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The Latvian SSR Supreme Council adopted the declaration On the Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia. 1991: January: The Barricades: Pro-Communist political forces attempted to restore Soviet power in Latvia. 6 September: The Soviet Union recognized Latvian independence. 17 September: Latvia became a member of the United Nations.
Russian trade through Latvia began to flourish and an active Russian merchant class began to settle in Latvia. The first Russian school in Riga was founded in 1789. [ 2 ] Latgale was incorporated into the Russian Empire after the first Partition of Poland in 1772, Kurzeme and Zemgale were ( Duchy of Courland and Semigallia ) in 1795.
After the February Revolution in the Russian Empire, a majority of Latvians did not expect more for their country than a federated status in a Russian state. "Free Latvia in Free Russia" was the slogan of the day. During March 12–13, 1917 in Valmiera the Vidzeme Land Congress took place, which set up the Provisional Land Council of Vidzeme.
By 1920, German troops had withdrawn and the Russian Civil War was in its final phase. Consequently, the Baltic states signed peace treaties with Soviet Russia. Estonia signed the Treaty of Tartu on 2 February, Lithuania signed the Soviet–Lithuanian Peace Treaty on 12 July and Latvia signed the Latvian–Soviet Peace Treaty on 15 August 1920. [3]
These ethnic groups are all descended from peoples who settled in Latvia during the centuries of Russian and Soviet rule. Latvia's ethnic diversity is a result of a number of factors, including a long history of foreign rule, its location on the Baltic Sea trade route, and its proximity to other Slavic countries.
Territorial changes of the Baltic states refers to the redrawing of borders of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia after 1940. The three republics, formerly autonomous regions within the former Russian Empire and before that of former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and as provinces of the Swedish Empire, gained independence in the aftermath of World War I and the Russian Revolution of 1917.
The official position of Russia, which chose in 1991 to be the legal and direct successor of the USSR, [140] is that Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania joined the Soviet Union freely and of their own accord in 1940, and, with the dissolution of the USSR, these countries became newly created entities in 1991. Russia's stance is based upon the desire ...
The independence of Latvia was diplomatically recognised by the Allied Supreme Council (France, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Belgium) on January 26, 1921. Other states followed the suit. On 22 September 1921 Latvia was admitted to membership in the League of Nations and remained a member until the formal dissolution of the League in 1946. On 5 ...