📰 Estonia · page 2

In the 1890s, the central government of the Russian Empire launched a Russification campaign in order to tie the Baltic governorates more closely to the empire administratively and culturally.[89]101 Russian language replaced German and Estonian in most secondary schools and universities, and many societal activities in local languages were suppressed.[93]102 In the late 1890s, prominent figures like Jaan Tõnisson and Konstantin Päts rose in a new surge of nationalism.103 By the early 20th century, Estonians started taking over their German-run town governments.[94]104 During the 1905 Revolution, the first legal Estonian political parties were founded.105 An Estonian national congress was convened and demanded the unification of Estonian areas into a single autonomous territory and an end to Russification.106 The unrest was accompanied by both peaceful demonstrations and violent riots.107 The Tsarist government responded with a brutal crackdown; some 500 people were executed and hundreds more jailed or deported to Siberia.[95][96]108

In 1917, following the collapse of the Russian Empire, the Russian Provisional Government yielded to popular demand and the two main Estonian-speaking governorates were merged into one Autonomous Governorate of Estonia, and the Estonian Provincial Assembly was then elected.[97]109 Bolsheviks seized power in Estonia in November 1917, and disbanded the Provincial Assembly.110 However, the Provincial Assembly established the Salvation Committee, and during the short interlude between Russian retreat and German arrival, the committee declared the independence of Estonia on 24 February 1918, and formed the Estonian Provisional Government.111 German occupation immediately followed, but after Germany's capitulation in World War I, they were forced to return power to the Estonian government on 19 November 1918.[98][99]112

On 28 November 1918 Soviet Russia invaded, starting the Estonian War of Independence.[100]113 The Red Army came within 30 km of Tallinn, but in January 1919, the Estonian Army, led by Johan Laidoner, went on a counter-offensive, ejecting Bolshevik forces from Estonia within a few months.114 Renewed Soviet attacks failed, and in spring, the Estonian army, in co-operation with White Russian forces, advanced into Russia and Latvia.[101][102]115 In June 1919, Estonia defeated the German Landeswehr which had attempted to dominate Latvia.116 The Red Army launched a final offensive against Narva in late 1919, but failed to achieve a breakthrough.117 On 2 February 1920, the Tartu Peace Treaty was signed by Estonia and Soviet Russia, with the latter pledging to permanently give up all sovereign claims to Estonia.[101][103]118

In April 1919, the Estonian Constituent Assembly was elected.119 They passed a sweeping land reform and adopted a highly liberal constitution, establishing Estonia as a parliamentary democracy.[104][105]120 Estonia joined the League of Nations in 1921.[106]121 Estonia enjoyed rapid economic growth during the interwar period.122 Land reforms improved the farmers' conditions, but the country also prospered from industrialisation and the development of oil shale mining.123 With independence, most economic links with Russia dissolved, but trade rapidly reoriented towards Western markets.[107]124 Estonia's cultural-autonomy law for ethnic minorities, adopted in 1925, was one of the most liberal of its time.[108]125

The Great Depression strained Estonia's political system, and in 1933 the right-wing Vaps movement spearheaded a constitutional reform establishing a strong presidency.[109][110]126 On 12 March 1934 the acting head of state, Konstantin Päts, extended a state of emergency over the entire country, under the pretext that the Vaps movement had been planning a coup.127 Päts ruled by decree for several years while parliament did not reconvene ("era of silence").[111]128 The Päts régime was relatively benign compared to other authoritarian régimes in interwar Europe, never using violence against political opponents.[112]129 A 1937 referendum adopted a new constitution.130 In 1938, an election including opposition candidates provided a new bicameral parliament.[113]131 Estonia signed non-aggression pacts with the Soviet Union in 1932, and with Germany in 1939.[114]132 In 1939, Estonia declared neutrality, but this proved futile in World War II.[115]133

Occupations

Main article: Estonia in World War II, Occupation of the Baltic states, Estonian SSR

A week before the outbreak of World War II, the 23 August 1939 Nazi-Soviet Pact secretly assigned Estonia to the Soviet Union's sphere of influence.[116]134 In September 1939, during the Soviet invasion of Poland, Joseph Stalin pressured the Estonian government into signing a "mutual assistance treaty", allowing the USSR to establish military bases in Estonia.[117]135 On 14 June 1940, the Soviet Union instituted a full naval and air blockade on Estonia, and on 16 June, demanded free passage of the Red Army into Estonia and the establishment of a pro-Soviet government.136 Feeling that resistance was hopeless, the Estonian government complied and Soviet occupation began.[118][119]137 On 6 August 1940, Estonia was formally annexed by the Soviet Union as the Estonian SSR.[120]138 The USSR established a repressive terror regime in occupied Estonia, targeting the country's elite for destruction.139 Hundreds of people were executed and, on 14 June 1941, c. 11,000 Estonians were deported to Russia, where most would be killed.[121][122]140

When Germany launched Operation Barbarossa against the Soviet Union on 22 June, the Summer War began in Estonia.141 The Soviet authorities conscripted around 34,000 young Estonian men; fewer than 30% would survive the war.142 Soviet extermination battalions adopted a scorched-earth policy, massacring civilians in the process, and NKVD units executed political prisoners who could not be evacuated.[123][124]143 Thousands of Estonians joined anti-Soviet partisan groups known as the Forest Brothers.[125]144 The Soviets evacuated Tallinn by sea in late August 1941, suffering massive losses in the process.[126]145 A puppet Estonian Self-Administration was established, and occupied Estonia was merged into Reichskommissariat Ostland.[127]146 About a thousand Estonian Jews were killed in 1941, while numerous forced labour camps, including the Vaivara concentration camp, were established, where thousands of Estonians, foreign Jews, Romani, and Soviet prisoners of war perished.[128]147 German occupation authorities initially started recruiting men into volunteer units, but forced conscription was instituted in 1943, eventually leading to formation of the Estonian Waffen-SS division.[129]148 Thousands of Estonians escaped to Finland, where many volunteered to fight together with Finns against Soviets.[130]149

The Red Army reached the Estonian borders again in early 1944, but its advance into Estonia was stopped in heavy fighting near Narva for six months by German forces, including numerous Estonian units.[131]150 In March, the Soviet Air Force carried out heavy bombing raids against Tallinn and other Estonian towns.[132]151 In July, the Soviets started a major offensive from the south, forcing the Germans to abandon mainland Estonia in September, with the Estonian islands being abandoned in November.[131]152 As German forces were retreating from Tallinn, the last pre-war prime minister Jüri Uluots appointed a government headed by Otto Tief in an unsuccessful attempt to restore Estonia's independence.[133]153 Tens of thousands of Estonians fled westwards from the Soviets.[134]154 Estonia lost around one fourth of its population through war-related deaths, deportations and evacuations.[135]155

The United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, and the majority of other Western countries considered the annexation of Estonia by the Soviet Union illegal.[136]156 Legal continuity of the Estonian state was preserved through the government-in-exile and the Estonian diplomatic representatives which Western governments continued to recognise.[137][138]157 Thousands of Estonians opposing the second Soviet occupation joined a guerrilla movement known as the "Forest Brothers".158 The armed resistance was heaviest in the first few years after the war, but Soviet authorities gradually wore it down through attrition, and resistance effectively ceased to exist in the mid-1950s.[139]159 The Soviets initiated a policy of collectivisation, but as farmers remained opposed to it a campaign of terror was unleashed.160 In March 1949 about 20,000 Estonians were deported to Siberia.161 Collectivization was fully completed soon afterwards.[121][140]162

The Soviet Union began Russification, with hundreds of thousands of Russians and people of other Soviet nationalities being induced to settle in Estonia, which eventually threatened to turn Estonians into a minority in their own land.[141]163 In 1945 Estonians formed 97% of the population, but by 1989 their share of the population had fallen to 62%.[142]164 The military presence was pervasive, with closed military zones occupying around one-fifth of the Estonian land and the entire surrounding sea.165 Access to coastal areas required permits, rendering the Estonian people physically isolated from the world outside the USSR.[143][144]166 Economically, heavy industry was strongly prioritised, but this did not improve the well-being of the local population, and caused massive environmental damage through pollution.[145]167 Living standards under the Soviet occupation kept falling further behind nearby independent Finland.[141]168

Independence restored

The introduction of perestroika by the Soviet government in 1987 enabled political activism in Estonia, sparking the Singing Revolution, a peaceful movement towards independence.[146]169 One of the first major acts of resistance was the Phosphorite War, an environmental protest against Soviet plans to establish large phosphate mines in Virumaa.[147]170 On 23 August 1987, the Hirvepark meeting in Tallinn called for the public disclosure of the secret protocols of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact that had led to Estonia's occupation.[148][149]171 In 1988, new political movements emerged, including the Popular Front of Estonia, a moderate faction within the independence movement, and the Estonian National Independence Party, which became the first non-communist political party registered in the Soviet Union.[150]172 The parliament of Soviet-controlled Estonia asserted the primacy of Estonian laws with the Sovereignty Declaration on 16 November 1988, inspiring similar declarations across other Soviet republics.[151][152]173 On 23 August 1989, two million people formed the Baltic Way, a human chain spanning Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, to demonstrate unity in pursuit of independence.[153]174

In 1990, the Congress of Estonia was formed as the representative body of Estonian citizens.[154]175 In March 1991, a referendum was held where 78.4% of voters supported independence, and during the coup attempt in Moscow, Estonia declared restoration of independence on 20 August.[155]176 Soviet authorities recognised Estonian independence on 6 September, and on 17 September Estonia was admitted into the United Nations.[156]177 The last units of the Russian army left Estonia in 1994.[157]178 In 1992 radical economic reforms were launched for switching over to a market economy, including privatisation and currency reform.[158]179 Estonian foreign policy since independence has been oriented toward the West, and in 2004 Estonia joined both the European Union and NATO.[159]180 In 2011, Estonia joined the eurozone and adopted the EU single currency.[160]181

Geography

Main article: Geography of Estonia

Estonia is geographically located in Europe,[16] on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, on the East European Plain.[161][162][163]182 It is located on the northwestern part of the East European Platform, bordering the Fennoscandian Shield.[164]183 It covers an area of 45335 km2, of which 9.2% are islands and 4.6% is internal waters.[161]184

The Estonian coastline stretches for 3794 km and features limestone cliffs along the northern coast as well as its largest islands.[162][165]185 Estonia includes 2,355 islands, counting those in internal waters, with 2,222 in the Baltic Sea.186 The largest islands are Saaremaa and Hiiumaa.[161]187 The country's terrain is predominantly flat, with an average elevation of about 50 m above sea level.188 While plains dominate in the north and west, the south and east of Estonia are hillier.189 Suur Munamägi, the highest peak of the country at 318 m, is situated in the Haanja Upland.[161]190

There are c. 1,560 natural lakes in Estonia; Lake Peipus and Võrtsjärv are the two largest.191 There are more than 7,000 rivers, streams, and canals, with only ten of them exceeding 100 km in length.192 The longest rivers in Estonia include the Võhandu at 162 km and the Pärnu at 144 km.193 The rivers are primarily fed by groundwater, rainfall, and snowmelt, with each source contributing approximately one-third of the annual runoff.194 Bogs and mires cover about 23% of the country.[161]195

Climate

Estonia has a transitional climate that lies between continental and maritime influences, characterised as a humid continental climate.196 Estonia's climate is notably milder than that of other regions at the same latitude due to the moderating effects of the North Atlantic Current.197 The prevailing weather patterns in Estonia are significantly influenced by active cyclonic activity in the northern Atlantic Ocean.198 This results in strong winds, precipitation, and abrupt temperature fluctuations, especially during the autumn and winter months.199 The westerly winds carry moist maritime air far into continental interior, leading to milder temperatures in winter and cooler conditions in summer compared to the continental areas further away from the coast.200 Coastal regions and islands generally enjoy a milder climate, as the Baltic Sea moderates temperatures, keeping coastal areas warmer in winter and cooler in summer.[166]201

The calculated mean temperature for the country's territory ranges from 17.8 °C in July to -3.8 °C in February, with the annual average being 6.4 °C.[167] The highest recorded temperature is 35.6 °C from 1992, although the unofficial record high temperature is 38.0 °C (104.8 °F) from the same year[168] and the lowest is -43.5 °C from 1940.[169]202 The annual average precipitation is 662 mm,[170] with the daily record being 148 mm.[171]203 Snow cover varies significantly on different years.204 Prevailing winds are westerly, southwesterly, and southerly, the average annual wind speed varies between 2.1 m/s and 6.1 m/s, being smaller inland and the largest on the west coast.[162]205 Due to high latitude, day length varies significantly between summer and winter.206 In Tallinn, the longest day of the year lasts up to 18 hours and 40 minutes, while the shortest day lasts only 6 hours and 2 minutes.[166]207 The average monthly sunshine duration ranges from 290 hours in August, to 21 hours in December.[172]208 As a calculated average, Estonia receives 1830 hours of sunshine per year.[173]209