Jump to content

Baltic states

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by JorkaSSS (talk | contribs) at 17:02, 21 October 2023 (→See also). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

This article is about the geopolitical grouping. For the geographic region, see Baltic region.
"Baltics" redirects here. For other uses, see Baltic (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Balkans.

Baltic states
Countries Estonia (blue)
 Latvia (maroon)
 Lithuania (gold)
Time zones

The Baltic states[a] or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term encompassing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, and the OECD. The three sovereign states on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea are sometimes referred to as the "Baltic nations", less often and in historical circumstances also as the "Baltic republics", the "Baltic lands", or simply the Baltics.

All three Baltic countries are classified as high-income economies by the World Bank and maintain a very high Human Development Index.[1] The three governments engage in intergovernmental and parliamentary cooperation. There is also frequent cooperation in foreign and security policy, defence, energy, and transportation.[2]

History

Summary

See also: History of Estonia, History of Latvia, History of Lithuania, and State continuity of the Baltic states

After the First World War (1914–1918) the term "Baltic states" came to refer to countries by the Baltic Sea that had gained independence from the former Russian Empire. The term included Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and originally also Finland, which more recently has become grouped among the Nordic countries.[3]

Prior to the 20th century

In the 3rd millennium BC, the inhabitants of the Corded Ware culture, who came to the current territory of the Baltic states from the south and southwest, mixed with the local Europeans who had lived there for a long time, eventually turned into Balts; in the northern part of the region, the settlers were assimilated by the Finnic peoples. In eighth and ninth centuries the Vikings rushed to the Baltic Sea coast.

Map depicting the Northern Crusade in 1200's under which many Balts and Baltic Finns became the victims of German expansion. Lithuanians were the only Baltic people who remained independent.

In ninth and 10th centuries after the formation of neighboring Christian states of Poland and Kievan Rus the lands of the Baltic countries remained pagan until the 13th century. Kievan Rus sought to conquer them, and in the 11th century took control of some lands; Orthodoxy began to spread. In the 13th century the military orders of monks based in the lands of the Livonians and Prussians (Livonian Brothers of the Sword, the Teutonic Order, the Livonian Order) conquered most of the territory of modern-day Baltic countries and prevented the Estonians, Curonians, Latvians (Latgalians), Livonians, Prussians, Nadruvians, Selonians, Skalvians and Semigalians from creating their own states. Only the Lithuanians living farthest from the centers of German colonization succeeded in creating their own state. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania concluded the Union of Krevo with the Kingdom of Poland in 1385 and together resisted the advance of the orders to the east. During the secularization of the Teutonic Order, the Duchy of Prussia was created. In its northern part – in the lands of the Lithuanians – the Lithuanian historical area of Lithuania Minor was formed.

In 13th century Catholicism began to spread in Lithuanian lands; Estonians and most Latvians in the 16th century converted from Catholicism to Lutheranism. Due to the threat of Russia, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Kingdom of Poland formed the Union of Lublin in 1569 as the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. From 16th to 18th centuries the united Polish–Lithuanian state fought with Denmark, Russia and Sweden for Estonian and Latvian lands in the Livonian and Northern wars. In the middle of 17th century, Sweden conquered and founded the governorates of Estonia and Livonia (with the exception of Courland, Latgale). After the Great Northern War, both governorates became part of the Russian Empire, during the partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Russia also annexed Courland, Latgale, and all of Lithuania.

Estonians and Latvians, ruled by the German orders, Poland–Lithuania, Sweden, and Russia for numerous centuries, managed to preserve their language and culture. The formation of the Lithuanian nation was made difficult due to repression of the Russian imperial authorities after the suppressed uprising of 1830–1831 and the uprising of 1863–1864. In the 19th century the national movement of Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians began. Although the historical, economic and cultural development of the nations of the Baltic countries were different, the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian nations were formed by the end of the 19th century. The ideas of unity between Latvians and Lithuanians have been spreading since the end of the 19th century.[4]

Interwar period and independence, 1918–1940

An improvised armoured train used in the Estonian War of Independence against Soviet Russia, 1919
See also: Estonian War of Independence, Latvian War of Independence, and Lithuanian Wars of Independence

As World War I came to a close, Lithuania declared independence and Latvia formed a provisional government. Estonia had already obtained autonomy from tsarist Russia in 1917, and declared independence in February 1918, but was subsequently occupied by the German Empire until November 1918. Estonia fought a successful war of independence against Soviet Russia in 1918–1920. Latvia and Lithuania followed a similar process, until the completion of the Latvian War of Independence and Lithuanian Wars of Independence in 1920.

According to the 1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, "the Baltic States (Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania)" were divided into German and Soviet "spheres of influence" (German copy).

During the interwar period the three countries as well as Finland and Poland sometimes were collectively referred to as limitrophe states (from French language), as they together formed a "rim" along the western border of Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union. They were also part of what Georges Clemenceau considered a strategic cordon sanitaire, the entire territory from Finland in the north to Romania in the south, between Western and Central Europe and potential Bolshevik territorial ambitions.[5][6]

All three Baltic countries experienced a period of authoritarian rule by a head of state who had come to power after a bloodless coup: Antanas Smetona in Lithuania (1926–1940), Kārlis Ulmanis in Latvia (1934–1940), and Konstantin Päts during the "era of silence" (1934–1938) in Estonia, respectively. Some emphasise that the events in Lithuania differed from the other two countries, with Smetona having different motivations as well as securing power eight years before any such events in Latvia or Estonia took place. Despite considerable political turmoil in Finland, no such authoritarian figure took power there. It had, however, been embroiled in a bloody civil war back in 1918, something that had not happened in the Baltic states.[7] Some controversy surrounds the Baltic authoritarian régimes – due to the general stability and rapid economic growth of the period (even if brief), some commenters avoid the label "authoritarian"; others, however, condemn such an "apologetic" attitude, for example in later assessments of Kārlis Ulmanis.[citation needed]

Soviet and German occupations, 1940–1991

See also: German occupation of Lithuania during World War II, German occupation of Latvia during World War II, and German occupation of Estonia during World War II
A geopolitical map of Northern Europe where Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark are tagged as neutral nations and the Soviet Union is shown having military bases in the nations of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
Geopolitical status in Northern Europe in November 1939.[8][9]
  Neutral countries
  Germany and annexed countries
  Soviet Union and annexed countries
  Neutral countries with military bases established by Soviet Union in October 1939

In accordance with a secret protocol within the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939 that divided Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence, the Soviet Army invaded eastern Poland in September 1939, and the Stalinist Soviet government coerced Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania into "mutual assistance treaties" which granted USSR the right to establish military bases in these countries. In June 1940, the Red Army occupied all of the territory of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, and installed new, pro-Soviet puppet governments. In all three countries simultaneously, rigged elections (in which only pro-Stalinist candidates were allowed to run) were staged in July 1940, the newly assembled "parliaments" in each of the three countries then unanimously applied to join the Soviet Union, and in August 1940 were incorporated into the USSR as the Estonian SSR, Latvian SSR, and Lithuanian SSR.

Repressions, executions and mass deportations followed after that in the Baltics.[10][11] The Soviet Union attempted to Sovietize its occupied territories, by means such as deportations and instituting the Russian language as the only working language. Between 1940 and 1953, the Soviet government deported more than 200,000 people from the Baltics to remote locations in the Soviet Union. In addition, at least 75,000 were sent to Gulags. About 10% of the adult Baltic population were deported or sent to labor camps.[12] (See June deportation, Soviet deportations from Estonia, Sovietization of the Baltic states)

The Soviet occupation of the Baltic countries was interrupted by Nazi German invasion of the region in 1941. Initially, many Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians considered the German army as liberators, while having hoped for the restoration of each of the three countries' independence, but instead the Nazi German invaders established a civil administration, known as the Reichskommissariat Ostland.[citation needed] During the occupation the Nazi authorities carried out ghettoisations and mass killings of the Jewish populations in Lithuania and Latvia.[13] Over 190,000 Lithuanian Jews, nearly 95% of Lithuania's pre-war Jewish community, and 66,000 Latvian Jews were murdered. The German occupation lasted until late 1944 (in Courland, until early 1945), when the countries were reoccupied by the Red Army and Soviet rule was re-established, with the passive agreement of the United States and Britain (see Yalta Conference and Potsdam Agreement).

The forced collectivisation of agriculture began in 1947, and was completed after the mass deportation in March 1949 (see Operation Priboi). Private farms were confiscated, and farmers were made to join the collective farms. In all three countries, Baltic partisans, known colloquially as the Forest Brothers, Latvian national partisans, and Lithuanian partisans, waged unsuccessful guerrilla warfare against the Soviet occupation for the next eight years in a bid to regain their nations' independence. The armed resistance of the anti-Soviet partisans lasted up to 1953. Although the armed resistance was defeated, the population remained anti-Soviet.[citation needed]

Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were considered to be under Soviet occupation by the United States, the United Kingdom,[14] Canada, NATO, and many other countries and international organizations.[15] During the Cold War, Lithuania and Latvia maintained legations in Washington DC, while Estonia had a mission in New York City. Each was staffed initially by diplomats from the last governments before USSR occupation.[16]

Restoration of independence

In the late 1980s, a massive campaign of civil resistance against Soviet rule, known as the Singing revolution, began. On 23 August 1989, the Baltic Way, a two-million-strong human chain, stretched for 600 km from Tallinn to Vilnius. In the wake of this campaign, Gorbachev's government had privately concluded that the departure of the Baltic republics had become "inevitable".[17] This process contributed to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, setting a precedent for the other Soviet republics to secede from the USSR. The Soviet Union recognized the independence of three Baltic states on 6 September 1991. Troops were withdrawn from the region (starting from Lithuania) from August 1993. The last Russian troops were withdrawn from there in August 1994.[citation needed] Skrunda-1, the last Russian military radar in the Baltics, officially suspended operations in August 1998.[18]

21st century

Baltic Assembly session in Seimas Palace, in Vilnius, Lithuania

All three are today liberal democracies, with unicameral parliaments elected by popular vote for four-year terms: Riigikogu in Estonia, Saeima in Latvia and Seimas in Lithuania. In Latvia and Estonia, the president is elected by parliament, while Lithuania has a semi-presidential system whereby the president is elected by popular vote. All are part of the European Union (EU) and members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Each of the three countries has declared itself to be the restoration of the sovereign nation that had existed from 1918 to 1940, emphasizing their contention that Soviet domination over the Baltic states during the Cold War period had been an illegal occupation and annexation.

The same legal interpretation is shared by the United States, the United Kingdom, and most other Western democracies,[citation needed] who held the forcible incorporation of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania into the Soviet Union to be illegal. At least formally, most Western democracies never considered the three Baltic states to be constituent parts of the Soviet Union. Australia was a brief exception to this support of Baltic independence: in 1974, the Labor government of Australia did recognize Soviet dominion, but this decision was reversed by the next Australian Parliament.[19] Other exceptions included Sweden, which was the first Western country, and one of the very few to ever do so, to recognize the incorporation of the Baltic states into the Soviet Union as lawful.[20]

After the Baltic states had restored their independence, integration with Western Europe became a major strategic goal. In 2002, the Baltic governments applied to join the European Union and become members of NATO. All three became NATO members on 29 March 2004, and joined the EU on 1 May 2004.

Regional cooperation

Baltic Defence College serves as a centre of strategic and operational research and provides professional military education to intermediate- and senior-level officers and government officials.

During the Baltic struggle for independence 1989–1992, a personal friendship developed between the (at that time unrecognized) Baltic ministers of foreign affairs and the Nordic ministers of foreign affairs. This friendship led to the creation of the Council of the Baltic Sea States in 1992, and the EuroFaculty in 1993.[21]

Between 1994 and 2004, the BAFTA free trade agreement was established to help prepare the countries for their accession to the EU, rather than out of the Baltic states' desire to trade among themselves. The Baltic countries were more interested in gaining access to the rest of the European market.

Currently, the governments of the Baltic states cooperate in multiple ways, including cooperation among presidents, parliament speakers, heads of government, and foreign ministers. On 8 November 1991, the Baltic Assembly, which includes 15 to 20 MPs from each parliament, was established to facilitate inter-parliamentary cooperation. The Baltic Council of Ministers was established on 13 June 1994 to facilitate intergovernmental cooperation. Since 2003, there is coordination between the two organizations.[22]

Compared with other regional groupings in Europe, such as the Nordic Council or Visegrád Group, Baltic cooperation is rather limited. All three countries are also members of the New Hanseatic League, an informal group of northern EU states formed to advocate a common fiscal position.

Economies

Main article: Baltic Tiger

Economically, parallel with political changes and a transition to democracy – as a rule of law states – the nations' previous command economies were transformed via the legislation into market economies, and set up or renewed the major macroeconomic factors: budgetary rules, national audit, national currency and central bank. Generally, they shortly encountered the following problems: high inflation, high unemployment, low economic growth and high government debt. The inflation rate, in the examined area, relatively quickly dropped to below 5% by 2000. Meanwhile, these economies were stabilised, and in 2004 all of them joined the European Union. New macroeconomic requirements have arisen for them; the Maastricht criteria became obligatory and later the Stability and Growth Pact set stricter rules through national legislation by implementing the regulations and directives of the Sixpack, because the financial crisis was a shocking milestone.[23]

Downtown Vilnius
Downtown Riga
Downtown Tallinn

All three countries are member states of the European Union, and the Eurozone. They are classified as high-income economies by the World Bank and maintain high Human Development Index. Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are also members of the OECD.[1] Estonia adopted the euro currency in January 2011, Latvia in January 2014, and Lithuania in January 2015.

Energy security of Baltic states

Usually the concept of energy security is related to the uninterruptible supply, sufficient energy storage, advanced technological development of energy sector and environmental regulations.[24] Other studies add other indicators to this list: diversification of energy suppliers, energy import dependence and vulnerability of political system.[25]

Even now being a part of the European Union, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are still considered as the most vulnerable EU member states in the energy sphere.[26] Due to their Soviet past, Baltic states have several gas pipelines on their territories coming from Russia. Moreover, several routes of oil delivery also have been sustained from Soviet times: These are ports in Ventspils, Butinge and Tallinn.[27] Therefore, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania play a significant role not only in consuming, but also in distribution of Russian energy fuels extracting transaction fees.[27] So, the overall EU dependence on the Russia's energy supplies from the one hand and the need of Baltic states to import energy fuels from their closer hydrocarbon-rich neighbor creates a tension that could jeopardize the energy security of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.[27]

As a part of the EU from 2004, Baltic states must comply with the EU's regulations in energy, environmental and security spheres. One of the most important documents that the EU applied to improve the energy security stance of the Baltic states are European Union climate and energy package, including the Climate and Energy Strategy 2020, that aims to reduce the greenhouse emissions to 20%, increase the energy production from renewables for 20% in overall share and 20% energy efficiency development.[28]

The calculations take into account not only economic, but also technological and energy-related factors: Energy and carbon intensity of transport and households, trade balance of total energy, energy import dependency, diversification of energy mix, etc.[24] It was stated that from 2008, Baltic states experiences a positive change in their energy security score. They diversified their oil import suppliers due to shutdown of Druzhba gas pipeline in 2006 and increased the share of renewable sources in total energy production with the help of the EU policies.[24]

Estonia usually was the best performing country in terms of energy security, but new assessment shows that even though Estonia has the highest share of renewables in the energy production, its energy economy has been still characterized by high rates of carbon intensity. Lithuania, in contrast, achieved the best results on carbon intensity of economy but its energy dependence level is still very high. Latvia performed the best according to all indicators. Especially, the high share of renewables were introduced to the energy production of Latvia, that can be explained by the state's geographical location and favorable natural conditions.[24]

Possible threats to energy security include, firstly, a major risk of energy supply disruption. Even if there are several electricity interconnectors that connect the area with electricity-rich states (Estonia-Finland interconnector, Lithuania-Poland interconnector, Lithuania-Sweden interconnector), the pipeline supply of natural gas and tanker supply of oil are unreliable without modernization of energy infrastructure.[26] Secondly, the dependence on single supplier – Russia – is not healthy both for economics and politics.[29] As it was in 2009 during the Russian-Ukrainian gas dispute, when states of Eastern Europe were deprived from access to the natural gas deliveries, the reoccurrence of the situation may again lead to economic, political and social crisis. Therefore, the diversification of suppliers is needed.[26] Finally, the low technological enhancement results in slow adaptation of new technologies, such as construction and use of renewable sources of energy. This also poses a threat to energy security of the Baltic states, because slows down the renewable energy consumption and lead to low rates of energy efficiency.[26]

In light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and Russia's weaponization of energy supplies, the Baltic states were among the best-equipped countries in Central and Eastern Europe to deal with the energy crisis. This was because ever since the early 1990s, the Baltic states were investing in alternative and non-Russian energy supply routes. These included the development of the Būtingė oil terminal, electricity interconnections with Sweden, Finland and Poland, the Klaipėda LNG terminal and Gas Interconnection Poland–Lithuania. All of these and other infrastructure projects allowed the Baltic States to quickly shift away from Russian energy supplies.[30]

Culture

St. Olaf's church in Tallinn, Estonia

Ethnic groups

Language branches in Northern Europe.
  North Germanic (Faroe Islands, Iceland and Scandinavia)
  Finnic (Finland, Estonia)
  Baltic (Latvia, Lithuania)

Estonians are Finnic people, together with the nearby Finns. The Latvians and Lithuanians, linguistically and culturally related to each other, are Baltic Indo-European people. In Latvia exists a small community of Finnic people related to the Estonians, composed of only 250 people, known as Livonians, and they live in the so-called Livonian Coast. The peoples in the Baltic states have together inhabited the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea for millennia, although not always peacefully in ancient times, over which period their populations, Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian, have remained remarkably stable within the approximate territorial boundaries of the current Baltic states. While separate peoples with their own customs and traditions, historical factors have introduced cultural similarities in and differences within them.

The populations of each Baltic country belong to several Christian denominations, a reflection of historical circumstances. Both Western and Eastern Christianity had been introduced by the end of the first millennium. The current divide between Lutheranism to the north and Catholicism to the south is the remnant of Swedish and Polish hegemony, respectively, with Orthodox Christianity remaining the dominant religion among Russian and other East Slavic minorities.

St. Peter's Lutheran Church, Riga, Latvia

The Baltic states have historically been in many different spheres of influence, from Danish over Swedish and Polish–Lithuanian, to German (Hansa and Holy Roman Empire), and before independence in the Russian sphere of influence.

The Baltic states are inhabited by several ethnic minorities: in Latvia: 33.0% (including 25.4% Russian, 3.3% Belarusian, 2.2% Ukrainian, and 2.1% Polish),[31] in Estonia: 27.6%[32] and in Lithuania: 12.2% (including 5.6% Polish and 4.5% Russian).[33]

The Soviet Union conducted a policy of Russification by encouraging Russians and other Russian-speaking ethnic groups of the Soviet Union to settle in the Baltics. Today, ethnic Russian immigrants from the former Soviet Union and their descendants make up a sizable particularly in Latvia (about one-quarter of the total population and close to one-half in the capital Riga) and Estonia (nearly one-quarter of the total population).

Because the three countries had been independent nations prior to their occupation by the Soviet Union, there was a strong feeling of national identity (often labeled "bourgeois nationalism" by the Communist Party) and popular resentment towards the imposed Soviet rule in the three countries, in combination with Soviet cultural policy, which employed superficial multiculturalism (in order for the Soviet Union to appear as a multinational union based on the free will of its peoples) in limits allowed by the communist "internationalist" (but in effect pro-Russification) ideology and under tight control of the Communist Party (those of the Baltic nationals who crossed the line were called "bourgeois nationalists" and repressed). This let Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians preserve a high degree of Europe-oriented national identity.[34] In Soviet times this made them appear as the "West" of the Soviet Union in the cultural and political sense, thus as close to emigration a Russian could get without leaving the USSR.

Languages

The languages of the three Baltic peoples belong to two distinct language families. The Latvian and Lithuanian languages belong to the Indo-European language family and are the only extant (widely recognized) members of the Baltic language group (or more specifically, Eastern Baltic subgroup of Baltic). Latgalian and Samogitian are considered either separate languages or dialects of Latvian and Lithuanian, respectively.

The Estonian language (including its divergent Võro and Seto dialects) is a Finnic language, together with neighboring Finland's Finnish language. It is also related to the now near-extinct Livonian language spoken as a second language by a few dozen people in Latvia.

Catholic Church of St. Johns, Vilnius, Lithuania

Apart from the indigenous languages, German was the dominant language in Estonia and Latvia in academics, professional life, and upper society from the 13th century until World War I. Polish served a similar function in Lithuania. Numerous Swedish loanwords have made it into the Estonian language; it was under the Swedish rule that schools were established and education propagated in the 17th century. Swedish remains spoken in Estonia, particularly the Estonian Swedish dialect of the Estonian Swedes of northern Estonia and the islands (though many fled to Sweden as the USSR invaded and re-occupied Estonia in 1944). There is also significant proficiency in Finnish in Estonia owing to its linguistic relationship with Estonian and also widespread exposure to Finnish broadcasts during the Soviet era.

Russian was the most commonly studied foreign language at all levels of schooling during the period of Soviet rule in 1944–1991. Despite schooling available and administration conducted in local languages, Russian-speaking settlers were neither encouraged nor motivated to learn the official local languages, so knowledge of some Russian became a practical necessity in daily life in Russian-dominated urban areas. As a result, even to this day most of the three countries' middle age and senior population can understand and speak some Russian, especially people aged over 50 years who went to school during the Soviet rule.[citation needed] The question of assimilation, or integration, of the Russian-speaking immigrants is a major factor in current social and diplomatic affairs.[35]

Since the decline of Russian influence and integration into the European Union economy, English has become the most popular second language in the Baltic states. Although Russian is more widely spoken among older people the vast majority of young people are learning English instead with as many as 80 percent of young Lithuanians professing English proficiency, and similar trends in the other Baltic states.[36][37]

Baltic Romani is spoken by the Roma.


Etymology of the word Baltic

Further information: Baltia
The Baltic Way was a mass anti-Soviet demonstration in 1989 where ca 25% of the total population of the Baltic countries participated.

The term Baltic stems from the name of the Baltic Sea – a hydronym dating back to at least 3rd century B.C. (when Erastothenes mentioned Baltia in an Ancient Greek text) and possibly earlier.[38] There are several theories about its origin, most of which trace it to the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European root *bhel[39] meaning 'white, fair'. This meaning is retained in the two modern Baltic languages, where baltas in Lithuanian and balts in Latvian mean 'white'.[40] However, the modern names of the region and the sea that originate from this root, were not used in either of the two languages prior to the 19th century.[41][needs update]

Since the Middle Ages, the Baltic Sea has appeared on maps in Germanic languages as the equivalent of 'East Sea': Template:Lang-de, Template:Lang-da, Template:Lang-nl, Template:Lang-sv, etc. Indeed, the Baltic Sea lies mostly to the east of Germany, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. The term was also used historically to refer to Baltic Dominions of the Swedish Empire (Template:Lang-sv) and, subsequently, the Baltic governorates of the Russian Empire (Template:Lang-ru).[41] Terms related to modern name Baltic appear in ancient texts, but had fallen into disuse until reappearing as the adjective Baltisch in German, from which it was adopted in other languages.[42] During the 19th century, Baltic started to supersede Ostsee as the name for the region. Officially, its Russian equivalent Прибалтийский (Pribaltiyskiy) was first used in 1859.[41] This change was a result of the Baltic German elite adopting terms derived from Baltisch to refer to themselves.[42][43]

The term Baltic countries (or lands, or states) was, until the early 20th century, used in the context of countries neighbouring the Baltic Sea: Sweden and Denmark, sometimes also Germany and the Russian Empire. With the advent of Foreningen Norden (the Nordic Associations), the term was no longer used for Sweden and Denmark.[44][45] After World War I, the new sovereign states that emerged on the east coast of the Baltic Sea – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Finland – became known as the Baltic states.[42] Since World War II the term has typically been used to group the three countries Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

Geography

Nature

Current leaders

General statistics

All three are unitary republics, which simultaneously joined the European Union on 1 May 2004, share EET/EEST time zone schedules and the euro currency.

Estonia Latvia Lithuania Total
Coat of arms Estonia Latvia Lithuania —
Flag Estonia Latvia Lithuania —
Capital Tallinn Riga Vilnius —
Independence —
Political system Parliamentary republic Parliamentary republic Semi-presidential republic —
Parliament Riigikogu Saeima Seimas —
Current President Alar Karis Edgars Rinkēvičs Gitanas Nausėda —
Largest urban area[47] Tallinn (614,561) Riga (917,351) Vilnius (716,856) —
Population (2022/2023) 1,357,739[48] 1,875,757[49] 2,862,272[50] 6,093,214
Area 45,339 km2 = 17,505 sq mi 64,589 km2 = 24,938 sq mi 65,300 km2 = 25,212 sq mi 175,228 km2 = 67,656 sq mi
Density 30/km2 = 80/sq mi 29/km2 = 76/sq mi 44/km2 = 110/sq mi 35/km2 = 88/sq mi
Water area % 4.56% 1.5% 1.35% 2.47%
GDP (nominal) total (2022)[51] €36.181 billion €39.081 billion €66.918 billion €142.180 billion
GDP (nominal) per capita (2022)[51] €27,170 €20,720 €23,620 €23,549
Military budget (2023) €1.0 billion[52] €1.0 billion[53] €1.8 billion[54] €3.8 billion
Gini Index (2020)[55] 30.5 34.5 35.1 —
HDI (2019)[56] 0.882 (Very High) 0.854 (Very High) 0.869 (Very High) —
Internet TLD .ee .lv .lt —
Calling code +372 +371 +370 —

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Template:Lang-lt, Template:Lang-lv, Template:Lang-et

References

  1. ^ a b "Colombia and Lithuania join the OECD". France 24. 30 May 2018.
  2. ^ Republic of Estonia. "Baltic Cooperation". Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Archived from the original on 6 May 2017. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
  3. ^ Maude, George (2010). Aspects of the Governing of the Finns. Peter Lang. ISBN 978-1-4331-0713-9.
  4. ^ "Baltijos šalys". Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija (in Lithuanian).
  5. ^ Smele, John (1996). Civil war in Siberia: the anti-Bolshevik government of Admiral Kolchak, 1918–1920. London: Cambridge University Press. p. 305.
  6. ^ Calvo, Carlos (2009). Dictionnaire Manuel de Diplomatie et de Droit International Public et Privé. The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. p. 246. ISBN 9781584779490.
  7. ^ "Why did Finland remain a democracy between the two World Wars, whereas the Baltic States developed authoritarian regimes?". January 2004. as [Lithuania] is a distinct case from the other two Baltic countries. Not only was an authoritarian regime set up in 1926, eight years before those of Estonia and Latvia, but it was also formed not to counter a threat from the right, but through a military coup d'etat against a leftist government. (...) The hostility between socialists and non-socialists in Finland had been amplified by a bloody civil war
  8. ^ Kilin, Juri; Raunio, Ari (2007). Talvisodan taisteluja [Winter War Battles] (in Finnish). Karttakeskus. p. 10. ISBN 978-951-593-068-2.
  9. ^ Hough, William J.H. (10 September 2019). "The Annexation of the Baltic States and Its Effect on the Development of Law Prohibiting Forcible Seizure of Territory". DigitalCommons@NYLS.
  10. ^ "These Names Accuse—Nominal List of Latvians Deported to Soviet Russia". latvians.com. Archived from the original on 8 February 2012. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
  11. ^ Kangilaski, Jaak; Salo, Vello; Komisjon, Okupatsioonide Repressiivpoliitika Uurimise Riiklik (2005). The white book: losses inflicted on the Estonian nation by occupation regimes, 1940–1991. Estonian Encyclopaedia Publishers. ISBN 9789985701959.
  12. ^ "Communism and Crimes against Humanity in the Baltic states". 13 April 1999. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
  13. ^ "Murder of the Jews of the Baltic States". Yad Vashem.
  14. ^ "Country Profiles: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania". Foreign & Commonwealth Office – Government of the United Kingdom. Archived from the original on 31 July 2003. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
  15. ^ "U.S.-Baltic Relations: Celebrating 85 Years of Friendship". U.S. Department of State. 14 June 2007. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
  16. ^ Norman Kempster, Annexed Baltic States : Envoys Hold On to Lonely U.S. Postings Archived 19 August 2016 at the Wayback Machine Los Angeles Times, 31 October 1988. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
  17. ^ Beissinger, Mark R. (2009). "The intersection of Ethnic Nationalism and People Power Tactics in the Baltic States". In Adam Roberts; Timothy Garton Ash (eds.). Civil resistance and power politics: the experience of non-violent action from Gandhi to the present. Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 231–246. ISBN 978-0-19-955201-6.
  18. ^ "SKRUNDA SHUTS DOWN. – Jamestown". Jamestown. 1 September 1993. Archived from the original on 28 May 2018. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  19. ^ "The Latvians in Sydney". Sydney Journal. 1. March 2008. ISSN 1835-0151. Archived from the original on 19 October 2017. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
  20. ^ Kuldkepp, Mart. "Swedish political attitudes towards Baltic independence in the short twentieth century". Ajalooline Ajakiri. The Estonian Historical Journal (3/4). ISSN 2228-3897.
  21. ^ N., Kristensen, Gustav (2010). Born into a Dream : Eurofaculty and the Council of the Baltic Sea States. Berlin: BWV Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-8305-2548-6. OCLC 721194688.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  22. ^ "Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia: Co-operation among the Baltic States". 4 December 2008. Archived from the original on 4 December 2008. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
  23. ^ Vértesy, László (2018). "Macroeconomic Legal Trends in the EU11 Countries" (PDF). Public Governance, Administration and Finances Law Review. 3 (1): 94–108. doi:10.53116/pgaflr.2018.1.9. S2CID 219380180.
  24. ^ a b c d Zeng, Shouzhen; Streimikiene, Dalia; Baležentis, Tomas (September 2017). "Review of and comparative assessment of energy security in Baltic States". Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 76: 185–192. doi:10.1016/j.rser.2017.03.037. ISSN 1364-0321.
  25. ^ Kisel, Einari; Hamburg, Arvi; Härm, Mihkel; Leppiman, Ando; Ots, Märt (August 2016). "Concept for Energy Security Matrix". Energy Policy. 95: 1–9. doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2016.04.034.
  26. ^ a b c d Molis, Arūnas (September 2011). "Building methodology, assessing the risks: the case of energy security in the Baltic States". Baltic Journal of Economics. 11 (2): 59–80. doi:10.1080/1406099x.2011.10840501. ISSN 1406-099X.
  27. ^ a b c Mauring, Liina (2006). "The Effects of the Russian Energy Sector on the Security of the Baltic States". Baltic Security & Defence Review. 8: 66–80. ISSN 2382-9230.
  28. ^ da Graça Carvalho, Maria (April 2012). "EU energy and climate change strategy". Energy. 40 (1): 19–22. doi:10.1016/j.energy.2012.01.012.
  29. ^ Nader, Philippe Bou (1 June 2017). "The Baltic states should adopt the self-defence pinpricks doctrine: the "accumulation of events" threshold as a deterrent to Russian hybrid warfare". Journal on Baltic Security. 3 (1): 11–24. doi:10.1515/jobs-2017-0003. ISSN 2382-9230.
  30. ^ Trakimavicius, Lukas. "The Baltics — a Ship to Weather the Energy Storm". Center for European Policy Analysis. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
  31. ^ "Pilsonības un migrācijas lietu pārvalde – Kļūda 404" (PDF). pmlp.gov.lv. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2020. Retrieved 9 August 2018.
  32. ^ "POPULATION BY SEX, ETHNIC NATIONALITY AND COUNTY, 1 JANUARY. ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISION AS AT 01.01.2018". pub.stat.ee. Archived from the original on 11 June 2019. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  33. ^ "Home – Oficialiosios statistikos portalas". osp.stat.gov.lt.
  34. ^ "Baltic states – Soviet Republics". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 5 March 2007.
  35. ^ Nikolas K. Gvosdev; Christopher Marsh (2013). Russian Foreign Policy: Interests, Vectors, and Sectors. CQ Press. p. 217. ISBN 9781483322087.
  36. ^ Graddol, David. "English Next" (PDF). British Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 February 2015.
  37. ^ "Employees fluent in three languages – it's the norm in Lithuania". Invest Lithuania. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  38. ^ Lukoševičius, Viktoras; Duksa, Tomas. "Eratosthenes' map of the oecumene". Geodesy and Cartography. 38 (2). Taylor & Francis: 84. eISSN 2029-7009. ISSN 2029-6991.
  39. ^ "Indo-European Etymology: Query result". starling.rinet.ru. Archived from the original on 25 February 2007. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
  40. ^ Dini, Pierto Umberto (2000) [1997]. Baltu valodas (in Latvian). Translated from Italian by Dace Meiere. Riga: Jānis Roze. ISBN 978-9984-623-96-2.
  41. ^ a b c Krauklis, Konstantīns (1992). Latviešu etimoloģijas vārdnīca (in Latvian). Vol. I. Rīga: Avots. pp. 103–104. OCLC 28891146.
  42. ^ a b c Bojtar, Endre (1999). Foreword to the Past: A Cultural History of the Baltic People. Central European University Press. ISBN 9789639116429.
  43. ^ Skutāns, Gints. "Latvija – jēdziena ģenēze". old.historia.lv. Archived from the original on 22 May 2018. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
  44. ^ l.l.b, charles mayo (1804). a compendious view of universal history. Archived from the original on 13 May 2018. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
  45. ^ Mahan, Alfred Thayer (2006). The Life of Nelson. Bexley Publications. ISBN 978-1-4116-7198-0. Archived from the original on 13 May 2018. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
  46. ^ "Nida and The Curonian Spit, The Insider's Guide to Visiting". MapTrotting. 23 September 2016. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
  47. ^ "Eurostat". eurostat.ec.europa.eu.
  48. ^ "Population | Statistikaamet".
  49. ^ "Population by gender in regions, cities, counties and parishes at the beginning of the year - Gender, Territorial unit, Indicators and Time period".
  50. ^ "Main Lithuanian indicators". 21 December 2021.
  51. ^ a b "Eurostat - Tables, Graphs and Maps Interface (TGM) table".
  52. ^ "Messages of the 2023 state budget". valitsus.ee. 23 September 2021.
  53. ^ "Latvian defense spending hits 2.25% of GDP". eng.lsm.lv.
  54. ^ Lietuvos saugumui ir gynybai skiriamos lėšos auga, karinę infrastruktūrą bus galima finansuoti papildomai, archived from the original on 1 February 2023, retrieved 29 March 2023
  55. ^ "GINI index (World Bank estimate) | Data". World Bank. Archived from the original on 22 April 2018. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
  56. ^ "| Human Development Reports". Archived from the original on 14 September 2018. Retrieved 14 September 2018.

Further reading

International peer-reviewed media

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Baltic states.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Baltic states.

Official statistics of the Baltic states

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Baltic_states&oldid=1181219246"