SUMMARY
[Note to reader: this Country page primarily contains brief information about state-based violence during the period 1946–1974, and to some extent 1975–1988. For more detailed information on organized violence after 1989, please consult the specific Conflict and Dyad pages available on the left-hand side of this page. These pages contain more detailed information regarding all three categories of organized violence in this country from 1989 and onwards (when applicable), as well as detailed information about state-based violence 1975–1988. The left-hand side menu also contains links to Actor pages for all groups involved in organized violence since 1989 in this country, as well as actors involved in state-based violence 1975–1988.]
Estonia declared itself independent in 1918 at the end of the First World War. About three decades later it was occupied by the Soviet Union and shortly thereafter taken over by Nazi Germany. In 1944, it was incorporated into the Soviet Union. Estonia remained a constituent republic of the Soviet Union until 1991, when the Soviet Union fell apart.
There was a minor intrastate armed conflict between Estonian armed groups and the Soviet government from 1946 to 1948. The short period of independence between the world wars had entrenched a strong sense of national identity among the Estonians. The repressive regime installed by the Soviet Union in 1940 had deeply alienated large parts of the population. Against this background, resistance against the re-established Soviet rule formed in the Estonian forests. The so-called Forest Brothers conducted primarily surprise raids by small groups against local representatives of the Soviet system. Lacking a unified command and facing the overwhelming military superiority of the Soviet forces, the movement gradually lost its impetus. The conflict became inactive in 1949.
In 2005, Estonia sent troops to Afghanistan to support the United States of America in the fight against al-Qaida and to back the Afghan government against the Taleban. Estonia also provided secondary warring support to the Iraqi government in an intrastate conflict that started 2004.
Estonia has no recorded conflicts as a sovereign state in UCDP data. The Soviet Union (Estonia) conflict is viewed as an intrastate conflict within the Soviet Union.
