Updated Paper

The Lithuanian War for Independence shares many similarities with World War I. Apart from happening within months after World War I, The Lithuanian Independence War shares a few characteristics with the formation, execution, and conclusion of World War I.
A large factor into the start and acceleration of WWI was Nationalism. Nationalism was present in all the Balkans, but especially in Serbia where the immediate threat of Austrian-Hungarian invasion was present. Austria-Hungry had taken Bosnia and Herzegovina, just north of Serbia, and Serbia felt sure that it was next to be annexed by Austria-Hungry. Serbia had a great sense of national pride, and included in that pride was the desire to rule oneself. Serbia fought Austria-Hungry tooth and nail, and even went so far as to assassinate the Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand when he passed though Serbia. Lithuanians also greatly valued their freedom, especially after WWI because Lithuania was under German control for most of the war. When Germany lost the war in 1918, they also lost control over Lithuania. A new sense of nationalism was born in the country that had not been seen for many years. Just a year prior, Russia underwent a radical revolution with the rise of the Bolshevik party. It was these Bolsheviks that invaded Lithuanian at the end of 1918. In response to the Bolshevik threat, the president of Lithuania, Antanas Smetona went to Germany to ask for assistance. Germany agreed to help Lithuania and gave them a 100 million mark credit, which was used to buy guns and ammunition and to train troops. Without Germany's help, Lithuania would not have been able to fight off the Bolshevik attack.
Imperialism was another major cause of both wars. Imperialism's role in the formation of the First World War was mainly evident in the Balkans. Austria-Hungry, France, Russia, Turkey, and the individual nations in the Balkans were all fighting for control or influence of the area. Turkey was forced to retreat from the control of the area and this began a race for control. Austria-Hungry wanted Bosnia and Herzegovina and asked Russia if they could have it. Russia said they would help if given control of some kind of warm water port. Austria-Hungry jumped the gun and took Bosnia and Herzegovina, and this caused the nearby country of Serbia to fear its imminent annexation. It was this Imperialism that made countries uneasy and fearful of one another and causes even more strife and friction in an already tense environment. Imperialism's role in the Lithuanian Independence was made apparent when Poland and the Belorussian National Republic and both armies felt the right to the lower portion of Lithuania. The only problem with this was that Lithuania's capitol of Vilnius was located in this region. At one time the Lithuanian army, The Polish army, The Belorussian National Republic army and the Red Army all fought for control of one city. Early in 1919, the Red Army captured Vilnius, only to be pushed out of Vilnius a few months later. After the Red Army had been driven back, The Polish Army had swept in and taken control of Vilnius. In the summer of 1919, the Bolsheviks were driven from Lithuania, but Vilnius was still under Polish control. Lithuania signed a treaty with the USSR, but the treaty had failed to be recognized by both Poland and the Belorussian National Republic, nor was Lithuania recognized internationally as an independent country. The other problem with the treaty was that although russia had signed the treaty, they had not withdrawn Russian troops from Lithuania.
Lithuania's problems were still not over as Bermontians, who were Russian troops taken as prisoners by Germany and released upon the command to fight the Bolsheviks invaded and took control of much of Lithuania. When the Bermontians took control of a town or city, they banned the local language and replaced it with Russian. This gave way to a new type of Nationalism, with the introduction of Lithuanian partizans who are called "Knygnešiai" which translates literally to "book smuggler". They were called book smugglers for good reason because in effort to keep the language, and in turn, the culture alive, the partizans would smuggle books from person to person. The books that were smuggled varied from simple children's books to the Bible. The partizans knew they would be killed if they were caught by the Russians, so many of them took to hiding in the woods and using the naturally dense forests of Lithuania as a base of operations. It was the pride and love of the Lithuanian language and culture that caused men of all ages and occupations to give up their lives and become partizans. These partizans also violently fought the Russians and in late 1919, got control of a major railway and managed to acquire more military supplies before driving the Russians out of Lithuania. The Red Army gave control back to Lithuania as under the terms of the treaty. In October of 1919, a cease fire was ordered in the Suvalkija region in order to prevent greater conflict between Poland and Lithuania. The agreement was not followed by the Polish troops and after fending off a Lithuanian counter attack, kept control of Vilnius. With Vilnius under Polish control, Kaunas was declared as a temporary capitol for Lithuania. It was this constant bout of Vilnius's control that was effect of all the Imperialistic goals of the surrounding countries. In 1920, The Russian Army formally withdrew from Lithuania. The Russian Army only officially left after the signing of a treaty between Lithuania and the Russian SFSR. The Russian Army then went into Poland and after losing a decisive battle with Poland, retreated, leaving Vilnius in Lithuanian control. The treaty would be short lived as the Soviets would occupy Lithuania from the end of World War II until the fall of the Soviet empire, an occupation lasting more than 40 years. Nationalism played a large part in the execution of World War I. Nationalism was most prevalent in the Balkans. There are many small countries in the Balkans and they all have extreme nationalism. All of them believe their country should rule itself, and not be under the control of the Austria-Hungry. When Austria-Hungry joined forces with Germany, the two most nationalistic countries were now one. German thought themselves to be the most important country in Europe and felt that they deserved more land to expand. France didn't seem all that important to Germany, so they decided to invade, and in turn add more conflict. Britain was also very nationalistic with the immense pride it had in its navy. Britain's navy was many many times larger than her army, and Britain being an island, this ratio was further built upon in order to provide for her defense.
As a result of World War I, Germany, Britain, France and The US attended a conference and drafted The Treaty of Versailles. The Treaty was the first in its kind in terms of the things it did and what it demanded. France was returned control of Alsace and Lorraine as well as formation of the buffer-state called the "Rhineland Republic". Britain demanded reparations for all damages suffered as well as any colonial claims Germany and her allies had. The US, more so President Wilson alone, asked for 14 key points to be established and later to become a League of Nations which aimed to prevent wars from happening again through use of diplomacy and sanctions.