The Second World War
The first period of independence lasted 22 years, beginning in 1918. Estonia had pursued a policy of neutrality, but it was of no consequence after the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact on August 23, 1939 in which the two great powers agreed to divide up the countries situated between them with Estonia falling in the Soviet "sphere of influence".
- 1940–1945, World War II
- 1941, the Summer War
- 1944, heavy battles and attempt to restore independence
- 1945–1978, the Partisan War against the Soviet Union
Read more about this topic: List Of Estonian Wars
Famous quotes containing the words world and/or war:
“Ah! the best righteousness of our man-of-war world seems but an unrealized ideal, after all; and those maxims which, in the hope of bringing about a Millennium, we busily teach to the heathen, we Christians ourselves disregard.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“Our lives laid down in war and peace may not
Be found acceptable in Heaven’s sight.
And that they may be is the only prayer
Worth praying. May my sacrifice
Be found acceptable in Heaven’s sight.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)