Traits of changes of administrative-territorial division of Lithuania in 1918–1940 (analysis of cases from Panevėžys district)

The aim of the article is to identify the traits of changes of administrative-territorial division of Lithuania in the period from 1918 to 1940 by analyzing the cases from Panevėžys district. Unpublished documents served as the main source of information. At the beginning the article analyses the laws that constituted Lithuania’s administrative-territorial division and enabled changes to its structure. It is concluded that the democratic principle in the making of these changes was diminished amidst the reforms of self-governance during the authoritarian rule of President Antanas Smetona. The second chapter focuses on the formation of Panevėžys district’s administrative-territorial structure and traces the unique traits of this period. The third chapter analyzes the cases of towns that gained the rights of rural administrative areas – the case of Kupiškis proves that the changes were influenced by national friction. The fourth chapter deals with the district’s history of gaining and losing rural administrative areas. The next chapter explores the liquidations of such units. Residents tended to resist such changes and show strong local patriotism, which sometimes even managed to prevent the liquidation; however, sometimes it was not enough. The final chapter analyses the motives and tendencies of "migration" of smaller territorial units. Occasionally, the need for these changes was genuine, in other cases these attempts were guided by hidden interests. As a rule, all self-governments wanted to gain new territories by not wanting to lose any of their own. The common traits of changes in the administrative-territorial division of Lithuania are identified and the history of such changes in Panevėžys district is researched