7. The road to independence: Russian revolutions, World War I and the wars of independence Flashcards
- The 1905 Revolution in the Russian Empire
The defeat of the Russian Empire in the Russo-Japanese War Febr 1904 – Sept 1905
Socio-economic inequities and long-standing grievances against the tsarist regime exploded into revolutionary upheaval in the midst of the disastrous Russo-Japanese war. Following ‘bloody Sunday, in St peters burg on 9 January 1905, when the imperial guard mowed down peaceful demonstrators, solidarity strikes broke out in the larger Baltic cities, and a few days later 56 demonstrators in Riga were killed in a similar tragedy
The October Manifesto, 17 October 1905
Tsar Nicholas lI hesitantly promised political liberalisation. However. the October Manifesto fuelled further demands. Political fermentation gripped the major centres of the empire as the authorities lost control over the situation
changes because of 1905 Revolution
The formation of Estonian and Baltic German political parties
The demand of the Estonian political parties: Estonian national autonomy
common demands: democratic elections. the abolition of censorship, autonomy corresponding to ethnographic bound aries, the end of Russification policies, native-language schooling, land reform and the abolition of the remaining privileges of the land-owners’ In a limited way, the people themselves had already begun to implement
* The 1905 Revolution: results A fundamental turning-point in the Baltic and Estonian history, a great escalation of cultural and political goals: democratization and autonomy
The major gain from the revolution was the convening oi the State Duma (parliament) by rhe emperor in St petersburg in 190
* ‘ it provided the first experience of prof-essionar poritics fbr Estonians. Latvians and Lithuanians, and the opportunity to network with representatives of other parts of the empire
Estonian culture
- Young Estonia literary movement
Gustav Suits (1883–1956) „Let us be Estonians, but let us become Europeans!“ - Professionalization of Estonian culture
- Estonian Literary Society 1907
- The first professional Estonian cultural and literary journal Eesti Kirjandus (Estonian literature)
- Professional Estonian theatres in Tallinn and Tartu 1906
- The first formal exhibition of Estonian painting and sculpture 1906
- Estonian National Museum 1909
- 7th all-Estonian song festival 1910, program entirely from the works of Estonian composers
- 1906 Estonian as the language of instruction in the two first years of the elementary school
- The first Estonian-language secondary school, in Tartu 1906
- Demographic situtation before World War I
Total population in Estonian territory ca 1 100 000
Estonians ca 90 % Nearly 200 000
Estonians elsewhere in the Russian Empire, outside Estonian ethnic territory – emigration since the 1860s, due to economic factors (in most cases: lack of agricultural land at home)
1917 nearly 50 000 Estonians in Petrograd St. Petersburg → 1914 Petrograd
shit going down
- World War I (1914–1918)
- February Revolution 1917
The general goal of the Russian Provisional Government
– democratization and modernization
The main political goal of the Estonians: democratic autonomy within a democratic Russian federation
The administrative unification of the territory inhabited by the Estonians
– the province Estland and the northern part of the province Livland
The appointment of a provincial commissar
Jaan Poska (1866–1920), Estonian Provincial commissar of province Estonia
Election of a Provincial Assembly (universal and indirect suffrage), which convened in July → Estonians in charge of local matters, Estonian autonomy achieved
(in summer 1917)
Formation of Estonian national military units
The Bolshevik seizure of power in Petrograd 26 Oct 1917
→ The Bolshevik dictatorship, the Red Terror
A violent and abrupt end to all democratic aspirations in Russia Bolsheviks also
came to power in the province of Estonia
Another foreign factor: The threat of imminent German occupation
15 November 1917
The Estonian Provincial Assembly declared itself the supreme authority in Estonia Political separation from Russia, first step towards independence
The proclamation of the independent, democratic Estonian Republic on 23 and 24 Feb 1918
Bolshevik rule, however, had little time to consolidate itself in Estonia and Livland before the advance of the German army forced the Bolsheviks to abandon Livland and Estonia entirely in February l9l8’
The Salvation Committee’ the three-man executive of the Estonian Provincial Assembly, headed by Konstantin Pats (1874-1956), used the brief window of opportunity on 24 February ahead of the arrival of the German army in Tallinn (Reval) to issue the proclamation of Estonian independence
Formation of the Estonian Provisional Government 24 February 1918
→ The birth of the Estonian Republic
- The German occupation
The plan of the Baltic German Ritterschaften: to create a new autonomous state in the German Empire, politically dominated by the Baltic Germans (the United Baltic Duchy, Vereinigtes Baltisches Herzogtum), undemocratic, following the centuries-old model of hierarchical society, based on estates
- 11 November 1918 End of World War I
The Estonian Provisional Government, headed by Konstantin PÄTS, resumed its work
- The Estonian War of Independence (28 Nov 1918 – 2 Feb 1920)
Main opponent: Soviet Russia, also conflicts with the Baltic German volunteer army Landeswehr (supported by German Army units, in summer 1919) and the Russian White Army (in Oct-Nov 1919).
* Commander-in-Chief of the Estonian Army, Major General Johan LAIDONER (1884–1953)hat die Bolsheviken fertig gemacht
* The Estonian War of Independence „The Landeswehr War“ 23 June 1919, the victorious battle against Landeswehr → 23 June, Victory Day in Estonia
historic revenge for .700 years of slavery’
* Tartu Peace Treaty, 2 Feb 1920
