Estonian Declaration of Independence
Between retreating Russian and advancing German troops, the Occupation of Estonia by the German Empire approaching, the Salvation Committee of the Estonian National Council, Maapäev, declared the independence of Estonia on 24 February 1918. However, the German forces did not recognise the independence.
On March 23, 1918 the Commander of German 68th Corps declared the just formed Estonian Army illegal. The arrests of the leaders of the national independence movement started in June 1918. The elected head of state Konstantin Päts was sent to Germany to be kept in prison. During this whole period the Estonian Salvation Committee continued its underground activities, entering into relation with the Western Allied powers. Great Britain recognised Estonian independence (de facto) on May 3, 1918, followed by France on May 18, and Italy on May 29, 1918, giving the committee a legal status of the representative of the Estonian nation.
After the German Revolution, between 11 and 14 November 1918 the representatives of Germany formally handed over political power in Estonia to the national government. The Russian Bolshevik invasion and The Estonian War of Independence followed. On 2 February 1920, the Peace Treaty of Tartu was signed by the Republic of Estonia and Bolshevist Russia. The Republic of Estonia obtained international recognition and became a member of the League of Nations in 1921.
Read more about this topic: Occupation Of Estonia By The German Empire
Famous quotes containing the words declaration of independence, declaration and/or independence:
“I foresee the time when the painter will paint that scene, no longer going to Rome for a subject; the poet will sing it; the historian record it; and, with the Landing of the Pilgrims and the Declaration of Independence, it will be the ornament of some future national gallery, when at least the present form of slavery shall be no more here. We shall then be at liberty to weep for Captain Brown. Then, and not till then, we will take our revenge.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“It is an axiom in political science that unless a people are educated and enlightened it is idle to expect the continuance of civil liberty or the capacity for self-government.”
—Texas Declaration of Independence (March 2, 1836)
“We must have constantly present in our minds the difference between independence and liberty. Liberty is a right of doing whatever the laws permit, and if a citizen could do what they forbid he would no longer be possessed of liberty.”
—Charles Louis de Secondat Montesquieu (1689–1755)