Introduction Estonia is a Baltic country on the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland (part of the Baltic Sea). It is bordered by Latvia and Russia, and shares a sea border with Finland. Estonia is the fourth smallest member of the European Union. With a population a little over 1.25 million, its citizens account for just 0.26% of all people living within the European Union. Among the Nordic states, Estonia is the most integrated in Western European organizations, as it is the only country of the Nordic states that is a member of the eurozone, NATO, and the European Union. This paper discusses the history of Estonia, its entrance into the European Union and eurozone, and concludes with a snapshot of Estonian identity and how it has managed …show more content…
However, many of the Christian kingdoms of Scandinavia, Poland, and the Holy Roman Empire were already in the process of converting the pagans neighboring their land. The non-Christian people who were subject to the conversion of the Crusades included the Wends, Sorbs, Livonians, Estonians, Old Prussians, Lithuanians, and the people of (present-day) Finland.
During the beginning of the 13th century, German monks were in the process of converting the Baltic pagans to Christianity, but to no avail. After a span of inability to convert the pagans of Estonia, an order of crusading knights was founded to subdue the Estonians, and in 1208, the knights invaded. It was rather easy to begin operations against the Estonians; at this time, they were divided into eight major counties (as well as several smaller counties), all of which were led by elders with limited co-operation between each …show more content…
In 1558, Tsar Ivan IV of Russia invaded Livonia, with the intention of gaining access to the Baltic Sea. Livonian Knighs, who were unable to endure the attack, placed Livonia under Lithuanian protection. They then gave Courland to Poland, Estonia to Sweden, and Oesel to Denmark. Because of this Ivan IV was then forced to wage war against Sweden and Lithuania in order to keep the territory he was trying to gain by attacking Livonia in the first place.
At first Russia was successful; in 1563, Russians captured Polotsk, in Lithuanian Belorussia and occupied Lithuanian territory up to Vilna. In 1566, Lithuania offered a peace proposal, which Russia refused. As the war progressed, Russia’s position deteriorated. During the 1560s, Russia suffered severe social and economic troubles; on the other hand, Lithuania grew stronger, and formed a political union with Poland in 1569. Lithuania declared a new king in 1576 (Stephen Báthory), who launched a series of attacks against Russia. In 1582, Russia and Lithuania agreed upon a peace settlement; Russia returned all Lithuanian territory it had claimed, and renounced its claims to Livonia. The following year, Russia made peace with Sweden, giving up several towns along the Gulf of Finland, as well as its claims to