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135-479: Inaugurated in 1987, it picks up where its counterpart leaves off in the mid-nineteenth century to cover the political and social upheavals of the twentieth century. Its exhibits include historically dressed mannequins and recreations of domestic interiors. The 1940s and 1950s are represented by army uniforms and weapons. There is an original hut used by the Forest Brothers , the legendary partisans who fought against

270-534: A massacre and his realisation that there was insufficient military force available to pursue alternative options. He regretted signing the document, saying that he felt "sick with shame at this betrayal of the dynasty ... the betrayal was complete". When the manifesto was proclaimed, there were spontaneous demonstrations of support in all the major cities. The strikes in Saint Petersburg and elsewhere officially ended or quickly collapsed. A political amnesty

405-538: A central role in the 1905 revolution, would write several proclamations urging for improved economic conditions , political rights and the use of strike action against the Tsarist regime on behalf of workers. Many socialists view this as a period when the rising revolutionary movement was met with rising reactionary movements. As Rosa Luxemburg stated in 1906 in The Mass Strike , when collective strike activity

540-709: A citywide general strike) and Tiflis , where commercial workers gained a reduction in the working day, and were joined by factory workers. In 1904, massive strike waves broke out in Odessa in the spring, in Kyiv in July, and in Baku in December. This all set the stage for the strikes in St. Petersburg in December 1904 to January 1905 seen as the first step in the 1905 revolution. Another contributing factor behind

675-484: A constitution. In November 1904 a Zemsky Congress  [ ru ] ( Russian : Земский съезд )—a gathering of zemstvo delegates representing all levels of Russian society—called for a constitution, civil liberties and a parliament . On 13 December [ O.S. 30 November] 1904, the Moscow City Duma passed a resolution demanding the establishment of an elected national legislature, full freedom of

810-403: A crash governmental program was proposed to promote industrialization. His policies included heavy government expenditures for railroad building and operations, subsidies and supporting services for private industrialists, high protective tariffs for Russian industries (especially heavy industry), an increase in exports, currency stabilization, and encouragement of foreign investments. His plan

945-481: A failure of highly centralized resistance, as the organization was too dependent on Veverskis and other top commanders. In 1946 remaining leaders and fighters of LLA started to merge with Lithuanian partisans. In 1949 all members of presidium of Union of Lithuanian Freedom Fighters – captain Jonas Žemaitis-Tylius, Petras Bartkus-Žadgaila, Bronius Liesys-Naktis ir Juozas Šibaila-Merainis came from LLA. Supreme Committee for

1080-797: A few grenades, usually saving one to blow themselves up to avoid being taken as prisoner, since the physical tortures of Soviet MGB/NKVD were very brutal and cruel , and to prevent their relatives from suffering. To combat the guerrillas, in May 1948 the Soviets carried out the largest deportation from Lithuania, Operation Spring , when some 40 to 50 thousand people associated with "forest brothers" were deported to Siberia. Captured Lithuanian Forest Brothers often faced torture and summary execution while their relatives faced deportation to Siberia (cf. quotation ). Reprisals against anti-Soviet farms and villages were harsh. NKVD units named People's Defense Platoons (known by

1215-494: A general strike at Rostov-on-Don in November 1902. Daily meetings of 15,000 to 20,000 heard openly revolutionary appeals for the first time, before a massacre defeated the strikes. But reaction to the massacres brought political demands to purely economic ones. Luxemburg described the situation in 1903 by saying: "the whole of South Russia in May, June and July was aflame", including Baku (where separate wage struggles culminated in

1350-582: A manifesto promising the broadening of the zemstvo system and more authority for local municipal councils, insurance for industrial workers, the emancipation of Inorodtsy and the abolition of censorship. The crucial demand—that for a representative national legislature—was missing in the manifesto. Worker strikes in the Caucasus broke out in March 1902. Strikes on the railways, originating from pay disputes, took on other issues and drew in other industries, culminating in

1485-742: A minute proportion of the population. "The tactics of the left-wing students proved to be remarkably effective, far beyond what any of the students would have dreamed. Sensing that neither the university administrations nor the government possessed the will or authority to enforce regulations, radicals simply went ahead with their plans to turn the schools into centres of political activity for students and non-students alike." They took up problems that were unrelated to their "proper employment", and displayed defiance and radicalism by boycotting examinations, rioting, arranging marches in sympathy with strikers and political prisoners , circulating petitions , and writing anti-government propaganda . This disturbed

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1620-750: A movement hostile to the Government of the United States under Section 13 of the Displaced Persons Act, as amended. The Latvian government has asserted that the Latvian Legion , primarily composed of the 15th and 19th Latvian Waffen-SS divisions, was neither a criminal nor collaborationist organization. The ranks of the resistance swelled with the Red Army's attempts to conscript in the Baltic states after

1755-432: A multi-ethnic empire. Nineteenth-century Russians saw cultures and religions in a clear hierarchy. Non-Russian cultures were tolerated in the empire but were not necessarily respected. Culturally, Europe was favored over Asia, as was Orthodox Christianity over other religions. For generations, Russian Jews had been considered a special problem. Jews constituted only about 4% of the population but were concentrated in

1890-466: A new consciousness after discipline was relaxed in the institutions, and as increasingly radical ideas gained attention. Significantly, this was a period of disaffection in the Russian military. Soldiers returning from a bloody and disgraceful defeat with Japan found inadequate factory pay, shortages, and general disarray, and organized in protest. Because the Russian economy was tied to European finances,

2025-513: A petition to the Tsar on Sunday, 22 January [ O.S. 9 January] 1905. The troops guarding the Palace were ordered to tell the demonstrators not to pass a certain point, according to Sergei Witte , and at some point, troops opened fire on the demonstrators, causing between 200 (according to Witte) and 1,000 deaths. The event became known as Bloody Sunday , and is considered by many scholars as

2160-400: A professional and a rebellious student body in centers of political power, industrialization infuriated both these new forces and the traditional rural classes." The government policy of financing industrialization through taxing peasants forced millions of peasants to work in towns. The "peasant worker" saw his labor in the factory as the means to consolidate his family's economic position in

2295-456: A resolution, asking for popular representation at the national level. On 6 June [ O.S. 24 May] 1905, Nicholas II had received a Zemstvo deputation. Responding to speeches by Prince Sergei Nikolaevich Trubetskoy and Mr Fyodrov, the Tsar confirmed his promise to convene an assembly of people's representatives. Tsar Nicholas II agreed on 2 March [ O.S. 18 February] to

2430-502: A separate issue, was similar to its policies in dealing with all national and religious minorities. Historian Theodore Weeks notes: "Russian administrators, who never succeeded in coming up with a legal definition of ' Pole ', despite the decades of restrictions on that ethnic group, regularly spoke of individuals 'of Polish descent' or, alternatively, 'of Russian descent', making identity a function of birth." This policy only succeeded in producing or aggravating feelings of disloyalty. There

2565-642: A small pension. In Lithuania, the third Sunday in May is commemorated as Partisans' Day. In 2005 there were about 350 surviving Forest Brothers in Lithuania. By 2024, Ruuben Lambur  [ et ] (1925–2024) was the last Estonian Forest Brother still well enough to make public appearances. In a 2001 lecture in Tallinn, U.S. Senator John McCain acknowledged the Estonian Forest Brothers and their efforts. The Canadian film Legendi loojad (Creators of

2700-498: A theory difficult to credit given the shallow water and lack of cover at the site. Another noted member of Forest Brothers, Kalev Arro , evaded capture by disguising himself as a vagrant while hiding in the forests of southern Estonia for 20 years. He was killed in a shooting encounter with KGB agents in 1974. There were numerous attempts to hunt down relatives of the Forest Brothers. An Estonian who managed to escape deportation

2835-553: A transition to constitutional monarchy and thus betray the revolution; instead he argued that the proletariat would have to build an alliance with the peasantry to overthrow the Tsarist regime and establish the "provisional revolutionary democratic dictatorship of the proletariat and the peasantry." In December 1904, a strike occurred at the Putilov plant (a railway and artillery supplier) in St. Petersburg. Sympathy strikes in other parts of

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2970-626: A wound on the left side, both testicles and spermatic ducts are missing. Juozas Lukša was among those who managed to escape to the West; he wrote his memoirs in Paris – Fighters for Freedom. Lithuanian Partisans Versus the U.S.S.R. , and was killed after returning to Lithuania in 1951. Pranas Končius (code name Adomas ) was one of the last few Lithuanian anti-Soviet resistance fighters, killed in action by Soviet forces on July 6, 1965 (some sources indicate he shot himself in order to avoid capture on July 13). He

3105-451: Is the best-known film portrayal of the conflict. The popular Soviet Latvian TV drama series Long Road in the Dunes (1980–1982) touches the topic of Latvian Forest Brothers from a Soviet perspective. 1905 Russian Revolution [REDACTED] Russian Empire Supported by: [REDACTED] Revolutionaries Supported by: The Russian Revolution of 1905 , also known as

3240-813: The 1917 Revolution in Russia , the Orlov-Davydovs leased out the manor. From 1933 to 1937, the manor hosted a restaurant and hotel opened. The manor was then purchased by the Estonian government who used it to house the Military Aviation School of the Republic of Estonia. The school closed when the Soviets began occupying Estonia, and in 1940, the Soviet Army took over the building. In 1987, the History of Revolution Museum of

3375-581: The 20th Waffen-SS Division (1st Estonian) who wished to stay and defend their homes to do so – and in the fate of Army Group Courland , among the last of Hitler's forces to surrender after it became trapped in the Courland Pocket on the Courland Peninsula in 1945. Many Estonian and Latvian soldiers, and a few Germans, evaded capture and fought as Forest Brothers for years after the war. Others such as Alfons Rebane and Alfrēds Riekstiņš escaped to

3510-643: The Caucasus resulted in Armenian–Tatar massacres , heavily damaging the cities and the Baku oilfields . With the unsuccessful and bloody Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) there was unrest in army reserve units. On 2 January 1905, Port Arthur was lost; in February 1905, the Russian army was defeated at Mukden , losing almost 80,000 men. On 27–28 May 1905, the Russian Baltic Fleet was defeated at Tsushima . Witte

3645-587: The Chekists themselves waited outside. I told people to drive me away, as I had been sent by the security organs." In Latvia, preparations for partisan operations began during the German occupation, but the leaders of these nationalist units were arrested by Nazi authorities. Longer-lived resistance units began to form at the end of the war, composed of former Latvian Legion soldiers and civilians. On 8 September 1944 in Riga ,

3780-598: The First Russian Revolution , began on 22 January 1905. A wave of mass political and social unrest then began to spread across the vast areas of the Russian Empire . The unrest was directed primarily against the Tsar , the nobility, and the ruling class. It included worker strikes , peasant unrest, and military mutinies . In response to the public pressure, Tsar Nicholas II was forced to go back on his earlier authoritarian stance and enact some reform (issued in

3915-874: The House of the Brotherhood of the Blackheads . In 1842, the Estonian Literary Society ( German : Estländische Literärische Gesellschaft ) and began collecting materials to form a museum. In 1864, the Provincial Museum of the Estonian Literature Society was founded at Canute Guild . During the Soviet occupation of Estonia , the museum was nationalized, and its collections given to other museums. Unfortunately, some of its materials were destroyed. In 1952,

4050-547: The Iskra split would see the likes of Julius Martov and Georgi Plekhanov spar with Lenin . Leon Trotsky , who felt a strong connection to the Bolsheviki, had not given up a compromise but spearheaded strike action in over 200 factories. By 26 October [ O.S. 13 October] 1905, over 2 million workers were on strike and there were almost no active railways in all of Russia. Growing inter-ethnic confrontation throughout

4185-740: The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact , all three Baltic states were occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940, a move that the Western Allies deemed illegitimate. When Nazi Germany broke the pact and invaded the Soviet Union , the Soviet Red Army was driven out of the Baltics and the area came under German military occupation . After the departure of Soviet troops from the region, formal independence to

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4320-621: The October Manifesto ). This took the form of establishing the State Duma , the multi-party system , and the Russian Constitution of 1906 . Despite popular participation in the Duma, the parliament was unable to issue laws of its own, and frequently came into conflict with Nicholas. The Duma's power was limited and Nicholas continued to hold the ruling authority. Furthermore, he could dissolve

4455-757: The Red Army , occupied the Baltic states in 1940, completing their occupation by 1941. After a period of German occupation during World War II, the Soviets reoccupied Lithuania from 1944 to 1945. As Soviet political repression intensified over the following years, tens of thousands of partisans from the Baltics began to use the countryside as a base for an anti-Soviet insurgency. According to some estimates, at least 50,000 partisans (10,000 in Estonia, 10,000 in Latvia and 30,000 in Lithuania) in addition to their supporters were involved in

4590-654: The Russian populist tradition, and the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (founded in 1898). In late 1904 liberals started a series of banquets (modeled on the campagne des banquets leading up to the French Revolution of 1848 ), nominally celebrating the 40th anniversary of the liberal court statutes, but actually an attempt to circumvent laws against political gatherings. The banquets resulted in calls for political reforms and

4725-759: The Russification undertaken since Alexander II . The Poles, Finns, and the Baltic provinces all sought autonomy, and also freedom to use their national languages and promote their own culture. Muslim groups were also active, founding the Union of the Muslims of Russia in August 1905. Certain groups took the opportunity to settle differences with each other rather than the government. Some nationalists undertook anti-Jewish pogroms , possibly with government aid, and in total over 3,000 Jews were killed. The number of prisoners throughout

4860-600: The Soviet Union from 1944 to 1956. Known alternatively as the " Forest Brothers ", the "Brothers of the Wood" and the "Forest Friars" ( Estonian : metsavennad , Latvian : mežabrāļi , Lithuanian : žaliukai ), these partisans fought against invading Soviet forces during their occupation of the Baltic states during and after World War II . Similar insurgent groups resisted Soviet occupations in Bulgaria , Poland , Romania and Ukraine . Soviet forces, consisting primarily of

4995-612: The Urals and beyond. In March, all higher academic institutions were forcibly closed for the remainder of the year, adding radical students to the striking workers. A strike by railway workers on 21 October [ O.S. 8 October] 1905 quickly developed into a general strike in Saint Petersburg and Moscow. This prompted the setting up of the short-lived Saint Petersburg Soviet of Workers' Delegates, an admixture of Bolsheviks and Mensheviks headed by Khrustalev-Nossar and despite

5130-584: The 31st anniversary of the February 16, 1918, declaration of independence, by elements of the resistance unified under the "Movement of the Struggle for the Freedom of Lithuania". ... a universal, organised, armed resistance namely, self-defence, by the Lithuanian State, did take place in Lithuania during 1944–1953, against the soviet occupation ... the goal ... was the liberation of Lithuania, relying upon

5265-558: The Baltic states was not restored by Germany. Meanwhile, Allied declarations such as the Atlantic Charter offered promise of a post-war world in which the three Baltic states could re-establish themselves. Having already experienced occupation by the Soviet regime then the Nazi regime, many people were unwilling to accept another occupation at the end of the war. Unlike Estonia and Latvia, where

5400-791: The Bolsheviks split completely with the Mensheviks; many Bolsheviks refused, and both groups attended the Third RSDLP Congress , held in London in April 1905 at the Brotherhood Church . Lenin presented many of his ideas in the pamphlet Two Tactics of Social Democracy in the Democratic Revolution , published in August 1905. Here, he predicted that Russia's liberal bourgeoisie would be sated by

5535-542: The British ( MI6 ), American and Swedish secret intelligence services. That support played a key role in directing the Baltic resistance movement, but it diminished significantly after MI6's Operation Jungle was severely compromised by the activities of British spies ( Kim Philby and others ) who forwarded information to the Soviets and enabled the MGB to identify, infiltrate and eliminate many Baltic guerrilla units and cut others off from any further contact with Western intelligence operatives. The conflict between

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5670-541: The Catholic church. By the end of 1945, an estimated 30,000 armed people lived in the forests in Lithuania. The partisans were well-armed. During 1945–1951 Soviet repressive structures seized from partisans 31 mortars, 2,921 machine guns, 6,304 assault rifles, 22,962 rifles, 8,155 pistols, 15,264 grenades, 2,596 mines, and 3,779,133 cartridges. The partisans replenished their arsenal by killing istrebiteli , members of Soviet secret-police forces or by purchasing ammunition from Red Army soldiers. Every partisan had binoculars and

5805-477: The Duma, which he did three times in order to get rid of the opposition. The 1905 revolution was set off by the international humiliation that resulted from the Russian defeat in the Russo-Japanese War , which ended in the same year. Calls for revolution were intensified by the growing realisation of the need for reform by a variety of sectors of society. Politicians such as Sergei Witte had succeeded in partially industrializing Russia but failed to adequately meet

5940-439: The Estonian SSR opened in the manor. When Estonia regained independence in 1991, the museum was renovated and updated. The Film Museum, established in 2006, moved to the palace's complex in 2017. Forest Brothers [REDACTED]   Soviet Union ~13,000 Soviet fatalities: The guerrilla war in the Baltic states was an insurgency waged by Baltic ( Latvian , Lithuanian and Estonian ) partisans against

6075-495: The Germans conscripted the local population into military formations within the Waffen-SS , Lithuania never had a Waffen-SS division. In 1944, the German authorities created an ill-equipped but 20,000-man strong Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force under General Povilas Plechavičius to combat Soviet partisans led by Antanas Sniečkus . The Germans came to see this force as a nationalist threat to their occupation. Its senior staff were arrested on May 15, 1944, and Plechavičius

6210-427: The Kingdom of Poland (1905–1907) ). Half of European Russia's industrial workers went on strike in 1905, and 93.2% in Poland. There were also strikes in Finland and the Baltic coast. In Riga , 130 protesters were killed on 26 January [ O.S. 13 January] 1905, and in Warsaw a few days later over 100 strikers were shot on the streets. By February, there were strikes in the Caucasus , and by April, in

6345-452: The Legend) about the Estonian Forest Brothers was released in 1963. The film was funded by donations from Estonians in exile. The 1966 Soviet drama film Nobody Wanted to Die ( Lithuanian : Niekas nenorėjo mirti ) by Soviet-Lithuanian film director Vytautas Žalakevičius shows the tragedy of the conflict in which "a brother goes against the brother." The film garnered Žalakevičius the USSR State Prize and international recognition, and

6480-461: The Liberation of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Vyriausiasis Lietuvos išlaisvinimo komitetas , VLIK), was created on November 25, 1943. VLIK published underground newspapers and agitated for resistance against Nazis. The Gestapo arrested the most influential members in 1944. After the reoccupation of Lithuania by the Soviets, VLIK moved to the West and set its goal as maintaining non-recognition of Lithuania's occupation and disseminating information from behind

6615-400: The Lithuanians as pl. stribai , from Russian : izstrebiteli – destroyers , i.e., the destruction battalions), used shock tactics such as displaying executed partisans' corpses in village courtyards to discourage further resistance. The report of a commission formed at a KGB prison a few days after the October 15, 1956, arrest of Adolfas Ramanauskas ("Vanagas"), chief commander of

6750-482: The Minister of the Interior, Pyotr Sviatopolk-Mirsky , on 18 February [ O.S. 5 February] 1905. He appointed a government commission "to enquire without delay into the causes of discontent among the workers in the city of St Petersburg and its suburbs" in view of the strike movement. The commission was headed by Senator Nikolay Shidlovsky, a member of the State Council , and included officials, chiefs of government factories, and private factory owners. It

6885-413: The Romanians returned her to Imperial Russian authorities on the following day. Some sources claim over 2,000 sailors died in the suppression. The mutinies were disorganised and quickly crushed. Despite these mutinies, the armed forces were largely apolitical and remained mostly loyal, if dissatisfied—and were widely used by the government to control the 1905 unrest. Nationalist groups had been angered by

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7020-411: The Russian Empire, which had peaked at 116,376 in 1893, fell by over a third to a record low of 75,009 in January 1905, chiefly because of several mass amnesties granted by the Tsar; the historian S G Wheatcroft has wondered what role these released criminals played in the 1905–06 social unrest. On 12 January 1905, the Tsar appointed Dmitri Feodorovich Trepov as governor in St Petersburg and dismissed

7155-439: The Russian economy until the 1890s. Meanwhile, "agricultural productivity stagnated, while international prices for grain dropped, and Russia's foreign debt and need for imports grew. War and military preparations continued to consume government revenues. At the same time, the peasant taxpayers' ability to pay was strained to the utmost, leading to widespread famine in 1891 ." In the 1890s, under Finance Minister Sergei Witte ,

7290-415: The Russian-controlled Congress Poland culminated in June 1905 in the Łódź insurrection . Surprisingly, only one landlord was recorded as killed. Far more violence was inflicted on peasants outside the commune: 50 deaths were recorded. Anti-tsarist protests displaced onto Jewish communities in the October 1905 Kishinev pogrom . The October Manifesto , written by Sergei Witte and Alexis Obolenskii,

7425-470: The SS (2nd Latvian), was recruited with 15 other Latvians into a Nazi stay-behind unit at the close of the war. Escaping to the forest, the group, led by Krastiņš, avoided all contact with local residents and relatives, robbing trucks for money while simultaneously maintaining an apartment in the center of Riga for reconnaissance operations. At first they assassinated low-level Communist party managers, but later focused their efforts on attempting to assassinate

7560-425: The SS as enumerated in the preceding paragraph, who became or remained members of the organization with knowledge that it was being used for the commission of acts declared criminal by Article 6 of the Charter, or who were personally implicated as members of the organization in the commission of such crimes, excluding, however, those who were drafted into membership by the State in such a way as to give them no choice in

7695-515: The Soviet armed forces and the Forest Brothers lasted over a decade and cost at least 50,000 lives. Estimates of the number of fighters in each country vary. Misiunas and Taagepera estimate that figures reached 30,000 in Lithuania, between 10,000 and 15,000 in Latvia and 10,000 in Estonia. On the other hand, professor Heinrihs Strods, based on NKVD reports, claims that in 1945, 8,916 partisans were killed in Lithuania, 715 in Latvia and 270 in Estonia, which makes Lithuanian losses around 90%. Even though

7830-407: The Soviet occupation, and a replica of a desk used by a communist party secretary. The museum has four locations: Maarjamäe Palace , the Great Guild hall , the Film Museum, and the Theatre and Music Museum . In 1802, Tallinn pharmacist Johann Burchard started a collection called Mon Faible (My Weakness). Its first item was an opium pipe from China . In 1822, Buchard hosted an exhibition in

7965-419: The Soviets from Tartu, behind the Rivers Pärnu – Emajõgi line. Thus they secured South Estonia under Estonian control by July 10. The NKVD murdered 193 people in Tartu Prison on their retreat on July 8. The German 18th Army crossed the Estonian southern border on July 7–9. The Germans resumed their advance in Estonia by working in cooperation with the Forest Brothers and the Omakaitse . In North Estonia,

8100-449: The Soviets were driven out from Estonia, German Army Group North disarmed all the Forest Brother and Omakaitse groups. Southern Estonian partisan units were yet again summoned in August 1941 under the name of Estonian Omakaitse. Members were initially selected from the closest circle of friends. Later, candidate members were asked to sign a declaration that they were not members of a Communist organization. Estonian Omakaitse relied on

8235-493: The Tsar made new concessions. On 2 March [ O.S. 18 February] 1905 he published the Bulygin Rescript , which promised the formation of a consultative assembly, religious tolerance , freedom of speech (in the form of language rights for the Polish minority) and a reduction in the peasants' redemption payments. On 24 and 25 May [ O.S. 11 and 12 May] 1905, about 300 Zemstvo and municipal representatives held three meetings in Moscow, which passed

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8370-413: The Union of Lithuanian Freedom Fighters, noted the following: The right eye is covered with haematoma, on the eyelid there are six stab wounds made, judging by their diameter, by a thin wire or nail going deep into the eyeball. Multiple haematomas in the area of the stomach, a cut wound on a finger of the right hand. The genitalia reveal the following: a large tear wound on the right side of the scrotum and

8505-471: The United Kingdom and Sweden and participated in Allied intelligence operations in aid of the Forest Brothers. While the Waffen-SS was found guilty of war crimes and other atrocities and declared a criminal organization after the war, the Nuremberg trials explicitly excluded conscripts in the following terms: The Tribunal declares to be criminal within the meaning of the Charter the group composed of those persons who had been officially accepted as members of

8640-433: The agrarian problem, the most serious issues plaguing the country were those of the Jews, the schools, and the workers, in that order. Any residual popular loyalty to Tsar Nicholas II was lost on 22 January 1905 , when his soldiers fired upon a crowd of protesting workers, led by Georgy Gapon , who were marching to present a petition at the Winter Palace. Every year, thousands of nobles in debt mortgaged their estates to

8775-408: The areas to be abandoned on July 3. About 10,000 Forest Brothers, organized into countrywide Omakaitse (Home Guard) organizations, attacked the NKVD , destruction battalions and the 8th Army (Major General Ljubovtsev), killing 4,800 and capturing 14,000. The battle of Tartu lasted for two weeks, and destroyed a large part of the city. Under the leadership of Friedrich Kurg, the Forest Brothers drove

8910-413: The armed fighters while the organizational sector was tasked with passive resistance , including supply of food, information, and transport to Vanagai . In the middle of 1944, the LLA had 10,000 members. The Soviets killed 659 and arrested 753 members of the LLA by January 26, 1945. Founder Kazys Veverskis was killed in December 1944, and the headquarters was liquidated in December 1945. This represented

9045-434: The attention of the government, so it created many committees to investigate the causes. The committees concluded that no part of the countryside was prosperous; some parts, especially the fertile areas known as the " black-soil region ", were in decline. Although cultivated acreage had increased in the last half century, the increase had not been proportionate to the growth of the peasant population, which had doubled. "There

9180-463: The borders would be defended better if the borderland were more "Russian" in character. The culmination of cultural diversity created a cumbersome nationality problem that plagued the Russian government in the years leading up to the revolution. The economic situation in Russia before the revolution presented a grim picture. The government had experimented with laissez-faire capitalist policies, but this strategy largely failed to gain traction within

9315-460: The brutal suppression of the Hungarian Revolution in 1956 did not bring about an intervention by, or a supportive response from, Western Powers, organized resistance in the Baltic States declined further. As the conflict was relatively undocumented by the Soviet Union (the Baltic fighters were formally charged as common criminals), some consider it and the Soviet-Baltic conflict as a whole to be an unknown or forgotten war. Discussion of resistance

9450-511: The campaigns against them. Many of the remaining Forest Brothers laid down their weapons when offered an amnesty by the Soviet authorities after Stalin's death in 1953, although isolated engagements continued into the 1960s. The last individual guerrillas are known to have remained in hiding and evaded capture into the 1980s, by which time the Baltic states were pressing for independence through peaceful means. (See Sąjūdis , The Baltic Way , Singing Revolution ) Many Forest Brothers persisted in

9585-404: The city raised the number of strikers to 150,000 workers in 382 factories. By 21 January [ O.S. 8 January] 1905, the city had no electricity and newspaper distribution was halted. All public areas were declared closed. Controversial Orthodox priest Georgy Gapon , who headed a police-sponsored workers' association, led a huge workers' procession to the Winter Palace to deliver

9720-520: The collapse of the Russian Empire . The ideals of nationalism and self-determination had taken hold with many people as a result of the independence of Estonia and Latvia for the first time since the 13th century. Lithuanians re-established a sovereign state with a rich former history, the largest country in Europe during the 14th century, occupied by the Russian Empire since 1795 . In the aftermath of

9855-424: The community of peasants; individual peasants would have rights to strips of land to be assigned to them under the open field system . A peasant could not sell or mortgage this land, so in practice he could not renounce his rights to his land, and he would be required to pay his share of redemption dues to the village commune. This plan was intended to prevent peasants from becoming part of the proletariat . However,

9990-613: The consolidation of Soviet rule through ambush, sabotage, assassination of local Communist activists and officials, freeing imprisoned guerrillas and printing underground newspapers. On 1 July 1944, Lithuanian Liberty Army (LLA) declared the state of war against the Soviet occupation and ordered all its able members to mobilize into platoons, station in forests and not to leave Lithuania. The departments were replaced by two sectors – operational, called Vanagai (Hawks or Falcons; abbreviated VS), and organizational (abbreviated OS). Vanagai , commanded by Albinas Karalius (codename Varenis), were

10125-597: The contraction of Western money markets in 1899–1900 plunged Russian industry into a deep and prolonged crisis; it outlasted the dip in European industrial production. This setback aggravated social unrest during the five years preceding the Revolution of 1905. The Tsarist government did recognise some of these problems, albeit shortsightedly. The Minister of the Interior Vyacheslav von Plehve had said in 1903 that, after

10260-443: The countryside looking for work and sometimes walked hundreds of kilometers to find it. Desperate peasants proved capable of violence. "In the provinces of Kharkov and Poltava in 1902, thousands of them, ignoring restraints and authority, burst out in a rebellious fury that led to extensive destruction of property and looting of noble homes before troops could be brought to subdue and punish them." These violent outbreaks caught

10395-494: The creation of a State Duma of the Russian Empire but with consultative powers only. When its slight powers and limits on the electorate were revealed, unrest redoubled. The Saint Petersburg Soviet was formed and called for a general strike in October, refusal to pay taxes, and the en masse withdrawal of bank deposits. In June and July 1905, there were many peasant uprisings in which peasants seized land and tools. Disturbances in

10530-422: The destruction battalions had the greatest impact, being the last Baltic territory captured from the Soviets. The joint Estonian-German forces took Narva on August 17 and the Estonian capital Tallinn on August 28. On that day, the red flag shot down earlier on Pikk Hermann was replaced with the flag of Estonia by Fred Ise only to be replaced yet again by a German Reichskriegsflagge a few hours later. After

10665-423: The empire's stability. After the rebellion was crushed, the government implemented policies to reduce Polish cultural influences. In the 1870s the government began to distrust German elements on the western border. The Russian government felt that the unification of Germany would upset the power balance among the great powers of Europe and that Germany would use its strength against Russia. The government thought that

10800-452: The end of 1903. The Minister of the Interior, Plehve, designated schools as a pressing problem for the government, but he did not realize it was only a symptom of antigovernment feelings among the educated class. Students of universities, other schools of higher learning, and occasionally of secondary schools and theological seminaries were part of this group. Student radicalism began around

10935-412: The exception of night work in glass factories. Employment of children aged 12 to 15 was prohibited on Sundays and holidays. Workers had to be paid in cash at least once a month, and limits were placed on the size and bases of fines for tardy workers. Employers were prohibited from charging workers for the cost of lighting of the shops and plants. Despite these labour protections, the workers believed that

11070-496: The first ever student demonstration, held in St. Petersburg , which led to a two-year closure of the university. The consequent conflict with the state was an important factor in the chronic student protests over subsequent decades. The atmosphere of the early 1860s gave rise to political engagement by students outside universities that became a tenet of student radicalism by the 1870s. Student radicals described "the special duty and mission of

11205-399: The forest brothers of this era either as peasants revolting or as schoolteachers seeking refuge in the forest. The term Forest Brothers was used and known only in occupied Estonia and Latvia. In Lithuania partisans were called žaliukai (Green People), miškiniai (Forest People) or just partizanai (partisans). Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania gained their independence in 1918 after

11340-513: The former regulations of Estonian Defence League and Estonian Army , insofar as they were consistent with the laws of German occupation. The tasks of the Omakaitse were as follows: On 15 July, the Omakaitse had 10,200 members; on 1 December 1941, 40,599 members. Until February 1944 membership was around 40,000. By the late 1940s and the early 1950s, the Forest Brothers were provided with supplies, liaison officers and logistical coordination by

11475-489: The government, but it believed the cause was lack of training in patriotism and religion . Therefore, the curriculum was "toughened up" to emphasize classical language and mathematics in secondary schools, but defiance continued. Expulsion , exile , and forced military service also did not stop students. "In fact, when the official decision to overhaul the whole educational system was finally made, in 1904, and to that end Vladimir Glazov , head of General Staff Academy,

11610-568: The head of the Latvian SSR , Vilis Lācis . The group recruited a Russian woman working at the Supreme Soviet of the Latvian SSR who told them Lācis' transportation schedule. They set up a roadside ambush when Lācis was traveling from Riga to Jūrmala , but shot up the wrong car. The second attempt likewise relied on a female collaborator, who proved to be an undercover NKVD agent. The entire group

11745-424: The hope that Cold War hostilities between the West, which never formally recognized the Soviet occupation , and the Soviet Union might escalate to an armed conflict in which the Baltic states would be liberated. This never materialized, and according to Mart Laar many of the surviving former Forest Brothers remained bitter that the West did not take on the Soviet Union militarily. (See also Yalta Conference ). When

11880-469: The idea of police socialism failed. From 1900 to 1903, the period of industrial depression caused many firm bankruptcies and a reduction in the employment rate. Employees were restive: they would join legal organisations but turn the organisations toward an end that the organisations' sponsors did not intend. Workers used legitimate means to organise strikes or to draw support for striking workers outside these groups. A strike that began in 1902 by workers in

12015-420: The insurgency. The partisans continued to carry out an armed struggle until 1956, when the superiority of the Soviet security forces, largely in the form of secret agents which infiltrated the partisan groups, caused the Baltic population to change tactics and use other forms of resistance. The term Forest Brothers first came into use in the Baltic region in the 1905 Russian Revolution . Varying sources refer to

12150-540: The iron curtain – including information provided by the Lithuanian partisans. Former members of the Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force, Lithuanian Liberty Army, Lithuanian Armed Forces , Lithuanian Riflemen's Union formed the basis of Lithuanian partisans. Farmers, Lithuanian officials, students, teachers, even pupils joined the partisan movement. The movement was actively supported by society and

12285-560: The laws were not enough to free them from unfair and inhumane practices. At the start of the 20th century, Russian industrial workers worked on average 11-hours per day (10 hours on Saturday), factory conditions were perceived as grueling and often unsafe, and attempts at independent unions were often not accepted. Many workers were forced to work beyond the maximum of 11 + 1 ⁄ 2 hours per day. Others were still subject to arbitrary and excessive fines for tardiness , mistakes in their work, or absence. Russian industrial workers were also

12420-667: The leadership of the Latvian Central Council adopted the Declaration on the restoration of the State of Latvia . It was intended to restore de facto independence to the Latvian republic. In addition it was hoped international supporters would take advantage of the interval between changeovers of the occupying powers. The Declaration prescribed that the Satversme was the fundamental law of

12555-526: The lowest-wage workers in Europe. Although the cost of living in Russia was low, "the average worker's 16 rubles per month could not buy the equal of what the French worker's 110 francs would buy for him." Furthermore, the same labour laws prohibited the organisation of trade unions and strikes. Dissatisfaction turned into despair for many impoverished workers, which made them more sympathetic to radical ideas. These discontented, radicalized workers became key to

12690-620: The matter, and who had committed no such crimes. In 1949–1950 the United States Displaced Persons Commission investigated the Estonian and Latvian divisions and on September 1, 1950, adopted the following policy: The Baltic Waffen SS Units are to be considered as separate and distinct in purpose, ideology, activities, and qualifications for membership from the German SS, and therefore the Commission holds them not to be

12825-545: The museum moved to the Great Guild Hall. In 1989, it was renamed the Estonian History Museum. In 1873, Count Anatoli Orlov-Davydov (1837–1905) purchased the plot of land Maarjamäe Palace sits on today from Christian Abraham Rotermann, who had built a steam mill and factories on the land. Orlov-Davydov named the land Marienberg, likely in honor of his wife Maria. Maarjamäe is the Estonian version of Maria. Due to

12960-408: The needs of the population. Tsar Nicholas II and the monarchy narrowly survived the Revolution of 1905, but its events foreshadowed what was to come in the 1917 Russian Revolution . Many historians contend that the 1905 revolution set the stage for the 1917 Russian Revolution, which saw the monarchy abolished and the Tsar executed. Calls for radicalism were present in the 1905 revolution, but many of

13095-586: The noble land bank or sold them to municipalities, merchants, or peasants. By the time of the revolution, the nobility had sold off one-third of its land and mortgaged another third. The peasants had been freed by the emancipation reform of 1861 , but their lives were generally quite limited. The government hoped to develop the peasants as a politically conservative, land-holding class by enacting laws to enable them to buy land from nobility by paying small installments over many decades. Such land, known as "allotment land", would not be owned by individual peasants but by

13230-496: The organization controlled dozens of villages and towns, creating considerable nuisance to Soviet supply transports that required an armed escort. August Sabbe , one of the last surviving Forest Brothers, was discovered in 1978 by KGB agents posing with his fellow fishermen. Instead of surrendering he leaped into the Võhandu . was caught on a log, and drowned. The KGB insisted that the 69-year-old Sabbe had drowned while trying to escape,

13365-415: The partisans inflicted damage on uniformed military personnel, party cadres (particularly in rural areas), buildings, and ammunition depots. The Communist authorities reported 1,562 Soviet personnel killed and 560 wounded during the entire resistance period. One account of a typical Forest Brothers action is provided by Tālrīts Krastiņš. He, a reconnaissance soldier of the 19th Waffen Grenadier Division of

13500-403: The peasants were not given enough land to provide for their needs: Their earnings were often so small that they could neither buy the food they needed nor keep up the payment of taxes and redemption dues they owed the government for their land allotments. By 1903 their total arrears in payments of taxes and dues was 118 million rubles. The situation worsened as masses of hungry peasants roamed

13635-528: The policy of "Russification " of the Empire: this represented discrimination and repression against national minorities, such as banning them from voting, serving in the Imperial Guard or Navy, and limiting their attendance in schools. A nascent industrial working class resented the government for doing too little to protect them, as it banned strikes and organizing into labor unions . University students developed

13770-466: The press , and freedom of religion . Similar resolutions and appeals from other city dumas and zemstvo councils followed. Emperor Nicholas II made a move to meet many of these demands, appointing liberal Pyotr Dmitrievich Sviatopolk-Mirsky as Minister of the Interior after the July 1904 assassination of Vyacheslav von Plehve . On 25 December [ O.S. 12 December] 1904, the Emperor issued

13905-628: The provisions of the Atlantic Charter and a sovereign right acknowledged by the democratic world, by bearing arms against one of the World War II Aggressors ;... The Council of the Movement of the Struggle for Freedom of Lithuania ... constituted the supreme political and military structure ... and was the sole legal authority within the territory of occupied Lithuania. In Latvia and Lithuania, Forest Brothers veterans receive

14040-524: The railroad shops in Vladikavkaz and Rostov-on-Don created such a response that by the next summer, 225,000 in various industries in southern Russia and Transcaucasia were on strike. These were not the first illegal strikes in the country's history but their aims, and the political awareness and support among workers and non-workers, made them more troubling to the government than earlier strikes. The government responded by closing all legal organisations by

14175-596: The real numbers were even larger, many believe this reveals the ratio of the size of resistance among the three countries. In Estonia 14,000–15,000 men participated in the fighting between 1944 and 1953: The Forest Brothers were most active in Võru County along the borderlands between Pärnu and Lääne counties and included significant activity between Tartu and Viru counties as well. From November 1944 to November 1947, they carried out 773 armed attacks, killing about 1,000 Soviets and their supporters. At its peak in 1947,

14310-553: The restored Republic of Latvia, and provided for the establishment of a Cabinet of Ministers that would organise the restoration of the State of Latvia. Some of the most prominent LCC accomplishments were related to its military branch – General Jānis Kurelis group (the so-called "kurelieši") with the Lieutenant Roberts Rubenis battalion, which carried out the armed resistance against Waffen SS forces. The number of active combatants peaked between 10,000 and 15,000, while

14445-756: The revolution by participating in illegal strikes and revolutionary protests. The government responded by arresting labour agitators and enacting more "paternalistic" legislation. Introduced in 1900 by Sergei Zubatov , head of the Moscow security department, "police socialism" planned to have workers form workers' societies with police approval to "provide healthful, fraternal activities and opportunities for cooperative self-help together with 'protection' against influences that might have inimical effect on loyalty to job or country". Some of these groups organised in Moscow , Odessa , Kyiv , Mykolaiv , and Kharkiv , but these groups and

14580-648: The revolution was the Bloody Sunday massacre of protesters that took place in January 1905 in St. Petersburg sparked a spate of civil unrest in the Russian Empire. Lenin urged Bolsheviks to take a greater role in the events, encouraging violent insurrection. In doing so, he adopted SR slogans regarding "armed insurrection", "mass terror", and "the expropriation of gentry land", resulting in Menshevik accusations that he had deviated from orthodox Marxism. In turn, he insisted that

14715-419: The revolutionaries who were in a position to lead were either in exile or in prison while it took place. The events in 1905 demonstrated the precarious position in which the Tsar found himself. As a result, Tsarist Russia did not undergo sufficient reform, which had a direct impact on the radical politics brewing in the Russian Empire. Although the radicals were still in the minority of the populace, their momentum

14850-508: The second half of the nineteenth century, had political motives. After the emancipation of the serfs in 1861, the Russian state was compelled to take into account public opinion, but the government failed to gain the public's support. Another motive for Russification policies was the Polish uprising of 1863 . Unlike other minority nationalities, the Poles, in the eyes of the Tsar, were a direct threat to

14985-548: The start of the active phase of the revolution. The events in St. Petersburg provoked public indignation and a series of massive strikes that spread quickly throughout the industrial centers of the Russian Empire. Polish socialists—both the PPS and the SDKPiL —called for a general strike. By the end of January 1905, over 400,000 workers in Russian Poland were on strike (see Revolution in

15120-543: The student as such to spread the new word of liberty . Students were called upon to extend their freedoms into society, to repay the privilege of learning by serving the people, and to become in Nikolai Ogarev 's phrase 'apostles of knowledge'." During the next two decades, universities produced a significant share of Russia's revolutionaries. Prosecution records from the 1860s and 1870s show that more than half of all political offences were committed by students despite being

15255-433: The three countries, the resistance was best organized in Lithuania, where guerrilla units controlled whole regions of the countryside until 1949. Their armaments included Czech Škoda guns , Russian Maxim heavy machine guns , assorted mortars and a wide variety of mainly German and Soviet light machine guns and submachine guns . When not in direct battles with the Red Army or special NKVD units, they significantly delayed

15390-549: The time Tsar Alexander II came to power. Alexander abolished serfdom and enacted fundamental reforms in the legal and administrative structure of the Russian empire, which were revolutionary for their time. He lifted many restrictions on universities and abolished obligatory uniforms and military discipline. This ushered in a new freedom in the content and reading lists of academic courses. In turn, that created student subcultures, as youth were willing to live in poverty in order to receive an education. As universities expanded, there

15525-451: The total number of resistance fighters was as high as 40,000. One author gives a figure of up to 12,000 grouped in 700 bands during the 1945–55 decade, but definitive figures are unavailable. Over time, the partisans replaced their German weapons with Soviet makes. The Central Command of Latvian resistance organizations maintained an office on Matīsa Street in Riga until 1947. In some 3,000 raids,

15660-451: The village and played a role in determining the social consciousness of the urban proletariat. The new concentrations and flows of peasants spread urban ideas to the countryside, breaking down isolation of peasants on communes. Industrial workers began to feel dissatisfaction with the Tsarist government despite the protective labour laws the government decreed. Some of those laws included the prohibition of children under 12 from working, with

15795-421: The war, and fewer than half the registered conscripts reported in some districts. The widespread harassment of disappearing conscripts' families pushed more people to evade authorities in the forests. Many enlisted men deserted, taking their weapons with them. With the German invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, Joseph Stalin made a public statement on the radio calling for a scorched earth policy in

15930-595: The western borderlands . Like other minorities in Russia, the Jews lived "miserable and circumscribed lives, forbidden to settle or acquire land outside the cities and towns, legally limited in attendance at secondary school and higher schools, virtually barred from legal professions, denied the right to vote for municipal councilors, and excluded from services in the Navy or the Guards". The government's treatment of Jews, although considered

16065-442: Was Taimi Kreitsberg. She recalled that Soviet officials "...took me to Võru, I was not beaten there, but for three days and nights I was given neither food nor drink. They told me they were not going to kill me, but torture me [until] I betrayed all the bandits. For about a month they dragged me through woods and took me to farms owned by relatives of Forest Brothers, and they sent me in as an instigator to ask for food and shelter while

16200-471: Was a rapid growth of newspapers , journals , and an organisation of public lectures and professional societies . The 1860s was a time when the emergence of a new public sphere was created in social life and professional groups. This created the idea of their right to have an independent opinion. The government was alarmed by these communities, and in 1861 tightened restrictions on admission and prohibited student organisations; these restrictions resulted in

16335-571: Was also meant to have included workers' delegates elected according to a two-stage system. Elections of the workers delegates were, however, blocked by the socialists who wanted to divert the workers from the elections to the armed struggle. On 5 March [ O.S. 20 February] 1905, the commission was dissolved without having started work. Following the assassination of his uncle, the Grand Duke Sergei Aleksandrovich , on 17 February [ O.S. 4 February] 1905,

16470-456: Was also offered. The concessions came hand-in-hand with renewed, and brutal, action against the unrest. There was also a backlash from the conservative elements of society, with right-wing attacks on strikers, left-wingers, and Jews. While the Russian liberals were satisfied by the October Manifesto and prepared for upcoming Duma elections, radical socialists and revolutionaries denounced the elections and called for an armed uprising to destroy

16605-586: Was apprehended and sentenced to prison in 1948. The Latvian Forest Brothers were most active in the border regions, including Dundaga , Taurkalne , Lubāna , Aloja and Līvāni . In the eastern regions, they had ties with the Estonian Forest Brothers; and in the western regions, with the Lithuanians. As in Estonia and Lithuania, the partisans were killed off and infiltrated by the MVD and NKVD over many years. As in Estonia and Lithuania, assistance from Western intelligence

16740-594: Was awarded the Cross of Vytis posthumously in 2000. Benediktas Mikulis, one of the last known partisans to remain in the forest, emerged in 1971. He was arrested in the 1980s and spent several years in prison. By the early 1950s, the Soviet forces had eradicated most of the Forest Brother resistance. Intelligence gathered by the Soviet spies in the West and MGB infiltrators within the resistance movement, in combination with large-scale Soviet operations in 1952, managed to end

16875-608: Was deported to a concentration camp in Salaspils , Latvia. Approximately half the remaining forces formed guerrilla units and dissolved into the countryside to prepare for partisan operations against the Red Army as the Eastern Front approached. Guerrilla operations in Estonia and Latvia had some basis in Adolf Hitler 's authorization to withdraw from Estonia in mid-September 1944 – he allowed soldiers of his Estonian forces, primarily

17010-522: Was dispatched to make peace, negotiating the Treaty of Portsmouth (signed 5 September [ O.S. 23 August] 1905). In 1905, there were naval mutinies at Sevastopol (see Sevastopol Uprising ), Vladivostok , and Kronstadt , peaking in June with the mutiny aboard the battleship Potemkin . The mutineers eventually surrendered the battleship to Romanian authorities on 8 July in exchange for asylum, then

17145-400: Was general agreement at the turn of the century that Russia faced a grave and intensifying agrarian crisis due mainly to rural overpopulation with an annual excess of fifteen to eighteen live births over deaths per 1,000 inhabitants." The investigations revealed many difficulties but the committees could not find solutions that were both sensible and "acceptable" to the government. Russia was

17280-405: Was growing impatience with their inferior status and resentment against " Russification ". Russification is cultural assimilation definable as "a process culminating in the disappearance of a given group as a recognizably distinct element within a larger society". Besides the imposition of a uniform Russian culture throughout the empire, the government's pursuit of Russification, especially during

17415-504: Was growing. Vladimir Lenin , a revolutionary himself, would later say that the Revolution of 1905 was "The Great Dress Rehearsal", without which the "victory of the October Revolution in 1917 would have been impossible". Many factors contributed to unrest across the Russian Empire of 1905. Newly emancipated peasants earned too little and were not allowed to sell or mortgage their allotted land. Ethnic and national minorities resented

17550-535: Was met with what is perceived as repression from an autocratic state, economic and political demands grew into and reinforced each other. Russian progressives formed the Union of Zemstvo Constitutionalists in 1903 and the Union of Liberation in 1904, which called for a constitutional monarchy. Russian socialists formed two major groups: the Socialist Revolutionary Party (founded in 1902), which followed

17685-606: Was presented to the Tsar on 14 October  [ O.S. 1 October]. It closely followed the demands of the Zemstvo Congress in September, granting basic civil rights , allowing the formation of political parties, extending the franchise towards universal suffrage , and establishing the Duma as the central legislative body. The Tsar waited and argued for three days, but finally signed the manifesto on 30 October [ O.S. 17 October] 1905, citing his desire to avoid

17820-422: Was selected as Minister of Education, the students had grown bolder and more resistant than ever." The events of 1905 came after progressive and academic agitation for more political democracy and limits to Tsarist rule in Russia, and an increase in strikes by workers against employers for radical economic demands and union recognition, (especially in southern Russia ). As an example, Trotsky who would assume

17955-423: Was severely compromised by Soviet counter-intelligence and Latvian double agents such as Augusts Bergmanis and Vidvuds Sveics . Furthermore, the Soviets gradually consolidated their rule in the cities: help from rural civilians was less forthcoming, and special military and security units were sent to control the partisans. The last groups emerged from the forest in 1957 to surrender to the authorities. Among

18090-399: Was successful and during the 1890s "Russian industrial growth averaged 8 percent per year. Railroad mileage grew from a very substantial base by 40 percent between 1892 and 1902." Ironically, Witte's success in implementing this program helped spur the 1905 revolution and eventually the 1917 revolution because it exacerbated social tensions . "Besides dangerously concentrating a proletariat,

18225-462: Was suppressed under the Soviet regime. Writings on the subject by Baltic emigrants were often labelled as examples of "ethnic sympathy" and disregarded. Laar's research efforts, begun in Estonia in the late 1980s, are considered to have opened the door for further study. In 1999, the Lithuanian Seimas (parliament) enacted a declaration of independence that had been made on February 16, 1949,

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