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The Sovietization of the Baltic states is the sovietization of all spheres of life in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania when they were under control of the Soviet Union.The first period deals with the occupation from June 1940 to July 1941, followed by the German occupation during World War II.
Soviet expansion in 1939–1940. After the Soviet invasion of Poland on 17 September 1939, in accordance with the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact the Soviet forces were given freedom over Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, an important aspect of the agreement to the Soviet government as they were afraid of Germany using the three states as a corridor to get close to Leningrad.
The initial Soviet invasion and occupation of the Baltic states began in June 1940 under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, made between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany in August 1939 before the outbreak of World War II. [1] [2] The three independent Baltic countries were annexed as constituent Republics of the Soviet Union in August 1940.
In 1939, the British and French tried to arrange a "guarantee" of the Baltic states to the Soviet Union. The Baltic states would have preferred to remain neutral, but the only security systems on offer were German or Soviet. [27] In June 1939, Estonia and Latvia yielded to German pressure and signed non-aggression pacts. [28]
The Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia were part of the Russian Empire during the 19th century, achieving independence in the aftermath of World War I.The rise of Nazi Germany during the 1930s created Soviet fears of a German invasion, [3] further aggravated by German expansion to the East, such as the ultimatum to Lithuania in March 1939, as a result of which the nation was ...
Welles Declaration, condemning the 1940 occupation by the Soviet Union of Latvia and the two other Baltic states, and refusing to recognize their annexation as Soviet Republics. The issue of the Soviet occupation and its motives and consequences remain a point of contention between the Baltic states and Russia.
Wartime collaboration occurred in every country occupied by Nazi Germany during the Second World War, including the Baltic states.The three Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, were occupied by the Soviet Union in the summer of 1940, and were later occupied by Germany in the summer of 1941 and then incorporated, together with parts of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic of ...
15 June 1941, The Governor of New York, Herbert Lehman, declares 15 June to be Baltic States Day. 22 June 1941 Germany enacts Operation Barbarossa, invades Soviet Union. In Soviet historiography, start of World War II as the Great Patriotic War. 24–25 June 1941 Soviet authorities massacre political prisoners in Rainiai, Lithuania.