During the month under record Germany made further steps in pursuance
of her policy of subjugating the _membra disjecta_ of the former
Russian imperium.
On May 13 it was reported that Berlin planned to turn Lithuania into
a "semi-federal" German State. The next day Emperor William issued a
proclamation declaring Lithuania a free and independent State, on the
basis of the action of the Lithuanian Landsrat, which, on Dec. 12,
1917, had announced "the restoration of Lithuania as an independent
State, allied to the German Empire by an eternal, steadfast alliance,
and by conventions chiefly regarding military matters, traffic,
customs, and coinage, and solicited the help of the German Empire."
The declaration assumed that Lithuania would "participate in the
war burdens of Germany, which secured her liberation." According to
information made public by the State Department at Washington, the
Germans were forcing the Lithuanian peasants to work for the landowners
at a starvation wage and were taking stringent measures against city
workers.
Similar conditions prevailed in Livonia. A message sent on May 21 by
Tchitcherin to Ambassador Joffe stated that the Germans had created a
reign of terror there, persecuting labor and assisting the Barons in
suppressing their political adversaries.
In the Ukraine the Germans disarmed the troops of the overthrown Rada
and backed Skoropadsky's dictatorial régime with bayonets. Sporadic
uprisings of peasants against the Teutons continued. In the Province
of Kiev the Germans used gas bombs against several revolted villages,
and whole communities were asphyxiated. Revolts also broke out in the
Governments of Podolia and Poltava. Resistance was offered mainly in
connection with German food requisitioning. It was reported that the
Germans had twelve army corps in the Ukraine. In the middle of May the
Central Powers granted a loan of 4,000,000 marks to the Ukraine.