Administrative divisions of Lithuania 1561, became a condominium (joint domain) of both Lithuania and Poland. This left Lithuania with eight voivodeships and one eldership: After the Livonian War (1558–1582), Lithuania acquired the vassal state of Duchy of Courland with its capital Jelgava. This administrative division remained without any major changes until the partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the late 18th century. Under the Russian Empire, the territory of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania was divided into governorates (Russian: "guberniya", Lithuanian: "gubernija") and districts (Russian: "uyezd", Lithuanian: "apskritis"). Such system was introducing in Russia during the reforms of 1775. The first governorates, Vilna
Centennial of the Restored State of Lithuania of Independence of Lithuania, which proclaimed the restoration of an Independent State of Lithuania, creating a modern state. During World War II, Lithuania was forcibly occupied and annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940, followed by Nazi Germany in 1941, and again by the Soviets in 1944 as one of its constituent republics. During the late 1980s and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Lithuania fought to restore its independence which culminated in the Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania signed on 11 March 1990. In order to have every Lithuanian citizen experience the significance of this