Estonian Liberation War
(Redirected from Estonian War of Independence)
Categories: History of Estonia | European history stubs | Estonia-related stubs
The Estonian Liberation War (Estonian: Vabadussõda [literally "freedom war"]), also called the Estonian War of Independence, in 1918-1920, was Estonia's struggle for independent state in the aftermath of World War I and the Russian Revolution.
Timeline
In November 1917, upon disintegration of the Russian Empire a Diet (Maapäev), which had been elected in the spring of that year, proclaimed itself the highest authority in Estonia. Soon thereafter, the Bolsheviks dissolved Maapäev and forced the Estonian nationalists temporarily underground. A few months later, using a moment between the Russian Red Army's retreat and the arrival of the advancing German troops, the Committee of Elders of the underground Maapäev issued a proclamation the independent Republic of Estonia on February 24, 1918 and formed a provisional government. This first period of independence was extremely short-lived, as German troops entered Tallinn on the following day. The German authorities recognized neither the provisional government, nor its claim for Estonia's independence.
After Germany's defeat in World War I (November 1918) however, an Estonian provisional government was able to retake office. A new military invasion by Soviet Russia followed a few days later, marking the beginning of the Estonian War of Independence. The small, poorly-armed Estonian defense force was initially pushed back by the Red Army as far as the outskirts of Tallinn. Fairly soon, however, Estonians launched a counteroffensive under the Commander-in-Chief Johan Laidoner. In this the Estonian Army was supported by a British flotilla in the Baltic as well as some Finnish, Swedish and Danish volunteers. By February 1919 the Red Army was expelled from the entire territory of Estonia.
Estonian troops also advanced to the parts of Latvia. Latvia had been declared as independent state like Estonia, but its pro-British government of Kārlis Ulmanis was toppled by a German general Rüdiger von der Goltz, who had installed a pro-German puppet government in Riga in May 1919. A Baltic Germans military unit Landeswehr, together with the "Iron Division" of the regular German army, started to advance northwards and demanded Estonian army to end the "occupation" of parts Northern Latvia. It was widely believed that the real intent of Landeswehr was to annex Estonia into some German-dominated state like United Baltic Duchy which had existed in 1918. In the military conflict that ensued, the Baltic-German forces of Landeswehr were defeated by advancing Estonian Army in Northern Latvia near the city of Cēsis in June 1919. (June 23, the anniversary of the Battle of Wenden is celebrated in Estonia as a national holiday "Victory Day")
An anti-Bolshevik Russian "North-Western Army", assembled and led by Nikolai N. Yudenich marched across the Estonian-Russian border in an attempt to seize Petrograd (Leningrad) in October 1919. The Bolshevik leader Leon Trotsky, however, gathered "an army of workers and soldiers", which was able to repulse Yudenich's troops and force their retreat back into Estonia. It took the Estonian Army until December 1919 to repel the last Russian attack.
On February 2, 1920, the Peace Treaty of Tartu was signed by the Republic of Estonia and Bolshevist Russia. The terms of the treaty stated that Russia renounced in perpetuity all rights to the territory of Estonia.