A Place Between Nations (2024)

James Montgomery Baxenfield, “A Place Between Nations: The Idea of a Latvian-Lithuanian State, 1884–1984”, in Ginta Ieva Bikše (ed.) Jauno vēsturnieku zinātniskie lasījumi IX = The Scholarly Readings of Young Historians IX (Rīga: LU Akadēmiskais apgāds, 2024), pp. 82−91.

Abstract: Deterministic tendencies in history writing favour established states. However, more states have been proposed than created. The idea of a Latvian-Lithuanian state, often depicted as a passing notion of little significance, provides a prime example of an unrealised state-building project. Emerging in a colonial context, the idea of a Latvian-Lithuanian state survived revolutions and endured wars. Distinct periods of activity are discernible, during which [it] underwent numerous reinterpretations, transforming from a predominantly Lithuanian émigré idea into a nascent Latvian exile movement. This article examines the trajectory of this notion which subsisted over a century.

Keywords: Latvian-Lithuanian state, unrealised state-building projects, Aistija, public diplomacy, émigré propaganda.

Read the article in Jauno vēsturnieku zinātniskie lasījumi IX = The Scholarly Readings of Young Historians IX (2022).