Estonia

C

Soviet Rule

The Soviet Union concluded a nonaggression pact with Nazi Germany a week before the German invasion of Poland launched World War II in September 1939. By the secret terms of the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact, the USSR claimed the Baltic states as within its sphere of influence. In June 1940 Soviet forces occupied Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. In elections held the following month, only Soviet-approved candidates were permitted to participate. On August 6 Estonia was officially incorporated into the USSR as the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR). Despite the nonaggression pact, however, Germany attacked the USSR in June 1941, and Nazi troops occupied Estonia in July. An estimated 90,000 Estonians died during the war—about 60,000 during the Soviet occupation and 30,000 during the Nazi occupation. In September 1944, when the Germans retreated from the country and Soviet forces returned, more than 60,000 Estonians fled to Sweden and Germany.

Patriotic groups made a short-lived attempt to reinstate Estonian independence, but the Soviet Army prevailed and Estonia was reincorporated into the USSR. Cultural and political institutions immediately began to be reorganized to conform to Soviet models. Estonian language and culture were suppressed, and all political groups other than the Communist Party were banned. The Estonian national elite was imprisoned, executed, or exiled. Tens of thousands of Estonians suspected of opposing the regime were deported to the Gulags (Soviet concentration camps) in Siberia and Central Asia until the death of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in 1953. A group of pro-independence guerrillas known as the Forest Brethren agitated against the Soviet regime until the mid-1950s.

Estonia’s economy underwent rapid change as well. The Soviet government abolished private property and forced privately owned farms to merge into huge state-owned farms. This process, known as the collectivization of agriculture, was nearly complete by the end of 1949. The postwar years also saw the rapid expansion of heavy industries throughout the Soviet Union. Many new factories were built in Estonia, primarily in the northern cities. People from elsewhere in the Soviet Union, especially Russians, immigrated to work in Estonia’s new industries.

After Stalin’s death, a thaw occurred under Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. The Estonian Communist Party gained some control over its own affairs and over Estonia’s economy. Most importantly, a cultural rebirth took place that restored a measure of confidence and hope to the population. However, Khrushchev’s successor, Leonid Brezhnev, reasserted centralized authority and enforced tight controls on public debate and expression of ideas. Political dissent rose in Estonia, especially after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. The goals of the dissent ranged from a general demand for the restoration of Estonian independence to specific objectives, such as curbing the declining status of the Estonian language in education and public life.

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Given their memory of independence in the 1920s and 1930s, Estonia and its Baltic neighbors were in the best position among the Soviet republics to take advantage of reforms introduced by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in the late 1980s. He called for the comprehensive perestroika (rebuilding) of society and economy and declared that glasnost (candor or openness) had to be fostered in the mass media and in governmental and party organizations. In January 1987 Gorbachev came out in favor of demokratizatsiia (democratization) of the Soviet regime, a process that took on an increasingly sweeping character.

In Estonia a grass-roots movement was launched in 1987 to protest an ecologically destructive plan to expand open-pit phosphorite mining. When the protests halted the planned expansion, the Estonian people realized that times really were changing. In 1988 the Estonian Popular Front emerged along with a wide range of other political organizations, including some like the Estonian National Independence Party, which demanded the restoration of full independence. In November 1988 the Supreme Soviet (legislature) of Estonia, led by reformist communists, adopted a declaration of sovereignty—the first in the Soviet Union. In 1989 sentiment for complete independence deepened, as Gorbachev alternately vacillated and threatened the Baltic states. In March 1990 the newly elected Estonian Supreme Soviet declared the start of a transition period to full independence. The Soviet leadership in Moscow still refused to negotiate, however, and ordered harsh military crackdowns in Latvia and Lithuania in January 1991.

D

Independence Regained

Estonia became the first Soviet republic to declare independence, on August 20, 1991. The declaration came amid a political crisis in Moscow as hardline communists attempted a coup against Gorbachev. The attempt failed, and the USSR began to break apart. The Soviet government formally recognized the independence of Estonia (as well as Latvia and Lithuania) in September. The three Baltic states were internationally recognized as independent countries later that month with their admittance to the United Nations (UN). Other Soviet republics followed suit, and the USSR ceased to exist in December.

D

1

Foreign Relations

Following independence, the continued presence of former Soviet troops (under Russia’s jurisdiction) on Estonian territory was a point of contention. In July 1994 Russia agreed to remove remaining troops by the end of August, and in return Estonia agreed to guarantee the civil rights of all retired Russian military personnel living in Estonia. All of the troops departed as scheduled. Estonian-Russian relations remained strained over a border dispute in which Estonia demanded the return of a segment of Estonian territory that the Soviet government had transferred to Russia in 1944. In 1996, however, Estonia dropped the demand, and in 1999 the two countries initialed a border treaty. The Estonian legislature ratified the treaty in 2005 but inserted a reference to the pre-World War I border of Estonia. Russia then withdrew its signature.

In other foreign relations, the Estonian government sought to strengthen political and economic ties with its Baltic neighbors, Latvia and Lithuania. In September 1993 the countries signed a free-trade agreement that removed duties on imports and standardized visa and customs regulations. However, in early 1995 Estonia’s relations with Latvia became heated over the demarcation of their maritime border. After extensive negotiations, the two countries reached a final sea border agreement in 1997. Also that year, a Baltic free-trade area was established.

Estonia also sought closer ties with the Western powers. In 1994 the country joined the Partnership for Peace program, which allowed for limited military cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). In November 2002 Estonia was invited to become a full member of NATO, along with Latvia and Lithuania and four other nations. The three Baltic states were the first former Soviet republics invited to join NATO. Estonia became a full member of NATO in 2004. Meanwhile, in 1995 Estonia became an associate member of the European Union (EU), the world’s largest trading bloc. To attain full membership in the EU, Estonia implemented comprehensive economic reforms to establish a functioning market economy. Estonia’s gross domestic product (GDP) consistently increased beginning in 1995 as inefficient state enterprises were privatized, with only a minor decline in 1999 due to an economic crisis in Russia. The reforms helped secure Estonia’s entry to the EU as a full member in 2004.

D

2

Political Developments

In domestic affairs, Estonia adopted a new constitution in July 1992 and held its first legislative elections the following September. Mart Laar became prime minister, leading a coalition government that included his reform-minded Pro Patria (Fatherland) Union. In September 1994 the Riigikogu (legislature) passed a vote of no confidence in Laar’s government, and Laar stepped down.

In the 1995 parliamentary elections, the reform parties were ousted and replaced by a coalition of left-centrist parties. The vote was seen as a protest against the fast pace of reform, which sharply reduced the living standards of retirees and rural people in particular. Tiit Vähi, head of the Estonian Coalition Party, was named prime minister. In 1996 Vähi’s governing coalition collapsed, leaving him with less than a majority in the legislature. In early 1997 Vähi resigned under a cloud of corruption charges. He was replaced by Mart Siimann, who took power within the same shaky minority government.

Mart Laar returned as prime minister following the 1999 parliamentary elections. He formed a coalition government that included the Pro Patria Union, the Estonian Reform Party, and the Moderates’ Party. Due to tensions in the governing coalition, however, Laar resigned in January 2002. Siim Kallas of the pro-business Estonian Reform Party replaced Laar, forming a tenuous coalition government with his party’s ideological opposite, the populist Estonian Center Party.

The parliamentary elections of March 2003 resulted in a tie between the Estonian Center Party and the center-right Union for the Republic-Res Publica (commonly known as Res Publica). Both parties won 28 seats in the 101-seat Riigikogu, and four other parties won the remainder. After nearly a month of negotiations, Res Publica formed a coalition government with the center-right Estonian Reform Party and the center-left Estonian People’s Union, giving the governing coalition a 60-seat majority in the Riigikogu. Res Publica leader Juhan Parts, formerly Estonia’s chief state auditor and an outspoken critic of the financial management of the previous government, was named prime minister.

Parts resigned in March 2005, following a vote of no confidence against the minister of justice, and his coalition government was dissolved. Andrus Ansip, leader of the Estonian Reform Party, was named prime minister. In parliamentary elections held in March 2007, the Estonian Reform Party won 31 of 101 seats—more than any other single party. Ansip became the first incumbent prime minister to win reelection in Estonia since 1991. He formed a coalition government with his Reform Party, the Estonian Center Party (which won 29 seats), and the Estonian People’s Union (6 seats).

The 2007 parliamentary elections were notable as the first in the world to include voting over the Internet. The electronic voting (“e-voting”) system allowed voters to access and cast online ballots using any computer with an electronic card reader, a national identity card equipped with a computer-readable microchip, and a personal identification number (PIN) for the card.

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