When was latvia part of the ussr

Latvian nationalists rebelled against Soviet troops between and , resulting in the deaths of some 2, Latvians. Some , Latvians were deported to Siberia between and , including some 43, Latvians deported on March , Four individuals were killed in political violence in Riga on January , Some 74 percent of Latvians voted in favor of independence from the Soviet Union in a referendum on March 3, Some 65 observers monitored the referendum.

UCA dedicates itself to academic vitality, integrity, and diversity. Political Science. Search UCA. In: The Case for Latvia. Disinformation Campaigns Against a Small Nation. Author: Jukka Rislakki. Login via Institution. Purchase instant access PDF download and unlimited online access :. Add to Cart. PDF Preview. Save Cite Email this content Share link with colleague or librarian You can email a link to this page to a colleague or librarian:.

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Stay Updated. The Latvians constitute a prominent division of the ancient group of peoples known as the Balts. The first historically documented connection between the Balts and the civilization of the Mediterranean world was based on the ancient amber trade: according to the Roman historian Tacitus 1st century AD , the Aestii predecessors of the Old Prussians developed an important trade with the Roman Empire.

During the 10th and 11th centuries Latvian lands were subject to a double pressure: from the east there was Slavic penetration; from the west came the Swedish push toward the shores of Courland. German rule. During the crusading period, German--or, more precisely, Saxon--overseas expansion reached the eastern shores of the Baltic.

Because the people occupying the coast of Latvia were the Livs, the German invaders called the country Livland, a name rendered in Latin as Livonia. Before they merged in with the Knights of the Teutonic Order, they had conquered all the Latvian tribal kingdoms.

After the conquest, the Germans formed a so-called Livonian confederation, which lasted for more than three centuries. This feudalistic organization was not a happy one, its three components--the Teutonic Order, the archbishopric of Riga, and the free city of Riga--being in constant dispute with one another.

Moreover, the vulnerability of land frontiers involved the confederation in frequent foreign wars. The Latvians, however, benefited from Riga's joining the Hanseatic League in , as the league's trade brought prosperity. In general, however, the situation of the Latvians under German rule was that of any subject nation.

Poland-Lithuania, Sweden, and the encroachment of Russia. In the Latvian territory was partitioned: Courland, south of the Western Dvina, became an autonomous duchy under the suzerainty of the Lithuanian sovereign; and Livonia north of the river was incorporated into Lithuania.

Riga was likewise incorporated into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in but was taken by the Swedish king Gustav II Adolf in ; Vidzeme--that is to say, the greater part of Livonia north of the Western Dvina--was ceded to Sweden by the Truce of Altmark , though Latgale, the southeastern area, remained under Lithuanian rule.

The Russian tsar Alexis renewed the attempt without success in his wars against Sweden and Poland Finally, however, Peter I the Great managed to "break the window" to the Baltic Sea: in the course of the Great Northern War he took Riga from the Swedes in ; and at the end of the war he secured Vidzeme from Sweden under the Peace of Nystad Latgale was annexed by the Russians at the first partition of Poland , and Courland at the third By the end of the 18th century, therefore, the whole Latvian nation was subject to Russia.

In step with the growing economic strength of the local peasantry came a revival of national feeling. Educational and other national institutions were established. The idea of an independent Latvian state was openly put forward during the Russian Revolution of This revolution, evoked as it was simultaneously by social and by national groups, bore further witness to the strength of the Latvian reaction to economic and political German and Russian pressure.

On September 3, however, the German army took Riga. After the Bolshevik coup of November in Petrograd, the Latvian People's Council, representing peasant, bourgeois, and socialist groups, proclaimed independence on Nov. A government was formed by the leader of the Farmers' Union, Karlis Ulmanis. The Soviet government established a communist government for Latvia at Valmiera, headed by Peteris Stucka.

This intention caused a conflict with the government of independent Latvia supported by the Allies. On May 22, , von der Goltz took Riga. Pushing northward, the Germans were stopped near Cesis by the Estonian army, which included 2, Latvians.