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| Latvian War of Independence | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part ofRussian Civil War,Polish–Soviet War andEstonian War of Independence | ||||||||||
 The North Latvian Brigade enteringRiga in 1919 | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| Belligerents | ||||||||||
| 1918 – April 1919 | 1918 – April 1919 | |||||||||
| April–July 1919 | April–July 1919 | April–July 1919 | ||||||||
| July 1919–1920 | October–December 1919 | July 1919–1920 | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | ||||||||||
 Kārlis UlmanisOskars Kalpaks †Jānis BalodisDāvids SīmansonsJorģis ZemitānsRoberts Dambītis Ernst PõdderViktor Puskar Edward Rydz-Śmigły  Harold Alexander |  Rüdiger von der Goltz Alfred Fletcher Josef Bischoff  Pavel Bermondt-AvalovWalter von Eberhardt |  Vladimir LeninLeon TrotskyJukums VācietisSergei KamenevDmitry NadyozhnyVladimir GittisPēteris Slavens# | ||||||||
| Strength | ||||||||||
69,232 soldiers
| 45,000 soldiers
| |||||||||
| Casualties and losses | ||||||||||
840 killed
| 8,000 killed
| |||||||||
| ||||||||||
TheLatvian War of Independence (Latvian:Latvijas Neatkarības karš), sometimes calledLatvia's freedom battles (Latvijas brīvības cīņas) or theLatvian War of Liberation (Latvijas atbrīvošanas karš), was a series of military conflicts inLatvia between 5 December 1918, after the newly proclaimedRepublic of Latvia was invaded bySoviet Russia, and the signing of theLatvian-Soviet Riga Peace Treaty on 11 August 1920.[12]
The war can be divided into several stages: Soviet offensive, German-Latvian liberation ofKurzeme andRiga, Estonian-Latvian liberation ofVidzeme,Bermontian offensive, and Latvian-Polish liberation ofLatgale.
The war involved Latvia (itsprovisional government supported byEstonia,Poland and the Western Allies—particularly the navy ofUnited Kingdom) against the Russian SFSR and theBolsheviks' short-livedLatvian Socialist Soviet Republic.Germany and theBaltic nobility added another level of intrigue, initially being nominally allied to the Nationalist/Allied force but attempting to jockey for German domination of Latvia. Eventually, tensions flared up after a German coup against the Latvian government, leading to open war.
Following a cease-fire, a ploy was developed by the Germans, nominally dissolving into theWest Russian Volunteer Army led by Gen.Pavel Bermont-Avalov. This West Russian Volunteer Army included Germans and former Russian prisoners of war nominally allied with theWhite Army in theRussian Civil War, but both Bermondt-Avalov and von der Goltz were more interested in eliminating the nationalists than fighting the Bolsheviks.
Certain episodes of the Latvian Independence War were also part of thePolish-Soviet War, particularly theBattle of Daugavpils.
On 18 November 1918 thePeople's Council of Latvia proclaimed the Independence of the Republic of Latvia and created theLatvian Provisional Government headed byKārlis Ulmanis.
On 1 December 1918, the newly proclaimed republic was invaded bySoviet Russia. Much of the invading army in Latvia consisted ofRed Latvian Riflemen, which made the invasion easier. The Soviet offensive met little resistance.
In the northAlūksne was taken on 7 December,Valka on 18 December, andCēsis on 23 December, in the southDaugavpils was taken on 9 December, and finallyPļaviņas on 17 December.
Riga was captured by the Red Army on 3 January 1919. By the end of January, the Latvian Provisional Government and remaining German units had retreated all the way toLiepāja, but then the Red offensive stalled along theVenta river.
TheLatvian Socialist Soviet Republic was officially proclaimed on 13 January with the political, economic, and military backing of Soviet Russia and on 17 January, a constitution was made for the newly made puppet state.
During this period, on 15 January, occurred the battle of Lielauce, where the Latvian independent battalion, headed by Oskars Kalpaks managed to stop the Soviet offensive. This battle was crucial for the morale of the Latvian soldiers. The German forces on whom the Latvian temporarily relied, however, had lost a battle at Auce, so an order was received to retreat to the river Venta.
14 days later, on 29 January, the Latvian independent battalion was once again fighting a battle, this time near Skrunda. This time, however, Latvian troops were on the offensive. The Soviet forces had managed to establish a bridgehead over the river Venta, capturing the town of Skrunda on 22 January. The Venta defensive line had to be reestablished, so a counter-offensive maneuver was ordered to be overtaken. The Latvian independent battalion managed to retake the town in 3 hours. After the battle was won, the Soviet offensives ceased.
On 18 February, an agreement was signed between Latvia and Estonia, starting formation of theNorth Latvian Brigade led byJorģis Zemitāns on Estonian territory.
On 3 March, theGerman and Latvian forces commenced a counterattack against the Red Latvian Riflemen.Tukums was recaptured from the Bolsheviks on 15 March, andJelgava on 18 March.
On 16 April, theBaltic nobility organised acoup d'etat in Liepāja and a puppet government headed byAndrievs Niedra was established.[13] The provisional national government took refuge aboard the steamshipSaratov under British protection inLiepāja harbour.[14]
On 22 May,Riga was recaptured by theIron Division and organised persecution of suspected Bolshevik supporters began, with an estimated 174 (according to the head of Rīga's Gendarmerie) to 4,000–5,000 people (according to local social democrats and communists) being shot.[15]At the same time the Estonian Army including the North Latvian Brigade loyal to the Ulmanis government started a major offensive against the Soviets in north Latvia. By the middle of June, the Soviet rule was reduced to the area surroundingLatgale.
After the capture of Riga theBaltische Landeswehr and Iron Division advanced north towardsCēsis. The objective of the Landeswehr and Iron Division had now clearly become the establishment of German supremacy in the Baltic by eliminating the Estonian military and Latvian national units, not the defeat of the Bolsheviks. The Estonian commander GeneralJohan Laidoner insisted the Landeswehr withdraw to a line south of theGauja River. He also ordered the Estonian 3rd Division to seize theGulbene railroad station.
On June 19, 1919, the Landeswehr and the Iron Division launched anattack to capture Cēsis. Initially, theFreikorps formation captured the town ofStraupe and continued their advance toward the town ofLimbaži. The Estonian division launched a counterattack and drove the Landeswehr out of the town. On June 21, the Estonians received reinforcements and immediately attacked the Landeswehr, who withdrew from an area to the northeast of Cēsis. The Iron Division attacked from Straupe towards Stalbe in an effort to relieve pressure on the Landeswehr. On the morning of June 23, the Landeswehr began a general retreat toward Riga.[16]
The Allies again insisted that the Landeswehr and Iron Division withdraw their remaining troops from Latvia, and on July 3 intervened to impose anarmistice between Estonia, Latvia, and the Landeswehr and Iron Division when the Latvians were about to march into Riga.By its terms the legitimate government of Ulmanis was to be restored, the Baltic German Landeswehr be placed under the command of the British officerHarold Alexander and the Iron Division to leave Latvia. The government of Ulmanis returned to Riga on 8 July 1919 and the Landeswehr became a component of the Latvian National Army.
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The Iron Division, however, did not leave Latvia. Instead MajorBischoff created a German and Russian united Legion from over a dozen Freikorps units and Russian volunteers, then he turned the units over to theWest Russian Volunteer Army which was commanded byPavel Bermondt-Avalov. In total, the Iron Division transferred over 14,000 men, 64 aircraft, 56 artillery pieces, and 156 machine guns. Six cavalry units and a field hospital were also transferred. Together with the other German units Bermondt had 30 000 men strong army only 6000 of whom were Russians.
On October 8 the West Russian Volunteer Army started offensive against Riga. The offensive in the beginning saw huge potential, the Latvian government evacuated from Riga, and the left bank ofDaugava river in Riga got captured by the Bermondt forces. However, on October 15 Latvians crossed Daugava river north of Riga and capturedBolderāja andDaugavgrīva fortress. On November 10–11, 1919, the Latvian Armed Forces started a day long counter-offensive, the outnumbered Latvians managed to push the Bermondt forces out of Riga, after which the Latvian government returned to Riga.Jelgava was also captured by the Latvians in loss-making fights and by early December the entire West Russian Volunteer Army got pushed out of Latvia.
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In January 1920 the joint forces of Latvia and Poland launched an attack on the Bolsheviks in Latgale andtook Daugavpils. The Soviet Latvian government escaped toVelikiye Luki where it announced its dissolution on January 13. Units from the Estonian and Lithuanian armies also saw action alongside the Latvians, as well as Latvian partisans. The push continued until Latvian forces took hold of Zilupe on February 1 with some skirmishes continuing a few days afterwards, since a secret truce had been agreed on by the Latvians and Soviet Russia on January 30.
Peace talks began on 16 April 1920 with theLatvian–Soviet Peace Treaty being signed on 11 August 1920, officially ending the war.
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