Republic of Estonia Estonian:Eesti Vabariik | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1918–1940 | |||||||||||
| Anthem: Mu isamaa, mu õnn ja rõõm My fatherland, my happiness and joy | |||||||||||
 Estonia in 1929 | |||||||||||
| Official languages | Estonian | ||||||||||
| Demonym | Estonian | ||||||||||
| Government | Unitary parliamentary republic | ||||||||||
| State Elder | |||||||||||
• 1920 – 1921 (first) | Ants Piip | ||||||||||
• 1921 – 1937[a] (last) | Konstantin Päts | ||||||||||
| President | |||||||||||
• 1938–1940 | Konstantin Päts | ||||||||||
| Prime Minister | |||||||||||
• 1918–1919 (first) | Konstantin Päts | ||||||||||
• 1939 – 1940 (last) | Jüri Uluots | ||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||
| 24 February 1918 | |||||||||||
| 1 December 1924 | |||||||||||
| 12 March 1934 | |||||||||||
| 21 June 1940 | |||||||||||
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| Today part of | |||||||||||
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The history of Estonia from 1918 to 1940 spanned theinterwar period from the end of theEstonian War of Independence until the outbreak ofWorld War II. It covers the years of parliamentary democracy, theGreat Depression and theperiod of corporatist authoritarian rule.
The Estonian state as it existed throughout theInterwar Period until it was replaced by theEstonian Soviet Socialist Republic is sometimes dubbed theFirst Republic of Estonia, but this terminology is often avoided for two main reasons:
Estonia won theEstonian War of Independence against bothSoviet Russia and the GermanFreikorps andBaltische Landeswehr volunteers. Independence was secured with theTartu Peace Treaty, signed on 2 February 1920.
The firstEstonian constitution was adopted by theConstituent Assembly on 15 April 1920. Established as a parliamentary democracy, legislative power was held by a 100-seat parliament orRiigikogu. Executive power was held by a government headed by aState Elder, separate from the office ofPrime Minister, and both answerable to the parliament.
TheRepublic of Estonia was recognised (de jure) byFinland on 7 July 1920,Poland on 31 December 1920,Argentina on 12 January 1921, by the Western Allies on 26 January 1921 and by India on 22 September 1921.[1] In 1921,Estonia became a full member of theLeague of Nations and developed successful economic relations with many countries, including theSoviet Union. The backbone of the Estonian economy became agricultural exports to the West, due to tens of thousands of small farm holdings being established as a result of land reforms that ended theBaltic German economic dominance. A new currency, theEstonian kroon, was introduced in 1928.
Estonian politics during the 1920s was dominated by unstable coalition governments, with a government lasting on average a period of 11 months. This was due to the large number of political parties holding seats in the Riigikogu, which often resulted in discord on specific issues. The 1920s also saw the development of national culture, with emphasis on Estonian language, history, education and ethnography. National minorities were granted cultural autonomy. Communism persisted as a threat to stability in the early 1920s but receded after a failed December1924 Estonian coup d'état attempt. A volunteerEstonian Defence League as subsequently established. However efforts to establish aBaltic League comprising the Baltic states, Finland and Poland, failed to materialise.
Estonia's export oriented economy was severely affected by theGreat Depression, with industry and agriculture declining 20% to 45% respectively.[2] As a consequence incomes declined, unemployment rose and the standard of living declined. This led to political turmoil and a further fragmentation of parliament, with the government changing six times in the two years before 1933. Calls for changing the constitution, reducing the powers of the parliament and establishing a presidency with extended powers found a receptive audience. TheVaps movement grew in popularity and influence and a new constitution drafted by the movement was passed by a referendum in October 1933.
The consequences of the depression eased in 1934, with the devaluation of the kroon and improved terms of trade. The passing of the second constitution in 1933 and the planned elections for a new president eased political tensions. With the prospect of Vaps movement achieving electoral victory,Konstantin Päts andJohan Laidoner conducted a militarycoup d’état on 12 March 1934, arresting hundreds of Vaps members.[3] This period between 1934 and 1938[4] (or 1940[5]) was known as the Era of Silence (Estonian:vaikiv ajastu).
A six-monthstate of emergency was declared, postponing the elections and political meetings were banned.[6] In 1935, Päts formed thePatriotic League, the only legal political organization in the country. Päts' goal was to organize the nation not by political views into parties, but by vocation into respectivecorporate chambers, in a way similar to in Fascist Italy,[7] following the same line asAustria,Portugal and many other countries of Europe.[8] In 1936, Päts helda referendum on convening a National Assembly to draft a new constitution.
During the interwar period, Estonia had pursued a policy of neutrality, but the fate of Estonia in World War II was decided by theGerman–Soviet Nonaggression Pact and itsSecret Additional Protocol of August 1939. In the agreement, the two great powers agreed to divide up the countries situated between them (Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland) with Estonia falling in the Soviet "sphere of influence". After the invasion of Poland, theOrzeł incident took place when the Polish submarineORPOrzeł looked for shelter inTallinn but escaped after theSoviet Union attacked Poland on 17 September 1939. Estonia's lack of will and/or inability to disarm and intern the crew caused the Soviet Union to accuse Estonia of "helping them escape" and claim that Estonia was not neutral. On 24 September 1939, the Soviet Union threatened Estonia with war unless allowed to establish military bases in the country — an ultimatum with which the Estonian government complied.[9]
In 1939, the Soviet Union forced amutual assistance treaty on Estonia, establishing Soviet military bases and ultimately leading tooccupation of the country in 1940.
[...] fascist Italy [...] developed a state structure known as the corporate state with the ruling party acting as a mediator between 'corporations' making up the body of the nation. Similar designs were quite popular elsewhere in the 1930s. The most prominent examples wereEstado Novo in Portugal (1932–1968) and Brazil (1937–1945), the AustrianStandestaat (1933–1938), and authoritarian experiments in Estonia, Romania, and some other countries of East and East-Central Europe,
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