| Title |
Lietuvos šauliai tarpukariu: lietuviai, katalikai, visuomenės elitas |
| Translation of Title |
Lithuanian riflemen in the interwar period: lithuanians, catholics, the elite of society. |
| Authors |
Jokubauskas, Vytautas |
| DOI |
10.15181/ahuk.v28i0.923 |
| Full Text |
|
| Is Part of |
Acta historica universitatis Klaipedensis: Paramilitarism in the Eastern Baltics, 1918-1940: case studies and comparisons = Paramilitarizmas Rytų Baltijos regione 1918-1940: atvejo studijos ir lyginimai.. Klaipėda : Klaipėdos universiteto leidykla. 2014, [t.] 28, p. 75-102.. ISSN 1392-4095. eISSN 2351-6526 |
| Keywords [eng] |
paramilitarism ; Lithuanian Riflemen’s Union ; paramilitary organisational structure ; social composition ; ethnic composition |
| Abstract [eng] |
During the struggle for Lithuania’s independence, defence and guerrilla units started forming in the countryside, and fought against the Bermontian and Soviet forces and gangs of marauders. In 1919, intellectuals and public servants from Kaunas formed a sports-military guerrilla organisation, and called it the Lithuanian Riflemen’s Union (LRU). The organisation accepted not only new members, but also people who had already fought with guerrilla units in northeast Lithuania. Therefore, the ranks of the LRU grew rapidly, and the new paramilitary organisation played an important role in the struggle for Lithuania’s statehood. The LRU was active throughout the interwar period, until 11 July 1940, when, after the Soviet occupation, it was officially disbanded. This paper deals with issues of the scope and structure of the LRU, which until now have hardly been dealt with in historiography. The paper has three objectives: 1) it tries to establish changes in the numbers of riflemen in the interwar period, as well as the numbers of people who belonged to the LRU in different periods, and their total number throughout the interwar period; 2) the ethnic, religious and social composition of the Riflemen’s Union is analysed, with the aim of developing ‘a social portrait of a rifleman’; and 3) the internal structure of the Union is addressed: the numbers of reserve and combatant riflemen. |
| Published |
Klaipėda : Klaipėdos universiteto leidykla |
| Type |
Journal article |
| Language |
Lithuanian |
| Publication date |
2014 |
| CC license |
|
