Peripheral Periphery: Lithuania from its National Revival to its Authoritarian Collapse

The existing historiography surrounding Lithuanian national history has lacked a single work that connects the context that birthed Lithuanian nationalism and Lithuania's interwar descent into nationalism. Such a connection, while seemingly obvious, requires a nuanced analysis of Lithuania's position as a peripheral periphery within not just the Russian Empire, but the wider movement of 19th century European nationalism as a whole. This<span style="font-weight: 400;">&nbsp;thesis posits the existence of a theoretical framework known as the </span><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">peripheral periphery</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">, and that Lithuania&rsquo;s status as a peripheral periphery, the strategies Lithuanian nationalists undertook to overcome this status, and the wider political milieu of Europe at any given time made Lithuania much more prone to authoritarian and fascist movements to take power. When one chooses to view the major developments of late-modern Lithuanian history through the lens of this seemingly obvious reality, it becomes possible to view Lithuanian history and the wider history of political extremism in late-modern Europe in a more holistic way.</span>