Baltic States

The Baltic states—Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania—form a distinct geopolitical region on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Today all three countries are members of the European Union, NATO, the Eurozone and the OECD, and are classified as high-income economies with very high human development indicators. The three states cooperate closely in foreign and security policy, defence, energy and transport, while also maintaining independent political and cultural identities. Although often grouped together, the Baltic nations have followed historical trajectories that include both shared experiences and significant differences.

Etymology

The term Baltic derives from the name of the Baltic Sea, a designation traceable at least as far back as the third century BC when Eratosthenes referred to it in an Ancient Greek text. Its origin is commonly linked to the Proto-Indo-European root bhel, meaning white or fair, a meaning preserved in the modern Baltic languages where Lithuanian baltas and Latvian balts both mean white. However, these Baltic-language terms were not used to describe the region or the sea until the nineteenth century.
In medieval and early modern maps produced in Germanic languages, the Baltic Sea frequently appeared as the “East Sea”, reflecting its location east of Germany, Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Historically, the term Baltic also referred to the overseas provinces of Sweden and, later, the Baltic governorates of the Russian Empire. The modern geopolitical usage emerged in the nineteenth century as the Baltic German elite adopted the name, and it was subsequently borrowed into Russian as Балтийский, officially used from 1859. After the First World War, the newly independent eastern Baltic states—Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and at times Finland—came to be known collectively as the Baltic states, a usage that has persisted since the Second World War.

Early History to the Middle Ages

In the ninth and tenth centuries, following the Christianisation of neighbouring regions such as Sweden, Denmark, Poland and Kievan Rus’, the territories that now constitute the Baltic states remained outside organised Christian political structures. The region was still dominated by pagan societies including Estonians, Curonians, Latvians, Latgalians, Livonians and various Prussian tribes.
During the thirteenth century, military orders such as the Livonian Brothers of the Sword and the Teutonic Order, together with the Kingdom of Denmark, conquered much of the territory of present-day Estonia and Latvia. These campaigns curtailed the development of autonomous states among the region’s many ethnic groups. Only the Lithuanians, including Samogitians living furthest from German influence, succeeded in establishing a major political entity: the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Duchy converted to Christianity in 1385 through the Union of Krevo with Poland and subsequently participated in the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic conflicts that reshaped eastern Europe.
The Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century further altered the region’s religious landscape. While Lithuania remained predominantly Catholic, most Estonians and Latvians converted to Lutheranism. In 1569 the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was established, integrating Lithuania and Poland into a single state.
During the seventeenth century, Sweden extended its influence by conquering Estonia and Livonia (excluding Courland and Latgale). Following the Great Northern War (1700–1721), these territories passed to the Russian Empire, which also annexed Courland, Latgale and ultimately all of Lithuania during the partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

National Awakenings and Formation of Modern Identities

Despite centuries of foreign rule, Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians retained their languages and distinctive cultural identities. In Lithuania, efforts to construct a modern nation were impeded by Russian imperial repression after the November and January uprisings. Nonetheless, nationalist movements eventually crystallised in all three regions: the Estonian National Awakening, the Latvian National Awakening and the Lithuanian National Revival. By the late nineteenth century, modern national identities had taken shape.
Ideas of cultural and linguistic unity also appeared, including proposed closer links between Finns and Estonians, and between Latvians and Lithuanians, though these did not lead to political union. Still, by the end of the century the peoples of the region had developed clear aspirations for independent statehood.

Independence and the Interwar Period (1918–1940)

As the First World War ended, the Baltic peoples declared independence—Lithuania in February 1918, Latvia later in 1918, and Estonia in February 1918 though immediately reoccupied by Germany until November that year. Each fought its own war against Soviet Russia: the Estonian War of Independence (1918–1920), the Latvian War of Independence (1918–1920), and the Lithuanian Wars of Independence, all concluding with recognition of the new sovereign states in 1920.
During this era Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland were sometimes described as limitrophe states, forming a barrier between Soviet Russia and the rest of Europe. Their strategic role was also conceptualised as part of a cordon sanitaire intended to prevent the spread of Bolshevik influence westward.
The interwar decades saw political stabilisation and economic growth, though all three countries experienced periods of authoritarian governance. Despite differing assessments of these regimes, the period is generally remembered as one of nation-building and consolidation of statehood.

Soviet and German Occupations (1940–1991)

Under the secret protocol of the 1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, the Baltic states were assigned to the Soviet sphere of influence. Following the Soviet invasion of eastern Poland, Moscow coerced Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania into signing mutual assistance treaties that allowed Soviet military bases on their territory. In June 1940 the Red Army occupied the three states, installed pro-Soviet governments, and staged elections in which only Soviet-approved candidates could stand. These new assemblies petitioned to join the USSR, and by August 1940 the Baltic states had been incorporated as Soviet Socialist Republics.
The Soviet authorities carried out extensive repressions, including executions, forced deportations and efforts at cultural Sovietisation. Between 1940 and 1953 more than 200,000 people were deported from the Baltic states to remote regions of the USSR, and at least 75,000 were sent to Gulag labour camps.
Occupation was interrupted in 1941 when Nazi Germany invaded the region. Initially many inhabitants hoped that German forces would restore independence, but Nazi rule instead imposed the Reichskommissariat Ostland and oversaw systematic persecution and extermination of Jewish communities. Approximately 95 per cent of Lithuanian Jews and tens of thousands of Latvian Jews were murdered. The German occupation ended in 1944 (in Courland in early 1945), when Soviet forces re-established control.

Post-war Soviet Rule and Legacy

After the Second World War, the Soviet Union consolidated its rule over the Baltic republics, promoting Russian as the primary administrative language and encouraging migration from other parts of the USSR. Despite repression, cultural resistance persisted, and dissident movements gained strength in the later decades of Soviet rule.
The Baltic states’ struggle for independence culminated in the late 1980s and early 1990s with mass movements such as the Baltic Way, leading to the restoration of national independence in 1991. Their subsequent integration into European and transatlantic organisations reflects both their strategic position and their commitment to democratic governance.