Gaining independence
As a result of the abolition of serfdom and the availability of education to the natives, an active Estonian nationalist movement started in the 19th century. It began on a cultural level, resulting in the establishment of Estonian language literature, theatre and professional music and the formation of the Estonian national identity. Among the leaders of this movement were Johann Voldemar Jannsen, Jakob Hurt and Carl Robert Jakobson. Significant accomplishments were the publication of the national epic, Kalevipoeg, in 1862, and the organization of the first national song festival in 1869.
Kihnu seashoreIn response to a period of Russification initiated by the Russian empire in the 1890s, Estonian nationalism took on more political tones, with intellectuals first calling for greater autonomy, and later, complete independence from the Russian empire. Following the October Revolution, Estonia declared itself an independent republic on February 24, 1918. After winning the Estonian Liberation War against Soviet Russia (the Treaty of Tartu was signed in February 2, 1920), Estonia maintained its independence for twenty-two years. Initially a parliamentary democracy, the parliament (Riigikogu) was disbanded in 1934, following political unrest caused by the global economic crisis. Subsequently the country was ruled by decree by Konstantin Päts, who became President in 1938, the year parliamentary elections resumed.
[edit] Under the USSR
Estonia was occupied by Soviet troops in June 1940, as a consequence of the secret amendment to the August 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Estonia was formally annexed into the Soviet Union in August 1940 as the Estonian SSR. Many of the country's political and intellectual leaders were killed or deported to remote areas of Russia and other parts of the USSR by the Soviet authorities during 1940 to 1941. The repressions also included thousands of ordinary people. When German operation Barbarossa started against the Soviet Union thousands of young men were also forcibly drafted into the Red Army. Hundreds of political prisoners whom the retreating Soviets had no time to move, were massacred. The country was occupied by the Third Reich from 1941 to 1944, when Soviet forces reconquered it after fierce battles in the northeast of the country on the Narva river and on the Tannenberg Line (Sinimäed). Such was the fear and disgust of the general population against the Soviet oppressors that in the face of imminent re-occupation by the Red Army, tens of thousands of people chose to either flee the country to Finland or Sweden or retreat together with the Germans. In 1949, in response to slow progress in forming collective farms (as prescribed by the Soviet ideology), tens of thousands of people were forcibly deported in a few days either to labor camps or Siberia where half of them perished and the other half was not allowed to return until early 1960s (several years after Stalin's death). That and previous repressions in 1940-1941 sparked a guerilla war against the Soviet authorities in Estonia which was waged into the early 1950s by the so called "forest brothers" (metsavennad) consisting mostly of Estonian veterans of both the German and Finnish armies as well as some civilians.
Western bank of OsmussaarThe Soviet occupation in Estonia which lasted from 1944 to 1991 was in general detrimental to the country as a whole. In addition to the usual Soviet-style forced collectivization of the agriculture, Estonia was also forced to go through with industrialization which was inefficient, and sometimes very destructive environmentally.
Militarization was another aspect of the Soviet regime. Estonia was located very close to capitalist countries (Sweden, Finland) and therefore was heavily militarized. Large part of the country (5-10%) and especially the coastal areas were restricted to anyone but the Soviet military. Most of the northern, northwestern and western sea shore and all of the islands (including Saaremaa and Hiiumaa) were declared as "border zones" and Estonian population not directly living there was restricted from travelling there without permit and could be punished if they did so. Travelling in Estonia today it is not very difficult to find an abandoned former Soviet military installation in coastal regions. Even several former large airfields (notably the former strategic bomber/fighter bases in Tartu and Haapsalu) are abandoned today. Probably most notable of all closed military installations was the city of Paldiski which was in its entirety closed to all public access. The reason for it was simple - the city had a support base for the Soviet Navy's submarines, and several large military bases including a nuclear submarine training centre complete with a full-scale model of a nuclear submarine with working nuclear reactors. The reactor is decommissioned today and its fuel was removed by a special task force as the Soviet troops left, but the conserved radioactive reactors are there under state supervision to this day. The reactor building was passed into Estonian control a year after the Soviet troops left.
Russification was another effect brought by the Soviet occupation. Hundreds of thousands of Russian-speaking migrants (mostly from Russian Federation or Ukraine) were relocated to Estonia by the Soviet administration and Communist Party to conduct the aforementioned industrialization and militarization. The immigrants stayed on to form part of the population. By 1980, when part of the Moscow Olympic Games were also held in Tallinn (The Olympic Regatta part), the Russification (and the state-orchestrated immigration) had achieved already such a level, that it started sparking popular protests. The official language which had been both Estonian and Russian started to be increasingly Russian.
[edit] Return to Independence
The tide turned as the Soviet Union ran into major economic difficulties as a consequence of the Cold War and began to break up. The economic difficulties at the end of the 1980s were often very anecdotal and embarrassing to the Soviet system - even common household goods like light bulbs, toilet paper and soap were often difficult to purchase and required 'connections'. Also food was beginning to be rationed. As the Soviet currency (the rouble) lost its value, these and other 'deficit' goods were often barter-traded or sold in foreign currency on the black market.
As the situation developed, in Estonia a movement for more self-governance started. In the beginning, at the period of 1987-1989 it was partially for more economic independence, but as the Soviet Union weakened and it became increasingly obvious that nothing short of full independence would do, the country began a course towards self-determination.
In 1989 a major landmark demonstration was held for more independence, called The Baltic Way. During the demonstration a human chain consisting of more than two million people was formed through all of the three Baltic states - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania (the latter two former Baltic and then Soviet states had and continue to have similar fates and aspirations as Estonia).
Estonia regained its independence on August 20, 1991, with the Singing Revolution during the Soviet military coup attempt in Russia and the following collapse of the Soviet Union. The first country to diplomatically re-recognize Estonia's reclaimed independence was Iceland closely followed by Denmark.
The last Russian troops left on August 31, 1994, and Estonia joined NATO on March 29, 2004 and the European Union on May 1, 2004.
Another previous war
Sweden and Russia
During the Livonian War in 1561, northern Estonia submitted to Swedish control, while southern Estonia briefly came under the control of Poland in the 1580s. In 1625, mainland Estonia came entirely under Swedish rule. Estonia was administratively divided between the provinces of Estonia in the north and Livonia in southern Estonia and northern Latvia, a division which persisted until the early 20th century.
In 1631, the Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus forced the nobility to grant the peasantry greater rights, although serfdom was retained. In 1632 a printing press and university were established in the city of Tartu (known as Dorpat at the time). This period is known in Estonian history as the "Good Old Swedish Times."
Following the Great Northern War, the Swedish empire lost Estonia to Russia (1710 de facto, and 1721 de jure, by the Treaty of Nystad). However, the upper classes and the higher middle class remained primarily Baltic German. The war devastated the population of Estonia, but it recovered quickly. Although the rights of peasants were initially weakened, serfdom was abolished in 1816 in the province of Estonia and in 1818 in Livonia.