Year |
Date |
Event
|
1901 |
|
Konstantin Päts founds the newspaper Teataja in Tallinn.[3]
|
1902 |
|
First commercial bank in Estonia is established in Tartu.[3]
|
1903 |
|
Ants Laikmaa founds the first arts academy in Estonia.[3]
|
1904 |
|
Noor-Eesti is established.[3]
|
1904 |
|
Keila-Haapsalu rail line is opened.[3]
|
1904 |
|
Local elections in Tallinn. Estonian-Russian joint group (led by Konstantin Päts) takes power from Baltic Germans group in city council.[3]
|
1905 |
November |
Russian Revolution of 1905 swept through Estonia. Estonian nationalist feeling is widespread, and autonomy from Russia is demanded.[1]
|
1906 |
|
The first fully Estonian-language school (Estonian: Eesti Noorsoo Kasvatuse Seltsi tütarlastegümnaasium, nowadays Miina Härma Gymnasium) is opened in Tartu.[3]
|
1907 |
|
First small-scale electric plant starts operating in Pärnu. Plant provides electric power to nearby households.[3]
|
1908 |
|
First radio transmission station in Estonia is opened. It is located at the Russian Imperial Baltic Fleet's Tallinn port.[3]
|
1908 |
|
Mihhail Rostovtsev opens Tartu Private University. University operates until 1918.[3]
|
1909 |
14 April |
Estonian National Museum is opened in Tartu.[3][8]
|
1912 |
27 April |
First airplane lands in Estonia.[3]
|
1913 |
24 August |
Estonia Theatre and Concert Halls building is opened.[3]
|
1914 |
1 August |
Russian Empire enters WW I.[1]
|
1915 |
20 August |
Retreating Russian forces burn the Waldhof pulp mill. Then the largest pulp mill in Europe.[3]
|
1915 |
15 November |
Steam trams begin operating in Tallinn.[3]
|
1917 |
30 March |
Russian Provisional Government granted Estonia its autonomy.[1]
|
1917 |
8 April |
40,000 Estonians are demonstrating in Petrograd. Their main slogan is that divided Estonia (two governorates) should be merged to Province of Estonia.[3]
|
1918 |
24 February |
Estonian Declaration of Independence
|
3 March |
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Bolshevist Russia cedes sovereignty over Estonia to Germany.
|
11 November |
Germans begin withdrawal and turn over power to the provisional government of Estonia (headed by Konstantin Päts).
|
22 November |
Estonia is invaded by Bolshevist Russian forces. Beginning of Estonian War of Independence.
|
1919 |
|
Bolsheviks are driven out of Estonia.
|
10 October |
Agrarian Law passed redistributing many of the estates owned by Baltic Germans and Estonian landowners.
|
1920 |
2 February |
Treaty of Tartu which gives Estonia recognition by Soviet Russia.
|
15 June |
Adoption of the Constitution of Estonia, which came into effect on 21 December.[9]
|
1921 |
January |
Estonia is recognized as an independent state, and starts its pursuit to join League of Nations.[1]
|
1922 |
22 September |
Estonia joins the League of Nations.
|
1933 |
14–16 October |
Plebiscite in favour of constitutional reform giving wide powers to a new office of the president.
|
1934 |
24 January |
New constitution in effect.[10]
|
12 March |
Konstantin Päts with the help of General Johan Laidoner set up a virtual dictatorship. Parliament is prorogued and political parties banned. Many members of the Vaps Movement are arrested.
|
1937
|
24 February |
Election sees National Front winning 63 seats and all the opposition winning 17 seats.
|
29 July |
A new constitution in force with civil liberties and democracy restored but with a very strong presidency.
|
1938
|
24 April |
Konstantin Päts elected president.
|
9 May |
Kaarel Eenpalu becomes prime minister of Estonia.
|
1939
|
23 August |
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact is signed, promising mutual non-aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union and agreeing to a division of much of Europe between these two countries.
|
12 October |
Jüri Uluots becomes prime minister of Estonia.
|
1940 |
17 June |
The Red Army occupies Estonia and Latvia.
|
6 August |
Estonia is unlawfully declared the Estonian SSR and incorporated into the Soviet Union.
|
1941 |
|
German troops (with help of Forest Brothers) take over Estonia from the Soviets.
|
7 June |
German troops begin to carry out The Holocaust in Estonia.
|
14 June |
Mass deportations by Soviet Union authorities take place in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
|
22 June |
Germany attacks Soviet Union; Estonian partisans (Forest Brothers) start revolt in Southern Estonia.
|
28 August |
Sinking of a Soviet steamer with 3500 Soviet-mobilized Estonian men on board; 598 of them die.
|
1 December |
Estonian Self-Administration, headed by Hjalmar Mäe, is inaugurated by German military administration.
|
1944 |
|
Otto Tief is captured by Soviet forces; Jüri Uluots and members of the Tief government escape to Sweden.
|
30 January |
Battle of Narva: The first Soviet units cross Estonian border.
|
24 February |
Battle of Narva: Estonian volunteers launch a counterattack at Narva river.
|
6 March |
World War II: Soviet Army planes attack Narva in Estonia, destroying almost the entire old town.
|
9 March |
World War II: Soviet Army planes attack Tallinn, Estonia.
|
26 July |
Battle of Narva: The Soviets capture Narva.
|
29 July |
Battle of Tannenberg Line: The Estonian and German counterattack stops Soviet advance towards Tallinn.
|
26 August |
The Soviets capture most of Tartu, which becomes the frontline city for almost a month.
|
18 September |
Jüri Uluots, prime minister in capacity of president of Estonia, asks Otto Tief to form a government on the eve of the withdrawal of German forces; official gazette published proclaiming the Tief government.
|
20 September |
Otto Tief attempts to organise the defence of Tallinn against the arrival of the Red Army two days later.
|
22 September |
The Soviets capture Tallinn.
|
19 December |
The entire territory of Estonia is captured by the Red Army.
|
1949 |
25 March |
Operation Priboi: An extensive deportation campaign is conducted in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The Soviet authorities deport more than 92,000 people from the Baltics to remote areas of the Soviet Union.
|
1955 |
19 July |
Estonian Television (ETV) began broadcasting.
|
1978 |
28 September |
One of the last Forest Brother guerilla movement fighter, August Sabbe, is discovered and killed in Estonia.
|
1980 |
|
Youth riots in the capital of the Soviet Republic of Estonia are quickly suppressed.
|
1988 |
|
In Estonia, 300,000 people demonstrate for independence.
|
|
Estonian becomes the official language of Estonia.
|
16 November |
The Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR declares that Estonia is "sovereign" but stops short of declaring independence.
|
1989 |
|
After 44 years, the Estonian flag is raised on the Pikk Hermann castle tower.
|
23 August |
Two million indigenous people of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, at this time still occupied by the Soviet Union, join hands to demand freedom and independence, forming an uninterrupted 600km human chain called the Baltic Way.
|
1991 |
|
Latvia and Estonia vote for independence from the Soviet Union.
|
|
The United States recognizes the independence of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
|
20 August |
The Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR recognizes Estonian independence from the Soviet Union.
|
6 September |
The Soviet Union recognizes the independence of the Baltic States.
|
1992 |
|
Estonia holds a referendum on its constitution.
|
|
Heinrich Mark and the government in exile appointed by him cede their credentials to the newly elected Riigikogu.
|
20 June |
The Soviet ruble is replaced by the kroon.
|
6 October |
Lennart Meri is elected President of Estonia.
|
1994 |
|
The Russian army leaves Estonia.
|
28 September |
Car ferry MS Estonia sinks in the Baltic Sea, killing 852.
|