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History of Estonia

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Pre-history

Human settlement in what is now Estonia became possible when the ice from the last glacial era melted away 11,000–13,000 years ago. The oldest known human settlement in Estonia is located by the Pärnu River, near the village of Pulli. It has been dated to the beginning of the 9th millennium BC. Previously known hunting and fishing communities from around 6500 BC once lived near the town of Kunda. Bone and stone artefacts similar to those found at Kunda have been discovered elsewhere in Estonia, as well as in Latvia, northern Lithuania and southern Finland. The Kunda culture group belongs to the middle stone age, or Mesolithic period (in Estonia from the beginning of the 9th millennium to the 5th millennium BC).

Estonian is a Finno-Ugric language and belongs to the Uralic language family. The modern language that is most closely related to Estonian is Finnish. Both Finnish and Estonian are Finnic languages, which comprises one branch of the larger Finno-Ugric language family.

The origins of the Estonian and Finnish peoples and their languages are a matter of some controversy. In the 19th century the Finnish researcher Castrén prevailed with the theory that "their original home" was in west-central Siberia. Later, a theory of an ancient homeland of all Finno-Ugric peoples situated in the Volga and Kama rivers region within the European part of Russia appeared more credible. Until the 1970s most linguists believed Estonians to have arrived in Estonia as late as the first few centuries AD. In the 1980s these ideas drastically changed. The old theory was challenged by another postulating a wide-ranged "homeland" between the Volga river and Scandinavia. In light of new archaeological findings, it was concluded that the ancestors of Estonians and Finns arrived at their present territory many thousands of years ago, perhaps in many successive waves of immigration.[[Citing sources citation needed]] During that period of massed migrations, the possible linguistic and cultural ancestors of the hunting-gathering Sami were pushed into the more remote northern regions.

Estonians are claimed by some to be one of the longest settled European peoples, whose ancestors may have corresponded to the Comb Ceramic Culture people, who lived on the southeastern shores of the Baltic Sea over 5,000 years ago. Like other early agricultural societies, the ancient people of Estonia are believed to have been organized into economically self-sufficient, male-dominated clans with few differences in wealth or social power. By the early Middle Ages most Estonians were small landholders, with farmsteads primarily organised by village. The government remained decentralized, with local political and administrative subdivisions emerging only around the first century AD. By then, Estonia had a population of over 150,000 people.

The name "Estonia" (in modern Estonian: Eesti) could be derived from the word "Aestii," the name given by the ancient Germanic people to the peoples living northeast of the Vistula River. The Roman historian Tacitus in 98 A.D. was the first to mention the "Aestii" people, and early Scandinavians called the land south of the Gulf of Finland Eistland, and the people eistr.

The Middle Ages

Dannebrog falling from the sky during the Battle of Lyndanisse (1219)
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Dannebrog falling from the sky during the Battle of Lyndanisse (1219)

Carta marina of Baltic Sea (1539)
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Carta marina of Baltic Sea (1539)

Estonia remained one of the last corners of medieval Europe to be Christianized. In 1193 Pope Celestine III called for a crusade against pagans in Northern Europe. Crusaders from northern Germany established the stronghold of Riga in modern Latvia. With the help of the newly converted local tribes of Livs and Letts, the crusaders initiated raids into part of what is present-day Estonia. Estonian tribes fiercely resisted the attacks from Riga and occasionally themselves sacked territories controlled by the crusaders. In 1217 the German crusading order of the Sword Brethren and their recently converted allies won a major battle in which the Estonian commander Lembitu was killed.

Danish Estonia

Northern Estonia was conquered by Danish crusaders led by king Waldemar II, who arrived in 1219 on the site of Tallinn (Battle of Lyndanisse).

In 1227 the Sword Brethren conquered the last indigenous stronghold in the Estonian island of Saaremaa. After the conquest, all remaining local pagans of Estonia were ostensibly Christianized. The territory was then divided between the Livonian branch of the Teutonic Order, the Bishopric of Dorpat and the Bishopric of Ösel-Wiek. Northern Estonia was a nominal possession of Denmark until 1346. Tallinn (Reval) was given the Lübeck Rights in 1248 and joined the Hanseatic League at the end of the 13th century. In 1343 the people of northern Estonia and Saaremaa Island started a rebellion (St.George's Night Uprising) against the rule of their German-speaking landlords. The uprising was put down, and Vesse, the rebel 'king' of Saaremaa, was hanged in 1344. Despite local rebellions and Russian invasions in 1481 and 1558, the local German-speaking upper class continued to rule Estonia and from 1524 preserved Estonian commitment to the Protestant Reformation.

Swedish Period

Northern Estonia submitted to Swedish control in 1561 during the Livonian War, and during 1582–83 southern Estonia (Livonia) became part of Poland. In 1625, mainland Estonia came entirely under Swedish rule. In 1631, the Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus allowed the nobility to grant the peasantry greater autonomy, and in 1632 established a printing press and University in the city of Tartu.

Part of Imperial Russia

Sweden's defeat by Russia in the Great Northern War in 1721 resulted in the Treaty of Nystad, and Russian rule was then imposed on what later became modern Estonia. Nonetheless, the legal system, Lutheran church, local and town governments, and education remained mostly German until the late 19th century and partially until 1918.

By 1819, the Baltic provinces were the first in the Russian empire in which serfdom was abolished, the largely autonomous nobility allowing the peasants to own their own land or move to the cities. These moves created the economic foundation for the coming to life of the local national identity and culture as Estonia was caught in a current of national awakening that began sweeping through Europe in the mid-1800s.

A cultural movement sprang forth to adopt the use of Estonian as the language of instruction in schools, all-Estonian song festivals were held regularly after 1869, and a national literature in Estonian developed. "Kalevipoeg", Estonia's epic national epic, was published in 1861 in both Estonian and German.

1889 marked the beginning of the central government-sponsored policy of Russification. The impact of this was that many of the Baltic German legal institutions were either abolished or had to do their work in Russian - a good example of this is the University of Tartu.

As the 1905 Revolution in Russia swept through Estonia, the Estonians called for freedom of the press and assembly, for universal franchise, and for national autonomy. Estonian gains were minimal, but the tense stability that prevailed between 1905 and 1917 allowed Estonians to advance the aspiration of national statehood.

With the collapse of the Russian empire in World War I, Russia's Provisional Government granted national autonomy to Estonia in April. A popularly elected assembly (Maapäev) was formed but was quickly forced underground by the Bolsheviks. The Committee of Elders of the underground Maapäev proclaimed the Republic of Estonia on February 24, 1918, one day before German troops invaded. After the withdrawal of German troops in November 1918, an Estonian provisional Government retook office, however a military invasion by Soviet Russia followed a few days later, marking the beginning of the Estonian War of Independence (1918-1920). Estonian army cleared the entire territory of Estonia of Soviet troops by February 1919. On February 2, 1920, the 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 Republic of Estonia obtained international recognition and became a member of the League of Nations in 1921.

Independence

The first period of independence lasted 22 years, beginning in 1918. Estonia underwent a number of economic, social, and political reforms necessary to come to terms with its new status as a sovereign state. Economically and socially, land reform in 1919 was the most important step. Large estate holdings belonging to the Baltic nobility were redistributed among the peasants and especially among volunteers in the Estonian War of Independence. Estonia's principal markets became Scandinavia, the United Kingdom, and western Europe, with some exports to the United States and to the Soviet Union.

The first constitution of the Republic of Estonia, adopted in 1920, established a parliamentary form of government. The parliament (Riigikogu) consisted of 100 members elected for 3-year terms. Between 1921 and 1931, Estonia had 11 governments. Political parties were banned and the parliament was not in session 1934–1938 as the country was ruled by decree by Konstantin Päts, who was eventually elected as the first President of the Republic in 1938.

The independence period was one of great cultural advancement. Estonian language schools were established, and artistic life of all kinds flourished. One of the more notable cultural acts of the independence period, unique in western Europe at the time of its passage in 1925, was a guarantee of cultural autonomy to minority groups comprising at least 3,000 persons, and to Jews. Historians see the lack of any bloodshed after a nearly "700-year German rule" as indication that it must have been mild by comparison.

Estonia had pursued a policy of neutrality, but it was of no consequence after the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact on August 23, 1939 in which the two great powers agreed to divide up the countries situated between them (Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland) with Estonia falling in the Soviet "sphere of influence". Afther the invasion of Poland Orzeł incident took place when Polish submarine ORP Orzeł looked for shelter in Tallinn but escaped after Soviet Union attacked Poland on September 17. Estonian's lack of will and/or incapability to disarm and intern the crew caused Soviet Union to accuse Estonia of "helping them escape" and claim that Estonia was not neutral. On September 24, 1939, the Soviet Union threatened Estonia with war unless provided with military bases in the country –- an ultimatum with which the Estonian government complied.

Period of Soviet and German Occupation

Creation of Estonian SSR

On June 16-17, 1940, the Soviet troops occupied the whole territory of Estonia and demanded a change to a new pro-Soviet puppet government. Similarly to the developments in neighboring Latvia and Lithuania, the occupation and change of government was then in the three countries followed by "parliamentary elections" where all but pro-Communist candidates were outlawed. The "parliament" so elected proclaimed Estonia a Socialist Republic on July 21, 1940 and unanimously requested Estonia to be "accepted" into the USSR. Estonia was formally annexed into the Soviet Union on August 6 and renamed the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic.Magnus Ilmjärv Hääletu alistumine, (Silent Submission), Tallinn, Argo, 2004, ISBN 9949415047 The 1940 occupation and annexation of Estonia into the Soviet Union was considered illegal and never officially recognized by Great Britain, the United States and other Western democracies.

The Soviet authorities, having gained control over Estonia, immediately imposed a regime of terror. During the first year of Soviet occupation (1940-1941) over 8,000 people, including most of the country's leading politicians and military officers, were arrested. About 2,200 of the arrested were executed in Estonia, while most others were moved to prison camps in Russia, from where very few were later able to return alive. On June 14, 1941, when mass deportations took place simultaneously in all three Baltic countries, about 10,000 Estonian civilians were deported to Siberia and other remote areas of the USSR, where nearly half of them later perished. Of the 32,100 Estonian men who were forcibly relocated to Russia under the pretext of mobilisation into the Soviet army after the German invasion of USSR in 1941, nearly 40 percent died within the next year in the so-called "labour battalions" through hunger, cold and overworking.

German Occupation

After Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, and the Wehrmacht reached Estonia in July 1941, most Estonians greeted the Germans with relatively open arms and hoped to restore independence. But it soon became clear that sovereignty was out of the question. Estonia became a part of the German-occupied "Ostland".

Estonia had a relatively small Jewish population of 4,500 people before the war. During the first Soviet occupation of 1940-41 about 500 Jews were deported to Siberia. Round-ups and killings of Jews began immediately following the arrival of the first German troops in 1941, who were closely followed by the extermination squad Einsatzkommando (Sonderkommando) 1A, part of Einsatzgruppe A. Arrests and executions continued as the Germans, with the assistance of local collaborators, advanced through Estonia. About 50 percent of Estonia's Jewish community, aware of the fate that otherwise awaited them, managed to escape to the Soviet Union; virtually all the remainder (between 950 and 1,000 men, women and children) were killed before the end of 1941. Less than a dozen Estonian Jews are known to have survived the war in Estonia. The Nazi regime also established 22 concentration and labor camps in Estonia for foreign Jews, the largest, Vaivara, had 20,000 Jewish prisoners pass through its gates, and several thousand foreign Jews were killed at the Kalevi Liiva camp.

Despite the German refusal to recognize Estonia's sovereignty, many Estonians heeded the call to fight the Soviets, especially in 1944 when, with the Allied victory over Germany becoming certain, the only option to save Estonia's independence was to stave off a new Soviet invasion of Estonia until Germany's capitulation. The initial formation of a volunteer SS Estonian [legion] was eventually to become in 1944 a full-sized Waffen SS volunteer division, the 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Estonian). The Estonian units saw action defending the Narva line throughout 1944.

As the Germans retreated in September 1944, Jüri Uluots, the last prime minister of the Estonian Republic prior to Soviet occupation, assumed the responsibilities of president (as dictated in the Constitution) and appointed a new government while seeking recognition from the Allies. The new government fled to Stockholm, Sweden and operated in exile until 1992, when Heinrich Mark, the prime minister of the Estonian government in exile acting as president, presented his credentials to incoming president Lennart Meri.

After World War II

In World War II Estonia suffered huge losses. Ports were destroyed, and 45% of industry and 40% of the railways were damaged. Estonia's population decreased by one-fifth, about 200,000 people. Some 10% of the population (over 80,000 people) fled to the West between 1940 and 1944. More than 30,000 soldiers were killed in action. In 1944 Russian air raids destroyed Narva and one-third of the residential area in Tallinn. By the late autumn of 1944, Soviet forces expelled the last German troops from Estonia, ushering in a second phase of Soviet rule, followed again by a wave of arrests and executions of people considered disloyal to the Soviets.

An anti-Soviet guerrilla movement known as the "Metsavennad" ("Forest Brothers") developed in the countryside, reaching its zenith in 1946–48. It is hard to tell how many people were in the ranks of the Metsavennad, however it is estimated on different times there could be about 30,000–35,000 people. Probably the last Forest Brother was caught in the September of 1978, and killed himself during his apprehension.

In March 1949, 20,722 people (2.5% of the population) were deported to Siberia. By the beginning of the 1950s, the occupying regime had suppressed the resistance movement.

After the war the Communist Party of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic (ECP) became the pre-eminent organization in the republic. The ethnic Estonian share in the total ECP membership decreased from 90% in 1941 to 48% in 1952.

After Stalin's death, Party membership vastly expanded its social base to include more ethnic Estonians. By the mid-1960s, the percentage of ethnic Estonian membership stabilized near 50%. On the eve of perestroika the ECP claimed about 100,000 members; less than half were ethnic Estonians and they totalled less than 2% of the country's population.

One positive aspect of the post-Stalin era in Estonia was the re-permission in the late 1950s of citizens' contacts with foreign countries. Ties were reactivated with Finland, and in the 1960s, a ferry connection was opened from Tallinn to Helsinki and Estonians began watching Finnish television. This electronic "window on the West" afforded Estonians more information on current affairs and more access to Western culture and thought than any other group in the Soviet Union. This heightened media environment was important in preparing Estonians for their vanguard role in extending perestroika during the Gorbachev era.

In the late 1970s, Estonian society grew increasingly concerned about the threat of cultural Russification to the Estonian language and national identity. By 1981, Russian was taught in the first grade of Estonian language schools and was also introduced into the Estonian pre-school teaching.

By the beginning of the Gorbachev era, concern over the cultural survival of the Estonian people had reached a critical point. The ECP remained stable in the early perestroika years but waned in the late 1980s. Other political movements, groupings, and parties moved to fill the power vacuum. The first and most important was the Estonian Popular Front, established in April 1988 with its own platform, leadership, and broad constituency. The Greens and the dissident-led Estonian National Independence Party soon followed. By 1989, the political spectrum widened, and new parties were formed and re-formed almost daily.

The republic's Supreme Soviet transformed into an authentic regional lawmaking body. This relatively conservative legislature passed an early declaration of sovereignty (November 16, 1988); a law on economic independence (May 1989) confirmed by the U.S.S.R. Supreme Soviet that November; a language law making Estonian the official language (January 1989); and local and republic election laws stipulating residency requirements for voting and candidacy (August, November 1989).

Although the majority of Estonia's large Russian-speaking diaspora of Soviet-era immigrants did not support full independence, they were divided in their goals for the republic. In March 1990 some 18% of Russian speakers supported the idea of a fully independent Estonia, up from 7% the previous autumn, and by early 1990 only a small minority of ethnic Estonians were opposed to full independence.

Regaining Independence

Despite the emergence of the Popular Front and the Supreme Soviet as a new lawmaking body, since 1989 the different segments of the indigenous Estonian population had been politically mobilized by different and competing actors. The Popular Front's proposal, to declare the independence of Estonia as a new, so-called "third republic" whose citizens would be all those living there at the moment found less and less support over time.

A grassroots Estonian Citizens' Committees Movement launched in 1989 with the objective of registering all pre-war citizens of the Republic of Estonia and their descendants in order to convene a Congress of Estonia. Their emphasis was on the illegal nature of the Soviet system and that hundreds of thousands inhabitants of Estonia had not ceased to be citizens of Estonian Republic which still existed de jure, recognized by the majority of Western nations. Despite the hostility of the mainstream official press and intimidation by Soviet Estonian authorities, dozens of local citizens' committees were elected by popular initiative all over the country. These quickly organized into a nation-wide structure and by the beginning of 1990, over 900,000 people had registered themselves as citizens of the Republic of Estonia.

The spring of 1990 saw two free elections and two alternative legislatures developed in Estonia. On 24 February 1990, the 464-member Congress of Estonia (incl. 35 delegates of refugee communities abroad) was elected by the registered citizens of the republic. The Congress of Estonia convened for the first time in Tallinn March 11–12, 1990, passing 14 declarations and resolutions. A 70-member standing committee (Eesti Komitee) was elected with Tunne Kelam as its chairman.

In the March 18 1990 elections for the 105-member Supreme Soviet all residents of Estonia were eligible to participate, including all Soviet-era immigrants from the U.S.S.R. and approximately 50,000 Soviet troops stationed there. The Popular Front coalition, composed of left and centrist parties and led by former Central Planning Committee official Edgar Savisaar, gained a parliamentary majority. In May 1990, the Supreme Soviet restored the name of the "Republic of Estonia" and proclaimed only laws adopted in Estonia (by the Supreme Soviet) as valid.

Through a strict, non-confrontational policy in pursuing independence, Estonia managed to avoid the violence which Latvia and Lithuania incurred in the bloody January 1991 crackdowns and in the border customs-post guard murders that summer. During the August coup in the U.S.S.R., Estonia was able to maintain constant operation and control of its telecommunications facilities, thereby offering the West a clear view into the latest coup developments and serving as a conduit for swift Western support and recognition of Estonia's redeclaration of independence on August 20, 1991. August 20 remains a national holiday in Estonia because of this. Following Europe's lead, the United States formally reestablished diplomatic relations with Estonia on September 2, and the U.S.S.R. Supreme Soviet offered recognition on September 6.

After more than 3 years of negotiations, on August 31, 1994, the armed forces of the Russian Federation withdrew from Estonia. Since fully regaining independence Estonia has had 12 governments with 8 prime ministers: Mart Laar, Andres Tarand, Tiit Vähi, Mart Siimann, Siim Kallas, Juhan Parts, and Andrus Ansip. The PMs of the interim government (1990–1992) were Edgar Savisaar and Tiit Vähi.

Since the last Russian troops left in 1994, Estonia has been free to promote economic and political ties with Western Europe. Estonia opened accession negotiations with the European Union in 1998 and joined in 2004, shortly after becoming a member of NATO.

Time line

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Prehistory

Livonian Period

Swedish period

Russian Period

Independent Estonia

See also

References

External links

 

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