English portfolio
military-strategic importance of the Estonian and Latvian territories which bordered the Baltic
Sea, between the extensively autonomous Finland and the rebellious Poland-Lithuania. The
security of the capital St Petersburg became a serious issue for Russian. Tsarist Russia's
government circles were afraid of the Baltic Germans' possible orientation towards Germany;
especially worrying was the thought that by Germanising the Estonians and Latvians.
The first decisive steps in diminishing the Baltic German influence were taken at the end of
the rule of Alexander II who was assassinated by the terrorists. The Russian central power
became especially militant with the ascendance to the throne of Alexander III. As proof of his
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anti-German sentiments, the tsar refused to confirm the privileges of the Baltic nobility that
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