Estonian Independence Day
Russian Red Army's retreat and the arrival of advancing German troops, the
Committee of Elders of the Maapäev issued the Estonian Declaration of
Independence in Pärnu on February 24, 1918. after winning the Estonian
Liberation War against Soviet Russia and at the same time German Freekorps
volunteers (the Tartu Peace Treaty was signed on 2 February 1920), Estonia
maintained its independence for 22 years. Initially a parliamentary democracy,
the parliament was disnaded in 1934, following political unrest caused by the
global economic crisis. Subsequently the country was ruled by decree by
Konstatin Päts, who became President in 1938, the year parliamentary elections
resumed.
Estonia was occupied by the Soviet Union in June 1940, after Stalin gained
Hitler's agreement to divide Eastern Europe into ,,spheres of special interest"
according to the MolotovRibbentrop Pact and its secret protocol.
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