1.
Lithuania
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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
2.
Army
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An army or ground force is a fighting force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the military branch. It may also include other branches of the such as the air force via means of aviation corps. Within a national force, the word army may also mean a field army. They differ from army reserves who are activated only during such times as war or natural disasters, in several countries, the army is officially called the Land Army to differentiate it from an air force called the Air Army, notably France. In such countries, the army on its own retains its connotation of a land force in common usage. By convention, irregular military is understood in contrast to regular armies which grew slowly from personal bodyguards or elite militia, regular in this case refers to standardized doctrines, uniforms, organizations, etc. Regular military can also refer to full-time status, versus reserve or part-time personnel, other distinctions may separate statutory forces, from de facto non-statutory forces such as some guerrilla and revolutionary armies. Armies may also be expeditionary or fencible, india has had some of the earliest armies in the world. During the Indus Valley Civilization however, there was just a small force as they didnt fear invasion at the time. After the Aryan invasion, kingdoms and city-states started forming armies to protect their cities, one of the first known recorded battles, the Battle of the Ten Kings, happened when a Hindu king defeated an alliance of ten kings. During the Iron Age, the Maurya and Nanda Empires had large armies, in the Gupta age, large armies of longbowmen were recruited to fight off invading horse archer armies. Elephants, pikemen and cavalry were other featured troops, in Rajput times, the main piece of equipment was iron or chain-mail armour, a round shield, either a curved blade or a straight-sword, a chakra disc and a katar dagger. China has existed as a culture for thousands of years, the states of China raised armies for at least 1000 years before the Spring and Autumn Annals. By the Warring States period, the crossbow had been perfected enough to become a military secret, thus any political power of a state rested on the armies and their organization. China underwent political consolidation of the states of Han, Wei, Chu, Yan, Zhao and Qi, until by 221 BCE, Qin Shi Huang, sun Tzus The Art of War remains one of Chinas Seven Military Classics, even though it is two thousand years old. Since no political figure could exist without an army, measures were taken to only the most capable leaders could control the armies. Civil bureaucracies arose to control the power of the states
3.
Brigade
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A brigade is a major tactical military formation that is typically composed of three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment, two or more brigades may constitute a division. Brigades formed into divisions are usually infantry or armored, in addition to combat units, they may include combat support units or sub-units, such as artillery and engineers, and logistic units or sub-units. Historically, such brigades have sometimes been called brigade-groups, on operations, a brigade may comprise both organic elements and attached elements, including some temporarily attached for a specific task. Brigades may also be specialized and comprise battalions of a branch, for example cavalry, mechanized, armored, artillery, air defence, aviation, engineers. Some brigades are classified as independent or separate and operate independently from the division structure. The typical NATO standard brigade consists of approximately 3,200 to 5,500 troops, however, in Switzerland and Austria, the numbers could go as high as 11,000 troops. The Soviet Union, its forerunners and successors, mostly use regiment instead of brigade, a brigades commander is commonly a major general, brigadier general, brigadier or colonel. In some armies, the commander is rated as a General Officer, the brigade commander has a self-contained headquarters and staff. Some brigades may also have a deputy commander, the headquarters has a nucleus of staff officers and support that can vary in size depending on the type of brigade. On operations, additional specialist elements may be attached, the headquarters will usually have its own communications unit. In some gendarmerie forces, brigades are the organizational unit. The brigade as a military unit came about starting in the 15th century when the British army, as such a field army became larger, the number of subordinate commanders became unmanageable for the officer in general command of said army, usually a major general, to effectively command. In order to streamline command relationships, as well as effect some modicum of control, especially in regard to combined arms operations. The terms origin is found in two French roots, which together, meant roughly those who fight, the so-called brigada was a well-mixed unit, comprising infantry, cavalry and normally also artillery, designated for a special task. The size of such brigada ranged from a company of up to two regiments. The brigada was the forerunner of the battalion task force, battle group. The brigade was improved as a unit by the Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus
4.
Mechanized infantry
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Mechanized infantry is infantry equipped with armored personnel carriers or infantry fighting vehicles for transport and combat. Mechanized infantry is distinguished from motorized infantry in that its vehicles provide a degree of protection from hostile fire, most APCs and IFVs are fully tracked or are all-wheel drive vehicles, for mobility across rough ground. Some nations distinguish between mechanized and armored infantry, designating troops carried by APCs as mechanized and those in IFVs as armored. The support weapons for mechanized infantry are also provided with motorized transport, compared with light truck-mobile infantry, mechanized infantry can maintain rapid tactical movement and, if mounted in IFVs, has more integral firepower. It requires more combat supplies and ordnance supplies, and a larger proportion of manpower is required to crew. For example, most APCs mount a section of seven or eight infantrymen but have a crew of two, most IFVs carry only six or seven infantry but require a crew of three. To be effective in the field, mechanized units also require many mechanics, with specialized maintenance and recovery vehicles, arguably, the first mechanized infantry were assault teams mounted on A7V tanks. The vehicles were extra-large to let them carry sizeable assault teams, all-machine gun armed A7V tanks carried two small flame throwers for their dismounts to use. A7V tank would often carry a second officer to lead the assault team, during the Battle of St. Quentin, A7Vs were accompanied by 20 stormtroopers from Rohr Assault Battalion, but it is unspecified if they were acting as dismounts or were accompanying the tanks on foot. During the battle, tank crews were reported to dismount and attack enemy positions with grenades, towards the end of World War I, all the armies involved were faced with the problem of maintaining the momentum of an attack. Tanks, artillery, or infiltration tactics could all be used to break through an enemy defense and it was widely acknowledged that cavalry was too vulnerable to be used on most European battlefields, but many armies continued to deploy them. Motorized infantry could maintain rapid movement, but their trucks required either a road network or firm open terrain. They were unable to traverse a battlefield obstructed by craters, barbed wire, tracked or all-wheel drive vehicles were to be the solution. Following the war, development of mechanized forces was largely theoretical for some time, although some proponents of mobile warfare, such as J. F. C. Fuller, advocated building tank fleets, other, such as Heinz Guderian in Germany, as the Germans rearmed in the 1930s, they equipped some infantry units in their new Panzer divisions with the half-track Sd. Kfz. 251, which could keep up with tanks on most terrain, the French Army also created Light Mechanized divisions in which some of the infantry units possessed small tracked carriers. Together with the motorization of the infantry and support units. The German doctrine was to use them to exploit breakthroughs in Blitzkrieg offensives, as World War II progressed, most major armies integrated tanks or assault guns with mechanized infantry, as well as other supporting arms, such as artillery and engineers, as combined arms units
5.
Battalion
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A battalion is a military unit. The use of the term varies by nationality and branch of service. Typically a battalion consists of 300 to 800 soldiers and is divided into a number of companies, a battalion is typically commanded by a lieutenant colonel. In some countries the word battalion is associated with the infantry, the term was first used in Italian as battaglione no later than the 16th century. It derived from the Italian word for battle, battaglia, the first use of battalion in English was in the 1580s, and the first use to mean part of a regiment is from 1708. The battalion must, of course, have a source of re-supply to enable it to sustain operations for more than a few days, the battalion is usually part of a regiment, brigade, or group, depending on the organizational model used by that service. The bulk of a battalions companies are often homogeneous with respect to type, a battalion includes a headquarters company and some sort of combat service support, typically organized within a combat support company. The term battalion is used in the British Army Infantry and some including the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. It was formerly used in the Royal Engineers, and was used in the now defunct Royal Army Ordnance Corps. Other corps usually use the term regiment instead, an infantry battalion is numbered ordinarily within its regiment. It normally has a company, support company, and three rifle companies. Each company is commanded by a major, the officer commanding, the HQ company contains signals, quartermaster, catering, intelligence, administration, pay, training, operations and medical elements. The support company usually contains anti-tank, machine gun, mortar, pioneer, mechanised units usually have an attached light aid detachment of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers to perform field repairs on vehicles and equipment. A British battalion in theatre during World War II had around 845 men in it, and, as of 2012, with successive rounds of cutbacks after the war, many infantry regiments were reduced to a single battalion. A battalion group or battlegroup consists of a battalion or armoured regiment with sub-units detached from other military units acting under the command of the battalion commander. In the Canadian Forces, most battalions are reserve units of between 100–200 soldiers that include an operationally ready, field-deployable component of approximately a half-company apiece, the nine regular force infantry battalions each contain three or four rifle companies and one or two support companies. Canadian battalions are generally commanded by lieutenant-colonels, though smaller reserve battalions may be commanded by majors, with the Dutch artillery units, the equivalent of a battalion is called an afdeling. Combat companies consist of infantry, combat engineers, or tanks, in the latter case, the unit is called an eskadron, which translates roughly to squadron
6.
Lithuanian Land Force
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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
7.
Colonel
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Colonel is a senior military officer rank below the general officer ranks. However, in small military forces, such as those of Iceland or the Vatican. It is also used in police forces and paramilitary organizations. Historically, in the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of a regiment in an army, the rank of colonel is typically above the rank of lieutenant colonel. The rank above colonel is typically called brigadier, brigade general or brigadier general, equivalent naval ranks may be called captain or ship-of-the-line captain. In the Commonwealth air force rank system, the equivalent rank is group captain, the word colonel derives from the same root as the word column and means of a column, and, by implication, commander of a column. The word colonel is therefore linked to the column in a similar way that brigadier is linked to brigade. By the end of the medieval period, a group of companies was referred to as a column of an army. Since the word is believed to derive from sixteenth-century Italian, it was presumably first used by Italian city states in that century. The first use of colonel as a rank in an army was in the French National Legions created by King Francis I by his decree of 1534. Building on the reforms of Louis XIIs decree of 1509. Each colonel commanded a legion with a strength of six thousand men. With the shift from primarily mercenary to primarily national armies in the course of the seventeenth century, the Spanish equivalent rank of coronel was used by the Spanish tercios in the 16th and 17th centuries. Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, nicknamed the Great Captain, divided his armies in coronelías or colonelcies, however, the Spanish word probably derives from a different origin, in that it appears to designate an officer of the crown, rather than an officer of the column. This makes the Spanish word coronel probably cognate with the English word coroner and this regiment, or governance, was to some extent embodied in a contract and set of written rules, also referred to as the colonels regiment or standing regulation. By extension, the group of companies subject to a colonels regiment came to be referred to as his regiment as well, the position, however, was primarily contractual and it became progressively more of a functionless sinecure. By the late 19th century, colonel was a military rank though still held typically by an officer in command of a regiment or equivalent unit. As European military influence expanded throughout the world, the rank of colonel became adopted by every nation
8.
Sergeant major
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Sergeant major is a senior non-commissioned rank or appointment in many militaries around the world. In Commonwealth countries, the degrees of sergeant major are appointments held by warrant officers. In the United States, there are various grades of sergeant major. In 16th century Spain, the mayor was a general officer. He commanded an infantry, and ranked about third in the armys command structure. In the 17th century, sergeant majors appeared in individual regiments and these were field officers, third in command of their regiments, with a role similar to the older, army-level sergeant majors. The older position became known as sergeant major general to distinguish it, over time, the term sergeant was dropped from both titles, giving rise to the modern ranks of major and major general. It is about time that the U. S. and British histories of the title diverge. A sergeant major is an appointment, not a rank and it is normally held by the senior warrant officer of an army or marine unit. These appointments are made at several levels, for example, the warrant officer of a company, battery or squadron. The title normally consists of the title followed by sergeant major. A sergeant major of a regiment or battalion is known as a sergeant major. In the Australian Defence Force, in addition to CSMs and RSMs, Sergeant majors are normally addressed as sir or maam by subordinates, and by Mr or Ms by superiors, with the term RSM/CSM/etc reserved for the sergeant majors commanding officer. In the British Armed Forces, the plural is sergeant majors, the appointment of sergeant major is given to the senior non-commissioned member within sub-units, units and some formations of the Canadian Army. The regimental sergeant-major is the sergeant major in a battalion-sized unit, including infantry battalions and artillery, armoured, engineer. This appointment is held by a chief warrant officer. The same position can also be held by a warrant officer in anticipation of promotion. In artillery batteries, this appointment is known as battery sergeant-major, while in units with a cavalry heritage, company sergeant-majors and their equivalents are normally addressed as Sergeant-Major or by rank
9.
Lithuanian language
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Lithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.9 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania, Lithuanian is a Baltic language, related to Latvian. It is written in a Latin alphabet, Lithuanian is often said to be the most conservative living Indo-European language, retaining many features of Proto-Indo-European now lost in other Indo-European languages. Anyone wishing to hear how Indo-Europeans spoke should come and listen to a Lithuanian peasant, among Indo-European languages, Lithuanian is extraordinarily conservative, retaining many archaic features otherwise found only in ancient languages such as Sanskrit or Ancient Greek. For this reason, it is one of the most important sources in the reconstruction of the Proto-Indo-European language despite its late attestation, the Proto-Balto-Slavic languages branched off directly from Proto-Indo-European, then branched into Proto-Baltic and Proto-Slavic. Proto-Baltic branched off into Proto-West Baltic and Proto-East Baltic, according to some glottochronological speculations, the Eastern Baltic languages split from the Western Baltic ones between AD400 and AD600. The Greek geographer Ptolemy had already written of two Baltic tribe/nations by name, the Galindai and Sudinoi in the 2nd century AD, the differentiation between Lithuanian and Latvian started after AD800, for a long period, they could be considered dialects of a single language. At a minimum, transitional dialects existed until the 14th or 15th century, also, the 13th- and 14th-century occupation of the western part of the Daugava basin by the German Sword Brethren had a significant influence on the languages independent development. The earliest surviving written Lithuanian text is a translation dating from about 1503–1525 of the Lords Prayer, the Hail Mary, printed books existed after 1547, but the level of literacy among Lithuanians was low through the 18th century, and books were not commonly available. Brought into the country by book smugglers despite the threat of prison sentences. Jonas Jablonskis made significant contributions to the formation of the standard Lithuanian language and his proposal for Standard Lithuanian was based on his native Western Aukštaitijan dialect with some features of the eastern Prussian Lithuanians dialect spoken in Lithuania Minor. These dialects had preserved archaic phonetics mostly intact due to the influence of the neighbouring Old Prussian language, Lithuanian has been the official language of Lithuania since 1918. During the Soviet era, it was used in official discourse along with Russian, Lithuanian is one of two living Baltic languages, along with Latvian. An earlier Baltic language, Old Prussian, was extinct by the 18th century, such an opinion was first represented by the likes of August Schleicher, and to a certain extent, Antoine Meillet. Endzelīns thought that the similarity between Baltic and Slavic was explicable through language contact while Schleicher, Meillet and others argued for a kinship between the two families. An attempt to reconcile the opposing stances was made by Jan Michał Rozwadowski and he proposed that the two language groups were indeed a unity after the division of Indo-European, but also suggested that after the two had divided into separate entities, they had posterior contact. The genetic kinship view is augmented by the fact that Proto-Balto-Slavic is easily reconstructible with important proofs in historic prosody, vyacheslav Ivanov and Vladimir Toporov believed in the unity of Balto-Slavic, but not in the unity of Baltic. In the 1960s, they proposed a new division, that into East-Baltic, West-Baltic, the Ivanov–Toporov theory is gaining ground among students of comparative-historic grammar of Indo-European language, and seems to be replacing the previous two stances in most PIE textbooks
10.
Lithuanian Armed Forces
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The Lithuanian Armed Forces consist of 20565 active personnel. Conscription was ended in September 2008 but was reintroduced in 2015 because of concerns about the environment in light of Russias military intervention in Ukraine. Lithuanias defence system is based on the concept of total and unconditional defence mandated by Lithuanias National Security Strategy, the goal of Lithuanias defence policy is to prepare their society for general defence and to integrate Lithuania into Western security and defence structures. The defence ministry is responsible for combat forces, search and rescue, a special security department handles VIP protection and communications security. Directly subordinated to the Chief of Defence are the Special Operations Forces, the Reserve Forces are under command of the Lithuanian National Defence Volunteer Forces. The core of the Lithuanian Land Force structure is the Iron Wolf Mechanised Infantry Brigade consisting of three mechanized infantry battalions and artillery battalion, the Lithuanian Land forces are undertaking a major modernization. New weapons and heavier armour are going to be acquired, in 2007 the Land forces bought the German Heckler & Koch G36 rifle to replace the older Swedish Ak-4 as main weapon. There are plans to buy new Infantry fighting vehicles, the volunteers have already successfully participated in international operations in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq. The NDVF consists of six territorial units, the Lithuanian Air Force is an integral part of the Lithuanian Armed Forces. The LAF is formed from professional military servicemen and non-military personnel, units are located at various bases across Lithuania, Kaunas, Karmėlava, Nemirseta, Šiauliai, Radviliškis. The initial formation of the LAF was the 2nd transport squadron with the transfer of 20 An-2 aircraft from civilian to military use and these were joined by four L-39C Albatros aircraft purchased from Kazakhstan as part of the intended 16 to be used by the 1st fighter squadron. Mil Mi-8 helicopters were modernised by LAF, in 20082 medium-range radars were acquired for the Air Forces Airspace Surveillance and Control Command. Air space is patrolled by jet fighters from other NATO members, the European Unions External border is patrolled by Aviation Unit of the Lithuanian State Border Guard Service which received new helicopters EC-120, EC-135 and EC-145. The Navy has over 600 personnel, the flotilla is the core component of the Navy, and consists of the Mine Countermeasures Squadron, the Patrol Ships Squadron, and the Harbour Boats Group. The current Commander in Chief of the Lithuanian Navy is Rear Admiral Kęstutis Macijauskas, the Naval base and Headquarters are located in the city of Klaipėda. The Navy uses patrol ships for coastal surveillance, the four newly acquired Flyvefisken class patrol vessels replaced the older Storm class patrol boats and Grisha class corvettes. SOF is formed from the Special Operations Unit, SOF are responsible for the following tasks, special reconnaissance, direct actions, and military support. It is also in charge of tasks, e. g. protection of VIP in peacetime
11.
NATO
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The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party, three NATO members are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and are officially nuclear-weapon states. NATOs headquarters are located in Haren, Brussels, Belgium, while the headquarters of Allied Command Operations is near Mons. NATO is an Alliance that consists of 28 independent member countries across North America and Europe, an additional 22 countries participate in NATOs Partnership for Peace program, with 15 other countries involved in institutionalized dialogue programmes. The combined military spending of all NATO members constitutes over 70% of the global total, Members defence spending is supposed to amount to 2% of GDP. The course of the Cold War led to a rivalry with nations of the Warsaw Pact, politically, the organization sought better relations with former Warsaw Pact countries, several of which joined the alliance in 1999 and 2004. N. The Treaty of Brussels, signed on 17 March 1948 by Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, the treaty and the Soviet Berlin Blockade led to the creation of the Western European Unions Defence Organization in September 1948. However, participation of the United States was thought necessary both to counter the power of the USSR and to prevent the revival of nationalist militarism. He got a hearing, especially considering American anxiety over Italy. In 1948 European leaders met with U. S. defense, military and diplomatic officials at the Pentagon, marshalls orders, exploring a framework for a new and unprecedented association. Talks for a new military alliance resulted in the North Atlantic Treaty and it included the five Treaty of Brussels states plus the United States, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. The first NATO Secretary General, Lord Ismay, stated in 1949 that the goal was to keep the Russians out, the Americans in. Popular support for the Treaty was not unanimous, and some Icelanders participated in a pro-neutrality, the creation of NATO can be seen as the primary institutional consequence of a school of thought called Atlanticism which stressed the importance of trans-Atlantic cooperation. The members agreed that an attack against any one of them in Europe or North America would be considered an attack against them all. The treaty does not require members to respond with military action against an aggressor, although obliged to respond, they maintain the freedom to choose the method by which they do so. This differs from Article IV of the Treaty of Brussels, which states that the response will be military in nature. It is nonetheless assumed that NATO members will aid the attacked member militarily, the treaty was later clarified to include both the members territory and their vessels, forces or aircraft above the Tropic of Cancer, including some Overseas departments of France. The creation of NATO brought about some standardization of allied military terminology, procedures, and technology, the roughly 1300 Standardization Agreements codified many of the common practices that NATO has achieved
12.
Collective defence
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While collective security is an idea with a long history, its implementation in practice has proved problematic. Several prerequisites have to be met for it to have a chance of working, Collective security is one of the most promising approaches for peace and a valuable device for power management on an international scale. Cardinal Richelieu proposed a scheme for collective security in 1629, which was reflected in the 1648 Peace of Westphalia. In the eighteenth century many proposals were made for security arrangements. The concept of a community of nations was outlined in 1795 in Immanuel Kants Perpetual Peace. Kant outlined the idea of a league of nations that would control conflict, according to the Ahmadiyya movement in Islam, collective security was prescribed by the teachings of the Quran. If, however, one of the parties does not accept the terms of agreement and wages war, then other countries should unite together and stop that aggressor. When the aggressive nation is defeated and agrees to mutual negotiation, then all parties should work towards an agreement that leads to long-standing peace and reconciliation. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, such a peace demandeth that the Great Powers should resolve, for the sake of the tranquility of the peoples of the earth, to be fully reconciled among themselves. Should any king take up arms against another, all should unitedly arise and this will ensure the peace and composure of every people, government and nation. The forerunner of the League of Nations, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, was formed by peace activists William Randal Cremer, the organization was international in scope with a third of the members of parliament, in the 24 countries with parliaments, serving as members of the IPU by 1914. The IPUs structure consisted of a Council headed by a President which would later be reflected in the structure of the League, at the start of the twentieth century two power blocs emerged through alliances between the European Great Powers. It was these alliances that came into effect at the start of the First World War in 1914 and this was the first major war in Europe between industrialized countries and the first time in Western Europe the results of industrialization had been dedicated to war. Anti-war sentiment rose across the world, the First World War was described as the war to end all wars, the causes identified included arms races, alliances, secret diplomacy, and the freedom of sovereign states to enter into war for their own benefit. After World War I, the first large scale attempt to provide security in modern times was the establishment of the League of Nations in 1919–20. The provisions of the League of Nations Covenant represented a system for decision-making. An example of the failure of the League of Nations collective security is the Manchurian Crisis, after the invasion, members of the League passed a resolution calling for Japan to withdraw or face severe penalties. Given that every nation on the League of Nations council had power, Japan promptly vetoed the resolution
13.
Vilnius
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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
14.
Defense (military)
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The task of the military is usually defined as defense of the state, and its citizens, and the prosecution of war against another state. The profession of soldiering as part of a military is older than recorded history itself, some of the most enduring images of the classical antiquity portray the power and feats of its military leaders. The Battle of Kadesh in 1274 BC was one of the points of Pharaoh Ramses IIs reign. A thousand years later, the first emperor of unified China, Qin Shi Huang, was so determined to impress the gods with his military might, he was buried with an army of terracotta soldiers. The Romans were dedicated to military matters, leaving to posterity many treatises and writings, as well as a number of lavishly carved triumphal arches. Issue, Possibly cognate with Thousand, cf. Latin and Romance language root word mil-) The first recorded use of the military in English. It comes from the Latin militaris through French, but is of uncertain etymology, the word is now identified as denoting someone that is skilled in use of weapons, or engaged in military service, or in warfare. As a noun, the military usually refers generally to an armed forces, or sometimes, more specifically. In general, it refers to the physicality of armed forces, their personnel, equipment, as an adjective, military originally referred only to soldiers and soldiering, but it soon broadened to apply to land forces in general, and anything to do with their profession. The names of both the Royal Military Academy and United States Military Academy reflect this, as such, it now connotes any activity performed by armed force personnel. Military history is considered to be the history of all conflicts. Military history has a number of facets, one main facet is to learn from past accomplishments and mistakes, so as to more effectively wage war in the future. Another is to create a sense of tradition, which is used to create cohesive military forces. Still another may be to learn to prevent wars more effectively, human knowledge about the military is largely based on both recorded and oral history of military conflicts, their participating armies and navies and, more recently, air forces. In the whole history of humanity, every nation had different needs for military forces, how these needs are determined forms the basis of their composition, equipment, and use of facilities. It also determines what military does in terms of peacetime, All military forces, whether large or small, are military organizations that have official state, and world recognition as such. Organisations with similar features are paramilitary, civil defense, militia and these commonalities of the states military define them. Another role of military personnel is to ensure a continuous replacement of departing servicemen and women through recruitment
15.
Sovereignty
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Sovereignty is understood in jurisprudence as the full right and power of a governing body to govern itself without any interference from outside sources or bodies. In political theory, sovereignty is a term designating supreme authority over some polity. It is a basic principle underlying the dominant Westphalian model of state foundation, derived from Latin through French souveraineté, its attainment and retention, in both Chinese and Western culture, has traditionally been associated with certain moral imperatives upon any claimant. The concept of sovereignty has been discussed throughout history, and is still actively debated and it has changed in its definition, concept, and application throughout, especially during the Age of Enlightenment. The current notion of state sovereignty contains four aspects consisting of territory, population, authority, Sovereignty is a hypothetical trade, in which two potentially conflicting sides, respecting de facto realities of power, exchange such recognitions as their least costly strategy. The Roman jurist Ulpian observed that, The imperium of the people is transferred to the Emperor, the Emperor is not bound by the law. Emperor is the law making and abiding force, Ulpian was expressing the idea that the Emperor exercised a rather absolute form of sovereignty, although he did not use the term expressly. Classical Ulpians statements were known in medieval Europe, but sovereignty was an important concept in medieval times, Medieval monarchs were not sovereign, at least not strongly so, because they were constrained by, and shared power with, their feudal aristocracy. Furthermore, both were strongly constrained by custom, Sovereignty existed during the Medieval Period as the de jure rights of nobility and royalty, and in the de facto capability of individuals to make their own choices in life. 1380–1400, the issue of sovereignty was addressed in Geoffrey Chaucers Middle English collection of Canterbury Tales. The story revolves around the knight Sir Gawain granting to Dame Ragnell, his new bride, what is purported to be wanted most by women and we desire most from men, From men both lund and poor, To have sovereignty without lies. For where we have sovereignty, all is ours, Though a knight be ever so fierce and it is our desire to have master Over such a sir. Jean Bodin, partly in reaction to the chaos of the French wars of religion, in his 1576 treatise Les Six Livres de la République Bodin argued that it is inherent in the nature of the state that the sovereign must have both great and perpetual authority. Bodin rejected the notion of transference of sovereignty from people to the ruler, however, although he is often connected with absolutism, Bodin held some moderate opinions on how government should in practice be carried out. Thus, Bodin’s sovereign was restricted by the law of the state. Bodin believed that “the most divine, most excellent, and the form most proper to royalty is governed partly aristocratically and partly democratically”. With his doctrine that sovereignty is conferred by law, Bodin predefined the scope of the divine right of kings. During the Age of Enlightenment, the idea of sovereignty gained both legal and moral force as the main Western description of the meaning and power of a State
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Training
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Training is teaching, or developing in oneself or others, any skills and knowledge that relate to specific useful competencies. Training has specific goals of improving ones capability, capacity, productivity and it forms the core of apprenticeships and provides the backbone of content at institutes of technology. People within many professions and occupations may refer to this sort of training as professional development, Physical training concentrates on mechanistic goals, training-programs in this area develop specific skills or muscles, often with a view of peaking at a particular time. Some physical training programs focus on raising overall physical fitness, in military use, training means gaining the physical ability to perform and survive in combat, and learning the many skills needed in a time of war. These include how to use a variety of weapons, outdoor survival skills, while some studies have indicated relaxation training is useful for some medical conditions, autogenic training has limited results or has been the result of few studies. Some commentators use a term for workplace learning to improve performance, training. There are also additional services available online for those who wish to receive training above, some examples of these services include career counseling, skill assessment, and supportive services. One can generally categorize such training as on-the-job or off-the-job, the on-the-job training method takes place in a normal working situation, using the actual tools, equipment, documents or materials that trainees will use when fully trained. On-the-job training has a reputation as most effective for vocational work. It involves employee training at the place of work while he or she is doing the actual job. Usually a professional trainer serves as the course instructor using hands-on training often supported by formal classroom training, sometimes training can occur by using web based technology or video conferencing tools. Simulation based training is another method which uses technology to assist in trainee development and this is particularly common in the training of skills requiring a very high degree of practice, and in those which include a significant responsibility for life and property. An advantage is that simulation training allows the trainer to find, study, off-the-job training method takes place away from normal work situations — implying that the employee does not count as a directly productive worker while such training takes place. Off-the-job training method also involves employee training at an away from the actual work environment. It often utilizes lectures, case studies, role playing and simulation, having the advantage of allowing people to get away from work and this type of training has proven more effective in inculcating concepts and ideas. Many personnel selection companies offer a service which would help to improve employee competences, the internal personnel training topics can vary from effective problem solving skills to leadership training. A more recent development in job training is the On the Job Training Plan, note for example the institutionalised spiritual training of Threefold Training in Buddhism, Meditation in Hinduism or discipleship in Christianity. These aspects of training can be short term or last a lifetime, depending on the context of the training, instructor Guide, is an important document available to an instructor. Specifically, it is used within a Lesson Plan, as the blueprint that ensures instruction is presented in proper sequence, objectives of a lesson plan, To ensure that instructors have considered all factors necessary to conduct a safe and effective lesson
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Military exercise
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A military exercise or war game is the employment of military resources in training for military operations, either exploring the effects of warfare or testing strategies without actual combat. This also serves the purpose of ensuring the readiness of garrisoned or deployable forces prior to deployment from home base / home station. Exercises in the 20th and 21st centuries have often identified by a unique codename in the same manner as military contingency operations. The more typically thought of exercise is the exercise, or the full-scale rehearsal of military maneuvers as practice for warfare. In a field exercise or fleet exercise, the two sides in the battle are typically called red and blue, to avoid naming a particular adversary. This naming convention originates with the inventors of the table-top war-game, a Command Post Exercise typically focuses on the battle readiness of staffs such as a particular Unified Combatant Command or one of its components at any level. It may run in parallel with an FTX or its equivalent, other types of exercise include the TEWT, also known as a sand table, map or cloth model exercise. This type of exercise allows commanders to manipulate models through possible scenarios in military planning and this is also called warfare simulation, or in some instances a virtual battlefield and in the past has been described as wargames. Said forces may be different branches of the forces from one country or may be armed forces from different countries. These latter events incorporating multiple nations have often referred to as NATO exercises, Coalition exercises, Bilateral exercises, Multilateral exercises. The modern use of military exercises grew out of the military need to study warfare, during the age of Kabinettskriege, Frederick the Great, King of Prussia from 1740 to 1786, put together his armies as a well-oiled clockwork mechanism whose components were robot-like warriors. No individual initiative was allowed to Fredericks soldiers, their role was to cooperate in the creation of walls of projectiles through synchronized firepower. This was in the pursuit of an effective army. Disciplined troops should respond predictably, allowing study to be confined to maneuvers and these first wargames were played with dice which represented friction, or the intrusion of less than ideal circumstances during a real war. 21st century militaries still use wargames to simulate future wars and model their reaction, according to Manuel de Landa, after World War II the Command, Control and Communications was transferred from the military staff to the RAND Corporation, the first think tank. Von Neumann was employed by the RAND Corporation, and his theory was used in wargames to model nuclear dissuasion during the Cold War. Thus, the US nuclear strategy was defined using wargames, SAM representing the US, early game theory included only zero-sum games, which means that when one player won, the other automatically lost. Thus, betrayal was considered as the most rational thing to do and this modelization gave the basis for the massive retaliation nuclear doctrine
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Headquarters
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Headquarters denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the top of a corporation taking full responsibility for managing all business activities, in the UK, the term head office is most commonly used for the HQs of large corporations. The term is also used regarding military organizations, a headquarters is the entity at the top of a corporation that takes full responsibility for the overall success of the corporation, and ensures corporate governance. Many companies have an office at a different address to their corporate office. A headquarters normally includes the leader of business unit and his or her staff as well as all functions to manage the business unit, the head of the business unit is responsible for overall result of the business unit. Military headquarters take many forms depending on the size and nature of the unit or formation they command, typically, they are split into the forward, main and rear components, both within NATO nations, and those following the organization and doctrine of the former Soviet Union. The forward or tactical HQs is a group of staff. The main HQs is less mobile and is involved in both the planning and execution of operations, there are a number of staff assembled here from various staff branches to advise the commander, and to control the various aspects of planning and the conduct of discrete operations. A main HQ for a large formation will have a chief of staff who coordinates the staff effort, the rear or logistic HQs is some distance from the battle or front line in conventional operations. The headquarters of the Catholic Church is Vatican City, the headquarters of the Russian Orthodox Church is in Danilov Monastery, Moscow. The World Council of Churches, including Orthodox Churches, has its headquarters in Geneva, the headquarters of Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is located in Istanbul, Turkey. The headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is located in Salt Lake City, Utah, the Anglican Communion Office is in London. In Japanese budō martial arts such as karate, judo, aikido, kendo, there is usually a headquarters for each organization or region. The Japanese word honbu is generally used for that, also outside Japan, sometimes they refer to this headquarters as honbu dojo in which dojo is a facility provided for practicing discipline, the training ground. Sometimes honbu is written as hombu, the way it is pronounced, but according to the Hepburn transcription, weapons and Tactics of the Soviet Army Janes, London,516 pp. Wanner, Herbert Global and regional corporate headquarters in, Kählin, Christian, H. Switzerland Business & Investment Handbook, Orell Füssli and Wiley, Wanner, Herbert, LeClef, Xavier, & Shimizu, Hiroshi Global Headquarters on the Move, From Administrators to Facilitators Prims Second Semester 2004, Arthur D. Little
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Municipality
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It is to be distinguished from the county, which may encompass rural territory and/or numerous small communities such as towns, villages and hamlets. The term municipality may also mean the governing or ruling body of a given municipality, a municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district. The term is derived from French municipalité and Latin municipalis, a municipality can be any political jurisdiction from a sovereign state, such as the Principality of Monaco, or a small village, such as West Hampton Dunes, New York. The power of municipalities range from virtual autonomy to complete subordination to the state, municipalities may have the right to tax individuals and corporations with income tax, property tax, and corporate income tax, but may also receive substantial funding from the state. Similar terms include Spanish ayuntamiento, also called municipalidad, Polish gmina, Dutch/Flemish Gemeente, in Australia, the term local government area is used in place of the generic municipality. Here, the LGA Structure covers only incorporated areas of Australia, incorporated areas are legally designated parts of states and territories over which incorporated local governing bodies have responsibility. In Canada, municipalities are local governments established through provincial and territorial legislation, the Province of Ontario has different tiers of municipalities, including lower, upper, and single tiers. Types of upper tier municipalities in Ontario include counties and regional municipalities, nova Scotia also has regional municipalities, which include cities, counties, districts, or towns as municipal units. In India, a Nagar Palika or Municipality is a local body that administers a city of population 100,000 or more. Under the Panchayati Raj system, it directly with the state government. Generally, smaller cities and bigger towns have a Nagar Palika. Nagar Palikas are also a form of local self-government entrusted with duties and responsibilities. Such a corporation in Great Britain consists of a head as a mayor or provost, since local government reorganisation, the unit in England, Northern Ireland and Wales is known as a district, and in Scotland as a council area. A district may be awarded borough or city status, or can retain its district title, in Jersey, a municipality refers to the honorary officials elected to run each of the 12 parishes into which it is subdivided. This is the highest level of government in this jurisdiction. In the United States, municipality is usually understood as a city, town, village, or other local government unit, in the Peoples Republic of China, a direct-controlled municipality is a city with equal status to a province, Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing. In Taiwan, a municipality is a city with equal status to a province, Kaohsiung, New Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, Taipei. In Portuguese language usage, there are two words to distinguish the territory and the administrative organ, when referring to the territory, the word concelho is used, when referring to the organ of State, the word município is used
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Mindaugas
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Mindaugas was the first known Grand Duke of Lithuania and the only King of Lithuania. Little is known of his origins, early life, or rise to power, he is mentioned in a 1219 treaty as an elder duke, the contemporary and modern sources discussing his ascent mention strategic marriages along with banishment or murder of his rivals. He extended his domain into regions southeast of Lithuania proper during the 1230s and 1240s, during the summer of 1253 he was crowned King of Lithuania, ruling between 300,000 and 400,000 subjects. While his ten-year reign was marked by various state-building accomplishments, Mindaugass conflicts with relatives and other dukes continued and his gains in the southeast were challenged by the Tatars. He broke peace with the Livonian Order in 1261, possibly renouncing Christianity and his three immediate successors were assassinated as well. The disorder was not resolved until Traidenis gained the title of Grand Duke c, although his reputation was unsettled during the following centuries and his descendants were not notable, he gained standing during the 19th and 20th centuries. Mindaugas was the only King of Lithuania, while most of the Lithuanian Grand Dukes from Jogaila onward also reigned as Kings of Poland, in the 1990s the historian Edvardas Gudavičius published research supporting an exact coronation date –6 July 1253. This day is now a national holiday, Statehood Day. Contemporary written sources about Mindaugas are very scarce, much what is known about his reign is obtained from the Livonian Rhymed Chronicle and the Hypatian Codex. Both of these chronicles were produced by enemies of Lithuania and thus have anti-Lithuanian bias and they are also incomplete, both of them lack dates and locations even for the most important events. For example, the Livonian Rhymed Chronicle devoted 125 poetry lines to Mindaugas coronation, other important sources are the papal bulls regarding baptism and coronation of Mindaugas. The Lithuanians did not produce any surviving records themselves, except for a series of acts granting lands to the Livonian Order, due to lack of sources, some important questions regarding Mindaugas and his reign cannot be answered. Because written sources covering the era are scarce, Mindaugas origins and his year of birth, sometimes given as c. 1200, is at times left as a question mark. His father is mentioned in the Livonian Rhymed Chronicle as a powerful duke, Dausprungas, mentioned in the text of a 1219 treaty, is presumed to have been his brother, and Dausprungas sons Tautvilas and Gedvydas his nephews. He is thought to have had two sisters, one married to Vykintas and another to Daniel of Halych, Vykintas and his son Treniota played major roles in later power struggles. In addition to Vaišvilkas and his sister, two sons, Ruklys and Rupeikis, are mentioned in written sources, the latter two were assassinated along with Mindaugas. Information on his sons is limited and historians continue to discuss their number and he may have had two other sons whose names were later conflated by scribes into Ruklys and Rupeikis
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Hussar
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A Hussar was a member of any one of several types of light cavalry used during the 18th and 19th centuries, beginning in Central Europe. Historically, the term derives from the cavalry of late medieval Hungary, the title and distinctive dress of these horsemen were subsequently widely adopted by light cavalry regiments in European and European colonial armies in the late 17th and 18th centuries. A number of armored or ceremonial mounted units in modern armies retain the designation of hussars, the first written mention of the word Hussarones has been found in documents dating from 1432 in Southern Hungary. A type of light horsemen was already well-established by the 15th century in medieval Hungary. Etymologists are divided over the derivation of the word hussar, byzantinist scholars argue that the term originated in Roman military practice, and the cursarii. 10th-century Byzantine military manuals mention chonsarioi, light cavalry, recruited in the Balkans, especially Serbs and this word was subsequently reintroduced to Western European military practice after its original usage had been lost with the collapse of Rome in the west. According to Websters Dictionary, the word stems from the Hungarian huszár. On the other hand, husz means twenty in Hungarian whilst ar is a unit of measurement or acre. Hussars are so named as they were a form of military levy whereby any land owner with twenty acres was duty bound to provide a mounted and equipped soldier to the army at their own expense. The elaborate uniforms were based on traditional Magyar horsemans clothes with highly braided, tight riding breeches, close fitting pointed boots, the hussars reportedly originated in bands of mostly Serbian warriors, crossing into southern Hungary after the Ottoman conquest of Serbia at the end of the 14th century. Regent-Governor John Hunyadi created mounted units inspired by the Ottomans and his son, Matthias Corvinus, later king of Hungary, is unanimously accepted as the creator of these troops, commonly called Rac. Initially, they fought in bands, but were reorganised into larger. The first hussar regiments comprised the cavalry of the Black Army of Hungary. Under Corvinus command, the took part in the war against the Ottoman Empire in 1485 and proved successful against the sipahis as well as against the Bohemians. After the kings death, in 1490, hussars became the form of cavalry in Hungary in addition to the heavy cavalry. The Habsburg emperors hired Hungarian hussars as mercenaries to serve against the Ottomans, early hussars wore armor when they could afford to it like the later Polish hussars. Hungarian hussars abandoned using shields and later armors and became entirely light cavalry in the first half of the 17th century, initially the first units of Polish hussars in the Kingdom of Poland were formed in 1500, influenced by Serbian mercenaries. A small number of Serbian mercenaries were recruited and became citizens of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Polish heavy hussars of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were far more manoeuvrable than the heavily armoured lancers previously employed
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Uhlan
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Uhlans were Polish light cavalry armed with lances, sabres and pistols. The title was used by lancer regiments in the Russian, Prussian. Uhlans typically wore a jacket with a coloured panel at the front, a coloured sash. This cap or cavalry helmet was derived from a design of Polish cap, made more formal. Their lances usually had small, swallow-tailed flags just below the spearhead, in the Turkic Tatar language, it means, amongst other things, a brave warrior or young man. The Kalmyk/Oirat/Dzhungar cavalry made wide use of lances both in European as well as Central Asian wars. One of the members, Colonel Aleksander Ułan, was the commander of a Polish light cavalry regiment in the service of Polish-Saxon kings, August II Mocny. After Ułans death his regiment was nicknamed Ułanowe dzieci and Ułanowe wojsko, prior to 1764, all Polish-Lithuanian Tatar cavalry regiments in Saxon service were named Ułani. Once the Golden Horde Tatar families had settled in Lithuania in the late 14th century, they were required to military service for the Grand Duke of Lithuania. The Poles started incorporating much of their vocabulary and many of their traditions, along with their strategy. Lithuanian Tartars, mostly Muslim, served as part of the Royal armies during various battles of the late Middle Ages and their tasks were to conduct reconnaissance in advance of the heavier cavalry banners. The last Polish King, Stanisław August Poniatowski, had a Uhlan guard regiment simply known as the Royal Uhlans and it was disbanded in 1794 or 1795. The first Uhlan regiments were created in the early 18th century in Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1720s and their speed and mobility were key to their popularity. The Uhlan regiment formed by the Kingdom of Prussia in 1740, the regiment failed to distinguish itself favorably in the first of the Silesian Wars and was disbanded shortly afterwards. In 1745, Saxony, engaged in a union with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Shortly after, the Marechal de Saxe created a Polish Ulan regiment for the French king, King Stanisław August Poniatowski of Poland formed a regiment of royal guards equipped with lances, szablas, and pistols, each guardsman uniformed in kurta and czapka. This unit became the prototype for other units of the Polish cavalry. In the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Ulans officially had the status and traditions of the winged Polish hussars passed on to them in 1776, the Austrian empire also formed a Uhlan Regiment in 1784, composed primarily of Poles
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Alytus
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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
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Algirdas
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Algirdas was a monarch of medieval Lithuania. He ruled the Lithuanians and Ruthenians from 1345 to 1377, with the help of his brother Kęstutis he created an empire stretching from the present Baltic states to the Black Sea and to within fifty miles of Moscow. Algirdas was one of the seven sons of Grand Prince Gediminas, before his death in 1341, Gediminas divided his domain, leaving his youngest son Jaunutis in possession of the capital, Vilnius. With the aid of his brother, Kęstutis, Algirdas drove out the incompetent Jaunutis and he devoted the next thirty-two years to the development and expansion of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Two factors are thought to have contributed to this result, the political sagacity of Algirdas, the division of their dominions is illustrated by the fact that Algirdas appears almost exclusively in East Slavic sources, while Western chronicles primarily describe Kęstutis. The Teutonic Order in the northwest and the Golden Horde in the southwest sought Lithuanian territory, while Poland to the west and Muscovy to the east were generally hostile competitors. Algirdas held his own, also acquiring influence and territory at the expense of Muscovy and his principal efforts were directed toward securing the Slavic lands which were part of the former Kievan Rus. Algirdas occupied the important principalities of Smolensk and Bryansk in western Russia, although his relationship with the grand dukes of Muscovy was generally friendly, he besieged Moscow in 1368 and 1370 during the Lithuanian–Muscovite War. According to modern historians, For Gediminas and Algirdas, retention of paganism provided a diplomatic tool. That allowed them to use promises of conversion as a means of preserving their power, hermann von Wartberge and Jan Długosz described Algirdas as a pagan until his death in 1377. His pagan beliefs were mentioned in 14th-century Byzantine historian Nicephorus Gregoras accounts. His alleged burial site has undergone archaeological research since 2009, Algirdas descendants include the Trubetzkoy, Czartoryski and Sanguszko families. Several Orthodox churches were built in Vilnius during his reign, despite contemporary accounts and modern studies, however, some Russian historians claim that Algirdas was an Orthodox ruler. The Kiev Monastery of the Caves commemorative book, underwritten by Algirdas descendants and his son Jogaila ascended the Polish throne, converted to Roman Catholicism and founded the dynasty which ruled Lithuania and Poland for nearly 200 years. Algirdas was Duke of Vitsebsk for over 20 years before becoming Grand Duke of Lithuania, gediminids House of Algirdas – Algirdas family tree
25.
Vaidotas
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Vaidotas or Wojdat was a son of Kęstutis, Grand Duke of Lithuania. In reliable historical sources he is mentioned twice, as defender of Kaunas Castle in 1362. Due to very limited information, his life is subject to wide-ranging theories by historians, according to the chronicles of Wigand of Marburg, he was the commander of the garrison of the newly built Kaunas Castle during the three-week siege in April 1362. After strong resistance the castle was taken over and then destroyed, Vaidotas with 36 men tried to break through, but was taken prisoner. The defeat was one of the largest and important military victories of the Teutonic Knights in the 14th century against Lithuania, historians proposed 1365 as the most likely date. Because of very limited historical sources, Vaidotas is sometimes confused with Vaidutis, son of Butautas, further confusion is introduced by the Bychowiec Chronicle, an unreliable chronicle from the 16th century, which claims that Vaidotas died in his youth in Lithuania. C. S. Rowell argued that Butautas and Vaidotas were the same person, house of Kęstutis – family tree of Vaidotas Motorised Infantry Brigade Iron Wolf – one of its battalions is named after Duke Vaidotas
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General Romualdas Giedraitis Artillery Battalion
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The General Romualdas Giedraitis Artillery Battalion, equipped with 105mm howitzers, was founded in December 2000, under a joint Lithuanian-Danish project – LITART. The Danish Army provided material and methodical assistance in the founding of the artillery unit, the Artillery Battalion received the required technical equipment and armaments. The second stage —training of control group officers, armament officers, logistic specialists at the Danish military artillery,63 military personnel serving with the Artillery Battalion underwent training in Denmark. Establishment of fire posts at Central Training Area of the Lithuanian Armed Forces in Pabradė, the third stage —junior grade commander and specialist training course delivered at the Artillery Battalion in Lithuania. Over 90 junior grade officers received training, in 2003 the artillery battalion was attached to the Iron Wolf Mechanised Infantry Brigade. The fourth stage —training of servicemen of the mandatory military service at the Artillery Battalion in Lithuania. During the stage, all serving with the Artillery Battalion will receive training. In 2004 the artillery battalion was granted with a name in honor of General Romualdas Giedraitis, main role of the battalions is to support infantry. Other units may have mortars, but the artillery battalion uses only heavier weapons, Artillery may provide support in all types of a battle at any time of a day under any weather conditions. Artillery fire may be moved from one shooting area to another and to define the course of the battle.0 Unported License, all relevant terms must be followed
27.
Seimas Palace
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Seimas Palace is the seat of the Seimas, the Lithuanian parliament. It is located in Lithuanias capital Vilnius, work began on the construction of the first wing of the palace in 1976. The construction was supervised by architects Algimantas Nasvytis and Vytautas Nasvytis, in 1980,9717.37 square meters of the palace were completed. Later the building was expanded due to growing needs, the final phase of the palace complex consists of three wings, with the main, or first wing, housing the Parliament Hall, where legislation is passed. On March 11,1990, Lithuanias independence was re-established in the old Parliamen Hall, in 2006 work started on building a new Parliament Hall. On September 10,2007, the new Parliament Hall was officially opened, the old Parliament Hall will be used for celebratory sessions of the Seimas
28.
Vilnius TV Tower
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The Vilnius TV Tower is a 326.5 m tower in the Karoliniškės microdistrict of Vilnius, Lithuania. It is the tallest structure in Lithuania, and is occupied by the SC Lithuanian Radio, the tower was designed by V. Obydovas and the engineering section by K. Balėnas. The construction of the tower started on 31 May 1974 and finished on December 30,1980, the construction was funded by the 11th Five Year Plan of the Soviet Union, which had earmarked funds for strategic investment in the then Lithuanian SSR. The weight of the structure is estimated at 25,000 to 30,000 metric tons. The structure is composed of a base, a 190 m long hollow reinforced concrete pipe, a reinforced concrete saucer. Radio transmitters are housed in the part of the concrete tower with antennas attached to the steel spike. High-speed elevators reach the cafe from ground level in 40 seconds, on clear days, visibility can extend as far as Elektrėnai, a city approximately 40 km west, where power plants produced much of the electricity for Vilnius in Soviet times. The TV tower played a role in the events of 13 January 1991. Since 2000, the tower has been decorated to look like a Christmas tree each Christmas season, during the 2006 World Basketball Championship it was decorated with a large basketball net. Vilnius TV Tower became the biggest basketball hoop in the world during the 2011 FIBA European Basketball Championship, the hoop was 35 metres in diameter with a 40 metre-high net, assembled at a height of 170 metres. The lighting of the giant hoop took 2,560 metres of lighting cable and 545 bulbs, bungee jumps are available to the public from the roof of the observation deck. The towers official website Vilnius Television Tower at Structurae
29.
January Events (Lithuania)
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The January Events took place in Lithuania between 11 and 13 January 1991 in the aftermath of the Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania. As a result of Soviet military actions,14 civilians were killed and 702 were injured, the events were centered in its capital, Vilnius, along with related actions in its suburbs and in the cities of Alytus, Šiauliai, Varėna, and Kaunas. After Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact on 23 August 1939, the German-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Demarcation followed. In June 1940, the Red Army invaded Lithuania, establishing the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, between the years of 1941 and 1944 Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union. Subsequently, the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic was dissolved de facto, however, following the Baltic Offensive, Soviet rule was re-established in July 1944. The Lithuanian Republic declared independence from the Soviet Union on 11 March 1990, the Soviet Union imposed an economic blockade between April and late June. Economic and energy shortages undermined public faith in the restored state. The inflation rate reached 100% and continued to increase rapidly, in January 1991 the Lithuanian government was forced to raise prices several times and was used for organization of mass protests of the so-called Russophone population. During the five days preceding the events, Russian, Polish, in protection of the rallied Russophone population, the Soviet Union sent elite armed forces and special service units. On 8 January the conflict between Chairman of the Parliament Vytautas Landsbergis and the more pragmatic Prime Minister Kazimira Prunskienė culminated in her resignation, Prunskienė met with Soviet Union president Mikhail Gorbachev on that day. He refused her request for assurances that military action would not be taken, on the same day the Yedinstvo movement organized a rally in front of the Supreme Council of Lithuania. Protesters tried to storm the parliament building, but were driven away by unarmed security forces using water cannons, despite a Supreme Council vote the same day to halt price increases, the scale of protests and provocations backed by Yedinstvo and the Communist Party increased. During a radio and television address, Landsbergis called upon supporters to gather around. From 8–9 January several special Soviet military units were flown to Lithuania, the official explanation was that this was needed to ensure constitutional order and the effectiveness of laws of the Lithuanian SSR and the Soviet Union. On 10 January Gorbachev addressed the Supreme Council, demanding restoration of the constitution of the USSR in Lithuania and he mentioned that military intervention could be possible within days. When Lithuanian officials asked for Moscows guarantee not to send armed troops,11,50 – Soviet military units seize the National Defence Department building in Vilnius. 12,00 – Soviet military units surround and seize the Press House building in Vilnius, soldiers use live ammunition against civilians. Several people are hospitalized, some with bullet wounds,12,15 – Soviet paratroopers seize the regional building of the National Defence Department in Alytus
30.
Kaunas
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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
31.
Cathedral Square, Vilnius
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The Cathedral Square in Vilnius is the main square of the Vilnius Old Town, right in front of the neo-classical Vilnius Cathedral. It is a key location in citys public life, situated as it is at the crossing of the main streets. Regularly held at site are fairs and gatherings of townspeople, military parades, religious and official public events, attractions and large concerts, New Year’s salutes. It is not merely the most lively and important location in the city, the cathedral square was founded as late as 19th century, during the reconstruction and refurbishment of the cathedral. Previously, the area was populated and built up with medieval. Parts of the area were occupied by the Lower Castle. Following the creation of a new square it became the open space of the citys centre. It was there that the Russian military parades were held and where the annual St. Casimirs Fair was held, in 1905 a monument to Catherine the Great was erected. In modern times, fairs and festivities are held at the site. It is there that the tallest Christmas tree in the city is erected and it is also there that the yearly public celebrations of New Years Eve are held. One of the most distinctive features of the square is the Cathedrals bell tower, situated several yards from the cathedral itself, a thing uncommon outside of Italy. According to many scholars, the tower was in one of the towers of the ancient city walls of the mediaeval Lower Castle that once stood near the modern square. According to another version, not supported by historians, the base of the tower was in fact a small pagan temple, demolished. Regardless of its origins, the parts of the tower are mediaeval. Its oldest underground square section was built in the 13th century on the bottom of the old riverbed, upper parts of the tower were added in the 18th century while the neo-classical finish was added in the 19th century, during the reconstruction of the cathedral. Other notable feature of the square is the monument to Gediminas, one of the first rulers of Lithuania, by Vytautas Kašuba, interestingly, the bronze used for the monument was donated by Lithuanian border guards who confiscated it on the border. The marble sockle was a gift of the government of Ukraine and it is said that if a person steps on this stone and turns around three times, his or her wish will be granted. The paving of the square has been renovated in 2000
32.
Haderslev
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Haderslev is a Danish town of Region of Southern Denmark with a population of 21,574. It is the town and the administrative seat of Haderslev Municipality and is situated in the eastern part of Southern Jutland. Haderslev is home of Sønderjyske, which is a football team that plays in the Danish Superliga for the 2015-16 season. Haderslev is situated in a valley, leading from Vojens to Haderslev Fjord, Haderslev was presumably founded by Vikings at least a century before it was granted status as royal borough in 1292. At that time, it had one of the main trading centres in Southern Jutland. In 1327, Haderslevhus, the castle, was mentioned for the first time. It was situated east of the cathedral, an area still called Slotsgrunden, in the following centuries the city prospered, building both the Gothic Cathedral and the second castle of Hansborg, which was similar to Kronborg. Due to the plague in Copenhagen, King Christian IV was married there, in the 16th century, the city became one of the first Scandinavian places to embrace the Lutheran Reformation. Prior to the Second Schleswig War of 1864, Haderslev was situated in the Duchy of Schleswig, from 1864 it was part of Prussia, and as such part of the North German Confederation, and from 1871 onwards, part of the German Empire. In the 1920 Schleswig Plebiscite that returned Northern Schleswig to Denmark,38. 6% of Haderslevs inhabitants voted for remaining part of Germany and 61. 4% voted for the cession to Denmark and it was formerly the capital of the German Kreis Hadersleben and the Danish Haderslev County. The trademark of Haderslev is unquestionably Haderslev Cathedral, which has existed since the middle of the 13th century, another noticeable church is the white-chalked Sankt Severin Church, which lies at the banks of the towns inner pond. Once the town used to have a castle named Haderslev Hus, in the public park Kløften, near the towns center, Kløften Festival, a three-day annual festival is in the summer. The festival uses one of Haderslevs important trademarks, the water tower near the park as their logo. Three branches of University College South can be found in Haderslev, a kommune by the previous name existed 1970–2006. It belonged to South Jutland County and covered an area of 272 square kilometres with a population of 56,116. Its last mayor was Hans Peter Geil, a member of the political party. Neighboring municipalities were Christiansfeld to the north, Vojens to the west, Rødekro to the south, Haderslev is twinned with, Eric Christoffersen of Denmark King of Denmark from 1321. H. V. Gregersen Historian Heinrich Nissen was a German professor of ancient history Christian August Volquardsen was a German classical historian, julius Langbehn was a German far right art historian and philosopher
33.
Major general
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Major general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the rank of sergeant major general. In the Commonwealth, major general is equivalent to the rank of rear admiral. In some countries, including much of Eastern Europe, major general is the lowest of the officer ranks. In the old Austro-Hungarian Army, the general was called a Generalmajor. Todays Austrian Federal Army still uses the same term, see also Rank insignias of the Austro-Hungarian armed forces General de Brigade is the lowest rank amongst general officers in the Brazilian Army. AGeneral de Brigada wears two-stars as this is the level for general officers in the Brazilian Army. In tha Brazilian Air Force, the two-star, three-star and four-star rank are known as Brigadeiro, Major-Brigadeiro, see Military ranks of Brazil and Brigadier for more information. In the Canadian Armed Forces, the rank of major-general is both a Canadian Army and Royal Canadian Air Force rank equivalent to the Royal Canadian Navys rank of rear-admiral, a major-general is a general officer, the equivalent of a naval flag officer. The major-general rank is senior to the ranks of brigadier-general and commodore, prior to 1968, the Air Force used the rank of air vice-marshal, instead. In the Canadian Army, the insignia is a wide braid on the cuff. It is worn on the straps of the service dress tunic. On the visor of the cap are two rows of gold oak leaves. Major-generals are initially addressed as general and name, as are all general officers, major-generals are normally entitled to staff cars. In the Estonian military, the general rank is called kindralmajor. The Finnish military equivalent is kenraalimajuri in Finnish, and generalmajor in Swedish and Danish, the French equivalent to the rank of major general is général de division. In the French military, major général is not a rank but an appointment conferred on some generals, usually of général de corps darmée rank, the position of major général can be considered the equivalent of a deputy chief of staff. In the French Army, Major General is a position and the general is normally of the rank of corps general
34.
Book of Genesis
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The Book of Genesis is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. The basic narrative expresses the theme, God creates the world and appoints man as his regent. The new post-Flood world is also corrupt, God does not destroy it, instead calling one man, Abraham, to be the seed of its salvation. At Gods command Abraham descends from his home into the land of Canaan, given to him by God, Genesis ends with Israel in Egypt, ready for the coming of Moses and the Exodus. The narrative is punctuated by a series of covenants with God, the books author or authors appear to have structured it around ten toledot sections, but modern commentators see it in terms of a primeval history followed by the cycle of Patriarchal stories. In Judaism, the importance of Genesis centers on the covenants linking God to his chosen people. It is not clear, however, what this meant to the original authors, while the first is far shorter than the second, it sets out the basic themes and provides an interpretive key for understanding the entire book. The primeval history has a symmetrical structure hinging on chapters 6–9, God creates the world in six days and consecrates the seventh as a day of rest. God creates the first humans Adam and Eve and all the animals in the Garden of Eden but instructs them not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. A talking serpent portrayed as a creature or trickster, entices Eve into eating it anyway. Eve bears two sons, Cain and Abel, Cain kills Abel after God accepts Abels offering but not Cains. Eve bears another son, Seth, to take Abels place, after many generations of Adam have passed from the lines of Cain and Seth, the world becomes corrupted by the sin of man and Nephilim, and God determines to wipe out mankind. First, he instructs the righteous Noah and his family to build a huge boat, then God sends a great flood to wipe out the rest of the world. When the waters recede, God promises that he not destroy the world a second time with water with the rainbow as the symbol of his promise. But upon seeing mankind cooperating to build a great tower city, God instructs Abram to travel from his home in Mesopotamia to the land of Canaan. Abrams name is changed to Abraham and that of his wife Sarai to Sarah, because Sarah is old, she tells Abraham to take her Egyptian handmaiden, Hagar, as a second wife. God resolves to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah for the sins of their people, Abraham protests and gets God to agree not to destroy the cities if 10 righteous men can be found. Angels save Abrahams nephew Lot and his family, but his wife back on the destruction against their command and is turned into a pillar of salt
Lithuania
The King Mindaugas Mechanized Hussar Battalion (Lithuanian: Karaliaus Mindaugo mechanizuotasis pėstininkų batalionas), stationed in Panevėžys;
The Grand Duchess Birutė Mechanized Uhlan Battalion (Lithuanian: Didžiosios kunigaikštienės Birutės motorizuotasis pėstininkų batalionas), stationed in Alytus;
The Grand Duke Algirdas Mechanised Infantry Battalion (Lithuanian: Lietuvos didžiojo kunigaikščio Algirdo mechanizuotasis pėstininkų batalionas), stationed in Rukla;
The Duke Vaidotas Mechanized Infantry Battalion (Lithuanian: Kunigaikščio Vaidoto mechanizuotasis pėstininkų batalionas), stationed in Rukla.
The General Romualdas Giedraitis artillery battalion (Lithuanian: Generolo Romualdo Giedraičio artilerijos batalionas), stationed in Rukla;
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