Sovietization of the Baltic States: Independence Negotiated, Then Stolen

Abstract

This article examines the forces and circumstances of the early 1940s during which a unique climate was created for the Sovietization of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. It also considers the legal aspects of the case, namely the integration of these three independent, sovereign states into the Soviet Union which violated nearly all measures of international law. This, however, was met with little resistance from the international community, primarily because of the rise of Nazi Germany, the general chaos in the early years of World War II, and the shifting alliances along the Eastern Front. With many former Soviet republics in the spotlight today struggling to stabliize as independent states, and with the Russian Federation still occupying several territories of the former Soviet Union under the auspices of peacekeeping missions, the relatively settled case of the Baltic states serves as example to analyze processes of Sovietization, and should aid in fostering greater interest in the various ways by which desovietization is occurring in the contemporary world.