Armistice of Strasdenhof

The Strasdenhof Armistice (also: Peace of Strasdenhof ) was a treaty concluded on July 3, 1919 in Strasdenhof (in Latvian Strazdumuiža, today a district of Riga ), which ended the civil war-like fighting between German and Estonian-Latvian troops during the Latvian War of Independence . It was concluded through the mediation of General Sir Hubert Gough , the commander of the "Allied Military Mission in the Baltic States and Finland".

prehistory

The Republic of Latvia had declared its independence on November 18, 1918 after the end of the First World War . The republic was recognized by England and the German occupying forces. However, the national territory soon came under the rule of a socialist council government . With the support of the Entente , German, Estonian and Latvian troops managed to drive the Bolshevik units out of the west and north of Latvia by June 1919.

In April 1919, however, the Baltic Germans overthrew the regular Latvian government under Kārlis Ulmanis and appointed the pro-German Andrievs Niedra as the new Prime Minister. There was a break in the previous coalition when the Baltic Germans wanted to occupy Northern Latvia with the support of the German Free Corps. This German advance could be stopped with the victory of united Estonian-Latvian troops in the battle of Wenden . After further fighting, an evacuation of Riga was considered inevitable by the Germans.

The negotiations

In this situation, the Baltic National Committee started negotiations with Kārlis Ulmanis in Liepāja. A capture of Riga by the Estonians was also not wanted by the Allies. The director of the American food administration, Herbert Hoover, had to threaten from Paris that the aid deliveries to the Estonians would be stopped so that they would agree to negotiate. On the evening of July 2, the representatives of the various parties met in the school house in Strasdenhof (Strazdumuiža), 12 km northeast of Riga and not far from the front. They were: Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Tallents (England), Colonel Groove (USA), Lieutenant Colonel Emmanuel du Parquet (France), Major von Westernhagen and Captain Hans-Georg von Jagow (Germany), General Gotthard von Timroth and Captain Graf Dohna (Niedra- Government), Lieutenant Schulmann ( Balodis Brigade ), Lieutenant Colonel Bunin (Prince Lieven's troops ) and Lieutenant Colonel Nikolai Reek (Estonia).

Provisions

"A ceasefire is hereby concluded under the following conditions: between the troops under Estonian command on the one hand and the national armed forces and the troops under German command on the other:

1. Hostilities cease on land, sea and air on July 3rd at noon.
2. All German troops leave Latvia as soon as possible in accordance with the peace conditions. No forward movement may meanwhile be made by German troops in any part of Latvia, except against the Bolshevik troops of the Russian Soviet Republic under the terms of the peace treaty.
3. All German officers and troops leave Riga and its suburbs immediately. The evacuation must be carried out on July 5th, 6:00 p.m. CET, with the exception of a few officers of the staff who are responsible for monitoring the evacuation of German supplies and the troops who are necessary to protect the supplies from being plundered.
4. An Allied officer in Riga ensures that no non-military depots are taken.
5. The Landeswehr has to evacuate Riga and its suburbs immediately and withdraw behind the Daugava. This evacuation must be carried out on July 5th, 6:00 p.m. CET. Your future dispositions should be determined in accordance with paragraph 9 below.
6. Estonians are not to advance beyond the positions they occupied on July 3 at 3:00 am.
7. Free traffic on the roads and on the railroad and by telegraph is opened by the Germans between Libau and Riga.
8. Allied governors temporarily take over the administration of Riga in agreement with the Latvian governors.
9. Further details will be determined under the direction of the Chairman of the Allied Military Commission. "

consequences

General von der Goltz had the city of Riga evacuated. The Niedra government, which had already gone to Mitau, resigned after the armistice was concluded. In Riga, the Balodis Brigade took over police duties. Zemitān's troops entered the city on July 6th. On July 8, the ousted Prime Minister Kārlis Ulmanis appeared in April to build a new government. About a week later, the Estonian troops began to withdraw from the Riga area.
The Baltic State Armed Forces were incorporated into the newly formed Latvian Army under the leadership of the British officer Harold Alexander . The Latvian Balodis Brigade received no further equipment or payment from Germany. The Russian white troops under Lieven were subordinated to the Northern Army of Yudenich as the West Russian Liberation Army . The Reich Germans including the commander Alfred Fletcher and Chief of Staff Heinrich Graf zu Dohna-Schlobitten had to leave the Landeswehr. After a conference between Goltz and Gough, the imperial German troops hesitantly and slowly began the evacuation. At the same time, however, the West Russian Liberation Army under Bermondt refused any orders from the Entente. Most of the Freikorps in Courland joined this army in September in order to remain in the country. Heavy fighting took place again in autumn 1919.

After the armistice came into force, the Estonian army withdrew behind its own national borders. Border disputes with Latvia were settled in 1920 by the Allied Commission for the Baltic States.

literature

Stephen Tallents: Man and Boy, London 1944.
E. Du Parquet: L'Aventure Allemande en Lettonie, Paris 1926.
Claus Grimm: At the gates of Europe 1918–1920. History of the Baltic State Army. Velmede, Hamburg 1963.
Rüdiger von der Goltz: My broadcast in Finland and the Baltic States. Koehler, Leipzig 1920, (German Memories). ( Online )
M. Peniķis: Latvijas atbrīvošanas kaŗa vēsture. 4 volumes. Austrālijas latviešu balva Jaunsargiem, Riga 2006, ISBN 9984-19-951-7 .
Inta Pētersone: Latvijas Brīvības cīņas 1918–1920: enciklopēdija. Preses nams, Riga 1999, ISBN 998-400395-7 .
War History Research Office of the Army: The fighting in the Baltic States after the second capture of Riga , Berlin 1938.
Eesti Vabadussõda 1918–1920. 2 volumes. Vabadussõja Ajaloo Committee, Reval 1937–1939.

Individual evidence

↑ Bernhard Böttcher: Fallen for people and homeland , Böhlau Verlag, Cologne / Weimar, 2009, p. 37.
^ Olavi Hovi: The Baltic Area in British Policy, 1918-1921 , Finnish Historical Society, 1980, p.150. (English)
^ Contract text in Claus Grimm: Before the gates of Europe , p. 269/270 and Stephen Tallents: Man and boy , p. 330.
↑ Claus Grimm: Before the gates of Europe, p. 270
^ Wilhelm Lenz : The German Reich Policy, the Bermondt Company and the Baltic Germans 1918/1919 . In: Boris Meissner , Dietrich André Loeber , Detlef Henning (eds.): The German ethnic group in Latvia during the interwar period and current issues of German-Latvian relations . Bibliotheca Baltica, Tallinn 2000, ISBN 9985-800-21-4 , pp. 15–39, here p. 28.

[Böttcher-1] Bernhard Böttcher: Fallen for people and homeland , Böhlau Verlag, Cologne / Weimar, 2009, p. 37.

[2] Olavi Hovi: The Baltic Area in British Policy, 1918-1921 , Finnish Historical Society, 1980, p.150. (English)

[3] Contract text in Claus Grimm: Before the gates of Europe , p. 269/270 and Stephen Tallents: Man and boy , p. 330.

[4] Claus Grimm: Before the gates of Europe, p. 270

[5] Wilhelm Lenz : The German Reich Policy, the Bermondt Company and the Baltic Germans 1918/1919 . In: Boris Meissner , Dietrich André Loeber , Detlef Henning (eds.): The German ethnic group in Latvia during the interwar period and current issues of German-Latvian relations . Bibliotheca Baltica, Tallinn 2000, ISBN 9985-800-21-4 , pp. 15–39, here p. 28.