Think of great names in the history of sport and science, film and fashion, and Lithuania isn’t the first country that springs to mind. But did you know that Manchester United Football Club, the fashion scene of swinging ‘60’s London, Einstein’s theory of relativity, and even the Beatles all share Lithuanian claims to fame.
As we know, Lithuania was once a mighty kingdom stretching from the Baltic to the Black Sea – a fact often overlooked today. In the post-Soviet period, it was common for Lithuania to lose its separate identity altogether and be lumped in with Estonia and Latvia as the ‘Baltic states’ – often accompanied by patronising terms too, such as ‘tiny’, ‘plucky’, or ‘former Soviet state’.
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