However, on March 23, 1918, the Germans acknowledged the declaration; their plans had shifted to the establishment of a network of satellite countries (Mitteleuropa).

On November 11, 1918 Germany signed an armistice on the Western Front and officially lost the war and control over Lithuania.

Its development and organization moved slowly due to lack of funding, arms, ammunition, and experienced military commanders.

[citation needed] Lithuanian volunteers who agreed to join the military force were promised free land.

[2] As revolution broke out in Germany, the German government withdrew support for the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which had ceded Lithuania independence from Soviet Russia on November 5, 1918.

On December 8, 1918, a temporary revolutionary government in the capital city of Vilnius was formed, consisting solely of members of the Communist Party of Lithuania.

On January 18 the Soviets and Germans signed a treaty and designated a demarcation line that barred Bolshevik forces from directly attacking Kaunas, Lithuania's second-largest city.

German volunteers led by Rüdiger von der Goltz arrived in Lithuania, took up positions along the Hrodna–Kaišiadorys–Kaunas line, and helped the Lithuanian forces, commanded by Jonas Variakojis, to stop the Red Army advance near Kėdainiai.

On February 8, during a reconnaissance mission, the first Lithuanian soldier to die in the wars, Povilas Lukšys, [lt] was killed near Taučiūnai.

Lithuanian 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th companies of the 1st Infantry Regiment had to withstand pressure from the Red Army, while members of the German units left their posts.

The movement of the Bolsheviks towards East Prussia worried Germany, and they sent volunteers (Brigade Shaulen) commanded by General Rüdiger von der Goltz to free the railroad line linking Liepāja, Mažeikiai, Radviliškis, and Kėdainiai.

At the end of February the Lithuanian partisans, supported by German artillery, took Mažeikiai and Seda, and pursued Bolsheviks to Kuršėnai.

In Kėdainiai a stationed volunteer regiment had secured its positions; in March it started small expeditions into nearby towns.

Due to a succession of losses, the Bolshevik forces stationed in Panevėžys and Kupiškis rebelled, and were quelled only by a Red Army Division from neighboring Latvia.

In the meantime, on April 19, the Polish army had taken Vilnius from the Bolsheviks and forced them to withdraw their left wing from territories south of the Neris River.

A complete reorganization took place over the next new weeks, and the strengthened Lithuanian forces were now ready to push the Red Army back.

The advance continued, and on June 10 Lithuanian forces reached the territory controlled by Latvian partisans (Green Guard) and supplied them with munitions.

[10] The official goal of this army was to fight Bolsheviks along with Aleksandr Kolchak's forces, but its actual agenda was the retention of German power in the territories they had taken during World War I.

[11] At first Freikorps, which were later a part of the West Russian Volunteer Army operated mostly in Latvia, but in July 1919, they crossed the Lithuanian–Latvian border and took the town of Kuršėnai.

[10] By October, the Bermontians had taken considerable territories in western Lithuania (Samogitia), including the cities of Šiauliai, Biržai, and Radviliškis.

During October 1919, Lithuanian forces attacked the Bermontians, achieving an important victory on November 21 and 22 near Radviliškis, a major railway center.

[10] Later clashes were stopped by the intervention of an Entente representative, the French General Henri Niessel, who oversaw the withdrawal of German troops.

Shortly after their defeat in the Battle of Warsaw, the withdrawing Red Army handed the city over to Lithuania under the terms of the peace treaty signed on July 12.

However, on October 8, before the agreement was to formally take effect, the volunteer 1st Lithuanian-Belarusian Division under the command of general Lucjan Żeligowski staged a mutiny.

After gathering enough troops, the subsequent Lithuanian counteroffensive attempt in November that had already yielded success at Širvintos and Giedraičiai was stopped by Military Commission of League of Nations.

Kaunas became the temporary capital of Lithuania due to the Polish forces seizing Vilnius in contravention to international agreements.

A staged mutiny arranged by the Polish Chief of State Józef Piłsudski was carried out by 1st Lithuanian–Belarusian Division under command of general Lucjan Żeligowski on October 8, 1920.

In October 1920, General Lucjan Żeligowski led a military offensive against the Lithuanian army following his mutiny that captured Vilnius.

The Lithuanians, despite being outnumbered, attempted a counter-offensive on October 18, but the experienced Polish forces successfully repelled them near Rykantai.