|
|
- Introduction
Authors: Toomas Hiio
Pages: 5 - 8
PubDate: 2023-08-30
- The War is not Over' On the Continuity and Discontinuity between the Great
Authors: Vasilijus Safronovas
Pages: 11 - 36
Abstract: Peter Holquist, Roberth Gerwarth and other historians argue that, for Eastern Europe, the Armistice of Compiègne, signed in November 1918, did not mean an end of fighting and violence but a ‘continuation and transformation’ of the world war. However, a precise definition of the viewpoint is important when it comes to continuity. Is it from the perspective of soldiers, civilians or war refugees' For example, many of the Lithuanian veterans of World War I did not fight in the Lithuanian War of Independence from 1919 to 1920. The exceptions included officers, non-commissioned officers, and medical doctors. As a consequence, most of the Lithuanian army in 1920 was comprised of men who had not fought in World War I. In the war experience of the majority of Lithuanian soldiers, the Lithuanian War of Independence was not a continuation of World War I.
PubDate: 2023-08-30
- Idealists or Adventurers' The Swedish volunteers in Estonia in 1919
Authors: Lars Erikson Wolke
Pages: 37 - 66
Abstract: Swedish volunteers fought alongside the Finns and the Danes in the Estonian War of Independence. Sweden had been neutral in World War I, but some 1,000 Swedish volunteers had fought in the Finnish War of Independence in the first half of 1918. Many of those Swedish fighters were among the volunteers who came from Finland to Estonia in 1919. ‘The Swedish corps’ – in fact a company – spent nearly half a year in Estonia and was disbanded in the beginning of June 1919. The unit did not play a significant military role; for the most part, it attracted the attention of the Swedish public with several scandals. There were quite a few volunteers who did not return home. Some men joined the Estonian Army, but some also ended up in Russian White Guard units, as well as in Latvia or Lithuania. Major Carl Mothander, the commander of the Swedish volunteers, is known in Sweden, Estonia and Finland thanks to his memoirs. Captain Einar Lundborg became a pilot after returning to Sweden. He is renowned for rescuing the Italian Arctic explorer, Umberto Nobile, from an ice field in 1928.
PubDate: 2023-08-30
- Pavel Bermondt-Avalov and the Formation of the West Russian Volunteer Army
– Warlordism in the Baltic'
Authors: Thomas Rettig
Pages: 67 - 115
Abstract: Warlordism is a phenomenon that emerges in a power vacuum during wars, civil wars and revolutions. There are many examples from the Russian Civil War where military commanders amassed absolute power in certain areas, without being subordinate to any state authority, or perhaps being subordinate in name only. Pavel Bermondt-Avalov, who formed the West Russian Volunteer Army, is discussed as an example of a warlord from the era of the Baltic wars of independence. A large portion of his army was made up of the German soldiers and officers who, as members of Freikorps, had fought in the Iron Division under the command of General Rüdiger von der Goltz, or in other units in the first half of 1919. In the autumn of 1919, instead of fighting the Bolsheviks and the Red Army, he turned his weapons against the Republic of Latvia and marched on Riga.
PubDate: 2023-08-30
- 1921 February rebellion as a manifestation of Armenian war of independence
Authors: Khachatur Stepanyan
Pages: 116 - 129
Abstract: Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia declared their independence in the spring of 1918. After the signing of the Armistice of Compiègne and the annulment of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk that had been agreed upon between Soviet Russia and the Central Powers, the Soviet Red Army started a campaign to capture the areas that had belonged to Russia. Armenia had to fight two enemies – the Turkey of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk on the one side and Soviet Russia on the other. Turkey attacked Armenia in the autumn of 1920. Even though Soviet Russia had signed a treaty with Armenia in August, the Armenian Bolsheviks, supported by the Red Army, proclaimed the Soviet Republic of Armenia in November and began Sovietization of the country, accompanied by repressions against Armenian national politicians, military leaders and intellectuals. As a result of an uprising that began in February 1921, the Bolsheviks were ousted from Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, but the counter-offensive of the Red Army in April restored the Bolshevik rule in Armenia.
PubDate: 2023-08-30
- Field Courts Martial, the Cheka and Penal Policy in the Estonian War of
Independence in 1918–1920
Authors: Toivo Kikkas
Pages: 133 - 180
Abstract: Between December 1918 and December 1920, less then 300 men and women were sentenced to death in Estonian army field courts martial. Meanwhile the Red Terror of Cheka yielded 600 to 700 fatalities between December 1918 and early spring of 1919. It’s difficult to judge how Penal Policy of both sides affected soldiers. On both sides the majority of those who received the capital punishment were civilians, not soldiers. The legal basis for both sides offered a lot of freedom of interpretation with sentencing. Four months after the creation of Estonian field courts martial these institutions received quite detailed instructions. The Cheka however continued to work on guidelines of the ‘Red Terror’ Decree dated September 5th 1918, allowing them much wider freedom. However Estonian Field Courts Martial but also local Chekas worked in various ways. Also, it can’t be ruled out that Estonian society did not get the full picture of Penal Policy from newspapers.
PubDate: 2023-08-30
- The White and Red Terror in the Eastern Part of Viru County in
1917–1919
Authors: Ants Jürman
Pages: 181 - 218
Abstract: From 1917 to 1919, terror against political enemies was used by the Bolsheviks, the German occupation authorities, the Commune of the Working People of Estonia that acted as a puppet government for Soviet Russia, and also by the young Republic of Estonia, as they tried to protect their rule. Compared to the rest of Estonia, the eastern parts of Viru County, especially Narva and Jaanilinn, are notable for a relatively higher number of victims. Estonians constituted the majority of the victims of the terror from both sides, but less is known about the fact that many Finnish members of the Red Guards were among those who fell when the Estonian Army and the Finnish volunteers liberated the city of Narva in January 1919.
PubDate: 2023-08-30
|
Open Access journal
