With the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was interesting to watch sovereign states chart their own path to prosperity. The Baltic countries were especially intriguing, as they left, loudly slamming the door.

Over the past 30 years, numerous claims and threats have been constantly pouring in against the Russian Federation. The Baltic people believe that they have the right to do so, although the desire to secede was suppressed by the USSR army. As a result of the suppression of separatism in Lithuania, 15 civilians were killed.

Traditionally, the Baltics are ranked among the countries. This is due to the fact that this alliance was formed from the liberated states after the Second World War.

Some geopoliticians disagree with this and consider the Baltics to be an independent region, which includes:

• , capital Tallinn.
• (Riga).
• (Vilnius).

All three states are washed by the Baltic Sea. Estonia has the smallest area, with a population of about 1.3 million. Next comes Latvia, where 2 million citizens live. Lithuania closes the top three, with a population of 2.9 million.

Due to the small number of inhabitants, the Baltic states have occupied a niche among the small countries. The composition of the region is multinational. In addition to indigenous peoples, Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Poles and Finns live here.

The majority of Russian speakers are concentrated in Latvia and Estonia, about 28-30% of the population. The most “conservative” is Lithuania, where 82% of native Lithuanians live.

For reference. Although the Baltic countries experience a high outflow of the able-bodied population, they are in no hurry to populate free territories with forced migrants from and. The leaders of the Baltic republics are trying to look for various reasons to evade obligations to the EU on resettlement of refugees.

Political course

Even being part of the USSR, the Baltic States were significantly different from other Soviet regions for the better. It had perfect cleanliness, beautiful architectural heritage and an interesting population, similar to the European one.

The central street of Riga - Brivibas street, 1981

The Baltic region has always had a desire to become a part of Europe. An example was the rapidly developing state that defended independence from the Soviets in 1917.

The chance for separation from the USSR appeared in the second half of the eighties, when, along with perestroika, democracy and glasnost came. This opportunity was not missed, and the republics began to speak openly about separatism. Estonia became a pioneer in the independence movement, and in 1987 massive protests broke out there.

Under the onslaught of the electorate, the ESSR Supreme Council issued a Declaration of Sovereignty. At the same time, Latvia and Lithuania followed the example of their neighbor, and in 1990, all three republics received autonomy.

In the spring of 1991, the referendums in the Baltic countries put an end to relations with the USSR. In the autumn of the same year, the Baltic countries joined the UN.

The Baltic republics willingly adopted the course of the West and Europe in terms of economic and political development. The Soviet property was censured. Relations with the Russian Federation have finally cooled.

Russians living in the Baltic states were limited in their rights. After 13 years of independence, the Baltic states joined the NATO military bloc.

Economic course

After gaining sovereignty, the Baltic economy underwent significant changes. In place of the developed industry in the industrial sector, there have been branches for the provision of services. The importance of agriculture and food production has grown.

Modern industries include:

• Precision engineering (electrical and household appliances).
• Machine tool building.
• Ship repair.
• Chemical industry.
• Perfumery industry.
• Timber processing (manufacture of furniture and paper).
• Light and footwear industry.
• Food production.

The Soviet legacy of the production of vehicles: cars and electric trains has been completely lost.

Obviously, the industry in the Baltics is not a strong point in the post-Soviet era. The main income for these countries comes from the transit industry.

After gaining independence, all the production and transit capacities of the USSR went to the republics for nothing. The Russian side made no claims, used the services and paid about $ 1 billion per year for freight turnover. The amount for transit grew annually, as the economy of the Russian Federation increased its pace, and the turnover of goods increased.

For reference. The Russian company Kuzbassrazrezugol shipped more than 4.5 million tons of coal per year to its customers through the Baltic ports.

Particular attention should be paid to the Baltic monopoly on the transit of Russian oil. At one time, by the forces of the USSR, Ventspils, the largest oil terminal at that time, was erected on the Baltic coast. It was connected to a pipeline, the only one in the region. This grandiose system went to Latvia for free.

Thanks to the built industrial infrastructure, the Russian Federation pumped through Latvia from 30 million tons of oil annually. For each barrel, Russia paid $ 0.70 in logistics services. The republic's income grew steadily as oil exports increased.

The transit country’s sense of self-preservation has dulled, which will play one of the key roles in the stagnation of the economy after the 2008 crisis.

The work of the Baltic ports was supported, among other things, by the transshipment of sea containers (TEU). After the modernization of the port terminals of St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad and Ust-Luga, traffic through the Baltics decreased to 7.1% of the total Russian cargo turnover.

Nevertheless, in one year, taking into account the decline in logistics, these services continue to bring the three republics about $ 170 million a year. This amount was several times higher until 2014.

On a note. Despite the poor economic situation in the Russian Federation, to date, many transport terminals have been built on its territory. This made it possible to significantly reduce the need for the Baltic transit transport corridor.

An unexpected reduction in transit cargo turnover negatively affected the Baltic economy. As a result, the ports regularly undergo massive layoffs of workers, numbering thousands of people. At the same time, railroad transport, freight and passenger transportations, which brought stable losses, went under the knife.

The transit state policy and openness to Western investors have led to an increase in the unemployment rate in all sectors. People leave for more developed countries to work and stay there.

Despite the deterioration, the income level in the Baltics remains significantly higher than in the rest of the post-Soviet republics.

Jurmala lost income

The scandal of 2015 in show business became a stone in the vegetable garden of the Latvian economy. Some popular singers from the Russian Federation were banned from entering the country by Latvian politicians. As a result, the New Wave festival is now being held in Sochi.

In addition, the KVN program refused to hold the teams' performance in Jurmala. As a result, the tourism industry has lost a lot of money.

After that, Russians began to buy less residential real estate in the Baltic countries. People are afraid of being hit by political millstones.

All rivers of the Baltic, with the exception of those flowing into internal non-communicating lakes, belong to the Baltic Sea basin, flowing into it directly or indirectly, through a system of lakes and channels. The Pskov and Peipsi lakes - the natural eastern border of the northern Baltic - communicate with the sea through the Narova, receiving water from some small rivers.

The largest rivers of the territory - the Western Dvina (runoff at the mouth of 700 m³ / s) and the Neman (678 m³ / s) - flow completely through the territory of the Baltic States. The sources of these rivers are located far beyond its borders. From local rivers navigable in the lower reaches of the river. Venta (95.5 m³ / s; pool 11,800 km²), r. Pregolya (90 m³ / s; basin 15500 km²) and the river. Lielupe (63 m³ / s; pool 17600 km²). The Gauja River (basin 8900 km²) has only a rafting value.

Development of civilization in the Baltics

Describing the natural prerequisites for the movement of peoples, ethnogenesis, L. N. Gumilyov noted that according to the zero isotherm of January, Europe is "divided by an air border" passing "through the Baltic States, Western Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea." The climate on both sides of it is completely different: to the east of this border, at a negative average January temperature, winters are cold, frosty, often dry; to the west, wet warm winters prevail. With distance from the mouth of the Vistula to the right, the coastline begins to change latitude, alternating the general northwest direction with the purely north: nature and climate lose their preference. The population density of the territories corresponds to the degree of their agricultural suitability - with the movement along the sea coast from the Vistula to the Neva, both indicators decrease. Important for the history of civilization, the northern border of the spread of the Iron Age cultures is 60 °. This is the latitude of modern Oslo, Uppsala and St. Petersburg - that is, the northern border of the historical Baltic, determined by natural and climatic conditions, coincides at the mouth of the Neva and with the geographical concept of the southern coast of the Baltic.

The history of the settlement of the Baltic States

Archaeologists date the earliest traces of a man's stay ("parking lot") in the Baltic States from the 9th-10th millennium BC. Another 5-6 thousand years pass before tribes appear, which demonstrate the commonality of archaeological cultures in significant territories. Among those who in the process of their development reach the shores of the Baltic are the culture of pit-comb ceramics (late 4th - early 2nd millennium BC; from the Volga-Oka interfluve to the north to Finland and the White Sea). One of its varieties is the Volosovo culture, which includes the Proto-Baltic.

Western variants of the pit pottery culture are attested throughout Scandinavia (more than a thousand sites in Denmark, Sweden, Norway). In contrast to the eastern ones, they show signs of a shift from forest hunting and gathering to a “producing economy” (agriculture and livestock raising) and higher technologies (from river and lake fishing to marine fisheries, including seal hunting).

Another group of archaeological cultures is battle axes, or Corded Ware (from the second half of the 3rd millennium BC). She also leads to the Slavic-Balto-Germanic tribes. The economy of such subspecies as the culture of Zlota (2200-1700 BC, at the great bend of the Vistula), Fatyanovskaya (1st half of the 2nd millennium BC, from the Baltic to the Volga-Kama) also producing. At the same time, in the Middle Dnieper culture belonging to the same group, an exchange with the tribes of the Baltic, Volhynia and the Black Sea region was noted.

Over time, these cultures begin to separate "ethnic" elements, but it takes 1-1.5 thousand years before each of them can be associated with a specific area: the tribes live in a mixed manner. Only by the middle of the last millennium BC. NS. we can talk about the division by territory. It runs roughly in the middle of Latvia; to the south, the Baltic tribes are consolidated, and to the north - the Finnish ones, differing in their local characteristics. Tribal clashes begin: the peaceful camps of fishermen and hunters along the banks of rivers and lakes disappear, and fortifications appear around the settlements.

This is not a nation yet: “the existence of a people with its identification name begins from the moment of assigning this particular name to this particular people,” which, as a rule, is done by representatives of more developed peoples. The earliest recorded names are those of Herodotus. The "Father of History" mentions neurons, androphages, melanchlens, boudins ..., which today are attributed to the Dnieper-Dvinian culture. Pliny the Elder writes about the Wends living southeast of the Vistula, while Ptolemy "settles" the Wends in Sarmatia. In addition to the Wends, Tacitus names in Germanicus (the end of the 1st century AD) the phenes and the Aestians. The Estates, according to Tacitus, lived on the eastern coast of the Svevsky (Baltic) Sea, where they bred cereals and collected amber along the seashore. In general, the ancient sources are not rich in information that allows you to confidently trace the local ethnogenesis. Among the subsequent settlers of these places, three groups of tribes are indicated. It:

• Finno-Ugric (Livonian, Estonian, Vod)
• Balts (Prussians, Curonians, Samogitians, Semigallians, Seli, Latgalians, Lithuania and Yatvingians)
• Pskov Krivichi

Prussians, Curonians, Livs, Estonians and Votes are designated as purely coastal on the settlement maps of the Baltic lands; the rest in this definition are "continental".

Tribal groups on the territory of present-day Latvia in the 1st-4th centuries AD, although they differed in terms of archaeological cultures, were at approximately the same stage of socio-economic development. Property inequality is manifested; the products in which it materializes speak of the growth of production and exchange. The widely used bronze is imported. The main trade route, connecting the ancient world through the Baltic tribes with the East Slavic lands, went to the sea along the Daugava - the longest of the Baltic rivers, which is confirmed by Roman coins found on its banks (several hundred) and a number of other imported metal objects.

“The process of property and social stratification”, the emergence of “the beginnings of class relations” takes the next 400-500 years of the Baltic history. Until the X century A.D. NS. "Class society in these tribes has not yet developed," that is, there is no statehood. There is no written language that would have inscribed in history the names of the leaders who were marked by civil strife; the system is still communal, in many respects primitive. Ancient Rome, whose historians recorded the first names of the Baltic tribes that have come down to us, fell.

Nevertheless, the foreign economic interest of the ancient world in the Baltic was limited. From the shores of the Baltic, with its low level of development of productive forces, Europe received mainly amber and other ornamental stone, flint; possibly fur. Due to climatic conditions, neither the Baltic, nor the lands of the Slavs lying behind it could become the granary of Europe (like Ptolemaic Egypt. Therefore, unlike the Black Sea region, the Baltic did not attract ancient colonists. The positive side of this is that in the first centuries of the new era, the Baltic tribes avoided clashes with stronger powers, fraught with fatal consequences for them.

From the Great Migration of Nations to the Great Empires of the Middle Ages

Rhetorical question, why the II century. BC NS. Rome, "stretching out its imperious hand to the north-west", entrenched only on the Rhine and "did not move further, to a more convenient natural border along the Baltic, Vistula and Dniester", set at one time by Arnold Toynbee, does not have an undeniable answer, and to this day day. The pattern of "civilization" against "barbarians" has become more firmly established, following which Toynbee and other representatives of "Eurocentric" science are laying down the facts of European history. In this "coordinate system", all the main local ethnic groups - Finno-Ugric, Baltic and Slavic - belong to the "barbarians" in the Baltics up to the fall of Ancient Rome.

The great migration of peoples, accompanying the collapse of the Roman Empire in the 5th century, redrawn the ethnic map of Europe. By this time, the Slavs were already widely scattered from the Baltic Sea to the northern slopes of the Carpathians, in contact in the west with the Germans and Celts, and in the east and northeast with the Baltic and Finno-Ugric tribes.

The Baltic states in the “great migrations” were not a source, but an intermediate point of migration flows that repeatedly crossed it from the side of the opposite Scandinavian Peninsula. In the 1st-2nd centuries A.D. NS. the Goths, who came from the "island" of Skandza with King Berig, lived there for a while. On the fifth from him in a row, the Goths again moved south, where they later created the Ostrogothic and Visigothic kingdoms. The memory of the Goths on the shores of the Baltic remained in the fossil artifacts of the Wielbark culture in Prussia and in the names of the Gout tribe in Sweden and the island of Gotland.

The tribes that did not leave with the Goths continued their evolutionary path in the Baltic States, the greatest difficulties on which for a long time were only periodic mutual collisions without the participation of forces from outside. Stronger "subjects of international relations" that figured in the subsequent centuries of the history of civilization in the Baltic, were formed later. Danes - a new migration flow from the south of Scandinavia in the 5th-6th centuries - was aimed not at the Baltic, but at the archipelago (named after them Danish), and on the northern peninsula of Europe, Jutland, which “close” the Baltic Sea from the west. Later, the settlement of Hedeby (Haithabu), erected by the Danes in the southeast of Jutland, became one of the most important trading points connecting the Baltic States and northern Russian lands with Western Europe.

With the growth of productive forces in Europe, movement along the "Amber Road" of ancient Rome is revived. One of its routes went to the Baltic through the West Slavic lands and the Vistula (a staging post near present-day Wroclaw). The other went through the lands of the Eastern Slavs, going directly to the Baltic states through the Dvina or Narva. This international trade has long been attended not only by the Romans, but also by the intermediary tribes. The trade routes passing through their lands were also of particular importance for the development of these tribes, as a means of intraregional communication. This additional factor did not guarantee the acceleration of their development, but only created the preconditions for this. In each of these groups, intertribal consolidation and, ultimately, the formation of statehood, proceeded in its own way.

Around the 7th century, the future Western Slavs - Polabian and Pomorian - were consolidated into four tribal unions: Serbo-Lusatians, cheered (invigorated; the right bank of the Laba and across the Baltic Sea), lutichi (Viltsy) and Pomorians between Odra and Vistula. The largest unions of the future Eastern Slavs at this time were Kuyavia (glade, northerners, vyatichi) in the south and Slavia (Chud, Slovenia, Merya, Krivichi) in the north, uniting around the future Kiev and Novgorod.

In the Baltics, inter-tribal exchange began to develop into direct trade with individual regions in the second half of the 7th century. But “in the period of the V-VIII centuries, in general, the social development of the Eastern Baltic, including the ancient Latvian tribes, lagged behind their Eastern Slavic neighbors. At this time, the Eastern Slavs developed a class society, which united in the 9th century into a single Old Russian state. In the Eastern Baltic states, class relations were just emerging during this period. "

The 8th century opens the "Viking Age" - the third and most powerful stream emanating from Scandinavia. If the first two were purely migratory, then the contribution and colonization components play an important role. They are interdependent: passing from one-time robberies to regular collection of tribute, the Vikings, in view of the presence of "competitors" in this matter, first leave the "garrisons". Depending on the circumstances, these squads either provide management and protection services (as in Russia), or conduct military actions, supporting the colonization of already existing countries (England), or, settling in the newly created states, form the backbone of their armed forces (Normandy, Sicily ).

Rimbert in the Life of Ansgar (second half of the 9th century) recorded such a competition. Here the Danes (their raid dates back to 853) and the Sveons who then come, led by Olaf, compete for the opportunity to profit in a coastal settlement called Seeburg. Here, the assertion that chickens have long obeyed the power of the Sveons means less to historians than the word cori itself - today the oldest mention of the name of a people identified with the Curonians. It is also significant that the twice as large settlement of Apulia (estimates of the garrisons at Rimbert - 7 and 15 thousand soldiers) - its Vikings cannot take - is not near the sea, but five days' journey from it. Bishop Ansgar, the first Christian missionary in the Baltics, who had previously preached in Denmark, Jutland and Sweden, fails to carry out his plans with the Curonians.

A hundred years later, in the second half of the 10th century, both the west and east of Europe are embraced by the general trend of strengthening the administrative ("collecting lands") and spiritual (Christianization) prerequisites for the creation of large centralized states. In 962, Otto I the Great gathers the Holy Roman Empire. Mieszko I (935-992), with the support of Otto (to whom he takes the oath of allegiance), starts collecting Polish lands. By 978, under Harald I (930-986), Denmark took the scale of the northern empire. Since 911, the heyday of the Old Russian state begins, in which almost all the East Slavic tribes were soon united. Princess Olga (957), Meshko (965), and Harald (972) are personally baptized, and Vladimir I Svyatoslavich, having carried out a mass baptism in 988, “informs” the West and the East that all of Russia has embarked on the path of adopting Christianity. At the same time, in the north-west of the developed Europe - formally, within the limits of the Old Russian state - another major center of power appears. Novgorod - more than Southern Russia, involved in world economic relations - is soon gaining enough strength to claim the role of the dominant center in the Baltic region adjacent to its lands.

The Baltic States, lying on the border between East and West, remained pagan for a long time. Plowed agriculture has become the basis of the economy here since the end of the 1st millennium; winter rye has been cultivated since the 11th century. By the 10th century, large settlements appeared, around which territorial associations of ancient tribes were formed. Of these, the Prussians (the Kaliningrad Gulf and the mouth of the Pregolya), the Livs (the Gulf of Riga and the mouth of the Dvina), the Ests (the Tallinn and Narva gulfs with the mouth of the Narova) and the waters (the Gulf of Finland from the Narova to the mouth of the Neva) lived on the lands adjacent to the sea.

Novgorod, with varying degrees of assistance from partners in the Baltic trade ("Vikings"), during the X-XI century expands its sphere of influence around the trade routes leading to the Baltic Sea. Similar processes are developing along the Western Dvina, where the starting point is Polotsk, built in the land of the Krivichi before 800. In order of mention in Old Scandinavian sources, the "rating" of Russian cities known to the Scandinavians is as follows: Novgorod, Kiev, Staraya Ladoga, Polotsk. The Daugava is the longest of the Baltic rivers, the last stretch on the way to the sea. At the same time, Polotsk is located on the half of the meridional route from Kiev to Novgorod and Ladoga. As in other sections of the route "from the Varangians to the Greeks," along the Dvina, on the way to the sea, outposts arise and are strengthened, which then turn into the centers of the principalities of Kukeynos and Ersik, vassal to Polotsk. On the northern route to the Gulf of Finland, the people of Polotsk founded Izborsk - the most important center of the Krivichi, along with Polotsk and Smolensk. The lands leading to the Baltic from Novgorod are being developed in a similar way. Pskov stands out from a number of fortified settlements in the old days. For Polotsk, it is halfway to the Narova and the Gulf of Finland. For Novgorod, he is halfway from Polotsk.

The main cathedrals erected at each of the three listed key points - Kiev, Polotsk and Novgorod - were named, as in Constantinople, in the name of St. Sofia. This emphasized the sovereign, "metropolitan" significance of these centers.

The early history of Novgorod took place in a constant struggle with the Finno-Ugric tribes. The Polotsk principality - perhaps in the name of peace on trade routes - turns out to be more tolerant of its pagan neighbors from the Baltic tribes. In the land of the Krivichi, periods of peaceful coexistence, without raids from the outside, contribute to diffusion, mutual absorption. Involvement in the common European civilization process, mediated for Russia by its trade ties, going through the Baltic states, goes parallel to the formation of the Russian state itself. In the X-XI centuries, Russia was not yet burdened with the experience of a tough interstate struggle, which by that time was unfolding in full swing in Western Europe. Its advance to the sea is not associated with the need to physically displace the local tribes from their earned places, and therefore, up to the end of the 11th century, these processes proceed rather in an evolutionary way.

Meanwhile, in the western Baltic states, events are unfolding according to a different pattern. After the collapse of the empire of Charlemagne, the feudal lords of the East Frankish regions became the main enemy of the Slavs in Pomorie and the Baltic States. At first, the armed struggle between them went on with varying success, but by the XII-XIII centuries the Slavic lands of Labe were absorbed by the Germans one after another and adopted Christianity according to the Roman model. Among the few who managed to preserve, at least in part, the Slavic language and culture, were the Lusatians.

Mastering Terra Mariana

At the beginning of the 13th century, a critical moment comes in the life of the multi-tribal population of the entire southern coast of the Baltic Sea: this area falls into the zone of long-term strategic interests of state formations, moving from the absorption of adjacent territories to the colonization of remote territories.

The capture of the Baltics is carried out, in historical terms, almost instantly. During the life of one generation, already at the first stage of the Northern Crusades, in 1201 the Crusaders founded Riga; in 1206 Innocent III blesses the crusade against the Prussians; in 1219 the Danes occupy the Russian Kolyvan and found Tallinn. Only on the coast of East Prussia did the crusaders suffer relative failure in those years, but even here, after a third of a century, the Teutons set up their strongholds: Memel in 1252 and Koenigsberg in 1255.

In the eastern part of the coast, starting from the right bank of the Vistula, Germanization and Christianization unfold according to a different scenario. Knightly orders - Teutonic, Livonian, swordsmen erect castles on the territory of the Baltic States as strongholds of colonization. Pagan tribes are subjected to violent Christianization, but they are not allowed to create their own national state formations. The appanage Western Russian principalities that have already arisen here - for example, Kukeynos - are being liquidated.

In 1185 Maynard von Segeberg arrived in Livonia. Starting with a small chapel on the Daugava in the town of Ykeskola (about 30 km upstream from the estuary), the next year he already invites stonecutters to build a castle. This was the beginning of the Bishopric of Livonia - the first state formation in Livonia. And although the result of Maynard's missionary work was not great (Henry of Latvia writes about six who “for some reason were baptized,” but then refused), for the successes achieved, the archbishop of Bremen in 1186 elevated Maynard to the rank of bishop. In 1199 Albrecht von Buxgewden became bishop, who laid a new stronghold - Riga. His missionary activity was provided by already quite powerful armed forces: along with Albrecht, 1200 knights came on 23 ships. With such support, the bishop, in addition to spiritual, assumed secular power, becoming a prince-bishop.

• The Bishopric of Riga settled in Riga in 1201; from 1255 - an archbishopric;
• The bishopric of Dorpat (Dorpat) (n.-German. Bisdom Dorpat) was founded in 1224 by the same Albrecht - immediately after the order of the Swordsmen seized the city of Yuryev, founded by the Russians, which the Germans immediately renamed Dorpat (Dorpat).
• The bishopric of Ösel-Wiek (German: Bistum Ösel-Wiek, from 1559 a principality-bishopric) Albert founded on October 1, 1228 (the crusaders took this island in 1227).
• The Bishopric of Courland (German Bistum Kurland was founded in 1234.

In 1207-1208 Albrecht liquidated the Kukeynos principality, and in 1215-19 the Ersik principality.

All of the four bishoprics listed above became part of the Livonian Confederation, created in 1435, an interstate formation in which, under the leadership of the Livonian Order, the bishops enjoyed territorial sovereignty and full authority within their domains.

Displacement of Russia from the Baltic States in the 16th century

The appearance on the map of the Old Russian state of the city of Novgorod dates back to 859, and Pskov - 903. Both of them, more than any of the other cities, were, on the one hand, removed from Kiev, and then Moscow as the seat of power, the supremacy of which they recognized, and on the other, close to the exit points of the path from Asia to Europe to the Baltic sea, and to Europe itself. Having shown unique examples of state structure for Russia, the Pskov and Novgorod republics for a long time retained other features of life that distinguished them from the specific principalities of Russia.

Episodic internecine clashes did not prevent the Pskov and Novgorodians from uniting with each other, as well as with the Russian principalities in opposition to the expansion of Western Europe in the Baltic. In the XIII century, the Battle of the Ice in 1242, the Battle of Omovzha in 1234 and the Battle of Rakovorskaya in 1268 ended with the victory of the Slavs over the knights. In the XIV century, they managed to contain the onslaught on Izborsk. However, after the defeat of the recalcitrant Novgorodians in 1471 by Ivan III and the subsequent liquidation of the republic with the annexation of the lands of Veliky Novgorod, the geopolitical positions of Moscow Rus in the north-west of the Russian Plain were weakening: the displacement of Russians inland, from the Baltic shores, was resumed.

The last such attempt was made by the Livonian Confederation in 1501, in alliance with Lithuania. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania has been at war with Moscow since 1499. Having suffered defeat in the Battle of Vedros in July 1500, Prince Alexander Jagiellon found an ally in the person of the Master of the Livonian Order Walter von Plettenberg. Preparing at that time for an attack on Pskov, which was not yet dependent on Moscow, the warlike master then tried to convince Pope Alexander VI to declare a crusade against Russia, and an ally in the form of Lithuania came in handy.

As a result of the war of 1501-1503, Ivan III and the Livonian Confederation concluded peace on the terms of lat. status quo ante bellum - a return to the state before the start of the war, which was in effect until the Livonian War.

The Schlitte affair (1548, Lubeck) showed Ivan IV that the aggravation of relations with Livonia was not only caused by “ordinary” claims to the lands inhabited by neighbors. It was about the policy of the Livonian Confederation, deliberately aimed at preventing not only goods, but also "Western specialists" from entering the growing Russia. All 300 people recruited by Hans Schlitte in Europe at the request of the Russian Tsar were arrested in Livonia, Schlitte himself was imprisoned, and a certain artisan Hans, who tried to get into Muscovy at his own peril and risk, was executed by the Hanseaticans.

The Livonian Order, meanwhile, was nearing its collapse.

The Livonian War began in January 1558 in a geopolitical situation favorable to Russia. Beginning in the 1520s, internal contradictions between the German feudal lords and the local peasantry began to intensify in the Livonian Order. Added to this were religious unrest associated with the Reformation in the eastern Baltic region. Having occupied the border Narva and regaining control over the previously lost Yuryev, the Russian troops stopped, and in the spring of 1559 they concluded an unprofitable - according to historians - peace: Muscovy received from this campaign only minimal acquisitions (the western shore of Lake Peipsi and Pskov Lake to a depth of about 50 km) and the main thing is that it did not reach the shores of the Baltic. Foreseeing the inevitable collapse of their state, and fearing a resumption of the Russian offensive, the Livonian feudal lords rushed in the same year to agree with the Polish king Sigismund II Augustus about the transfer of the Order's lands and the possession of the Archbishop of Riga to his protectorate. In the same 1559, Revel departed to Sweden, and the Bishop of Ezel-Wik ceded his bishopric and the entire island of Ezel to Duke Magnus, brother of the newly reigned Danish king, for 30 thousand thalers.

In 1560, Russian troops, having defeated the order's army near Ermes, advanced another 50 km, reaching the Marienburg - Fellin line. The revolts of peasants against the German feudal lords, which resumed in connection with the war, forced the latter in northern Estonia to stand under the protection of Sweden, into whose citizenship they themselves also passed. The Swedes were not slow to occupy the entire southern coast of the Gulf of Finland, deepening 40-50 km.

In 1561, the last landmaster of the Livonian Order, Gottgard Kettler, having switched from Catholicism to Lutheranism, retains Kurland and Semigalia under his rule - already as the duke of these lands and, according to the Vilna Union, a vassal of the Polish king Sigismund II. From that moment on, Russia entered the Baltic States into confrontation with the three largest countries: the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Sweden. Taking in 1563 Polotsk standing on the Dvina - once the capital of one of the ancient Russian principalities - Russian troops are trying to advance not to Riga, but back along the Ulla River - where they endure two orders in a row in January and July 1564. The third defeat from the Poles and Lithuanians was suffered in the same year by the Russian troops stationed relatively close to Ulla - in the upper reaches of the Dnieper, near Orsha.

At the end of the 1560s, the foreign policy position of Russia continued to deteriorate. In January 1569, the common Sejm of Polish and Lithuanian feudal lords in Lublin accepted the union - a single Polish-Lithuanian state Rzeczpospolita was created. In the same year, the Turks set out on a campaign against Astrakhan, in 1571 Devlet-Girey carried out a devastating raid on Moscow. Campaigns to Livonia resumed only in 1575, but the policy of Ivan IV is less and less satisfied with his entourage, which ultimately results in the oprichnina; the country is in ruin.

A critical moment for Russia was the campaign of Stephen Batory in 1579-81. The new Polish king occupies Polotsk, Velikiye Luki; in 1581 he laid siege to Pskov, the capture of which would open the way for him to Novgorod and Moscow. According to the Yam-Zapolsky 10-year armistice (1582), Moscow ceded Polotsk to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the lands still occupied by the Russians in Livonia by that time. Russia suffered the most painful losses in the Plyussky armistice of 1583, yielding to the Swedes not only Narva, but also the Ivangorod standing on the Russian coast, as well as the Russian fortresses of Yam and Koporye that resisted many sieges of knights in the lands of the Voda and Izhora to the east of the Luga River.

The return of Russia to the Baltics in the 18th century

The loss of almost all access to the Baltic Sea in the last quarter of the 16th century was for Russia only a prologue to a further deterioration of the external and internal political situation, which in history is called the Time of Troubles (1598-1613). For its main geopolitical rivals in the Baltic States - Sweden, and to a lesser extent for the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, territorial acquisitions in the east of the Baltic Sea additionally fueled the growth of power, and with it the foreign policy claims of these states.

For its part, due to the persisting ethnic community with Russia, supported by the unity of the "Rurik roots", a certain part of the nobility of the new Polish-Lithuanian state made plans for more than the Swedes - namely, to take power over Russia, having established itself on the Moscow throne. These hopes were reinforced, on the other hand, by the opposite sympathy for Poland on the part of some part of the Russian merchants and even the nobility, who played a significant role in the sad history of the Novgorod Republic: its bloody defeat at the end of the 15th century was preceded by an intensification among the Novgorodians of the tendency towards an alliance with Poland against Moscow in the name of preserving its Baltic-oriented economic interests.

The last losses of Russian lands in favor of Sweden were recorded by the Stolbovsky Peace concluded at the end of the "Time of Troubles" in 1617: Karelia and Ingermanlandia (marked on the map, respectively, in dark and light green). Having closed the borders of their possessions in the Neva Bay, Sweden achieved almost complete domination in the Baltic; only small parts of the coast belonged to Poland, Prussia and Denmark.

The territorial acquisitions of the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 propelled Sweden into the category of superpowers; some historians even call the period 1648-1721 the "Swedish Empire" (although the Swedish kings did not change either their title or the status of the state). At the same time, the excellent military-strategic assessments of the Swedish army and navy, stocks of weapons, equipment and food remain indisputable. The significant role that Sweden played then in relations between European states is also obvious. Thus, Denmark, Poland, Saxony and Russia, a group of states that felt affected by the Swedish expansion and formed the Northern Alliance for the war with Sweden, were opposed by a powerful adversary.

The now textbook words "Nature here we are destined to cut a window to Europe", which A. Pushkin puts into the mouth of Peter I, is just a rhetorically effective phrase. In the course of diplomatic preparations for the war with Sweden, the Russian tsar and his ambassadors presented to the future companions-in-arms of Russia in the Northern Union somewhat different arguments adopted in diplomacy. The note prepared by the Russian Foreign Ministry for the 300th anniversary of the Battle of Poltava summarizes the following. Peter I formulated the political foundations for the need to restore Russia's presence in the Baltic from the standpoint of solving the problem of returning ancient Russian lands, including the Baltic ones. In the Baltics of Russia since ancient times, Karelia belonged to the part of the Vodskaya pyatina of Veliky Novgorod (Izhora land, Ingria) adjacent to the Neva, and most of the provinces of Livonia and Estland with the cities of Yuryev and Kolyvan. Peter also recognized Riga "with accessories" as the "hereditary" of the Russian tsar.

According to one of the versions of historians, the easy victory won by Charles XII over the Russians in 1700 near Narva caused the young king to be "dizzy with success." This underestimation of the real potential of the enemy, in their opinion, not only played an almost fatal role in the defeat at Poltava, but also expressed in Karl's "indifference" to the successes of the Russians in the Baltic states in the period before Poltava: the capture of Shlisselburg in 1702, the conquest of the mouth of the Neva and the founding of St. Petersburg in 1703, and so on.

Opponents parry, pointing to the sufficiency of the combat potential of the contingents left by Karl on the "Baltic Front", and to the high class of his combat generals. Since childhood, the Swedish king underwent excellent training in military affairs, and remembered the history of the relatively recent (for him) the last Livonian War, in which the significance of the number of fortresses taken by the Russians at the first stage was reduced to zero by the subsequent development of events. Like the Poles in the Time of Troubles, he took the main aim not on regiments and fortresses, but on Russia itself, its statehood, hoping that if not a change of power, then at least internal turmoil in the ruling circles would bring a much greater geopolitical result of the entire campaign. To this end, he staked on Mazepa, and delved into the Russian borders as much as no other European before him.

In the course of the Northern War, which caused a powerful international resonance, in addition to the members of the Northern Alliance, other powers also emerged, one way or another declaring their interests in the Baltic States, up to armed demonstrations of force.

After the victory at Poltava, “the Brandenburg government also entered into negotiations against the Swedes. Even the Elector of Hanover, declared by that time the English heir to the throne, entered into negotiations with the Russian government, hoping in the future to receive Swedish possessions at the mouth of the Elbe River. "

The military-strategic insignificance - from the point of view of the course of the war - of the individual Baltic territories, over which Russia regained control in 1701-1708, is confirmed by the fact that this did not prevent Riga and even Revel from performing the functions of ports and intermediate supply bases for Karl's army, latitude south of Moscow. Riga, Revel, and also Vyborg were occupied by Russian troops only in 1710. Nevertheless, “the Swedes, instigated by the Western powers, did not go to the signing of the peace. They still had significant forces at sea and large military garrisons in the Baltic States, Finland, Northern Germany. " Only when in 1719-1720. Russian troops landed on the Aland Islands, in a threatening proximity to Stockholm, the world became closer.

For the first time, England demonstrated its anti-Russian interests in the eastern Baltic. Not interested in strengthening Russia, through pressure on Prussia and Denmark, she achieved their withdrawal from the Northern Alliance. After the death of Charles XII, the British thwarted the then Russian-Swedish peace negotiations. Finally, in 1719 and 1721, London, without declaring war, undertook a series of military demonstrations against Russia in the Baltic. Admiral J. Norris, whom Peter personally solemnly greeted at Reval in 1715, and then offered to become the head of the Russian fleet, now "offered to seize all Russian ships and galleys in the Baltic in the near future," and only fear of retaliation against the British in Russia, this time the "mistress of the seas" was held back. This was the first, but far from the last armed confrontation in the history of relations between England and the new, Russian Empire - Peter I solemnly announced its birth upon the conclusion of the Nystadt Peace.

Since Russia's return to the Baltics, "England has sought to weaken, and not unsuccessfully, Russia's political positions in the Baltic and in the Nordic countries." In these difficult conditions, Russia showed maximum restraint, betting on the interest of British merchants in the development of trade ties. Therefore, when, after the death of Peter, the English squadrons in 1726-1727. literally became frequent visitors to the Baltic Sea, St. Petersburg issued a special declaration "on the continuation of trade" with England. In it, Russia in particular, "firmly encouraged" "the entire British people and especially those who sent merchants to our Russian Imperium", which is in connection with the arrival of the British military squadron in the Baltic Sea.

As part of the Russian Empire

According to the peace treaty concluded in Nishtadt with Sweden, Russia returned the part of Karelia, lost in the Stolbovo peace, to the north of Lake Ladoga, Ingermanlandia (Izhora land) from Narova to Ladoga with the fortresses of Yam and Koporye, part of Estland with Revel, part of Livonia with Riga, as well as the islands Ezel and Dago.

Instead of demanding the usual indemnity in these cases (for example, according to the Stolbovsky peace, in addition to territorial concessions, it paid the Swedes 20,000 silver rubles, which was equal to 980 kg of silver), Russia, on the contrary, paid Sweden compensation of 2 million efimks. Moreover, Finland was not only returning to Sweden; but from now on the latter also received a privilege on the annual duty-free import of bread from Russia for 50 thousand efimks. Russia has assumed special obligations with regard to political guarantees for the population, once again accepted into Russian citizenship. All residents were guaranteed freedom of religion. All the privileges previously granted by the Swedish government were confirmed to the Ostsee nobility; preservation of their self-government, estate bodies, etc.

Ostsee region

Until 1876, the Ostsee Territory constituted a special administrative unit (general-governorship) of the Russian Empire. The main body of noble self-government in the Ostsee Territory was the Landrat Collegiums - the estate collegiate bodies, the name of which (German Land Land, including the Administrative Territorial Unit, and German Rat Council) is partly equivalent to the Russian Zemstvo. Peter borrowed their very idea long before the Nystadt world, having carefully studied the practice of their work in Revel and Riga, already occupied by him. Initially, the king planned to make these bodies elected. By a decree of January 20, 1714, he ordered: ... to elect landrators in each city or province by all nobles at their hands. However, the Senate sabotaged this decree by appointing Landrates in 1715, contrary to the decree, according to the lists submitted by the governors. In 1716, Peter was forced to cancel his unfulfilled decree. Landrat collegia existed only in two Baltic provinces, Estland and Livonia. Catherine II abolished them, Paul I restored them, and they existed until the beginning of the 20th century.

The highest bodies of self-government ("zemstvo economy") in the same two provinces were landtags - noble congresses, convened every three years. In the intervals between the congresses, the noble committees in Estonia and the noble conventions in Livonia, convened several times a year, functioned on a permanent basis. Their composition was elected at the Landtags, the right to convene was given to the leader of the nobility, or: in Estonia - to the Land Marshal, and in Livonia - to the next Landrat.

Baltic states in the 20th century

By the beginning of the First World War in the Baltic States, the largest administrative-territorial entities of Russia were three Baltic provinces:

• Liflyandskaya (47027.7 km²; approx. 1.3 million people in 1897)
• Estlyandskaya (20246.7 km²)
• Courland (29715 km², about 600 thousand population)

The Vilnius province (41,907 km²), of the 1.6 million population of which (1897) 56.1% were Belarusians, 17.6% Lithuanians and 12.7% Jews, as well as the Kovno province, were not included in the Baltic region.

On March 30, 1917, the Provisional Government of Russia adopted the regulation "On the autonomy of Estonia", according to which the latter withdrew 5 of the 9 counties of Livonia (24,178.2 km², or 51.4% of the area, with 546 thousand people, or 42% of the population), and, moreover, part of the Valka district (before the division: more than 6 thousand km² with 120.6 thousand people). After this land transfer, the territory of Estonia grew 2.5 times, amounting to 44,424.9 km². Although the new border between the Estland and Livonian provinces was not demarcated under the Provisional Government, its line forever divided the county town of Valk along the river line, and part of the Petrograd-Riga railway turned out to enter the territory of the adjacent province, practically not serving it itself.

By 1915, Germany occupied part of the Livonian province (Kurzeme), but Riga, Valmiera, Wenden and Dvinsk remained part of Russia. Already on March 7, 1917, the first composition of the Council of Workers' Deputies was elected in Riga, and by the end of the month, Soviets appeared in all other cities and towns of the unoccupied territory. All the posts of provincial and district commissars of the region were local Social Democrats. Thus, Soviet power in Latvia was established a few months before the October Revolution; its central body was the Iskolat (Executive Committee of the Council of Workers ', Soldiers' and Landless Deputies of Latvia), created on July 30 (August 12). Created by the Provisional Government back in March, the Vidzeme Provisional Zemstvo Council turned out to be unviable, and in the conditions of the growing conflict with the Provisional Government, General L.G. he moved to Petrograd.

The decision on an armed uprising was made in Latvia on October 16 (29) - a week before the October Revolution in Petrograd. By November 9 of New Style. Latvian riflemen established control in Wenden, 2 days later in Valmiera and on November 20 in Valka, from where on November 22 Soviet power was proclaimed throughout the unoccupied territory of Latvia.

On December 29-31, 1917, at the request of the 2nd Congress of Soviets of Workers ', Soldiers' and Landless Deputies (Valmiera), the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR granted the request of the Latgale Council Executive Committee to separate the "Latgalian" counties from the Vitebsk province and to include them in Latvia.

During the peace negotiations in Brest, the German army perfidiously renewed its offensive against Russia, and by February 1918 the entire territory of Latvia was occupied by German troops. After the signing of the Brest Peace (March 3, 1918), the Seimas (Landesrat) in Courland (March 8) and Livonia (April 12) announced the re-establishment of the Courland and Livonian Duchies. According to the plan of the German command, they were supposed to be united into a buffer "Grand Duchy of Livonian", united by a personal union with the Prussian crown. In the fall of 1918, the German emperor recognized the independence of the Baltic Duchy with the capital in Riga. In October 1918, Reich Chancellor Maximilian Badensky transferred control of the Baltics from the military to the civilian government. During the duke's absence, the powers of power were to be exercised by the regency council formed in November (4 Germans, 3 Estonians, 3 Latvians), which was headed by Baron Adolf Adolfovich Pilar-von-Pilhau.

After the defeat of Germany (November 11, 1918), the German occupation troops, at the direction of the Entente, were left in the Baltic States with the task of maintaining order. Under these conditions, a few days later, on November 18, a government was formed and the independence of Latvia was proclaimed. There were no elections or referenda. On December 7, K. Ulmanis signed an agreement with the representative of Germany on the formation of a joint Baltic Landswehr, which included both German and former Russian officers, mainly of Latvian origin.

By the end of 1918, the previously elected Soviets, which had found themselves underground, formed a provisional Soviet government of Latvia from among their representatives. On December 17, on behalf of this government (chairman P. Stuchka), the creation of Soviet Latvia was announced, after which the Latvian riflemen again took possession of Valka, Valmiera and Cesis. On December 22, 1918, the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR recognized the independence of Soviet Latvia. On January 2-3, 1919, Soviet power was established in Riga, and by the end of January, Soviet power had been established everywhere except Liepaja, where the British squadron was stationed.

Having received additional weapons worth more than $ 5 million and £ 1.3 million, the Landeswehr and Goltz's division launched a counteroffensive. In February, they occupied Ventspils and Kuldiga, and by March, most of Kurzeme. At the same time, Estonian troops were advancing from the north, and Polish troops from the south. Riga was taken on May 22. Ulmanis's government was able to restore full control over Latvia only by January 1920, when the Soviet government of Latvia announced its self-dissolution.

As a result, Latvia found itself in a state of war with the RSFSR. In order to terminate it, upon signing the Riga Treaty on August 11, 1920, the RSFSR did not claim back the territories previously transferred to the RSFSR to Soviet Latvia (the north-western part of the Vitebsk province, including the counties of Dvinsky, Ludzensky, Rezekne and part of the Drissky), as well as part of the Ostrovsky district of the Pskov province with the city of Pytalovo - 65.8 thousand km² with 1.6 million inhabitants). The counties transferred by the Provisional Government from Estonia also remained within Latvia.

In Estonia, just as in Courland, in October 1917, power passed into the hands of the Soviets. In January 1918, a draft constitution was published, according to which Estonia was proclaimed an autonomous republic within the RSFSR. By the end of February, Estonia was completely occupied by German troops. On February 24, 1918, the Rescue Committee, authorized by the Zemsky Council (created under the Provisional Government), proclaimed the independent Republic of Estonia. After the defeat of Germany on November 11, 1918, with the assistance of the British special services, the pro-Antante Provisional Government of Estonia was formed by itself, which re-proclaimed the creation of a sovereign Estonian state. On November 29, the Estland Labor Commune was proclaimed in Narva. By a decree of December 7, 1918, the RSFSR recognized the Estland Soviet Republic, which was transferred from the Petrograd province to the left-bank Prinarie (now the Eastern Virumaa county) with the cities of Narva and Ivangorod.

The reaction to the creation of independent states on the territory of the Baltic provinces of Russia in the world was ambiguous. After their recognition by the RSFSR, in August 1920, US Secretary of State B. Colby said that the State Department "continues to be persistent in its refusal to recognize the Baltic states as states independent of Russia", since

... the American government ... does not consider any solutions proposed by any international conference useful if they imply the recognition as independent states of certain groups with varying degrees of control over territories that were part of the Russian Empire.

Only in July 1922, his successor Charles Hughes announced that the United States “consistently insisted that the upset state of Russian affairs could not serve as a basis for the alienation of Russian territories, and this principle was not considered violated due to the recognition of the governments of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which were established and supported by the indigenous population ”, which opened the way for the recognition of these governments.

The entry of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania into the USSR is dated by the approval of the VII session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of decisions on the adoption of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics: the Lithuanian SSR on August 3, the Latvian SSR on August 5 and the Estonian SSR on August 6, 1940, on the basis of statements, previously received from the highest authorities of the respective Baltic states.

This event belongs to the general context of the development of international relations in Europe over the previous years, which ultimately led to the outbreak of World War II on September 1, 1939. However, in a retrospective international legal assessment of the three above-mentioned bilateral interstate acts adopted in August 1940, historians and politicians do not have a unanimous opinion. Modern Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania consider the actions of the USSR as occupation followed by annexation.

The official position of the Russian Foreign Ministry is that the entry of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia into the USSR met all the norms of international law as of 1940, and subsequently received official international recognition. De facto, the integrity of the USSR borders on June 22, 1941 was recognized by the states participating in the Yalta and Potsdam conferences, and as of 1975, the European borders were confirmed by the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe.

For almost 50 years of their stay in the USSR, the Baltic republics - the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian SSRs - enjoyed the same rights as the other union republics. For the restoration and development of their economies, see the Baltic Economic Region and separate articles on the republics.

One of the immediate consequences of perestroika - attempts to reform the political and economic system of the USSR, begun by M. Gorbachev in the second half of the 1980s, was the collapse of the Union. On June 3, 1988, “Sayudis” was founded in Lithuania, a movement that declared in its documents “support for Perestroika”, but tacitly set itself the goal of secession from the USSR. On the night of March 11, 1990, the Supreme Council of Lithuania, headed by Vytautas Landsbergis, proclaimed the independence of the Republic of Lithuania.

In Estonia, the People's Front was formed back in April 1988. He also declared support for perestroika, and did not declare Estonia's withdrawal from the USSR as his goal, but became the basis for achieving it. On November 16, 1988, the Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR adopted the "Declaration of the Sovereignty of the Estonian SSR". The Popular Front of Latvia, also founded in 1988, held a similar position. The Supreme Soviet of the Latvian SSR announced the independence of Latvia on May 4, 1990.

In subsequent years, political relations between the Russian Federation as the legal successor of the USSR and the Baltic states developed ambiguously. Nevertheless, despite their political independence, the economies of these states continue, to one degree or another, to depend on the economic development of the region into which they have been integrated over the past two to three centuries. Having closed many high-tech industries previously focused on the vast Soviet market (electric trains, radio equipment, cars), these states were unable to enter similar competitive positions in the world market. A significant share of their income continues to be the transit of Russian exports, as well as imports through the Baltic ports. Thus, out of 30.0 million tons of Latvijas dzelzceļš cargo turnover in 7 months of 2007, oil accounted for 11.1 million tons, coal - 8.2 million tons and mineral fertilizers - 3.5 million tons. Compared to the same period last year, transit to Estonian ports decreased by 14.5% (2.87 million tons).

Baltic economy

Beginning in the 18th century, the former inflated provinces of the Baltics received, thanks to joining Russia, extremely favorable prerequisites for the development of the local economy. Having worse conditions for fertility and productivity than in neighboring Poland and Prussia, the region received direct, unencumbered by customs barriers, access to the largest European sales market - Russian. From transport intermediaries on the way of Russia's relations with Europe, the Baltic provinces have gradually become full-fledged participants in the reproduction processes in the Russian economy. In the Baltics, unified economic and geographical complexes began to take shape, in which, as capitalism developed, the share of industrial production gradually increased.

In 1818, with the economic and economic zoning of Russia, KI Arseniev identified two “spaces” belonging to the Baltic states as part of its economic regions: “Baltic” (Eastsee provinces) and “Low” (including Lithuania). In 1871, PP Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky, while performing a similar task, divided the Baltic states between the "Baltic region" (three Ostsee provinces) and the "Lithuanian region" (the provinces of Kovenskaya, Vilenskaya and Grodno). Later, DI Mendeleev, among the 14 economic regions of Russia, singled out the "Baltic Territory" (three Baltic provinces, as well as Pskov, Novgorod and St. Petersburg) and the "North-West Territory" (Belarus and Lithuania).

Thus, throughout the 19th century, economic geographers of Russia made a steady distinction between the "Ostsee" and "Lithuanian-Belarusian" regions of the Baltic. The underlying economic stereotypes of this distinction have developed historically; Mendeleev points to the commonality of the historical past of the Vilna, Vitebsk, Grodno, Kovno, Minsk and Mogilev provinces - their belonging to the ancient Lithuanian principality, to which is added the fact that in the complex of the Polish-Lithuanian state, the outlying lands for it, inhabited by Lithuanians, did not acquire ports on the Baltic sea, comparable in turnover to Riga in Courland and Revel in Estland. The exit of the Vilna province to the Baltic Sea was purely symbolic. The gravitation of the Vilna lands to the Belarusian ones was reflected in the fact of the creation in 1919 of a state called the Lithuanian-Belarusian SSR.

At the time of its proclamation, the Republic of Lithuania did not have its own port either. By the beginning of 1923, the population of the Memel region was increasingly striving to obtain, like Danzig, a free status (German: Freistaat Memelland). After disrupting the referendum, which the residents insisted on, on January 10, 1923, with the support of the militia invading from Lithuania, more than a thousand armed Lithuanians occupied Memelland and the city of Memel. With the inaction of the French army, which took care of the Memel region under the mandate of the League of Nations, it was annexed by Lithuania. But 16 years later, in 1939, Germany re-annexed him. Only thanks to the victory of the USSR over Germany, the Lithuanian SSR, having received Memel in 1945 (renamed Klaipeda after that), acquired a full set of attributes of belonging to the Baltic region in the economic and geographical sense.

The differences accumulated over the previous centuries between the Eastern provinces and Lithuania were significantly smoothed out in the framework of the planned development of the USSR economy as a single national economic complex (ENHK USSR), in which Lithuania (as well as the Kaliningrad region of the RSFSR) were considered, along with Latvia and Estonia, in the context of a single macroregion - the Baltic economic region. The preferential conditions created for him (preferential investments, lower prices) contributed to the fact that the population of this region was among the "richest" in the USSR. So, in 1982, with an average per capita contribution across the USSR at 1143 rubles. in Latvia this figure was 1260, in Estonia 1398, and in Lithuania - 1820 rubles (the maximum among the union republics of the USSR).

Before the secession from the Soviet Union, the Baltic republics promoted positive prospects for secession from the ENHK of the USSR and the reorientation of the economy to the European Union. "While still in the USSR, the authorities of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia set the political task of destroying a significant part of economic relations with Russia, focusing only on increasing transit flows and connections in the banking sector, which are often faulty."

At the same time, instead of the promised investments for technical re-equipment, the full or partial dissolution of industrial complexes began (in Latvia - VEF, Radiotekhnika, RAF, Riga Carriage Works, Alfa, Ellar, Dambis; in Estonia, a plant named after Kalinin, "Engine", "Tallex", etc.). At the insistence of the European Union, the Ignalina nuclear power plant was closed in Lithuania, which ensured Lithuania's energy independence and foreign exchange earnings from energy exports to its neighbors.

For some time, in terms of GDP growth, the Baltics even outstripped Western Europe, on the basis of which the media began to position these countries as “Baltic Tigers”. However, the subsequent global economic crisis changed the situation, economic growth gave way to a decline.

In 1998, the administrative-territorial bodies of the Baltic states, including the Kaliningrad region, became part of the Euroregion "Baltika" - one of the regional organizations for cross-border cooperation, created in accordance with the guidelines developed by the Council of Europe.

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The Baltic states include three former Soviet republics that were not part of the CIS - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. They are all unitary republics. In 2004, all three Baltic countries became members of NATO and the European Union.
Baltic countries
Table 38

The peculiarity of the geographical position of the Baltic countries is the access to the Baltic Sea and the neighboring position with the Russian Federation. In the south, the Baltic countries border on Belarus (Latvia and Lithuania) and Poland (Lithuania). The countries of the region have a very important political and geographical position and a favorable economic and geographical position.
The countries of the region are very poor in mineral resources. Peat is ubiquitous among fuel resources. The richest among the Baltic countries is Estonia, which has reserves of oil shale (Kohtla-Järve) and phosphorites (Maardu). Limestone reserves are distinguished by Latvia (Broceni). Famous springs of mineral waters: in Latvia Baldone and Valmiera, in Lithuania - Druskininkai, Birštonas and Pabirže. in Estonia - Häädemeeste. The main wealth of the Baltics is fish and recreational resources.
In terms of population, the Baltic countries are classified as small countries in Europe (see Table 38). The population is distributed relatively evenly, and only on the coast does the population density increase slightly.
In all countries of the region, the modern type of reproduction dominates, and everywhere the death rate exceeds the birth rate. The natural population decline is especially high in Latvia (-5% o) and in Estonia (-4% o).
In the sex composition, as in most European countries, the female population predominates. In terms of the age structure of the population, the Baltic countries can be classified as “aging nations”: in Estonia and Latvia, the share of pensioners exceeds the share of children, and only in Lithuania are these indicators equal.
All the Baltic countries have a multinational composition of the population, and only in Lithuania Lithuanians constitute an absolute majority of the population - 82%, while in Latvia, Latvians account for only 55% of the population of the republic. In addition to the indigenous peoples, a lot of the so-called Russian-speaking population lives in the Baltics: Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, and in Lithuania - Poles. The largest share of Russians is in Latvia (30%) and in Estonia (28%), but it is in these countries that the most acute problem is the observance of the rights of the Russian-speaking population.
Estonians and Latvians are Protestants by religion, while Lithuanians and Poles are Catholics. The majority of the believing Russian-speaking population considers themselves to be Orthodox.
The Baltics are characterized by a high level of urbanization: from 67% in Lithuania to 72% in Estonia, but there are no millionaire cities. The largest city in each republic is its capital. Among other cities, it should be noted in Estonia - Tartu, in Latvia - Daugavpils, Jurmala and Liepaja, in Lithuania - Kaunas, Klaipeda and Siauliai.
Employment structure of the population of the Baltic countries
Table 39

The Baltic countries are provided with highly qualified labor resources. Most of the population of the countries of the region is employed in the non-productive sphere (see table 39).
In all the Baltic countries, population emigration predominates: the Russian-speaking population leaves for Russia, Estonians - for Finland, Latvians and Lithuanians - for Germany and the USA.
After the collapse of the USSR, the structure of the economy and specialization of the Baltic countries changed significantly: the predominance of the manufacturing industry was replaced by the predominance of the service sector, and some branches of precision and transport engineering, light industry, in which the Baltic countries specialized, practically disappeared. At the same time, the importance of agriculture and the food industry has grown.
Electricity is of secondary importance in the region (with 83% of Lithuania's electricity being provided by the largest in Europe Ignalina
NPP), ferrous metallurgy, represented by the only center of converting metallurgy in Liepaja (Latvia).
The branches of industrial specialization of the modern Baltic include: Precision engineering, especially the electrical industry - the production of radio equipment in Estonia (Tallinn), Latvia (Riga) and Lithuania (Kaunas), televisions (Siauliai) and refrigerators (Vilnius) in Lithuania; machine tool building in Lithuania (Vilnius) and ship repair in Latvia (Riga) and Lithuania (Klaipeda). The transport engineering that developed in Latvia during the Soviet era (production of electric trains and minibuses) practically ceased to exist; Chemical industry: production of mineral fertilizers (Maardu and Kohtla-Järve in Estonia, Ventspils in Latvia and Jonava in Lithuania), production of chemical fibers (Daugavpils in Latvia and Vilnius in Lithuania), perfumery (Riga in Latvia) and household chemicals (Tallinn in Estonia and Daugavpils in Latvia); Timber industry, especially furniture and pulp and paper (Tallinn, Tartu and Narva in Estonia, Riga and Jurmala in Latvia, Vilnius and Klaipeda in Lithuania); Light industry: textile (Tallinn and Narva in Estonia, Riga in Latvia, Kaunas and Panevezys in Lithuania), garment (Tallinn and Riga), knitwear (Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius) and footwear (Vilnius and Siachuliai in Lithuania); The food industry, in which the dairy and fish industries play a special role (Tallinn, Tartu, Pärnu, Riga, Liepaja, Klaipeda, Vilnius).
The Baltic countries are characterized by the development of intensive agriculture with a predominance of animal husbandry, where dairy cattle breeding and pig breeding play a leading role. Almost half of the cultivated area is occupied by fodder crops. Rye, barley, potatoes, vegetables, flax are grown everywhere; sugar beets are grown in Latvia and Lithuania. In terms of agricultural production, Lithuania stands out among the Baltic countries.
The Baltic countries are characterized by a high level of development of the transport system, where road, rail, pipeline and sea modes of transport stand out. The largest seaports in the region are Tallinn and Pärnu in Estonia; Riga, Ventspils (oil), Liepaja - in Latvia and Klaipeda - in Lithuania. Estonia has a ferry connection with Finland (Tallinn - Helsinki), and Lithuania - with Germany (Klaipeda - Mukran).
Among the branches of the non-production sphere, the recreational economy is of particular importance. The main tourist and recreational centers in the Baltics are Tallinn, Tartu and Pärnu in Estonia;
Riga, Jurmala, Tukums and Baldone - in Latvia; Vilnius, Kaunas, Palanga, Trakai, Druskininkai and Birštonas are in Lithuania.
The main foreign economic partners of the Baltic states are the countries of Western Europe (especially Finland, Sweden and Germany), as well as Russia, and there is a clear reorientation of foreign trade towards the countries of the West.
The Baltic countries export devices, radio and electrical equipment, communications, perfumery, household chemicals, timber, light, dairy and fishing industries.
Imports are dominated by fuel (oil, gas, coal), industrial raw materials (ferrous and non-ferrous metals, apatites, cotton), "vehicles, consumer goods.
Questions and Tasks Give the economic and geographical characteristics of the Baltics. Name the factors that determine the specialization of the economy of the Baltic countries. Describe the development problems of the region. Give the economic and geographical characteristics of Estonia. Give an economic and geographical description of Latvia. Give an economic and geographical description of Lithuania.

Today the Baltics are an important region of Northern Europe. One of the most important historical and economic points of the region is Pomorie. This is an administrative and sovereign region, which was previously called the Ostsee Region. Deal with the question: "What countries and states are the Baltics?" - historical and economic overviews of the region will help.

Becoming the edge

The word "Baltic" itself comes from the name of the sea, on the shores of which the region is located. For a long time, the German and Swedish peoples fought for the sole power in the territory. It was they who in the 16th century for the most part made up the population of the Baltics. Many local residents left the region in search of a quiet life, and the families of the conquerors moved to their place. For a while, the region became known as Sveiskaya.

The endless bloody wars ended thanks to Peter I, whose army did not leave a wet place from the enemy forces of the Swedes. Now the peoples of the Baltics could sleep peacefully without worrying about tomorrow. The united region began to bear the name of the Ostsee province, which is part of

Many historians are still struggling with the question of what the Baltic states were at that time. It is difficult to answer unequivocally, because in the 18th century dozens of peoples with their own culture and traditions lived on the territory. The region was divided into administrative parts, provinces, but as such there were no states in it. The delineation occurred much later, as evidenced by numerous records in historical documents.

During the First World War, the Baltic states were occupied by German troops. For many years the region remained a German duchy on the territory of Russia. And only decades later, the monarchical system began to divide into bourgeois and capitalist republics.

Accession to the USSR

The Baltic states in their modern form began to form only in the early 1990s. However, territorial development took place in the post-war period in the late 1940s. The accession of the Baltic States to the Soviet Union is dated August 1939 under a mutual non-aggression pact between the USSR and the German Republic. The agreement stipulated both the boundaries of the territory and the degree of influence on the economy on the part of the two powers.

Nevertheless, most foreign political scientists and historians are sure that the region was totally occupied by the Soviet regime. But do they remember, the Baltics are what countries and how they were formed? The association includes Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. All these states were formed and formed precisely thanks to the Soviet Union. And yet, Western experts agree that Russia is obliged to pay the Baltic countries financial compensation for the years of occupation and outrage. The Russian Foreign Ministry, in turn, insists that the annexation of the region to the USSR did not contradict any canons of international law.

Division of republics

After the collapse of the USSR, many countries gained legalized sovereignty, but the Baltic states gained independence in early 1991. Later, in September, the pact on the new region was reinforced by decrees of the USSR State Council.

The division of the republics took place peacefully, without political or civil conflicts. Nevertheless, the Baltic people themselves consider modern traditions to be a continuation of the state system until 1940, that is, before the occupation by the Soviet Union. To date, a number of resolutions of the US Senate have been signed and on the forcible incorporation of the Baltic States into the USSR. Thus, the Western powers are trying to turn neighboring republics and their citizens against Russia.

In recent years, the conflict has also been aggravated by demands for compensation payments to the Russian Federation for the occupation. It is noteworthy that these documents contain the generalized name of the territory "Baltic". What countries are they really? These include today Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. As for the Kaliningrad region, it is part of the Russian Federation to this day.

Geography of the region

The territory of the Baltic States is located on the European Plain. From the north it is washed by the Gulf of Finland and the eastern border is, and the south-western border is the Polesie lowland. The coast of the region is represented by the Estonian, Courland, Kurgalsky and Sambia peninsulas, as well as the Curonian and Vistula spits. The largest bays are considered to be Rizhsky, Finsky and Narva.

The highest cape is Taran (60 meters). Much of the region's coastal boundary is sand and clay, with steep cliffs. One alone stretches for 98 kilometers along the Baltic Sea. Its width in some places reaches 3800 m. The local sand dunes occupy the third place in the world in terms of volume (6 cubic km). The highest point in the Baltics is Mount Gaizins - over 310 meters.

Republic of Latvia

The capital of the state is Riga. The location of the republic is Northern Europe. The country is home to about 2 million people, while the territory of the region covers an area of ​​only 64.6 thousand square meters. km. In terms of population, Latvia ranks 147th in the world list. All the peoples of the Baltic States and the USSR are gathered here: Russians, Poles, Belarusians, Jews, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Germans, Gypsies, etc. Naturally, most of the population is Latvians (77%).

The political system is a unitary republic, parliament. The region is divided into 119 administrative units.

The main sources of income for the country are tourism, logistics, banking and food processing.

Republic of Lithuania

The geographical location of the country is the northern part of Europe. The main city of the republic is Vilnius. It should be noted that almost half of the population of the Baltics consists of Lithuanians. About 1.7 million people live in their home state. The total population of the country is just under 3 million.

Lithuania is washed by the Baltic Sea, along which trade ship routes have been established. Most of the territory is occupied by plains, fields and forests. Also in Lithuania there are more than 3 thousand lakes and small rivers. Due to direct contact with the sea, the climate of the region is unstable and transitional. In summer, the air temperature rarely exceeds +22 degrees. The main source of government revenue is oil and gas production.

Republic of Estonia

Located on the northern coast of the Baltic Sea. The capital is Tallinn. Most of the territory is washed by the Gulfs of Riga and Finland. Estonia has a common border with Russia.

The population of the republic is more than 1.3 million people, of which a third is Russian. In addition to Estonians and Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Tatars, Finns, Germans, Lithuanians, Jews, Latvians, Armenians and other peoples live here.

The main source of replenishment of the state treasury is industry. In 2011, the national currency was converted to the euro in Estonia. Today this parliamentary republic is considered to be moderately prosperous. GDP per person is about 21 thousand euros.

Kaliningrad region

This region has a unique geographic location. The fact is that this subject, belonging to the Russian Federation, has no common borders with the country. It is located in the north of Europe in the Baltic area. It is the administrative center of Russia. Occupies an area of ​​15.1 thousand square meters. km. The population does not even reach a million - 969 thousand people.

The region borders on Poland, Lithuania and the Baltic Sea. It is considered the most western point of Russia.

The main economic sources are the extraction of oil, coal, peat, amber, as well as the electrical industry.

Fedorov G.M., Korneevets V.S.

General information

In Russian literature, the Baltic states are traditionally understood as Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. This territory was inhabited by humans relatively recently, about 10 thousand years ago, after the retreat of the glacier. It is impossible to determine the ethnicity of the first inhabitants of the region, but, presumably, by the III millennium BC this territory was occupied by the Finno-Ugric peoples of the Altai language family, who came here from the east. At this time, the process of resettlement of Indo-European peoples began in Europe, which included the Balto-Slavs, who migrated to the territory north of the Carpathians from the general area of ​​settlement of Indo-Europeans in the northern Black Sea region. By the beginning of our era, the Baltic tribes that separated from a single Balto-Slavic community settled the entire southern Baltic region, including the southeastern coast of the Gulf of Riga, assimilating or pushing the Finno-Ugrians to the north. From the Baltic tribes settled in the Baltic States, the Lithuanian and Latvian nationalities were later consolidated, and then the nations, from the Finno-Ugric ones the Estonian nationality and later the nation were formed.

Ethnic composition of the population of the Baltic States

Russians make up a significant part of the population of the Baltics. They have long inhabited the shores of the Peipsi and Pskov lakes and the Narva River. In the 17th century, during the religious schism, Old Believers migrated to the Baltic States. But the bulk of the Russians living here moved during the period when the Baltic states were part of the Russian Empire and the USSR. At present, the number and proportion of the Russian population is declining in all the Baltic countries. By 1996, compared with 1989, the number of Russians decreased in Lithuania by 38 thousand people (by 11%), in Latvia - by 91 thousand (by 10%), in Estonia - by 54 thousand (by 11, 4%). And the outflow of the Russian population continues.

The Baltic states have a number of common features in economic and geographical position, natural conditions, history, structure and level of economic development. They are located on the southeastern coast of the Baltic Sea, in the adjacent marginal area of ​​the East European (Russian) Plain. For a long time this territory served as an object of struggle between the powerful powers of Europe and now it continues to be a zone of contact between Western European and Russian civilizations. After leaving the Soviet Union in 1991

During the Soviet period, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, together with the Kaliningrad region, were included by the planning authorities of the USSR into the Baltic economic region. Attempts were made to a certain integration of their national economy into a single complex. Some results of cooperation of individual industries, for example, in the fishing industry, in the formation of a unified energy system, etc., have been achieved. However, the internal production ties did not become so close and ramified that it was possible to speak of an integral territorial-production complex of the Baltics. It could be about such general features as the proximity of national economic specialization, the similarity of the role in the all-Union territorial division of labor, a higher standard of living of the population compared with the average Union. That is, there were socio-economic differences between the region and other parts of the country, but not its internal unity.

The Baltic republics differed from other parts of the USSR in ethnocultural terms, but at the same time they also had little in common with each other. For example, unlike most of the Soviet Union, where the alphabet is based on the Cyrillic alphabet, in their territory the autochthonous population uses the Latin alphabet, but it is used for three different languages. Or, for example, believers Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians are most often not Orthodox, like Russians, but differ in religion and among themselves: Lithuanians are Catholics, while Latvians and Estonians are predominantly Protestants (Lutherans).

After leaving the USSR, the Baltic states are trying to implement measures of economic integration. However, their economic structures are so close that they are more likely competitors in the struggle for foreign markets than partners in economic cooperation. In particular, for the economies of the three countries, the maintenance of Russia's foreign economic relations through the Baltic ports is of great importance (Fig. 6).

The Russian market is extremely important for the sale of food products, light industry products and other consumer goods, the production of which is developed in the Baltics. At the same time, the trade turnover between Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia is insignificant.

The share of the other two Baltic countries in the trade between Lithuania and Estonia was 7% in 1995, Latvia - 10%. In addition to the similarity of the manufactured products, its development is hampered by the limited size of the markets of the Baltic states, which are small in territory, population and economic potential (Table 6).

Table 6

General information about the Baltic states

Sources: The Baltic States: Comparative Statistics, 1996. Riga, 1997; http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/lg.html

The largest territory, population and GDP among the three countries is in Lithuania, in second place - in Latvia, in third - in Estonia. However, in terms of the level of economic development, as it follows from the comparison of GDP and population size, Estonia is ahead of the other Baltic countries. Comparative data taking into account purchasing power parity of currencies are shown in table 7.

Table 7

Gross Domestic Product in the Baltic States,

taking into account the purchasing power of currencies, 1996

Source: http: //www.odci.go /cia/publications/factbook/lg.html

Rice. 7. Main trading partners of the Baltic states

The natural conditions of the Baltic states, despite the general similarity, have some differences. Taking into account the whole complex of factors, they are most favorable in the south of Lithuania, the least favorable - in the northernmost republic - Estonia.

The relief of the Baltics is flat, mostly low. The average height of the surface above sea level is 50 meters in Estonia, 90 in Latvia, and 100 in Lithuania. Only individual hills in Latvia and Estonia slightly exceed the height of 300 m, and in Lithuania they do not even reach it. The surface is composed of glacial deposits that form numerous deposits of building minerals - clays, sands, sand and gravel mixtures, etc.

The climate of the Baltic States is moderately warm, moderately humid, belongs to the Atlantic-continental region of the temperate zone, transitional from the maritime climate of Western Europe to the temperate continental climate of Eastern Europe. It is largely determined by the western transport of air masses from the Atlantic Ocean, so that in winter the isotherms take a meridional direction, and the average January temperature for most of the Baltic region is –5 ° (from –3 in the western coastal part to –7 in the far from the sea areas). Average July temperatures range from 16-17 ° in the north of Estonia to 17-18 ° in the southeast of the region. Annual precipitation is 500-800 mm. The growing season increases from north to south and is 110-120 days in the north of Estonia and 140-150 days in the south of Lithuania.

The soils are dominated by sod-podzolic soils, while in Estonia - soddy-calcareous and bog-podzolic soils. They do not have enough humus and require the introduction of a large amount of fertilizers, and due to frequent waterlogging, drainage works. Liming is necessary for acidic soils.

Vegetation belongs to the zone of mixed forests with a predominance of pine, spruce, birch. The largest forest cover (45%) is in Latvia and Estonia, the smallest (30%) is in Lithuania, the most developed in terms of agriculture. The territory of Estonia is very swampy: swamps occupy 20% of its surface.

In terms of the degree of economic development of the territory, Lithuania takes the first place, the last - Estonia (Table 8).

Table 8

The degree of economic development of the Baltic states

Compared to the southern European countries, the level of development of the territory of the Baltic states is less high. So, Lithuania, which has the highest population density among the Baltic republics - 55 people. per sq. kilometer, twice as small as Poland and four times behind Germany. At the same time, this is much more than in the Russian Federation (8 people per sq. Km).

From the data in Table 8, we can also draw a conclusion about the ongoing reduction of acreage in Estonia, and especially in Latvia. This is one of the consequences of the changes in the economy that are taking place in the Baltics after the collapse of the USSR and the beginning of the transformational processes of transition from a directive to a market economy. Not all of these changes are positive. Thus, by 1997, none of the Baltic republics had reached the level of production of the gross national product of 1990. Lithuania and Estonia approached it, Latvia lags behind more than others. But, unlike the rest of the former republics of the USSR, the gross national product began to grow in the Baltic states since 1994. The standard of living of the population is also increasing.