Estonia: a small country with great ambitions

On last January 28, I landed at the Lennart Meri Airport in Tallinn, Estonia. When I stepped on the ground of this small country of just over 1.3 million of inhabitants and 45,000 km2, I could not imagine how surprised I would be day after day by its history, its culture and its ambitions. If you want to get an overview of the events that have shaped this small country that is now a pioneer in many fields, this article is made for you!

One of the things that surprised me the most when I arrived in Estonia was the difficulty of exchanging with the locals. Making contact is not always easy, but we gradually realize that Estonians are very kind and caring people. One day an Estonian told me: "Here you only speak if you have something to say", this sentence related to the historical context of the country made me understand why the inhabitants of this country seem distant and closed in the first instance.

In its modern history, Estonia has tremendously suffered and its painful past is still felt in culture today. Indeed, Estonia was occupied by the Germans until November 1918, and it was immediately after that that the Bolsheviks began to recapture the territory. The war of independence lasted two years and ended with the ratification of the Tartu Treaty on February 2, 1920. The interwar period was very difficult economically and the effects of the crisis were felt throughout the 1930s. In order to protect itself, Estonia signed a non-aggression pact with Germany and declared itself neutral with the other Baltic countries in 1938. A few days after Germany's attack on Poland in 1939, the USSR entered in Estonia in order to establish military bases. On June 17, 1940, taking advantage of the world's attention on France, the USSR sent 90,000 men to take possession of Estonian territory (the Estonian army had 15,000 at the time). For a year, the country was prey to barbarism and tens of thousands of people were deported or executed. On June 22, 1941, Germany attacked the USSR and Estonia was completely conquered at the end of October. The German occupation led to massacres and deportations and some Estonians collaborated mainly through anti-communism. Some Estonians even fought on behalf of Germany in 1944 to repel the Red Army's assaults. The latter managed to reclaim Estonia between July and November 1944, leading to the exile of 8,000 Estonians. In total, as a result of the Second World War, Estonia lost 20% of its population but, unlike Western European countries, the end of the world conflict marks the beginning of the most painful period in its history.

Candles at Freedom Square to commemorate the deportation of 22,000 Estonians in March 1949

Under Soviet occupation, between 1944 and 1949, 9% of the Estonian population, so 75,000 people, were arrested and more than a third were shot or died in deportation. Then, a massive resistance was organized in the countryside, the « Forest Brothers" as they are called resist but are not powerful enough to liberate the country. In March 1949, nearly 22,000 Estonians were deported in just 5 days. The guerrillas stopped at the end of the 1950s and the opposition organized itself through a few acts of disobedience. The economy was gradually industrialized with very high growth figures (+36% per year between 1946 and 1950), land collectivization began in 1948 but despite this, the standard of living even in the city remained very low and the gap with Finland little by little widened in the 1970s (whereas the two countries were at the same level in 1940). The movement of Estonians in the country was very controlled and the labour market was supervised. Considering Estonian capacity for resistance, there was a real willingness to empty the country of its population. Many Russian speakers came to settle in the country and, in 1980, Estonians were inferior in Tallinn. Estonian speakers and Russian speakers lived side by side but didn’t interacted each other.

In 1987 protests began to emerge and the government then reacted in a moderate way to preserve its image with the West of Europe. At the beginning of 1989, Estonian officially became the only official language on the territory again and the nationalists subsequently elected an Estonian congress. In February 1990, a transition period for the restoration of independence was proclaimed. The failed coup d'état in Moscow on 19 August 1991 led to the announcement of the restoration of Estonian independence on 20 August.

Balloons with Estonian colors for the independence day (24.02.2019)

The resilience of Estonians is surprising and I was fascinated to see how well this country has been able to make ambitious choices that are now bearing fruit. Indeed, since the late 1990s, Estonia has made the ambitious choice to invest in new technologies. Estonian legislation makes it as easy as possible to create start-ups, and technological innovation is continuously fostered. The country is now considered as a reference in terms of digital governance (we will talk about this topic in a future article). Estonian residents have a digital identity card with a chip that allows the cardholder to digitally sign. All these elements give to this small country an undeniable soft power that it continues to develop day after day by projecting itself on the long term.

Although Estonia is a small and very young country with a population of 1.3 million, it has managed to expand its virtual borders through digital technology and is now attracting personalities from all over the world who are curious to understand its fast and promising success.

Sunlight at Linnahall

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