Page 60 - The Baltic Capitals & St. Petersburg

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sides, a huge famine, and an outbreak of the plague, Sweden could not hold Estonia, which fell
to Russia.

Russian Rule and Early Independence

Czarist Russia then held sway for the next 200 years, and in that time Estonia saw Russian
rulers that ranged from the strict (Peter I) to the relatively enlightened (Catherine the Great)
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Russia, many went willingly under the belief that if Russia won, Estonia would be granted
independence as a reward. It wasn’t until the full fervor of the Russian Revolution that Estonia
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and Sweden. On February 2nd, 1920 Russia signed the Tartu Peace Treaty and thereby ceded
their claims to Estonia.

Following independence, the Estonian economy developed rapidly, education improved
markedly, and new books were printed at an astonishing rate. In 1925 a special guarantee of
cultural autonomy for minority groups (such as the Jewish population) was passed into law—a
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seized power (supposedly to protect it against the Bolsheviks). This so-called “era of silence”
lasted for four years, during which time the country was ruled by decree and no other political
parties were allowed to meet.

World War II and the Soviet Era

At the start of WWII Germany and Russia negotiated a non-aggression pact that carved up
most of Eastern Europe; Estonia was to go to Russia. This was despite the fact that Estonia
had publicly declared itself neutral. After much pressure, a sham revolution, and the arrest
of President Pats, Russia generously accepted Estonia’s “request” to join the Soviet Union in
1940. As a result, tens of thousands of Estonians were suddenly conscripted into the Russian
army or hauled away to labor camps. So perhaps it is not so surprising that when Germany
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soon became apparent that life under the Germans would be more of the same—conscriptions
and citizens being hauled away in the night—many Estonians chose to live in exile in Finland.
(In time, the displaced Estonian community grew large enough to have their own special unit
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Sweden, where it remained until 1992. During this time Estonia was forcibly incorporated into
the Soviet Union. There was some armed resistance, notably by the Metsavennad (the Forest
Brothers), who waged a small-scale guerrilla war on the occupying forces. Intriguingly one

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