| |||||||
| Anthem | "Mu isamaa, mu õnn ja rõõm" | ||||||
| Capital | Tallinn | ||||||
| Language official |
Estonian | ||||||
| others | Russian, Swedish, German | ||||||
| Religion main |
Irreligion | ||||||
| others | Eastern Orthodoxy, Lutheranism | ||||||
| Demonym | Estonian | ||||||
| Government | Unitary semi-presidential parliamentary republic | ||||||
| Legislature | Riigikogu | ||||||
| President | Kersti Kaljulaid | ||||||
| Prime Minister | Jüri Ratas | ||||||
| Area | 45,336 km² | ||||||
| Population | 1,352,320 (2017 estimates) | ||||||
| Independence | from the Soviet Union | ||||||
| declared | August 20, 1991 | ||||||
| recognized | January 18, 1992 | ||||||
| Currency | Euro | ||||||
| Time Zone | EET (UTC+2) | ||||||
| summer | EEST (UTC+3) | ||||||
| Calling Code | +372 | ||||||
| Internet TLD | .ee | ||||||
| Organizations | UN, EU | ||||||
Estonia, officially known as the Republic of Estonia (Estonian: Eesti Vabariik), is a sovereign state located within the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by the Soviet Union to the east, Latvia to the south, and the Gulf of Finland to the north. For much of its history, Estonia was under the control of various European empires from the Danish to the German, Swedish and Russian Imperial rule until it managed to become an independent state in 1917 following the collapse of the Tsar's regime and the Russian Empire as a whole. Estonia remained independent until 1940 after the Soviet Union invaded and occupied all of the Baltic States during World War II and annexed them into the country and established Soviet republics in their place.
In 1941, the Baltic states were invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany during its invasion of the Soviet Union that same year codenamed Operation Barbarossa. During the war, 34,000 Estonians were drafted into the Red Army, but only 30% of them ever survived the war. Estonia and the other Baltic countries remained under German occupation until 1944 after they were liberated by the Red Army in the Baltic Offensive. After the war's end in 1945, the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic was re-establsihed and remained that way until the nation acquired its independence once again in 1992 after it signed and ratified the Moscow Sovereignty Accords and was given full permission to secede from the USSR and become an independent state.
Since 1992, Estonia has formed a democratic parliamentary system of government and is a developed country with high rankings in the Human Development Index and posses an advanced high-income economy which is one of the fastest growing in the entire European Union. Estonia has formed close relations with the other Baltic States and other former communist nations as well and has been heavily active in maintaining the sovereignty accords with its handling of the Soviet Union, which has been accused of being hostile towards former Soviet republics in recent years.
History[]
First Independence and Occupation[]
Estonia had spent much of its history under the control of the Russian Empire as part of the large nation and as part of its Northern European territories. During World War I, many Estonians were drafted into the Imperial Russian Army to fight on the Eastern Front against the German Empire, but the nation suffered heavy casualties and ultimately fell into disarray and revolution. After the Bolsheviks took over the former Russian Empire and overthrew the Russian Provisional Government, many within Estonia took advantage of the chaos to break away and fought and won a war of independence in 1920 against the Bolsheviks and the Russian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic. Estonia remained independent, until the early stages of World War II which saw the Soviet Union negotiate with Nazi Germany in 1940 which decided the ultimate fate of the Baltic States as a whole. That same year, the Red Army invaded and annexed Estonia as well as the neighboring state of Latvia and Lithuania.
The Soviet Union established new republics within the Baltic States during the occupation and the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic was one of them. Mass deportations were conducted by the Soviet occupation forces and the country remained under Soviet control until 1941 after the German Army crossed the border and invaded the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa with the Baltic States falling quickly and were occupied by Nazi Germany. Estonia remained under German occupation until 1944 when it was liberated by the Red Army and the Estonian SSR was re-established by the end of the war.
Soviet Rule and Second Independence[]
From 1944 until 1992, the Estonian SSR was the official state and government that was established in the country and it was part of the Soviet Union as one of the original 15 republics. After being re-annexed, the Soviet government cracked down on resistance to Soviet rule by having 20,000 Estonians being deported to forced labor camps in Siberia and up to 10% of the entire Baltic population were imprisoned and deported under the rule of Joseph Stalin. The deportations was part of a large program of integration of Estonia into the Soviet Union with the rural households being collectivized and immigration of ethnic Russians was encouraged to prevent a future secession by the country.
Half of those who were deported would perish under Stalin and the survivors wouldn't return back to their home countries until the 1960s, years after Stalin's death. Estonia was altered greatly under Soviet rule as the general population was cut off and isolated from the outside world along with the rest of the greater Soviet population and the nation was militarized with the Soviet military being the only ones to have access granted to the Baltic coasts. A guerrilla war was waged by the Forest Brothers, an anti-communist partisan group, and would go on until 1956 when the partisans were defeated and disbanded. Estonia was a Soviet republic until it sought independence in 1989 during the Singing Revolution along with the other Baltic States and advocated for secession. Mikhail Gorbachev became President of the Soviet Union in 1991 and granted the demands of the separatists in the Moscow Sovereignty Accords and recognized Estonia as an independent nation in January of 1992, restoring the country's independence.
Post-Cold War and Modern History[]
After ratifying the Sovereignty Accords, Estonia seceded and was recognized by the Soviet Union as a sovereign nation. The lead negotiator, Lennart Meri, was elected president in 1992 and lead the country during the first days of its initial independence. Many programs were conducted such as the implementation of a welfare state and a focus of modernization and technological advancements as a means of overturning all known policies implemented during Soviet rule. The remaining Soviet forces withdrew in 1994 and the country, along with its Baltic and European neighbors and allies aided in the creation of the United Nations Commission of National Sovereignty to preserve the accords and advocate for the independence of other nations. In 2004, Estonia joined the European Union and celebrated its 90th anniversary of independence from November 2007 - 2008.
Government and Politics[]
Estonia is a democratic parliamentary multi-party republic where the President of Estonia serves as the country's head of state and symbolic leader while the Prime Minister is the nation's head of government and holds most political power. Estonian political culture has historically focused on power being held by two or three political parties similar to that of other European countries and other minor parties are forced to work together in coalitions in parliament.