Introduction

Abstract

At the end of May 2019, the Estonian War Museum – General Laidoner Museum and Estonian Military Adademy organised the conference Independence Wars in North-Eastern Europe and Beyond in Tartu. The conference commemorated the 100th anniversary of the Estonian War of Independence. In addition to Estonia, several other nations were fighting their wars of independence at the same time, but the majority of them were unable to break away from the crumbling empires and establish national statehood. First and foremost, Soviet Russia, the successor of tsarist Russia, was able to consolidate itself after a bloody civil war, but in doing so releasing its grip on the Baltic countries, Finland and Poland.