| History of Estonia |
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| Chronology |
 Estoniaportal |
The history of Estonia from 1918 to 1940 spanned the interwar period from the end of the Estonian War of Independence until the outbreak of World War II. It covers the years of parliamentary democracy, the Great Depression and the period of corporatist authoritarian rule.
Estonia won the Estonian War of Independence against both Soviet Russia and the German Freikorps and Baltische Landeswehr volunteers. Independence was secured with the Tartu Peace Treaty, signed on 2 February 1920.
The first Estonian constitution was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on 15 April 1920. Established as a parliamentary democracy, legislative power was held by a 100-seat parliament or Riigikogu. Executive power was held by a government headed by a State Elder, seperate from the office of Prime Minister, and both answerable to the parliament.
The Republic of Estonia was recognised (de jure) by Finland on 7 July 1920, Poland on 31 December 1920, Argentina on 12 January 1921, by the Western Allies on 26 January 1921 and by India on 22 September 1921. [1] In 1921, Estonia became a full member of the League of Nations and developed successful economic relations with many countries, including the Soviet Union. The backbone of the Estonian economy became agricultural exports to the West, due to tens of thousands of small farm holdings being established as a result of land reforms that ended the Baltic German economic dominance. A new currency, the Estonian kroon, was introduced in 1928.
Estonian politics during the 1920s was dominated by unstable coalition governments, with a government lasting on average a period of 11 months. This was due to the large number of political parties holding seats in the Riigikogu, which often resulted in discord on specific issues. The 1920s also saw the development of national culture, with emphasis on Estonian language, history, education and ethnography. National minorities were granted cultural autonomy. Communism persisted as a threat to stability in the early 1920s but receded after a failed December 1924 Estonian coup d'état attempt. A volunteer Estonian Defence League as subsequently established. However efforts to establish a Baltic League comprising the Baltic states, Finland and Poland, failed to materialise.
Estonia's export oriented economy was severely affected by the Great Depression, with industry and agriculture declining 20 to 45% respectively. [2] As a consequence incomes declined, unemployment rose and the standard of living declined. This led to political turmoil and a further fragmentation of parliament, with the government changing six times in the two years before 1933. Calls for changing the constitution, reducing the powers of the parliament and establishing a presidency with extended powers found a receptive audience. The Vaps movement grew in popularity and influence and a new constitution drafted by the movement was passed by a referendum in October 1933.
1934 saw an easing of the consequences of the depression, with the devaluation of the kroon and improved terms of trade. The passing of the second constitution in 1933 and the planned elections for a new president eased political tensions. With the prospect of Vaps movement achieving electoral victory, Konstantin Päts and Johan Laidoner conducted a military coup d’état on 12 March 1934, arresting hundreds of Vaps members. [3] A six-month state of emergency was declared, postponing the elections and political meetings were banned. [4] In 1935, Päts formed the Patriotic League, the only legal political organization in the country. Päts' goal was to organize the nation not by political views into parties, but by vocation into respective corporate chambers, in a way similar to in Fascist Italy, [5] following the same line as Austria, Portugal and many other countries of Europe. [6] In 1936, Päts held a referendum on convening a National Assembly to draft a new constitution.
During the interwar period Estonia had pursued a policy of neutrality, but the fate of Estonia in World War II was decided by the German–Soviet Nonaggression Pact and its Secret Additional Protocol of August 1939. In the agreement, 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". After the invasion of Poland, the Orzeł incident took place when Polish submarine ORP Orzeł looked for shelter in Tallinn but escaped after the Soviet Union attacked Poland on 17 September 1939. Estonia's lack of will and/or inability to disarm and intern the crew caused the Soviet Union to accuse Estonia of "helping them escape" and claim that Estonia was not neutral. On 24 September 1939, the Soviet Union threatened Estonia with war unless allowed to establish military bases in the country — an ultimatum with which the Estonian government complied. [7]
In 1939, the Soviet Union forced a mutual assistance treaty on Estonia, establishing Soviet military bases and ultimately leading to occupation of the country in 1940.
The history of Estonia forms a part of the history of Europe. Humans settled in the region of Estonia near the end of the last glacial era, beginning from around 9000 BC. Starting with the Northern Crusades in the Middle Ages, Estonia became a battleground for centuries where Denmark, Germany, Russia, Sweden and Poland fought their many wars over controlling the important geographical position of the country as a gateway between East and West.
Otto August Strandman was an Estonian politician, who served as Prime Minister (1919) and State Elder of Estonia (1929–1931).
The prime minister of Estonia is the head of government of the Republic of Estonia. The prime minister is nominated by the president after appropriate consultations with the parliamentary factions and confirmed by the parliament (Riigikogu). In case of disagreement, the parliament can reject the president's nomination and choose their own candidate. In practice, since the prime minister must maintain the confidence of parliament in order to remain in office, they are usually the leader of the senior partner in the governing coalition. The current prime minister is Kristen Michal of the Reform Party. He took the office on 23 July 2024 following the resignation of Kaja Kallas.
Konstantin Päts was an Estonian statesman and the country's president from 1938 to 1940. Päts was one of the most influential politicians of the independent democratic Republic of Estonia, and during the two decades prior to World War II he also served five times as the country's State Elder. He carried out a self-coup on 12 March 1934. After the 16–17 June 1940 Soviet invasion and occupation of Estonia, Päts remained formally in office for over a month, until he was forced to resign, imprisoned by the new Stalinist regime, and deported to the USSR, where he died in 1956.
Territorial changes of the Baltic states refers to the redrawing of borders of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia after 1940. The three republics, formerly autonomous regions within the former Russian Empire and before that of former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and as provinces of the Swedish Empire, gained independence in the aftermath of World War I and the Russian Revolution of 1917. After a two-front independence war fought against both Bolshevist Russian and Baltic German nationalist forces, the countries concluded peace and border treaties with Soviet Russia in 1920. However, with World War II and the occupation and annexation of these republics into the Soviet Union twenty years after their independence, certain territorial changes were made in favour of the Russian SFSR. This has been the source of political tensions after they regained their independence with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Some of the disputes remain unresolved.
The president of the Republic of Estonia is the head of state of the Republic of Estonia. The current president is Alar Karis, elected by Parliament on 31 August 2021, replacing Kersti Kaljulaid.
Jaan Tõnisson was an Estonian statesman, serving as the Prime Minister of Estonia twice during 1919 to 1920, as State Elder from 1927 to 1928 and in 1933, and as Foreign Minister of Estonia from 1931 to 1932.
The Vaps Movement was an Estonian political organization. Founded in 1929, it emerged as a fascist movement from the Union of Participants in the Estonian War of Independence, an association of veterans of the Estonian War of Independence (1918–1920). The leaders of this association were Andres Larka and Artur Sirk.
Kaarel Eenpalu was an Estonian journalist, politician and head of state, who served as 7th Prime Minister of Estonia.
Johan Laidoner was an Estonian general and statesman. He served as Commander‑in‑Chief of the Estonian Armed Forces during the 1918–1920 Estonian War of Independence and was among the most influential people in the Estonian politics between the world wars.
The Constitution of Estonia is the fundamental law of the Republic of Estonia and establishes the state order as that of a democratic republic where the supreme power is vested in its citizens. The first Constitution was adopted by the freely elected Estonian Constituent Assembly on 15 June 1920 and came into force on 21 December 1920. Heavily amended on 24 January 1934, following a referendum in 1933, it was in force until the second Constitution was enacted on 1 January 1938. It remained in force, de facto, until 16 June 1940, when the Soviet Union occupied Estonia and, de jure, until 28 June 1992, when the third and current Constitution of the Republic of Estonia was adopted by referendum.
The three Baltic countries, or the Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania – are held to have continued as independent states under international law while under Soviet occupation from 1940 to 1991, as well as during the German occupation in 1941–1944/1945. The prevailing opinion accepts the Baltic thesis that the Soviet occupation was illegal, and all actions of the Soviet Union related to the occupation are regarded as contrary to international law in general and to the bilateral treaties between the USSR and the three Baltic countries in particular.
The Era of Silence was the period between 1934 and 1938 in Estonian history. The period began with the preemptive self-coup of 12 March 1934, which Estonian Prime Minister Konstantin Päts carried out to avert a feared takeover of the state apparatus by the popular Vaps Movement.
Artur Sirk was an Estonian political and military figure. A veteran of the country's struggle for independence, Sirk later became a leading figure within the right-wing Vaps Movement and an outspoken opponent of the government.
The timeline of the occupation of the Baltic states lists key events in the military occupation of the three countries – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – by the Soviet Union and by Nazi Germany during World War II.
The background of the occupation of the Baltic states covers the period before the first Soviet occupation on 14 June 1940, stretching from independence in 1918 to the Soviet ultimatums in 1939–1940. Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia gained independence in the aftermath of the Russian revolutions of 1917 and the German occupation which in the Baltic countries lasted until the end of World War I in November 1918. All three countries signed non-aggression treaties with the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 1930s. Despite the treaties, in the aftermath of the 1939 German–Soviet pact, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were occupied, and thereafter forcibly incorporated into the Soviet Union, in 1940.
Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Lake Peipus and Russia. The territory of Estonia consists of the mainland, the larger islands of Saaremaa and Hiiumaa, and over 2,300 other islands and islets on the east coast of the Baltic Sea, covering a total area of 45,335 square kilometres (17,504 sq mi). Tallinn, the capital city, and Tartu are the two largest urban areas. The Estonian language is the indigenous and official language, also being the first language of the majority of the population of 1.4 million.
The political history of Estonia covers the political events and trends in the country throughout its historical period.
The Estonian coup d'état of 1934 was a bloodless military coup organized on March 12, 1934 by State Elder candidates Johan Laidoner, Konstantin Päts, and August Rei, who took part in the State Elder elections scheduled for April of the same year, during which Lieutenant General Laidoner and acting State Elder Päts had several Vaps leaders and activists, supporters of the fourth State Elder candidate Andres Larka, arrested. Päts, in violation of the constitution, appointed Laidoner as the commander-in-chief of the defense forces and decreed a stop to the election process for State Elder and the Riigikogu.
[...] fascist Italy [...] developed a state structure known as the corporate state with the ruling party acting as a mediator between 'corporations' making up the body of the nation. Similar designs were quite popular elsewhere in the 1930s. The most prominent examples were Estado Novo in Portugal (1932–1968) and Brazil (1937–1945), the Austrian Standestaat (1933–1938), and authoritarian experiments in Estonia, Romania, and some other countries of East and East-Central Europe,