The secret protocols of the Soviet-German Pact, signed in 1939 by Foreign Ministers Molotov and Ribbentrop, established that Estonia and its two Baltic neighbors, Latvia and Lithuania, would remain in the area of influence of the USSR. At the same time, Tallinn signed a mutual assistance treaty with Moscow that included the installation of Soviet naval bases on Estonian territory.
In June 1940, after issuing an ultimatum and demanding the entry of his troops into Estonian territory, due to an alleged disappearance of soldiers, Stalin deposed the Tallinn government and replaced it with members of the local Communist Party (CP). After elections held in the middle of the occupation, the CP assumed power.
In a procedure similar to that applied in Latvia and Lithuania, the new government adopted the name of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic and voluntarily joined the USSR. More than 60,000 Estonians were deported.
At the beginning of the German offensive against the USSR in 1941, Nazi troops invaded Estonia and established a regime of terror. The USSR took back the Baltic states in 1944.
The Soviet regime introduced industrialization and forced collectivization of the countryside. Some 80,000 Estonians emigrated to the West, while Russian colonization was altering the traditional ethnic composition of the population.
Around 20,000 Estonians were deported between 1945 and 1946. The third wave of mass deportations took place in 1949, when an estimated 40,000 more Estonians were sent to Siberia, mostly producers resisting forced collectivization. imposed by the authorities.
The reforms initiated in 1985 by the President of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev, stimulated social and political activity in Estonia. In August 1987 a demonstration in Tallinn demanded the publication of the secret protocols of the Soviet-German Pact of 1939. Simultaneously, Latvians and Lithuanians also called for the disclosure of the protocols.
In January 1988, former Estonian political prisoners founded the Estonian Independence Party to fight for the country’s self-determination, the restoration of multi-party democracy and Estonian as the official language. Another group, the Estonian Heritage Society, set out to recover the nation’s historical monuments.
The first congress of the FPE Popular Front of Estonia (FPE), a coalition of nationalists and communists, held in October 1988, reaffirmed the claim of autonomy for Estonia and asked Moscow to acknowledge that in 1940 it had occupied the country by force. The following month the Estonian Parliament declared the sovereignty of the country and affirmed its right to veto laws imposed from Moscow without its consent.
In August 1989 some two million Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians formed a human chain of more than 560 kilometers, from Tallinn to Vilnius, to demand the independence of the Baltic states. In February 1990 a convention of Estonian representatives approved the Declaration of Independence, based on the Treaty of Tartu.
In the May 1990 elections, the FPE and other nationalist groups won a large majority in Parliament. The moderate nationalist leader Edgar Savisaar presided over the first government to emerge from elections since 1940. In August, Parliament proclaimed Estonian independence, but Moscow did not consider it valid. The USSR recognized the independence of the three Baltic republics in September 1991.
In January 1992, Savisaar and his government resigned, amid increasing criticism of the economic policy. Parliament appointed former Transport Minister Tiit Vahi as the new president. Estonia had to ration food and fuel consumption since Russia applied restrictions and raised the price of its products.
On June 20, 1992, a referendum ratified the Basic Law (based on that of 1938). In September the Riigikogu (Parliament) was elected. On October 5, Lennart Meri, from the National Party of the Homeland Coalition (PNCP), was elected President of Estonia. Two days later the new Constitution came into force.
In June 1993 a rigorous nationalist statute was approved, which particularly affected the Russian population (30% of the total), who were required to obtain a residence permit with the option of being rejected.
In the March 1995 elections, the coalition that had led Estonia since leaving the former USSR was defeated. The new prime minister, Tiit Vahi, sparked a controversy over the number of former communists in his government. In October his cabinet had to resign due to accusations of corruption against the interior minister. A new government was formed with members of the Reform Party (PR).
Mart Laar was appointed Prime Minister in March 1999. Once the problems with the Russian minority had been overcome, Estonia and Russia signed a bilateral trade and economic cooperation agreement in April 2001. Citing the treason of the PR in granting the opposition the mayoralty of Tallinn to the opposition, Laar resigned from his post in January 2002. During his tenure, Estonia, in addition to being the former Soviet republic with the strongest economy, began negotiations to join the European Union. In 2003, a plebiscite was held in which 66.9% of voters voted in favor of joining the European Union. European Union.
According to topschoolsintheusa, the Presidents of Estonia and Cyprus signed two cooperation agreements in January 2004, one on education and culture, and the other to combat organized crime. This was interpreted by international analysts as a new era in Estonian relations with the Mediterranean countries. Estonia entered NATO on 29 of March of 2004, and 1 of maypole of 2004 entered, along with nine other countries, as a full member of the European Union, extending to 25 the total number of members of the Union.
After a vote of no confidence received by the Minister of Justice, due to questions in the handling of the anti-corruption program, Prime Minister Parts resigned in March 2005. In April, Andrus Ansip of the center-right Estonian Reform Party was appointed Prime Minister.
The 9 of maypole of 2006, Europe Day, the Estonian Parliament ratified the European Constitutional Treaty by 73 votes to 1. Thus, the country became the fifteenth member state to ratify the European Constitution. A week later, Estonia voluntarily withdrew from its race to enter the euro zone in 2007, due to high levels of inflation. Estonia adopted the euro on January 1, 2011.
