Republic of Central Lithuania invaded by the Soviets in summer 1920 and being forcibly incorporated into that state, and only the Polish victory derailed this plan. After the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact and the Soviet invasion of Poland of 1939, Lithuania was given in accordance with the Soviet–Lithuanian Mutual Assistance Treaty Vilnius, and its surroundings up to 30 kilometers, on October 10, 1939. A part of the region was given to the Belarusian SSR. Vilnius very quickly became the capital of Lithuania again. But in 1940, Lithuania was swallowed up by the Soviet Union, forced to become the Lithuanian SSR. Since the restoration of Lithuanian independence
Capital punishment in Lithuania the criminal code but was retained in the military law (). Article 14 of the military law provided for death penalty for eight crimes, mostly directed against the state, the military, or the officials, but also included armed robbery with murder. The provisional constitution of 1920 even spoke about the abolition of the death penalty. However, Lithuania with brief interruptions remained under the martial law until November 1938 when it was lifted due to German pressure in the months before the ultimatum of March 1939. Historian Sigita Černevičiūtė counted at least 146 executions in interwar Lithuania, though records are incomplete