Vilnius University (Lithuanian: Vilniaus universitetas; other names exist) is the oldest university in the Baltic states and one of the oldest in North Eastern Europe. It is also the largest university in Lithuania. The university was founded in 1579 as the Jesuit Academy (College) of Vilnius (Vilna, Wilno). It was the third oldest university in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Soon after the partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, it was forced to suspend its operation in the aftermath of the November Uprising (from 1832 to 1919). In the aftermath of World War I the University saw failed attempts to restart it by Lithuania (December 1918) and invading Soviet forces (March 1919), and finally resumed operations as the University of Stefan Batory in Poland (August 1918), a period followed by another short Soviet occupation in 1920, and the less than two year period of the Republic of Central Lithuania, annexed by Poland in 1922.