Introduction to Estonia – Part 6

History – continued;

The 19th century largely past by for Estonia and it remained peaceful with the Baltic German barons and landowners continuing to control the country under Russian rule. Starting in 1811 Estonian serfs and peasants were freed and allowed to own land of their own. In the latter part of the 19th century, Reval and Narva turned into industrial cities. At which point a Reval to St Petersburg railway was built during the 1890s.

Considering the number of wars that happened you might ask why Tallinn is such a well-preserved place with all the original buildings, city walls and towers. Our guide explained it very simply; the locals were so used to being invaded that they never fought back. The invaders just came in and went on to their next conquest without causing any damage. The result is the Tallin that you see today.

The 20th century has produced perhaps the biggest set of changes to Estonia. While the first 10 years of the 21st cemented those in place.

As part of Russia, Estonia is drawn into the First World War on the Allied side and was briefly occupied by Germany. Then in February 1917 the Russian Revolution overthrew the monarchy. The new Russian government granted Estonia self-government but under Russian rule. In 1920 the Russian government signed a treaty formally recognizing Estonia as an independent state and this was the start of twenty years of independence.

In 1940 following a pact between Germany and Russia Estonia was invaded again by Russia and became part of the Soviet Republic. This only lasted until 1941 when Germany invaded all the Baltic States and part of Russia.

In 1945 with the defeat of Germany Russia again took control of the Baltic region. Many thousands of Russians moved into Estonia as part of a policy to dilute the national identity. In fact, shortly after the end of the war Tallinn’s population doubled.

By the late 80’s there were many peaceful protests against Soviet occupation and calls for self-government. This period is referred to as the “singing revolution” because a large number of people gathered to sing nationalist songs that were forbidden by the Soviets.

The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 lead to full independence being declared on August 20th. In 1992 a new democratic constitution was approved and the first free general election was held.

In 2004 Estonia joined the EU and NATO with the Euro finally replacing the local currency around 2014.

Continued in part 7