The Baltic states were the only members of the League of Nations that were not part of the international body’s successor, the United Nations. They were the only east European states that were independent between the world wars but lost even nominal independence after World War II. The three small countries were absorbed into the USSR; unlike Poland, Romania or Czechoslovakia or any of the other “satellite” states that were given a certain degree of freedom (although not much), the Baltic countries were at the complete mercy of Moscow.
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were fortunate enough, however, to remain intact within the multinational empire. As the 13th, 14th and 15th Soviet Socialist Republics, the three countries maintained their prewar borders as internal boundaries. They also had their own republic-level governmental structures. While these bodies were dominated both by Moscow itself and by Moscow-supported communists with weak ties to the ethnic nation they were supposed to represent, they would preserve the tradition of Baltic self-government that had been started after World War I. Had the Baltic States been absorbed completely into another republic and stripped of all autonomy, attaining independence would have been much more difficult.
Culturally, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia were completely dominated by the Soviet Union. Russian became the official language of the new Soviet republics, and everyone was required to learn it. Although the native languages were tolerated, they quickly became superfluous outside the home. And because ethnic Russians were encouraged to settle in the Baltics—primarily Estonia and Latvia—the proportion of people who could speak the local languages declined considerably.
As in the rest of the Soviet bloc, the degree of repression varied over time. Until the death of Stalin in 1953, it looked as if the Baltic cultures were doomed. The system of labor camps known as the GULAG was in full force, and anyone who spoke out against the system could be sent there. Religion was also not tolerated—churches could be turned into anything from a public bathroom to a museum of atheism. After the dictator’s death, the situation improved, and by the late 1960s observers held out hope for the three tiny nations. The Soviet Union wouldn’t totally destroy the Balts, but they carry scars from the years of Soviet domination, particularly in the environment and ethnic relations.
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