Politikai su antpečiais: civilinės ir karinės valdžios sąveika tarpukario Lietuvoje

LTŠalia tradicinių trijų galių valstybėje egzistuoja ketvirtoji – ginkluota galia, kurios tikslas saugoti ir ginti valstybę. Norėdamos kuo ištikimesnių ir efektyvesnių karinių pajėgų, demokratijos riboja karių politines teises ir formuoja profesinę nuostatą tarnauti valstybei, o ne politinei jėgai ar autoritetui. Tai – viena svarbiausių karininkų korpuso efektyvumo sąlygų. Kuo ji tvirtesnė, tuo valstybė saugesnė. Tarpukario Lietuva ne visada buvo demokratiška, bet visais laikotarpiais turėjo spręsti tą patį klausimą – kaip suvaldyti karinę jėgą? Karininkais tapę tautinio atgimimo veikėjai, už laisvę kovoję savanoriai, ryžtingai nusiteikę aviacijos karininkai ir generolai buvo stipraus charakterio, o dažnai ir nemenko intelekto figūros. Jie nesibodėjo reikšti politinių interesų, dalyvavo politinių partijų veikloje ir seimų rinkimuose, rezgė sąmokslus ir perversmus, tarsi nematoma jėga veikė valstybės užsienio politiką tiek iki 1926 m. perversmo, tiek po jo. Ši knyga apie politikus su antpečiais, apie kariuomenės galią ir silpnumą nėra abstrakti politinė meditacija – tai istorinis tyrimas aprėpiantis realų politinį gyvenimą. [Leidėjo anotacija]

ENThis monograph explores the hitherto little-studied (but crucial for the development of interwar Lithuania) relationship between the political and military authorities in Lithuania, showing how the military sought to influence the political processes in the country. The study analyses the laws and legal acts that determine the position of the army in the state and define the relationship between civil and military power in the democratic and authoritarian period of the state’s development, identifies individual politically engaged officers and their groups (organisations/ structures) in the army, and shows their formal and informal relations with members of political parties and political forces. The political views and attitudes of individual officers and their groups towards domestic and foreign policy processes in the state are identified. The principles, ways and channels of influence of the civil and military authorities on each other are highlighted. The chronological boundaries of the research cover the period of the Independent Republic of Lithuania from 23 November 1918 to 15 June 1940, as from the establishment of the army until the occupation of the state by the soviets. In this period all three structures constituting the subject of this monograph existed: the civil and military authorities, as well as the legal regulation that established the relations between these structures. The study consists of chapters, which are presented in a chronological sequence, and which examine the influence of the military on the most important events in Lithuanian domestic and foreign policy in the interwar period.The book examines the impact of the military on politicians in the creation of the Lithuanian army and the state apparatus, as well as the army’s participation in the elections to and the work of the Constituent Assembly of Lithuania (Steigiamasis Seimas). It also analyses the reaction of the civil authorities to the army’s actions in the battles against the Ber- montians and the Poles. The monograph as a whole reveals the political role of the military in the process of state formation. It also shows the attempts to create laws that would democratise the governance of the army. The book explores the relationship between the officers and the major political parties: the Nationalists, the Christian Democrats, the Peasants’ People’s Party and the Social Democrats, analyses the causes and circumstances that led to the coup of 17 December 1926 and reconstructs the actions of the army during the coup. The aim is to identify the officers who were involved in politics and their organisations, and to show their links with political parties and their role in the coup of 17 December 1926. The aim is to identify the officers and organisations inside the military that tend to show links with political parties and their role in the coup of 17 December 1926.The book also discusses and analyses how the army became a reliable support for the authoritarian regime of Antanas Smetona. It shows how the removal of officers affiliated with opposition parties took place after 17 December 1926, explains the changes in the legal regulation of the army, examines the division of the army between supporters of Augustinas Voldemaras and supporters of Antanas Smetona, and reconstructs the putsch of 7 June 1934 and the process of disciplining the army that followed the putsch. The book details the role of General Stasys Raštikis in the country’s domestic and foreign policy. The role of the army commander in foreign policy is explored in the context of relations with Poland and the Baltic States, as well as the role of General Raštikis and his relations with the President, the Prime Minister, the Lithuanian Nationalist Union and opposition currents. It also focuses on the army’s position in the battles over the Paul Hymans project, the Lithuanian-Polish negotiations in Copenhagen and Lugano, and the dissatisfaction of the officers with Augustinas Voldemaras’ actions in the negotiations with Poland. [From the publication]