Teaching History In Estonia Yesterday And Today

Abstract

As you know, Estonian history, and therefore history teaching in Estonia, is very complicated. Estonians often have had to fight against foreign authorities even while these foreign invaders fought over Estonia among themselves. Estonia, or some part of it, was once governed by medieval orders of Germanic knights, by the kings of Denmark, Sweden, and Poland, by the Russian czars, and by both the Nazi and the Soviet governments. An independent Estonian Republic existed only from 1918 to 1940. According to the Peace Treaty of Tartu of February 2, 1920, Soviet Russia recognized Estonia as a de jure independent state and renounced voluntarily and forever all rights of sovereignty formerly held by Russia over the Estonian people and territory.