Kingdom of Lithuania (1918)
The Kingdom of Lithuania was a short-lived constitutional monarchy created towards the end of World War I when Lithuania was under occupation by the German Empire. The Council of Lithuania declared Lithuania's independence on February 16, 1918, but the Council was unable to form a government, police, or other state institutions due to the continued presence of German troops. The Germans presented various proposals to incorporate Lithuania into the German Empire, particularly Prussia. The Lithuanians resisted this idea and hoped to preserve their independence by creating a separate constitutional monarchy. On June 4, 1918, they voted to offer the Lithuanian throne to the German noble Wilhelm, 2nd Duke of Urach. Duke Wilhelm accepted the offer in July 1918 and took the name Mindaugas II. However, he never visited Lithuania. His election stirred up controversy, divided the Council, and did not achieve the desired results. As Germany was losing the war and was engulfed in the German Revolution, Lithuania suspended its decision to invite Duke William on November 2, 1918, thereby ending his short reign.
Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania
The library was founded in Kaunas in 1919. In 1963, the Library moved to the Lithuanian capital Vilnius. In 1988 the Library was named after Martynas Mažvydas, the author of the first Lithuanian book (published in 1547), and in 1989 the Library was officially designated as Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania. It is the main Lithuanian research library open to the public, and also performs the functions of a parliamentary library.The collection of Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania incorporates a wide range of printed and other documents, encompassing 6.65 million volumes and 1.77 million titles in 2012.