Estonian Liberation War
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The Estonian Liberation War (Estonian: Vabadussõda, literally "freedom war"), also called the Estonian War of Independence, in 1918-1920, was Estonia's struggle for an independent state in the aftermath of World War I and the Russian Revolution.
Timeline
In November 1917, upon disintegration of the Russian Empire a Diet (Maapäev), which had been elected in the spring of that year, proclaimed itself the highest authority in Estonia. Soon thereafter, the Bolsheviks dissolved Maapäev and forced the Estonian nationalists temporarily underground. A few months later, using a moment between the Russian Red Army's retreat and the arrival of the advancing German troops, the Committee of Elders of the underground Maapäev issued a proclamation of the independent Republic of Estonia on February 24, 1918 and formed a provisional government. This first period of independence was extremely short-lived, as German troops entered Tallinn on the following day. The German authorities recognized neither the provisional government, nor its claim for Estonia's independence.After Germany's defeat in World War I (November 1918) however, an Estonian provisional government was able to retake office. A new military invasion by the Russian SFSR followed a few days later, marking the beginning of the Estonian War of Independence. The first Russian attacks at Narva on November 22nd were met by German and Estonian defenders but the Germans thereafter withdrew westwards. On November 28th the Red Army made an assault to capture the city with artillery support and on November 29th the Red Army captured Narva and Narva-Jõesuu. Estonian bolsheviks declared regional local government in Narva under the name of the Estonian Workers’ Commune (Eesti Töörahva Kommun) The small, poorly armed Estonian defense force was initially pushed back by the Red Army close to the capital, Tallinn. Only 34 kilometers was the distance between Tallinn and the front line. Partly due to the timely arrival of a shipment of arms brought by a British naval squadron under Admiral Sinclair the Bolsheviks were stopped. In January 1919 the Estonians launched a counteroffensive under Commander-in-Chief Johan Laidoner. In this the Estonian Army was supported by the Royal Navy as well as some Finnish, Swedish and Danish volunteers. By the end of February 1919 the Red Army was expelled from the entire territory of Estonia.
Estonian troops also advanced into northern Latvia. Latvia had been declared an independent state like Estonia, but its pro-British government of Kārlis Ulmanis was toppled by a German general Rüdiger von der Goltz, who had installed a pro-German puppet government in Riga in May 1919. This was possible because under the terms of their armistice with the Western Allies, the Germans had been obliged to maintain their armies in the East to counter the Bolshevik threat. A Baltic German military unit Landeswehr, together with the "Iron Division" of the regular German army, started to advance northwards and demanded that the Estonian army end the "occupation" of parts of northern Latvia. It was widely believed that the real intent of the Landeswehr was to annex Estonia into some German-dominated state like the United Baltic Duchy which had existed in 1918. In the military conflict that ensued, the Baltic-German Landeswehr were defeated by the advancing Estonian Army in northern Latvia near the city of Cēsis in June 1919. (June 23, the anniversary of the Battle of Wenden (Võnnu in Estonian) is celebrated in Estonia as a national holiday "Victory Day.")
Although Estonia had been liberated the Bolsheviks were still active and the Estonian high command decided to push their defense lines across the border into Russia. The offensive began on May 13th. By now the Estonian land, naval and air forces comprised 74,500 men including a 3,000-strong White Russian Northern Corps. This had its origins back in the autumn of 1918 as a small White Russian force raised under German approval in the Pskov area, which had retreated from the Bolsheviks and joined up with Estonian National forces. The Estonian May offensive was extremely successful and the Northern Corps mobilized the local population in the liberated Russian territory. On June 19th 1919 the Estonian Commander-in-Chief General Laidoner removed the White Russians from his command and they were renamed the North-Western Army. Shortly afterwards General Nikolai N. Yudenich took command.
The Bolsheviks began a counter-offensive in July 1919 which regained much ground lost during the Estonian offensive but the North-Western Army survived. With arms provided by Britain and France and supported by the Estonian army, Estonian warships and the British Royal Navy, the North-Western Army began an offensive on September 28th 1919 with the aim of capturing Petrograd. White Russian forces got as far as ten miles from Petrograd but the Bolshevik leader Leon Trotsky gathered "an army of workers and soldiers", which was able to repulse Yudenich's troops and force their retreat back into Estonia where the Estonians, fearing the consequences of accepting an armed mob, disarmed and interned them. The Bolsheviks made determined assaults on fortified positions at the Estonian frontier but exhausted themselves and a ceasefire came into effect on January 3rd 1920.
On February 2, 1920, the Peace Treaty of Tartu was signed by the Republic of Estonia and Bolshevist Russia. The terms of the treaty stated that Russia renounced in perpetuity all rights to the territory of Estonia. The agreed frontier roughly corresponded with the position of the front line at the cessation of hostilities. In particular, Estonia retained a strategic strip to the east of the Narva river (Narvataguse) and Setumaa in the southeast, areas which were lost after the incorporation of Estonia into the USSR in 1940.
Of interest is the British contribution to the struggle in the Baltic in 1918-19: 1) arrival of British naval forces in December 1918 after lobbying in London by Estonian politicians, which brought needed military equipment, training and also artillery support from Royal Navy ships; 2) protection of the Estonian left flank by naval action in the Gulf of Finland. This included the first combined air/sea assault in history, when British aircraft and torpedo boats attacked and destroyed the Bolshevik fleet in Kronstadt; 3) the British supplied equipment to the White Russian North-Western Army. The equipment included six tanks together with their crews who were the only British troops to fight with the North-Western Army. British tank crews are said to have got closer to Petrograd in the autumn of 1919 than German Panzer crews did to Leningrad in WWII.
See also
External links
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