Baltic states

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For other uses, see Baltic (disambiguation).

Baltimaad Baltijas valstis Baltijos valstybės Baltic states

Capitals		Tallinn; Riga; Vilnius
Official languages		Estonian; Latvian; Lithuanian
Membership		Estonia Latvia Lithuania
Area
-	Total	175,015 km² 67,523 sq mi

The three Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

The Baltic states (Estonian: Balti riigid, Latvian: Baltijas valstis, Lithuanian: Baltijos valstybės) or Baltic countries are three member states of the European Union ^[1]: the sovereign states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, located in Northern Europe. The Baltic states became independent in the aftermath of World War I in 1918.

Estonians and the nearly linguistically extinct Livonian people in Latvia are descended from the Finnic peoples, sharing closely related languages and a common cultural ancestry. The Latvians and Lithuanians, linguistically and culturally related to each other, are descended from the Balts, an Indo-European people and culture. The peoples comprising the Baltic states have together inhabited the eastern Baltic coast for millennia, although not always peacefully in ancient times, over which period their populations: Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, have remained remarkably stable within the approximate territorial boundaries of the current Baltic states. While separate peoples with their own customs and traditions, historical factors have introduced cultural commonalities across and differences within them.

The term "Baltic republics" can sometimes refer in historic context to the Baltic republics of the Soviet Union. At the same time the three countries were considered under the Soviet occupation by the Western democracies: for example the USA ^[2] and the UK.^[3] After the collapse of the Soviet Union the Baltic States' struggle for independence came to a conclusion. The sovereignties of the countries were restored in 1991 and the last Russian troops withdrew from the Baltic States in August 1994.^[4]

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have been members of the European Union and NATO since 2004. Today the three countries are liberal democracies and their market economies have in recent years undergone rapid expansion.

1 Etymology and usage of the term
2 Cultures and languages
3 Economies
4 Histories
5 Politics
6 Statistics
7 See also
8 References and notes
- 8.1 Journals and book series
9 External links

[edit] Etymology and usage of the term

The term Baltic stems from the name of the Baltic Sea. Usage of Baltic and similar terms to denote the region east from the sea started only in 19th century. At first it was used to refer to Baltic governorates of Courland, Livonia and Estonia known also by German term Balticum as these lands were under German hegemony, Lithuania was usually excluded from this division. The Russian term "Прибалтика" (Pribaltika "Near Baltic") was used to refer to all of the lands bordering the Baltic sea's Eastern shore, a more narrow term "Прибалтийские страны" (Pribaltijskie strany "Near Baltic states") used to refer to the governorates that appeared around 1859. The Latvian and Lithuanian term "Baltija" most likely originates from Russian and was first used in Latvia around 1868.^[5] In the 1920s the newly established countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were referred to as the Baltic states, and during that period Finland was also often referred to as one of the Baltic states. ^[6] ^[7] ^[8] After the Second world war Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia were incorporated into the USSR and were known as the Baltic Soviet Republics until all three countries regained their independence in 1991.^[9] Currently Baltic states are Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, sometimes the Russian Kaliningrad Oblast^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Cultures and languages

Catholic Church of All Saints, Vilnius, Lithuania

St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, Riga, Latvia

The peoples of the Baltic countries belong to different Christian denominations. Estonia and most parts of Latvia have Lutheran cultural backgrounds while Lithuania is principally a Catholic country. Catholic denomination is dominant in Eastern Latvia (Latgale) as well. At the same time, Russian minorities in these countries belong to the Russian Orthodox Church.

The languages of Baltic nations belong to two distinct language families. The Latvian and Lithuanian languages make up the group of Baltic languages which belongs to the Indo-European language family. The Estonian language and the almost extinct Livonian language, on the other hand, are not an Indo-European languages and instead belong to the Baltic-Finnic subgroup of the Finno-Ugric languages, sharing close ethnic and historical ties with the Finnish language and people. Due to a long period of Germanic domination, starting in the Middle Ages, the German language also has an important role in Latvia and Estonia. Its role diminished greatly after World War II when the Baltic states were forcefully absorbed into the Soviet Union, but it remains one of three main foreign languages taught in schools (the other two being English and Russian). During the period of Soviet control, Russian became the most commonly studied foreign language at all levels of schooling, but knowledge of German remained fairly common among the older generations. The Soviet Union conducted a policy of Russification by encouraging Russians and other Russian-speaking ethnic groups of USSR to settle in the Baltic Republics. According to Soviet law, the three local languages (Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian) had the status of official languages in the three respective Republics and were used in schools and local administrative apparatus^{[citation needed]} in parallel with Russian. However, as the Russian-speaking settlers from USSR formed an ever larger part of the population and typically were neither encouraged nor motivated to learn the local language, almost everybody had to learn Russian to some extent and use it whenever communicating with Russian-speakers in daily life. Today ethnic Russian immigrants from former USSR and their descendants make up a sizable minority in the Baltic states, particularly in Latvia (about one-third of the population) and Estonia (one-quarter of the population). After the Baltic states achieved independence in 1991, while German made a comeback as a language of study it was English that became the most commonly studied foreign language, and the role of Russian language in education fell sharply. The Baltic states have historically also been in the Swedish (except Lithuania) and Russian spheres of influence.

During Soviet era the fact that the three Baltic states had been acquired by Soviet Union later than other territories (hence, e.g., the relatively higher living standard), strong feeling of national identity (often labeled "bourgeois nationalism" by Soviets) and popular resentment towards the imposed Soviet rule in the three countries, in combination with Soviet cultural policy, which employed superficial multiculturalism (in order for Soviet Union to appear as a multinational union based on free will of peoples) in limits allowed by the Communist "internationalist" (but in effect pro-Russification) ideology and under tight control of the Communist Party (those of the Baltic nationals who crossed the line were called "bourgeois nationalists" and repressed), let Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians preserve a high degree of Europe-oriented national identity.^[10] In Soviet times this made them appear as the "West" of the Soviet Union in the cultural and political sense, thus as close to emigration a Russian could get without leaving the USSR.

Since regaining independence, Estonia has shown a strong desire to identify itself as Nordic, as expressed in a speech by former foreign minister and current president Toomas Hendrik Ilves entitled, "Estonia as a Nordic Country".^[11] Some Estonians consider themselves a Nordic people rather than Baltic, because of strong cultural, historical and linguistic ties with the Nordic countries.^[12]^[13]

[edit] Economies

Main article: Baltic Tiger

The Baltic states had the highest growth rates in Europe between 2000 and 2006, and this has continued in 2007. In 2006 the economy in Estonia grew by 11.2% in gross domestic product, while the Latvian economy grew by 11.9% and Lithuania by 7.5%. All three countries have seen their rates of unemployment falling below the EU average by February 2006. Additionally, Estonia is among the ten most liberal economies in the world and in 2006 switched from being classified as an upper-middle income economy to a high-income economy by the World Bank. All three countries are slated to adopt the Euro around 2010.

However, due to global economic crisis, Baltic economies in 2008 are fragile and previous fast growth has to some extent decreased.

[edit] Histories

Main articles: History of Estonia, History of Latvia, and History of Lithuania

Europe in 9th century

The first people arrived to the territory of the modern Baltic states in the 10th millennium BC after the last glacial period had ended. The earliest traces of human settlement are connected with Kunda culture. Around the beginning of the 4th millennium BC Comb Ceramic Culture arrived to the territories. The beginning of the Late Neolithic Period about 2200 BC is characterized by the appearance of the Corded Ware culture, pottery with corded decoration and well-polished boat-shape stone axes. During the Bronze Age the development of the borders between the Finnic peoples and the Balts was under way.

In the 1st century, AD the people living in the area were first denoted by Tacitus in a form of Aestii.

In the 13th century, Christianity and feudalism were effectively forced upon modern Estonia and Latvia by the invasion of the crusaders from the west (German Sword Brethren, Denmark) and the conversion of Lithuania's rulers from Paganism to Christianity. While in Latvia and most of Estonia Livonian Confederation was established, Lithuania established its own state as the Grand Duchy of Lithuania some time before 1252. It later was a major political power of the region.

Outline of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1618, superimposed on present-day national borders. At the time, the Commonwealth incorporated most of the territory of the modern Baltic states.

The Crown Duchy of Prussia, Polish fief Grand Duchy of Lithuania Duchy of Courland, Lithuanian fief Duchy of Livonia Swedish and Danish Estonia

After the Livonian War in the 16th century, the Confederation ceased to exist, and its lands were incorporated into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1621 most of the Duchy of Livonia was incorporated into the Swedish empire. During the Great Northern War the Dominions of Sweden of Swedish Estonia and Swedish Livonia were conquered by Russia and then ceded by Sweden in the Treaty of Nystad in 1721.

The Russian Empire gained control of most of the present-day Baltic states in the 18th century when the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was partitioned in three stages by the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Habsburg Monarchy, while western parts of Lithuania were incorporated into Prussia.

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania became sovereign nations in the aftermath of World War I. They declared independence in 1918, fought independence wars against German Freikorps and Bolshevist Russia, and were recognized as independent countries in 1920.

“Poland & The New Baltic States” map from 1920, showing still-undefined borders in the aftermath of World War I before the Peace of Riga

Following the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact pact of 1939, the Soviet Army entered eastern Poland as well as military bases in the Baltic states which were granted after USSR had threatened the three countries with military invasion. In June 1940, the Red Army occupied the whole territory of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, and installed new, pro-Soviet governments in all three countries. Following rigged elections, in which only pro-communist candidates were allowed to run, the newly "elected" parliaments of the three countries formally applied to "join" the USSR in August 1940 and were annexed into it as the Estonian SSR, the Latvian SSR, and the Lithuanian SSR.

The Soviet control of the Baltic states was interrupted by Nazi German invasion of the region in 1941. The German occupation lasted until late 1944 (in Courland, until early 1945), when the countries were re-occupied by the Red Army. In all three countries, Baltic partisans, known colloquially as the Forest Brothers, waged unsuccessful guerrilla warfare against the Soviet occupation for the next eight years in a bid to regain their nations' independence.

In the late 1980s massive demonstrations against the Soviet regime, known as the Singing revolution began. One of the most noted protests took place on August 23, 1989, when approximately two million people joined their hands to form a 600-kilometer human chain across the three countries in the event known as the Baltic Way.

The three Baltic nations re-declared their independence in 1990 and 1991, and their independence was recognized by the Soviet Union on September 6, 1991.

[edit] Politics

Presidents of the Baltic states with the President of the United States in 2005

All three countries are parliamentary democracies, which have unicameral parliaments that are elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms - Riigikogu of Estonia, Saeima of Latvia and Seimas of Lithuania. In Latvia and Estonia, President is elected by parliament while Lithuania has a semi-presidential system and the President is elected by popular vote.

Each of the three countries has declared itself to be the restoration of the sovereign nations which existed already in 1918–1940, emphasizing their contention that Soviet domination over the Baltic nations during the Cold War period had been an illegal occupation and annexation.

The same legal interpretation is shared by the United States, the United Kingdom and other Western democracies, who always considered the forcible incorporation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania into the Soviet Union illegal. At least formally, the western democracies never considered the three Baltic states to be constituent parts of the Soviet Union. Australia was a brief exception to this support of Baltic freedom: in 1974, the Labor government did recognize Soviet dominion, but this decision was later reversed. ^[14]

After the Baltic states had restored independence, integration with Western Europe was chosen as the main strategic goal. In 2002 the Baltic nations applied to become members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU). Membership of NATO was duly achieved on March 29, 2004, and accession to the EU took place on May 1, 2004.

Currently governments of Baltic states cooperate in multiple ways. There is active cooperation among Presidents, parliament speakers, heads of government, and foreign ministers. On 8 November 1991 the Baltic Assembly was established for co-operation among parliaments. 15-20 MPs from each parliament represent their countries in the Assembly. For co-operation among governments Baltic Council of Ministers was established on 13 June 1994. Since 2003 Baltic Assembly is co-ordinated with the Baltic Council of Ministers.^[15]