In case of Lithuania, and other states of course it was not easy. Some quick bullet points:

• A visit by President Mikhail Gorbachev from January 11–13, 1990 to the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, provoked a pro-independence rally of around 250,000 people.
• On March 11, 1990 the newly elected parliament of the Lithuanian SSR, elected Vytautas Landsbergis a leader of Sajudis, to the position of Chairman of the Supreme Council becoming the first non-communist leader of a Soviet Republic.
• Vytautas Landsbergis promptly declared the restoration of Lithuanian independence becoming the first Soviet Republic to break away from the USSR. However, the Soviet Army attempted to suppress the movement.
• In response, the Soviet Union initiated an economic blockade of Lithuania and kept troops there to secure the rights of ethnic Russians

As mentioned, Lithuania being the first state to break away had to deal with the full supression by the Soviets which we had to endure. On January 13, 1991, Soviet troops, along with KGB Spetsnaz Alpha Group, stormed the Vilnius TV Tower in Lithuania to suppress the nationalist media. This ended with fourteen unarmed civilians dead and hundreds more injured. On the night of July 31, 1991, Russian OMON from Riga, the Soviet military headquarters in the Baltics, assaulted the Lithuanian border post in Medininkai and killed seven Lithuanian servicemen. This event further weakened the Soviet Union's position, internationally and domestically. Those were some deadly clashes, but it was seen as the last struggle of power by the Soviets meaning that independence was close.

Durante il referendum nazionale del 9 febbraio 1991, più del 90% di coloro che parteciparono al voto (il 76% di tutti gli aventi diritto) votarono a favore di una Lituania indipendente e democratica. Durante il colpo di stato di agosto a Mosca, le truppe militari sovietiche presero il controllo di diverse comunicazioni e altre strutture governative a Vilnius e in altre città, ma tornarono nelle loro caserme quando il colpo di stato fallì. Il governo lituano mise al bando il Partito Comunista e ordinò la confisca delle sue proprietà. Dopo il fallito colpo di stato, la Lituania ricevette un ampio riconoscimento internazionale e fu ammessa alle Nazioni Unite il 17 settembre 1991.