Latvia: A Quick History of an Occupied Nation

So I started off my research with acquainting myself with the history of Latvia in general, not just the history during the USSR's occupation. Coupled with my already existent knowledge of the nation's history, I came to discover that Latvia has bounced between occupiers for quite some time, going all the way back to the middle ages. I think that it is important to know and understand all of this history before I start to look more specifically at the USSR's occupation and its effects because these other occupations were also quite important in the development of the nation. So, for this blog post, I will be giving a quick rundown of the history of Latvia. (This knowledge comes from a ton of places, some not "linkable" as they were my dad or Opa (grandpa), so forgive me for my lack of linking. More of that will come later when my blogs become more specific).

In the middle ages, the Baltic region was one that the pope greatly wanted to Christianize. He sent missionaries to the region to accomplish this, but they were met with severe opposition. However, the once pagan peoples were finally converted by German crusaders, creating the basis for a very German-oriented region in the 13th century. The Germans, in fact, created what was known as Livonia, which included current-day Latvia and southern Estonia, and was defined as a group of feudal nations under German rule. Due to the German influence, this was the time when the Baltic states adopted Lutheranism as a primary religion. Under this new German rule, Riga, the capitol of Latvia, flourished as the major Baltic city for trade and economics, gaining key influence from the West and looking to the West for cultural direction.


Latvia experienced another type of "occupation" after the Lithuanian War in the 16th century, when Livonia became part of Poland-Lithuania and was mainly a vassal state for Poland until Swedish rule came to the region after a power struggle in the Polish-Sweden War in the early 17th century. The Swedish rule though, marked a prosperous time for the region as liberal reforms took place.

Next came the Treaty of Nystad in the the 18th century which marked the beginning of what was the eventually be complete Russian occupation of current-day Latvia. This occupation was far less welcome than any before it, though, as the Russians treated the people awfully, revoking many of the laws and reforms set up by the Swedes. The peasants of Latvia experienced the inequalities and manipulation that the Russian peasants experienced in the 18th and 19th centuries because they were, more or less, Russian peasants at this time. Despite this, though, a a sense of nationalism spread in Latvia as a capitalist society began to emerge in the 19th century. This new nationalism combined with the devastation the "nation" experienced during WW1 was enough to have the people demand independence, which they did declared on November 18, 2009. After some troubles, they did in fact gain this independence by 1920 and had free elections and a liberal constitution in 1922.

At the start of WW2, however, the Germans and the Soviets signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, which effectively split Europe between the two. After the war and German defeat, it came known that within the pact, all the Baltic states were to be under a soviet sphere of influence. From there the Soviet Union basically took over Latvia and did not let it go until the end of the Cold War in 1991.

I will explore this particular occupation in later blogs. The purpose of this blog was to show tat Latvia has been subject to occupation for most of its history and that the Soviet occupation was certainly not the first influential occupation Latvia experienced.