Talk:Soviet ultimatum to Lithuania

Questions
"Official Soviet sources claimed that the presence of the Soviet military was necessary to strengthen defenses of a weak nation against possible attacks by Nazi Germany." Since they had just signed 2 major treaties, it sounds weird, since these things are usually accompanied by a lot of official hoopla about a new era of cooperation. Is there any way to put something in along the lines of "despite the Pact and Treaty, the Soviet Union maintained some distance from Germany"? Or is it possible that the Lithuania-needed-protection-from-Germany rationale was issued later? Novickas (talk) 15:39, 23 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Very interesting observation. No, the "Lithuania-need-protection" rationalle was used immediately (there is a New York Times headline in line of "Soviet Union Proclaimed Defender of the Baltics"). But Russia indeed was very friendly with Germany (later there were even accusations that Lithuanians are not friendly enough to Germany and too friendly with England and United States). My best guess that while Russian and Germany were friends, that did not include the small states in between them. So Germany could attack Lithuania without violating the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and still maintaining cosy relationship with Russia. Anyway, it was just an excuse. Renata (talk) 02:54, 24 July 2009 (UTC)

"In February 1940, the Lithuanian government decided to relocate the army units so that they could shield the government while it retreats abroad." Were the army units actually relocated? Novickas (talk) 14:58, 25 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Dunno, the source did not specify. But knowing how lazy the government was, I would guess no. Renata (talk) 17:20, 27 July 2009 (UTC)

1939 ultimatum -article needed
I think there should an article 1939 Soviet ultimatum to Lithuania, because that had more signifigance to the Lithuanian's future. For example after the 1939 ultimatum and Soviet–Lithuanian Mutual Assistance Treaty the Soviet Union used its military bases in Estonia and Latvia against Finland in the Winter War and also the Treary meant the end of Baltic Entente, the defense alliance. 1940 ultimatum was just "technical". Lithuania ja other Baltic countries lost their independence in 1939. Peltimikko (talk) 17:43, 30 July 2009 (UTC)
 * There was no ultimatum in 1939 for Lithuania. Because Lithuania received Vilnius, it did not need an ultimatum like Latvia and Estonia. Renata (talk) 20:24, 30 July 2009 (UTC)
 * So, you actually gained? Interesting and obvious, but I really did not think that way. I wonder what would happened if Finland made territorial exchanges as the Soviet Union suggested before the Winter War. Probably the country would be occupied, but after that unpleasent experiense... Who knows. Peltimikko (talk) 21:08, 30 July 2009 (UTC)

Dead link
During several automated bot runs the following external link was found to be unavailable. Please check if the link is in fact down and fix or remove it in that case!


 * http://www.jnvm.lt/muziejus/index.php?id=13&fid=53&sid=54
 * In 1940 Soviet ultimatum to Lithuania on 2011-05-25 03:15:13, 404 Not Found
 * In 1940 Soviet ultimatum to Lithuania on 2011-06-04 16:11:09, 404 Not Found

--JeffGBot (talk) 16:11, 4 June 2011 (UTC)

"demanded to allow"?
Hello. A blurb for this article has appeared on the front page in the "On this day" section - well done - but I have a slight concern over the phrase above. To my English ears, this doesn't sound quite natural. A quick Google search seems to show that the first few matches featuring this exact phrase are from non-English sources. May I suggest an alternative wording for this lead paragraph to be: "The Soviets, using a formal pretext, demanded that an unspecified number of Soviet soldiers be allowed to enter the Lithuanian territory [...]" Normally I would be bold and change it myself but as it's the lead paragraph of an article with which I have no knowledge, I would be happier to gain agreement here first. Regards, Careful With That Axe, Eugene  Hello...  07:47, 14 June 2011 (UTC)

p.s. The Main Page blurb has already been modified; see discussion here.


 * Yes, please, go ahead. It's called English as a second language :) Renata (talk) 14:04, 14 June 2011 (UTC)