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The occupation of the Baltic states was a period of annexation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania by the Soviet Union from 1940 until its dissolution in 1991.For a brief period, Nazi Germany occupied the Baltic states after it invaded the Soviet Union in 1941.
The Germans demanded that Lithuania give up the Klaipėda region (Memelland), or the Wehrmacht would invade Lithuania. 23 August 1939, Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact (Nazi-Soviet Alliance) signed. A secret protocol of the pact places Estonia, Latvia, and Finland in Soviet sphere of interest , Lithuania in Germany's sphere of influence.
Similarly, Lithuania signed a trade agreement with Germany in May 1926. Lithuania was the key to improved relationship with the Soviet Union. In exchange for Soviet recognition of Lithuania's claim to Vilnius, the countries signed a non-aggression pact in September 1926. [15] The situation appeared to be stable for the Baltic states.
The three Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – were re-occupied in 1944–1945 by the Soviet Union (USSR) following the German occupation. The Baltic states regained independence in 1990–1991.
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 .
The Baltic states (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia) became part of the Russian sphere. The Soviet Union began preparations for the occupation and incorporation of these territories. First, it imposed mutual assistance treaties by which the Baltic states agreed to allow military bases for Soviet soldiers within their territory.
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 ...
The four countries on the Baltic Sea that were formerly parts of the Russian Empire – Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – consolidated their borders and independence after the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian independence wars following the end of World War I by 1920 (see Treaty of Tartu, Latvian-Soviet Riga Peace Treaty and Soviet-Lithuanian Treaty of 1920).