Caught in the crossfire
Civilized Latvian history is purported to start with German crusaders invading and launching seven centuries of hegemony, symbolized by the German "founding" of Riga in 1201. In truth, Rīga had already been settled since the second century, and a trading center since the early Middle Ages.
Mēs esam kā starp vārtiem,
Starp vārtiem uzcēluši savas mājas
Kur tautām pāri staigāt.
We are as if between gates,
Between gates we have built our homes
For peoples to trample over.—Anna Brigadere (1861–1933), Latvian playwright, poet
After Peter the Great completed his invasion of Latvia (then Livonia) in the Great Northern War, he ended what the Latvians still regard a "golden age" under Sweden, in the process massacring every man and beast in his path. Scholars estimate less than 20,000 Latvians remained alive. While this was far from the first Russian aggression, it is this brutal conquest which Russia today points to as Latvia "historically being part of Russia."
To those who did not live through it, the suggestion that the Soviets—Allies in the destruction of Nazism—were worse than the Nazis seems preposterous, even immoral. Yet, for the territories of central Europe and the Baltics, Eastern Europe in the post-WWII Cold War divide, this was indeed the case. Stalin and Hitler both wreaked genocide upon Eastern Europe. Hitler's industrialization of genocide set it apart from all others before or since. That Stalin and Hitler eventually wound up on opposite sides does not ameliorate Stalin's crimes against humanity. And to also accuse Stalin of genocide does not lessen the unique horror Hitler inflicted upon the Jewish nation. (Some prominent Holocaust activists denounce the demand for Stalin's genocide to also be condemned as "false equating," insisting Jews were the only people to suffer genocide in WWII.1)
It was also Stalin who made possible the completeness of Hitler's annihilation of the Jewish nation caught between Germany and Russia. In the Baltics, Stalin's mass deportations only a week before Operation Barbarossa decapitated Jewish civil society—its religious and civic leadership, and merchant middle class killed or swept away to the Gulag. As a percentage of their population (5%), Jews suffered the heaviest losses (12% of those deported) in Stalin's first deportation and were also sent to the harshest conditions.
Millennia of conflict
The conflicts2 recorded along this '''timeline of Latvian history''' reflect only a fraction of the 3,000 to 4,000 years Latvians have lived along the Baltic Sea, let alone the more distant past. The settlement area of the Baltic tribes once spanned much further eastward: for example, "Volga" is a Baltic, not Russian, name. The invading—or retreating in the face of larger Slavic forces—Baltic tribes largely drove out the prior Finno-Ugric settlers — the Livs and today's Finns, Estonians, and Hungarians. Pockets of Livs remained settled in pockets along the Baltic shore. However, the Liv community dwindled in the 20th century, with the last native Livonian speaker passing away in 2013.
Despite the tragic dimensions and horrific toll of life in WWII, neither Stalin nor Hitler were the historically most devastating invader: after Peter the Great's campaign in the Great Northern War, less than 20,000 Latvians were left
alive.
7th century
Year | Event |
650 | The Curonians and Livonians were paying tribute to king Ivar Vidfamne of Scania |
8th century
Year | Event |
c.750 | In the legendary Battle of Brávellir Curonians fight at the side of Sigurd Hring, king of Sweden, and Livonians under their duke Ger (''Ger Livicus'') at the side of Harald Wartooth, king of Denmark. According to Norna-Gests þáttr Sigurd Hring fought against the invading Curonians (''Kúrir'') in the southern part of what today is Sweden3 |
before 800 | The ancient Balts begin to form specific tribal realms. |
9th century
Year | Event |
800 | The Curonians rebel against the Swedes and refuse to pay them tribute. |
850 | The Danish king marshals a great fleet and sails to Courland in order to take over their goods and to make the Curonians pay tribute. The Curonians gather forces from all five of their towns and butcher half the Danish army and plunder their war ships. |
854 | King Olaf of Sweden with 7,000 armed men attacks towns of Seeburg and Apulia. Curonians declare they wish to be the subjects of the Swedish kings as in former times. |
870 | The legendary Danish king Hadingus wages wars in the Baltic and achieves victory against Curonian tyrant Loker (''Loker, Curetum tyrannus'') and king Handwanus of Duna (''Duna urbs''), that is, the future-named Riga. |
890 | The Curonian king Dorno (''Curetum rex Dorno''), one of the legendary kings in Saxo Grammaticus' ''Gesta Danorum'', fights against the legendary Danish king Frotho I. |
10th century
Year | Event |
925 | Egils Saga describes the expedition of Icelandic Vikings Thorolf and Egill Skallagrímsson by the Eastern route (''Austrvegr''), where they won much wealth and had many battles. In Courland they made a peace for half a month and traded with the men of the land.4 |
950 | The Norse prince Ragnvald (Rogvolod of Polatsk) comes from overseas and subjugates hillforts along the Daugava River. His capital is established at Polotsk. |
11th century
Year | Event |
before 1100 | The borders of the Baltic realms of Courland, Semigallia, Tālava, Koknese and Jersika (known as ''Lettia'') are settled. |
12th century
Year | Event |
1106 | Semigallians completely destroy the united armies of the sons of Prince Vseslav of Polotsk in the lowlands of the Daugava. |
1111 | Prince of Novgorod Mstislav Vladimirovich invades eastern part of Tālava (Adzele) and Ugandi. |
1180 | Prince Mstislav Rostislavich leads the Novgorodians against the Letts of Tālava. |
1184 | The monk Saint Meinhard begins missionary work among the Livonian people. |
1186 | Meinhard is appointed bishop of Livonia by Pope Urban III. |
1198 | Bishop Berthold of Hanover arrives at the mouth of the Daugava River accompanied by crusaders and is killed in battle with the Livonians. |
1199 | Albert of Riga is elected the third bishop of Livonia. Pope Innocent III proclaims a second Baltic Crusade. |
13th century
Year | Event |
1201 | Bishop Albert "founds" Riga at the site of an existing Livonian settlement. |
1202 | The Catholic military order of Livonian Brothers of the Sword is founded under the aegis of Bishop Albert. |
1206 | The Brothers of the Sword and their Semigallian allies defeat Livonians at Turaida. Kaupo, once the leader of the Livonians, turns against his own people in the service of the Catholic crusaders. |
1217 | The Brothers of the Sword and their Livonian and Latgalian allies defeat Estonians at the Battle of St. Matthew's Day near Viljandi. |
1229 | Bishop Albert dies. |
1236 | ''Battle of Saule'': The Brothers of the Sword are defeated in the Land of Saule (''terra Sauleorum'') by combined forces of Samogitians and Semigallians. |
1242 | Alexander Nevsky defeats the Livonian Order on Lake Peipus. |
1255 | The Bishopric at Riga is elevated to become the Archbishopric of Riga. |
1282 | Riga joins the Hanseatic League. |
14th century
Year | Event |
1378 | The Livonian Order raids Upytė, and another campaign threatens the Lithuanian capital in Vilnius. |
15th century
Year | Event |
1422 | A Livonian ''Diet'' first meets. |
1452 | The Livonian Order and Archbishopric of Riga begin to rule jointly in Livonia. |
1481 | Muscovy attack Livonia. |
16th century
Year | Event |
1501 | The Livonian Order, aided by Lithuania, launches an attack on Pskov. |
1502 | Russian troops are defeated at the Battle of Lake Smolina near Palkino. |
1558 | Ivan the Terrible launches an attack on Livonia. |
1561 | ''Livonian War'': Livonia falls to Lithuania. |
1569 | Lithuania and Poland join to form the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Livonia becoms a joint domain administered directly by both realms. |
17th century
Year | Event |
1629 | The Peace of Altmark iss reached, under which Sweden annexes Livonia and several Courland territories to Swedish Livonia.s |
1689 | The Old and New Testaments are published in Latvian, translated by Pastor Ernst Glück. |
1700 | ''Great Northern War'': A war begins which involves the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Sweden, and Russia. |
18th century
Year | Event |
1710 | Riga falls to the Russians, though Courland remains under the control of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. |
1721 | ''Great Northern War'': The Treaty of Nystadt ends the war. |
19th century
Year | Event |
1841 | A famine occurrs in Livonia. |
1873 | The first Latvian Song and Dance Festival takes place. |
1887 | Russification measures begin in the Baltic governorates of the Russian Empire. |
20th century
Year | Event |
1905 | January13 — Russian army troops open fire on demonstrators in Riga, killing seventy-three and injuring two hundred people. A revolution takes place in the Baltic region directed primarily against German landowners and Russian autocracy. |
1914 | August 1 — ''World War I'': The war begins. |
1918 | November 18 — An independent Latvia is proclaimed. |
1919 | Latvian ruble currency introduced.5 |
1920 | August 11 — The Latvian–Soviet Peace Treaty is signed. |
1921 | September 22 — Latvia becomes a member of the League of Nations. |
1922 | February — A Latvian constitution (satversme) is adopted. |
1934 | May 15 — Prime Minister Kārlis Ulmanis takes power in a bloodless coup d'état. |
World War II — three occupations
Understanding the motivations of Legionnaires, whether volunteered or conscripted6, requires an awareness of Latvia's path through World War II.
Imagine an occupation so murderous and brutal—culminating in the mass deportation of men, women, children, infants, Latvians, Russians, Jews, and Poles7 that most see the German invasion only a week later as liberation. That was the legacy of just one year under the Bolshevik thumb.
The Latvians soon determined they weren't going to be liberated8, although Berlin did dangle the prospects of restoring autonomy on the eve of the bombing of Dresden.9 For Jews, those Stalin ripped from their homes were the lucky ones: their future prospects were better among the one-third of deportees, overall, who survived the GULAG.
1938 | August 13 — effective August 20th — With tensions in Europe on the rise, Latvia declares neutrality. |
1939 | Summer — In ongoing security negotiations with the USSR, Great Britain and France consign Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to the Soviet "sphere of influence". Accounts that negotiations ultimately failed because the West refused to capitulate over the preservation of Baltic sovereignty — a long-cherished belief in the post-war Latvian émigré community — are mistaken. |
1939 | August 23 — Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact is signed between the Soviet Union (USSR) and Nazi Germany September 1, WWII begins — Hitler invades Poland with Soviet assistance (radio signals to guide the Luftwaffe) and encouragement (congratulatory telegram to Berlin before Warsaw actually fell). Hitler and Stalin split Poland, with the majority of its territory going to Stalin. October 5, ratified October 11 — Under threat of invasion, Latvia capitulates and signs Soviet–Latvian Mutual Assistance Treaty. Finland refuses a similar offer; a spurned USSR invades in November. |
1940 | June 16 — An ultimatum is presented by the USSR to Latvia. June 17 — While the world focuses on the fall of Paris (June 14, 1940), the USSR stages "provocations" and invades and occupies Latvia. Arrests, murders, and mass deportation ensue — Baigais gads ("Year of terror") |
1941 | June 22 — Hitler invades the USSR, blaming Stalin, listing the Soviet invasion of the Baltics as the first among numerous provocations against Germany's security.
|
1941 | July 1 — German forces occupy Rīga, the capital, on July 1st, as Red Army are still fleeing the suburbs. The Nazis establish and publish the Latvian-language Nazi-controlled newspaper, Tēvija (Fatherland) the same day, and shut down the Latvian broadsheet, Brīvā Zeme (Free Nation) after publishing its only issue. The rest of Latvia's territory is under full Nazi control within a week. June– |
1942 | March — Churchill and Roosevelt agree to recognize the bogus post-Soviet occupation elections of 1940 as expressing the will of the people.11 This enables the USSR to annex Latvia without violating the terms of the Atlantic Charter, affirmed in the Declaration by United Nations of January 1, 1942. Thereby, the United Nations is ultimately — knowingly, with malice aforethought — founded on the post-war ashes of Baltic independence. |
1943 | January 23 — Hitler "allows and orders" establishing the Latvian Legion. Its initial ranks are consolidated from battalions of Latvians already serving under Wehrmacht command on the Eastern Front. Within a month, the first wave of Latvians is conscripted for the Legion. When volunteers for the Eastern Front to pursue the retreating Red Army waned, the Nazis already began (illegal) conscriptions for combat duty at the start of 1942 following a "labor" decree of December, 1941. |
1944 | “Might it not be thought rather cynical if it seemed we had disposed of these issues so fateful to millions of people, in such an offhand manner? Let us burn the paper.” July 17 — The Red Army's 1st Baltic Front, 2nd Baltic Front, and 3rd Baltic Front reach the border of Latvia. The second Soviet occupation subsequently replaces the Nazi occupation in Vidzeme and Latgale.— Churchill, October 1944} October– Stalin is aware (concerned?) Latvians gained their independence against the Bolsheviks after World War I having held none of Latvian territory. He has also been promising to FDR and Churchill that the stamping-out of remaining "Nazi" resistance is imminent. |
1945 | May 7 — Germany surrenders, WWII ends. Legionnaires are still ensconced in Courland along with the German Army Group Courland. Those who retreated into Germany seek out and surrender to the British and Americans. May 15 — After another week of fighting, Latvians are forced to surrender Courland. Legionnaires are deported to the Gulag or shot as traitors. Hundreds escape and continue a partisan resistance for another twenty years. Jānis Pīnups is the last Latvian partisan to come out of hiding—in 1995, after the USSR disintegrates. June 26 — United Nations charter signed October 24 — United Nations charter enters into force. The Soviet-occupied Baltic States de facto disappear off the world stage. The Baltic states' delegated sovereign authority continues to function in exile. |
1946 | March 5 — Churchill (in)famously delivers his iconic "Iron Curtain" speech and bemoans the post-war order he created with Stalin.From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an "iron curtain" has descended across the continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia; all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject, in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and in some cases increasing measure of control from Moscow. Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are the only countries that disappear after WWII. |
1949 | March 25 — The deportation campaign "Krasta banga" (Прибой) starts in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, during which 42,125 Latvians are deported to Siberia for life. |
1955 | About thirty thousand deportees returned to Latvia from the USSR under a general amnesty. Those deported in 1940 return to Latvia after 15 years. Some are subsequently re-deported. |
1981 | The modern Vanšu Bridge is opened across the Daugava River in Riga. |
1987 | June 14 — The first demonstration in Riga to commemorate the 1941 deportations takes place. |
1988 | August 23 — Mass demonstrations take place against the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. |
1990 | May 4 — The Latvian SSR Supreme Council adopts the declaration On the Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia. |
1991 | January — ''The Barricades'': Pro-Communist political forces attempt to restore Soviet power in Latvia. September 6 — The Soviet Union recognizes Latvian independence. September 17 — Latvia becomes a member of the United Nations. |
21st century
Year | Event |
2004 | April 2 — Latvia becomes a member of NATO. May 1 — Latvia becomes a member of the European Union. |
2014 | January 1 — Latvia becomes a member of the Eurozone. |
More reading
- List of years in Latvia
- Timeline of Riga
- Plakans, Andrejs. Historical Dictionary of Latvia, Scarecrow Press.
- Political Chronology of Europe, Europa Publications.
- Latvia Profile: Timeline. LINK
1 | Efraim Zuroff denounces Latvia and Eastern Europe in general for their attempt to "promote the canard of equivalency between Nazi and Communist crimes (erroneously classified as genocide)", viz. One man's journey to the heartland of fascism, March 29, 2015. Zuroff is only technically correct on Communist crimes not being classified as genocide; Raphael Lemkin, who coined the term "genocide," included the murder of identifiable political and economic classes, these were removed from the U.N. declaration to avoid a Soviet veto. |
2 | Primarily sourced from Timeline of Latvian History on Wikipedia, accessed August 8, 2020 |
3 | Norna-Gests þáttr, c. 1157, Níkulás Bergsson, Iceland. Other estimates place the legendary battle as early as some time in the 7th century. |
4 | Rev. W. C. Green. The Story of Egil Skallagrimsson: An Icelandic Family History of the Ninth ... Chapter 46 |
5 | World Monetary Units: An Historical Dictionary, Country by Country, McFarland, USA, ISBN: 978-0-7864-4042-9. |
6 | Approximately 15% were volunteers, from earlier combat units on the Eastern Front. The rest, 85%, were conscripted. |
7 | Most Germans had heeded Hitler's call home and were "repatriated" to Germany despite, in many cases, their families having lived in Latvia for centuries. |
8 | Beyond Hitler's Holocaust, the Nazis also murdered some 10,000 Latvians. |
9 | Latvian representatives were scheduled to convene in Dresden. Their train stopped overnight in Freital, ten kilometers from the city center. That night, they could see Dresden in flames in the distance. |
10 | at Jewish Virtual Library, www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/ |
11 | Churchill's letter to Roosevelt of March 7, 1942: "[I] feel that the principle of the Atlantic Charter ought not to be constructed so as to deny Russia the frontiers she occupied when Germany attacked her. This was the basis on which Russia accepted the Charter, and I expect that a severe process of liquidating hostile elements in the Baltic States, etc., was employed by the Russians when they took these regions at the beginning of the war. I hope, therefore, that you will be able to give us a free hand to sign the treaty, which Stalin desires as soon as possible." Loewenheim, F.L., et al., (Eds.), Roosevelt and Churchill: Secret Wartime Correspondence (N.Y.: Saturday Review Press / E.P. Dutton & Co., 1975), p 185. |