Estonia: Difference between revisions

The Republic of Estonia was [[Occupation of the Baltic Republics|occupied]] by the Soviet Union in June 1940 <ref> The World Book Encyclopedia ISBN-10: 0716601036 </ref>, <ref> The History of the Baltic States by Kevin O'Connor ISBN-10: 0313323550 </ref> as the result of a communist [[Coup d'état]] supported by the Soviet troops <ref>Estonia: Identity and Independence by Jean-Jacques Subrenat, David Cousins, Alexander Harding, Richard C. Waterhouse ISBN-10: 9042008903 </ref>. The USSR had gained military bases in Estonian after the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany had divided the Eastern Europe as "spheres of special interest" according to the [[Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact]] and it's secret protocol. <ref> The History of the Baltic States by Kevin O'Connor ISBN-10: 0313323550 </ref> <ref>http://cmiskp.echr.coe.int////tkp197/viewhbkm.asp?action=open&table=1132746FF1FE2A468ACCBCD1763D4D8149&key=26698&sessionId=7372161&skin=hudoc-en&attachment=true </ref> The Estonian government was forced to gave their assent to an agreement which allowed the USSR to establish military bases and station 25,000 troops on Estonian soil for the duration of the European war. <ref> The Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania by David J. Smith, Page 24, ISBN-10: 0415285801 </ref>Red Army exited from their military bases in Estonia on June 17. The following day, some 90,000 additional troops entered the country. The military occupation of Estonia was complete by the June 21 1940. <ref> The Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania by David J. Smith, Page 27, ISBN-10: 0415285801 </ref>

Subsequently, the country was occupied by [[Nazi Germany]] from 1941 to 1944. Although initially the Germans were perceived as liberators from the USSR and it's repressions by most Estonians in hope for restoration of the countries independence, it was soon realized that they were but another occupying power. That made many Estonians not willing to side with the Nazis join the Finnish army to fight against the Soviet Union. [[Finnish Infantry Regiment 200]] AKA (Estonian: soomepoisid) was formed out of Estonian volunteers in Finland. In 1944 Finland dropped out of the war and the men of the Infantry Regiment 200 returned to Estonia to continued their fight. Many Estonians were recruited in to the German armed forces (including [[20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Estonian)|Waffen-SS]]), the majority did so only in 1944 when the threat of a [[new invasion of Estonia by Red Army]] had become imminent and it was clear that Germany would not win the war. Soviet forces reconquered Estonia in the autumn of 1944 after fierce battles in the northeast of the country on the [[Narva river]] and on the [[Tannenberg Line]] (Sinimäed). In the face of the country being re-occupied by the Red Army, tens of thousands of people chose to either retreat together with the Germans or flee to Finland or Sweden, becoming [[war refugee]]s and later, [[expatriate]]s