Period | Description |
---|---|
CA. 2500-1500 B.C. | Finno-Ugric and proto-Baltic tribes settle on Baltic shores. |
FIRST CENTURY-SIXTH CENTURY A.D. | Early Baltic peoples experience rapid cultural progress and expansion of trade with Roman Empire and Germanic tribes. |
EIGHTH CENTURY-TWELFTH CENTURY | Scandinavian Vikings and, subsequently, Slavic tribes engage in trade and war with Baltic peoples. |
THIRTEENTH CENTURY | Northern Estonia conquered by Danes and rest of Estonia and Latvia by Germans. |
1253 | Mindaugas crowned king of Lithuania. |
FOURTEENTH CENTURY | Grand Duke Gediminas and his descendants expand Lithuania's territories southward to Black Sea. |
1343-45 | Estonian peasant uprising prompts Danes to relinquish control of northern Estonia to Germans. |
SIXTEENTH CENTURY | |
1558-83 | Army of Russian tsar Ivan IV (the Terrible) invades Livonia; Sweden and Poland help repel invasion. |
1569 | Lithuania unites with Poland, forming Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. |
1584 | Northern Estonia incorporated into Sweden's Duchy of Estland. |
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY | |
1629 | Swedish-Polish struggle for control of Livonia ends with Poland's being forced to cede entire territory, except southeastern province of Latgale, to Sweden. |
1632 | Tartu University founded by Swedes. |
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY | |
1710 | Russian tsar Peter I (the Great) succeeds in wresting control of Estland and Livland (southern Estonia and northern Latvia) from Sweden. |
1795 | Poland partitioned; Lithuania annexed by Russian Empire. |
NINETEENTH CENTURY | |
1816-19 | Serfdom formally abolished in Estland and Livland. |
TWENTIETH CENTURY | |
1905 | Tsarist Russian authorities respond with violence and repression to Baltic demands for radical political change during Revolution of 1905. |
1917 | Tsar Nicholas II abdicates Russian throne; tsarist regime collapses. Russian provisional government allows Estonia's territorial unification as one province. Bolsheviks take power in Russia and make significant political inroads in Baltic region. |
1918 February | Estonia and Lithuania proclaim independence. |
November | Latvia proclaims independence. |
1918-20 | Baltic states engage in war to defend independence; Bolshevik, White Russian, German, Polish, and other forces struggle for control of territories. Lithuania fails to regain Polish-occupied Vilnius region. |
1920 | Baltic states sign peace treaties with Soviet Russia; Moscow recognizes their independence and renounces all claims to their territories. |
1920-22 | Land reform carried out in Baltic states. Democratic constitutions introduced. |
1921 | Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania admitted to League of Nations. |
1923 | Lithuania annexes Klaipeda region. |
1924 | Soviet-backed communist coup attempt in Estonia fails. |
1926-29 | Military coup in Lithuania; authoritarian regime gradually introduced. |
1934 | State of emergency declared in Estonia and Latvia amidst growing political instability; parliaments suspended and authoritarian regimes introduced. |
1939 August | Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact signed; Estonia, Latvia, and, soon, Lithuania assigned to Soviet sphere of influence. |
October | Baltic states pressured into signing treaties allowing Moscow to station troops on their soil; Vilnius given back to Lithuania. |
1940 | Red Army occupies Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania; pro-Soviet governments "elected," and Baltic states annexed to Soviet Union. |
1941 June | Soviet authorities arrest and deport tens of thousands of Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians to Siberia; deportations interrupted by Nazi Germany's invasion of Soviet Union; Lithuanian resistance movement launches revolt against Soviet rule. |
1941-45 | Baltic states under German occupation; Nazi regime institutes compulsory draft of Balts into labor or military service; Jews and Gypsies subjected to mass annihilation; nationalist and communist resistance movements active. |
1944-45 | Soviet forces reoccupy Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania; hundreds of thousands of refugees flee to West. |
1945-52 | Anti-Soviet guerrilla war in Baltic republics claims tens of thousands of casualties on both sides. |
1947-51 | Agriculture collectivized in Baltic republics. |
1949 March | Soviet authorities resume campaign of terror in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania; more than 100,000 people from Baltic republics deported to Siberia. |
1953 | Repression eases after death of Joseph V. Stalin. |
1959 | Nikita S. Khrushchev purges Eduards Berklavs and other national communists in Latvia. |
1968 | Repression increases after Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia; dissident movement grows, particularly in Lithuania. |
1970-82 | Period of stagnation under Leonid I. Brezhnev; living standards decline; Russification intensifies. |
1972 | Lithuanian student Romas Kalanta immolates himself in protest against Soviet rule. |
1973 | Publication of The Chronicle of the Catholic Church in Lithuania begins. |
1985 | Mikhail S. Gorbachev introduces policies of glasnost and perestroika . |
1987-88 | Baltic dissidents hold public demonstrations in Tallinn, Riga, and Vilnius. |
1988 April | Estonian Popular Front founded. |
June | Estonian communist leader Karl Vaino removed. Sajudis founded in Lithuania. |
October | Popular Front of Latvia holds first congress. Sajudis congress in Lithuania elects Vytautas Landsbergis chairman. Algirdas Brazauskas becomes Lithuanian communist leader. |
November | Estonian Supreme Soviet adopts declaration of sovereignty. |
1989 March | Soviet loyalist Intermovement founded in Estonia. |
May | Lithuanian Supreme Soviet proclaims Lithuania's sovereignty. |
July | Latvian Supreme Soviet adopts declaration of sovereignty. |
August | Human chain forms from Tallinn to Vilnius as a protest on fiftieth anniversary of Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact. Intermovement stages strikes in Estonia. |
December | Communist Party of Lithuania splits from Communist Party of the Soviet Union. |
1990 February | Elections held for Congress of Estonia, rival parliament to Estonian Supreme Soviet. |
March | Lithuanian Supreme Soviet elects Vytautas Landsbergis chairman of presidium; votes for declaration of independence. Estonian Supreme Soviet votes for transition to independence. |
April | Moscow imposes economic blockade on Lithuania. Baltic Agreement on Economic Cooperation signed by Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. |
May | Latvian Supreme Council votes for transition to independence. Baltic countries renew 1934 Baltic Treaty on Unity and Cooperation. |
June | Lithuanian Supreme Council agrees to six-month moratorium on independence declaration; Moscow lifts economic blockade. |
1991 January | Lithuanian prime minister Kazimiera Prunskiene resigns after dispute with Vytautas Landsbergis. Soviet military intervention in Vilnius and Riga results in massacre of civilians. |
February-March | Referenda in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania show overwhelming support for independence. |
August | Estonian Supreme Council and Latvian Supreme Council vote for full independence following coup in Moscow; coup collapses; Baltic states restore diplomatic relations with many countries. |
September | Soviet Union recognizes independence of Baltic states. Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania admitted to United Nations. |
November | Estonian Supreme Council decides to require naturalization of Soviet-era immigrants. |
1992 January | Estonian prime minister Edgar Savisaar resigns; Tiit Vähi forms new government. Latvian Supreme Council reaffirms validity of Latvia's pre-Soviet borders. |
June | New Estonian constitution adopted by referendum. |
July | Lithuanian prime minister Gediminas Vagnorius resigns after vote of no confidence; replaced by Aleksandras Abisala. |
September | Election of new parliament, Riigikogu, in Estonia yields center-right coalition government led by Fatherland Party (Isamaa). |
October | Lithuanian Democratic Labor Party wins absolute majority of seats in Seimas; Algirdas Brazauskas elected chairman; Sajudis fares poorly. Lennart Meri elected president of Estonia; Mart Laar becomes prime minister. |
October-November | Lithuania's new constitution approved by referendum and adopted by Seimas. |
December | Seimas chairman Brazauskas appoints Bronislovas Lubys prime minister of Lithuania. |
1993 February | Algirdas Brazauskas elected president of Lithuania. |
March | Lithuanian prime minister Bronislovas Lubys resigns; replaced by Adolfas Slezevicius. |
June | Political crisis in Estonia follows passage of Law on Aliens; measure amended after presidential veto. Latvia's Way finishes first in first post-Soviet national elections to Saeima. |
July | Saeima restores 1922 constitution and elects Guntis Ulmanis president of Latvia; Valdis Birkavs becomes prime minister. |
August | Russian military forces withdrawn from Lithuania. |
October | Isamaa fares poorly in Estonia's first post-Soviet local elections; Tiit Vähi's Coalition Party finishes first. |
1994 May | Latvian National Independence Movement finishes first in Latvia's first post-Soviet local elections; ex-communists fare worst. |
July | Ruling coalition in Latvia breaks up; Birkavs government resigns. |
August | Russian military forces withdrawn from Estonia and Latvia. Citizenship bill signed into law in Latvia; controversial restrictive quota on naturalization excluded. |
September | Estonian prime minister Mart Laar loses vote of no confidence; Andres Tarand confirmed as prime minister. Maris Gailis confirmed as prime minister of Latvia. |
1995 February | Latvia admitted to Council of Europe, after abandoning restrictive quotas on naturalization. |
March | Coalition Party-Rural Union alliance finishes first in Estonian parliamentary elections; Russophone community gains representation. Lithuanian Democratic Labor Party fares poorly in local elections. |
April | Tiit Vähi confirmed as Estonia's prime minister. |
May | Latvia's Baltija Bank collapses. |
July | Lithuanian economics minister Aleksandras Vasiliauskas resigns after cabinet dispute over economic reform. |
September-October | Democratic Party Saimnieks finishes first in Latvian parliamentary elections; followed closely by far-right For Latvia. |
October | Estonian interior minister Edgar Savisaar implicated in scandal; Vähi government resigns. |
Data as of January 1995