In 1920, it was again occupied by the Red Army, but the Soviets officially recognized the sovereignty of the Lithuanian Republic over the city immediately after defeat during Battle of Warsaw.

The Polish commander Józef Piłsudski ordered his subordinate general Lucjan Żeligowski to "rebel" his Lithuanian-Belarusian division and capture the city of Vilnius, without declaring war on Lithuania.

Following the elections held there in 1922 the state was incorporated into Poland (see Vilnius region, Central Lithuania).

During World War II, the area saw formation of many resistance units, most notably the Polish Home Army and, after 1943, Soviet partisans.

After the war, Vilniaus Apskritis existed as a relic of the pre-war independent state in Lithuanian SSR between 1944 and 1950.