Latvia, Republic of Latvia

Latvian: Latvija, Latvijas Republika

Lettia

The etymological origin of the name ‘Latvia’ has not been conclusively established in linguistics or history. According to Jānis Stradiņš and Konstantīns Karulis (1915–1997)^[1], the oldest name for Latvia, ‘Latuva’ or ‘Latava’, may be derived from the name of the Lithuanian river Latava. During the Crusades, in the 13th century, the Latin name for the Latvian territory, ‘Lethigalli’ (Letthigallia [1206], Letigalli), and ‘Letigalli’ (Letigallia [1206], Letigalli) appear in the chronicle of Henry of Latvia (d. 1259; *Letticus Heinrici Chronicon Livoniae*^[2]) the Latin names for the Latvian territory ‘Lethigalli’ (Letthigallia [1206], Letigalli) and ‘Lethi/Lettia’ (Letthia [1209], Letti). During the late Middle Ages and the modern era, the word ‘Lettland’ was the most commonly used term to refer to the territory. Linguists hold the view that the origin of ‘Latvija’ is linked to the derivation of the ethnic name ‘Lettgallen’ (Latgale) or that the name is derived from the people’s self-designation ‘Latvians’ (latvieši). In the second half of the 19th century, during the Latvians’ national emancipation movement, the Latvian poet Juris Alunāns (1832–1864) coined the neologism ‘Latva’; later, on the recommendation of the actor and theatre director Ādolfs Alunāns (1848–1912), this name was supplemented with the suffix ‘-ija’, following the pattern used for the names of other countries. The word ‘Latvija’ was coined in 1872 by the Young Latvian Atis Kronvalds (1837–1875), the poet Auseklis (born Krogsemju Mikus, 1850–1879) and in 1876 by the ethnographer Ernests Dinsbergs (1816–1902) – all of whom were significant figures in the development of the Latvian language and culture.

Latvia is a typically flat country. 57 per cent of its territory lies less than one hundred metres above sea level. Latvia’s highest point, Gaising (Gaiziņkalns), is 311.5 metres high. Latvia’s longest river is theDaugava(1,020 km; of which 352 km lie within Latvia), and the second longest is theGauja(452 km). Latvia’s more than 2,250 lakes cover around 1.5 per cent of the country’s land area. The largest inland body of water is Lake Lubāns (Lubāns, approx. 80.7 km²), and the deepest is Lake Drīdzis (Drīdzis, 65 m).

The historical territory inhabited by the ancestors of the Latvians largely corresponds to present-day Latvia. From the 13th century until the second half of the 16th century, this area, together with what is now Estonian territory, formed part of Livonia (Livonija; the Livonian Confederation). Within the Livonian Confederation, the land of the Latvians, covering an area of 130,000 km² and with a population of approximately 200,000, was divided between the Bishopric (later the Archbishopric) of Riga/Rīga, the Bishopric of Courland (Kurzeme) and the Order of the Brothers of the Sword, whose legacy was taken up by the German Order.^[3] In the course of the Livonian War (1558–1583), the Livonian territory was divided into two duchies in 1561 – the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia (Zemgale) on the western bank of the Daugava, and the Lithuanian or Polish-Lithuanian duchy on the eastern bank of the Daugava (Ducatus Ultradunensis), which henceforth operated under the name‘Livonia’(Vidzeme). Following the collapse of Livonia, part of the Diocese of Courland came under Danish rule, but subsequently passed into Polish-Lithuanian hands in 1617 under the name ‘Piltene District’ (Piltenes apgabals). In 1629, the northern part of the Duchy of Livonia came under Swedish rule. The territory of Latgale, situated to the south-east, remained part of the Polish–Lithuanian Monarchy even after the Swedish–Polish War (1600–1629), under the name Inflantia (Polish: Inflanskie) and became a voivodeship. By the end of the 17th century, the territory of present-day Latvia had a population of approximately 465,000.^[4]

The territory of present-day Latvia was settled in the ninth millennium BC. The ancestors of the Baltic peoples, the Corded Ware tribes, who practised livestock farming and agriculture, can be traced back to the area around 2000 BC. The earliest written accounts of the Balts come from the Greek historian Herodotus (490/480 BC–c. 424 BC) and from the Roman historians Pliny the Elder (23/24 AD – 79 AD) and Tacitus (c. 58 AD–c. 120 AD), who referred to the inhabitants as the ‘Neuri’ and ‘Aesti’.

Christian missionary work began at the end of the 12th century. The preacher and missionary Meinhard von Segeberg (1130/1140–1196), for example, converted the Livonians living along the Daugava – who belonged to the Finno-Ugric tribes – to Christianity. The initially peaceful mission was succeeded by crusades, which intensified particularly under Albert of Buxhoeveden (c. 1165–1229; Bishop of Livonia 1199–1201, Bishop of Riga 1201–1229). The territories of present-day Latvia and Estonia, conquered by the German crusaders, were called‘Livonia’, which was originally the name for the areas inhabited by the Livonians. Following the defeat of the Order of the Sword Brothers at the Battle of Schaulen in 1236, Livonia became the domain of the Livonian Order, which, as part of the German Order, dominated the Livonian Confederation – an alliance between the Order, the Hanseatic cities and the episcopal territories, .

In the 16th century, the territory of present-day Latvia was home to around 400,000 people, whilst Riga had a population of between 8,000 and 15,000. Germans, most of whom had come from northern and central Germany from the late 12th century onwards, accounted for about 5 per cent of the population.^[11] In 1521, the Reformation reached what is now Latvian territory, and by the mid-16th century most of the population had converted to the Protestant Lutheran faith.

In 1558, the Livonian War (also known as the First Northern War) broke out following the invasion of Russian troops under Ivan IV (1530–1584), bringing an end to the Teutonic Order’s rule in Livonia. The ruling class of the Livonian Confederation, largely consisting of German-Baltic nobility, submitted to the Polish-Lithuanian king. As a vassal state of Poland–Lithuania, the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia was established in the south-western part of Livonia, ruled by the House of Kettler. The territories north of the Daugava and Riga were incorporated into the titular Duchy of Livonia (see above) as a province of the Polish–Lithuanian state and were henceforth administered by a governor appointed by the Polish king. During the Polish–Swedish War (1600–1629), the northern part of the Duchy of Livonia was conquered by Sweden and came to be known as ‘Swedish Livonia’ (‘zviedru Vidzeme’). Under Swedish rule, reforms were implemented which improved the general situation there, including the restriction of landowners’ jurisdiction over the peasants and the standardisation of taxes and corvée labour. Conquered Livonia was granted the status of a Swedish province, headed by a Swedish Governor-General.

Whilst the number of manors was being reduced, the Great Livonian Land Register was compiled between 1681 and 1710, which recorded, with topographical precision, land ownership and the locations of specific features (farmsteads, mills, etc.).^[12] The territory of Latgale remained part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth for a long time and continued to be predominantly Catholic. In 1700, the Great Northern War began, during which Livonia, which belonged to Sweden, was severely devastated and – like Estonia – became a Russian province. In the wake of a major plague epidemic in 1710, over half the population in what is now Latvia lost their lives.

Following Livonia (1721), as a result of the Partitions of Poland, Latgale (1772) and the Duchyof Courland and Semigallia (1795) – and thus the entire territory of present-day Latvia – also became part of the Russian Empire.

Table 1: Ethnic composition of Latvia in 1897 and 1914^[14]

From the second half of the 19th century onwards, the Russian government sought to dismantle regional privileges and unify the empire – a process which was perceived in the Baltic region as a process of Russification directed against the privileged position of the Baltic German upper class. At the same time, as in many parts of Europe, a Latvian national movement emerged in what would later become Latvia, initiated from the mid-1850s onwards by the ‘Young Latvians’, who initially focused on literary and cultural arguments. However, the social, economic and political conditions in Russia hindered the development of a modern society, with the result that social and economic relations were increasingly characterised by tensions, ultimately culminating in the outbreak of the 1905–1907 Revolution.

In the territory of present-day Latvia, conflicts arose particularly as a result of national tensions between the Latvians and the dominant German-Baltic landowners. Marxist political ideas played a relatively minor role in the Russian Revolution of 1905, which was led in the territory of what would later become Latvia by educated Latvians and the Latvian Social Democratic Workers’ Party and pursued a national agenda. This revolution is described as a people’s revolution because it swept up broad sections of the population and united them through shared ideas and goals. There were widespread arson attacks on the estates of the German nobility. To suppress the revolution, the Russian government sent punitive expeditions into the country directed against the Latvians. These, in turn, were welcomed and supported by the German nobility, as they were directed against the Latvian peasants and representatives of the Latvian intelligentsia, who sought to end the privileged position of the Germans.

Table 2: Demographic trends and ethnic composition of the population of the Republic of Latvia, 1920–1935^[15]

During the First World War, the front line repeatedly ran through the territory of what would later become the Latvian state, causing severe destruction. During this period, German-Latvian relations deteriorated due to German plans to annex and colonise the Baltic region and the support for these plans by the Baltic Germans. The first units of Latvian riflemen were formed within the Tsarist army in 1915. Political aspirations for greater autonomy within the Russian Empire (“A free Latvia in a free Russia!”) culminated, following the collapse of the Tsarist monarchy in February 1917, in Latvian demands for an independent state. Alongside Estonia, Lithuania, Czechoslovakia and other new European states, the parliamentary-democratic Republic of Latvia was proclaimed on 18 November 1918 by a ‘People’s Council of Latvia’. The struggle for independence was to continue for another year. On 15 February 1922, the Constitution (Satversme) of the Republic of Latvia was adopted by a freely elected Constituent Assembly. Agrarian reform (1921–1937) played a major role in the country’s economic development; during this period, the manors and their associated estates – most of which belonged to Polish and Baltic German landowners – were expropriated. In rural areas, young farmers’ holdings began to develop. In industry and trade, the Baltic German and Jewish minorities established themselves economically.

Due to the consequences of the global economic crisis from 1929 onwards, alleged threats from Latvian far-right and far-left groups, but above all out of fear of an impending loss of power, Prime Minister Kārlis Ulmanis (1877–1942) established an authoritarian regime on 15 May 1934. During the 1930s, Ulmanis strengthened the position of Latvians in the economy and in politics. Overall, a national-liberal policy was pursued in Latvia, whereby the legally enshrined cultural autonomy of the national minorities residing in Latvia was restricted, but guaranteed in principle.^[16]

On 23 August 1939, the Hitler–Stalin Pact was concluded between the USSR and Germany, which effectively marked the beginning of the Second World War for Latvia: Alongside Estonia and Lithuania, Latvia was also forced by Stalin on 5 October 1939 to sign a so-called ‘Mutual Assistance Pact’ concerning the stationing and construction of Soviet military bases on its territory. On 30 October 1939, a treaty was concluded between Latvia and the German Reich concerning the resettlement of the Baltic Germans, also referred to as the ‘dictated option’^[17].

The resettlement of the Baltic Germans from Latvia took place between late 1939 and spring 1940. A total of 51,000 people were affected; the 10,000 people resettled in 1941 also included numerous Latvians.^[18]

On 17 June 1940, Latvia was occupied by the Soviet Union and the totalitarian Stalinist regime was imposed by force. This was followed by the nationalisation of land, businesses and homes, as well as the deportation of Latvian residents to Siberia. In June 1941, Latvia was occupied by the German Wehrmacht (with the establishment of the Reichskommissariat Ostland), and thus one oppressive regime was replaced by another. Reprisals against the inhabitants began once more. However, many Latvians also took part, either voluntarily or under duress, in the war against the Soviet Union (mostly in the Waffen-SS). In the spring of 1943, on the orders of Adolf Hitler (1889–1945), the formation of an SS volunteer legion began, for which the inhabitants of Latvia were mobilised.^[19] Local collaborators also took part in the Holocaust perpetrated by the Germans against the Jews of Latvia.^[20] Furthermore, the Roma were exterminated. The number of war casualties amongst the Latvians fighting on both sides was high.

Following the end of the Second World War, Soviet occupation was re-established on Latvian territory. Although the Western powers did not recognise the annexation of Latvia, they ultimately agreed to the USSR’s demand that the issue of the Baltic states not be discussed in detail at the peace conferences. Consequently, the national partisans continued their struggle against the Soviet regime on their own; many people fled the country. Between 1945 and 1953, approximately 160,000 people were affected by repression: farmers were heavily burdened by compulsory levies on the state and, from 1947 onwards, were forced into kolkhozes or deported.

The policies of Joseph Stalin (1878–1953) were aimed in particular at eliminating opponents of the regime. This led to arrests, the persecution of broad sections of the population and expropriations. Among the victims of this oppression were the approximately 43,000 inhabitants who were deported to Siberia on 25 March 1949. As a result, Latvia lost the most intellectually and economically capable section of its population during the 1940s.

The process of Sovietisation and Russification had an impact on both the economy and other areas of society: through forced industrialisation, Latvia’s economy was integrated into the Soviet economic system. As living conditions in the Latvian SSR were more attractive than in the rest of the Soviet Union due to its ‘Western’ history, the decades following Stalin’s death saw uncontrolled immigration of citizens – predominantly Russians – from other parts of the Soviet Union.

Table 3: Migration patterns and the ethnic composition of Latvia’s population, 1959–1989^[21]

After 1953, Latvian so-called ‘national communists’ attempted to restrict this migration in the face of the threat of widespread Russification. In 1959, following a visit to Riga by Nikita Khrushchev (1894–1971) to Riga, the persecution of the national communists began; they were forced out of their posts – the Soviet authorities sought to suppress any manifestation of national politics. Power now passed to supporters of centralism loyal to Moscow (including Arvīds Pelše, 1899–1983), who were able to consolidate their position. Once again, there was an influx of Russians and residents from other Soviet republics. By the 1980s, the proportion of Latvians in the population had shrunk to 52 per cent, and Russian became the lingua franca. Economic and social development collapsed – the country faced widespread shortages of everyday consumer goods. In the wake of Mikhail Gorbachev’s ‘Perestroika’, an open discussion on historical issues and their connection to the current problems of everyday life also began in the Latvian SSR in the mid-1980s.

Table 4: Population of Latvia 2000–2011^[22]

• Florian J. Anton: Statehood and Democratisation in Latvia. Development, Current Situation, Prospects. Würzburg 2009 (Spektrum Politikwissenschaft).
• Jānis Bērziņš (ed.): 20. gadsimta Latvijas vēsture [The History of Latvia in the 20th Century]. Vol. II: Neatkarīgā valsts, 1918–1940 [The Independent State, 1918–1940]. Riga 2003.
• Daina Bleiere, Ilgvars Butulis, Inesis Feldmanis, Aivars Stranga, Antonijs Zunda: History of Latvia. 20th Century. Riga 2008.
• Daina Bleiere, Ilgvars Butulis, Inesis Feldmanis, Aivars Stranga, Antonijs Zunda: Latvia in the Second World War (1939–1945). Riga 2008.
• Daina Bleiere: Europe Outside Europe... Life in the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic. Riga 2012.
• Erich Donnert: The Agrarian Question and the Enlightenment in Latvia and Estonia. Livonia, Estonia and Courland in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Frankfurt am Main 2008.
• Edgars Dunsdorfs: The Great Swedish Land Survey in Livonia 1681–1710: Atlas and Text Volume. Stockholm 1950.
• Björn Felder: Latvia in the Second World War. Paderborn et al. 2009 (War in History 43).
• Michael Garleff: The Baltic States. Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania from the Middle Ages to the Present Day. Regensburg 2001.
• Michael Garleff: The Baltic Germans, the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich. 2 vols. Cologne 2001/2008.
• Detlef Henning (ed.): People on the Move. Migration and Deportation from the Baltic States 1850–1950. Lüneburg 2010 (Nordost-Archive. Journal of Regional History, New Series 19).
• Talav Jundzis (ed.): The Baltic States at Historical Crossroads: Political, Economic, and Legal Problems and Opportunities in the Context of International Cooperation at the Beginning of the^21st Century: A Collection of Scholarly Articles. 2nd expanded edition. Riga 2001.
• Peter Krupnikov: Latvia and the Latvians as reflected in German and German-Baltic journalism, 1895–1950. Hanover 1989 (Contributions to Baltic History 12).
• Dietrich A. Loeber (ed.): A Forced Choice. The Resettlement of the German Balts from Estonia and Latvia, 1939–1941. Documentation. Neumünster 1972.
• Heinz von zur Mühlen (ed.): *Baltic Historical Gazetteer*, Vol. 2: Latvia (Southern Livonia and Courland). Edited by Heinz Feldmann. Cologne 1990 (Sources and Studies on Baltic History 8,2).
• Gert von Pistohlkors (ed.): The Baltic States. Berlin 1994 (German History in Eastern Europe).
• Andrejs Plakans: Historical Dictionary of Latvia. Lauham, Md. 2008.
• Helēna Šimkuva: German-Baltic Emigration from the Republic of Latvia during the Interwar Period 1938–1939. In: Detlef Henning (ed.): People on the Move. Migration and Deportation from the Baltic States 1850–1950. Lüneburg 2010 (Nordost-Archive. Journal of Regional History, New Series 19), pp. 39–70.
• Jānis Stradiņš: Trešā atmoda: raksti un runas 1988–1990 gadā Latvijā un par Latviju [The Third Awakening: Writings and Speeches in Latvia and about Latvia 1988–1990]. Riga 1992.
• Vladislavs Volkovs (ed.): Ethnicity. Towards the politics of recognition in Latvia 1991–2012. Riga 2013, pp. 12–34.

• www.Historia.lv (Portal on the history of Latvia)
• www.arhivi.lv/ (Latvian State Archives, sources on the history of Latvia)
• www.periodika.lv/ (Digitised newspapers and periodicals)
• www.zudusilatvija.lv/ (Digitised images, image collections)
• www.herder-institut.de/bildkatalog/index/index?searchfield_parameter=lettland&newperspective=thumbnails (Images relating to Latvia in the Herder Institute’s image archive, Marburg)

[1] Konstantīns Karulis: *Latviešu etimoloģijas vārdnīca* [Dictionary of Latvian Etymology]. Riga 1992, pp. 505–507.

[2] German translation: Albert Bauer: Heinrich von Lettland. Livländische Chronik. Darmstadt 1974 (Freiherr-vom-Stein Memorial Edition, XXIV).

[3] Edgars Dunsdorfs, Arnolds Spekke: Latvijas vēsture [History of Latvia] 1500–1600. [Stockholm] 1964, pp. 20, 29, 33, 34.

[4] Edgars Dunsdorfs: Latvijas vēsture [History of Latvia] 1600–1710. [Uppsala] 1962, pp. 175–181.

[5] Jānis Bērziņš (ed.): 20. gadsimta Latvijas vēsture [History of Latvia in the 20th Century]. Vol. I: Latvia from the Beginning of the Century to the Declaration of Independence, 1900–1918. Riga 2000, pp. 60–61, 98–99.

[6] Bērziņš (ed.): Latvijas vēsture [History of Latvia] (note 5), pp. 60ff.

[7] See Table 2 below.

[8] See Table 4 below.

[9] Heinrich von Treitschke: Das deutsche Ordensland Preußen. Leipzig, n.d., pp. 179ff.; on Treitschke, see Thomas Gerhards: Heinrich von Treitschke. Impact and Perception of a Historian in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Paderborn 2013 (Otto von Bismarck Foundation, Academic Series 18).

[10] Dunsdorfs, Spekke: Latvijas vēsture [History of Latvia] 1500–1600 (note 3), p. 703.

[11] Dunsdorfs, Spekke: Latvijas vēsture [History of Latvia] 1500–1600 (note 3), p. 210.

[12] Edgars Dunsdorfs: The Great Swedish Land Survey in Livonia 1681–1710. Atlas. Stockholm 1950.

[13] Bērziņš (ed.): Latvijas vēsture [History of Latvia] (note 5), p. 211.

[14] Data from: Bērziņš (ed.): Latvijas vēsture [History of Latvia] (note 5), p. 108; Ceturtā tautas skaitīšana Latvijā 1935. gadā [The Fourth Census of Latvia in 1935]. IV: Tautība [Nationality]. Riga 1937, pp. 286–288.

[15] Data from: Ceturtā tautas skaitīšana [The Fourth Census] (note 14), pp. 286–288.

[16] Helēna Šimkuva: Minority Policy in Latvia. In: Gert von Pistohlkors, Matthias Weber (eds.): State Unity and National Diversity in the Baltic States. Munich 2005 (Publications of the Federal Institute for Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe 26), pp. 69–86.

[17] Loeber (ed.): A Dictated Choice.

[18] Garleff: The Baltic States, pp. 164ff.

[19] Visvaldis Lācis: The Latvian Legion. According to Independent Observers. Toronto 2006.

[20] Katrin Reichelt: Latvia under German Occupation 1941–1944. The Latvian Role in the Holocaust. Berlin 2011 (Documents, Texts, Materials 78).

[21] Data from: Database of the Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia: www.csp.gov.lv/lv

[22] Data from: Database of the Statistical Administration of Latvia: www.csp.gov.lv/lv

Helēna Šimkuva: Latvia. In: Online Encyclopaedia on the Culture and History of Germans in Eastern Europe, 2014. URL: ome-lexikon.uni-oldenburg.de/p32616 (accessed 6 February 2015).