The Act of February 16, 1918 is the legal foundation of Lithuanian statehood, cited in both the interwar republic and the 1990 restoration of independence.
Key Facts
- Date signed
- February 16, 1918
- Signatories
- All 20 members of the Council of Lithuania
- Council chair
- Jonas Basanavičius
- Declared capital
- Vilnius
- First Cabinet formed
- November 1918
- Legal relevance
- Basis for 1990 restoration of independence from USSR
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Lithuania had been under Russian imperial rule and was occupied by German forces during World War I. The Council of Lithuania, navigating pressure from the German Empire to form an alliance and demands from the Lithuanian people for self-determination, worked through a series of resolutions—including those from the Vilnius Conference and the Act of January 8—before reaching a final declaration.
On February 16, 1918, all twenty members of the Council of Lithuania, chaired by Jonas Basanavičius, signed the Act of Independence, proclaiming the restoration of an independent Lithuanian state governed by democratic principles with Vilnius as its capital, severing ties with both Russia and any formal alliance with Germany.
German occupation authorities banned publication of the Act, limiting its immediate effect, but when Germany lost World War I in late 1918, Lithuania formed its first Cabinet and the Council assumed territorial control. The Act became the constitutional cornerstone of interwar Lithuania and was explicitly invoked in 1990 when Lithuania declared restoration of independence from the Soviet Union, asserting unbroken state continuity.