History of the Baltic Countries

obligatory courses

A basic knowledge of history at secondary school final examination level.

The achievement of the learning outcomes defined for this course will be facilitated by completion of the courses „Knowledge about the Baltic countries” and „Sources of the Baltic tradition”.

Classroom

This cycle of lectures gives an outline history of two Baltic countries, Lithuania and Latvia, from tribal times to the present day. The students acquire knowledge concerning the subjects discussed during the lectures and, in the course of this process, also learn how to use source materials pertaining to these subjects.

The aim of the lectures is to acquaint the students with the historical processes that have been going on in the lands inhabited by the Baltic peoples since the late Middle Ages up to modern times. Emphasis will be on crucial phenomena showing state-building developments among the Balts as a two-track process: on the one hand, the Lithuanian tribes under Mindaugas created their own state, which subsequently, after the union with Poland, would become one of the constitutive elements of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth; on the other hand, the lands of the Lithuanians’ neighbours found themselves, from the 13th century onward, under the sway of Order States reflecting Western European expansion to the Baltic Sea region. These States would overpower the Latvian tribes for many centuries, and wipe the Prussian tribes off the map of Europe.

I. Manuals:

1. Historia Litwy, red. Eidintas A., Bumblauskas A., Kulakauskas A., Tamošaitis M., Wyd. Eugrimas 2013

2. History of Latvia, red. Bleiere D., Butulis I., Feldmanis I., Stranga A., Zunda A., Riga 2014

3. Łossowski P., Litwa, Warszawa 2001

4. Ochmański J., Historia Litwy, Wrocław 1990

II. Source materials imposed by the teachers and analyzed during classes.

III. Maps

Latvijas vēstures atlants

Lietuvos istorijos atlasas

IV. 2 monographs of the student’s own choice from a reading list of about 100 titles concerning the history of the Baltic countries from the Middle Ages to modern times. The list comprises:

1. Aleksandravičius E., Kulakauskas A., Pod władzą carów. Litwa XIX wieku, Kraków 2003

2. Błaszczyk G., Dzieje stosunków polsko-litewskich od czasów najdawniejszych do współczesności, T. I: Trudne początki, Poznań 1998

3. Błaszczyk G., Dzieje stosunków polsko-litewskich od czasów najdawniejszych do współczesności, T. II: Od Krewa do Lublina, Poznań 2007

4. Bumblauskas A., Wielkie księstwo litewskie. Wspólna historia, podzielona pamięć, Warszawa 2013

5. Chrystianizacja Litwy, red. J. Kłoczowski. Kraków 1987

6. Froese W., Historia państw i narodów Morza Bałtyckiego, Warszawa 2007

7. Halecki O., Dzieje unii jagiellońskiej, T. I-II, Kraków 1918-1920

8. Janicki A., Łaszczkowski M., Jēkabsons Ē., Polentechnikum, Warszawa 2012

9. Kasekamp A., Historia Państw Bałtyckich, Warszawa 2013

10. Kosman M., Zmierzch Perkuna, czyli ostatni poganie nad Bałtykiem, Warszawa 1981

11. Litwa w epoce Wazów, red. W. Kriegseisen i A. Rachuba, Warszawa 2006

12. Łossowski P., Kraje bałtyckie w latach przełomu 1934-1944, Warszawa 2005

13. Łowmiański H., Studia nad dziejami Wielkiego Księstwa Litewskiego, Poznań 1983

14. Motyka G., Wnuk R., Stryjek T., Baran A., Wojna po wojnie, Gdańsk- Warszawa 2012

15. Ochmański J., Litewski ruch narodowo-kulturalny w XIX wieku (do 1890 r.), Białystok 1965

16. Paluszyński T., Walka o niepodległość Łotwy 1914-1921, Warszawa 1999

17. Romanowski A., Pozytywizm na Litwie, Kraków 2003

18. Snyder T., Rekonstrukcja narodów. Polska, Ukraina, Litwa, Białoruś 1569-1999, Sejny 2006

19. Sozański J., Prawa mniejszości narodowych w niepodległej Litwie, Łotwy i Estonii, Warszawa 2004

20. Topolska M. B., Społeczeństwo i kultura w Wielkim Księstwie Litewskim od XV do XVIII wieku, Poznań – Zielona Góra 2002

21. Zajas K., Nieobecna kultura. Przypadek Inflant Polskich, Kraków 2008

22. Zieliński J., Instytucjonalizacja przemian ustrojowych na Litwie, Łotwie i w Estonii, (Międzynarodowoprawny zarys porównawczy sytuacji w latach 1918-1940 oraz 1990-1996) Scholar, Warszawa 1998

VI. Additional literature – one publication from the list:

1. Dobyczin L., Miasto En, Czytelnik 1999

2. Inflanty, Inflanty. Wspomnienia rodzinne Rysarda Manteuffla-Szoege, opr. Z. Szopinski, Warszawa 1991

3. Kalniete S., W butach do tańca przez syberyjskie śniegi, Kraków 2015

4. Kurzem M., Maskotka, Wyd. Replika 2008

5. Sabaliauskaite K., Silva Rerum, Znak 2008

6. Sruoga B., Las bogów, Muzeum Stutthof w Sztutowie 2013

7. Vanagaite R., Zuroff E., Nasi. Podróżując z wrogiem, Warszawa 2017

8. Venclova T., Opisać Wilno, Warszawa 2006

On completion of the course the student:

(KNOWLEDGE)

- is able to list the most important facts from the history of Lithuania and Latvia;

- is able to arrange in correct chronological order the most important political, economical and social phenomena in the history of Lithuania and Latvia;

- is able to characterize the processes of State formation among the peoples of Lithuania and Latvia, and to point out the factors that determined the divergences between them;

(SKILLS)

- is able to make effective use of historical studies;

- is able to analyze relatively uncomplicated source materials;

(AWARENESS)

- integrates historical knowledge acquired during the course with previous knowledge in the domain of Polish and Universal History as well as in the domain of cultural history

Checking of attendance, active participation in classes.

Final oral examination evaluating the knowledge acquired by the student from the lectures as well from the unassisted reading of manuals and selected monographs dealing, in a broad sense, with the historical problems of the region. Apart from manuals, the student must read, in the course of the academic year, two monographs of his / her own choice from a list of titles concerned with Baltic history suggested by the teacher (one of the three examination questions will be connected with the works claimed to have been read by the student).

Examination.

none