Estonian War of Independence

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Monument to the Estonian War of Freedom in Tallinn

The Estonian War of Independence (also Estonian War of Independence or Estonian War of Independence ; Estonian Vabadussõda ) is the name given to the struggle of the Republic of Estonia for its state independence against Soviet Russia and the German-commanded Baltic National Army from 1918 to 1920.

Starting position

After the Peace of Nystad in 1721, Estonia and Livonia became part of Russia . Until 1918, the areas remained part of the Russian Empire .

Estonian independence

"Brothers, quickly to the people's troops" - mobilization poster for the Estonian armed forces (1918)

With the increasing dissolution of the Russian Empire in the course of the February Revolution in 1917 and the First World War as well as the October Revolution of the Bolsheviks , the Estonian Parliament ( Maapäev ), elected in the spring of the same year, declared itself the highest authority in the country on November 28, 1917 . According to the Maapäev, only a constituent assembly of Estonia can decide on Estonia's future.

Shortly afterwards, however, the Bolsheviks dissolved the state parliament. In secret talks between leading Estonian politicians (with the exception of the communists ), however, it was agreed in January 1918 to continue working towards the declaration of Estonian independence.

On February 18, 1918, after the failure of the peace negotiations in Brest-Litovsk , the imperial German army launched a new major offensive against Russia, the so-called Operation Faustschlag . Just one day later, on February 19, 1918, the council of elders in the state parliament set up the “ Estonian Rescue Committee ” consisting of Konstantin Konik , Konstantin Päts and Jüri Vilms . Two days later, the manifesto to all the peoples of Estonia , which had previously been drawn up by a commission and which was to form the basis for independence, was adopted.

When the Russian troops withdrew in front of the advancing German army, the rescue committee wanted to use the existing power vacuum and proclaim the independent Republic of Estonia in Haapsalu , but had to move to Pärnu because of the advancing German troops , where the manifesto was published for the first time on February 23 was read aloud. On February 24, 1918, a Provisional Government of Estonia was formed with Konstantin Päts as chairman of the Council of Ministers and the (renewed) proclamation of the independent Republic of Estonia in Tallinn . A day later, German troops marched into Tallinn and de facto took over power in the country.

Germany strictly rejected Estonian independence and an independent Estonian state. The members of the Estonian government could therefore only continue their activities undercover. Konstantin Päts was interned by the German troops and his deputy, Jüri Vilms , was executed in Helsinki under circumstances that have not yet been fully clarified .

The occupation of Estonia by German troops did not end until November 1918 when Germany was finally defeated in the First World War. Immediately thereafter, on November 12, 1918, the Provisional Government of Estonia took over state power. German troops remained in the country even after the surrender due to Section 12 of the Compiegne Armistice .

Outbreak of war

Most important troop movements in the Estonian War of Independence

On November 13, 1918, Soviet Russia annulled the peace of Brest-Litovsk and the Red Army began a military offensive to conquer the Baltic States . With the great attack by Russian troops on the East Estonian city of Narva on November 22nd and again on November 28th, 1918, the Estonian War of Independence began. The Bolsheviks were still defeated by German troops on the 22nd, but after their withdrawal came across only weak Estonian units on November 28th. On November 29th, Narva and Narva-Jõesuu fell into the hands of the Red Army . This immediately advanced further west. At the beginning of January 1919, the Red Army was still about 34 km from Tallinn.

In the areas recaptured by the Red Army, the Bolsheviks proclaimed Soviet power . Already on November 29, 1918, the Estonian communist Jaan Anvelt formed the government of the Estonian workers' commune ( Eesti Töörahva Kommuun ) in Narva . With forced collectivizations , Soviet Russian acts of violence and the rejection of the idea of ​​Estonia's national independence, resistance to the Bolsheviks grew in the Estonian population.

In southern Estonia (and Latvia ), German troops initially prevented Estonian and Latvian units from being set up. The cities of Võru , Valga and Tartu were therefore occupied by Soviet Russian units without a fight. It was not until January 1919 that German units under General Rüdiger von der Goltz began fighting the Red Army, especially in Latvia.

Communist rule at the turn of 1918/19 was marked by acts of revenge and massacres in Rakvere and Tartu . In January 1919 they fell victim to, among others, the Russian Orthodox Bishop of Tallinn, Plato , and the Lutheran pastors Walther Paucker , Traugott Hahn and Moritz Wilhelm Paul Schwartz .

Estonian counter-offensive

Johan Laidoner
Rüdiger von der Goltz

On January 6, 1919, Estonian troops began a counter-offensive against the Red Army. By February 1, they retook the Estonian territories occupied by the Red Army. Johan Laidoner was appointed commander in chief of the Estonian troops. He had forced recruitment carried out and requisitioned numerous goods for warfare.

From December 1918, the Estonian military was supported by a squadron of the British navy , which should intervene in the Russian civil war against the Bolsheviks. Many Scandinavian war volunteers, especially from Finland , also volunteered for combat on the Estonian side. A Baltic regiment consisting of resident German Balts was deployed on the Narva Front.

Up until the spring of 1919 there were numerous skirmishes in Livonia and on Lake Peipus . The breakthrough on the Estonian side came in May 1919, when Estonian troops with the allied Northern Corps of the Russian White Guard were able to drive the Red Army towards Petrograd . The Bolsheviks withdrew to the Velikaya River .

Landeswehr

At the same time, the Landeswehr, consisting of German and Baltic German volunteers, was operating in the Baltic States . Together with some Latvian and Russian units, she campaigned for the restoration of Imperial Russia and an alliance with Germany.

After Latvia declared its national independence on November 18, 1918 under German occupation, units of the Landeswehr first overthrew the pro-British Latvian government under Kārlis Ulmanis . In May 1919, a German-friendly puppet government under Andrievs Niedra was set up instead . After the reconquest of Riga, this demanded the withdrawal of Estonian troops from Northern Latvia.

From June 19 to 23, 1919 there was heavy fighting between the National Army on the one hand and Latvian and Estonian troops on the other hand at Cēsis ( German Wenden , Estonian Võnnu ). The latter emerged victorious from the battle and threw the Landeswehr almost back to Riga. On July 3, 1919, the Landeswehr had to conclude an armistice in Strasdenhof near Riga. Today, June 23 is a national holiday in memory of the Battle of Cēsis as Victory Day.

From July to October 1919 the frontline of the Estonian War of Independence was relatively calm. Estonian troops had succeeded in keeping Estonia free from foreign occupation. However, together with the Northwest Army of the White Guard, Estonia continued to fight on the territory of Russia.

Intervention of the Entente Powers

Even Britain and France began increasing in the Baltic States military to get involved. The Entente powers saw this as an opportunity to overthrow Bolshevism in Russia.

Estonia ostensibly supported the Entente's plans to overthrow the Bolsheviks, but at the same time feared that a victory for the whites in the Russian civil war could mean the end of Estonian independence.

As early as September 1919, Soviet Russia had sounded out the prospect of peace with the Baltic states. However, they were still forced to reject the offer out of consideration for the Entente powers as long as the Bolsheviks were in power in Russia.

On September 28, 1919, British and French naval units, along with the Russian Northwest Army of the White and the Estonian Navy, began sea operations aimed at conquering Petrograd. However, a counteroffensive by the Bolsheviks brought the advance to a standstill. In mid-November 1919 the Red Army was able to advance to Narva again . In front of the city, however, it was possible to stop the advance of the Bolsheviks.

On December 31, 1919, the largely emaciated Red Army finally stopped its offensive against Estonia. On January 3, 1920, an armistice came into force between Soviet Russia and Estonia .

Peace of Tartu

On February 2, 1920, Estonia and Soviet Russia signed the Tartu Peace Treaty . Adolf Joffe headed the negotiating delegation on the Soviet Russian side, Jaan Poska on the Estonian side. On March 30, 1920, with the exchange of the ratification documents in Moscow , the peace treaty came into force.

With the Peace of Tartu, Soviet Russia de jure recognized Estonia as an independent state. Soviet Russia declared that it would forever renounce all rights it had ever had to Estonia. The border course was favorable for Estonia: it received strategically important areas on the east bank of the Narva River and the area around the city of Pechory (German Pechur , Estonian Petseri ).

All Estonians who lived in Russia were allowed to travel to Estonia. The Soviet Russian government undertook to disband all Estonian communist troops. Estonia was exempted from paying the tsarist government's debts. Part of the Russian gold holdings was paid out to Estonia. In addition, all art and cultural goods brought to Russia from Estonia during World War I should be returned to Estonia.

Casualty numbers

In the Estonian War of Freedom, around 5,000 people were killed on the Estonian side. Around 15,000 were wounded and 667 were captured. The number of victims on the Soviet side is unknown. Numerous monuments in Estonia today commemorate those who died in the war.

See also

Web links

Commons : Estonian War of Freedom  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Henn-Jüri Uibopuu: The development of the Free State of Estonia, in: Boris Meissner (ed.): The Baltic Nations Estonia - Latvia - Lithuania. Cologne: Markus Verlag 1990, p. 52.
  2. ↑ Cornelius Hasselblatt : Van IJstijd dead Skype. Korte divorced from Estonia. Met redactionele medewerking van Marianne Vogel. Antwerp - Apeldoorn: Garant 2012, p. 133.
  3. ↑ Seppo Zetterberg: Jüri Vilmsin kuolema. Viron varapääministerin Teloitus Helsingissä 13.4.1918. Helsinki: Otava 1997.
  4. ↑ Karsten Brüggemann: The establishment of the Republic of Estonia and the end of the "one and indivisible Russia". The Petrograd Front of the Russian Civil War 1918-1920. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2002, p. 85.
  5. ↑ Evald Uustalu: The founding of the state of Estonia. - From the Baltic Provinces to the Baltic States [I.], 1917-1918. Edited by Jürgen v. Hehn et al. Marburg: Herder Institute 1971, p. 290.
  6. ↑ August Traksmaa: Lühike Vabadussõja ajalugu. Tallinn: Olion 1992, pp. 73-89.
  7. ↑ On the question of the "red terror" with further sources see Karsten Brüggemann: The foundation of the Republic of Estonia and the end of the "one and indivisible Russia". The Petrograd Front of the Russian Civil War 1918-1920. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2002, p. 115.
  8. ↑ Georg von Rauch: History of the Baltic States. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer 1970, pp. 60-62.
  9. ↑ Cornelius Hasselblatt: Van IJstijd dead Skype. Korte divorced from Estonia. Met redactionele medewerking van Marianne Vogel. Antwerp - Apeldoorn: Garant 2012, p. 139.

literature

  • Olavi Arens: The Estonian Maapäev during 1917, in: Stanley V. Vardys, Romuald Misiunas (eds.): The Baltic States in Peace and War 1917–1945. Pennsylvania, London: Pennsylvania State University Press 1978, pp. 19-30.
  • Karsten Brüggemann : The founding of the Republic of Estonia and the end of the "one and indivisible Russia". The Petrograd Front of the Russian Civil War 1918–1920. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2002. 514 pp.
  • Eesti ajalugu V. Pärisorjuse kaotamisest Vabadussõjani. Kirjutanud Andres Andresen, Ea Jansen, Toomas Karjahärm, Mart Laar, Mati Laur, Lea Leppik, Aadu Must, Tiit Rosenberg, Tõnu Tannberg, Sulev Vahtre. Tegevtoimetajad Toomas Karjahärm yes Tiit Rosenberg. Peatoimetaja Sulev Vahtre. Tartu: Ilmamaa 2010. 503 pp.
  • Eesti Vabadussõda 1918-1920 . 2 volumes. Tallinn: Vabadussõja Ajaloo Committee 1937–1939. 557 + 567 pp.
  • Cornelius Hasselblatt : Van IJstijd dead Skype. Korte divorced from Estonia . Met redactionele medewerking van Marianne Vogel . Antwerp - Apeldoorn: Garant 2012. 255 pp.
  • Eduard Laaman : Eesti vabadussõja poliitiline ajalugu. Tallinn: Kindralstabi VI osakond 1925. 183 p .; Reprint: Tallinn: Monokkel 1991; 2007.
  • Eduard Laaman: Eesti iseseisvuse sünd. Tartu: Loodus 1936. 784 p .; Reprints: Stockholm: Vaba Eesti 1964. 752 p .; Tallinn: Faatum 1990-1997. 880 pp.
  • Georg von Rauch : History of the Baltic States. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer 1970; New editions: dtv 1977, 1990.
  • Toivo U. Raun: Estonian Social and Political Thought, 1905 - February 1917. - The Baltic provinces of Russia between the revolutions of 1905 and 1917, edited by Andrew Ezergailis and Gert v. Pistohlkors. Cologne, Vienna: Böhlau 1982, pp. 59–72 (sources and studies on Baltic history 4).
  • Toivo U. Raun: Estonia and the Estonians. Updated second edition. Stanford: Hoover Institution Press 2001. 366 p.
  • August Traksmaa: Lühike Vabadussõja ajalugu. Tallinn: 1939; Reprint: Tallinn: Olion 1992. 270 pp.
  • Henn-Jüri Uibopuu: The development of the Free State of Estonia, in: Boris Meissner (ed.): The Baltic Nations Estonia - Latvia - Lithuania. Cologne: Markus Verlag 1990, pp. 52-61.
  • Evald Uustalu: The founding of the state of Estonia. - From the Baltic provinces to the Baltic states [I.], 1917–1918. Edited by Jürgen v. Hehn et al. Marburg: Herder Institute 1971, pp. 275-292.
  • August Winnig : At the end of the German Ostpolitik . Berlin: Staatspolitischer Verlag 1921. 126 pp.
  • Seppo Zetterberg : Jüri Vilmsin kuolema. Viron varapääministerin Teloitus Helsingissä 13.4.1918. Helsinki: Otava 1997. 352 pp.