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National Currency
A national currency was adopted as early as 1918, the Estonian mark (replaced by the kroon in 1928). -
The Red Army attack
Estonias army was very small and they had no experience. The army lacked sufficient weapons and equipment. People thought that they would lose to the red army. -
Turn of events in War
Estonia had lost half of its land and the Red Army was only 30km from the capital. Then Estonia decided to rearrange 15,000 men and 500 volunteers from Finland into a counter attack. Estonia then managed to liberate its land from the Bolsheviks. -
Allies come to help
British Royal Navy arrived in Estonia with a cargo of weapons; Finland also sent weapons and in January 1919 about 4000 volunteers came too. -
Independence
Fighting against the Red Army and Estonia won their independence with the cost of 2300 lives. In August of 1919 Moscow officially offered peace to Estonia. On 2 February 1920 the Tartu Peace Treaty was signed -
Estonian Constitution
Public order in Estonia was determined by the constitution adopted by the Constituent Assembly on 15 April 1920. The Constitution was very liberal in Estonia. Estonia was a parliamentary democratic republic, where the supreme power belonged to the people: the one hundred- strong Riigikogu, the Estonian parliament, had legislative power. -
Leading Countries Recognise Estonia
Estonia became a full member of the League of Nations the same year. Friendly relations were made with many countries. -
Great Depression
During the years of the crisis, the total value of production diminished by 45% in agriculture and by 20% in industry. The sudden halt in exports had a negative impact on Estonian external trade. -
Shortening of Gov. Life Span
The declining economic situation brought dissatisfaction amongst the population. People blamed everything on politicians, parties, parliament and government and the government could not handle the pressure so they shortened their time to only 2 years -
Recovery Form The Great Depression
In the beginning of 1934 Estonia had almost recovered form the crisis thanks to a new currency which was the Estonian Kroon -
New Constitution
It legalised the existing administrative practice, making permanent several temporary restrictions caused by the state of defence and reducing people’s participation in state administration and Konstantin Päts was chosen to be president -
Estonia loses Independance
Estonia declared itself neutral, and did not take any defensive measures. At the end of September 1939, the Soviet Union forced the Baltic countries to sign pacts of mutual assistance -
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
The pact said that the Baltic countries, Finland, eastern Poland and Bessarabia were to belong to the Soviet Union, and the majority of Poland to Germany. Then Germany and The Soviet union attacked Poland at the same time.
