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The Estonian Middle Ages

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The Estonians was a farming tribe without any king or the like when the first German merchants settled down along the Baltic coastline in the late 12th century. Soon the first foreign occupation took place when the Danes took over the North Estonia. But continuously rebellious behaviour from the Estonians made the Danes sell their part of the country to the German Livonian Order.

Gradually a German-speaking nobility developed in Estonia. The countryside was controlled by local nobilities and the cities by rich German merchants through gilds and councils.

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The country was divided into two language groups: the German-speaking group comprised the nobility, priests and citizens while peasants only spoke the Estonian language. If a peasant son became a priest he would have to change language from Estonian to German.

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From 1558 the medieval estate system was broken down and the country was divided between tree foreign countries. The Danes bought Saaremaa and kept it until 1645. Sweden took control of northern Estonia and Poland conquered the rest. From 1629 Sweden gained control of entire Estonia, except from� Saaremaa.

For the Estonian inhabitants it was a happy period due to the Swedes restraining of the landlords and the introduction of a school system for children from poor families.

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Russian Empire

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Estonia became part of the Russian Empire in 1710. The nobility of Estonia supported the Russian tsar due to the fact they would get improved conditions under the power of Peter the Great. The Russian tsar considered the German nobility in the Baltics to be the people who could help him reform the empire.

The battle against Sweden to conquer Estonia caused the death of 80% of the Tallinn population, who died mainly by starvation or from plague.

Estonia was now in the hands of Russia, but subject to local German control.

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National revival

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At the end of the 18th century German priests and teachers helped the ethnic Estonians create a grammar of the Estonian language and thereby developing a national revival. Estonian scholars started collecting folk literature among the peasants. In the same period the age-old serf system was abolished.

Around 1880 the Russian system changed the language of law and education from German and Estonian into Russian.

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At the end of World War I the Estonians declared their independence, but to fulfil this they had to force back the Russians and Germans. With help from the Finland and Great Britain they succeeded.

Land was taken from the German nobility and redistributed to poor Estonian peasants.

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Occupation

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Estonia prospered and had a GDP reaching or surpassing the Nordic level. But threats were lurking from both German and Soviet sides. A secret agreement between Soviet and Germany ended the freedom and in 1940 Estonia was incorporated into the Soviet Union. To prevent rebellious behaviour from Estonian intellectuals Stalinist forces carried out the first mass deportation in June 1941.

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From 1941-44 Nazi German occupied Estonia. Most Estonian Jews fled to Russia and the Germans killed those who stayed back.

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In 1944 Soviet once again took over Estonia and once again brutal deportations began. Approximately 70,000 Estonians fled to the west. Farmers were forced into collectivisation, which caused extreme poverty in the countryside of Estonia.

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Estonia today

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In the late 1980’s anger against the Soviet environmental disruptions and other conditions led to the first open protest against the Soviet rule. 2 million Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians made a human chain of 600 km. By joining hand the chain reached from Tallinn to Riga and further to Vilnius.

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On 20th of August 1991 the Estonian republic was reborn.

Today Estonia is a modern high tech nation and since 2004 member of NATO and the European Union.

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To read more about Estonian history, please visit www.estonica.org

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