Estonia after WW1 and in WW2

article rédigé par Krista Mahlakoiv:

After the First World War the Russian and the Austro-Hungarian Empires had collapsed and many new states arouse but there was little political stability in Europe. In eastern Europe, the new states, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Finland were always threatened by the rapid increase in national strength of communist Russia.
The Republic of Estonia was established on the 24th of February 1918, when for the first time in the history of the state, Salvation Committee, Päästekomitee, declared independence of the Republic of Estonia. This day is celebrated as Independence Day in Estonia.
Estonia had to defend its independence against Russians – the Red Army – and against Germans, the Landeswehr, a militia formed by Baltic German reactionaries. (Baltic Germans are Germans living in the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, which today form the countries of Estonia and Latvia. They came there between the 12th and 13th century and they were colonists or crusaders. After the crusades they influenced and came to control the administrations of government, politics, economics, education and culture of these areas for over 700 years until 1918, despite remaining a minority ethnic group. They most of estonian nobelmen and land owners were Baltic Germans at this time.)
Nasionalist troops loyal to the new gowernment were joined by volunteers from Finland and Denmark, as well as number of local Germans who supported the Republic. Essential military aid was provided by the British fleet. Having failed to subdue its small neighbour by military force, Soviet Russia finally recognised the independence of Estonia – the Tartu Peace Treaty was signed on the 2nd of February 1920.
The two decades of independence was a time of rapid changes and development. Virtually within one generation a cultural space based on Estonian language and mentality was created – higher education, police force, literature and legal system, scientific and sporting administrations and many more essential facets of a modern nation state.
The political system showed less stability. It became apparent in the 1934 bloodless coup d’etat by the state elder Konstntin Päts and general Johan Laidoner. Reason for that was that the veterans of the War of Independence (Vapsid) formed a party and became very popular, they wanted to change the constitution – to increase the power of the President. The government saw a threat in their popularity and the veterans were accused of trying to take over the government and being socialists, so all the gatherings and organisations of Veternas were forbidden and their leaders were even arrested. The following six years are called the „Era of Silence“. There are several different opinions on the blodless coup d’etat in the 1934 by Konstantin Päts, many historians say that it was only done because K. Päts and J. Laidoner wanted to secure their positions.
The policy of non-involvement of the democratic West in the 1930s left Estonia alone between the big countries. With the Hitler-Stalin Pact of August 1939 - Molotov- Ribbentrop pact - included a secret protocoll where Stalin and Hitler shared the Eastern-Europe between themselves, and Estonia was annexed to Soviet sphere of influence. A couple of weeks later, openly threatened with invasion by the Soviet Union, Estonia had to accept the establishment of Red Army and Navy bases on its territory. At first Soviet Union didn’t care about Estonian politics but in June 1940, a defacto military take-over ensued. At a time when the bewildered eyes of the world were focused on Natzis’ enttry to Paris, few took notice of Soviet occupation in the Baltic countries. Few days later they took over the government and brought more troops into Estonia. All that was followed by unexpected elections in Estonia, which wer won by communist with 92,8% of the votes, of course the results of the elections were not real. Also politics, economy and social system were changed acording to Soviet Union. On 14th of June 1941 it was the turn of the families and relatives of „elements hostile to Soviet power“: without discrimination according to gender or age, over 10 000 Estonians were deported without trial to prison camps and exile. Many perished.
A year of Soviet rule was followed by the Nazi invasion in 1941. Recent memories of Communists’ atrocities caused a great number of Estonians to fight against the retreating Soviets. Germans took over the continental Estonia but the sense of reliefe was short. It became evident that the Nazis would not countenance any attempt at restoring Estonia’s independence. An Estoninan nationalist government, formed amidst the chaos of the collapsing German defence, declared the restoration of independence and proclaimed neutrality in the war. They also attempted to organise Estonian military units and tried to get recognition from the Western Allies, but without any luck. By the late autumn 1944 the Red Army had re-occupied the whole of Estonia.
Tens of thousands of Estonians, who were fortunate enough to get to the coast adn find any kind of vessel, escaped overseas to Sweden.