Learn Something Fun:  Lithuania became independent of Russia after the First World War in 1918. However, the Soviet Union invaded the country in 1940 to be followed by the Germans in 1941 and then the Soviets again in 1944. Lithuania declared independence on the 11th of March 1990. Following the abortive coup in Moscow in 1991, the Soviet Union recognized Lithuanian independence on the 6th of September of that year.