History of Estonia during the XX century, the invasion of the Soviet Union. Protests in the end of the XX century, as well as accession to NATO and the European Union

1. ESTONIA
By Elmir Badalov

2.  Following the Bolshevik
takeover of power in Russia
after the October Revolution
of 1917 and German
victories against the Russian
army, between the Russian
Red Army's retreat and the
arrival of advancing German
troops, the Committee of
Elders of the Maapäev
issued the Estonian
Declaration of Independence
in Pärnu on 23 February and
in Tallinn on 24 February
1918.

3. AFTER WINNING THE ESTONIAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE
AGAINST BOTH SOVIET RUSSIA AND THE GERMAN FREIKORPS
AND BALTISCHE LANDESWEHR VOLUNTEERS, (THE TARTU
PEACE TREATY WAS SIGNED ON 2 FEBRUARY 1920). THE
REPUBLIC OF ESTONIA WAS RECOGNISED (DE JURE) BY
FINLAND ON 7 JULY 1920, POLAND ON 31 DECEMBER 1920,
ARGENTINA ON 12 JANUARY 1921 AND BY THE WESTERN
ALLIES ON 26 JANUARY 1921.

4.  On 24 September 1939,
warships of the Red Navy
appeared off Estonian
ports and Soviet bombers
began a patrol over Tallinn
and the nearby
countryside.The Estonian
government was forced to
give their assent to an
agreement that allowed the
USSR to establish military
bases and station 25,000
troops on Estonian soil for
"mutual defence".On 12
June 1940, the order for a
total military blockade on
Estonia was given to the
Soviet Baltic Fleet.

5.  At the end of July the Germans resumed their advance
in Estonia working in tandem with the Estonian Forest
Brothers. Both German troops and Estonian partisans
took Narva on 17 August and the Estonian capital
Tallinn on 28 August. After the Soviets were driven out
from Estonia German troops disarmed all the partisan
groups.
 This led many Estonians, unwilling to side with the
Nazis, to join the Finnish Army to fight against the
Soviet Union

6.  The Soviet forces reconquered Estonia in the autumn
of 1944 after fierce battles in the northeast of the
country on the Narva river, on the Tannenberg Line
(Sinimäed), in Southeast Estonia, on the Emajõgi river,
and in the West Estonian Archipelago.
 In the face of the country being re-occupied by the Red
Army, tens of thousands of Estonians (including a
majority of the education, culture, science, political and
social specialists) (estimates as many as 80,000)
chose to either retreat with the Germans or flee to
Finland or Sweden. On 12 January 1949, the Soviet
Council of Ministers issued a decree "on the expulsion
and deportation" from Baltic states of "all kulaks and
their families, the families of bandits and nationalists",
and others.

7.  The US, UK, France, Italy
and the majority of other
Western democracies
considered the annexation
of Estonia by the USSR
illegal. They retained
diplomatic relations with
the representatives of the
independent Republic of
Estonia, never de jure
recognised the existence
of the Estonian SSR, and
never recognised Estonia
as a legal constituent part
of the Soviet Union
 The Estonian Sovereignty
Declaration was issued on 16
November 1988 and formal
independence declared on
20 August 1991,
reconstituting the pre-1940
state, during the Soviet
military coup attempt in
Moscow. The Soviet Union
recognised the
independence of Estonia on
6 September 1991. The first
country to diplomatically
recognize Estonia's
reclaimed independence was
Iceland.

8. POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS
 After the collapse of the Soviet Union on
August 20, 1991 the Resolution on the
National Independence of Estonia was
adopted.
 Estonia - a parliamentary democracy.
 Estonia’s central foreign policy goal was to
join the EU and NATO.
 Three main priorities after the accession:
1. continuing the liberalization of the internal
market;
2. carrying out the action plan for the Growth
and Stability Pact in order to build a
sustainable economic basis for the EU;
3. keeping the Euro-area stable and growing.

9. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS
 Estonia’s economic growth: economic freedom, inflation,
governance cost, GDP dynamics, external trade.
 The long-term aim is to raise the income level close to the
level of the old EU member states.
 Radical economic reforms started before independence.
 Economic reforms were high-speed privatization, pro-cyclic
economic policies, a liberal trade policy, fixed exchange rate
currency and an annually balanced state budget.
 Rapid economic growth started in 2000–2001, as foreign
economic actors started to invest in greater numbers.
 Estonia created special stabilization reserves to prevent the
need for public loans in crises years.
 The EU has had a generally positive effect on Estonian
economic developments.