Estonia

Flag of Estonia

Estonia, officially the State of Estonia is a small and recent country in Eastern Europe. It is a civilian dictatorship propped up by the Russian military making it a puppet state to the Russians. Estonia far more stable than its southern neighbor Latvia due to not having half of their populace separated from them. Estonia did not exist before the Weltkrieg and was only established by the Russian State due to cultural differences and the fact that Estonians are not slavs. Estonia was captured relatively early in the Second Weltkrieg and was spared much of the damage done to areas like Poland or Latvia. Estonia was formed on February 23rd of 1941 during a ceremony a few months after the Russians captured the city of Tallinn and capitulated the United Baltic Duchy. Estonia in terms of the wider Geopolitics is isolated from the rest of the world due to its status as a Russian puppet state. The populace leans more towards Finland or the Entente. And the ever present threat of Courland and Semigalia forces the Estonians into the hands of somebody if they wish to keep their independence.

## History

Estonia used to be part of the United Baltic Duchy and was ruled by German land owners who had nothing to do with the local Estonian and Latvian populations. Throughout the history of the duchy the Estonians had been rebellious and several underground partisan movements had continued to fight since 1918. By 1936 the cause seemed hopeless with German dominace over the duchy secured but the beginning of the Black Monday crisis hit the duchy hard. This galvanized the Estonians but ended up not being enough to be able to force their independence and it would take an outside force to push the Estonians to free themselves. And this would take place in 1940 with the outbreak of the Second Weltkrieg when the Russian State attacked the eastern european German puppet states. The Estonians quickly aligned themselves with Russia to try and secure their independence. But the Russians had no want to allow Estonia free but they also recognized the hassle of annexing the country. So on the day of the declaration of Estonian independence in 1918 the Russians established a puppet state in Estonia. While this wasn't optimal for the Estonians they knew it was far better than the United Baltic Duchy witch treated them as Second-class citizens. Still being under the thumb of a foreign country is not that much better. Estonia focused on stabilizing and forming its government during the Weltkrieg and sent volunteers but not actual units to the Eastern Front. However the Russians wanted Estonia to focus on securing its independence and not make its government and so forced the nation to appoint Ants Oldermaa as a temporary military dictator. When the war ended the Russians looked towards their puppets and decided to fully take over their governments but still nominally give them independence. In Estonia they decided to keep Oldermaa in the same position he was in 1941 and it will take some changes within Russia to allow Estonia to begin a transition into Democracy.

## Military

The Military of Estonia is a token force only meant to retain order against protests and serve as a defence in the case of war. Estonia does not have a standing navy or air force witch are both forbidden by the Russians. This is so Estonia remains reliant on Russia for its defense. However Estonia is still looking into improving its own army and making it a true independent force. While Russia is hesitant to allow this they will not outright ban Estonia from doing so.