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Political background
After the collapse of the Russian Empire as a result of the February Revolution of 1917 , Estonian national politicians began to request autonomy from the new Russian Provisional Government . In order to strengthen their demands, Estonians organized a powerful demonstration in Petrograd, the capital of Russia, on April 8 . On April 12, 1917 , the Russian government approved a regulation by which the areas inhabited by Estonians in the former governorate of Livonia were merged with the former governorate of Estonia and a single autonomous governorate of Estonia was formed ( 1917-1918 ).
On July 14, 1917 , the first democratically elected Estonian people’s representative, Estonian Maapäev (originally called the Provisional County Council of Eestimaa Kubermangu) met, which, considering the increasingly uncertain conditions of Russia at the time, decided to declare itself the highest power in Estonia on November 28, 1917 . Maapäev chose the Council of Elders (1917–1918), headed by Konstantin Päts , as the executive body operating between its sessions .
In September-October 1917, German troops captured the islands of Western Estonia with a sea landing organized as part of Operation Albion .
During the coup d’état that took place on November 24-26, 1917, the Estonians ( the Estonian Soviet Executive Committee led by Jaan Anvelt ) seized power in Petrograd as well as in Tallinn and mainland Estonia . With the support of the Estonian War-Revolutionary Committee, Estonian banks, industrial companies and big businesses, hotels and restaurants were nationalized. Land was declared state property, manors were liquidated, elected people’s representatives, local governments, militia and judicial institutions were disbanded. The activities of political opponents were banned, their organizations and newspapers were closed, leading figures were arrested.
Since Germany’s negotiations with the majority government that seized power in Russia at the end of 1917 did not yield results, and the situation on the Western Front of the World War was getting worse and worse, Germany decided to launch a decisive offensive in the eastern direction at the beginning of 1918 in order to knock Russia out of the war once and for all and relocate the liberated military units to the west. On February 18, 1918, Operation Faustschlag began on the entire front , the part of which concerning Estonia envisaged strikes from the islands and the south. Although some Russian military units were located in Estonia, the Umeå people had no real means to prevent the offensive: the Russian military units were demoralized and did not want to fight; it was often preferred to surrender or escape. On February 24, 1917, German troops entered Tartu and on February 25, Tallinn. Battles continued in Virumaa, but on March 3, 1918, the Russian Soviet Republic signed the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty with Germany , by which it renounced the territories of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine and Finland. Referring to the terms of the peace treaty, the German occupation authorities also disbanded the Estonian national army units .
On February 19, 1918, the board of elders of Maadaev formed the Estonian Rescue Committee , which was given all the national power in Estonia. Taking advantage of the situation where the Russian troops were fleeing from Estonia, but the invading German troops had not yet occupied the entire land, Estonia declared itself an independent republic on February 24, 1918 with the » Manifesto for all the peoples of Estonia » adopted by the Elders’ Assembly of the Earth Day . The Estonian Provisional Government headed by Konstantin Päts could act only a few days before the arrival of German troops in Tallinn and the establishment of the non-recognizing German occupation power in the Republic of Estonia, then the Estonian Provisional Government went underground. Many Estonian politicians, including Prime Minister Päts, were imprisoned, several fled abroad. Jüri Vilms, a member of the Estonian Rescue Committee and government, died in Finland, probably as a victim of the Germans . Nationalist Estonians passively resisted the occupation from now on. The government’s foreign delegation managed to achieve de facto recognition of the Republic of Estonia by Great Britain , France and Italy .
The German military occupation government tried to rely on both the Baltic Germans and the local peoples when governing Estonia, still giving preference to the former. Privileges and nationalized possessions of the Baltic German nobles were restored, pre-censorship of the press was established, majoritarians and Estonian nationalists were repressed, and the education system was started to be Germanized. Also, with the support of the military authorities, the local knights began to plan the Baltic Duchy, which included Estonia and Latvia . However, the details of the project caused a backlash both locally and in Germany, so the process was delayed. By September, it was possible to resolve the differences with the rulers of the small German states, but the actual creation of the Duchy was thwarted by Germany’s defeat in the First World War and the November Revolution . On November 11, the German military surrendered power in Tallinn to the Estonian Provisional Government and left the country within the next month. Under the leadership of the Provisional Government, the Defense League and Defense Force were founded, ministries were launched, the first Estonian postage stamps appeared , etc.
After the evacuation of the German troops began , the Russian majority government led by Lenin unilaterally canceled the Brest-Litovsk peace treaty concluded with the German Empire on November 13, 1918 . On November 16, the commander-in-chief of the Red Army, Jukums Vācietis, gave the order to start an offensive on a wide front from the Gulf of Finland to Ukraine after the retreating German forces , but with the order to avoid armed conflicts with the evacuating German army. On November 18, the troops of the Northern Front of the Red Army invaded Latvia . On November 19, 1918, in Riga, the representative of the German government, August Winnig , and the representatives of the Estonian Provisional Government signed the Treaty of Transfer , by which the representative of the German Weimar Republic acknowledged that the Supreme State power in the ethnographic region of Estonia is assumed by the Ministry of Estonia in the form of the Provisional Government and that all governance in this region goes, as far as it have not already been born, since November 21 in the hands of the Estonian Government authorities .
The beginning of the war
On November 22, 1918, the 6th Hunter Division of the 7th Army of the Northern Front of the Red Army made the first attempt to capture Narva, but the German troops stationed in the city repulsed the attack in the Battle of Kulgu and then retreated. The provisional Estonian Government issued a call for volunteers to defend the country and on November 22, 1918, to assemble the Estonian People’s Army. On November 26, the Red Army captured Pskov . On November 28, the forces of the Northern Front of the Red Army with two divisions (12,000 men in total) invaded the Estonian border in Narva . On November 29, the Estonian Provisional Government declared martial law throughout the Republic of Estonia and the mobilization of all men aged 21-24 from December 1. Chief of the General Staff Andres Larka ordered all Estonian officers who previously served in Estonian regiments to report to their regiments without delay.
Battle of Narva (1918)
Narva was defended by the 4th Infantry Regiment and high school students transported from Tallinn along with a few squads of Narva schoolboys, among whom there were also Russians. These forces were among the first to confront the Bolsheviks, along with some units of the retreating German army. On November 28, 1918, the 4th Infantry Regiment, together with a few hundred defense allies of Narva and Virumaa subordinated to it, faced the attack of the 6th division of the Soviet Red Army, but was forced to retreat due to the unequal balance of forces. On November 28 , after half a day of resistance, the Germans ordered their units to leave the city. Due to the threat of encirclement, the Estonian troops led by Aleksander Tõnisson also left the city . On November 29, the Estonian Bolsheviks announced the Estonian Workers’ Commune in Narva .
The organization of the Estonian People’s Army had only just begun, and it was possible to send about 2,200 men to the front, in addition to 14,000 defense allies . Less than half of them with guns and equipment and without a single piece of artillery . During the first month of the war, the Estonian troops retreated.
Allied aid
On November 20, the Deputy Foreign Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Robert Cecil, expressed support for Estonia and promised military aid. On December 12, the British fleet under the command of Admiral Edwyn Alexander-Sinclair arrived from Liepaja for a raid on Tallinn . The arrival of the fleet was successful on the second attempt. In the first attempt, the light cruiser HMS Cassandra perished near Saaremaa , and the fleet turned back. The British fleet brought weapons and equipment to Estonia and protected the northern coast of Estonia until January 5, 1919 , when it left the Baltic Sea . The USA helped Estonia primarily with humanitarian aid .
On December 23, 1918, Colonel Johan Laidoner was appointed commander-in-chief of the military forces . A mobilization was organized , which by January 5, 1919, brought a total of 13,500 men to the Estonian defense forces. The main part of the defense forces was made up of Estonian officers and school student volunteers who participated in the First World War. Volunteers played an important role in the further course of the war. In addition to Estonian volunteers, auxiliary forces arrived from several foreign countries.
On December 30, the fighters of the 1st Finnish volunteer detachment led by Martin Ekström arrived in Tallinn . Local Baltic Germans formed the Baltic Battalion under the command of Konstantin Weiss . In the Pskov region, the Red Army was prevented by the Pskov corps of the Russian White Guards . The last of the retreating German troops left Northern Estonia via Tallinn on December 9 .
Battles of retreat in 1918
On November 30, the Red Army captured Pskov from the units of the Single Pskov Volunteer Corps that defended it , and the following were the attack directions of the 2nd Latvian Brigade of the Latvian Soviet Hunter Division of the Red Army : Estonia: Pskov – Võru – Valga . On December 5, the Red Army units captured Vastseliina and Räpina in South-East Estonia , on the 8th they captured Võru , on the 14th they captured Kooraste and Kanepi , on the 17th they captured the town of Valga and the Valga railway station on the Valga-Petseri railway line . By December 18, the 1st division had nearly 1,000 bayonets and swords, 34 machine guns, 10 outdoor cannons and one armored train (with one cannon) operating in Northern Estonia . The 1st brigade of the 1st division operating in South-East Estonia had nearly 2,000 men with about 30 machine guns and 5 outdoor cannons.
On December 18, the Red Army started an offensive in the Võru-Tartu and Räpina-Tartu section of the 1st Brigade, and on December 18 the Estonian troops were forced to retreat from the Torma area, from where they retreated to the Võduvere area. On December 18, the Red Army occupied the town of Valga without resistance.
On December 21, when the Red Army approached Tartu , after a failed resistance attempt at Ülenurme , the Estonian troops retreated from Tartu before the Red Army troops arrived there. The Red Army conquered Northeastern and Southeastern Estonia , including Tartu . In mid-December, the forces of the Red Army focused their attack on the city of Riga in Latvia, which was strategically the administrative and economic center of the Baltic States.
The Red Army captured Vasknarva on December 7 , Kunda on December 15 , Rakvere on December 16 , and Tapa on December 24 . By December 31, the Red Army had conquered and occupied nearly two-thirds of Estonia’s territory and threatened to conquer Tallinn, Paide, Põltsamaa, Viljandi and Pärnu.
The main goal of the 6th division of the Red Army operating in Northern Estonia was to conquer Tallinn. A large part of the organized resistance to the invaders in Northern Estonia was carried out by the armored trains formed with the help of Johan Pitka and led by Captain Karl Parts , as well as the naval forces led by Johan Pitka with their landings in the rear of the enemy and by bombarding the enemy from ships. By the Supreme Commander’s directive on January 2, the 1st Division of the Viru Front was given the task of stopping the Red Army’s offensive and organizing a more active defense. At the beginning of January 1919, the Red Army was 40 km away from Tallinn. The Estonian troops retreated until January 4, 1919, when they successfully repelled the Red Army attack in the Valkla battle in Harjumaa , near Valkla , in the Priske battle and in the Kehra battle , and then went on a counterattack.
Estonian troops and the Finnish volunteer battalion of Martin Ekström and Hans Kalm launched a counterattack on January 7 . Tapa was liberated on the 9th , Rakvere on the 12th, Jõhvi on the 17th, and the Utria landing was made on the 17th of January to liberate Narva .
In the early period of the War of Independence, two fronts were consolidated to facilitate the management of military activities and to conduct operations more successfully: the Viru Front , which included North-Eastern and North-Estonia , and the Southern Front .
The 1919 counter-offensive period
As a result of the successful offensive of armored trains No. 1 and 2, the war was transferred to South Estonia : on January 6 , Öötla , Kärstna and Taagepera manor were liberated ; On the 7th, Estonian troops launched a general offensive on the Viru front – on the 9th, Tapa was liberated, and Jõgeva and Ruhja were liberated in the southern direction .
On January 11, Kunda was liberated on the Viru front , Rakvere on January 12 , Kaarepere railway station in southern Estonia on January 13 , and on January 14, armored trains and the Tartumaa defense battalion liberated the city of Tartu .
On January 15, Estonian troops captured Vasknarva and Jõhvi , on January 16 , the attack of armored trains stopped at the destroyed Elva bridge, but on January 17 , Estonian troops reached the Vaivara railway station and during the battles in southern Estonia, in the direction of Võru , Rõula Mõis was liberated and the Elva railway station was occupied .
On January 17-18, the Utria landing took place on the Viru front , and on January 18 the battle of Laagna took place, Meriküla , Narva-Jõesuu and Riigi village were liberated. On January 19, Finnish volunteers recaptured Narva on the Viru front . After the capture of Narva, Estonian units manned the former fortified defense positions of the Germans in front of Jaanilinna . Estonian units expanded the bridgehead on the eastern bank of the Narva River with the aim of keeping the Red Army as far away from Narva as possible. The Narva river was the main basis for the stabilization of the front on the Viru front, enabling the emergence of a positional war. The stabilization of the front on the Viru front on the Narva river ensured the rear security of the Estonian troops for further operations on the Southern Front .
On January 21, Estonian troops captured Pikksaare and Pikksaare railway station in Latvia from Ruhja direction to Valga direction in Southern Estonia . Rõngu and Puka in South Estonia were liberated on January 25 , Sangaste railway station on January 28 , and Räpina , Kanepi , Kurni on January 29 . On January 30, Estonian troops cut the Valga-Võru-Pihkva railway between Võru and Petseri , cutting off the retreat route of the Enemians retreating from the Valga side.
On January 31, the Battle of Paju took place , and on February 1, Estonian troops occupied Valga and Võru . On February 4, Estonian troops captured Petseri on the Southern Front .
On February 24, 1919, General Johan Laidoner reported to the Estonian government that the enemy had been driven out of Estonia’s borders. During the counterattack, the Estonian troops took 6,000 prisoners and captured more than 40 pieces of artillery.
Combat action in Northern Latvia
The offensive of the Estonian troops also contributed to the success of the Latvian and Lithuanian armies. In January 1919, the units of the Soviet Latvian Army of the Western Front of the Red Army of Soviet Russia had occupied almost all of Latvia, including the city of Riga , where the Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic was formed, and a large part of Lithuania, including Vilnius , where the Lithuanian-Belarusian SSR was formed . On February 16, the Red Army launched a counterattack from the direction of Volmari and captured Heinaste . On the same day, the Saaremaa rebellion began .
The success of the Estonian troops forced the Red Army High Command to stop the offensive in Latvia, Lithuania and Belarus on February 22, 1919. Out of a total of 285,000 men of the Red Army forces operating on the Western Front, the elite fighters of the Soviet Latvian Army of the Red Army – the Latvian Red Hunters – were directed against Estonia . From March to May 1919, the Red Army tried to break the Estonian defense, but to no avail. With the completion of the mobilization, the Estonian army grew to 75,000 men and repelled all attacks. At the same time, the Red Army was defeated in Lithuania and Latvia, losing Vilnius to Polish forces on April 23 .
In the middle of May, the 3rd division of the Southern Front started an offensive southward from the line Ainaž (Heinaste in Estonian) – Salaca (Salatsi) river – Burtnieki (Asti) lake – Seda (Säde) river. At first, Latvia got stuck in the defense of the hunter troops, but after the loss of Riga to General von der Goltz’s Landeswehr forces on May 22 , the Red Army, the Soviet Latvian army, turned to flee. In the last days of May, the Estonian units occupied Salacgrīva (Salatsi), Limbaž (Lemsalu), Valmiera (Volmari) and Smiltene , and on the evening of May 31, the Latvian regiment of the North Latvian Brigade , which was part of the People’s Army, entered Cēsis.
At the end of May, the 2nd division of the Estonian troops also went on the offensive from South-East Estonia in the direction of Latvia, which, occupying Alūksne (Marienburg), achieved a large-scale breakthrough from the enemy’s front and carried out a raid deep into the enemy’s defense in the enemy’s rear. On May 31, the Gulbene (Schwaneburg in German) railway junction was captured , but by June 5 , the Daugava (Väina) river was reached and Krustpils (Kreutzburg) and Jēkabpils (Jakobstadt) in southern Latvia were occupied . In the eastern direction, the new front line with the Red Army formed on the line of the Pedets (Pededze in Latvian) and Aiviekste rivers and Lake Lubāns .
1919 May Offensive in Russia
In May 1919, Estonian troops participated as a temporary strategic ally in the military operation White Sword of the Northern Corps of the Russian White Guards in the governorates of Petrograd and Pskov . On May 13, the troops of the Northern Corps located in the northern part of Lake Peipus launched an attack on the brigade led by the former general Nikolaev, located in the area of the Pljussa River , whose staff was captured, and due to this situation, the brigade’s troops retreated towards Luga . With the subsequent capture of the Weimarn railway station and the settlement, the troops of the Northern Corps invaded the rear area of the Red Army ‘s Jamburg group, which retreated from the main forces for fear of being cut off, after which the troops of the Northern Corps occupied the town of Jamburg on May 17, and on May 15, the cavalry units of Colonel Stanisław Bułak-Bałachowicz occupied Oudova, located on the eastern shore of Lake Peipus . During the subsequent offensive in the direction of Gatchina and Petrograd , Russian White Guard troops reached the Kikerino railway station and Koporjeni , where the offensive stopped due to the resistance of the Red Army troops stationed there. On June 13, 1919, an anti-Bolshevik uprising broke out in Seraja Lošad and Krasnaya Gorka fords , but it was suppressed by the fire of the ships of the Baltic fleet , and the insurgents retreated to the forces of the Northern Corps on June 16 .
On the southern side of Lake Peipsi, on May 12, the troops of the 3rd division of the Estonian army went on a general offensive in Southeast Estonia from the direction of Võru and captured Irboska on May 24 and Pihkva on May 26 , the protection of which was handed over to the troops of the Russian Northern Corps , Stanislav Bulak-Balakhhovich, who invaded from the direction of Oudova .
In Latvia, however, the pro-German Andrievs Niedra’s troops continued to push the Red Army out of Latvia in May 1919, on May 22 the city of Riga was captured from the Red Army and the Red Army continued its retreat towards Rēzekne . At the end of May, the troops of the Landeswehr and the Raud Division reached Gulbene . However, after the expulsion of the Soviet Red Army from Latvia by the Landeswehr under the leadership of Rüdiger von der Goltz in the summer of 1919, German-oriented politicians and military took real control in Latvia and continued to move from northern Latvia to southern Estonia in pursuit of the Red Army forces .
At the beginning of June, the troops of the Northern Corps arrived near Luuga and Gatchina . The Red Army strengthened its defenses with reserves up to 60,000 soldiers and the offensive was halted. In a counterattack, the Red Army captured Pskov again on August 28 .
As a result of the May offensive, the Russian White Guard troops occupied territory in Russia and this allowed them to increase their military forces in the territory they possessed, then the Northwest Army was formed on the basis of the Northern Corps, which already included two corps .
Landesveer War
Estonia helped Latvia create a military force after the overthrow of the government of Kārlis Ulmanis from Latvian military personnel evacuated to Estonia ( Northern Latvian Brigade ). 1919 . In the summer of 2008, two of the three Estonian divisions operated in Northern Latvia, clearing it of the Red Army’s Western Front from the Soviet Latvian Army ( Marienburg-Jakobstadt operation from May 27 to June 5).
In June 1919, this led to a clash with the Landeswehr , which, having liberated Western and Central Latvia from the Red Army, tried to subjugate Latvia to its power and establish the Baltic Duchy . In the Battle of Võnnu on June 23, the Estonian 3rd Division crushed the Landeswehr forces in Northern Latvia. This day is Victory Day in Estonia . During the following battles, the 3rd division reached Riga , and the military representatives of the Entente countries that won the First World War restored Latvia’s independence.
The autumn attack on Petrograd in 1919
The war against Soviet Russia took place in the summer and autumn of 1919 on the territory of Russia and Latvia. Partly it took place in cooperation with the Northwestern Army led by Nikolai Yudenich , the Estonian troops participated in the battles in Ingerimaa , along the coastal areas of Luga and Koporje bays and in the Krasnaya Gorka operation , protecting the left wing of the Northwestern Army during the offensive towards the Krasnaya Gorka fortress .
Krasnaya Gorka, the final objective of the offensive, could not be taken because the fort was strongly fortified and its defenses were reinforced with fresh and determined troops. But since the Northwestern Army could not capture Petrograd, there was no special need to capture the ford.
At the end of October, the complete failure of the Northwestern Army’s operation to capture Petrograd was revealed. In connection with this, the action of the Estonian troops stretching from one day to the next in the direction of Krasnaya Gorka also lost its meaning. The sudden retreat of the Northwestern Army from Petrograd and the overwhelming resistance of the enemy at Krasnaya Gorka forced the end of the operation and forced the Estonian command to end the offensive on Krasnaya Gorka.
Pskov Peace Conference
On September 16-18, 1919 , the Pskov Peace Conference of armistice negotiations was held in Pskov between the representatives of the Republic of Estonia and the Russian SFNV to end the Estonian War of Independence .
The peace talks were interrupted because the Estonian delegation made a demand to conclude a peace agreement jointly with the governments of Latvia, Lithuania and Finland, Soviet Russia had proposed to Finland, Latvia and Lithuania to enter into negotiations for peace, but since no answer had been received, the peace negotiations between Estonia and Soviet Russia were interrupted on the 18th. in September 1919.
Tartu peace negotiations and defensive battles under Narva
During the Second Northwest Army’s attack on Petrograd on November 16, 1919, the representative of the Soviet Union, Maksim Litvinov, under Irboska, came through the front to Estonia, and on November 19, an agreement was signed in Tartu on the issue of the exchange of hostages and an armistice was agreed upon, which was to begin on November 24, 1919. However, when the Northwestern Army’s attack on Petrograd failed, the peace process It was not continued by Soviet Russia.
The peace embassies of Estonia and Russia arrived in Tartu on December 4, 1919, J. Poska was appointed as the head of the Estonian peace embassy, L. Krassin represented Soviet Russia as the head of the peace embassy. As the demands of the negotiating parties were very different, the negotiations became difficult, even threatening to break off. At the same time, the forces of the Red Army of Soviet Russia resumed their offensive under Narva in order to force the Russian diplomatic mission to fulfill the demands made during the peace negotiations.
Defensive battles under Narva
By November 1919, the Estonian army had 100,000 swords and bayonets. In November, the Red Army invaded Estonia’s borders again, and in November and December, the fiercest defensive battles of the War of Independence took place on the Viru front . After the collapse of the offensive of the Northern Corps and the Northwestern Army, the White troops retreated from St. Petersburg towards the Narva River. During their retreat, the 1st division of the Estonian forces took control of the front section between Jamburg and the Gulf of Finland , leaving the White units to cover the area south of Jamburg. The defense of the Narva region was started before the Red Army chasing the Northwest Army reached the Narva River. The assignment of troops on the line of the Narva River, Vasknarva – Krivasoo, could have had two goals: to block the Red Army’s offensive and to prevent the uncontrolled retreat of the White Northwestern Army into Estonian territory.
In the final months of 1919, the Red Army assembled two armies on the Viru front: the 7th Army , whose area of responsibility was from the Gulf of Finland to the Narva–Jamburg railway , and the 15th Army , whose area of responsibility was from the railway to Lake Peipsi. The 7th Army included the 2nd and 6th Hunter Divisions, the 56th Hunter Division was also formed in the second half of November. The 15th Army included the 11th and 19th Hunter Divisions.
The Soviet command sent two armies (7th and 15th) with a total of 160,000 men against Estonia. Estonia fielded 85,000 men. The Soviet Russian military command was guided by two goals during the offensive on Narva: to finally crush the Northwestern Army and capture the city of Narva and the Narva river line, in order to influence the beginning peace negotiations between Estonia and Soviet Russia. The Narva defense operation lasted from November 16, 1919 to January 3, 1920, the purpose of the Narva defense operation was to preserve the Narva city and the Narva river line. During the defensive battles of Narva, the Estonian troops had to disarm the units of the North- West Army that had retreated to Estonia as an additional task when repelling the Red Army offensive, the task of arming was carried out by the Defense Alliance . In order to support the troops of the Viru Front during the Narva defense operation, considering the stable situation of the Southern Front , several military units were drawn to Rakverre by order of the Commander-in-Chief, and those stationed in Rakvere were directed closer to the front. In connection with the relocation of the 3rd division from the Southern Front to the Viru Front, on December 28, 1919, the 1st and 2nd Fronts were formed on the Viru Front, dividing their front sections. The 3rd division defended the Hõbessaare – Vasknarva – Lohusuu section and the 1st division defended the section from the beach to Hõbessaare. The head of the Viru front was the commander of the 1st division, General Aleksander Tõnisson .
The defensive battles of Narva in the Estonian War of Independence 1919–1920 were divided into three stages: the first battle lasted from the middle of November 1919 to the end of the month, the second battle lasted from the 7th to the 20th of November. until December, after a break, the Red Army’s last offensive lasted from 28 to 30 until December. The Red Army of Soviet Russia was unable to break through Estonia’s defenses and agreed to a truce. The armistice began on January 3, 1920 at 10:30 in the morning.
Concluding the peace of Tartu
On February 2, 1920, Estonia and Soviet Russia concluded the Tartu Peace . According to it, Russia « forever » renounced all claims to Estonia, unconditionally recognized the independence of the Republic of Estonia and undertook to pay Estonia’s share of Russia’s gold reserves. The border between Estonia and Soviet Russia was also determined.
War of Independence in literature and cinema
The War of Independence has found relatively wide coverage in both literature and cinema. Albert Kivika’s novel » Names on a marble board » published in 1936 and the feature film » Names on a marble board » premiered in 2002 based on it and directed by Elmo Nüganen can be considered the main works of fiction reflecting the War of Independence . In 1937, Kivikat was awarded the Riigivanema award for the novel, and the film version gathered nearly 168,000 viewers in cinemas, which was the record for cinema visits in Estonia until 2016 .
Among the works of fiction, the theme of the War of Independence has been discussed, for example, in Kalju Rahu’s adventure novel » For the Fatherland » published in 1935 , and in Richard Rohu’s novel « First Love » and August Gailit’s novel » Isade maa » published in the same year. Memoirs have also been published, the best known of which can be considered to be the work « Suur heitlus. Mælestui väöosade jasta og Vabadussojjast » (2010) based on the manuscripts of Lieutenant Colonel Arnold Hinnom , the assistant commander of the Armored Trains Division, and the work of Einar Lundborg, a Swedish volunteer and armored car Kalevipoeg Commander Einar Lundborg. » (1968).
In the field of cinema, the most important works related to the War of Independence are Theodor Lutsu’s 1927 film » Young Eagles » and the 13-part historical drama series » Windward Land « , which was produced as part of the national program » Republic of Estonia 90 » and was shown on Estonian Television in 2008 . Documentaries about the War of Independence have also been made. On January 13, 2018, the 16-part documentary series » The Story of the War of Independence « , authored by Elo Selirand and Indrek Treufeldt, premiered on Eesti Television.
Armament of the War of Independence
At the end of the War of Independence, the Estonian army had 2,000 machine guns, 300 cannons, 10 armored trains , 12 armored cars. Of these, the « weapon » with the greatest firepower was an armored train.
The most used weapon in the war was the rifle . In the beginning, rifles were not distributed to all the soldiers who needed them, they were obtained from everywhere, wherever possible. Equipping the Estonian national defense structures with small arms started during the War of Independence so-called on the fly: Russian, English, French, Danish, German and Japanese products were used. The most common were the 7.70 mm English rifle M1914 (Pattern 14 or P1914); 7.62 mm Russian rifle M1891 (Mosin); 6.5mm (7.70mm) Japanese rifle M1905 (Arisaka). Many rifles were rebored in order to keep the muzzle type as uniform as possible. Eg Arisaka was drilled to 7.7 mm. There were many different versions of the Mosin (modernized M1891, Hunting rifle, KL .300, etc.). By the end of the war, there were approximately 120,000 Mosin rifles in stock.
There were very few submachine guns and pistols in the armament of the Estonian army both during the War of Independence and after it. Officers even used personal pistols. In peacetime, the army had 3,500 machine guns and 500 submachine guns, which Estonia also produced itself. The submachine gun was not considered a military weapon and was used by police units. Together with the mobilization reserves, Estonia had 250 cannons, approximately 50 anti-tank and 25 anti-aircraft guns with the necessary ammunition. The calibers of cannons and other large-caliber weapons varied. For example, there were about five calibers of cannon after the war. The heavy armament was not uniform and this would probably have caused major logistical problems during the war. The reason was that weapons were obtained from wherever they could be found.
Source wikipedia