-
Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution of 1905 was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire, some of which was directed at the government. It included worker strikes, peasant unrest, and military mutinies. It led to Constitutional Reform including the establishment of the State Duma, the multi-party system. -
WWII
The second world war happened around the time that the forest brothers came together. They came together to fight against communism and to gain more freedom within Estonia, Latvia, Lituania. The forest brothers became a force that people didn't want to mess with. -
The First Forest Brothers
After the second world war people made large armed forces within the forest to fight the soviet union. These groups of people have experience in fighting because of the war so they were a very dangerous force to be up aginst. -
Baltic States
The country's of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were all promised freedom the the Soviet Union but that promise never came true The Baltic states citizens were forced into hiding in the forest or they would die the Soviet Union. The citizens all came together and decided to fight for there freedom as forest brothers. -
Freedom?
After WWII most places were granted with freedom and independence but for Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia they were still being controlled but the soviet union, so the people came together and made the Forest Brothers to fight against the soviet union. Over 60,000 men and women were willing to fight for there freedom. These people were called the Forest Brothers because they went into hiding in the forest away from the soviets "Iron Curtain" -
In between powers
The country's that made up the forest brothers were caught in between the two powers of Germany and the Soviet Union and because of that had to learn how to fight for there freedom in the war and after the war to fight the soviet union. -
Summer war
When the Soviet Union went up against Germany in the Summer war the ran into the 10,000 men of the Forest Brothers who were fighting for there freedom. They killed over 4,000 people and captured 14,000! The Forest Brothers would end up driving the soviets out of Tartu and helped Germany -
Goals for the summer war
The Forest Brothers had many goals for the summer war including: defend the borders, fight against communism, trying to protect its citizens, provide protection against large-scale incident, and just trying to stay alive during these times. -
Soviet Union V.S. Germany
These two high millinery threats of Germany and the Soviet Union would face off against each other in what would be one of the biggest military confrontations in history. They were characterized by unprecedented ferocity, wholesale destruction, mass deportations, and immense loss of life due to combat, starvation, exposure, disease, and massacres. -
The Partisan War (Estonia)
Many people fought for the Estonia Forest Brothers and those 14,000-15,000 men helped with the war killing 1000's of soviet troops and soldiers. They made 773 attacks and controlled many villages and city's. -
The Partisan War (Latvia)
The number of Forest Brothers in Latvia peeked at about 10,000 and 15,000 men all fighting for freedom and to stop communism. These men were the most active on the border and tried to protect it at all cost. They couldn't let anyone come and take the land from them.They fought for everything and killed many soviet troops to protect Latvia. -
The Partisan War (Lithuania)
People believe that Lithuania was the most organized of the places during this time as they controlled the guerrilla units for a long time. The had many weapons and ways to fight against the soviet unit and that would help them in the war. They also helped spreed word of the news by making and underground railroad. -
Death of Adolf Hilter
During all of the war and fighting within the Soviets and Germany and Forest Brothers the leader of Germany would end up dying on April 30 and that would end up being a good thing for the world, but and bad thing for Germany at this time because they were in the war with the Soviet Union. This event would save many Jews but wouldn't give Germany that same aggression. -
War Crimes
The Country's that made up the Forest Brothers were actually said to have broken war crimes. When in the war they kidnapped 14,000 men and in doing so got punished by the government. "the Waffen-SS was found guilty of war crimes and other atrocities and declared a criminal organization after the war" -
People Believed in them
Many people though that the idea of the forest brothers was a good one and a way to stop the soviet union. ¨In 1946 the partisans adopted the Lithuanian army uniform, conducted training sessions and created an officer cadet school. Reasons for joining the resistance included national pride, self-preservation, religious freedom, and to avoid Soviet conscription.¨"BY getting them uniforms many people thought they could win this war. -
War of the Baltics
While the forest brothers were in hiding within the forest they got word that some soviets troops were a few kilometer away. They went to attack the soviet and would win the fight by the element of surprise. After the battle they quickly all went back into hiding for there own safety. -
Battle of Määritsa
This was a very small battle between the Soviets and the Forest Brothers that last only 7 hours because a fire had been set and the troops for both sides wanted the the side to surrender. This lead to only two troops getting out alive. -
Cold war
The Forest Brothers were excited for the cold war because they thought that america would get rid of the soviet union and give all the country's freedom from the Iron Curtain but unfortunately it didn't work out the way and they still had to go into hiding. They thought that the Baltic states were be liberalized and become free. -
Aftermath of forest brothers.
There was a war between the forest brothers and the soviets that wasn't documented called the forgotten war, however after this war it was almost like the end of the forest brothers as they fell apart and most came out of hiding. The were a threat to the soviet union and could have been a real threat to anyone if it wasn't for this forgotten war. -
The last forest brother
The last forest brother was Jānis Pīnups. He came out of hiding in 1995 to share his story and what happened to him during these times. He would say "God has protected me from all, helping me escape from my persecutors when I fled from the army. I knew, what happened to escapees. I saw two "deserters" shot before my eyes. I didn't flee through thickets or field, but stuck to the road instead. God bless the farmers in Koknese who gave me civilian clothes when I arrived there from Madliena."
