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Introduction

In the aftermath of the First World Warfive new states were created out of whathad been Tsarist Russia on the shores ofthe Baltic Sea. In the north the Republicof Finland emerged as an independent stateafter just over a century as the Grand Duchyof Finland. South of the Gulf of Finlandthe northern parts of the Governorate ofLivonia and the Governorate of Estoniabecame the Republic of Estonia. Combin-ing former Swedish, Polish and Russian

The Baltic States from 1914 to 1923:The First World War

and the Wars of IndependenceBy LtCol Andrew Parrott*

lands the Republic of Latvia was createdfrom the southern parts of the Governorateof Livonia, the Governorate of Kurlandand the western parts of the Governorateof Vitebsk. Further south the Republic ofLithuania, formed from the Governoratesof Vilnius, Kaunas and Suwalki, recreateda separate Lithuanian state for the first timein over five hundred years. The Republicof Poland also came into being at this time,more than a century after its earlier finaldivision between Russia, Prussia and Aus-tria. Poland, though, is not consideredfurther here other than in the context of

relations with Lithuania. This article aimsto describe the events of the First WorldWar in the Baltic region and the Wars ofIndependence in each of the Baltic states.

The routes to independence for the fourBaltic states that will be considered herewere all similar to the extent that the samefactors were involved for each state. Wheretheir routes to independence differ is inthe relative importance of the various fac-tors. The first factor is the impact of Rus-sian political control. At the start of theperiod in question all of the Baltic stateswere part of Tsarist Russia and the �His-

* LtCol Parrott is the Head of Defence Administration and Management Department at the Baltic Defence College.

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torical Background� section below relateshow that came to be. The second factor isthe impact of the First World War andGerman influences in the Baltic area. The�First World War� section examines thepolitical and military impact of that war.A section entitled �The Treaties� looks atthe treaties that concluded the First WorldWar and notes how the Baltic states wereexcluded from consideration in these vari-ous treaties. The third factor is Baltic na-tionalism and identity and sections for eachof the Baltic states consider the strugglefor national independence. There is a gen-eral pattern of cultural nationalism centredon language, giving way to a more asser-tive political nationalism in each state, butthe details of the development of nationalidentity vary from state to state. Finallythe impact of other actors, notably thoseallied against Germany in the First WorldWar, must be considered and this is donein the section entitled �Intervention�.

That the Baltic states were able to asserttheir national identities and achieve state-hood is a product of the overall balanceof the factors described above. Fundamen-tally Russia was weak. The collapse of the

Tsarist regime and the rise of the Bolshe-viks provided a narrow window of op-portunity for those wishing to escape fromRussian domination. In the context ofEastern Europe at the time Russia was weakbut Germany was militarily strong. In awider context though Germany was po-litically, militarily and economically weakand the Allies were strong. At the end ofthe First World War the Allies had no wishto allow the Germans, defeated in the west,to profit from their success in the east.Again German weakness offered opportu-nities to the Baltic states. The growth ofnational identity in the Baltic states mightbe seen not so much as a strength but as asource of determination for exploiting theweaknesses and opportunities that arose.There is no doubt that the intervention ofthe Allies gave strength to the Baltic statesbut this was essentially a by-product of otherconcerns. The Allies concerns in respect ofGermany have already been mentioned butthe Allies had no wish either to see the Rus-sian Bolsheviks prosper. Generally it can besaid that, exhausted after the First WorldWar, the Allies had no wish to fight theBolsheviks. They did however support the

White Russians and others opposed to theBolsheviks and in this circuitous way gavestrength to the Baltic states.

Background

Throughout history the lands of theBaltic states have been much fought over.Until the twentieth century the Finns, Es-tonians and Latvians were never mastersin their own lands. Previously the Russians,Swedes, Danes, Poles and Germans hadcontinuously contested control of the area.The situation for the Lithuanians was some-what different. Lithuania had previouslybeen an independent state and then a partof the Polish-Lithuanian Union.

The power of Sweden waned during theGreat Northern War after 1700 and in 1721peace was made between Russia and Swe-den at the Treaty of Nystad. This treatyincorporated the former Swedish posses-sions on the Eastern coast of the Baltic Seainto the Russian Empire as the provincesof Estonia and Livonia. Estonia, with itscapital at Tallinn, consisted of what is nowthe northern half of Estonia and the is-land of Hiiumaa. Livonia, with its capital

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at Riga, consisted of what is now the south-ern half of Estonia and the island ofSaaremaa and southeastern Latvia.

The Polish-Lithuanian Union was di-vided between Russia, Prussia and Austriain three stages starting in 1772. At the firstdivision Latgale, now eastern Latvia, wasabsorbed into Russia, ultimately as part ofthe Vitebsk province. The second divisionin 1793 did not affect lands now part ofthe Baltic states but at the third and finaldivision in 1795 what is now southern andwestern Latvia and nearly all of modernLithuania became part of the Russian Em-pire. The parts that are now Latvia wereincorporated into the province of Kurlandwith its capital at Jelgava. The parts thatare now Lithuania were divided betweenthe provinces of Vilnius and Kaunas withtheir capitals in the cities of the same name.

Russia was defeated by Napoleon in1807 but then at the Treaty of Tilsit en-tered into an alliance with France. Russiarecognised French supremacy in westernand central Europe but was given a freehand in the Baltic area and it was the Treatyof Tilsit that caused the pre-emptive strikeby the British Navy on Copenhagen in

order to seize the Danish fleet. Tsar Alex-ander I also agreed to attempt to mediate apeace with Britain but when these attemptsfailed Russia, seeking to exclude the Brit-ish Navy from the Baltic Sea demanded ofSweden the closure of Swedish ports tothe British Navy. The Swedes refused tocomply with the Russian demands and thisled to the invasion by Russia of Finland,then part of Sweden, in February 1808.By November 1808 Russia had occupiedFinland and in return for certain assur-ances the Finns agreed to annexation byRussia at Porvoo in March 1809. At theTreaty of Hamina in September 1809 Swed-ish sovereignty over Finland was surren-dered, and the Grand Duchy of Finland,with the Russian Tsar as Grand Duke, wasestablished. In 1812 the Tsar restored toFinland certain Finnish territories that hadbeen ceded by Sweden to Russia at theTreaty of Nystad in 1721 and the Treatyof Turku in 1743.

On 24 June 1812 Napoleon invadedRussia capturing Vilnius before the endof June. Moscow was occupied on 14 Sep-tember but abandoned on 19 October atthe start of the long retreat. By early De-

cember what remained of the French Armywas back in Vilnius and here Napoleonleft his army to return to Paris. Mass gravesrecently discovered in Vilnius emphasisethe total defeat of the French Army onthis ill-fated Russian campaign.

At the Congress of Vienna in 1815, fol-lowing the Napoleonic Wars, certain partsof Prussia, which are now in modernLithuania, were awarded to Russia.1 Theseareas became part of the province ofSuwalki. At this point, with one exception,all the lands that now make up the Balticstates had become a part of the RussianEmpire. The one exception is the Klaipedaarea of Lithuania, which remained part ofPrussia, as the better-known Memel Terri-tory2 , and only became part of Lithuaniaat the very end of the period being dis-cussed in 1923.

The provisions of the Treaty of Nystadensured that, even though they were in-corporated into the Russian Empire, theprovinces of Estonia and Livonia retaineddistinctive systems of local administration,related to those of the previous Swedishadministration and different from thosein other parts of the Russian Empire.

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When Kurland became a part of the Rus-sian Empire this province, too, obtainedessentially the same status as Estonia andLivonia. The provinces of Vilnius andKaunas also initially retained distinct sys-tems of local government related to thoseof the former Polish-Lithuanian Union.The highest representative of Tsarist powerwas the Governor-General. The Governor-General of the Baltic area comprising Es-tonia, Livonia and Kurland resided in Riga.The Governor-General of Lithuania, includ-ing Vilnius and Kaunas, was based inVilnius. Suwalki was subordinate to theGovernor-General in Warsaw in the Rus-sian controlled Kingdom of Poland. Thearea that was subject to the mostRussification was the Latgale area of Latviathat was incorporated into Vitebsk prov-ince as a part of Russia with no distinctlocal status. As a Grand Duchy and notpart of Russia proper, Finland enjoyedconsiderable autonomy, including themaintenance of its own military units, al-though as Finnish nationalism developedthe Tsar sought to increasingly weaken Finn-ish autonomy and assert Russian control.

The First World War

As the First World War progressed theBaltic area was by degrees involved in theconflict between Russian and Germanforces. As the Russian position weakened,so the Germans came to occupy and domi-nate the entire Baltic area. In the first yearof the war the Germans occupied all ofLithuania and half of Latvia. For the nexttwo years the situation in the Baltic areawas almost static, but then in the last sixmonths of the war in the east the Ger-mans completed their occupation ofLatvia and Estonia before the signing ofthe Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. The fightingin the Baltic area was rarely if at all cen-tral to events on the Eastern Front. Thedescription that follows aims to put eventsin the Baltic area into the context of mili-tary operations on the Eastern Front andthe development of the political situationin Russia more generally. Understandingthe development of the situation on theEastern Front will hopefully aid an un-derstanding of the events in Lithuania,

Latvia, Estonia and Finland that are de-scribed later.

Germany declared war on Russia on 1August 1914 but then, in accordance withthe Schlieffen plan, declared war on Francetwo days later and commenced the inva-sion of that country via neutral Belgium.The German declaration of war on Russiawas the result of the Russian mobilisationdesigned to discourage the Austro-Hun-garian Empire from taking action againstSerbia. In Sarajevo on 28 Jun 1914, Ser-bian-backed Bosnian nationalists opposedto Habsburg rule had murdered the heirto the Austro-Hungarian throne, the Arch-duke Franz Ferdinand and his wife.

The idea of the German Schlieffen planwas to avoid fighting on two fronts byachieving a rapid victory against Francebefore turning against Russia, where it wasthought mobilisation would be slow andponderous. In fact Russian mobilisationallowed the Russians, responding to Frenchpleas for assistance, to invade East Prussiaon 12 August 1914. However initial Rus-sian success against both the Germans andthe Austro-Hungarians was not followed

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up. Against the Germans in East Prussia,Russian success at the Battle of Gumbinnenon 20 August 1914 was quickly followedby defeat at the Battle of Tannenberg, end-ing on 31 August 1914. The Germans fol-lowed up their victory at Tannenberg withvictory at the Battle of the Masurian Lakessome two weeks later. Against the Austro-Hungarians the Russians achieved some-what greater success in Galicia in Septem-ber 1914. After their victory in East Prussiathough, the Germans were able to come tothe assistance of their Austro-Hungarianallies, and in fighting around Warsaw andLodz in October and November 1914 theRussians were stopped. The Russians, whenit comes to tactical victories, successfullydefended both Warsaw and Lodz but stra-tegically victory belonged to the Germans.In December the Russians resumed theiroffensive against Krakow but were out-flanked by the Austro-Hungarians attack-ing from the Carpathian Mountains in thesouth, and forced to give up much of theground gained earlier in the autumn. TheRussians planned to renew the offensiveagainst the Germans in East Prussia withan attack scheduled for 20 February 1915,

but were pre-empted by the Germans whoattacked in the area of the Masurian Lakeson 7 February 1915. The Germans achievedconsiderable tactical success but two thingsdenied them strategic success. Firstly con-siderable Russian forces preparing for theiroffensive in East Prussia were able to act asreserves, and secondly simultaneous Austro-Hungarian attacks in the south, designedto relieve the garrison of Przemysl besiegedsince the Russian offensive of September1914, failed. Przemysl surrendered on 22March 1915.

By the end of the first seven months ofthe war on the Eastern Front, therefore,the Russians were very firmly on the de-fensive. Interestingly, poor Russian radiosecurity is known to have given the Cen-tral Powers advance notice of Russian plansand intentions on a number of occasions.The German High Command�s priorityfor 1915 became the provision of such as-sistance to the Austro-Hungarians as wasneeded to knock Russia out of the war,before Italy entered the war against theAustro-Hungarians, while containing thesituation in the west. To divert attentionfrom preparations for the forthcoming

offensive in Galicia the Germans launcheda successful diversionary operation withtwelve divisions towards Riga on 26 April1915. By the start of May 1915 in the Bal-tic area the German front line ran fromthe sea between Liepâja and Ventspils eastto the line of the River Venta. The linethen ran southeast along the line of theRiver Venta and the River Dubysa to theconfluence of the River Dubysa with theRiver Nemunas. South of here the Rus-sians retained a frontline on the west bankof the River Nemunas to the west ofKaunas, Alytus and Grodno. In these firstfew months of the war in the east the Bal-tic area was very much on the peripherywith the focus of events further to thesouth and west.

On the night of 1 May 1915 a jointGerman � Austro-Hungarian offensive waslaunched in Galicia between Tarnow andGorlice and fourteen days later the attackhad reached the line of the River San over130 kilometres (80 miles) from the startline. The Italians entered the war on 25May 1915 and, although some of theAustro-Hungarian forces had to be rede-ployed to meet the new threat, further gains

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were made against the Russians. On 4 June1915 the fortress of Przemysl was recap-tured from the Russians. On 17 June 1915the Russian High Command ordered ageneral retreat, which became known as the�Great Retreat�, and in the south the for-tress of Lviv (Lemberg), abandoned by theAustro-Hungarians in September 1914, wasretaken on 22 June 1915.

Further north the Germans resumedthe offensive on 13 July 1915 in the Bat-tle of the River Narev and the Russiansabandoned Warsaw on 4 August 1915. Theimportant Russian fortress of Novogeor-gievsk on the River Vistula 30 kilometres(20 miles) northwest of Warsaw was sur-rounded by the Germans in early August1915, and surrendered on 19 August 1915.Kaunas, heavily fortified and consideredthe key to Russian defences on the north-ern sector of the front, was first attackedon 8 August 1915. The Russians repelleda major infantry attack the next day butafter their own artillery, some thirteenhundred guns in all, inadvertently de-stroyed some of the outer defences thegarrison surrendered on 17 August 1915giving up huge stocks of ammunition and

all the guns. The Germans captured BrestLitovsk on 25 August 1915, and continu-ing their advance they took Grodno on2 September 1915 and Vilnius on 19 Sep-tember 1915. Now, however, the Germanoffensive ran out of steam, and Russiancounterattacks in the vicinity of¨ven²ioneliai midway between Vilnius andDaugavpils helped to restore the Russianposition. By 26 September 1915, whenthe German offensive halted, the Germanfront line in the Baltic area ran from Riga,where the Russians still retained positionson the west bank of the River Daugava,along the line of the River Daugava toDaugavpils and then roughly due southto Pinsk.

Whereas in the spring of 1915 the Ger-mans had occupied only a small corner ofsouthwest Latvia and parts of westernLithuania, by the end of September theyhad taken control of all of Lithuania andabout half of Latvia. Vilnius, the focus ofLithuanian nationalism, was in Germanhands and Riga, a similar focus for theLatvians, was in the front line with theRussian forward positions in the westernsuburbs of the city. The front lines in the

Baltic area were now to remain almost staticuntil January 1917.

On 22 October 1915, the Russiansmounted an amphibious attack involvingover 500 troops behind German lines westof the Bay of Riga at Pitrags. The raid wasa success causing German withdrawal in thearea but the landing force was withdrawnlater the same day in the absence of rein-forcements to support the landing. The raidcaused the Germans to devote additionaltroops to coastal defence and perhaps in-fluenced their thinking for OperationAlbion in October 1917.

While the scale of the Russian defeat in1915 was huge with over one million casu-alties, the Russian command performedwell in keeping their armies from disinte-grating, and through the winter of 1915and spring of 1916 the Russian forces stageda remarkable recovery. A Russian attack tocoincide with British and French summeroffensives in the west was being planned,when the Germans struck at Verdun on 21February 1916. Coming to the aid of theFrench an ill conceived, hastily prepared,and poorly executed attack was launchedby the Russians in the area of Lake Naroch,

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some 100 kilometres (60 miles) north eastof Vilnius, on 18 March 1916. Attackingon a narrow front, and after an ineffectiveartillery preparation the Russians suffered15,000 casualties in the first few hours.Further assaults in the Lake Naroch areawere made on 19 and 21 March 1916, inthe mud of the spring thaw, and support-ing attacks in the area of Riga were aban-doned after 10,000 casualties on the firstday.

These attacks achieved very little successand certainly did not divert German forcesfrom the west. The Russians suffered 100,000casualties, and within a month the Ger-mans had recaptured the little ground theyhad given up. Despite its unfamiliarity inthe west, it has been suggested that this wasone of the decisive battles of the FirstWorld War. Their failure in an area wherethey had built up a considerable superior-ity over the Germans convinced many inthe Russian high command of their in-ability to defeat the Germans.

Once again the Russians began planninga summer offensive but once again feltobliged to bring their plans forward tocome to the aid of western allies, this time

the Italians. On 15 May 1916 the Austro-Hungarians launched their Trentino offen-sive. On 4 June 1916 the commander ofthe Russian South Western Front, Brusilov,launched the offensive that now normallybears his name. Attacking, after a short butintense artillery bombardment of selectedpoints, with all four of his armies simulta-neously on a 480 kilometres (300 miles)long front Brusilov made considerablegains during June. The Austro-Hungarianswere driven back some 100 kilometres (60miles) all along the front, a number of stra-tegically important towns were capturedand the Russians took some 350,000 pris-oners and 400 artillery pieces.

The Russians were as surprised by theirsuccess as the Central Powers were dis-mayed. Russian plans to renew the offen-sive in the Lake Naroch area towards Vilniuswere dropped, and instead reinforcementswere directed towards Brusilov, but theRussians were hampered in their effortsby the inadequacy of the railway and roadsystems. To stabilise the situation theAustro-Hungarians had no option but tohalt their offensive against the Italians andreturn troops to the Eastern Front. The

Germans too brought reinforcements fromthe west but the Central Powers benefitedfrom a better railway network than wasavailable to the Russians, and by mid-Julythe balance of forces had shifted in favourof the Central Powers. Urged on by thehigh command Brusilov persisted with hisoffensive until the end of August 1916, bywhich time further Russian progress hadbecome impossible.

The Brusilov offensive achieved a con-siderable measure of success, but it wasbought at a very high price, a price thatthe Russians could not afford. By the timethe offensive was over the Russians hadsuffered over one million casualties to addto the five million they had already suf-fered during the war. These losses seriouslydamaged the morale of the Russian Army,and in the absence of a strategic break-through it can be argued, that while theBrusilov offensive did not cause the Rus-sian Revolution it did much to make itpossible.

On 7 January 1917 the Russian TwelfthArmy launched an offensive, known as theBattle of the River Aa, west from the vicin-ity of Riga. In a surprise attack, without a

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preliminary bombardment, the Russiansachieved some success and by 9 January1917 both Jelgava and Tukums had beenrecaptured. German counterattacks from22 January 1917 lasted until the end of themonth, but the Russians retained theground they had gained. Although thislimited attack improved the Russian posi-tion in the vicinity of Riga it had andachieved no strategic objective.

In Russia a strike call on 22 January 1917led to the events of the February Revolu-tion. Troops refused orders to fire on dem-onstrators on 11 March 1917, and by 13March 1917 most of the Petrograd garri-son had joined forces with the rebel work-ers. The Imperial Government resigned enmasse on 12 March 1917, and Tsar NicholasII of Russia abdicated on 15 March 1917.The Russian monarchy ended the next daywhen his brother, Grand Duke Michael,declined the crown. A Provisional Gov-ernment headed nominally by Prince Lvov,including Kerensky as Justice Minister, wasformed, partly in response to the perceivedchallenge from the newly formed PetrogradSoviet. The government of Russia re-

mained unstable, and never in full controlof the country, while still attempting tocontinue the war against the Central Pow-ers, until the Bolshevik October Revolu-tion.

Following the February Revolution theCentral Powers ceased offensive action onthe Eastern Front and took advantage ofthe turmoil in Russia to transfer troops tothe west. Kerensky, though, sought to keepfaith with Russia�s western allies and hav-ing taken over the War Ministry on 16May 1917, attempted to renew the offen-sive against the Central Powers. On 1 July1917 Brusilov�s South Western Front at-tacked, with two of its four armies, theAustro-Hungarian forces east of Lviv(Lemberg). Again considerable initial suc-cess was achieved and gains of 50 kilome-tres (30 miles) were made on a 160 kilome-tres (100 miles) front, but Russian resolveweakened as their supply lines broke downand enemy resistance stiffened. On 19 July1917 the Germans launched a powerfulcounterattack that broke the Russians, andbrought about their withdrawal in panicand disorder. By the start of September

the Central Powers had gained over 160kilometres (100 miles) in the south, theiradvance halted more by supply difficultiesthan by Russian resistance. At the heightof this offensive Kerensky formally re-placed Prince Lvov as head of the Provi-sional Government in a move that under-lined the instability of the Russian Gov-ernment and its weakening position.

During the �July Days� in 1917 a Ma-chine Gun Regiment based in Petrogradstarted an uprising on 16 July 1917 in pro-test at the failure of the Kerensky Offen-sive. The uprising attracted support fromthe Anti-War Bolsheviks, spread to sailorsat the Kronstadt naval base, and to civil-ians in major cities and towns all overRussia. Although the Provisional Govern-ment was able to restore order within afew days, the incident improved the stand-ing of the Bolsheviks with an increasinglypacifist population, and undermined thecredibility of the Provisional Governmentand the moderate socialists in control ofthe Petrograd Soviet. Lenin fled to Fin-land where he remained until the OctoberRevolution.

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The Battle of Riga was the final full-scalebattle between Russian and German forceson the Eastern Front. The German attackwas launched on 1 September 1917 to clearthe Russian salient west of Riga, and bysuggesting a German drive towardsPetrograd encouraged the collapse of thefaltering Russian war effort. German forcesquickly established a bridgehead over theRiver Daugava south of Riga on the firstday of the operation, and quickly followedup the Russian retreat from the city on 2September 1917. The Russian forces,though, were not pursued more thanabout 30 kilometres (20 miles) beyond thecity.

On 11 October 1917 the Germans, fol-lowing up the success of their Riga opera-tion, launched Operation Albion. In anamphibious assault involving some 20,000troops the Estonian islands of Saaremaa,Hiiumaa and Muhu were attacked. The13,000 Russian defenders put up little seri-ous resistance, and by 20 Oct 1917 all threeislands were in German hands. A simulta-neous naval operation, led by ten battle-ships of the German High Seas Fleet, aimed

to force the Irben Straits and trap theRussian fleet in the Bay of Riga. Althoughthe German fleet successfully forced its wayinto the Bay of Riga, the Russian fleet wasable to escape through the Muhu Strait tothe north and the Gulf of Finland, beforethe Germans completed their occupationof the islands to dominate the Muhu Strait.

Starting on 5 November 19173 and overthe next three days, the Bolsheviks led byLenin and Trotsky in what became knownas the October Revolution, seized powerin Petrograd from the Provisional Gov-ernment of Kerensky. On 29 October 1917the Petrograd Soviet had created a Mili-tary Revolutionary Committee, effectivelyheaded by Trotsky. This rapidly gained theallegiance of the Petrograd garrison, work-ers militias, and naval personnel. Loyaltroops, summoned by Kerensky to arrestleading Bolsheviks, were unable to dislodgethe revolutionary forces that had occupiedkey strategic points. On 8 November 1917members of the Provisional Governmentwere arrested in the Tsar�s Winter Palace.The Bolsheviks, seeking peace, eventuallyagreed terms with the Central Powers at

the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on 3 March1918, but it was to be another three yearsbefore the end of the Russian Civil Warand the consolidation of communist powerin Russia.

Operation Faustschlag was launched on18 February 1918 in response to the halt-ing of the Brest-Litovsk peace talks, by theRussian Bolsheviks. Against minimal Rus-sian opposition the Germans quickly occu-pied considerable areas of territory, andadvanced 240 kilometres (150 miles) on somefronts. Tallinn was occupied on 25 Febru-ary 1918, and by 3 March 1918 when theTreaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed the Ger-mans had taken control of all parts of Latviaand Estonia that they had not already occu-pied. The passage of the First World War inthe east saw Russian political authority re-placed by German military authority. TheBaltic economies, damaged though theywere, still remained largely in German handsbut, still fighting in the west, the Germansfaced a rising tide of Baltic nationalism. Inall of the Baltic states a growing sense ofnational identity underpinned movementsseeking independence.

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The Treaties

The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signedon 3 March 1918 between the Central Pow-ers and the Russian Bolshevik Government.After the October Revolution in 1917 thenew Bolshevik Government in Russia hadno wish to continue the war and the Cen-tral Powers were keen to transfer troops tothe west. Armistice negotiations began on3 December 1917 and a ceasefire was an-nounced on 16 December 1917. The peacetalks began in Brest-Litovsk on 22 Decem-ber 1917. The Russian Bolshevik ForeignMinister, Trotsky, took charge of the Rus-sian delegation on 9 January 1918 and,hoping for an early socialist revolution inEurope to strengthen his negotiating po-sition, employed delaying tactics. Follow-ing a separate treaty, the �Brotfrieden�agreement signed between the Central Pow-ers and Ukraine on 9 February 1918, theRussians halted talks the following day. TheGermans responded with a rapid resump-tion of hostilities in Operation Faustschlagon 18 February 1918. The Bolsheviks ac-

cepted the original German terms on 19February 1918 and new German terms on24 February 1918 the day after they werepresented. The Treaty extended Germaninfluence over Finland, Estonia, Latvia,Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine. The Rus-sians also had to accept Turkish controlover the Caucasus Provinces and under-took not to interfere in the internal affairsof the lost territories. The Treaty was de-nounced by the Allies, ignored at everyopportunity by the Bolsheviks, and for-mally annulled as part of the 11 Novem-ber 1918 Armistice agreement. Eager tomaintain political and economic controlin Eastern Europe, the Brest-Litovsk Treatydid not give the Germans the opportu-nity to withdraw as many troops from theeast as they had hoped. In the �Brotfrieden�agreement, with the newly independent butGerman-supported Ukrainian government,the Germans were eager to secure suppliesof Ukrainian grain and agreed readily tothe inclusion of certain Polish areas underUkrainian administration.

In late September 1918 the Central Pow-ers approached President Wilson of the

USA seeking peace talks and made a formalrequest for a cease-fire on 4 October 1918.Cease-fires with Turkey and the Austro-Hungarian Empire came into effect on 30October 1918 and 3 November 1918 re-spectively. The final cease-fire with Ger-many came into effect on 11 November1918. Wilson insisted that his �FourteenPoints� serve as the basis for Armisticediscussions, although Point Ten was modi-fied to provide full independence for thesubject peoples of the Austro-HungarianEmpire, and Point One was interpreted toallow secret negotiations at the Paris PeaceConference. The �Fourteen Points� hadoriginally been presented to Congress inthe USA on 8 January 1918, as an outlinestatement of American war aims. The pointswere accepted by the Allies with certainaccepted reservations on 4 November 1918,and finally agreed to by the Germans on10 November 1918, although they stillcontained many ambiguities.4

The Paris Peace Conference opened on12 January 1919 to formulate a peace set-tlement following the armistice. Althoughthirty-two allied countries took part, the

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interests of the USA, United Kingdom,France, Italy and Japan dominated the pro-ceedings. No representatives of the Cen-tral Powers were invited, and the RussianBolshevik Government refused to attend.In March 1919 a Council of Four was es-tablished to enable the USA, British,French, and Italian leaders to deliberate inprivate. These deliberations saw confron-tation between the liberal American Presi-dent Wilson and the nationalist FrenchPrime Minister Clemenceau with media-tion attempted by the British Prime Min-ister Lloyd George, the Italian Prime Min-ister Orlando involving himself only inmatters of direct Italian interest. Althoughfive treaties, the Treaties of Versailles, StGermain, Trianon, Neuilly, and Sèvres,emerged from the Paris Peace Conference,the conference closed in an atmosphere offailure and the US Congress refused toratify the Versailles Treaty in November1919.

The Treaty of Versailles was signed be-tween Germany and the Allies on 28 June1919. In the west, Germany lost territoryto France and Belgium, and the Saarland

and Rhineland were placed under allied con-trol. In the north territory was ceded toDenmark, and in the east former Germanterritory was given up to Poland, Lithua-nia, and Czechoslovakia. The treaty becamea focus for discontent in Germany thatwas fully exploited by the national social-ists.

The Treaty of Neuilly was signed on 27Nov 1919 between the Allied Powers andBulgaria. Bulgaria lost territory to all ofRomania, Yugoslavia, and Greece, as theprice for siding with the Central Powersin the First World War.

The Treaty of Trianon was signed on 4June 1920 between the Allied Powers andHungary. This treaty confirmed the breakup of the Hungarian parts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and caused long-termresentment, which dominated the foreignpolicy of the new Hungarian republic.

The Treaty of Sèvres between Turkeyand the Allies was signed on 10 August1920. It placed the Bosporus and Darda-nelles under international control, placedSmyrna under Greek control, and con-firmed the independence of former Otto-

man possessions in the Middle East. Thetreaty was rejected by republican Turks andsubstantially revised at the Treaty ofLausanne in 1923.

The Treaty of St Germain was signedbetween the Allies and the new AustrianRepublic on 10 September 1920. The treatyconfirmed the break up of the Austrianparts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire andbanned political union with Germany.

The various treaties dealt only with theCentral Powers and their allies. Russia wasan ally of the Western Allies, and the breakaway from Russia of the four Baltic statesand Poland was essentially a matter forRussia, despite the opposition of the West-ern Allies to the Bolshevik regime, whichcame to power following the collapse ofthe Tsarist Russian Empire. All of the Bal-tic states achieved independence as a resultof the turmoil of the First World War. Itmight be said, though, that the treaties thatconcluded the First World War not onlyignored the Baltic states, but also gave riseto the stresses and strains that led to theSecond World War. These treaties, there-fore, set the scene for the loss of independ-

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ence suffered by three of the Baltic statesat the time of the Second World War.

Finland

The territory of the Grand Duchy ofFinland was not directly involved in fight-ing during the First World War, and theimpact of the war was mainly an economicone. Of course Finland had no option butto follow Russia into the war and whilesome areas of the economy suffered badlyothers prospered. The forestry industrywith export markets in the United King-dom and Western Europe was badly hitbut the metalworking, chemical, and tex-tile industries all prospered in satisfyingthe demands of the Russian war effort.Thousands of Finns too were in the Rus-sian armies, involved in the defence ofFinland as well as more distant operations.

The February 1917 revolution in Rus-sia caused the collapse of the Russian wareffort, leading to economic hardship formany in Finland, and fuelled the processof progress towards independence. TheRussian Provisional Government believed

they assumed the Tsar�s rights in respect ofFinland, but a majority in Finland believedthat with the abdication of the Tsar theRussian Provisional Government couldmake no claim to being the supreme au-thority in Finland.

On 20 March 1917 the Russian Provi-sional Government proclaimed the resto-ration of Finland�s constitutional rights,rights that over a long period of years hadbeen increasingly ignored by an ever moreauthoritarian Tsarist regime. The more lib-eral Mikhail Stakhovich replaced Von Seyn,the much-disliked Russian Governor Gen-eral, and many political exiles were allowedto return. Elections for the Finnish parlia-ment, the Eduskunta, had taken place in1916, but parliament was not allowed tomeet until March 1917, when a new SocialDemocrat government was formed andtook office on 27 March 1917.

The new government was immediatelyconfronted with both internal law and or-der problems and external problems regard-ing its relationship with the Russian Pro-visional Government. With regard to theinternal problems in a number of towns

worker�s militias had formed and thesesometimes found themselves confronted bycivil guards recruited from among thebourgeoisie and often supported fromGermany. In 1914 some in Finland hadlooked to Germany for support in thestruggle for independence and significantnumbers of Finns had received militarytraining in Germany during the course ofthe war.

On 18 July 1917 the Eduskunta approvedan act making Finland independent in allrespects except foreign affairs and defence.The Finnish cabinet was evenly divided onthe issue but controversially Stakhovich onthe instructions of Kerensky, head of theRussian Provisional Government, votedagainst the measure, dissolved theEduskunta, and called new elections forOctober. The Social Democrats lost theiroverall majority in the October electionsbut did not accept the validity of the elec-tions, regarding the Russian ProvisionalGovernment as having no right to dissolvethe parliament. In the turmoil, exacerbatedby the events of the October Revolution inRussia, a Central Revolutionary Council was

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formed on 8 November 1917 and called ageneral strike for 14 November 1917.

The strike and the violence that accom-panied this strike alienated many SocialDemocrats. In the absence of any clear leadfrom Russia, the Eduskunta voted in agovernment headed by the champion ofFinnish rights P. Svinhufvud, who pre-sented to the Eduskunta a declaration ofFinnish independence on 6 December1917. Svinhufvud met Lenin in Petrogradon 31 December, and was told that Russiawould recognise Finnish independence andthe right wing government in Helsinki.

Finland slid towards civil war in Janu-ary 1919. On 18 January, GeneralMannerheim, charged by the governmentwith establishing a military headquarters,left Helsinki for Vaasa to establish such aheadquarters, since both Helsinki andTampere were largely under the control ofthe Red Guards, as the worker�s militiashad become. On 19 January the Govern-ment asked Germany to return to Finlandthe Finnish Jaeger battalion that had beenfighting for Germany. Five days later theydemanded the removal of the 40,000 Rus-

sian troops on Finnish territory, and re-quested help from those countries that hadrecognised Finland. The next day the Gov-ernment formally constituted the CivilGuards as the state force responsible forlaw and order. The civil war started on thenight of 27 January when Red Guards for-mally took control of Helsinki and estab-lished a revolutionary government. By thebeginning of February a front line rannorth of Pori, Tampere, Lahti andLappeenranta with the Red Guards in con-trol of all the major urban centres. The�Whites�, however, were better organisedand equipped and more united.The Whitesreceived significant reinforcement when theFinnish Jaeger battalion arrived back inFinland on 25 February 1918. The Ger-mans also provided very significant assist-ance to the Whites. In March German na-val units landed on and occupied theAaland Islands. On 3 April a German expe-ditionary force commanded by GeneralCount von der Goltz landed at Hanko onthe southwest coast, and started to advanceon Helsinki. A few days later another Ger-man force landed at Loviisa, and advanced

north towards Lahti to cut the railway linebetween Helsinki and Petrograd. At aroundthe same time White forces advancing fromthe north captured Tampere. Helsinki fellto the German forces of General von derGoltz on 13 April 1918 and two weeks laterprominent members of the Red Guardsand leaders of the Revolutionary Govern-ment fled to Russia. On 16 MayMannerheim led a victory parade throughHelsinki.

On 18 May the Eduskunta met and ap-pointed Svinhufvud as Regent with thesame powers as those previously vested inthe Tsar. Still expecting a German victory,Svinhufvud sought to create a monarchyfor Finland from within Germany. Theseplans came to nought with the collapse ofGermany and the withdrawal of Germantroops from Finland, and Svinhufvud re-signed being replaced by Mannerheim asRegent in late 1918. Mannerheim had re-signed in May in protest at the degree ofinfluence being allowed to the Germans,and on being appointed Regent had to berecalled from London where he had beenengaged on an unofficial mission to im-

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prove relations between Finland and theWestern Allies.

New elections to the Eduskunta wereheld in March 1919 and the Eduskuntaelected Professor K. Stahlberg as first presi-dent of the Republic of Finland on 25 July1919. In July 1920 Finland started peacenegotiations with the Bolsheviks, once itwas clear that the White Russians, who wereopposed to Finnish independence, hadbeen defeated. Agreement was reached atthe Treaty of Tartu signed on 14 October1920, and by the terms of this treaty thePetsamo district, giving Finland access tothe Arctic Ocean, was ceded to Finland.Tsar Alexander II had promised this areato Finland in 1864, in exchange for twodistricts in the Karelian Isthmus that Fin-land had ceded to Russia. The Tsar hadnot kept his word though and it was leftto the Bolsheviks to honour the promisemade by the Tsar over half a century later.

Estonia

While Estonian territory was not in-volved in the fighting of the First World

War until 1918, Estonia was obviously af-fected by the conflict from an early stage.While it was feared that German victorywould involve a process of �Germanifi-cation�, there was no enthusiasm for fight-ing for the Tsar, if �Russification� was tobe the result of Russian victory. The Esto-nian economy was disrupted, Estonia be-came a base area for operations in Latviaand many refugees from Latvia arrived inEstonia. About 100,000 Estonians wereconscripted into the Tsarist Army andabout 10,000 were killed. The Russiansmoved quickly to limit the influence ofthe Baltic Germans but as before, it wasRussians that replaced Germans in the ad-ministration not Estonians. German ideasfor a joint Estonian-German provincialcouncil involving concessions to the Esto-nians were not widely supported. TheNorthern Baltic Committee based in Tartu,but with branches all over Estonia, wasformed as a voluntary organisation. Itsought to help refugees, support the Rus-sian Army and help meet the economicneeds of Estonia but it was also active inspreading Estonian nationalist ideas.

In February 1917 revolution in Russiaresulted in the abdication of Tsar NicholasII and the formation of the ProvisionalGovernment. The unrest in Russia wasmirrored by unrest in Estonia particularlyamongst the Russian population. The Pro-visional Government appointed Jaan Poska,an Estonian lawyer and Mayor of Tallinn,as their Governor General in Tallinn. De-mands for Estonian autonomy withinRussia reached a climax with a demonstra-tion by 40,000 Estonians, 12,000 of themarmed soldiers, in Petrograd on 26 March1917. At the end of March the ProvisionalGovernment granted autonomy within anew Estonian province, including Estonianspeaking northern Livonia but excludingboth the Narva and Setu areas. Electionsto a new provincial council were held inMay 1917, and the council assembled forthe first time in July when a governmentwas elected. Tensions between Tallinn andPetrograd grew. The replacement of Rus-sians and the Russian language by Estoni-ans and the Estonian language in the newadministration was much resented by theprevious office-holders. The attempts of the

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new administration to limit the influenceof the Bolshevik Soviets that had formedin Estonia were opposed by many work-ers. Finally the formation of all Estonianmilitary units, amidst the turmoil of thecollapse of the Tsarist Russian Army, al-though supported by the Provisional Gov-ernment, was opposed within the Armyitself. Essentially the Provisional Govern-ment in Petrograd was powerless to con-trol events, and the main opposition tothe new Estonian provincial governmentcame from the Estonian Bolsheviks.

In Tallinn the Bolsheviks seized poweron 27 October 1917 as soon as they hadnews of the success of the revolution inPetrograd. Viktor Kingisepp, the Vice-Chairman of the Bolshevik Estonian Revo-lutionary War Committee, replaced JaanPoska. The ousted Provincial Governmentcontinued to meet illegally and at the endof 1917 decided to seek independence forEstonia and recognition from westerncountries. Bolshevik elections, planned forJanuary 1918, were cancelled when it be-came clear that the Bolsheviks would notachieve an absolute majority, and Bolshe-

vik rule became increasingly dictatorial. TheEstonian national army units posed a prob-lem for the Bolsheviks. They were com-bined into an Estonian Division, com-manded by Johan Laidoner, after the Oc-tober Revolution, but it was not until Janu-ary 1918 that their replacement by Esto-nian Red Guards began.

After the Bolshevik revolution the Bal-tic Germans sought assistance from Ger-many. The Bolsheviks, in response, beganto deport the Baltic Germans. This pro-gramme of deportations lent weight to theGerman decision to resume their offen-sive against Russia following the breakdownof the negotiations at Brest-Litovsk. As hasalready been related the Germans occupiedEstonia during Operation Faustschlagfrom 18 February 1918 to 4 March 1918.The Germans occupied Tallinn on 25 Feb1918 but on the previous day the Provi-sional Government had declared Estoniaindependent. In the days before with thehelp of national armed units the Provi-sional Government had taken power fromthe Bolsheviks. The United Kingdom,France and Italy gave de facto recognition

to Estonia in May 1918. In accordance withthe terms of the Treaty of Brest-Litovskwhile the Bolsheviks ceded sovereignty ofthe Estonian islands they retained jurisdic-tion in Livonia and Estonia although Ger-man troops were to be stationed here forsecurity.

The Germans had no wish to encour-age independence in the form desired bythe Estonians. Konstantin Päts, who hadbeen declared Prime Minister, was impris-oned, Germans were reinstated in all posi-tions of high office, political parties werebanned, and strict censorship was insti-tuted. On 5 November 1918 the BalticDukedom was proclaimed in Riga. For-mally independent the Baltic Dukedomincluded both Estonia and Latvia, and wasintended to perpetuate German economicdomination of the area in a close politicalrelationship with Germany.

On 11 November 1918 the Armisticebrought the First World War to an end inthe west, at the same time as economic col-lapse and social turmoil swept Germany.The Provisional Government of Estoniaresumed its activities on the same day. On

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13 November 1918 Soviet Russia annulledthe Treaty of Brest Litovsk and preparedfor offensive action in the Baltic region.On 22 November 1918 Soviet forces at-tacked Narva but met stiff German resist-ance and withdrew. However on 25 No-vember 1918 the Germans withdrew fromPskov, and the Soviet forces followed intheir wake quickly capturing Võru, Valgaand Tartu, and most of southern Estonia.28 November 1918 is formally regarded asthe start of the Estonian War of Independ-ence when Soviet forces resumed their at-tack on Narva, this time against Estonianopposition. The Bolshevik Estonian Work-er�s Commune was declared in Narva on29 November 1918. By the end of Decem-ber Tapa had fallen to the Soviets, whoseforces were only twenty miles east of Tallinn.To the southeast and south Paide, Viljandi,and Pärnu were all threatened with cap-ture.

On 6 January 1919 the Estonians coun-terattacked, reinforced by a British navalpresence and Finnish volunteers. In thenorth on 12 January 1919 Rakvere was re-captured, and on 19 January 1919 Narva

fell to forces that had been landed on thecoast. In the southeast Tartu was recapturedon 14 January 1919, Valga and Võru wereboth retaken on 1 February 1919, andthree days later Petseri was secured, leavingEstonia free of Soviet forces. Throughoutthis period the Estonian Bolsheviks con-tinued to make trouble. An attempteduprising in Tallinn in December 1918 wassuccessfully countered, and a rebellion onthe island of Saaremaa in February 1919was put down. From February to May 1919the situation on the Narva front remainedstatic although Soviet artillery fire de-stroyed much of Narva. To the southeastthe Soviets launched a major counterattackand recaptured Petseri on 11 March 1919.The Estonians, however, fought successfuldefensive battles south and east of Võru inthe second half of March, and Petseri fellagain to the Estonians on 29 March 1919.By mid-May the Estonians had completelyregained the initiative.

In May 1919 the Estonian army com-mand decided to advance into Russia tosecure the frontiers of Estonia. This moverequired an uneasy alliance with the local

White Russian forces, the North-WesternArmy. While the White Russians were op-posed to the Soviets, they were also op-posed to Estonian independence. Initiallythe offensive fared well. Pskov in the southwas captured, as were Jamburg, Gdov, andLuga to the north. The White Russianforces, supported by small British detach-ments, advanced to within a few miles ofPetrograd.

To the south in Latvia, Estonian forcessecured Aluksne on 28 May 1919, andJekabpils on the River Daugava in earlyJune. Cesis on the road to Riga was takenon 31 May 1919, but retaken by the BalticGerman Landeswehr on 6 June 1919. InApril 1919 the Latvian Provisional Gov-ernment had been ousted in a coup d�étatby a pro-German Government, backed bythe Landeswehr that preferred to turnnorth against the Estonians rather than eastagainst the Soviet forces. In a fierce battlelasting four days the Estonians defeated theLandeswehr, and the date on which Cesiswas recaptured, 23 June 1919, has since beencelebrated in Estonia as Victory Day. Onceagain in October 1919 the Latvians sought

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Estonian help for the defence of Riga.In late August the Estonians were of-

fered peace talks by the Soviets and thesetook place in September in Pskov, whichhad been retaken by the Soviets at the endof August. No agreement was reached,partly as a result of Allied pressure to con-tinue fighting the Soviets, but the talksdid demonstrate that the Russians no longerregarded the conflict as a civil war, but asone between two sovereign states. In Octo-ber the White Russian North WesternArmy launched an attack on Petrograd. Thisfailed and the North Western Army col-lapsed. By mid-November Soviet forceswere once again threatening Narva. TheEstonians disarmed the North WesternArmy as it retreated into Estonia, but manyof its members joined the Estonian forcesdefending Narva.

At the start of December peace talks re-commenced in Tartu. To strengthen theirnegotiating position, the Soviets mountedheavy attacks on Narva. In the middle ofthe month the Soviet forces managed tocreate a bridgehead over the Narva Riverto the southwest of Narva at Krivasoo and

Vääska, and threatened to surround Narva.In very heavy fighting the Estonians man-aged to restore the situation. With thedefeat of the attack on Petrograd the Allieshad lost hope of defeating the Soviets andno longer opposed peace talks. On 31 De-cember 1919 an armistice was agreed whichcame into effect on 3 January 1920. Dur-ing January 1920 talks agreed the borderbetween Russia and Estonia, and the Treatyof Tartu was signed on 2 February 1920.

Latvia

The First World War had a very severeimpact on Latvia, as the front line betweenGerman and Russian forces bisected Latviafor most of the duration of the war. ByMay 1915 the Germans had captured thesouthwestern corner of Latvia, includingthe port of Liepaja. By September 1915the Germans had advanced to the line ofthe River Daugava, occupying all of Latviasouth and west of the river, except for aRussian held salient on the west bank ofthe river at Riga. In January 1917 a Rus-sian offensive from this salient ended with

the recapture of the towns of Tukums andJelgava, which were held by the Russiansthrough the summer of 1917. On 1 Sep-tember 1917 the Germans launched an of-fensive against Riga, very quickly captur-ing the city and a considerable salient tothe east of the city on the east bank of theRiver Daugava. The front line then re-mained static, until in February 1918 theGermans advanced against minimal oppo-sition to occupy all of the rest of Latvia.The presence of the German front line inLatvia, and the perceived unwillingness ofRussian soldiers to defend what many ofthem considered a German province, ledto the creation of local Latvian Regimentsauthorised by the Russian government. ByNovember 1915 eight Latvian battalionshad been formed, and during the courseof the war a total of over 130,000 menjoined these local Latvian forces. In May1917 the Latvian Regiments transferred theirloyalty to the Bolsheviks, partly through asense of having been betrayed by the Tsar-ist forces in the fight against the Germans.

In March 1917 the Provisional LivonianCouncil was formed at Valmiera with au-

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thority over the Latvian parts of Livonia,the Estonian parts having been absorbedinto the new autonomous Estonia. In May1917 a provisional council for Latgale wasformed at Rezekne. In the same month aprovisional council was formed forKurland in Tartu, as at that time the Ger-mans occupied Kurland. On 5 July 1917the Provisional Livonian Council was de-clared the regional government by the Pro-visional Government of Russia, which atthe same time strongly opposed the unifi-cation of Latgale with the other regions ofLatvia. On 12 August the Latvian authori-ties demanded total self-determination, andthose closest to power decided that if theGermans occupied Riga independencefrom Russia would be sought.

The first democratic elections to theLivonian Council were held in August1917, when the Bolsheviks gained a major-ity. After the October revolution in Rus-sia the position of the Bolsheviks was muchstrengthened, and the Executive Commit-tee of Latvian Soviets wielded absolutepower. In the areas not occupied by Ger-many, essentially northern and eastern

Latvia excluding Riga after early Septem-ber 1917, banks and businesses were na-tionalised, land was confiscated, civil rightsand press freedom were restricted, politi-cal activity was banned, nationalists werearrested, and religious freedom was notrespected. The Bolshevik policies sooncaused unrest amongst the majority of thepopulation and brought about renewedsupport for independence. In Valka on 16November 1917 nationalist Latvian politi-cians formed a Provisional National Coun-cil, which began to make preparations forforming a constituent assembly and send-ing representatives to gather support inthe west. A second sitting of the council inJanuary 1918 confirmed the intention ofseparating Latvia from Russia and creat-ing an independent state but, at this time,the council had no power to act.

By the end of February 1918 the Ger-mans occupied all of Latvia. In accordancewith the terms of the Treaty of Brest-Litovskwhile the Bolsheviks ceded sovereignty ofKurland they retained jurisdiction inLivonia, although German troops were tobe stationed here for security. Regardless

of the treaty the Germans continued tooccupy adjacent parts of Russia in theGovernorates of Pskov and Vitebsk. As hasbeen related in the section on Estonia theGermans had no desire to see the creationof genuinely independent Baltic states andinstead created a Baltic Dukedom, domi-nated by the Baltic Germans, incorporat-ing Estonia and Latvia whose �independ-ence� was proclaimed in Riga on 5 No-vember 1918. Acting illegally during theGerman occupation the Provisional Na-tional Council united with the DemocraticBloc functioning in Riga to form theLatvian People�s Council.

The armistice signed by Germany on11 November 1918 at Compiègne inFrance annulled the Treaty of Brest-Litovskand on 13 November the Bolsheviks startedpreparations for an offensive against theGermans in the east. The United Kingdomgave de facto recognition to Latvia on 11November 1918 but it was not until 17November 1918 that the first sitting ofthe Latvian People�s Council, presided overby J. Cakste, took place. The People�s Coun-cil appointed the Latvian Provisional Gov-

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ernment headed by K. Ulmanis and thedeclaration of independence of the Repub-lic of Latvia was made in Riga Theatre on18 November 1918.

The Latvian Provisional Governmenthad no armed forces at its disposal withwhich to defend Latvia, and as the Ger-man forces withdrew the Bolsheviks occu-pied Latvia. The Germans were willing togive up Latvia east of a line from Riga toBauska, and the Bolsheviks progressivelyoccupied eastern Latvia without opposi-tion. In the north Aluksne was taken on 7December, Valka on 18 December, andCesis on 23 December 1918. In the southDaugavpils was taken on 9 December,Plavinas on 17 December, and Skriveri on27 December 1918. Riga fell to the Bolshe-viks on 3 January 1919, and the LatvianProvisional Government moved to Liepaja.The Bolsheviks now engaged the Germanson the line they had chosen for their de-fence. On 7 January Bauska fell to the Bol-sheviks followed by Tukums and Jelgavaon 10 January 1919. The Bolshevik advancewas only halted at the end of January 1919on the line of the River Venta from the

sea at Ventspils to the Lithuanian border.With the advance of the Bolshevik forcescame the restoration of Bolshevik govern-ment, with the Latvian Soviet Republicbeing declared in Valka shortly after itscapture. The situation was complicated bythe fact that the Bolshevik forces includedamongst their numbers the Latvian Regi-ments, who now found themselves fight-ing for the Bolsheviks against not justGerman forces, but also the forces of theLatvian Provisional Government.

In January 1919 the Landeswehr, formedfrom the local Baltic Germans and the IronDivision, formed from German volunteers,were placed under the command of theGerman General Count von der Goltz. InJanuary also the Latvian Provisional Gov-ernment was able to form the South LatvianBrigade commanded by Colonel Balodis,and by agreement with the Estonians wasable to start forming the North LatvianBrigade, commanded by Colonel Zemitansin southern Estonia. Estonian forces re-captured Valka and Rujiena from the Bol-sheviks on 1 February 1919, gaining a foot-hold in northern Latvia. At the beginning

of March 1919 the German forces of Countvon der Goltz with the South Latvian Bri-gade were able to resume the offensive fromthe line of the River Venta. Tukums wasrecaptured from the Bolsheviks on 15March, and Jelgava on 18 March 1919 andby 26 March 1919 the German and Latvianforces had closed on Riga, which remained,though, for the time being in Bolshevikhands.

Count von der Goltz, however, har-boured aspirations still for the restorationof Baltic German dominance in the Balticarea. On 16 April 1919 a coup backed byGerman units ousted the Latvian Provi-sional Government and the regime of K.Ulmanis in Liepaja. While the Germanswere able to arrest some ministers the ma-jority and the leadership, includingUlmanis, found refuge on the Latvianfreighter �Saratov� under British protec-tion in Liepaja harbour. On 10 May apuppet German-Latvian regime under theleadership of A. Niedra was formed, butthis regime was recognised neither by theWestern Allies nor by the majority of thepeople of Latvia. In the areas under their

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control the Landeswehr and the Iron Di-vision took part in repressive measures toforce acceptance of the new regime. TheSouth Latvian Brigade did not accept thenew regime either but continued to co-operate with the German forces, in oppos-ing the Bolshevik forces and continuingthe liberation of Latvia from the Bolshe-viks.

On 22 May Riga was liberated from theBolsheviks by the German forces of Countvon der Goltz, which then continued theiradvance northeast towards Cesis. The SouthLatvian Brigade was denied a major rolein the recapture of Riga, and was thendirected to the southeast to pursue theBolsheviks along the banks of the RiverDaugava. By ensuring that the Germanforces recaptured Riga Count von derGoltz was able to ensure the re-establish-ment of German authority in Riga. By hissubsequent dispositions he was able to en-sure that the German forces were so posi-tioned that they were able to engage theEstonian backed Latvian forces to the north.

In the north of Latvia Limba¿i was cap-tured by forces advancing from Estonia

on 27 May 1919, further east Aluksne wasretaken by forces advancing from Valka on29 May 1919, and on 31 May 1919 Cesiswas retaken by forces advancing fromRujiena. In a very rapid advance south,forces from Aluksne reached Jekabpils on5 June 1919, linking up shortly afterwardswith the South Latvian Brigade advancingfrom Riga. By the middle of June the Bol-sheviks retained control only of Latgale eastof a line from Subate on the Lithuanianborder to Aluksne in the north. However,there remained to be resolved the conflictbetween the largely German forces ofCount von der Goltz loyal to the puppetNiedra regime and the Latvian and Esto-nian forces loyal to and supporting thelegitimate Ulmanis regime.

On 19 June 1919 the GermanLandeswehr and Iron Division opened theattack on the Latvian and Estonian forcesaround Cesis. By 21 June 1919 the Ger-mans had achieved considerable success, butthe timely arrival of reinforcements ena-bled the Latvians and Estonians to coun-ter-attack and regain the initiative on 22June 1919. Shortly afterwards the German

forces began to retreat and were pursuedto Riga where they prepared to defend thecity on 26 June. Under pressure thoughfrom the Allies an armistice was agreed atStrazdumuiza on 3 July 1919. By its termsthe legitimate government of Ulmanis wasto be restored, the Baltic GermanLandeswehr was to be placed under thecommand of the British officer, Lt ColAlexander (later Field Marshal Lord Alex-ander of Tunis), and the Volunteer Ger-man Iron Division was to leave Latvia. Thegovernment of K. Ulmanis returned to Rigaon 8 July 1919 and the Landeswehr, underBritish command, became a componentof the Latvian National Army. The IronDivision, however, did not leave Latvia,despite a meeting between General Goughof the Allied Military Mission and Countvon der Goltz on 19 July, remaining in-stead at Jelgava. Allied pressure howeverdid ensure that Count von der Goltz wasrecalled to Germany by the German gov-ernment on 3 October 1919.

Allied support for the Baltic states wasnot motivated by any particular wish tosee the Baltic states gain independence.

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Instead allied support was motivated moreby a wish to see that the Germans did notwin territory in the east, having lost inthe west, and a wish to see the RussianBolsheviks defeated and the Tsarist regime,their ally in the war, restored to power.For this reason the Allies supported theraising of the White Russian WesternArmy under the command of ColonelBermondt-Avalov at Jelgava in late sum-mer and early autumn 1919, for opera-tions against the Bolsheviks. The WhiteRussians, however, were no supporters ofthe idea of independence for the Balticstates, and Germans who had previouslyserved in the Iron Division of Germanvolunteers made more than three-quartersof Bermondt-Avalov�s force up. It shouldperhaps then have come as no surprisewhen on 8 October 1919 the RussianWestern Army commenced operationsagainst the Republic of Latvia.

Bermondt-Avalov�s forces marched onRiga from Jelgava but the Latvian NationalArmy, helped by volunteers from the popu-lation of Riga, was able to prevent theWhite Russians from crossing the River

Daugava. In fighting between 16 and 19October at Jaunjelgava the Latvian NationalArmy defeated White Russian forces mov-ing east along the line of the River Daugava.Only in Kurland did the White Russiansachieve any great success. The Latvians wereable only to hold the ports of Liepaja andVentspils and a narrow strip of the coast-line east of Ventspils. The counter-attackof the Latvian National Army started on11 October, and on 15 October the for-tress of Daugagriva at the mouth of theRiver Daugava was captured. With Alliednaval gunfire support, the Latvians startedto clear the parts of Riga on the west bankof the River Daugava on 3 November, andthe whole of the city was back in Latvianhands by 10 November 1919. On the nightof 19 November Colonel Bermondt-Avalov placed his forces under the protec-tion of General Eberhardt, the successorto Count von der Goltz, who sought anearly truce. On 21 November the Latviansrecaptured Jelgava. On the orders of theAllied Military Commission the whole ofLatvia was cleared of Bermondt-Avalov�sforces by 29 November 1919.

With the threat posed by the WhiteRussian forces extinguished and the depar-ture of the last German forces on Latvianterritory, the Latvians could now look tothe liberation of Latgale where the situa-tion had remained largely static since thesummer. Plans were made in co-operationwith the Lithuanians and the Poles and anoffensive was launched on 3 January 1920,the same day as the Estonians agreed anarmistice with the Bolsheviks. The Lithua-nians and the Poles advanced on Daugavpilsfrom the south, and after the capture ofthe city the Poles advanced east to andbeyond Kraslava. To the north the Latviansadvanced east on a broad front. Rezeknewas captured on 21 January 1920 and on 1February 1920 an armistice was agreed withthe Bolsheviks. By this time, with the ex-ception of one small area in the north-east,all Latvian speaking areas had been freedfrom Bolshevik control and, although spo-radic fighting took place for some timeafter the agreement of the armistice thewar of independence was over. A PeaceTreaty was finally agreed with Moscow on11 August 1920.

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Lithuania

The Germans occupied the area of mod-ern Lithuania in three stages during WorldWar One. Some seven months after the startof the war the Germans had regained theinitiative on their eastern front and, ad-vancing from Prussia, had occupied theborder regions of the Russian Empire to amaximum depth of some thirty miles inthe areas west of Kaunas and Alytus.

In April 1915 the Germans launched anoffensive in Lithuania to draw attentionaway from their offensive being plannedin Galicia. By the end of April 1915 all ofwestern Lithuania had been occupied, andthe front line ran from north-west to south-east along the line of the Venta and Dubysarivers, and then south just to the west ofKaunas, Alytus, and Grodno. In August1915 the Germans resumed their offensivein Lithuania following up the success theyhad achieved further to the south. Kaunaswas attacked on 8 August 1915 and wascaptured nine days later. Vilnius fell to theGermans on 19 September 1915.

By the end of September the Germanfront line had stabilised along the line ofthe River Daugava in Latvia and southfrom Daugavpils to Pinsk. All of modernLithuania was now in German hands andwould remain so for the rest of World WarOne. In spring 1916 the Russians mountedan offensive northeast of Vilnius in thevicinity of Lake Naroch but achieved nosuccess, and thereafter the German occu-pation of Lithuania went unchallenged.

As early as 1915 the political leadershipin Vilnius began to discuss the restorationof Lithuanian independence. In Switzer-land in 1916 the idea was first openly dis-cussed, and the desire for independencewas stressed in an appeal to the AmericanPresident Wilson. Lithuanians were encour-aged during the spring of 1916 after thedeclaration of the formation of a PolishRepublic under German and Austro-Hun-garian protection, although there were fearsthat the Poles might lay claim to Lithua-nian territory. The Germans postponedany decision on the status of Lithuaniauntil after the end of the war.

Entirely occupied by Germany theFebruary and October revolutions in Rus-

sia in 1917 did not directly affect Lithua-nia although as a result the Germans re-viewed their policy with regard to Lithua-nia forming a Lithuanian council with lim-ited powers. On 18 September 1917 aLithuanian conference assembled in Vilniuswith J. Basanavi²ius as its elected Chair-man. This conference stated the determi-nation of the Lithuanian people to achieveindependence, and elected a 20 memberTaryba or council chaired by A. Smetonato draw up a constitution. Germany pro-posed a conference of Lithuanian politi-cians and this took place in Bern in No-vember 1917, where agreement was reachedon an independent Lithuanian state underGerman protection. The Taryba presenteda document to the Germans on 11 Decem-ber 1917 proclaiming the restoration ofan independent Lithuanian state, but Ger-many did not react to this document.

The Taryba, losing popularity, decidedto act decisively, and on 16 February 1918the Independence Manifesto was signed andLithuania was declared independent. Thistime the Germans did react and recognisedthe Independence Manifesto on 23 March

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1918, but only on the basis of the docu-ment of 11 December 1917. On 13 July1918 the Taryba elected the German DukeWilhelm von Urach as the King of Lithua-nia, in accordance with wishes expressedin Berlin to link Lithuania to Germany asclosely as possible.

Following the German armistice with theAllies on 11 November 1918 and the annul-ling of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk the Bol-sheviks resumed their offensive against theGermans in the east. The Germans fell backfrom the forward positions they had occu-pied in February 1918, but were determinedto hold positions in Lithuania to the eastof their frontiers. The Lithuanian govern-ment started to organise a Lithuanian Armyon 23 November 1918, but in early Decem-ber 1918 the Bolsheviks invaded Lithuania.On 8 December the Provisional LithuanianGovernment of Workers and Peasants wasproclaimed. On 16 January 1919 it was de-cided in Moscow to abolish the BelarussianSoviet Republic, absorb most of it intoRussia, and amalgamate the rest with Lithua-nia as the Lithuanian-Belarussian SovietRepublic.

The Bolsheviks captured Vilnius on 6January 1919, and by the end of the samemonth only western Lithuania remainedin Lithuanian and German hands. Thefront line ran west and south of Tel¸iai,south of ¨iauliai and curved south eastof Kaunas and just east of Alytus. On 5March 1919 the Lithuanian governmentresorted to compulsory conscription tosustain their army. In April 1919 Polishforces liberated Vilnius from the Bolshe-viks, and Lithuanian and German forceswent onto the offensive against the Bol-sheviks elsewhere in Lithuania, soon lib-erating Paneve¿ys and Ukmerge. By theend of June 1919 all of Lithuania had beencleared of Bolshevik forces, and in Au-gust 1919 a ceasefire with the Bolshevikstook effect although this had not beenformally agreed and much of easternLithuania remained in Polish hands. APolish backed coup to unite Lithuaniawith Poland was discovered and foiled inKaunas in August 1919. A demarcationline had been established with the Polesin July 1919 but border clashes contin-ued for the next year.

At the same time as the White Russianforces of Colonel Bermont-Avalovmarched on Riga in October 1919, theyinvaded northwestern Lithuania andmarched towards Vilnius. The Lithuaniansdecisively defeated the Bermont-Avalovforces at Radvili¸kis on 21 November1919. Many of Bermont-Avalov�s forceswere German volunteers, and as a resultof his actions the Western Allies demandedthe withdrawal of all remaining Germanforces from the Baltic States and the lastGerman troops left Lithuania on 15 De-cember 1919.

During July 1920 the Bolsheviksmounted a major offensive during whichthe Poles were driven from eastern Lithua-nia, and Vilnius was captured on 14 July1920. The Lithuanians concluded a peacetreaty with the Bolsheviks on 12 July 1920that established eastern and southern bor-ders for Lithuania. (These borders werefurther east and further south than thosegiven to the Lithuanian Soviet SocialistRepublic in 1944 and accepted today.)Vilnius was handed back to the Lithuaniansby the Bolsheviks on 27 August 1920.

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At the gates of Warsaw, with Warsawalready reported as having fallen to theBolsheviks in some newspapers, the Polesinflicted a massive defeat on the Bolshe-viks, who started to retreat in disorder withthe Poles advancing close behind them. On7 October 1920, with the Western Alliesparticipating in the negotiations, an agree-ment was signed between Lithuania andPoland that, although it left certain issuesunresolved, left Vilnius in Lithuanianhands. Two days later Polish forces led byGeneral Zeligowski re-occupied Vilnius andthe surrounding areas. The Polish govern-ment accepted no responsibility for theactions of General Zeligowski who, theyclaimed, was leading a force of local inhab-itants. In November 1920 the Lithuaniansinflicted a defeat on the forces of GeneralZeligowski at ¨irvintos north of Vilniusand started to advance towards Vilnius, butagreed to a League of Nations brokeredceasefire before having retaken Vilnius. Aneutral zone was established betweenLithuania and Poland on 29 November1920. After a plebiscite Vilnius and thesurrounding area was incorporated into

Poland on 8 April 1922 and remained inPolish hands until 1939, causing continu-ing ill feeling between Lithuania and Po-land.

Settling the borders of Germany fol-lowing the end of the First World Warthe territory of Memel (Klaipeda), thatpart of Prussia north of the RiverNemunas, was detached from Germany asa Free City. French forces occupied thearea but civil administration remained inGerman hands. The local German popu-lation, just under half of the total, aimedfor reunion with Germany and the Polesalso made claims to the territory. In Janu-ary 1923 Lithuanian troops occupiedKlaipeda in support of an uprising bythe local Lithuanian inhabitants. At firstthe French occupation forces resisted theLithuanian occupation but soon gave wayand were returned to France. On 8 May1924 the League of Nations in Paris for-mally agreed to the incorporation ofKlaipeda into Lithuania. The status ofKlaipeda soured Lithuania�s relations withGermany, and on 22 March 1939 Lithua-nia gave in to German demands thatMemel be returned to them.

Intervention

The intervention of the Western Alliesin the Baltic area at the end of the FirstWorld War was not motivated by any par-ticular policy to assist the Baltic statesachieve independence. Instead the allies didnot wish to see the Germans profit in theeast when they had lost in the west, andsought to support the White Russians inthe Russian Civil War. The Russian TsaristRegime had been a good ally and the west-ern powers had no wish to see the Bolshe-viks become established in Russia. How-ever following the losses of the First WorldWar the western allies had no wish to be-come involved in an expensive conflict inRussia. Support for the White Russianswent as far as the provision of materielsupport and volunteers, and the securingof base areas for them but not as far, ex-cept on isolated occasions, as actually tak-ing part in fighting against the Bolshevikforces.

Allied forces supported the White Rus-sians from all points of the compass. In

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the north, from the Arctic Ocean, British,American, Italian, and Serbian forces op-erated from Moermansk and Archangel. Inthe south, in the Black Sea area, Frenchand Rumanian forces operated fromOdessa, and British forces operated fromBatumi. In the east American, British,Czech, and Japanese forces were present inSiberia. These land forces numbered inexcess of 100,000 men. In the west mainlynaval forces lent assistance to the anti-Bol-shevik forces, including the forces of theemerging Baltic nations. In the first halfof 1919 the British Royal Navy had anaverage of just fewer than thirty ships com-mitted to operations in the Baltic Sea, inthe second half of the year this figure in-creased threefold. The French Navy, whichworked in close co-operation with the RoyalNavy, had twenty-six ships involved inBaltic operations. The Americans had four-teen ships present, and the Italians con-tributed two ships. Direct assistance, bothin terms of volunteer personnel andmateriel, was also given to the Baltic statesin limited amounts by a number of otherstates, in particular the Scandinavians.

Although the task of the British andFrench naval forces was essentially to block-ade the Bolshevik forces they maintainedan offensive posture and provided con-siderable support to the authorities andforces of the Baltic states. (By contrast theallied land forces committed in other partsof Russia maintained an essentially defen-sive posture.) The British Royal Navy, com-manded by Rear-Admiral Sinclair arrivedin Estonian waters in the early days ofDecember 1918. One early act of supportinvolved the bombardment of the onlybridge across the Narva River, destroyingit and creating severe difficulties for theBolshevik forces to the west of it in Esto-nia. The Royal Navy also acted as a cover-ing force to a small Estonian amphibiousassault to the rear of the Bolshevik frontline, and provided over 5,000 rifles andother stores to the Estonian forces. Beforethe end of December 1918 the Royal Navyhad captured two Bolshevik destroyers,which were handed over to the EstonianNavy and assisted in the transport of over500 Finnish volunteers from Helsinki toTallinn. Early in January 1919 the Royal

Navy supported the Estonians, who hadgone over to the offensive, with naval gun-fire against the Bolshevik forces.

Vessels of the Royal Navy arrived in Rigaon 19 December 1918. Stores were landed,training was provided to Latvian volun-teers, and naval gunfire was provided insupport of the forces of the Ulmanis gov-ernment. However the Royal Navy couldnot by itself prevent the fall of Riga to theBolsheviks, it withdrew carrying refugeeson 3 January 1919 and Sinclair�s force with-drew from the Baltic Sea.

Sinclair was replaced by a force underthe command of Rear-Admiral Cowan.This force, in February 1919, was able toprovide additional materiel support tothe Latvians at Liepaja, and with the useof naval gunfire support the Latvians inthe defence of Ventspils. In April addi-tional support in the shape of artilleryguns and transport was provided to theLatvians at Liepaja, and the Royal Navyplayed an active part in preventing thecapture of Ulmanis and the Latvian Gov-ernment at the time of the German backedcoup.

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May 1919 found the Royal Navy inEstonian waters where cover was once againprovided for Estonian amphibious opera-tions and a close watch was kept on theBolshevik fleet at Kronstadt. Operationsagainst Kronstadt involved elements of therecently formed Royal Air Force. May 1919also saw the establishment of a BritishMilitary Mission in the Baltic Regionheadquartered at Helsinki.

Following the defeat of the GermanLandeswehr at Cesis, the Royal Navy playedan important role in the negotiations atRiga that led to the restoration in Latviaof the government of Ulmanis. It was atthis time that an officer from the BritishMission, Lt Col Alexander, was appointedto command the Landeswehr in supportof Latvian objectives. Later, at the start of1920, the Landeswehr were to play a majorrole in the liberation of Latgale that con-cluded the Latvian War of Independence.

October 1919 saw the White Russianforces of Bermondt-Avalov, with consid-erable German support, commence theiroperations against the Latvian governmentforces. Again the British Royal Navy and

the French Navy gave significant supportto the Latvian forces. Both at Riga and atLiepaja naval gunfire supported the effortsof the Latvian government forces oppos-ing the White Russian forces of Bermondt-Avalov.

British operations in the Baltic Regionwere not carried out without losses. A to-tal of 17 ships were sunk, with mines claim-ing a large number, and 37 aircraft werealso lost. 123 Royal Navy and 5 Royal AirForce personnel were killed.

Conclusion

In the introduction four factors wereidentified as being relevant to the route toindependence for all of the Baltic states,their relative importance being differentfor each of the four states.

In Finland the war of independence wasmore of a civil war than in the other states.The Russian Bolsheviks recognised Finn-ish independence at an early stage and didnot openly play an active role in events inFinland. It was therefore left to FinnishBolsheviks, who might or might not have

sought a renewal of union with Russia, todispute the style of government of Fin-land with the �White� Finns. Withoutdoubt the Germans contributed in largemeasure to the victory of the �White�Finns. Since the civil war in Finland tookplace before the end of the First WorldWar the Western Allies played, essentially,no role in the independence of Finland.

In Estonia the decisive events leadingto independence started some months laterthan in Finland. In essence the Germansplayed no military role in the independ-ence of Estonia and left the field early. Inlarge measure the Estonians achieved inde-pendence by themselves in opposition tothe Bolsheviks. The Western Allies, mainlythe British and in particular the Royal Navy,did play a role in the independence ofEstonia. It is easy to overestimate that roleif only because the assistance given was justenough at a crucial time, rather than sus-tained and substantial assistance over aperiod of time.

It is in Latvia that the situation is mostcomplex. But for German assistance andresistance in the early stages Latvia might

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have succumbed to the Bolsheviks. It was,though, allied intervention, without adoubt, that thereafter thwarted Germanintentions in favour of Latvian aspirations.Beyond that, allied intervention played arole in defeating Russian aspirations, bothBolshevik and White. The Estonians tooplayed a part in Latvia, playing a consider-able role in the defeat of the Bolsheviks innorthern Latvia, a decisive role in the de-feat of Baltic German aspirations, and giv-ing assistance to the Latvians in the defeatof the White Russians.

As in Latvia, in Lithuania too the Ger-mans played a role in keeping the Lithua-nians in the field against the Bolsheviks inthe early stages. The western allies played aminimal role in Lithuania, and indeed lat-terly, in the case of Memel (Klaipeda), theLithuanians found themselves opposed tothe French. Ultimately in Lithuania, wherethe struggle for independence lasted long-est, the Lithuanians, having played theirpart in defeating the White Russian forces,found themselves sharing cause with theRussian Bolsheviks against a common en-emy, the Poles.

And so for some twenty years the Balticstates enjoyed independence until the on-set of the Second World War, a war withits origins in the imperfections of the trea-ties that concluded the First World War.Finland resisted the Soviet Union fight-ing later with, but not for, Germany. Fin-land retained her sovereignty, althoughshe lost much in terms of territory andlimitations on her freedom of action. Thegovernments of Estonia, Latvia andLithuania chose not to resist the SovietUnion, although later many of their peo-ple did, and sovereignty was lost. Whatmight have been the ultimate outcome ifEstonia, Latvia and Lithuania had resistedin 1939? It is, at this stage of history, ofcourse impossible to say. Perhaps occu-pation and incorporation into the So-viet Union would have happened anyway,but there has to be a chance that theirfate would have mirrored that of Finland,and there is perhaps a bigger chance thattheir fate would have mirrored that ofPoland. Perhaps the 1990s could have seendemocratic government restored insteadof sovereignty.

Annex

President Wilson�s �Fourteen Points�:1. Point One renounced secret treaties

demanding, �open covenants openly ar-rived at�.

2. Point Two required freedom of theseas outside territorial waters and an endto �blockade� tactics.

3. Point Three called for the removal,wherever possible, of trade barriers.

4. Point Four called for arms reductions5. Point Five called for impartial arbi-

tration of all colonial disputes6. Point Six called for the evacuation,

by the Central Powers, of all former Rus-sian territory.

7. Point Seven dealt with the restora-tion of Belgium.

8. Point Eight admitted French claimsto Alsace and Lorraine.

9. Point Nine gave some recognitionto Italian territorial claims.

10. Point Ten provided �autonomousdevelopment� for the various nationalitieswithin the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

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11. Point Eleven demanded the evacua-tion of occupied Romania, Montenegroand Serbia with the latter having access tothe Adriatic Coast.

12. Point Twelve guaranteed Turkishsovereignty over its heartlands but de-manded autonomy for subject peoples andthe opening of the Dardanelles to interna-tional traffic.

13. Point Thirteen recognized an inde-pendent Poland with access to the sea.

14. Point Fourteen recommended a�general association� of nations.

1 After the Napoleonic War representatives of allthe European powers, except the Ottoman Empire,gathered in September 1815 at Vienna. They hadthe imposing task of building a new political anddiplomatic structure for Europe after a quartercentury of wars and revolutions. Work went slowlyduring the ten-month span of the Congress of Vi-enna. The leaders who gathered at Vienna - LordCastlereagh of Great Britain, Count vonHardenberg of Prussia, Prince Klemens vonMetternich of Austria, Tsar Alexander I of Russia,and Prince Charles Maurice de Talleyrand ofFrance - met in small secret conferences to decidethe future of Europe. In an attempt to restore somebalance, the Congress followed four principles: le-gitimacy, encirclement of France, compensation,

and balance of power. The desire to construct aneffective balance of power remained at the centre ofthe Congress� attention. Each power, however, hadits own idea of what constituted a proper balance.Russia�s ambitions in Poland almost broke upthe conference: Britain believed that an enlargedRussia threatened peace. Prussia wanted all ofSaxony: Austria feared a growing Prussia. Whilethe four wartime allies split, the clever French rep-resentative, Talleyrand, negotiated a secret treatyamong the French, Austrians, and British thatpledged mutual assistance to restrain the Russiansand Prussians. Russia and Prussia eventually re-duced their demands for land in Poland andSaxony, and the sought-after balance of power wasachieved.

2 The city and region of Memel lies on the Balticat the mouth of the River Niemen. The regioncame under Swedish control and, following theNapoleonic wars under Prussia. It remained withinthe German Reich until the end of World War I.Germans constituted a majority of the city�s popu-lation while Lithuanians predominated in the sur-rounding countryside. The Treaty of Versailles sev-ered Memel and the surrounding district fromGermany. Lithuanian representatives to the ParisPeace Conference had asked the Allied Powers togrant them possession of the Memel area, but in-stead it was placed under a French administrationthat governed under a League of Nations man-date. An Allied commission recommended estab-lishing a �Free City� under League of Nationssupervision in the fall of 1922. Memel�s Germanand Polish communities favoured the proposal

but local Lithuanians responded by forming aCommittee for the Salvation of Lithuania Minor.Lithuanian sovereignty over Memel (LithuanianKlaipeda) was internationally recognized whenFrance, Britain, Italy, and Japan signed the MemelStatute in December 1923. Memel was formallyincorporated as an autonomous region of Lithua-nia on March 8, 1924. The local assembly (Landtag)was given extensive power over internal affairs sub-ject to the approval of a governor appointed bythe President of Lithuania. Memel was returned tothe Germans on March 23, 1939. The Lithuanianshad bowed to Hitler�s inevitable demands andturned the region over without a fight. Memel washeavily defended throughout the Second WorldWar. The Red Army captured the heavily damagedcity on January 28, 1945. Memel was renamedKlaipeda and incorporated into the LithuanianSoviet Socialist Republic in 1947.

3 At the time of the October Revolution Russiastill used the Julian calendar, so to find the Gregoriandate we use the �rule of thumb� that after February1900 the Julian calendar was 13 days behind theGregorian Calendar. This means that on 5 Novem-ber 1917 Gregorian calendar, it was 23 October1917 according to the Julian calendar. Different partsof Russia changed from the Julian (JU) to the Gregoriancalendar (GR) on different times during and after therevolution. Most sources refer to the change in Feb-ruary 1918 where 31 January 1918 JU, was succeededby 14 February 1918 GR. This law was signed on 26January 1918 JU.

4 Please find the full text of the �Fourteen Points�in the annex to this article.