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Since the PMC has been going for some 60 years here in Estonia, during which time we've seen such comings and goings as the regaining of independence, the imminent introduction of the Euro, and the Beatles concerts at the Lauluväljak, we feel fully qualified to present this, a multi part set of posts on the history of Estonia which will appear, now and again as we're given time.
There's unlikely to be anything new for Estonians, who therefore don't need to read on unless they want to check we're not peddling complete mistruths. The sources are likely to be the usual internet sites such as wikipedia and any links that arise therefrom, but this should save the reader some time in finding all this stuff themselves, the one or two books we have on the subject, and maybe the occasional word of mouth stuff.
You might also want to check out our posts about a year ago now, on the Estonian language.
At the very least we hope to dispel any misconceptions of Estonia being a slavic speaking country, being located in the Balkans or being a place with a lot of stones (although this last is in fact true)...
Part Six: End of Swedish Rule, Beginning of Russian
As seen in the previous post, Estonia came under the aegis of the Swedish empire, starting in the sixteenth century and being consolidated through the seventeenth at the high water mark of Swedish power. This was later to be viewed as something of a golden age and so was not set to last forever, as golden ages generally don't.
By 1700 some of the other European powers had had enough of this and an alliance of Russia, Denmark and Saxony attacked. The war went well for Sweden to begin with. The Danes were soon dissuaded from being a part of the squabble by their co-nordic enemies, who, together with the Dutch and British navies (the British later switched sides in this war, something to bear in mind when English people point the finger at Italy for doing the same in WW2) landed to the North of Copenhagen in August. The Danes were to reenter the war later on however. In November a Russian force besieged Narva, a town which has had far more than its fair share of destruction down the years, and this was defeated by a Swedish force somewhat smaller than it. Incidentally Swedish hegemony extended to the east of Estonia itself, to include Ingria, a region surrounding present-day St Petersburg (which was about to be founded) where a language related to Estonian was spoken.
Charles XII, the Swedish King, turned his attention to his enemies to the south, notably Augustus the Strong who ruled over a vast territory incorporating Saxony and the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth, defeating him twice, most decisvely at Fraustadt in 1706, but in so doing he left the back door open for Peter the Great (for it is he) of Russia to re-take parts of Ingria and found his eponymous polis. This was too much for Charles XII who, in a move that was eerily echoed in later invasions of Russia in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, led and ill-fated invasion of Russia via the Ukraine, with Moscow as his ulitmate aim. A series of setbacks culminating in the famous Battle of Poltava saw the end of his ambitions in that respect, though not the end of Swedish rule just yet.
Back to Estonia, Charles XII continued to maintain a navy in the Baltic and so remained a thorn in Peter's side, leading to the latter's eventual capture of Tallinn (and Riga) in 1710. Thus for the first time in its history, Tallinn came under Russian rule and an unhappy precedent was set. The Swedes took a long time to accept their loss of Tallinn and Estonia in general, continuing to launch harrassing raids on the country, and the Russian occupation did not become a de jure matter until the Treaty of Nystad in 1721. Finland remained a Swedish possession for much, much longer, happily for them.
The first century of Russian rule did not see a radical change in the Estonian way of life, however, with the Lutheran church remaining predominant and the ruling classes remaining largely German speaking. Modern day Estonia was split, as it had been for many centuries, between the Governate (Guberniya) of Estonia and the Governate of Livonia. The latter was centred around Riga, and incorporated much of South Estonia including Tartu. The Governate of Estonia enjoyed a very illustrious roster of governors down the years, including Price Aleksandr Danilovich Menshikov (1711-1719, a personal friend of Peter, also Duke of Ingria and even de facto ruler of Russia for two years during the reign of Catherine I), Gustav Otto Douglas (1738-1740, actually a Swedish turncoat who had been captured by the Russians and was now in their service) and Peter August Friedrich von Holstein-Beck (1743-1753, two beer brands in the one name). Estonia was no doubt a prestigious acquisition for the Russians, as indeed it has been for all of its occupiers.
This rather garish map depicts Russian gains (the dark green hatching) at Sweden's expense (yellow) following the 1721 Treaty of Nystad. Interestingly enough the Russians took the north shore of lake Ladoga from Finland, as they were to do once again in WW2. The territory gained includes all of modern day Estonia, the northern part of Latvia (which together with south Estonia made up the Livonian lands) and Ingria, the region to the East of the Narva River, and bits of Karelia.
