Timeline Estonia
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The smallest of the Baltic states Estonia has some 1.4
million people
and is about the size of Vermont and New Hampshire. Suur Nunamagi is
the highest point in all of the Baltics at 318 meters (1,043 ft). The
country has more than 1400 lakes of which Lake Peipus, the 4th largest
in Europe, is shared with Russia.
(SFC, 4/21/03, p.E3)(SSFC, 5/23/04, p.D10)(SSFC,
7/22/07, p.G6)
Heavily forested Estonia lies on the eastern
shore of the Baltic Sea, covering some 17,550 square miles. It's
bounded to the east by Russia and to the south by Latvia.
(AP, 9/14/03)
1030
The city of Tartu was founded.
(Hem, 4/96, p.24)
1200-1300 The Danes built a castle at Narva.
(WSJ, 1/25/99, p.A1)
1270 Feb 16, In the Karusa Ice war
in Estonia, Lithuanian forces defeated the Livonian Knights of the
Cross.
(LHC, 2/16/03)
1300-1400 The town hall of Tallinn, Estonia, was
founded.
(BN, 10/96, p.2)
1341 German Knights of the Cross
negotiated the acquisition of Tallinn from Denmark and took over all of
Estonia.
(Ist. L.H., 1948, p. 61)
1561 Poland-Lithuania gaining
control over Livonia. In response Sweden seized the territory of
Estonia with the major port of Reval. Denmark, also invested in
the war, seized the Livonian Islands.
(http://tinyurl.com/bngyy)
1582 Jan 15, Russia ceded Livonia
and Estonia to Poland, and lost access to Baltic.
(MC, 1/15/02)
1632 Estonia’s Tartu Univ. was
founded in Tartu, on the banks of the Emajogi River.
(Hem, 4/96, p.23)
c1669 The King of Sweden took over
Estonia and cast his eye over to Livonija, then under Lithuanian
control. Jonas Karolis Katkus (Chodkevicius), a military leader,
gathered a small army and moved to stop the Swedish advance. He
approached Riga with some 4,000 men against a Swedish force of 14,000
and was able to repel them successfully.
(H of L, 1931, p.76-78)
1718-1736 Russian Czar Peter the Great, having
conquered Estonia in the Great Northern War, constructed the baroque,
peach and white Kadriorg Palace on the outskirts of Tallinn.
(Hem, 4/96, p.23)(CNT, 3/04, p.145)
1870 The Vanemuine Theater was
founded in Tartu, Estonia.
(Hem, 4/96, p.23)
1901 Nov 19, Louis Kahn (d.1974),
architect, was born in Saarama, Estonia. His designs included the
capital building of Bangladesh, completed in 1983.
(PBS, Internet)
1905 Herman Ammende, a rich
merchant, built the Ammende Villa at Parnu beach.
(CNT, 3/04, p.150)
1918 Feb 15, Estonia, Latvia &
Lithuania adopted the Gregorian calendar.
(440 Int’l., 2/15/99)
1918 Feb 22, Germany claimed the
Baltic states, Finland and Ukraine from Russia.
(MC, 2/22/02)
1918 Feb 24, Estonia's
Independence Day. Estonia proclaimed independence from Russia.
(LHC,
2/23/03)(www.historycommission.ee/temp/conclusions_frame.htm)
1918 Mar 3, Germany,
Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire and Russia signed the
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which ended Russian participation in World War
I. Germany and Austria forced Soviet Russia to sign the Peace of Brest,
which called for the establishment of 5 independent countries: Estonia,
Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk,
which ended Russian participation in World War I, was annulled by the
November 1918 armistice. The treaty deprived the Soviets of White
Russia.
(HN, 3/3/99)(LHC, 3/1/03)(AP, 3/3/08)
1918 Nov 19, An agreement was
signed in Riga between the chief commissioner of the German government
in Estonia and Latvia, August Winnig, and representatives of the
Estonian Provisional Government, whereby Germany transferred supreme
power in Estonia to the provisional government.
(www.historycommission.ee/temp/conclusions_frame.htm)
1918 Nov 28, Soviet Russia massed
Red Army units at the Estonian border and attacked Narva.
(www.historycommission.ee/temp/conclusions_frame.htm)
1918 Nov 29, The Provisional
Government of the Republic of Estonia declared a general mobilization.
The Estonian War of Independence began.
(www.historycommission.ee/temp/conclusions_frame.htm)
1918 Idel-Ural (Volga-Ural), a
1917 union of Finno-Ugric people in the middle of Russia, was crushed
by the Bolsheviks. Its foreign minister Sadri Maqsudi Arsal was
welcomed in Finland and then Estonia.
(Econ, 12/24/05, p.73)
1919 Jan-1919 Feb, Red Army units
were driven out of Estonia.
(www.historycommission.ee/temp/conclusions_frame.htm)
1920 Estonia adopted a
constitution.
(www.historycommission.ee/temp/conclusions_frame.htm)
1921 Feb 2, The Tartu Peace Treaty
between Estonia and the Soviet Union recognized a free and independent
Estonian Republic in perpetuity with fixed borders recognized in the
treaty.
(BN, V.15, No.55,
p.4)(www.historycommission.ee/temp/conclusions_frame.htm)
1921 Sep 22, Estonia became a
member of the League of Nations.
(www.historycommission.ee/temp/conclusions_frame.htm)
1924 Dec 1, Estonian communists
attempted a rebellion under the guidance of agents sent from the Soviet
Union. It was put down the same day.
(www.historycommission.ee/temp/conclusions_frame.htm)
1925 The Estonia Parliament passed
the national minorities cultural autonomy act. It allowed Russians,
Germans, Jews and Swedes to complete secondary school education in
their own language.
(www.historycommission.ee/temp/conclusions_frame.htm)
1928 Newspapers across the US
published “Visiting the World Children,” a geography aid for American
kids with pictures that were to be colored and clipped. Book No.34 was
titled “Some Children in Esthonia, the Potato Republic.”
(BN, V.15, No.55, p.1)
1934 Jan 24, Estonia’s new
Constitution went into effect. It was backed by the right-wing Vaps
Movement and gave the president sweeping powers.
(www.historycommission.ee/temp/conclusions_frame.htm)
1934 Mar 12, PM Konstantin
Päts declared a state of national emergency and asked the leader
of the Estonian Army, Lt. General Johan Laidoner, to accept the
position of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. Vaps organizations
were shut down and their leaders were jailed.
(www.historycommission.ee/temp/conclusions_frame.htm)
1934 Sep 12, Estonia, Latvia &
Lithuania signed the Baltic Entente in Geneva against the USSR.
(LC, 1998, p.24)(MC, 9/12/01)
1934 Oct 2, Estonia’s government
dissolved the parliament.
(www.historycommission.ee/temp/conclusions_frame.htm)
1937 Estonia’s Rahvuskogu
(National Assembly) was convoked and worked out a new Constitution.
(www.historycommission.ee/temp/conclusions_frame.htm)
1938 Jan 1, Estonia’s new
Constitution went into effect.
(www.historycommission.ee/temp/conclusions_frame.htm)
1938 Apr, Konstantin Päts was
elected president of Estonia.
(www.historycommission.ee/temp/conclusions_frame.htm)
1938 May, Estonia’s Pres.
Konstantin Päts granted an amnesty to release 183 political
prisoners from prison.
(www.historycommission.ee/temp/conclusions_frame.htm)
1939 Aug 23, German Foreign
Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and Soviet Commissar for Foreign
Affairs Vyacheslav M. Molotov signed a Treaty of Non-Aggression, the
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact freeing Hitler to invade Poland and Stalin to
invade Finland. Secret protocols, made public years later, were added
that assigned Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Bessarabia to be within the
Soviet sphere of influence. Poland was partitioned along the rivers
Narev, Vistula and San. Germany retained Lithuania enlarged by the
inclusion of Vilnius. Just days after the signing, Germany invaded
Poland, and by the end of September, both powers had claimed sections
of Poland.
(WP, 6/29/96, p.A16)(AP, 8/23/97) (HNPD,
8/22/98)(HN, 8/23/98)
1939 Sep 28, The Boundary and
Friendship Treaty between the USSR and Germany was supplemented by
secret protocols to amend the secret protocols of Aug 23. Among other
things Lithuania was reassigned to the Soviet sphere of influence.
Poland’s partition line was moved eastwards from the Vistula line to
the line of the Bug. Germany kept a small part of south-west Lithuania,
the Uznemune region. A separate Soviet mutual defense pact was signed
with Estonia that allowed 25,000 Soviet troops to be stationed there.
(DrEE, 9/28/96, p.3)(DrEE, 10/26/96, p.4)(DrEE,
10/26/96, p.4)
1939 Oct 6, Adolph Hitler called
upon all Germans living in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Italy and Russia
to relocate to Germany.
(www.historycommission.ee/temp/conclusions_frame.htm)
1939 Oct-1940 May, Some 14,000
Germans in Estonia left for resettlement Germany.
(www.historycommission.ee/temp/conclusions_frame.htm)
1940 Jun 16, Soviet Foreign
Minister Molotov presented August Rei, Estonia’s envoy in Moscow, an
ultimatum to allow an unlimited number of Soviet troops, which was
accepted. Latvia received a similar ultimatum.
(DrEE, 10/26/96,
p.4)(www.historycommission.ee/temp/conclusions_frame.htm)
1940 Jun 17, The Soviet Union
occupied Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.
(HN, 6/17/98)
1940 Jun 18, The Soviet occupation
of Estonia was completed. The government of PM Jüri Uluots
resigned.
(DrEE, 10/26/96,
p.4)(www.historycommission.ee/temp/conclusions_frame.htm)
1940 Jun 21, Estonia’s Pres.
Päts appointed a new government led by PM Johannes Vares under
pressure from Andrei Zhdanov, head of the Leningrad branch of the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
(www.historycommission.ee/temp/conclusions_frame.htm)
1940 Jun-1941 Jul, After a
Communist coup leading Estonian Republic officials were mass-murdered
in Tallinn.
(BN, 10/97, p.3)
1940 Jul 17, General Laidoner, the
last Commander-in-Chief of the Estonian Armed Forces, was deported with
his wife to banishment in Penza. He died in Vladimir Prison in 1953.
(www.historycommission.ee/temp/conclusions_frame.htm)
1940 Jul 21, The new
USSR-organized parliaments of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania held
simultaneous sessions. They declared their countries to be soviet
socialist republics and applied for admission to the USSR.
(www.historycommission.ee/temp/conclusions_frame.htm)
1940 Jul 30, President Päts
was deported with his son, daughter-in-law and two grandsons to
banishment in Ufa. Päts died in a special mental hospital in
Kalinin oblast in 1956.
(www.historycommission.ee/temp/conclusions_frame.htm)
1940 Aug 3, The Supreme Soviet
officially registered the acceptance of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania
into the USSR.
(SC,
8/3/02)(www.historycommission.ee/temp/conclusions_frame.htm)
1940 Aug 25, The ‘parliaments’ of
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania declared themselves ‘provisional Supreme
Soviets’ and adopted new constitutions that were composed according to
the example of the constitutions of already existing union republics of
the USSR.
(www.historycommission.ee/temp/conclusions_frame.htm)
1940 Aug, The Armies of Estonia,
Latvia and Lithuania were reorganized as territorial rifle corps of the
Red Army and placed under the control of the political leaders of the
Red Army.
(www.historycommission.ee/temp/conclusions_frame.htm)
1940-1941 The NKVD imprisoned nearly 1000 citizens
and residents of the Republic of Estonia in 1940. The NKVD and NKGB
imprisoned nearly 6000 in 1941. The overwhelming majority of them were
convicted and sent to prison camps in the USSR where most of them died.
(www.historycommission.ee/temp/conclusions_frame.htm)
1941 Jan-1941 Apr, Another 7,500
individuals left Estonia for resettlement in Germany.
(www.historycommission.ee/temp/conclusions_frame.htm)
1941 Jun 14, The Russian secret
police gathered up some 40,000 men, women and children and exiled them
to Siberia in cattle cars. This was the first of many shipments. Some
10,000 Estonians, more than 15,000 Latvians and between 16,000 and
18,000 Lithuanians were herded onto cattle trains and transported to
the far eastern reaches of the Soviet Union, where many of them died.
(WP, 6/29/96, p.A16)(http://tinyurl.com/5jxmas)
1941 Jun 14, Over 10,000 people
(10,861 according to some sources) were deported as whole families from
Estonia. About 230 Estonian officers serving in the 22nd Estonian
Territorial Corps of the Red Army were imprisoned at the summer camp of
the Estonian Army in southeastern Estonia. Most of them were sent to
the Norilsk prison camp, where most of them either died or were
executed.
(www.historycommission.ee/temp/conclusions_frame.htm)
1941 Jun 22, Estonians started
armed resistance against Soviet occupation.
(MC, 6/22/02)
1941 Jun-1941 Oct, Over 2000
civilians were killed in Estonia. This includes up to a hundred
so-called ‘forest brothers’ (Estonian patriotic partisans) who put up
armed resistance to retreating units of the NKVD, NKGB or Red Army.
(www.historycommission.ee/temp/conclusions_frame.htm)
1941 Jul 8, Under Nazi occupation
all Jews living in the Baltic States were obligated to wear the Star of
David.
(MC, 7/8/02)
1941 Jul-1941 Aug, Some
32,000–33,000 Estonian men were gathered and taken to the USSR. About
3000 perished on the way.
(www.historycommission.ee/temp/conclusions_frame.htm)
1941 Oct, Some 243 Estonian Roma
(Gypsies) were killed in Estonia.
(www.historycommission.ee/temp/conclusions_frame.htm)
1942 Aug 7, The Nazi 36th Police
Battalion, made up of ethnic Estonians, massacred some 2,500 Jews at
Novogrudok, Belarus (according to the Simon Wiesenthal Foundation).
(SSFC, 2/15/04, p.A4)
1942 A labor camp was established
at Jägala, commanded by Aleksander Laak, an Estonian. During 1942
several transports arrived from Terezin. Some 3,000 Jews not selected
for work were taken to Kalevi-Liiva and shot. The Jägala camp was
liquidated in the spring of 1943: most of the prisoners were shot.
(www.historycommission.ee/temp/conclusions_frame.htm)
1943 Sep, A camp complex based at
Vaivara, Estonia, was established, commanded by German officers (Hans
Aumeier, Otto Brennais and Franz von Bodman). The complex consisted of
approximately twenty field camps, some of which existed only for short
periods. As the Russians advanced in autumn 1944, a number of prisoners
were evacuated by sea to the concentration camp in Stutthof, near
Danzig. At Klooga, approximately 2,000 prisoners were shot, their
bodies stacked on pyres and burned.
(www.historycommission.ee/temp/conclusions_frame.htm)
1943 The ballet “Kratt” (The
Goblin) by Eduard Tubin was first performed in Estonia. Tubin left the
country in 1944 and took up residence in Stockholm.
(SFC, 2/13/98, p.C8)
1943 Michael Gorshkow,
Estonian-Nazi interrogator, helped round up some 3,000 Jewish men,
women and children at Slutsk, Belarus, where they were shot to death.
(SSFC, 2/15/04, p.A4)
1944 Gustav Ernesaks, father of
modern Estonian choral music, founded the State Academic Male Chorus
(RAM). He directed it until 1975.
(BN, 10/96, p.3)
c1946 After WW II Narva, Estonia,
was rebuilt as a giant Soviet industrial park and tens of thousands of
immigrants came to work in the regions metal factories and
nuclear-power plant.
(WSJ, 12/2/04, p.A11)
1949 Mar, Some 20,000 Estonian
civilians were rounded up and deported to Siberia under orders from
Joseph Stalin.
(SFC, 4/3/04, p.A10)
1953-1954 Members of the Estonian Forest Brothers
resistance movement were killed by Stalin's NKVD secret police.
(SFC, 4/3/04, p.A10)
1959 Veljo Tormis composed his
11-minute effusion “Overture No. 2.”
(SFC,11/6/97, p.C9)
1962 Estonia convicted US resident
Karl Linnas in absentia of being a Nazi war criminal and sentenced him
to death.
(http://tinyurl.com/qa66b)
1982 Composer Eduard Tubin died in
Stockholm.
(SFC, 2/13/98, p.C8)
1987 Jul 2, Karl Linnas, accused
Nazi, died of heart failure in Leningrad Russia. In 1962 he was
convicted in Estonia of being a Nazi war criminal and sentenced to
death in absentia.
(http://tinyurl.com/mqvzq)
1989 Aug 23, Approximately two
million people joined their hands to form an over 600 km (373 mi) long
human chain across the three Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia, and
Lithuania. This original demonstration was organized to draw the
world's attention to the common historical fate which these three
countries suffered. It marked the 50th anniversary of August 23, 1939,
when the Soviet Union and Germany in the secret protocol of the
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact divided spheres of interest in Eastern Europe,
which led to the occupation of these three states.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltic_Way)
1990 May 12, The presidents of
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania forged a united front by reviving a 1934
political alliance in hopes of enhancing their drive for independence
from the Soviet Union.
(AP, 5/12/00)
1990 May 14, In separate decrees,
Soviet President Gorbachev declared that the republics of Estonia and
Latvia had no legal basis for moving toward independence.
(AP, 5/14/00)
1991 Mar 3, Latvia and Estonia
voted to become independent of the USSR.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1991 Sep 6, In the Soviet Union,
the State Council, a new executive body composed of President Mikhail
S. Gorbachev and republic leaders, recognized the independence of the
Baltic states. All three were admitted into the UN later this month.
(AP,
9/6/01)(http://countrystudies.us/lithuania/25.htm)
1991 Sep 14, US Secretary of State
James A. Baker III met with leaders of the Baltic nations, which had
declared independence from the Soviet Union.
(AP, 9/14/01)
1991 Sep 17, The U.N. General
Assembly opened its 46th session, welcoming new members Estonia,
Latvia, Lithuania, North and South Korea, the Marshall Islands and
Micronesia.
(AP, 9/17/01)
1991 City Paper was founded in
Tallinn shortly after independence.
(USAT, 6/11/04, p.5D)
1992 Mar 5, In Copenhagen the
Ministers for Foreign Affairs of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany,
Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia and Sweden, in the presence
of the representative from the European Commission, opened a 2-day
meeting and decided to establish a Council of the Baltic Sea States to
serve as a forum for guidance and overall coordination among the
participating states. Iceland joined the CBSS in 1995
(Econ, 6/7/08,
p.63)(www.bmwi.de/English/Navigation/European-policy/baltic-market.html)
1992 In Estonia Mart Laar (32) was
sworn in as prime minister. The fiscal conservative led the 1992-94 and
1999-2002 governments.
(AP, 4/10/03)
1992 Estonia began to mint its own
legal tender, the kroon.
(Hem, 4/96, p.23)
1992 Estonia revamped its
intelligence service with a small British-trained unit.
(Econ, 12/23/06, p.74)
1993 Aleksander Einseln returned
to Estonia from the Bay Area and became commander of the military. He
planned to run for parliament in 1999.
(BN, 10/98, p.6)
1994 Jun, In the infamous “June
Agreement” Estonia Pres. Meri bypassed lawmakers when he signed a deal
on the withdrawal of Russian troops and social guarantees for Russian
military retirees.
(SFC, 9/21/96, p.A10)(BN, 10/96, p.3)
1994 Aug 31, Russia officially
ended its military presence in the former East Germany and the Baltics
after a half-century.
(AP, 8/31/99)
1994 Sep 28, More than 900 people
died when the ferry Estonia capsized and sank Off the Finnish coast in
the Baltic sea. 852 people of 989 onboard were killed. In 1999 evidence
was reported that 3 explosive devices had been placed on the ship's
visor-like bow door.
(AP, 9/28/99)(SFC, 12/31/99, p.A16)
1994 Estonia became the 1st
European country to introduce a flat tax (26%) on personal and
corporate income. Latvia and Lithuania soon followed suit.
(Econ, 3/5/05, p.54)
1995 Royalists in Estonia invited
Prince Edward of the British Royal family to wear the Estonian crown.
(Hem, 4/96, p.23)
1996 Sep 16, The US cut off aid
and the Estonian government threw a party.
(BN, 10/96, p.2)
1996 Sep 20, Estonia’s Pres.
Lennart Meri was re-elected to a second term of 5 years in the largely
ceremonial post.
(SFC, 9/21/96, p.A10)(BN, 10/96, p.3)
1996 Sep 27, US Defense Sec.
William Perry said the 3 Baltic nations would not be among the first
new NATO members drawn from Eastern Europe. The Estonian armed forces
number only 4,500 troops.
(SFC, 9/28/96, p.A8)
1996 Nov, In Estonia Foreign
Minister Siim Kallas of the right-of-center Reform Party was replaced
by Toomas Hendrik Ilves by Prime Minister Tiit Vahi. Kallas had led a
coalition with the Centrist Union Party and the left-of-center Farmers
Union until the “Tape-gate” scandal in the spring of Center party
leader Edgar Savisaar.
(BN, V.15, No.55, p.4)
1997 Apr, Three container ships
with military hardware were unloaded in Tallinn. They were donations
from the US of automatic weapons and small arms as well as ammunition
for the Estonian Defense Forces.
(BN, 7/97, p.3)
1997 Jun, Terms of the Baltnet
Group, an Air Surveillance System for Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia,
were established in Oslo, Norway.
(http://tinyurl.com/a6o2n)
1997 Oct, The Estonian
Philharmonic and Tallinn Chamber Orchestra toured the US and performed
music by composer Arvo Part.
(WSJ, 10/14/97, p.A20)
1998 Jan 16, Baltic leaders signed
an agreement, the US-Baltics Charter of Partnership, at the White House
strengthening US and NATO ties with Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. The
leaders also established a $15 million fund with equal contributions
from the Agency for Int’l. Development and George Soros to promote
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).
(WSJ, 1/16/98, p.A1)(SFC, 1/17/98, p.A8)
1998 Jul 4, In the annual Wife
Carrying World Championships in Finland, 2 Estonian couples won top
honors in the 278 yard course in Sonkajarvi.
(SFEC, 7/5/98, p.A2)
1998 Jul, After the failure of
Estonia’s Maabank, a partly government-owned “country bank,” a third of
its deposits was turned over to Iuhispank, another bank with government
links.
(BN, 10/98, p.4)
1998 Nov 18, The Swedish bank
Skandinavska Enskilda acquired a 32% stake in Eesti Uhispank, as well
as a 36% stake in Latvia’s Latvijas Unibanka.
(WSJ, 11/19/98, p.A16)
1998 Dec 8, Estonia’s Parliament
approved an amendment to its citizenship law that made it easier for
its Russian-speaking minority to become citizens. It granted
citizenship to some 6,500 children born in Estonia of Russian parents
following the 1991 independence.
(SFC, 12/9/98, p.B8)
1998 A documentary video on the
Baltic States: “Seven years of Success and Still Growing” was produced.
(BN, 10/98, p.6)
1999 Feb 11, The Estonian Bowed
Piano Ensemble performed in San Francisco with the Colorado Bowed Piano
Ensemble.
(BN, 3/99, p.5)
1999 Mar 5, Elections in Estonia
were held for the 101 seats of the Riigikogu (parliament).
(BN, 3/99, p.4)
1999 Jul 30, Mikhail Neverovsky
(79), a former KGB agent, was convicted of crimes against humanity and
sentenced to 4 years in prison in Estonia. He had participated in mass
deportations during the Soviet era 50 years earlier.
(SFC, 7/31/99, p.A7)
2000 Nov, Estonia planned a rail
transport system with Asia to replace declining Russian oil products
shipped from Tallinn.
(WSJ, 11/13/00, p.B19B)
2000 Estonia’s government decided
to go paperless and conduct as much business as possible online.
(NW, 5/13/02, p.72)
2001 Sep 13, The death toll from
tainted alcohol, consumed in or near the seaside resort of Parnu,
Estonia, rose to 51. At least 85 more remained hospitalized and
methanol was blamed.
(SFC, 9/14/01, p.A32)
2001 Sep 21, Arnold Ruutel (73), a
former Communist leader in Estonia, was chosen as president by a
special government assembly.
(SFC, 9/22/01, p.A20)
2001 Estonia sold its entire rail
network (Eesti Raudtee) to an int’l. consortium of investors.
(Econ, 5/28/05, p.63)
2001 A UN world population report
showed that Estonia was one of the fastest shrinking nations on earth,
with a fertility rate of 1.3.
(WSJ, 10/20/06, p.A1)
2002 May 25, The Eurovision Song
Contest was set to take place in Tallinn, Estonia.
(NW, 5/13/02, p.72)
2002 Jun 8-2002 Jun 9, A weekend
meeting was held in Tallinn for Baltic and Nordic defense ministers.
Donald Rumsfeld, US Sec. of Defense, attended.
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.A13)
2002 Oct 9, The European Union's
executive Commission declared Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Cyprus,
Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovenia,
and Slovakia nearly ready for EU membership and recommended they be
invited to join in 2004. Romania and Bulgaria likely will be delayed
until 2007 because of weak economies, the Commission said, adding
Turkey was the weakest link among candidates.
(AP, 10/9/02)
2002 Nov 21, The Baltic nations of
Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania joined former communist states Bulgaria,
Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia as the next wave of NATO states.
(AP, 11/21/02)
2002 Dec 13, The EU reached
agreement to accept 10 new countries in 2004. These included Czech
Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland,
Slovakia, and Slovenia.
(SFC, 12/14/02, p.A3)
2003 Mar 2, In Estonia a
center-left party depicting itself as a champion of the poor barely won
the popular vote in parliamentary elections, which could make it
difficult to form a coalition government.
(AP, 3/3/03)
2003 Apr 10, In Estonia Juhan
Parts, a 36-year-old former auditor, took over as prime minister,
becoming Europe's youngest leader.
(AP, 4/10/03)
2003 Apr 21, Estonia was reported
to rank No. 2 in Internet banking and 3rd in e-government.
(SFC, 4/21/03, p.E3)
2003 Jul 6, The annual Wife
Carrying World Championship took place in Sonkajarvi, Finland. An
Estonian team was again favored to win.
(WSJ, 7/2/03, p.A1)
2003 Sep 14, Estonians passed a
referendum to join the European Union.
(AP, 9/15/03)
2003 Estonia’s GDP for the year
was 9.2 billion euros.
(WSJ, 12/14/04, p.A13)
2004 Jan 9, Estonian prosecutors
said they have launched an investigation into whether Michael Gorshkow,
an 80-year-old former U.S. resident, took part in the massacre of 3,000
Jews during World War II. Gorshkow (19) allegedly helped murder Jews in
the Slutsk ghetto of Belarus in 1943 while serving as an interpreter
and interrogator for the Gestapo.
(AP, 1/9/04)
2004 Mar 29, Pres. Bush hosted a
White House ceremony to welcome Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia,
Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia into the NATO alliance.
(WSJ, 3/30/04, p.A1)
2004 Apr 2, In Brussels an
official ceremony welcomed Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia,
Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia into the NATO alliance.
(SFC, 4/3/04, p.A11)
2004 Apr 27, Russian Foreign
Minister Sergey Lavrov and EU officials signed an accord extending the
EU-Russia partnership accord to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland,
Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Cyprus and Malta,
which join May 1.
(AP, 4/27/04)
2004 May 1, Revelers across
ex-communist eastern Europe celebrated their historic entry to the
European Union. 10 new members (Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia,
Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia)
joined. Malta joined with 70 exemptions to EU rules. Poland had 43
exemptions. Latvia had 32. The Turkish occupied area of Cyprus was
suspended from entry.
(AP, 5/1/04)(Econ, 2/28/04, p.50)(Econ, 4/16/05,
p.16)
2004 Jul 3, Two Estonian students
clinched the country's seventh straight wife-carrying world
championship on Saturday, winning the "wife's" weight in beer and a
sauna.
(AP, 7/4/04)
2004 Sep 2, A controversial
monument commemorating Estonians who fought in the German army against
Soviet troops during World War II was removed, after the government
said it damaged the Baltic state's image.
(AP, 9/2/04)
2004 Oct 25, In Iraq bombs hit 4
coalition and Iraqi convoys killing at least 12 including an American
and Estonian. Saboteurs blew up a pipeline feeding Iraq’s biggest
refinery.
(WSJ, 10/26/04, p.A1)
2004 Estonia began paying women up
to $1,560 for 15 months to have babies, in order to help reverse a
trend of declining population.
(WSJ, 10/20/06, p.A1)
2004-2006 Estonia expected to receive €253 million in
EU subsidies.
(WSJ, 12/14/04, p.A13)
2005 Jan 1, Estonia was forecast
for 6% GDP growth with a population at 1.3 million and GDP per head at
$9,310.
(Econ, 1/8/05, p.88)
2005 Jan 20, Estonia's Jewish
community broke ground on a new synagogue to replace the house of
worship destroyed by bombing in World War II.
(AP, 1/20/05)
2005 Mar 21, In Estonia PM Juhan
parts (38) resigned after lawmakers said they had no confidence in his
justice minister, Ken-Marti Vaher, due to an anti-corruption plan.
Pres. Arnold Ruutel had 2 weeks to nominate a new prime minister.
(SFC, 3/22/05, p.A3)
2005 Aug 10, The Sikorsky 76
helicopter on a scheduled flight from Tallinn to Helsinki, Finland,
went down with 2 pilots and 12 passengers about 3 miles off the coast
of Estonia.
(AP, 8/10/05)
2005 Sep 12, EBay has agreed to
buy fast-growing Internet start-up Skype for up to $4.1 billion in cash
and shares, in a move to tap new sources of growth and add free Web
telephone calls to its online auctions. Niklos Zennstrom of Sweden and
Janus Friis of Denmark founded Skype using a programming team from
Estonia.
(AP, 9/12/05)(Econ, 9/17/05, p.69)
2005 Sep 23, Maarike Harro,
director of the National Institute for Health Development said the
World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that one in every 100 people
in Estonia in the 15 to 49 age group may be infected with HIV.
(AFP, 9/23/05)
2006 Mar 14, Lennart Meri
(b.1929), Estonia’s former president (1992-2001), died overnight in
Tallinn. The writer, film director and statesman’s relentless struggle
against communist oppression helped the Baltic nation break free from
the Soviet Union in 1991. Among his most well-known films is the 1977
documentary "The Winds of the Milky Way," describing the lives of
Finno-Ugric people, which won a silver medal at the New York Film
Festival but was banned in the Soviet Union for its culturally
sensitive content.
(AP, 3/14/06)(Econ, 3/25/06, p.90)
2006 May 26, The government of
Estonia banned rallies near a statue in Tallinn marking the Red Army's
victory over Nazi Germany, moving to ease recent tensions between some
ethnic Estonians and native Russian speakers.
(AP, 5/26/06)
2006 Aug 22, Kristjan Lepik of
Tallinn, Estonia, settled theft charges with the SEC. He agreed to
return over $550,000 in trading profits and pay a $15,000 penalty for
illegally trading on corporate information. The SEC said Lepik and
co-worker Oliver Peek made at least $7.8 million trading on advanced
looks at hundreds of press releases.
(SFC, 8/23/06, p.C2)
2006 Aug 28, Ene Ergma (62), a
Soviet-trained astronomer, failed to win enough votes in parliament to
become Estonia's next president, forcing a new vote on a second
candidate.
(AP, 8/28/06)
2006 Sep 23, Toomas Hendrik Ilves
(52), a Western-leaning former diplomat and journalist, was narrowly
elected Estonia's president, ousting the incumbent who was favored in
the race.
(AP, 9/23/06)
2006 Oct 19, Queen Elizabeth II
arrived in Estonia on the last leg of a landmark trip to the Baltic
states, during which the 80-year-old monarch has repeatedly praised the
Baltic people for their determined fight for freedom.
(AFP, 10/19/06)
2006 Nov 27, Pres. Bush flew to
Estonia on his way to a NATO meeting centered on Afghanistan in Riga,
Latvia.
(WSJ, 11/28/06, p.A1)
2006 Dec 4, The Estlink cable
connected power grids of the Baltic States with Finland. The cost of
Estlink, which measures 100 kilometers (60 miles), was around 110
million euros (132 million dollars). It was built by Swiss-Swedish
group ABB.
(AP, 12/4/06)
2007 Jan 17, Russian lawmakers
sharply criticized Estonia for possible plans to remove a 1947 statue
that honors Red Army soldiers who helped drive Nazi forces from the
Baltic nation. Last week the Estonian president signed into law a bill
allowing for the removal of the statue. The monument upset many in the
country that suffered five decades of Soviet occupation.
(AP, 1/18/07)
2007 Feb 15, Estonian lawmakers
narrowly approved a bill calling for the removal of a Soviet war
memorial from their capital, ignoring Moscow's warning of "irreversible
consequences" for relations between the two countries.
(AP, 2/15/07)
2007 Feb 22, Estonia's president
vetoed legislation calling for the removal of a Soviet war memorial,
averting at least temporarily a confrontation with Russia. Estonia
chose Baltic herring over the pike in a government-sponsored contest to
find a fish suitable to join the blue, black and white flag, the blue
cornflower, limestone, and chimney swallow as national symbols.
(AP, 2/22/07)(http://tinyurl.com/2l7acu)
2007 Mar 4, Voting stations opened
in Estonia's first Parliamentary election since joining the EU. PM
Andrus Ansip's center-right Reform Party narrowly won parliamentary
elections. Ansip's party had 27.8% of the votes, ahead of the
left-leaning Center Party led by political veteran Edgar Savisaar,
which had 26.1%. Ansip pledged to preserve the market-friendly policies
credited with the Baltic nation's impressive growth. President Toomas
Hendrik Ilves likely will ask Ansip to form the next government of the
country of 1.3 million.
(AP, 3/4/07)
2007 Apr 26, In Estonia protesters
gathered at a Soviet war grave in downtown Tallinn, as authorities
prepared to remove the bodies despite Russia's angry objections.
Estonia's government intends to relocate the Soviet grave, believed to
contain the remains of 14 soldiers, and the Bronze Soldier statue next
to it.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 27, Estonia removed a
Soviet war memorial from downtown Tallinn under cover of darkness,
carrying out a plan that has rankled Russia and provoked protests that
left one person dead and dozens injured.
(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 28, In Estonia minority
Russian youths angry over the government's decision to remove a Soviet
war memorial from Tallinn rioted for a second night, with unrest
spreading to at least two other towns. 66 people were injured in the
capital, including six policemen. More than 500 people, many of them
adolescents, were detained overnight as vandals prowled the streets,
breaking shop windows and looting stores.
(AP, 4/28/07)
2007 May 2, Russian oil firms
rushed to re-route a quarter of their refined products exports away
from ports in Estonia after Russia's railways halted the route amid a
political dispute with Tallinn. Young Russians staged raucous protests
in Moscow to denounce neighboring Estonia for removing a Soviet war
memorial from its capital, and the Estonian ambassador said pro-Kremlin
activists tried to attack her as she arrived at a news conference.
(Reuters, 5/2/07)
2007 May 3, Russia lashed out at
the EU and NATO for supporting Estonia in its row with Moscow over the
relocation of a Soviet war monument.
(AP, 5/3/07)
2007 May 9, In the early hours
Internet traffic in Estonia spiked to thousands of times the normal
flow. May 10 was heavier still, forcing Estonia’s biggest bank to shut
down its online service for more than an hour. Hansabank continued
under assault and worked to block access to 300 suspect Internet
addresses. On March 12, 2009, Konstantin Goloskokov, an activist with
Russia's Nashi youth group and aide to a pro-Kremlin member of
parliament, said he had organized a network of sympathizers who
bombarded Estonian Internet sites with electronic requests, causing
them to crash.
(www.lunchoverip.com/2007/05/estonia_under_c.html)(Reuters, 3/12/09)
2007 May 16, Following a
six-decade wait, Estonia's 3,000-strong Jewish community inaugurated
its new and only synagogue in Tallinn in the presence of top Israeli
dignitaries.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 17, Estonia's defense
minister said that the massive cyber attacks that have crippled the
high-tech country's Web sites are a threat to national security, and
that it's possible the Russian government was behind them.
(Econ, 5/5/07, p.65)(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 24, Japanese Emperor
Akihito and Empress Michiko arrived in Estonia's seaside capital on
their first-ever visit to a former Soviet republic.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 Jun 6, PM Andrus Ansip said
Estonia is seeking help from Russia to find the culprits behind a
massive wave of attacks on the country's Internet infrastructure.
(AP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 6, Housing prices in the
major cities of Estonia, Latia and Lithuania were reported to average
around $202,375.
(WSJ, 6/6/07, p.B9)
2007 Aug 22, In Estonia
prosecutors said Arnold Meri (88), cousin of Estonia's late president
Lennart Meri, committed genocide by helping deport his countrymen to
Siberia in 1949.
(AP, 8/23/07)
2007 Sep 20, Estonia decided it
will not allow a German-Russian consortium to conduct a survey of its
exclusive economic zone in the Baltic Sea for a planned underwater gas
pipeline.
(AP, 9/20/07)
2007 Dec 20, Estonia, Latvia and
Lithuania along with 6 other EU members halted land and sea border
controls at midnight, becoming the first in a wave of new members of
Europe's passport-free Schengen zone.
(AFP, 12/20/07)(WSJ, 12/21/07, p.A1)
2007 James and Maureen Tusty
produced “The Singing Revolution,” a film that covered the Estonian
people’s move to re-establish independence. The film begins with
independence in 1918 and then moves to Soviet and German occupation
during WWII. The spirit of the nation is then captured with a focus on
how the singing nation moved re-establish itself in its non-violent
“singing revolution” (1987-1991).
(www.singingrevolution.com/cgi-local/content.cgi)
2008 Mar 12, The United States
signed agreements with EU members Latvia and Estonia that will enable
the tiny Baltic nations to join the U.S. visa waiver program this year.
(AP, 3/12/08)
2008 Jul 25, Estonia urged the EU
to take stronger action against Somali pirates attacking cargo ships
bound for Europe, after an Estonian sailor was held hostage for 41 days.
(AFP, 7/26/08)
2008 Jul 25, Energy companies in
the three Baltic states and Poland agreed to set up a joint venture to
develop a nuclear power plant in Lithuania.
(Reuters 7/25/08)
2008 Sep 21, Hermann Simm, a
middle ranking civil servant in Estonia’s defense ministry, was
arrested along with his wife and charged with spying for an unnamed
foreign power. He had set up and run a system for handling top secret
documents from NATO allies and handled security clearances for Estonian
officials in the military, security and intelligence services.
(Econ, 11/8/08, p.68)
2008 Dec 12, Estonia’s parliament
passed a law making it the first country to allow cellphone voting.
(WSJ, 12/13/08, p.A1)
2009 Jan 22, Estonia said it will
end its nearly six-year military mission in Iraq after it failed to
agree with the Iraqi government on terms for its troop deployment.
(AP, 1/22/09)
2009 Feb 25, An Estonian court
convicted a former top security official of treason for passing
domestic and NATO secrets to Russia, the Baltic country's biggest
espionage scandal since the Cold War. Herman Simm (61), the former head
of security at the Estonian Defense Ministry, pleaded guilty and was
sentenced to 12 years and six months in prison. Russia’s foreign
service (SVR) had recruited Mr. Simm on his holiday in Tunisia in 1995.
(AP, 2/25/09)(Econ, 2/28/09, p.56)
Go to http://www.timelinesdb.com
Subject = Estonia
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