The history of Lithuania between 1219 and 1295 covers the establishment and early history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the first Lithuanian state. In 1219, twenty-one Lithuanian dukes signed a peace treaty with Galicia–Volhynia – the first proof that the Baltic tribes were uniting. Despite continuous warfare with two Christian orders, the Livonian Order and the Teutonic Knights, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was established and gained some control over neighbouring lands that were vulnerable after the collapse of Kievan Rus'. Mindaugas (modern commemorative coin pictured) was crowned as King of Lithuania in 1253 and is traditionally regarded as the founder of the state. However, in 1261, he broke the peace with the Livonian Order, and his assassination in 1263 by Treniota ended the early Christian kingdom in Lithuania. It was a pagan empire for the next 120 years, fighting against the Teutonic and Livonian Orders during the Northern Crusades. After Mindaugas' death, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania entered times of relative instability but did not disintegrate. Vytenis assumed power in 1295, and during the next twenty years laid solid foundations for the Duchy to expand and grow. Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Lithuania_(1219%E2%80%931295)> _______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries: 1862: American Civil War: Union victory in the Battle of Fort Donelson gave General Ulysses S. Grant the nickname "Unconditional Surrender" Grant. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Donelson> 1923: English archaeologist and Egyptologist Howard Carter unsealed the burial chamber of Tutankhamun (mask pictured), an Egyptian Pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tutankhamun> 1961: The DuSable Museum, the first museum dedicated to the study and conservation of African American history, culture, and art, was chartered. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DuSable_Museum_of_African_American_History> 1983: The Ash Wednesday fires burned 513,979 acres (2,080 km2) in South Australia and 518,921 acres (2,100 km2) in Victoria, killing 75 people and injuring 2,676 others. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ash_Wednesday_fires> 2005: The Kyoto Protocol, an amendment to the international treaty on climate change, entered into force. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_Protocol> _____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day: treknobabble: A kind of technobabble particular to the Star Trek universe, with a particularly heavy emphasis on configurations of pseudoscientific particles and waves. <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/treknobabble> ___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day: No one means all he says, and yet very few say all they mean, for words are slippery and thought is viscous. --Henry Adams <https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henry_Adams>