Abstract
Estonia was part of the Holy Roman Empire until it became a Swedish possession in the 17th century. On Sweden’s defeat by Peter the Great, Estonia passed to the Russian Empire in 1721. The workers’ and soldiers’ Soviets, which came to prominence in 1917, were overthrown with the assistance of British naval forces in May 1919 and a democratic republic proclaimed. In March 1934 this regime was, in turn, overthrown by a fascist coup. The secret protocol of the Soviet-German agreement of 23 Aug. 1939 assigned Estonia to the Soviet sphere of interest. An ultimatum (16 June 1940) led to the formation of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic. At a referendum in March 1991, 77·8% of votes cast were in favour of independence. A fully independent status was conceded by the USSR State Council on 6 Sept. 1991. Estonia was admitted to the Council of Europe in 1993, and became a member of NATO in March 2004 and the European Union in May 2004.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Further Reading
Statistical Office of Estonia. Statistical Yearbook.
Ministry of the Economy. Estonian Economy. Annual
Lieven, A., The Baltic Revolution: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the Path to Independence. 2nd ed. Yale Univ. Press, 1994
Misiunas, R.-J. and Taagepera, R., The Baltic States: Years of Dependence 1940–1991. 2nd ed., Farnborough, 1993
Smith, I. A. and Grunts, M. V., The Baltic States. [Bibliography] ABC-Clio, Oxford and Santa Barbara (CA), 1993
Taagepera, R., Estonia: Return to Independence. Boulder (CO), 1993
National statistical office: Statistical Office of Estonia, Tallinn.
Website: http://www.stat.ee/
Editor information
Copyright information
© 2005 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Turner, B. (2005). Estonia. In: Turner, B. (eds) The Statesman’s Yearbook. The Statesman’s Yearbook. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230271340_166
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230271340_166
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-4039-1482-8
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-27134-0
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political & Intern. Studies CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)