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Period |
Description |
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CA. 2500-1500 B.C. |
Finno-Ugric and proto-Baltic tribes settle on Baltic shores. |
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FIRST CENTURY-SIXTH CENTURY A.D. |
Early Baltic peoples experience rapid cultural progress and expansion of trade with Roman Empire and Germanic tribes. |
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EIGHTH CENTURY-TWELFTH CENTURY |
Scandinavian Vikings and, subsequently, Slavic tribes engage in trade and war with Baltic peoples. |
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THIRTEENTH CENTURY |
Northern Estonia conquered by Danes and rest of Estonia and Latvia by Germans. |
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1253 |
Mindaugas crowned king of Lithuania. |
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FOURTEENTH CENTURY |
Grand Duke Gediminas and his descendants expand Lithuania's territories southward to Black Sea. |
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1343-45 |
Estonian peasant uprising prompts Danes to relinquish control of northern Estonia to Germans. |
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SIXTEENTH CENTURY |
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1558-83 |
Army of Russian tsar Ivan IV (the Terrible) invades Livonia; Sweden and Poland help repel invasion. |
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1569 |
Lithuania unites with Poland, forming Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. |
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1584 |
Northern Estonia incorporated into Sweden's Duchy of Estland. |
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SEVENTEENTH CENTURY |
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1629 |
Swedish-Polish struggle for control of Livonia ends with Poland's being forced to cede entire territory, except southeastern province of Latgale, to Sweden. |
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1632 |
Tartu University founded by Swedes. |
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EIGHTEENTH CENTURY |
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1710 |
Russian tsar Peter I (the Great) succeeds in wresting control of Estland and Livland (southern Estonia and northern Latvia) from Sweden. |
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1795 |
Poland partitioned; Lithuania annexed by Russian Empire. |
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NINETEENTH CENTURY |
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1816-19 |
Serfdom formally abolished in Estland and Livland. |
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TWENTIETH CENTURY |
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1905 |
Tsarist Russian authorities respond with violence and repression to Baltic demands for radical political change during Revolution of 1905. |
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1917 |
Tsar Nicholas II abdicates Russian throne; tsarist regime collapses. Russian provisional government allows Estonia's territorial unification as one province. Bolsheviks take power in Russia and make significant political inroads in Baltic region. |
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1918 February |
Estonia and Lithuania proclaim independence. |
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November |
Latvia proclaims independence. |
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1918-20 |
Baltic states engage in war to defend independence; Bolshevik, White Russian, German, Polish, and other forces struggle for control of territories. Lithuania fails to regain Polish-occupied Vilnius region. |
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1920 |
Baltic states sign peace treaties with Soviet Russia; Moscow recognizes their independence and renounces all claims to their territories. |
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1920-22 |
Land reform carried out in Baltic states. Democratic constitutions introduced. |
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1921 |
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania admitted to League of Nations. |
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1923 |
Lithuania annexes Klaipeda region. |
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1924 |
Soviet-backed communist coup attempt in Estonia fails. |
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1926-29 |
Military coup in Lithuania; authoritarian regime gradually introduced. |
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1934 |
State of emergency declared in Estonia and Latvia amidst growing political instability; parliaments suspended and authoritarian regimes introduced. |
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1939 August |
Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact signed; Estonia, Latvia, and, soon, Lithuania assigned to Soviet sphere of influence. |
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October |
Baltic states pressured into signing treaties allowing Moscow to station troops on their soil; Vilnius given back to Lithuania. |
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1940 |
Red Army occupies Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania; pro-Soviet governments "elected," and Baltic states annexed to Soviet Union. |
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1941 June |
Soviet authorities arrest and deport tens of thousands of Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians to Siberia; deportations interrupted by Nazi Germany's invasion of Soviet Union; Lithuanian resistance movement launches revolt against Soviet rule. |
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1941-45 |
Baltic states under German occupation; Nazi regime institutes compulsory draft of Balts into labor or military service; Jews and Gypsies subjected to mass annihilation; nationalist and communist resistance movements active. |
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1944-45 |
Soviet forces reoccupy Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania; hundreds of thousands of refugees flee to West. |
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1945-52 |
Anti-Soviet guerrilla war in Baltic republics claims tens of thousands of casualties on both sides. |
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1947-51 |
Agriculture collectivized in Baltic republics. |
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1949 March |
Soviet authorities resume campaign of terror in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania; more than 100,000 people from Baltic republics deported to Siberia. |
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1953 |
Repression eases after death of Joseph V. Stalin. |
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1959 |
Nikita S. Khrushchev purges Eduards Berklavs and other national communists in Latvia. |
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1968 |
Repression increases after Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia; dissident movement grows, particularly in Lithuania. |
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1970-82 |
Period of stagnation under Leonid I. Brezhnev; living standards decline; Russification intensifies. |
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1972 |
Lithuanian student Romas Kalanta immolates himself in protest against Soviet rule. |
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1973 |
Publication of The Chronicle of the Catholic Church in Lithuania
begins. |
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1985 |
Mikhail S. Gorbachev introduces policies of glasnost
and perestroika
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1987-88 |
Baltic dissidents hold public demonstrations in Tallinn, Riga, and Vilnius. |
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1988 April |
Estonian Popular Front founded. |
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June |
Estonian communist leader Karl Vaino removed. Sajudis founded in Lithuania. |
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October |
Popular Front of Latvia holds first congress. Sajudis congress in Lithuania elects Vytautas Landsbergis chairman. Algirdas Brazauskas becomes Lithuanian communist leader. |
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November |
Estonian Supreme Soviet adopts declaration of sovereignty. |
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1989 March |
Soviet loyalist Intermovement founded in Estonia. |
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May |
Lithuanian Supreme Soviet proclaims Lithuania's sovereignty. |
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July |
Latvian Supreme Soviet adopts declaration of sovereignty. |
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August |
Human chain forms from Tallinn to Vilnius as a protest on fiftieth anniversary of Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact. Intermovement stages strikes in Estonia. |
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December |
Communist Party of Lithuania splits from Communist Party of the Soviet Union. |
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1990 February |
Elections held for Congress of Estonia, rival parliament to Estonian Supreme Soviet. |
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March |
Lithuanian Supreme Soviet elects Vytautas Landsbergis chairman of presidium; votes for declaration of independence. Estonian Supreme Soviet votes for transition to independence. |
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April |
Moscow imposes economic blockade on Lithuania. Baltic Agreement on Economic Cooperation signed by Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. |
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May |
Latvian Supreme Council votes for transition to independence. Baltic countries renew 1934 Baltic Treaty on Unity and Cooperation. |
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June |
Lithuanian Supreme Council agrees to six-month moratorium on independence declaration; Moscow lifts economic blockade. |
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1991 January |
Lithuanian prime minister Kazimiera Prunskiene resigns after dispute with Vytautas Landsbergis. Soviet military intervention in Vilnius and Riga results in massacre of civilians. |
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February-March |
Referenda in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania show overwhelming support for independence. |
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August |
Estonian Supreme Council and Latvian Supreme Council vote for full independence following coup in Moscow; coup collapses; Baltic states restore diplomatic relations with many countries. |
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September |
Soviet Union recognizes independence of Baltic states. Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania admitted to United Nations. |
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November |
Estonian Supreme Council decides to require naturalization of Soviet-era immigrants. |
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1992 January |
Estonian prime minister Edgar Savisaar resigns; Tiit Vähi forms new government. Latvian Supreme Council reaffirms validity of Latvia's pre-Soviet borders. |
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June |
New Estonian constitution adopted by referendum. |
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July |
Lithuanian prime minister Gediminas Vagnorius resigns after vote of no confidence; replaced by Aleksandras Abisala. |
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September |
Election of new parliament, Riigikogu, in Estonia yields center-right coalition government led by Fatherland Party (Isamaa). |
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October |
Lithuanian Democratic Labor Party wins absolute majority of seats in Seimas; Algirdas Brazauskas elected chairman; Sajudis fares poorly. Lennart Meri elected president of Estonia; Mart Laar becomes prime minister. |
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October-November |
Lithuania's new constitution approved by referendum and adopted by Seimas. |
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December |
Seimas chairman Brazauskas appoints Bronislovas Lubys prime minister of Lithuania. |
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1993 February |
Algirdas Brazauskas elected president of Lithuania. |
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March |
Lithuanian prime minister Bronislovas Lubys resigns; replaced by Adolfas Slezevicius. |
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June |
Political crisis in Estonia follows passage of Law on Aliens; measure amended after presidential veto. Latvia's Way finishes first in first post-Soviet national elections to Saeima. |
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July |
Saeima restores 1922 constitution and elects Guntis Ulmanis president of Latvia; Valdis Birkavs becomes prime minister. |
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August |
Russian military forces withdrawn from Lithuania. |
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October |
Isamaa fares poorly in Estonia's first post-Soviet local elections; Tiit Vähi's Coalition Party finishes first. |
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1994 May |
Latvian National Independence Movement finishes first in Latvia's first post-Soviet local elections; ex-communists fare worst. |
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July |
Ruling coalition in Latvia breaks up; Birkavs government resigns. |
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August |
Russian military forces withdrawn from Estonia and Latvia. Citizenship bill signed into law in Latvia; controversial restrictive quota on naturalization excluded. |
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September |
Estonian prime minister Mart Laar loses vote of no confidence; Andres Tarand confirmed as prime minister. Maris Gailis confirmed as prime minister of Latvia. |
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1995 February |
Latvia admitted to Council of Europe, after abandoning restrictive quotas on naturalization. |
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March |
Coalition Party-Rural Union alliance finishes first in Estonian parliamentary elections; Russophone community gains representation. Lithuanian Democratic Labor Party fares poorly in local elections. |
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April |
Tiit Vähi confirmed as Estonia's prime minister. |
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May |
Latvia's Baltija Bank collapses. |
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July |
Lithuanian economics minister Aleksandras Vasiliauskas resigns after cabinet dispute over economic reform. |
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September-October |
Democratic Party Saimnieks finishes first in Latvian parliamentary elections; followed closely by far-right For Latvia. |
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October |
Estonian interior minister Edgar Savisaar implicated in scandal; Vähi government resigns. |
