The Baltic States in the 20th Century

Here I will give a more detailed account of the history of the three Baltic countries from their first independence at the beginning of the 20th century, through the Soviet occupation, up until their second independence at the beginning of the 1990's. 		 
   

Inter-Baltic Relations Between the World Wars

 
    Before the three Baltic countries achieved their first independence in 1918 a Lithuanian-Latvian federation was discussed, but was never realized due to failings in gathering a sufficient amount of support in either country. Following their independence Estonia and Latvia managed to settle territorial matters, while Lithuania was unable to reach border agreements with Poland and Germany, these problems would later become one of the stumbling blocks of the cooperation between all three Baltic states.(Motulaite & Vares 1994, pp. 10-11.)

 
    Since a Baltic Union, encompassing all three Baltic countries, as well as Finland and Poland was rendered impossible by Lithuania€s increasing problems with Poland, who, hoping for a renewed Lithuanian-Polish union or the complete annexation of Lithuania, had started military conflicts with Lithuania in May 1919. Poland finally managed to acquire complete control over the Vilnius and Kaunas provinces on February 3, 1923, following a military coup in Vilnius in October 1920 and the intervention of the League of Nations. Estonia and Latvia, however, signed bilateral treaties on economic, customs union and military cooperation in 1923. Lithuania, feeling left out, sought Soviet support in its deepening conflict with Poland. All the Baltic states were developing separate foreign policies because, as with the situation of today, they felt stronger on their own than cooperating together.(Ibid, pp. 12-15; Zhuryari, Surgalis & Prikulis 1994, pp. 122-123.)

 
    Only after Hitler€s rise to power in Germany and the subsequent warming up of German-Polish relations in 1933-34, did the thought of a Baltic league, encompassing not only Estonia and Latvia, but also Lithuania, start emerging. The bilateral treaty from 1923 between Estonia and Latvia was renewed, containing an open invitation for other countries to join it. This time Lithuania took on the invitation and the Agreement of the Entente of Cooperation was signed by all three states in August 1934. The agreement concerned only political and diplomatic matters, completely leaving out military cooperation on Lithuania€s request. The newfound Baltic cooperation was to be shortlived, though. As the 1930€s were drawing to a close the increasingly hostile policies of the great powers wavered the inter-Baltic cooperation, which started to fall apart. The three small Baltic republics were thus poorly prepared for the Soviet invasion and completely succumbed to the Soviet empire in 1944.(Motulaite & Vares 1994, pp. 15-18)

 
   

Effects of the Soviet Regime in the Baltics

 
    Already in 1940, when the three Baltic countries first were annexed by the Soviet empire following the secret protocol to the Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939, the Soviets started to clear out the €nationalistic€ elements from the area. This was disrupted by the German invasion, but continued in 1944, when a considerable amount of the local population was deported to Siberia. Private property was almost completely socialized and the collectivisation of agriculture was completed thoroughly. At the same time, the Soviet Union invested in and developed heavy industry in the area, bringing in thousands of Russian workers and thereby altering the demographic balance significantly in Estonia and Latvia. The production increased manifold during the first decades of Soviet regime, profiting from the fairly well developed infrastructure in the Baltic republics. However the Baltic industry was led centrally from Moscow, without taking the local workforce, raw materials or energy supplies into consideration, making them completely dependent on the other Soviet republics. Since the market for the products of the Baltic industry was concentrated in the Soviet Union and all trade was canalized through Moscow, the three Baltic republics were cut off from the rest of the world and brought under Moscows full control.(Sakwa 1993, pp. 7-10)

 
    The Baltic republics were considered Soviet€s window to the West, they attracted Russian migrants from other Soviet republics, as they represented the richest and most developed part of the Soviet Union. The Estonian and Latvian demographics were thus fundamentally changed during the Soviet period, later on constituting a serious problem in Russia€s relations with the independent Baltic republics.(Tiusanen 1993, pp. 7-8)

 
    The percentage of the titular population (Lieven 1994, pp. 432-434) of the three Baltic republics throughout this century:

 
    1920 1959 1989 Estonia 88% 75% 62% Latvia 74% 62% 52% Lithuania 69% 79% 80%

 
    The percentage of the Russian speaking population (Ibid.) of the three Baltic republics throughout this century:

 
    1920 1959 1989 Estonia 8% 20% 30% Latvia 10% 27% 34% Lithuania 3% 9% 7%

 
    The three Baltic states, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were able to achieve independence for the first time in 1918, due to the international power constellations during and after World War I. First the outbreak of revolutions in the three countries were provoked by the Russian revolution and the subsequent collapse of Russian autocracy, then the revolutions were defeated by the German troops, following the German invasion. Finally, all three Baltic countries were saved from German domination when Germany was defeated by the Entente a little later. The survival of the new republics was guaranteed by the Entente, in their effort to cushion the West from Bolshevik Russia.(Alapuro 1988, p. 241.)