- List of Estonian wars
Below is a list of military conflicts in which
Estonia ns participated or took place on Estonian territory.The Middle Ages
Estonia remained one of the last corners of medieval Europe to be Christianized. In 1193
Pope Celestine III called for a crusade against pagans inNorthern Europe . TheNorthern Crusades from NorthernGermany established the stronghold ofRiga . With the help of the newly converted local tribes of Livs and Letts, the crusaders initiated raids into part of what is present-dayEstonia in 1208.
*1003 –1210 , a series of defence battles and counter campaigns againstKievan Rus'
*1208 –1228 , againstLivonian Brothers of the Sword
*1343 –1345 , a series of rebellions against the rulers of foreign originThe Reformation Period
By the late
1550s , theReformation andCounter-Reformation had caused internal conflicts inLivonian Confederation , while its Eastern neighbourRussia had grown stronger after defeating thekhanate s of Kazan and Astrakhan. The conflict between Russia and the Western powers was exacerbated by Russia's isolation from sea trade. Neither could the tsar hire qualified labour in Europe.
*1558 –1582 , theLivonian War
*1700 –1721 , theGreat Northern War The National Awakening period
1889 marked the beginning of the central government-sponsored policy of
Russification . The impact of this was that many of theBaltic German legal institutions were either abolished or had to do their work in Russian - a good example of this is theUniversity of Tartu . As theRussian Revolution of 1905 swept through Estonia, the Estonians called forfreedom of the press and assembly, for universal franchise, and for national autonomy.
*1904 –1905 , theRusso-Japanese War (thousands of Estonians among the Russian Imperial armed forces)
*1914 –1918 , theWorld War I (thousands of Estonians among the Russian Imperial armed forces)The Declaration of independence
After the collapse of the short-lived puppet government of the
United Baltic Duchy and the withdrawal of German troops in November 1918, an Estonian provisional Government retook office. A military invasion by theRed Army followed a few days later, however, marking the beginning of the war of independence.
*1918 –1920 , theEstonian War of Independence against the Soviet Russia
*1919 , the Landeswehr War against theGerman Empire The second World War
The first period of independence lasted 22 years, beginning in 1918. Estonia had pursued a policy of neutrality, but it was of no consequence after the
Soviet Union andNazi Germany signed theMolotov-Ribbentrop Pact onAugust 23 ,1939 in which the two great powers agreed to divide up the countries situated between them with Estonia falling in the Soviet "sphere of influence ".
*1944 (–1994 ), theWorld War II (Estonia considers the end of the World War II with the Russian occupation forces leaving in late 1994, although the official war activity ended in late 1944)
*1945 –1978 , the Partisan War against the Soviet UnionThe Modern period
*
2003 –, the Iraq War as part of theMultinational Force in Iraq
*2003 –, the Afghanistan War as part of the International Security Assistance Force in AfghanistanSee also
*
History of Estonia
*List of wars
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