"The history of Estonia, viewed through Estonians' eyes, is a story of our home here on the coast of the Baltic Sea, the home that was established by our ancestors with their everyday work, the one that all of us have the holiest right to call our own. But unfortunately, over and over again we have encountered people who have violated the right. The bigger and more powerful ones have brought enmity and violence to our country, forced alien power and spirit upon us, tried to totally exterminate us. We have defended ourselves with arms and by power of thought, we have fallen and risen again, we have survived, and not just survived but, despite everything and everybody, become a civilized and cultured people, who occupy their own place among the other peoples of the world. Our home feeling has been stronger than the occupants' armies."

This is what one of the most renowned contemporary Estonian historians — Professor Sulev Vahtre — has said about the history of Estonia.

By now approximately 13,000 years has passed since the days we can call the beginning of Estonian history. This was the time when the first southern areas of resent Võrumaa and Setumaa started to emerge from under the retreating ice-sheet, and it took about two thousand more years for the ice to melt completely. Approximately 10,000 years ago Estonian climate started to warm up, making it possible for the human settlement to develop.

This was the time when the first people arrived on the present territory of Estonia right after the retreating ice-sheet. The oldest known settlement of ancient fishermen and hunters has been found at Pulli, near Sindi at the Pärnu River and it belongs under the so-called Kunda culture, which was named after the ancient settlement discovered at Lammasmäe, near Kunda. Much has been argued about the role of Kunda culture in Estonians' ethnogenesis. Sometimes it has been considered as negligible; yet, according to the latest theories these were the direct ancestors of Estonians. Scientists argue that Estonians are genetically related to the people of Kunda culture, who belonged to the proto-European language family migrating to Estonia from the south.

Linguists, on the other hand, have emphasised the role of Finno-Ugrians in the ethnogenesis of Estonians — their original home was situated in the Ural Mountains, from where they gradually moved to the west. In Estonia the Finno-Ugrians have been considered as being connected with the spread of the so-called comb-ceramic culture here for about 4000 years ago. The Indo-European immigrants, who reached Estonia not later than in about 2200 B.C., also contributed to the development of Estonians; these tribes were named after stone battleaxes, which reminded of a boat or dugout, venekirves (boat-shaped axe) culture. The battleaxe people brought with them herds of domestic animals and probably also the elements of agriculture. These tribes played an even more important role in the formation of the present Baltic peoples — Latvians and Lithuanians.

In the gradual intermingling of peoples, cultures and languages, the Finno-Ugrians' language started to prevail on the territories north of the Väina (Daugava) River, whereas in the south the comb-ceramic cultures merged into the Indo-European ones. The border between two cultural areas was formed along the line of the Väina River approximately 2500 years ago. So we can claim that Estonians have developed from several antagonistic elements — genetically we originate from the west, but linguistically from the east. Perhaps it is right here that we should try to find reasons for Estonians' riven mentality and the existence of different poles emphasized by some researchers. It has been considered as Estonians' misfortune; yet, obviously it also offers an opportunity for the synthesis of different cultures and understandings.

Roughly 3500 years ago the Metal Age started in Estonia. After metal was introduced, agriculture and cattle-raising started to develop at a much faster pace than during the Stone Age. The end of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the early Iron Age are marked by great changes in culture and settlement about 2500 years ago, which were brought about by transition to agriculture. The oldest ancient fields of Estonia and the whole Eastern Europe were situated in Rebala village outside Tallinn.

But more turbulent times were yet to come. The building of strongholds and their repeated destruction in fires testifies to more frequent wars. The foundation of strongholds on the eastern border of Estonia was especially active. Soon Estonia also fell under Scandinavians' attacks, which has found mentioning in Scandinavian sagas. In spite of all this Estonia developed quite fast during the following decades and became a significant trade centre at the crossroads of trade routes from north to south and east to west. After the formation of Scandinavian states and due to their Christianization Viking raids started to lose momentum. However, in Estonia the Viking Age was yet to begin. Estonians' fast pirate ships plundered the coasts of Sweden and Denmark, and the attempts to impede their raids were of no avail. In 1187 the "pagans of the Eastern Sea" destroyed Sigtuna, the then capital of Sweden. Some researchers maintain that these pagans were Estonians.

Estonians' relations with their neighbours in the cast were even more complicated. The Russian rulers were eager to expand their territories to the coasts of the Baltic Sea. In 1030 Prince Yaroslav the Wise organized a campaign against Estonians and established a strong-point for the Russian rule on the site of present Tartu, which he named Yuryev. His attempt to further invade into the Estonian territory failed and in 1061 Estonians recaptured the stronghold, so Russians failed to gain a firm footing in Estonia more permanently.

Estonians' first contacts with Christianity also date back to the 11th-12th centuries. In 1167 a Benedictine monk called Fulco was appointed bishop for Estonians in Lund, and most probably he also visited Estonia. The number of baptized Estonians started to increase gradually, and probably also the first churches or chapels were established in some centres. However, most Estonians adhered to their ancestors' faith, forming the last bastion for paganism in Europe together with the Baltic peoples. It was clear that Christian Europe was not going to tolerate this kind of situation much longer.

In the late 12th century German merchants arrived in the territories of Livonians in the mouth of the Väina River. Before long they were followed by the first missionaries. In 1202 the Order of the Brethren of the Sword was established with the aim to Christianize the local pagans. The Roman Pope proclaimed a crusade for this purpose, dedicating the conquered lands to the Blessed Virgin Mary. As in Palestine the momentum of crusades was subsiding, his appeal found numerous supporters and knights from all over Europe arrived in the Baltic territories. Part of the Livonians and Latgals accepted Christianity voluntarily, but those who resisted were forced under threat of arms.

In 1208 the crusaders reached Estonian borders and started the conquering campaign. A few decades of desperate fight followed, in which Estonians offered stubborn resistance to the conquerors, fighting against German knights, Russians, Swedes and Danes. In 1210 in the Battle of Ümera Estonians defeated the crusaders' army. Lembitu, the Sakala elder, tried to concentrate all Estonians in the fight against the crusaders, but he was killed in the Madisepäeva (St. Mathew's Day, September 21) Battle in 1217.

In 1219 under Tallinn, Estonians attacked the army of Valdemar II, the Danish king who had come to conquer Estonia, and was said to have been got out of the most serious trouble by a flag called Dannebrog, which fell from heaven and later on became the national flag of Denmark. Estonians were defeated and by 1227 the whole country was conquered and Christianized. The intension to subordinate part of Estonia directly to the Pope met opposition from German knights and Estonia was divided between the Order of the Brethren of the Sword (later on the Livonian branch of the Teutonic Order), Denmark and the smaller bishoprics.

The Christianization of Estonia has been estimated in different ways. On the one hand, it has been viewed as the beginning of the 'seven-hundred-year-long slavery', on the other, assumptions have been made that through Christianization Estonia was merged into the West European cultural sphere. It was only as a part of Europe that Estonia was able to withstand the strengthening pressure from the east and preserve its national peculiarity unlike the Finno-Ugric tribes that fell under Russian power.

After the conquest Estonia initially underwent only small changes. Estonians submitted to the alien rule by concluding contracts and preserved their own limited self-government. However, it was quite soon that the latter became to be restricted and Estonians became increasingly suppressed. This brought about a wave of resistance, the most extensive rebellion being the jüriöö (St. George's Night) Uprising (1343-1345). In order to crush the rebellion, Denmark had to appeal to the Livonian Order, who took advantage of it in order to strengthen its influence in Estonia. The uprising was drowned in blood and in 1346 the Order purchased the territory of Northern Estonia from Denmark. After the Jüriöö Uprising had been suppressed, the situation of the peasantry started to deteriorate quickly. By the end of the Middle Ages they had been subjected to serfdom.

Yet, economically, Estonia as part of Old Livonia prospered in the Middle Ages. In many respects the foundation to this was laid by the towns that belonged to the Hanseatic League, especially Tartu and Tallinn. Through Christianization Estonia became the outpost of western civilization in the east. The Hermann Order Castles erected on the banks of the Narva River and the Russians' Ivangorod Stronghold symbolised the opposition between the two different worlds — the East and the West. Therefore Estonia remained a battlefield also in the Middle Ages. In spite of the increasing danger from abroad, Old Livonia was not able to resolve the interior conflicts, which gradually became more acute and resulted in open opposition and civil wars. However, at the beginning of the 16th century under the leadership of Order Master Wolter von Plettenberg the Russians' greatest attack was repelled and this guaranteed peace for fifty more years.

1523 the Reformation started in Estonia, initially gaining ground mainly in towns. As a consequence, new schools were established and the first books in Estonian were published. Yet, in Old Livonia, which was already politically fragmented as it were, the Reformation brought about new tensions. By the middle of the 16th century the former balance of forces in the region of the Baltic Sea had changed. The strengthening Russia was looking for a route to Europe, and Poland-Lithuania, Denmark and Sweden were applying for their shares of Old Livonian legacy.

In 1558 the Russian tsar Ivan IV the Terrible attacked Estonia with numerous forces. This was the beginning of a longer period of wars known as the Livonian War. The country was devastated, and Narva and Tartu fell into the enemy's hands without much resistance. Soon most of the territory of Estonia was under their control. In 1561 the Livonian Order surrendered to the Polish-Lithuanian Union, Tallinn together with Northern Estonia asked for protection from Sweden, and the Estonian islands went under the rule of Denmark. By 1577 Russia had overrun the whole mainland Estonia except for Tallinn, which Russians, despite repeated sieges, were not able to conquer. Estonians did not remain onlookers, either. In 1560 a peasant uprising took place, which covered mainly Läänemaa County. Manors were burnt down and German nobility was killed. Germans barely succeeded in defeating the rebels' army at Koluvere. Yet, in 1558 the delegation of peasants had been to Prince Johann in Turku, making a promise to remise the land "without a sweep of the sword". It seemed to be the most useful for the peasants to get under the Swedish rule, as in Sweden personal freedom was guaranteed to peasants. Several Estonian peasants' units also fought on the Swedish side, and among them the most famous ones were Hannibals People led by Ivo Schenkenberg and the unit led by Ohtra Jurgen.

A turn in the military activities occurred in 1579. Stefan Batory, the Polish-Lithuanian king, transferred the action to the territory of Russia and made Ivan the Terrible relinquish to Poland its possessions in Estonia by the peace treaty of 1582. At the same time the Swedish troops under the leadership of Pontus De la Gardie ousted Russians from Northern Estonia, conquering Narva in 1581.

A short period of peace began in Estonia, which was divided between Sweden, Denmark and Poland — a peace that the country needed so badly. The population had diminished disastrously, villages and towns were pillaged. In 1583 the Jesuits founded a college in Tartu and started a counter-reformation in Estonia. According to the Jesuits they received a very warm welcome from Estonian peasants. This also instigated the Swedish authorities to pay more attention to organizing church and educational life.

In 1600 the contradictions between Poland and Sweden grew into a public conflict. The war that had progressed with changing success, ended with the Swedes' victory. By the Altmark Truce of 1629 nearly all the former Old Livonian territory went under the Swedish rule. As a result of decades of wars the country was severely devastated. The number of Estonians in their homeland had decreased so sharply that the existence of the nation was in the gravest danger ever.

The peasantry was disappointed by the first few decades of the Swedish rule. The landlords extended their rights. The Swedes were not especially interested in their provinces on the coast of the Baltic Sea, and as a result, Estonia's economic importance diminished. In spite of this, the national memory still recalls this period as the "good Swedish time". Obviously, one of the reasons for the formation of such an understanding was the efficient activity of the Swedish authorities in the sphere of culture and education. Several gymnasiums and printing works were opened in Estonia. In 1632 the University of Tartu opened its doors. The studies of the Estonian language progressed, and the number of books published in Estonian grew constantly. In 1684 B. G. Forselius founded a seminary at Piiskopimöisa, in the vicinity of Tartu to train teachers for peasant schools. As a result of his activities, numerous peasant schools with Estonian as the language of tuition were opened, which established the foundation to the tradition of national education. Another reason why the Swedish period deserved a positive response was the reforms carried out by the Swedish authorities at the end of the 17th century, which among other things were aimed at improving the situation of the peasantry. The rights of the landlords were restricted, peasants were conferred the right to defend themselves from injustice in court. Unfortunately, the last years of the Swedish rule were beclouded by the great famine, which devastated the land in 1695-1697 and killed tens of thousands of people.

Yet, it was only the beginning to the subsequent sufferings. In 1700 the war chariot rolled into Estonia again — the Northern War broke out. Russia, Denmark and Poland joined their forces to overthrow the Swedish rule on the Baltic Sea. The Russian troops led by Tsar Peter I laid siege to Narva fortress, to which a Swedish unit — small but with much striking force — led by the young Swedish king Karl XII came to the rescue. In the battle that was waged on November 19-20, 1700, the Swedish army defeated the Russians. The Narva Battle created a sensation all over Europe, and Karl XII as a romantic hero deserved much attention. After this battle Karl XII stayed for the winter at Laiuse, which for this period actually became the capital of the Swedish Empire. In 1701 Karl XII left Estonia in order to help the town of Riga, which was being besieged by the Poles, and freed the town from the siege. Yet, it was only the "triumphant beginning of the end". The forces were unequal. After Karl XII had left Estonia, initiative went over to the Russian army again, and the latter was getting more and more powerful with each subsequent year. Estonia was ruthlessly devastated, tens of thousands of people were killed or taken to Russia into slavery. In 1704 the Russian army led by Peter I conquered Narva and Tartu, which in 1708, for fear of the Swedes' counterattack, were completely ruined and the inhabitants were deported to Russia. In 1710 the whole territory of Estonia was occupied by the Russian army; Tallinn, which suffered from plague, surrendered without any fight. In 1721 Estonia was officially incorporated into Russia by the Uusikaupunki Peace Treaty.

Estonia suffered severely in the Northern War. The number of population diminished disastrously. Besides the war, famine and plague also devastated the country. For a while it seemed that it could never rise again. And yet people managed it. The accomplishment is even more valuable because the Russian rule brought about the deterioration in the situation of the peasantry. Tsar Peter I restored the privileges for the German landlords, which had been revoked by the Swedish rulers, at the same time confirming the special status of the Baltic provinces. Estonian peasants were completely at the mercy of their masters — they had never been so severely suppressed further back in time, and neither were they so further on.

However, not everything achieved in the Swedish time was destroyed. The things especially important for the future of the Estonian nation were the expansion of the peasant schools network and the preservation of the continuity of the Estonian literary language and culture. The publication of the complete translation of the Bible by Anton Thor Helle in 1739 was a significant event. The second half of the 18th century was the time of economic boom in Estonia. The first manufactures cropped up, and the potato was introduced into agriculture. The Baltic-German nobility carved their way into the high stratum ruling Russia. In these years Estonia gave Russia many high politicians and military leaders, scientists and explorers. Under the influence of the Enlightenment ideas that came from Europe, part of the Baltic-Germans started to seek for reforms and the improvement of peasants' situation in Estonia. Pastors were especially active in this field, for instance August Wilhelm Hupel and Johann Georg Eisen von Schwarzenberg, who also worked as educators of people and furthered the Estonian language and literature.

The reforms that had started in the second half of the 18th century, culminated in liberating the peasantry from serfdom in Estonia in 1816 and in Livonia in 1819. However, land remained in the possession of landlords, and serfdom was replaced by corvee. At first the peasants' economic situation was still hard, which resulted in several peasant riots, such as the Pühajärve War in 1841 and the Mahtra War in 1858. Hoping to procure land from the Emperor, part of the peasants renounced their former faith for Orthodoxy, others migrated to Russia. After some time landlords, who needed means for the modernization of their households, started to demand monetary rent from the peasants, and later on also sell farms for freeholds. It was not easy to buy out a farm, and it required great efforts; yet, becoming the master of one's own farm marked the first step on the way of becoming the master of one's own country. Local courts and self-governments also went into the hands of Estonians, which increased their self-assertion and taught them how to cope with themselves. The same influence was exerted by the Herrnhuters' Movement; the first Estonian choirs and brass bands emerged as part of this movement.

The abolishment of serfdom opened the way to the development of new production relations in Estonia. People became more mobile, towns were expanding, and the first new bigger industrial enterprises started to emerge. The railway line between Paldiski and St. Petersburg, which was opened in 1870, proclaimed the beginning of a new era. By the end of the century a major part of Estonia was covered by a railway network. The population of Estonia grew rapidly. While up to then Estonians had predominantly been country people, then now increasingly bigger numbers settled down in towns. The social structure of Estonian society changed, and several new strata came into existence.

Changes also occured in education. In 1802 the University of Tartu was reopened by the decree of Alexander I, and it became one of the most progressive scientific institutions of the then Europe. The scientists of world renown, who worked in Tartu, brought to Estonia modern trends of thought from Europe, which had an immediate impact on the development of both Estonia and the whole region. Many of the students who had studied at the so-called Professors' Institute in Tartu, later on became professors at Russian universities. The enlivening mental life also exerted positive influence on Estonians' educational life. The network of peasant schools expanded and strengthened, and the number of Estonian publications increased. Village schoolmasters and precentors became the leaders of the rising national movement.

National ideas reached Estonia at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries. The Estophiles influenced by Herder's ideas started their studies of the Estonian language and history, valuing Estonianism both for the Baltic-Germans and Estonians themselves. Estophiles regarded as especially important the elaboration of a uniform and modern Estonian literary language. The magazine Beiträge..., which was published by Pärnu pastor J. H. Rosenplänter and gathered around itself the majority of the Estophiles, was most effective in this sphere. This was also where Kristjan Jaak Peterson, one of the first Estonian intellectuals who studied at the University of Tartu, published his works. Unfortunately, due to his untimely death, his meteoric flight remained too short. Otto Wilhelm Masing, pastor and linguist from Aksi, started publishing his Marahwa Näddala-Leht (Peasants Weekly) in Estonian in 1821. And although after a few years the publishing was discontinued due to the small number of subscribers, Masing had still laid the foundation to the tradition of Estonian journalism.

In 1838 the Learned Estonian Society was founded in Tartu on the basis of several smaller organizations of Estophiles. The society published numerous books, especially textbooks, in Estonian, collected Estonian folk songs, studied the Estonian language and history. During the first period of their activities, Friedrich Faehlmann, one of the most important Estonians in the pre-awakening movement, played the leading role in it. Faehlmann started to collect legends about Kalevipoeg (Kalev's son, Estonian national hero) and proposed that, analogously to the Finns' Kalevala, an Estonian national epic should be compiled on this basis. Faehlmann also wrote several artificial fairytales, by this laying the foundation to Estonian national mythology. All this greatly influenced the nationalists of the following generations and the development of national identity. Unfortunately Faehlmann died at a young age, and was not able to complete what he had started.

Faehlmann's friend Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald became his successor. He published several books as well as periodicals for the enlightenment of people. Yet, his most significant work was the compiling of the national epic Kalevipoeg, which he started to publish by parts in 1857. The popular edition of Kalevipoeg was published in 1862. However, initially the epic failed to exert influence on the public at large. Only a few "had been awakened". The majority "was still asleep".

But sleep was not to last long any more. The reforms that had started in Russia offered better opportunities for the foundation of national organizations and for publishing national periodicals. In 1857 Johann Voldemar Jannsen, a schoolmaster from Pärnu, who had already achieved renown as a popular writer, started to publish a new newspaper entitled Perno Postimees (Pärnu Courier), addressing his readers in the first issue with the words: "Dear Estonian nation!". The newspaper became unexpectedly influential, spreading national ideas all over Estonia and transforming the former socially homogeneous peasantry into Estonians. Jannsen's simple slogan — "We should be embarrassed that we are not educated, not that we are Estonians!" — activated people and 'woke them up'. The first nationally minded groups of intellectuals emerged, who, establishing contacts between themselves, transferred the national movement to a new level. In the early 1860s the schoolmasters and peasants of Viljandimaa County developed an idea to establish a higher Estonian-language school — Aleksandrikool (Alexander's School) — in memory of Alexander I, who had liberated Estonia from serfdom. This undertaking joined different nationally minded groups, in the course of time growing into the greatest national campaign in Estonia. This was the period when the national movement was influenced by the naive faith in the tsar's benevolence and Russian central authorities, which found its outlet in the petition campaign in 1864.

To be continued in Part 2...

Kim Ernest

Copyrighted material; do not reprint without permission.

 

View all articles by Kim Ernest