This book strives to present an answer to a question which is one of the most significant to the people of Lithuania: how did Lithuania come into being, and why is our country not an expression of chance or circumstance, but rather, a fruit ripened for centuries, a path of self-dependence paved by the lawful self-determination of its people, and a natural, merited recompense for the life of each and every Lithuanian?In 2013, Lithuania will hold the Presidency of the Council of the European Union – the union of free and democratic European countries. Not only is this a unique opportunity to contribute to the creation of a common European future; it is also a chance to strengthen the attentiveness of the countries to the past of the continent’s nations, and, of course, for us ourselves to take a look and remind the entire world what Lithuania was and is, in a concise, easy-to-read retrospect of Lithuanian history based on the criteria of truth and openness. The long, victorious, sometimes difficult or even tragic historical path of our state, which traversed through different political regimes, the pits of occupations and the ups and downs of restored independence, is laid bare.