University of Salford The General A Greater Manchester Jonas Žemaitis Ministry University Military Academy of National Defence of Lithuania Republic of Lithuania NATO Energy Vilnius Gediminas Security Technical University Centre of Excellence JOURNAL OF SECURITY AND SUSTAINABILITY ISSUES ISSN 2029-7017 print/ISSN 2029-7025 online 2017 June Volume 6 Number 4 http://doi.org/10.9770/jssi.2017.6.4(12) THREATS AND CHALLENGES TO THE SECURITY AND STABILITY OF THE STATE OF LITHUANIA: HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE* Vytautas Jokubauskas The Institute of Baltic Region History and Archaeology, Klaipėda University Herkaus Manto Str. 84, LT-92294 Klaipėda, Lithuania E-mail:
[email protected] Received 10 January 2017; accepted 25 March 2017 Abstract. Ensuring security is one of the main functions of the state, therefore, in that area one has to deal with a wide range of threats and challenges. In the analysis of the changing security environment issues in the 21st century, it is reasonable to look at historical events and to do appropriate case studies. Lithuania in the interwar period can be considered as a very valuable case in the context of the analysis of threats to national security. Over two decades, Lithuania acquired the experience of the conventional warfare, encountered analogues of little green men, and went through military coups, civil unrest, and the consequences of economic sanctions (economic warfare); it was exposed to external intelligence and agents of influence of other states operating underground who spread subversive rumours and distributed underground newspapers and leaflets. The present paper focuses on the range of those issues. Keywords: Lithuania, economic sanctions,war refugees, military coup, civil unrest, uprising, non-state military formations, warfare, rumours.