A report on Occupation of the Baltic states, Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic and Estonia

Planned and actual divisions of Europe, according to the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, with later adjustments.

Soldiers of the Red Army enters the territory of Lithuania during the first Soviet occupation of Lithuania in 1940

Location of Estonia (red) within the Soviet Union

Schematics of the Soviet military blockade and invasion of Estonia in 1940. (Russian State Naval Archives)

According to the 23 August 1939 Nazi-Soviet Pact Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania were divided into German and Soviet "spheres of influence" (German copy)

Iron Age artefacts of a hoard from Kumna

Victims of Soviet NKVD in Tartu, Estonia (1941)

People massacred by Soviet NKVD on 8 July 1941 in Tartu, Estonia

Independent counties of Ancient Estonia in the beginning of the 13th century

Latvian SS-Legion parade through Riga before deployment to Eastern Front. December 1943

Soviet-organized rally in Tallinn, July 1940

Medieval Estonia and Livonia after the crusade

Lithuanian rebels lead the disarmed soldiers of the Red Army in Kaunas

Karl Säre with other Estonian Communist Party officials in Tallinn, July 1940

Kuressaare Castle in Saaremaa dates back to the 1380s

The plan of deportations of the civilian population in Lithuania during the Operation Priboi created by the Soviet MGB.

A propaganda poster from the Stalin era. The poster says: "The spirit of the great Lenin and his victorious banner encourage us now in the Patriotic War."

"Academia Dorpatensis" (now University of Tartu) was founded in 1632 by King Gustavus as the second university in the kingdom of Sweden. After the king's death it became known as "Academia Gustaviana".

Antanas Sniečkus, the leader of the Communist Party of Lithuania from 1940 to 1974

Soviet prison doors on display in the Museum of Occupations, Tallinn, Estonia

Carl Robert Jakobson played a key role in the Estonian national awakening.

Pro-independence Lithuanians demonstrating in Šiauliai, January 1990.

Declaration of Independence in Pärnu on 23 February 1918. One of the first images of the Republic.

Unarmed Lithuanian citizen standing against a Soviet tank during the January Events.

A reconstruction of a typical Soviet-era living room, in a museum in central Tallinn.

Estonian armoured train during the Estonian War of Independence

Monument to Lithuanian victims of Soviet occupation in Gediminas Avenue, Vilnius. 54.68858°N, 25.27056°W

Tram along the Pärnu maantee street in Tallinn on June 26, 1983

According to the 23 August 1939 Nazi-Soviet Pact "the Baltic States (Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania)" were divided into German and Soviet "spheres of influence" (German copy)

Nils Ušakovs, the first ethnic Russian mayor of Riga in independent Latvia

The blue-black-white flag of Estonia was raised on Pikk Hermann on February 24, 1989.

The Red Army troops crossing Soviet-Estonian border in October 1939 after Estonia had been forced to sign the Bases Treaty

The Red Army's 16th Rifle Division fighting in the Oryol Oblast in the summer of 1943

Border changes of Estonia after World War II

The capital Tallinn after bombing by the Soviet Air Force during the war on the Eastern Front in March 1944

Johannes Käbin, leader of the Communist Party of Estonia from 1950 to 1978

Estonian Swedes fleeing the Soviet occupation to Sweden (1944)

1941 mugshot of kindral Johan Laidoner after his arrest 1940

The blue-black-white flag of Estonia was raised again on the top of the Pikk Hermann tower on February 24, 1989.

Estonian Song Festival in Tallinn in 1980

Plaque on Stenbock House, the seat of the Government of Estonia, commemorating government members killed by Soviet forces

The barn swallow (H. r. rustica) is the national bird of Estonia.

Haanja Nature reserve where violations of Natura 2000 area logging is taking place.

The seat of the Parliament of Estonia in Toompea Castle

Building of the Supreme Court of Estonia in Tartu

US President Barack Obama giving a speech at the Nordea Concert Hall in Tallinn

Foreign ministers of the Nordic and Baltic countries in Riga, 2016

Estonian soldiers during a NATO exercise in 2015

KAPO (Kaitsepolitsei) headquarters in Kassisaba, Kesklinn, Tallinn

An Estonian Patria Pasi XA-180 in Afghanistan

A proportional representation of Estonia exports, 2019

The central business district of Tallinn

Real GPD per capita development of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania

Estonia's GDP growth from 2000 till 2012

The oil shale industry in Estonia is one of the most developed in the world. In 2012, oil shale supplied 70% of Estonia's total primary energy and accounted for 4% of Estonia's gross domestic product.

Graphical depiction of Estonia's product exports in 28 colour-coded categories

Population of Estonia 1960–2019. The changes are largely attributed to Soviet immigration and emigration.

A Russian Old Believer village with a church on Piirissaar island

Ruhnu stave church, built in 1644, is the oldest surviving wooden building in Estonia

Distribution of Finnic languages in Northern Europe

The University of Tartu is one of the oldest universities in Northern Europe and the highest-ranked university in Estonia. According to the Top Universities website, the University of Tartu ranks 285th in the QS Global World Ranking.

Building of the Estonian Students' Society in Tartu. It is considered to be the first example of Estonian national architecture. The Treaty of Tartu between Finland and Soviet Russia was signed in the building in 1920.

ESTCube-1 is the first Estonian satellite.

The Estonian Song Festival is UNESCO's Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

Arvo Pärt was the world's most performed living composer from 2010 to 2018.

Jaan Kross is the most translated Estonian writer.

A traditional farmhouse built in the Estonian vernacular style

Mulgipuder, a national dish of Estonia made with potatoes, groats, and meat. It is very traditional food in the southern part of Estonia.

The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were invaded and occupied in June 1940 by the Soviet Union, under the leadership of Stalin and auspices of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact that had been signed between Nazi Germany and the USSR immediately before the outbreak of World War II.

- Occupation of the Baltic states

The Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic (widely used abbreviation Estonian SSR; Eesti Nõukogude Sotsialistlik Vabariik, Eesti NSV; Эстонская Советская Социалистическая Республика, Эстонская ССР) was an ethnically based administrative subdivision of the former Soviet Union (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, USSR) covering the territory of Estonia in 1940–1941 and 1944–1991.

- Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic

Democratic throughout most of the interwar period, Estonia declared neutrality at the outbreak of World War II, but the country was repeatedly contested, invaded and occupied, first by Stalinist Soviet Union in 1940, then by Nazi Germany in 1941, and ultimately reoccupied in 1944 by, and annexed into, the USSR as an administrative subunit (Estonian SSR).

- Estonia

However, the Soviet Union never formally acknowledged its presence in the Baltics as an occupation or that it annexed these states and considered the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republics as three of its constituent republics.

- Occupation of the Baltic states

On 17 June 1940, the Red Army emerged from its military bases in Estonia and, aided by an additional 90,000 Soviet troops, took over the country, occupying the entire territory of the Republic of Estonia,.

- Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic

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Baltic exilee protest signs from the second half of the 20th century against the Soviet occupation of the Baltic States.

State continuity of the Baltic states

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Welles declaration, July 23, 1940, establishing U.S. policy of non-recognition of forced incorporation of the Baltic States

The map shows the Western recognition and non-recognition of annexation of the Baltics.
Baltic states
Soviet Union
Warsaw Pact socialist countries
Nations that explicitly did not recognize the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states, either de jure or de facto
Nations that explicitly did not recognize the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states de jure but recognised the Soviet rule in the Baltics de facto
Nations that recognized the incorporation of the Baltic states into the Soviet Union de jure
States that have not expressed their position in any way

The three Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania – are held to have continued as legal entities under international law while under Soviet rule and German occupation from 1940 to 1991.

Most of the countries in the Western Bloc refused to recognise the incorporation of the Baltic states de jure and only recognised the Soviet governments of Estonian SSR, Latvian SSR and Lithuanian SSR de facto or not at all.

Konstantin Päts

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Konstantin Päts with his family.
From left: brother Nikolai, sister Marianna, father Jakob, brother Voldemar, mother Olga, brother Peeter and Konstantin.

Konstantin Päts was one of the authors of the Estonian Declaration of Independence.

Konstantin Päts gave the first traditional speech at the Independence Day parade on 24 February 1919.

Weak representation in the left wing dominated Constituent Assembly left Konstantin Päts with little power in composing the land reform law and the 1920 constitution.

Oru palace in Toila was used as the summer residence of Päts during his authoritarian and presidential years. The palace was destroyed in World War II.

The presidential palace in Kadriorg was finished during Päts's presidency in 1938.

Konstantin Päts giving a speech at the 20th anniversary of the Republic of Estonia on Peter's Square in Tallinn.

Estonia's leaders before the Soviet occupation, celebrating the country's Independence Day for the last time, on 24 February 1940. From left General Johan Laidoner, President Konstantin Päts and Prime Minister Jüri Uluots.

Destruction of Konstantin Päts's statue in Tahkuranna in 1940.

President of Finland Pehr Evind Svinhufvud and Konstantin Päts in Narva in 1936. Päts's idea of a union of Finnic countries never came into existence.

President Konstantin Päts visiting Polish president, Ignacy Mościcki, in 1935.

"Mees ordenitega (K. Päts)" by Andrus Johani (1936)

Statue for Konstantin Päts in his birthplace Tahkuranna. Erected in 1939, it was removed by the Soviets in 1940. The statue was restored in 1989, exactly fifty years after it was first erected.

Konstantin and Helma Päts' graves in Tallinn Metsakalmistu cemetery (2019).

Konstantin Päts (23 February 1874 – 18 January 1956) was an Estonian statesman and the country's President in 1938–1940.

During his presidency, the Soviet Union occupied Estonia in 1940.

On 21 July 1940, the Estonian SSR was proclaimed and it is claimed that only then Päts realized the essence of the Soviet occupation.

The Baltic Way was a mass anti-Soviet demonstration in 1989 where ca 25% of the total population of the Baltic countries participated

Baltic states

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An armoured train used in the Estonian War of Independence against Soviet Russia, 1919

According to the 1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact "the Baltic States (Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania)" were divided into German and Soviet "spheres of influence" (German copy)

Geopolitical status in Northern Europe in November 1939

Baltic Assembly session in Seimas Palace, in Vilnius, Lithuania

Baltic Defence College serves as a centre of strategic and operational research and provides professional military education to intermediate- and senior-level officers and government officials

St. Peter's Lutheran Church, Riga, Latvia

Catholic Church of St. Johns, Vilnius, Lithuania

Forests cover over half the landmass of Estonia

Devonian sandstone cliffs in Gauja National Park, Latvia's largest and oldest national park

Jägala waterfall in Estonia is the highest in the Baltics

Gastilionys cliffs in Kauno Marios Regional Park near Kaunas

View from the Bilioniai forthill in Lithuania

Sand dunes of the Curonian Spit near Nida, which are the highest drifting sand dunes in Europe (UNESCO World Heritage Site).<ref>{{cite web |title=Nida and The Curonian Spit, The Insider's Guide to Visiting |url=https://maptrotting.com/nida-guide-baltic-coast/ |website=MapTrotting |access-date=3 January 2019 |date=23 September 2016}}</ref>

Language branches in Northern Europe
North Germanic (Faroe Islands, Iceland and Scandinavia)
Finnic (Finland, Estonia)
Baltic (Latvia, Lithuania)

The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a modern unofficial geopolitical term, typically used to group three countries: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

In 1940, all three countries were invaded, occupied and annexed by the Stalinist Soviet Union.

In all three countries simultaneously, rigged elections (in which only pro-Stalinist candidates were allowed to run) were staged in July 1940, the newly assembled "parliaments" in each of the three countries then unanimously applied to join the Soviet Union, and in August 1940 were incorporated into the USSR as the Estonian SSR, Latvian SSR, and Lithuanian SSR.