the end of the Cold War, Sweden joined the European Union on 1 January 1995 and it is also a member of the United Nations, the Nordic Council, Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Sweden maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. The modern name Sweden is derived through back-formation from Old English Swēoþēod and this word is derived from Sweon/Sweonas. The Swedish name Sverige literally means Realm of the Swedes, excluding the Geats in Götaland, the etymology of Swedes, and thus Sweden, is generally not agreed upon but may derive from Proto-Germanic Swihoniz meaning ones own, referring to ones own Germanic tribe
20.
United Kingdom
–
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
21.
Lithuanian-Soviet War
–
The Lithuanian–Soviet War or Lithuanian–Bolshevik War was fought between newly independent Lithuania and the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic in the aftermath of World War I. It was part of the larger Soviet westward offensive of 1918–1919, the offensive followed retreating German troops with intentions to establish Soviet republics in Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland and link up with the German Revolution. By the end of December 1918 Soviet forces reached Lithuanian borders, largely unopposed, they took one town after another and by the end of January 1919 controlled about ⅔ of the Lithuanian territory. In February the Soviet advance was stopped by Lithuanian and German volunteers, who prevented the Soviets from capturing Kaunas, from April 1919 the Lithuanian war went parallel with the Polish–Soviet War. Poland had territorial claims over Lithuania, especially the Vilnius Region, in mid-May the Lithuanian army, now commanded by General Silvestras Žukauskas, began an offensive against the Soviets in northeastern Lithuania. By mid-June the Lithuanians reached the Latvian border and cornered the Soviets among lakes and hills near Zarasai, the Soviets and Lithuanians, separated by the Daugava River, maintained their fronts until the Battle of Daugavpils in January 1920. As early as September 1919 the Soviets offered to negotiate a peace treaty, the Soviet–Lithuanian Peace Treaty was signed on July 12,1920. Soviet Russia fully recognized independent Lithuania, Lithuania became part of the Russian Empire after the final partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795. During World War I Lithuania was occupied by Germany and made part of Ober Ost, on February 16,1918 the Council of Lithuania declared independence from both Germany and Russia. Three weeks later, the Bolsheviks, encumbered with the Russian Civil War, sued for peace with the Central Powers and they renounced Russian claims to Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Ukraine, Lithuania and Poland. However, the Lithuanians were only allowed minimal autonomy and could not establish de facto independence and that changed when Germany lost the war and signed the Compiègne Armistice on November 11,1918. Lithuania soon began organizing basic institutions, and established their first government led by Augustinas Voldemaras, on November 13,1918, the Soviet Russian government renounced the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which had assured Lithuanias independence. The Bolshevik Western Army followed retreating German troops maintaining a distance of about 10–15 kilometres between the two armies, demoralized Germans often left valuable armaments and other equipment to the Soviets. The Soviets attempted to spread the global revolution and sought to establish Soviet republics in the region. They saw Baltic states as a barrier or a bridge into Western Europe, where they could join the German, by the end of December 1918, Bolshevik forces reached eastern Lithuania. Augustinas Voldemaras, the first Prime Minister of Lithuania, did not believe that forming the military was a priority and he trusted that German mercenaries would protect Lithuania until the upcoming Paris Peace Conference could establish peace. Residents organized local self-defense units to themselves from retreating Germans. The first laws regarding the army were not issued until November 23, some Lithuanians, who had served in the Russian army during the World War, returned to Lithuania and started organizing battalions in Kaunas, Hrodna, Alytus
22.
World War II
–
World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
23.
Lithuanian partisans
–
The Lithuanian partisans were partisans who waged a guerrilla warfare in Lithuania against the Soviet Union in 1944–1953. Similar anti-Soviet resistance groups, also known as Forest Brothers and cursed soldiers, fought against Soviet rule in Estonia, Latvia, Poland and it is estimated that a total of 30,000 Lithuanian partisans and their supporters were killed. At the end of World War II, the Red Army pushed the Eastern Front towards Lithuania, the Soviets invaded and occupied Lithuania by the end of 1944. As forced conscription into Red Army and Stalinist repressions intensified, thousands of Lithuanians used forests in the countryside as a natural refuge and these spontaneous groups became more organized and centralized culminating in the establishment of the Union of Lithuanian Freedom Fighters in February 1948. In their documents, the partisans emphasized that their goal is recreation of independent Lithuania. As the partisan war continued, it clear that the West would not interfere in Eastern Europe. Eventually, the made a explicit and conscious decision not to accept any new members. The leadership of the partisans was destroyed in 1953 thus effectively ending the partisan war, Lithuania had regained its independence in 1918 after the collapse of the Russian Empire. As pre-war tensions rose in Europe, Nazi Germany and Soviet Union signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, subsequently, Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union in June 1940. The Soviets instituted Sovietization policies and repressions, in June 1941, the Soviets deported over 17,000 Lithuanians for forced labor to remote areas in Siberia. When a few days later Germany launched an invasion of Russia, initially, the Lithuanians greeted the Germans as liberators from the repressive Soviet rule and made plans to reestablish independent Lithuania. However, the attitudes soon changed as the occupation of Lithuania by Nazi Germany continued, in 1944, the Nazi authorities created a 10, 000-strong Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force under General Povilas Plechavičius to combat Soviet partisans led by Antanas Sniečkus and Polish partisans. The Germans, however, quickly came to see this force as a nationalist threat to their occupation regime, the senior staff were arrested on May 15,1944, and General Plechavičius was deported to the concentration camp in Salaspils, Latvia. These men formed the basis for the Lithuanian partisans, the resistance in Lithuania was well organized, and the uniformed with chain of command guerrilla units were effectively able to control whole regions of the countryside until 1949. Their armaments included Czech Skoda guns, Russian Maxim heavy machine guns, assorted mortars, captured Lithuanian Forest Brothers themselves often faced torture and summary execution while their relatives faced deportation to Siberia. Reprisals against pro-Soviet farms and villages were harsh, the NKVD units, Destruction battalions used shock tactics to discourage further resistance such as displaying executed partisans corpses in village courtyards. In the first year of the warfare, while World War II was still ongoing. Men avoided conscription to the Red Army and instead hid in the forests, not all groups were armed or intended to actively fight the Soviets
24.
Bosnian War
–
The Bosnian War was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. Following a number of violent incidents in early 1992, the war is commonly viewed as having started on 6 April 1992, the war ended on 14 December 1995. The war was part of the breakup of Yugoslavia and this was rejected by the political representatives of the Bosnian Serbs, who had boycotted the referendum. The Croats also aimed at securing parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina as Croatian, Events such as the Siege of Sarajevo and the Srebrenica massacre later became iconic of the conflict. After the Srebrenica and Markale massacres, NATO intervened in 1995 with Operation Deliberate Force targeting the positions of the Army of the Republika Srpska, which proved key in ending the war. The war was brought to an end after the signing of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia, Peace negotiations were held in Dayton, Ohio and were finalised on 21 November 1995. According to a report compiled by the UN, and chaired by M, the report echoed conclusions published by a Central Intelligence Agency estimate in 1995. By early 2008, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia had convicted 45 Serbs,12 Croats and 4 Bosniaks of war crimes in connection with the war in Bosnia, the most recent estimates suggest that around 100,000 people were killed during the war. Over 2.2 million people were displaced, making it the most devastating conflict in Europe since the end of World War II, in addition, an estimated 12, 000–20,000 women were raped, most of them Bosniak. There is debate over the date of the Bosnian War. Mulaj reports that Misha Glenny gives a date of 22 March, Tom Gallagher gives 2 April, while Mary Kaldor and Laura Silber, philip Hammond claimed that the most common view is that the war started on 6 April 1992. The Sijekovac killings of Serbs took place on 26 March and the Bijeljina massacre on 1–2 April. Some Bosniaks consider the first casualties of the war to be Suada Dilberović and Olga Sučić, the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina came about as a result of the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. A crisis emerged in Yugoslavia as a result of the weakening of the system at the end of the Cold War. In Yugoslavia, the national communist party, the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, was losing its ideological potency, meanwhile, ethnic nationalism experienced a renaissance in the 1980s, after violence broke out in Kosovo. While the goal of Serbian nationalists was the centralisation of Yugoslavia, other nationalities in Yugoslavia aspired to the federalisation, Bosnia and Herzegovina, a former Ottoman province, has historically been a multi-ethnic state. According to the 1991 census, 44% of the population considered themselves Muslim,32. 5% Serb and 17% Croat, with 6% describing themselves as Yugoslav. In March 1989, the crisis in Yugoslavia deepened after the adoption of amendments to the Serbian Constitution which allowed the government of Serbia to dominate the provinces of Kosovo and Vojvodina
25.
2001 war in Afghanistan
–
The war in Afghanistan followed the 2001 United States invasion of Afghanistan. Supported initially by the United Kingdom, the US was later joined by the rest of NATO and its public aims were to dismantle al-Qaeda and to deny it a safe base of operations in Afghanistan by removing the Taliban from power. Key allies, including the United Kingdom, supported the U. S. from the start to the end of the phase and this phase of the war is the longest war in United States history. In 2001, U. S. President George W. Bush demanded that the Taliban hand over Osama bin Laden and expel al-Qaeda, bin Laden had already been wanted by the United Nations since 1999. The Taliban declined to extradite him unless given evidence of his involvement in the September 11 attacks, the request for evidence was dismissed by the U. S. as a delaying tactic, and on 7 October 2001 it launched Operation Enduring Freedom with the United Kingdom. The two were joined by other forces, including the Northern Alliance which had been fighting the Taliban in the ongoing civil war since 1996. In December 2001, the United Nations Security Council established the International Security Assistance Force, at the Bonn Conference the same month, Hamid Karzai was selected to head the Afghan Interim Administration, which after a 2002 loya jirga in Kabul became the Afghan Transitional Administration. In the popular elections of 2004, Karzai was elected president of the country, NATO became involved in ISAF in August 2003, and later that year assumed leadership of it, with troops from 43 countries by this stage. NATO members provided the core of the force, one portion of U. S. forces in Afghanistan operated under NATO command, the rest remained under direct U. S. command. The Taliban was reorganised by its leader Mullah Omar, and in 2003, launched an insurgency against the government, the Taliban exploited weaknesses in the Afghan government, among the most corrupt in the world, to reassert influence across rural areas of southern and eastern Afghanistan. In the initial years there was fighting, but from 2006 the Taliban made significant gains. ISAF responded in 2006 by increasing troops for operations to clear and hold villages and nation building projects to win hearts. Violence sharply escalated from 2007 to 2009, while ISAF continued to battle the Taliban insurgency, fighting crossed into neighboring North-West Pakistan. On 2 May 2011, United States Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden in Abbotabad, in May 2012, NATO leaders endorsed an exit strategy for withdrawing their forces. UN-backed peace talks have taken place between the Afghan government and the Taliban. In May 2014, the United States announced that its combat operations would end in December 2014. In October 2014, British forces handed over the last bases in Helmand to the Afghan military, on 28 December 2014, NATO formally ended combat operations in Afghanistan and transferred full security responsibility to the Afghan government. Tens of thousands of people were killed in the war, over 4,000 ISAF soldiers and civilian contractors as well as over 15,000 Afghan national security forces were killed, as well as nearly 20,000 civilians
26.
Invasion of Iraq
–
The 2003 invasion of Iraq lasted from 20 March to 1 May 2003 and signalled the start of the Iraq War, which was dubbed Operation Iraqi Freedom by the United States. 160,000 troops were sent by the Coalition into Iraq, during the invasion phase. About 130,000 were sent from the USA alone, with about 28,000 British soldiers, Australia,36 other countries were involved in its aftermath. In preparation for the invasion,100,000 U. S. troops were assembled in Kuwait by 18 February, the coalition forces also received support from Kurdish irregulars in Iraqi Kurdistan. Others place a greater emphasis on the impact of the September 11 attacks, and the role this played in changing U. S. strategic calculations. The invasion of Iraq was strongly opposed by some long-standing U. S. allies, including the governments of France, Germany, and New Zealand. Their leaders argued that there was no evidence of weapons of destruction in Iraq. According to the French academic Dominique Reynié, between 3 January and 12 April 2003,36 million people across the globe took part in almost 3,000 protests against the Iraq war. The invasion was preceded by an airstrike on the Presidential Palace in Baghdad on 20 March 2003, the following day, coalition forces launched an incursion into Basra Province from their massing point close to the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border. Massive air strikes across the country and against Iraqi command and control threw the army into chaos. The main body of forces continued their drive into the heart of Iraq. Most of the Iraqi military was defeated and Baghdad was occupied on 9 April. Other operations occurred against pockets of the Iraqi army, including the capture and occupation of Kirkuk on 10 April, Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and the central leadership went into hiding as the coalition forces completed the occupation of the country. On 1 May, an end of combat operations was declared, ending the invasion period. Hostilities of the 1991 Gulf War were suspended on 28 February 1991 and it was revealed that a biological weapons program in Iraq had begun in the early 1980s with help from the U. S. and Europe in violation of the Biological Weapons Convention of 1972. The investigation concluded there was no evidence the program had continued after the war. The U. S. and its allies then maintained a policy of containment towards Iraq, Iraqi military helicopters and planes regularly contested the no-fly zones. In October 1998, removing the Saddam regime became official U. S. foreign policy with enactment of the Iraq Liberation Act
27.
Kosovo Force
–
The Kosovo Force is a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation-led international peacekeeping force which was responsible for establishing a secure environment in Kosovo. KFOR entered Kosovo on 12 June 1999, two days after the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1244, at the time, Kosovo was facing a grave humanitarian crisis, with military forces from the FRY and the KLA in daily engagement. According to NATO, Serb forces had committed ethnic cleansing of Kosovo Albanians, nearly one million people had fled Kosovo as refugees. KFOR has gradually transferred responsibilities to the Kosovo Police and other local authorities, as of 23 May 2016, KFOR consisted of 4,600 troops. The Contact Group countries have said publicly that KFOR will remain in Kosovo to provide the security necessary to support the provisions of a settlement of Kosovos status. KFOR contingents were originally grouped into 4 regionally based multinational brigades, the brigades were responsible for a specific area of operations, but under a single chain of command under the authority of Commander KFOR. At its height, KFOR troops numbered 50,000 and came from 39 different NATO and non-NATO nations, the official KFOR website indicated that in 2008 a total 14,000 soldiers from 34 countries were participating in KFOR. The following is a list of the number of troops which have participated in the KFOR mission. According to Amnesty International, most women trafficked into Kosovo from abroad are from Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, since the KFOR entered Kosovo in June 1999,168 NATO soldiers have been killed, mostly in accidents. On 19 October 2004, it was confirmed that 115 NATO soldiers had killed during the operation. After that 50 more NATO soldiers were confirmed to have died, eight UNMIK police officers have been killed in Kosovo since 1999, in addition to the KFOR fatalities. The fatalities by country are,3 American,1 Indian,1 Jordanian,1 Nigerian,1 Ghanaian and 1 Ukrainian police officer, in July 2011, following the Kosovo Polices attempts to seize two border outposts and consequent clashes that followed, KFOR troops intervened. In 2013, KFOR was involved in an operation of the last restaurant bears in Kosovo. The bears are now kept at the Bear Sanctuary Prishtina, KFOR Placemap KFOR official site K-For, The task ahead First deaths in K-For operation Memorial honors soldiers sacrifices June 2002,68 soldiers have died since KFOR entered Kosovo. Nato force feeds Kosovo sex trade Radio KFOR
28.
EUTM Mali
–
EUTM Mali is a European Union multinational military training mission headquartered in Bamako, Mali, which is training and advising the military of Mali. EUTM Mali will not be involved in operations in the north of the country. 22 European nations are engaged in mission and have sent soldiers to the Republic of Mali. EUTM Mali is one of the elements of a global approach organized by the EU in Mali defined within the Strategy for the security and this mission is within the frame of international law, in order to sustain the effort of the modernization of the Malian Army. What is at stake is to improve MAF’s military capacities and their efficiency in order to them, under the civilian command. End of August budget data reveals that EUTM common costs raise up to €23.4 million for the 15 months mandate, considering the mission cost and its possible positive impact in short and long term, the conclusion is that the expense is an efficient one. This budget covers what is called common costs and which permits the functioning of the chief of state and to pay for the particular competences, every country is responsible for the shipment of materials and the costs of their soldiers. Besides these common costs, it has to be consider that every contributing nation pay its own troop expenses, the EU Member States, under the Mechanism Athena rules, only pay for those expenses eligible as common costs. Military Missions within CSDP are not paid by the regular EU budget and this FHQ is in Koulikoro,60 km north of Bamako. These 200 soldiers are in charge of the chain, advice of the local authorities, medical support, medical evacuation. Besides, there is a cell in Brussels in charge of assuring coordination. They have effectively started their mission on 2 April for the formation and 29 April for the specialists. The average duration of the formation of unit would be 10 weeks. To train the four units 10 months will be necessary, EUTM Mali’s goal is to instruct first of all the new battalions out of forces in reserve, then the battalions coming from the front after the rotation. We can envisage, as the Malian authorities have asked us for, however, that circumstance will not change the concept of the instruction. Furthermore, EUTM Mali will offer advice and assistance to the Malian Ministry of Defense and this is one of the pillars of the EUTM mission. The European officers will work in coordination with their Malian homologues. The chronological succession of events is as follow, On 10 December 2012, on 24 December 2012, there was an official petition of deployment of the EUTM made by the Malian Interim President Dioncounda Traoré
29.
Operation Atalanta
–
The operational headquarters is located at Northwood Headquarters in the UK. The mission launched in December 2008 with a focus on protecting Somalia-bound vessels and shipments belonging to the WFP and AMISOM, in addition, Operation Atalanta monitors fishing activity on the regional seaboard. On 16 July 2012, the EU also mandated the EUCAP Nestor mission to build up the capacity of regional navies. It is part of a global action by the EU to prevent. It cooperates with the multinational Combined Task Force 151 of the US-led Combined Maritime Forces, on 28 November 2016 the Council of the EU extended the Mandate of Operation ATALANTA until December 2018. Participation in EU NAVFOR goes beyond EU member states, norway was the first non-EU country to contribute to the Operation, with a warship in 2009. Thereafter, Montenegro, Serbia and Ukraine have provided staff officers to the Operational Headquarters, Ukraine contributed a warship early in 2014, and New Zealand contributed an MPRA asset later the same year. Around 1,200 personnel are involved in ATALANTA, with the size of the force typically varying between 4–6 surface combat vessels and 2–3 Maritime Patrol Aircraft, for 2016, the budget will be €6.3 million for the common costs of the mandate. Piracy has to be understood as organised criminal activity occurring at sea and it is organised on land, with kidnapping crews and ships for ransom as the business model. Prosecution of piracy suspects is a key component of the fight against piracy. The EU NAVFOR seeks, where possible, a legal finish, transfers of suspect pirates for trial to competent authorities remain necessary to put an end to impunity in the Indian Ocean. The EU is the largest contributor to the UNODC counter-piracy programme, in the short term, transfers for trial from EU NAVFOR ships remain necessary to put an end to impunity in the Indian Ocean. The measure, which was sponsored by France, the United States, on 2 January 2009, one of the Operations ships captured eight pirates who were about to board a ship. The French ship responded to the message by the 21,000 tonne Liberia flagged MV Safmarine Asia which came under small arms. The warship deployed its helicopter, which arrived on the scene, to deter the hijacking. On 26 May 2009, the EU Naval Task Force vessel HMS Malmö responded to a call from the European cargo vessel M/V Antonis. In May 2010, there were a number of incidents in the area, the Russian destroyer Marshal Shaposhnikov freed the 106, 474-ton MV Moscow University, which was about 350 miles east of Socotra, transporting crude oil from Sudan to China. Reports on these incidents, citing news reports, concluded that pirates were holding almost 20 vessels
30.
Operation Sangaris
–
Operation Sangaris is a military intervention of the French military in the Central African Republic, from late 2013 till 2016. It has been the 7th French military intervention since the independence of the country in 1960, on 30 October 2016, France announced it officially ended Operation Sangaris. In late 2012, President François Bozizé requested international aid from France and the USA to fend off the Séléka, the Séléka is a Muslim and Northern movement fighting the Catholic South. In March 2013, Michel Djotodia ousted Bozizé from power and became the first Muslim President of the country, in October 2013, fighting broke out between Séléka elements and Christian self-defence militias called anti-balakas, and the State lost its ability to maintain order. The United Nations and the French government started voicing concerns of potential genocide, the MISCA is supported by French forces authorised to use any necessary means. From 24 November 2013, around 30 personnel of the 25e régiment du génie de lair and this aimed at making the airport suitable for the arrival of the French force and its likely reinforcements. On 28 November 2013, the BPC Dixmude, escorted by aviso Commandant LHerminier, reached Douala harbour in Cameroon, ferrying 350 soldiers of the 11th Parachute Brigade and two Gazelle helicopters. From 1 December, elements of the operational reserve aboard Dixmude started landing operations, parking trucks, VAB, in the following days, a dozen Antonov An-124 rotations ferried the logistical and support matériel for their installation. The 25th Air Engineering Regiment is the first engineering unit to be deployed, from 5 to 8 December, while the French forces were deploying, violent fighting broke out between Séléka and Anti-balaka. Amnesty International reported around 1000 Christians and 60 Muslims killed in two days, none of the French soldiers nor of the civilians they were protecting was harmed during the exchange. Within the first 24 hours of Sangaris, the number of French troops doubled to reach 1200, on 7 December, the French military secured the capital city of Bangui, with difficulty as sporadic fighting was still ongoing. Meanwhile, an operation from Cameroon allowed the French to secure the city of Bouar. By the end of the summit, the African Union had committed to increase the MISCA to 6000 men, on the 6th, the Épervier Force, base in Chad, provided a C130 Hercules and a CN-235 CASA to airlift reinforcements from Libreville to Bangui. The same day, French forces started patrolling across Bangui, mounted or on foot, some patrols were mixed with elements of the MISCA. In the night of the 6 to 7 December, the troops landed by Dixmude crossed the Central-African border, the reconnaissance detachment, around 100-man strong, reached Bossangoa without encountering resistance, but witnesses important numbers of refugees. Rafales from Ndjamena conducted air patrols and low-altitude shows of force above Bangui and Bossangoa to signal the French presence, from the 7th, the Sangaris Force was further reinforced with helicopters, comprising two Gazelles and four Pumas. In the following hours, an Antonov An-124 ferrying two Fennecs from Vélizy – Villacoublay Air Base and Orange-Caritat Air Base arrived, on the 8th, the French headquarters announced that the Bouar-Bossembélé road had been opened without resistance. On 8 December 2013, Jean-Yves Le Drian, French Defence Minister, in the night of the 9 to 10 December, an incident between French forces and gunmen caused the death of two soldiers of the 8th RPIMa
31.
Alytus
–
Alytus is a city with municipal rights in southern Lithuania. It is the capital of Alytus County and its population in 2013 was 57,281. Alytus is the centre of the Dzūkija region. The city lies on the banks of the Nemunas River, the major roads linking Vilnius, Kaunas, Lazdijai, and Hrodna in Belarus pass through Alytus. The name is derived from the Lithuanian hydronym Alytupis, in other languages the names of the town include German, Aliten, Olita, Polish, Olita, Russian, Олита Olita, Belarusian, Аліта Alita, Yiddish, אליטע Alite. The first historical record of Alytus dates back to 1377, when it was mentioned in the Chronicles of Wigand of Marburg under the name of Aliten, according to the chronicle the spot was occupied by a small, wooden fortress guarding the Lithuanian frontier with the Teutonic Order. The fort and the village gradually grew, despite being frequently a target of raids of both the Lithuanians and the Teutons. The Treaty of Lake Melno left the town on the Teutonic side of the border, on 15 June 1581 Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland Stefan Batory granted the town the city rights based on the Magdeburg Law. The event is celebrated as the Alytus Day, the town was also important as the place where one of the royal economic offices was located. In the third partition of Poland and Lithuania, in 1795, during the Napoleonic Wars, following the Treaty of Tilsit, the western part was ceded to the Duchy of Warsaw. After the Congress of Vienna it became part of the successor state. Although the state was tied with a union with Russia. After that date the autonomy of Poland was liquidated, but both parts of the town remained governed separately, in the late 19th century the town was incorporated into a chain of Russian fortified garrisons along the border with East Prussia. It was tied with the rest of the world by a railway, in addition, the tsarist authorities constructed several barracks and an Orthodox church. However, despite the effort by the Russians, during World War I the Central Powers managed to capture the town intact. In 1915 the town was incorporated into the so-called Ober-Ost and both parts were again united into a single administrative entity - for the first time since 1795. Following the end of World War I the area remained contested by newly independent Poland and Lithuania, when the Germans withdrew in early 1919, the town was seized by the Red Army. On 12 February 1919 the town became a battlefield for the first skirmish between the Russians and the Lithuanian forces, which took control over it
32.
Kaunas
–
Kaunas is the second-largest city in Lithuania and has historically been a leading centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the biggest city and the centre of a county in Trakai Municipality of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania since 1413, in the Russian Empire it was the capital of the Kaunas Governorate from 1843 to 1915. It became the temporary capital city in Europe during the interwar period. Now it is the capital of Kaunas County, the seat of the Kaunas city municipality and it is also the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kaunas. Kaunas is located at the confluence of the two largest Lithuanian rivers, the Nemunas and the Neris, and near the Kaunas Reservoir, the citys name is of Lithuanian origins and most likely derives from a personal name. Before Lithuania regained independence, the city was known in English as Kovno, the traditional Slavicized form of its name, the Polish name is Kowno. An earlier Russian name was Ковно Kovno, although Каунас Kaunas has been used since 1940, the Yiddish name is Kovne, while its names in German include Kaunas and Kauen. The city and its elderates also have names in other languages, an old legend claims that Kaunas was established by the Romans in ancient times. These Romans were supposedly led by a patrician named Palemon, who had three sons, Barcus, Kunas and Sperus, Palemon fled from Rome because he feared the mad Emperor Nero. Palemon, his sons and other relatives travelled all the way to Lithuania, after Palemons death, his sons divided his land. Kunas got the land where Kaunas now stands and he built a fortress near the confluence of the Nemunas and Neris rivers, and the city that grew up there was named after him. There is also a region in the vicinity named Palemonas. On 30 June 1993, the coat of arms of Kaunas city was established by a special presidential decree. The coat of arms features a white aurochs with a cross between his horns, set against a deep red background. The aurochs is the heraldic symbol of the city since 1400. The heraldic seal of Kaunas, introduced in the early 15th century during the reign of Grand Duke Vytautas, is the oldest city heraldic seal known in the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The current emblem was the result of study and discussion on the part of the Lithuanian Heraldry Commission. An aurochs has replaced a wisent, depicted in the Soviet era emblem, blazon, Gules, an aurochs passant guardant argent ensigned with a cross Or between his horns
33.
Conscription
–
Conscription, or drafting, is the compulsory enlistment of people in a national service, most often a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in countries to the present day under various names. The modern system of national conscription for young men dates to the French Revolution in the 1790s. Most European nations later copied the system in peacetime, so that men at a certain age would serve 1–8 years on active duty and those conscripted may evade service, sometimes by leaving the country. As of the early 21st century, many no longer conscript soldiers. The ability to rely on such an arrangement, however, presupposes some degree of predictability with regard to both war-fighting requirements and the scope of hostilities, many states that have abolished conscription therefore still reserve the power to resume it during wartime or times of crisis. Around the reign of Hammurabi, the Babylonian Empire used a system of conscription called Ilkum, under that system those eligible were required to serve in the royal army in time of war. During times of peace they were required to provide labour for other activities of the state. In return for service, people subject to it gained the right to hold land. It is possible that this right was not to hold land per se, various forms of avoiding military service are recorded. While it was outlawed by the Code of Hammurabi, the hiring of substitutes appears to have practiced both before and after the creation of the code. Later records show that Ilkum commitments could become regularly traded, in other places, people simply left their towns to avoid their Ilkum service. Another option was to sell Ilkum lands and the commitments along with them, with the exception of a few exempted classes, this was forbidden by the Code of Hammurabi. The levies raised in this way fought as infantry under local superiors, although the exact laws varied greatly depending on the country and the period, generally these levies were only obliged to fight for one to three months. Most were subsistence farmers, and it was in everyones interest to send the men home for harvest-time, the bulk of the Anglo-Saxon English army, called the fyrd, was composed of part-time English soldiers drawn from the landowning minor nobility. These thegns were the aristocracy of the time and were required to serve with their own armour. Medieval levy in Poland was known as the pospolite ruszenie, the system of military slaves was widely used in the Middle East, beginning with the creation of the corps of Turkish slave-soldiers by the Abbasid caliph al-Mutasim in the 820s and 830s. In the middle of the 14th century, Ottoman Sultan Murad I developed personal troops to be loyal to him, the new force was built by taking Christian children from newly conquered lands, especially from the far areas of his empire, in a system known as the devşirme
34.
Cold War II
–
Cold War II, also called the New Cold War, Second Cold War and Cold War 2. This is akin to the original Cold War that saw a confrontation between the Western Bloc led by the United States and the Eastern Bloc led by the Soviet Union. American political scientist Robert Legvold posits that the ″new Cold War began the moment we went over the cliff, kuchins in 2016, believe that the term is ″unsuited to the present conflict, ″ but the situation is arguably more dangerous than during the original Cold War. Past sources, such as academics Fred Halliday and David S. Painter used the terms to refer to the 1979–1985. Michael Klare, a RealClearPolitics writer and an academic, in June 2013 compared tensions between Russia and the West to the ongoing conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The term Cold War II has therefore been described as a misnomer, tensions escalated in 2014 after Russias annexation of Crimea, and military intervention in Ukraine. Some observers − including Syrian President Bashar al-Assad − judged the Syrian Civil War to be a war between Russia and the US, and even a proto-world war. In January 2016, senior UK government officials were reported to have registered their growing fears that a new war was now unfolding in Europe. Right across the EU we are seeing alarming evidence of Russian efforts to unpick the fabric of European unity on a range of vital strategic issues. ”In an interview with TIME in December 2014. In April 2015, CNN reported that hackers had penetrated sensitive parts of the White House computers in recent months. It was said that the FBI, the Secret Service, and other U. S. intelligence agencies categorized the attacks among the most sophisticated attacks ever launched against U. S. government systems. ”Similarly, Igor Zevelev, CNN opined, Its not a new Cold War. Its not even a deep chill, meanwhile, the United States government accused the Russian government of interfering in the 2016 United States elections. The US intelligence community stated that Putin and the Russian Government developed a preference for President-elect Trump. Their assessment was made with high confidence, Russia said it had no involvement. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange said that Russia was not involved in the leaks, director of National Intelligence James R. President Barack Obama used the red line to directly contact Vladimir Putin. On December 29,2016, the U. S, in January 2017, a former government adviser Molly K. McKew said at Politico that the US would win the new Cold War if the War happens. Heer also criticized McKew for supporting the possibility, josh Keefe of International Business Times wrote that an increasing military presence in Eastern Europe led multiple US and Russian experts to fret about a new Cold War
35.
Lithuania
–
Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in Northern Europe. One of the three Baltic states, it is situated along the shore of the Baltic Sea, to the east of Sweden. It is bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, Lithuania has an estimated population of 2.9 million people as of 2015, and its capital and largest city is Vilnius. The official language, Lithuanian, along with Latvian, is one of two living languages in the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family. For centuries, the shores of the Baltic Sea were inhabited by various Baltic tribes. In the 1230s, the Lithuanian lands were united by Mindaugas, the King of Lithuania, and the first unified Lithuanian state, with the Lublin Union of 1569, Lithuania and Poland formed a voluntary two-state union, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Commonwealth lasted more than two centuries, until neighboring countries systematically dismantled it from 1772–95, with the Russian Empire annexing most of Lithuanias territory. As World War I neared its end, Lithuanias Act of Independence was signed on 16 February 1918, in the midst of the Second World War, Lithuania was first occupied by the Soviet Union and then by Nazi Germany. As World War II neared its end and the Germans retreated, Lithuania is a member of the European Union, the Council of Europe, a full member of the Eurozone, Schengen Agreement and NATO. It is also a member of the Nordic Investment Bank, the United Nations Human Development Index lists Lithuania as a very high human development country. Lithuania has been among the fastest growing economies in the European Union and is ranked 21st in the world in the Ease of Doing Business Index, the first people settled in the territory of Lithuania after the last glacial period in the 10th millennium BC. Over a millennium, the Indo-Europeans, who arrived in the 3rd – 2nd millennium BC, mixed with the local population, the first written mention of Lithuania is found in a medieval German manuscript, the Annals of Quedlinburg, in an entry dated 9 March 1009. Initially inhabited by fragmented Baltic tribes, in the 1230s the Lithuanian lands were united by Mindaugas, after his assassination in 1263, pagan Lithuania was a target of the Christian crusades of the Teutonic Knights and the Livonian Order. Despite the devastating century-long struggle with the Orders, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania expanded rapidly, by the end of the 14th century, Lithuania was one of the largest countries in Europe and included present-day Belarus, Ukraine, and parts of Poland and Russia. The geopolitical situation between the west and the east determined the multicultural and multi-confessional character of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the ruling elite practised religious tolerance and Chancery Slavonic language was used as an auxiliary language to the Latin for official documents. In 1385, the Grand Duke Jogaila accepted Polands offer to become its king, Jogaila embarked on gradual Christianization of Lithuania and established a personal union between Poland and Lithuania. It implied that Lithuania, the fiercely independent land, was one of the last pagan areas of Europe to adopt Christianity, after two civil wars, Vytautas the Great became the Grand Duke of Lithuania in 1392. During his reign, Lithuania reached the peak of its expansion, centralization of the state began
36.
Search and rescue
–
Search and rescue is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, International Search and Rescue Advisory Group is a UN organization that promotes the exchange of information between national urban search and rescue organizations. The duty to render assistance is covered by Article 98 of the UNCLOS, there are many different definitions of search and rescue, depending on the agency involved. Canadian Forces, Search and Rescue comprises the search for, and provision of aid to, persons, ships or other craft which are, or are feared to be, in distress or imminent danger. United States Coast Guard, The use of resources to assist persons or property in potential or actual distress. One of the worlds earliest well-documented SAR efforts ensued following the 1656 wreck of the Dutch merchant ship Vergulde Draeck off the west coast of Australia, survivors sought help, and in response three separate SAR missions were conducted, without success. All 5 crew members of an oil barge, which had run aground on Penfield Reef, were saved before the barge sank, in 1983, Korean Air Lines Flight 007 with 269 occupants was shot down by a Soviet aircraft near Sakhalin. The Soviets sent SAR helicopters and boats to Soviet waters, while a search, South Korean, and Japanese ships and aircraft in international waters, but no survivors were found. In July 2009, Air France Flight 447 was lost in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, an international SAR effort was launched, to no avail. A third effort nearly two years later discovered the site and recovered the black boxes. In early 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 crashed under mysterious circumstances, many nations contributed to the initial SAR effort, which was fruitless. 3mn to date on fuel and food in its own effort. The search for Flight 370 has become the largest SAR so far with the largest budget, mountain rescue relates to search and rescue operations specifically in rugged and mountainous terrain. Ground search and rescue is the search for persons who are lost or in distress on land or inland waterways, some ground search teams also employ search and rescue dogs. Urban search and rescue, also referred to as Heavy Urban Search and Rescue, is the location and rescue of persons from collapsed buildings or other urban and industrial entrapments. Due to the nature of the work, most teams are multi-disciplinary and include personnel from police, fire. While earthquakes have traditionally been the cause of US&R operations, terrorist attacks, combat search and rescue is search and rescue operations that are carried out during war that are within or near combat zones. Air-sea rescue refers to the use of aircraft and surface vessels, to search for. This treaty contains the definition of high seas, at Article 1, International Search and Rescue Advisory Group is a UN organization that promotes the exchange of information between national urban search and rescue organizations
37.
State Border Guard Service (Lithuania)
–
Since December 21,2007, Lithuania is part of the Schengen Area and SBGS, partner of Frontex, controls about 1,070 kilometres of Areas external land border with Kaliningrad Oblast and Belarus. Following the declaration of independence on February 16,1918, Lithuania had to ensure its border protection and this was a difficult task to fulfill, because the borders were changing, and the bodies protecting the border were changing as well. The formation of the first border regiment was started on 1 February 1920, on 26 January 1922, the Lithuanian defence minister, Jonas Šimkus, issued an order designating 29 June as Border Regiment Day. At that time, border regiments protected the border, and the State Border Police was formed in the Klaipėda Region on 18 June 1923. Later, border regiments, units of the Ministry of Defence, were disbanded, before the first Soviet occupation, the number of Lithuanian border police was not large,1,656 policemen in 1931 and 1,934 in 1933. This strength was maintained until June 1940 when the Soviet Union occupied Lithuania, after that, some border guards were subject to political persecution, the border police was disbanded, and the Red Army took control of the Lithuanian border with Nazi Germany. Near the end of World War II, the Soviets occupied Lithuania for the second time, throughout their rule, they protected only the Lithuanian border with the Peoples Republic of Poland. After Lithuania restored its independence on March 11,1990, it had to ensure the protection, by a resolution of 3 April 1990, the Supreme Council assigned the Council of Ministers the task of establishing the Department of Defence thus initiating the formation of new state border guards. On 10 September 1990, the Government adopted a resolution with a view to forming services at the Ministry of Defence that were to ensure the protection of the Lithuanian borders. On 10 October 1990, the Government adopted a resolution to establish 61 border posts and these posts were to begin operation by 19 November, but due to lack of resources and personnel not all of them operated as intended. On 19 May 1991, Gintaras Žagunis, an officer at the Krakūnai border crossing point at the Lithuania–Belarus border, was dead while on duty. On 31 July 1991, seven Lithuanian officers were killed in Medininkai border point, the only survivor, Tomas Šernas, became disabled. The attacks on Lithuanian border posts continued until the attempted August Coup in Moscow on 23 August 1991, the Ministry of Defence issued an order by which the Frontier Guard Service was renamed as the State Border Guard Service, starting 6 August 1992. When the last Soviet soldier left Lithuania on 31 August 1993, on 18 July 1994, the Government adopted a resolution that restructured the State Border Guard Service at the Ministry of Defence into the Border Police Department at the Ministry of the Interior. As during the period, guarding of the Lithuanian borders became the duty of a border police. After the system of border guarding was restored, the status of the state border had to be defined. The Treaty on Restoration of the State Border between Lithuania and Latvia was signed on 29 June 1993 and it required a considerable diplomatic effort to conclude and sign a treaty on the state border with Belarus on 6 February 1995. A similar treaty was signed with Poland the same year, the treaty on delimitation of the state border between Lithuania and the Russian Federation was signed during a summit in Moscow on 24 October 1997
38.
Smuggling
–
There are various motivations to smuggle. Examples of non-financial motivations include bringing banned items past a security checkpoint or the removal of classified documents from a government or corporate office, Smuggling is a common theme in literature, from Bizets opera Carmen to the James Bond spy books Diamonds are Forever and Goldfinger. The verb smuggle, from Low German schmuggeln or Dutch smokkelen, apparently a frequentative formation of a meaning to sneak. Smuggling has a long and controversial history, probably dating back to the first time at which duties were imposed in any form, in England smuggling first became a recognised problem in the 13th century, following the creation of a national customs collection system by Edward I in 1275. Medieval smuggling tended to focus on the export of highly taxed export goods — notably wool, merchants also, however, sometimes smuggled other goods to circumvent prohibitions or embargoes on particular trades. Most studies of historical smuggling have been based on official sources — such as court records, according to Dr Evan Jones, the trouble with these is that they only detail the activities of those dumb enough to get caught. This has led him and others, such as Prof Huw Bowen to use records to reconstruct smuggling businesses. Grain smuggling by members of the elite, often working closely with corrupt customs officers, has also been shown to have been prevalent in East Anglia during the later 16th century. In England wool was smuggled to the continent in the 17th century, the principal reason for the high duty was the need for the government to finance a number of extremely expensive wars with France and the United States. The thievery was boasted about and romanticized until it seemed a kind of heroism and it did not have any taint of criminality and the whole of the south coast had pockets vying with one another over whose smugglers were the darkest or most daring. The Smugglers Inn was one of the commonest names for a bar on the coast, in Henley Road, smuggling in colonial times was a reaction to the heavy taxes and regulations imposed by mercantilist trade policies. After American independence in 1783, smuggling developed at the edges of the United States at places like Passamaquoddy Bay, St. Marys in Georgia, Lake Champlain, and Louisiana. During Thomas Jeffersons embargo of 1807-1809, these places became the primary places where goods were smuggled out of the nation in defiance of the law. Like Britain, a gradual liberalization of laws as part of the free trade movement meant less smuggling. In 1907 President Theodore Roosevelt tried to cut down on smuggling by establishing the Roosevelt Reservation along the United States-Mexico Border, Smuggling revived in the 1920s during Prohibition, and drug smuggling became a major problem after 1970. In the 1990s, when sanctions were imposed on Serbia. The state unofficially allowed this to continue or otherwise the entire economy would have collapsed, much smuggling occurs when enterprising merchants attempt to supply demand for a good or service that is illegal or heavily taxed. As a result, illegal trafficking, and the smuggling of weapons, as well as the historical staples of smuggling, alcohol
39.
Communications security
–
Communications security is the discipline of preventing unauthorized interceptors from accessing telecommunications in an intelligible form, while still delivering content to the intended recipients. In the United States Department of Defense culture, it is referred to by the abbreviation COMSEC. The field includes cryptographic security, transmission security, emissions security and physical security of COMSEC equipment, COMSEC is used to protect both classified and unclassified traffic on military communications networks, including voice, video, and data. It is used for analog and digital applications, and both wired and wireless links. Voice over secure internet protocol VOSIP has become the de facto standard for securing voice communication, USCENTCOM moved entirely to VOSIP in 2008. Cryptographic security, The component of security that results from the provision of technically sound cryptosystems. This includes ensuring message confidentiality and authenticity. g, crypto-ancillary equipment, Equipment designed specifically to facilitate efficient or reliable operation of crypto-equipment, without performing cryptographic functions itself. The Armys platform in the four-tiered EKMS, AKMS, automates frequency management and it eliminates paper keying material, hardcopy SOI, and associated time and resource-intensive courier distribution. It has 4 components, LCMS provides automation for the detailed accounting required for every COMSEC account, ACES is the frequency management portion of AKMS. ACES has been designated by the Military Communications Electronics Board as the joint standard for use by all services in development of frequency management and cryptonet planning. CT3 with DTD software is in a fielded, ruggedized hand-held device that handles, views, stores, and loads SOI, Key, DTD provides an improved net-control device to automate crypto-net control operations for communications networks employing electronically keyed COMSEC equipment. SKL is a hand-held PDA that handles, views, stores, and loads SOI, Key, KMI is intended to replace the legacy Electronic Key Management System to provide a means for securely ordering, generating, producing, distributing, managing, and auditing cryptographic products. This system is currently being fielded by Major Commands and variants will be required for non-DoD Agencies with a COMSEC Mission, national Information Systems Security Glossary This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Department of Defense document Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms. INFORMATION SECURITY GUIDELINES FOR THE DEPLOYMENT OF DEPLOYABLE SWITCHED SYSTEMS, archived from the original on September 16,2012. ARMY SIGNAL CENTER AND FORT GORDON, archived from the original on March 30,2009. Archived from the original on September 30,2010
40.
Military Police (Lithuania)
–
The Lithuanian Military Police is a law enforcement agency operating within the national defence system of the Republic of Lithuania and is a part of the Lithuanian Armed Forces. Military Police are directly subordinate to the Chief of Defence of the Republic of Lithuania, on 22 October 1998 in the Parliament of Lithuania the Military Police Law of the Lithuanian Armed Forces was adopted which served as a basis for the establishment of military police. In 1999 Major Dainius Janėnas was appointed as Commander of Military Police, in 2000 Vilnius and Kaunas Garrisons were established, in 2001 - Klaipėda Garrison, in 2005 - Šiauliai Garrison were established. In 2004 Lt Col Sigitas Butkus was appointed as Commander of Military Police, on 22 October 2004, Military Police colours were adopted. Military policemen participate in operations and exercises. Any person serving in the National Defence System or having served in the military service. Control group, Courrier section, Support units, all relevant terms must be followed
41.
Chief of Defence
–
The Chief of Defence is the highest ranked commissioned officer of a nations armed forces. Thus, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is the CHOD of the United States, the Chief of the Defence Staff is the CHOD of United Kingdom, and the Chief of Defence is the CHOD of Norway. Both NATO and EU occasionally hold CHODs meetings of the NATO Military Committee, within member states of NATO, the following national positions are the CHOD positions. Sometimes more than one form of translation into English is encountered, within the EU member states that are not members of NATO, the following national positions are the CHOD positions. Note that in countries outside of NATO and EU, the concept of civilian control of the military is inapplicable. In some countries the minister of defence is often a military officer. However, the list below only lists CHOD equivalents and not defense ministers
42.
Special Operations Forces
–
Special forces and special operations forces are military or police units trained to conduct special operations. The term special forces in the United States refers to the U. S. Armys forces, in Russian-speaking countries special forces are typically called spetsnaz, an acronym for special purpose. Likewise, Russian speakers refer to special forces of nations as spetsnaz, for example. Special Forces would be referred to as amerikanski spetsnaz in Russian, other significant roles lay in reconnaissance, providing essential intelligence from near or among the enemy and increasingly in combating irregular forces, their infrastructure and activities. Hamilcar Barca in Sicily had specialized troops trained to launch several offensives per day, in the late Roman or early Byzantine period, Roman fleets used small, fast, camouflaged ships crewed by selected men for scouting and commando missions. In Japan, ninjas were used for reconnaissance, espionage and as assassins, bodyguards or fortress guards, during the Napoleonic wars, rifle and sapper units were formed that held specialised roles in reconnaissance and skirmishing and were not committed to the formal battle lines. The British Indian Army deployed two special forces during their wars, the Corps of Guides formed in 1846 and the Gurkha Scouts. During the Second Boer War the British Army felt the need for specialised units became most apparent. This unit was formed in 1900 by Lord Lovat and early on reported to an American, Major Frederick Russell Burnham, after the war, Lovats Scouts went on to formally become the British Armys first sniper unit. Additionally, the Bushveldt Carbineers, formed in 1901, can be seen as an unconventional warfare unit. Modern special forces emerged during the Second World War, in 1940, the British Commandos were formed following Winston Churchills call for specially trained troops of the hunter class, who can develop a reign of terror down the enemy coast. A staff officer, Lieutenant Colonel Dudley Clarke, had already submitted such a proposal to General Sir John Dill, Dill, aware of Churchills intentions, approved Clarkes proposal and on 23 June 1940, the first Commando raid took place. The Special Service Brigade was quickly expanded to 12 units which became known as Commandos, each Commando had a lieutenant colonel as the commanding officer and numbered around 450 men. In December 1940 a Middle East Commando depot was formed with the responsibility of training and supplying reinforcements for the Commando units in that theatre, in February 1942 the Commando training depot at Achnacarry in the Scottish Highlands was established by Brigadier Charles Haydon. Under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Charles Vaughan, the Commando depot was responsible for training complete units, the training regime was for the time innovative and physically demanding, and far in advance of normal British Army training. The depot staff were all hand picked, with the ability to any of the volunteers. Training and assessment started immediately on arrival, with the volunteers having to complete an 8-mile march with all their equipment from the Spean Bridge railway station to the commando depot, exercises were conducted using live ammunition and explosives to make training as realistic as possible. Physical fitness was a prerequisite, with cross country runs and boxing matches to improve fitness, speed and endurance marches were conducted up and down the nearby mountain ranges and over assault courses that included a zip-line over Loch Arkaig, all while carrying arms and full equipment
43.
Lithuanian National Defence Volunteer Forces
–
The National Defence Volunteer Forces or NDVF is an important part of the Lithuanian Armed Forces. This decision made legal already existing volunteer formations that began appearing as early as 1990, Voluntary National Defence Service was reorganised into the National Defence Volunteer Force. In 2003 Volunteer Force was integrated into the Lithuanian Land Force, there are around 5000 volunteers and around 800 professional soldiers in the force. By the end of 1991 all units of the National Defence System were formed on a voluntary basis, in March 1991 the VNDS staff, an operational platoon, the VNDS Training Centre were formed as well as 200 company size units were organised into eight territorial defence regions. In accordance with an issued by Director General of Department of National Defence. During the 1991 Soviet coup détat attempt, volunteer serviceman Artūras Sakalauskas lost his life in the line of duty when defending the Lithuanian Supreme Council on 21 August. Once the coup détat was defeated, NDVS units received an order to block the Soviet forces in order to prevent them from bringing replacement troops from Russia into Lithuania, at that time forty-four guard posts were installed where 201 NDVS members would simultaneously stand on duty. At the end of 1991, the Volunteer Forces embarked upon the protection of strategic assets. Volunteer units provided support to authorities in the event of natural or industrial disasters. They also took part in activities during the flood of the Nemunas Delta in the Western part of Lithuania. In 1993, during a visit of Pope John Paul II to Lithuania, as of 1994 members of the Volunteer Forces have been participating international peacekeeping missions. In 1998 the Voluntary National Defence Service was reorganised as the National Defence Volunteer Forces, KASP – in Lithuanian), since 2004 the Lithuanian Grand Duke Butigeidis Dragoon Battalion has been assigned to the Volunteer Forces. On 1 July 2005 the 9th Territorial Unit of the Kęstutis Military District of the Volunteer Force was restructured. The force units and members have placed under the control of the 3rd Territorial Unit of the Žemaičiai military District. On 1 September 2005 the 4th Territorial Unit of Tauras Military District was restructured, all relevant terms must be followed.0 Unported License, but not under the GFDL. All relevant terms must be followed.0 Unported License, all relevant terms must be followed. Ministry of National Defence Republic of Lithuania Military of Lithuania
44.
Iron Wolf Mechanised Infantry Brigade
–
Mechanized Infantry Brigade Iron Wolf is the core unit of the Lithuanian Army and forms the countrys contribution to NATO collective defence. The name of the brigade relates to the Lithuanian mythical character from the foundation legend of the Vilnius city. The unit originated in June 1990, when a separate Defence Squad was created, same year, in autumn, the Honors Guards Company was created. Gen. Valdas Tutkus and Chief of Defense of Denmark Gen. Hans Jasper Helso have signed the Memorandum of MIB Iron Wolf affiliation with Danish Division, Mindaugas Steponavičius The soldiers of the brigade participate in exercises of various levels as in Lithuania as in abroad as well. In addition, they are conducting peacekeeping operations in Afghanistan and stand by period in NATO Response Force, the Brigade constantly takes part in joint projects, international operations, and wargames together with other countries military units. Among those are the British Armed Forces, the Army of Denmark, the Army of the Czech Republic, the project is executed in cooperation with several Scandinavian nations, Great Britain, and the United States. LITPOLBAT, a project to create a joint battalion with Polands military, LITBAT, a project aimed to reorganized the Grand Duke Algirdas Battalion into a mechanized infantry battalion, capable of operating together with NATO forces. Executed with the help of Denmarks military instructors, grunwald Wind, a biannual military practice in Poland. The Brigades HQ and the Duchess Birtutė Battalion take part in those, the biannual Amber Hope military practice, together with other BALTBAT members. The NATO military practice Strong Resolve 2001 and Strong Resolve 2002 in Poland, the Cooperative Lantern 2002 military practice in the Netherlands, attended by soldiers from the Brigade HQ and the King Mindaugas Battalion. UNPROFOR, IFOR, SFOR, KFOR.0 Unported License, all relevant terms must be followed. Http, //kariuomene. kam. lt/en/structure_1469/land_force/structure_1299/motorised_infantry_brigade_iron_wolf. html www. Ginklai. net - article used with permission
Special Operations Force
Somalia - 1 (2017 est.))[7]
United States
Denmark
Finland
Germany
Italy
Norway
Poland
Sweden
United Kingdom
Israel
.png){kind=small}
