ABSTRACT
"Vytautas' empire vanished into the past like a bright meteor", wrote Zenonas Ivinskis in the preface of the History of Lithuania, a synthesis of Lithuania's history that remained incomplete. The empire of Vytautas Magnus is a most remarkable and unique creation in the world, as far as the rule of a small pagan population over large Christian colonies is concerned, while in world history all we see is just the opposite phenomena. This chapter argues that the Grand Duchy was not in fact a unique phenomenon, but rather a very typical empire. The eastern Slavic lands annexed to the Grand Duchy should by no means be called colonies (this title is more appropriate to overseas domains), but they were the empire's periphery. The use of the empire concept in the political discourse or self-representation of a particular polity cannot be the only basis for classifying that political body an empire.
