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, Latvia , and Lithuania .]] The Baltic states refer to Estonia , Latvia and Lithuania , all of which were controlled by the Soviet Union during 1940 – 1941 and 1944 / 1945 – 1991 . From a linguistic standpoint, only the Latvians and the Lithuanians are "Baltic" peoples properly speaking, as the Estonians speak an unrelated Finnic language. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have been members of the European Union and NATO since 2004 . Today the three countries are Liberal Democracies and their Market Economies have in recent years undergone rapid expansion. In the Cold War context, the three countries were considered a part of Eastern Europe and were generally treated as a cohesive cultural and historical entity. However, today it is often stressed that Latvia, Lithuania, and particularly Estonia have little else in common other than geographic proximity, similar small size, and a shared history of Soviet occupation. Culturally and historically, it is more appropriate to view Estonia, which is 1999 . To a lesser degree, northern parts of Latvia have also been influenced by Lutheran and Northern European traditions. The rest of the country, in particular the southeast, along with its southern neighbor, Lithuania, are predominantly Catholic and culturally situated in Northern Europe . In Lithuania and most of Latvia, the historical impact of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth , the Russian Empire , and the German Empire have been of crucial importance. In Estonia and northern parts of Latvia, historical connections to the Teutonic Order , to the Hanseatic League , and to the Swedish and Danish Empires have left an important historical imprint. It should be noted that although politically the present-day Baltic countries are of the Soviet Union. They are occasionally confused with the Balkan States because of their similar sounding name, but are similar in name only. HISTORY OF THE BALTIC STATES See Also: Baltic Republics The histories of today's Baltic countries took a first "common turn" in the 13th century when Christianity and Feudalism were effectively forced upon the region by the invasion of the Crusaders from the west ( German Sword Brethren , Denmark ) and the conversion of Lithuania's rulers from Paganism to Christianity. Over the subsequent centuries, these lands became a battlefield between the Teutonic Order, the Hanseatic League, Poland , Denmark , Sweden , Muscovy , and other Russian principalities. However, Lithuania became the only of the current three to establish its own state as the Grand Duchy Of Lithuania some time before 1252. It later was a major political power of the region. By about 1582 , almost the whole territory of the Baltic states (other than northern Estonia) was under the overlordship of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the Baltic provinces ( Curonia , Livonia , Estonia and Ingria ) and Lithuania in the 19th century, albeit with names and borders different from the present-day countries, were part of the Russian Empire. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania became sovereign nations in the aftermath of World War I . They declared independence in 1918 , fought Independence War s against German Freikorps and Bolshevist Russia , and were recognized as independent countries in 1920 . Prior to World War II , Finland may have occasionally been considered a fourth Baltic state. For example, in the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939 , Finland was acknowledged by Nazi Germany as a Baltic state designated into the Soviet "sphere of interest". Following the Nazi-Soviet pact of 1939, the Soviet Army entered eastern Poland as well as military bases in the Baltic states which were granted after USSR had threatened the three countries with military invasion. In June 1940 , the Red Army occupied the whole territory of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, and installed new, pro-Soviet governments in all three countries. Following rigged elections, in which only pro-communist candidates were allowed to run, the newly "elected" parliaments of the three countries formally applied to "join" the USSR in August 1940 and were annexed into it as the Estonian SSR , the Latvian SSR , and the Lithuanian SSR . The Soviet control of the Baltic states was interrupted by Nazi German invasion of the region in 1941 . The German occupation lasted until late 1944 (in Courland, until early 1945 ), when the countries were re-occupied by the Red Army. In all three countries, Baltic Partisans , known colloquially as the Forest Brothers , waged unsuccessful guerrilla warfare against the Soviet occupation for the next eight years in a bid to regain their nations' independence. The concept of the "Baltic states" can be said to have been physically realized on August 23 , 1989 , when approximately two million people joined their hands to form a 600-kilometer human chain across the three countries in the event known as the Baltic Way . The three Baltic nations re-declared their Independence between 1990 and 1991 , and their independence was recognized by the Soviet Union on September 6 , 1991 . An integration with Western Europe was chosen as the main strategic goal. Rather than new states, each of the three declared itself to be the restoration of the sovereign nations which existed already in 1918–1940, thus further emphasizing their contention ( Adhered To Worldwide , but contested by some Russian governments) that Soviet domination over the Baltic nations during the Cold War period had been an illegal occupation and annexation. In 2002 the Baltic nations applied to become members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU). Membership of NATO was duly achieved on March 29 , 2004 , and accession to the EU took place on May 1 , 2004 . Language and culture in the Baltic states Despite the three nations' similar history, their languages belong to two distinct language families. The Latvian and Lithuanian languages make up the group of Baltic Languages which belongs to the Indo-European Language Family .Along with the defunct Old Prussian language, Latvian and Lithuanian can be linked to the Balto-Slavic group of the Indo-European languages. The student of both Slavic and Latvian or Lithuanian languages will find numerous common roots. The Estonian Language , on the other hand, is not an Indo-European language and instead belongs to the Baltic-Finnic subgroup of the Finno-Ugric Languages , sharing close ethnic and historical ties with the Finnish Language and people. The peoples of the Baltic countries also belong to different Christian denominations. Believers in Estonia are mostly Lutheran; Latvia has strong Lutheran as well as Catholic communities; while Lithuania is principally Catholic. Moreover, Russia n minorities in these countries are predominantly Orthodox . Due to a long period of Germanic domination, starting in the Middle Ages, the German Language also has an important role in Latvia and Estonia. Its role diminished greatly after World War II when the Baltic states were forcefully absorbed into the Soviet Union, but it remains one of three main foreign languages taught in schools (the other two being English and Russian ).During the period of Soviet control, Russian became the most commonly studied foreign language at all levels of schooling, but knowledge of German remained fairly common among the older generations. After the Baltic states achieved independence in 1991, while German made a comeback as a language of study it was English that became the most commonly studied foreign language, and the role of Russian language in education fell sharply. The Baltic states have historically also been in the Swedish and Russian spheres of influence. Following the period of Soviet domination, ethnic Russian Immigrants from former USSR and their descendants today make up a sizable minority in the Baltic states, particularly in Latvia (about one-third of the population) and Estonia (one-fourth of the population). STATISTICS The largest cities in the Baltic states, by population, are:
The largest cities in the Baltic states, by population of Baltic peoples ( Lithuanians , Latvians , and Estonians ), are:
SEE ALSO
REFERENCES AND NOTES Journals and book series International peer-reviewed journals and book series dedicated to the Baltic region include:
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