Estonia History
The first settlers arrived in the region about 6 thousand years ago. Belonging to a branch of the Finno-Ugric family of nations, the Estonians have greater cultural and linguistic ties with the Finns in the north than with the Baltic Indo-Europeans in the south.
By the year 400 (AD), hunting and fishing began to be replaced by agriculture and livestock. At the same time, navigation in the Baltic Sea and trade with neighboring nations was increasingly intense. Between the 11th and 12th centuries, a combined military force of Estonians successfully repulsed the first Russian offensives.
When Germans, Danes and Russians invaded these lands in the 13th century, the Estonians constituted a federation of states, with a high degree of social development and autonomy that kept them united against different dominators.
In the 13th century the Knights of the Sword, a Germanic order of the Crusades, born in the 12th century, conquered southern Estonia and northern Latvia, created the Kingdom of Livonia and Christianized its settlers. The Protestant Reformation entered Estonia in the first half of the 16th century, through German merchants and landowners.
Between 1558 and 1583, Russia unleashed several offensives against Livonia, which completely dismembered in 1561. Poland conquered Livonia in 1569 and ceded most of the kingdom to Sweden in 1660. In the Nordic Wars (1700 – 1721), Russia took Livonia from Sweden and retained it by the Treaty of Nystad.
According to Youremailverifier, Russia received the Polish part of Livonia in 1772, in the first division of Poland between Russia and Sweden. The former Kingdom of Livonia became a Russian province in 1783. Tsarism ruled the province with the Germanic nobles, owners of most of the lands, while the peasants remained in servitude.
The conquest of property rights over their lands, in 1804, and the abolition of serfdom in Russia, strengthened the nationalism of the Estonians.
In 1904 Estonian nationalists took control of Tallinn, displacing the Baltic-German rulers. After the fall of tsarism, in February 1917, a demonstration of 40,000 Estonians in Petrograd forced the Provisional Government to grant them autonomy.
In November 1917, in the election of a Constituent Assembly, the Estonian Bolsheviks obtained 35.5% of the votes. The 24 of February of 1918 Estonia declared its independence from the Soviet Union and set up a provisional government. The next day, German troops occupied Tallinn and the Estonian government was forced into exile.
Following the defeat of Germany in World War I, the Estonian War of Liberation began. In February 1919 the Estonians defeated the Red Army and in November 1919 mercenary German troops and, again, the Red Army. The 2 of February of 1920, by the Treaty of Tartu, the Soviet Union recognized the independence of Estonia. That same year, construction began in Estonia on what would later become the world’s first shale oil distillery.
Estonian law guaranteed minority rights, while the government ensured that all ethnic groups had schools in their own language. The economic crisis of the 1930s led Estonia to move from a parliamentary democracy to a quasi-dictatorial regime in 1933 and in 1937 to a presidential-parliamentary system.
The secret protocols of the Soviet-German Pact, signed in 1939 by Foreign Ministers Molotov and Ribbentrop, established that Estonia and its two Baltic neighbors, Latvia and Lithuania, would remain in the area of influence of the USSR. At the same time, Tallinn signed a mutual assistance treaty with Moscow that included the installation of Soviet naval bases on Estonian territory.
In June 1940, after issuing an ultimatum and demanding the entry of his troops into Estonian territory, due to an alleged disappearance of soldiers, Stalin deposed the Tallinn government and replaced it with members of the local Communist Party (CP). After elections held in the middle of the occupation, the CP assumed power.
In a procedure similar to that applied in Latvia and Lithuania, the new government adopted the name of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic and voluntarily joined the USSR. More than 60,000 Estonians were deported.
The first settlers arrived in the region about 6 thousand years ago. Belonging to a branch of the Finno-Ugric family of nations, the Estonians have greater cultural and linguistic ties with the Finns in the north than with the Baltic Indo-Europeans in the south.
By 400 AD, hunting and fishing began to be replaced by agriculture and cattle ranching. At the same time, navigation in the Baltic and trade with neighboring nations was increasingly intense. Between the 11th and 12th centuries, a combined military force of Estonians successfully repulsed the first Russian offensives.
When Germans, Danes and Russians invaded these lands in the 13th century, the Estonians constituted a federation of states, with a high degree of social development and autonomy that kept them united against different dominators.
In the 13th century the Knights of the Sword, a Germanic order of the Crusades, born in the 12th century, conquered southern Estonia and northern Latvia, created the Kingdom of Livonia and Christianized its settlers. The Protestant Reformation entered Estonia in the first half of the 16th century, through German merchants and landowners.
Between 1558 and 1583, Russia unleashed several offensives against Livonia, which completely dismembered in 1561. Poland conquered Livonia in 1569 and ceded most of the kingdom to Sweden in 1660. In the Nordic Wars (1700-1721), Russia took it away. Livonia to Sweden and retained it by the Treaty of Nystad.
Russia received the Polish part of Livonia in 1772, in the first division of Poland between Russia and Sweden. The former Kingdom of Livonia became a Russian province in 1783. Tsarism ruled the province with Germanic nobles, owners of most of the land, while the peasants remained in servitude.
The conquest of property rights over their lands, in 1804, and the abolition of serfdom in Russia, strengthened the nationalism of the Estonians.
In 1904 Estonian nationalists took control of Tallinn, displacing the Baltic-German rulers. After the fall of tsarism, in February 1917, a demonstration of 40,000 Estonians in Petrograd forced the Provisional Government to grant them autonomy.
In November 1917, in the election of a Constituent Assembly, the Estonian Bolsheviks obtained 35.5% of the votes. On February 24, 1918, Estonia declared its independence from the Soviet Union and installed a provisional government. The next day, German troops occupied Tallinn and the Estonian government was forced into exile.
Following the defeat of Germany in World War I, the Estonian War of Liberation began. In February 1919 the Estonians defeated the Red Army and in November 1919 mercenary German troops and, again, the Red Army. On February 2, 1920, by the Treaty of Tartu, the Soviet Union recognized the independence of Estonia. That same year, construction began in Estonia on what would later become the world’s first shale oil distillery.
Estonian law guaranteed minority rights, while the government ensured that all ethnic groups had schools in their own language. The economic crisis of the 1930s led Estonia to move from a parliamentary democracy to a quasi-dictatorial regime in 1933 and in 1937 to a presidential-parliamentary system.
