Shared events in history are not equal to a common culture - i.e., why Estonia is not actually a Baltic country and shouldn't be taken as one

 I deliberately chose a provocative title for this post because I know that the topic I am analyzing is often controversial among many people living in Estonia, as well as for foreigners. I have been gathering information on this topic for a long time and thinking about how to write about it as Estonian-centrically as possible, because after all, regional affiliation should be decided by the majority of the nation, and should not be decided by nations and countries somewhere else.

Firstly, let’s see where the term “Baltic” comes from. It is said that the Greek scholar Erastothenes called the northern inland sea of ​​Europe Baltic already in the 3rd century BC, but it did not become a common name for this region until much later. For most of written history-time, the Baltic Sea has been called the East Sea instead of the Baltic Sea (e.g. Ostsee in German, Östersjön in Swedish, Østersøen in Danish, Oostzee in Dutch). This name came from geography, because for the Germanic peoples (who were the rulers of the eastern shores of the sea, including Estonia and Finland, most of the Middle Ages and even in the Modern era) this sea is located to the east. The whole area was thus known as Ostsee. The Estonian name of the sea Läänemeri, which means West Sea, was probably given for the same geographical reason, but the same sea is to the west of Estonia. The name Baltic became the internationally known widespread name for the Baltic Sea only quite recently in the 19th century, when Estonia and our neighbors Finland, Latvia and also farther away Lithuania were all subject to the Russian Empire. At that time all countries that were on the banks of the Baltic Sea were called Baltic countries including Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Poland. It is thought that the change of the name of the sea and the region as a whole was due to the decision of the German nobles living in the region of modern day Estonia and Latvia to start calling themselves Baltic Germans in order to differentiate themselves from the so-called homeland Germans. At that time, Estonians and other neighboring nations could not decide for themselves what they wanted to name the region because of political reasons, so the name given to the region by foreign powers and foreign nations became established over time especially during the Soviet occupation if we talk about the term "Baltic States" (three countries).

By the way, in Latvian and Lithuanian, the Baltic Sea is called Baltijas jūra and Baltijos jūra respectively, which in their languages comes most probably from the word white (balts, baltas). In contrast to Latvian and Lithuanian, the word Baltic has no direct meaning in Estonian. It's a foreign word to us. The same is true with the Finns who are the closest relative nation to Estonians linguistically, culturally and even genetically. Latvians and Lithuanians began to be called Baltic people, and they also started to call themselves that, only in the 20th century after they gained their  independence from the Russian Empire. The common name of Estonians and Finns, Finnic people (in English sometimes also known as the Baltic-Finnic people in which Baltic refers to the Sea), dates back to much earlier times, but is probably borrowed from the Scandinavian term Finn, which originally referred only to the Sámi people, who are linguistic relatives to the Finnic peoples.

Northern Europe's cultural regions

All those northern European countries that became independent from the Russian Empire at the beginning of the 20th century began to be called the Baltic states internationally. These countries were Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - two Finnic countries and two Baltic countries. The cultural similarities of two Finnic nations and Latvia, although there aren’t a lot of them, come from the Lutheran culture sphere, but we have to remember that all Northern European countries except Lithuania belong to this religious cultural sphere. Soon after gaining their independence, Finland and Estonia began to discuss the possibility of forming a united state of two countries or something similar to that, however, both nations and states would have had separate parliaments and different state languages. The shared anthem of both Finnic countries comes from that time period, as well as the same military march, etc. This Greater Finland idea was probably brought up to eliminate the international confusion which came due to the fact that Latvians and Lithuanians became internationally known as the Baltic people, and because Finns and Estonians are instead Finnic people. In principle, the creation of a region separate from the two Baltic nations was discussed. However, this idea stalled for a long time because of Finland’s (politically) powerful minority of Finnish Swedes, who did not consider it an important issue. At the same time, Finland and Sweden had a dispute over Mariehamn island, which was and is a Finnish island with a mostly Swedish speaking historical majority. Much of the time and resources of the young Republic of Finland was spent on resolving this border issue. The Finnish Swedes also wanted to see Finland in close relations with Sweden, similarly to the Baltic Germans who had been landlords in Estonia and Latvia. They wanted to create a united Baltic Duchy during World War I without the respect of self-determination of local nations. Luckily, it didn't work out in their favor. Other small Estonian historical minorities, such as the Estonian Swedes and the Russian Old Believers, did not do the same. Estonia, like Finland, also tried to develop good bilateral relations with Sweden somewhat more successfully, because Estonia and Sweden did not have border disputes. At that time, however, Sweden was quite lukewarm in foreign policy, towards both Finland and Estonia. 

The implementation of the Greater Finland plan suffered a devastating setback due to the outbreak of World War II, during which Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were occupied and annexed by both Germany and the USSR, remaining under the occupation of the USSR for almost half a century. According to the Molotov-Ribbentrop secret agreement, Germany and Russia divided Europe into areas of influence. According to the original plans, Finland, Estonia and Latvia remained in Russia's sphere of influence. However, despite the difficulties and with some military support, Finland managed to remain quite free territorially due to later territorial surrenders in favor of the USSR in eastern Finland. After the end of the Nazi occupation, Estonia managed to restore its independence for a brief moment, but the USSR, led by Russia, re-invaded the country and occupied the country itself. So much for the great myth of liberators.

World War II tangled up the lives of millions of people and the destinies of many countries. Today I will not write a lot about the evils suffered by Estonians (and other nations), such as the nationalization of homes and property, the second wave of Russification, deportations and the replacement of indigenous peoples, which is evidenced by a very large Russian community that did not exist in Estonia before World War II.

At the international level, Finland was left alone because the other “Baltic States” were occupied. Being alone, the danger of also being occupied by the Soviet Union didn’t fade away for Finland. To prevent this, Finnish diplomats worked hard on the bilateral side. On the one hand, attempts were made to persuade the Scandinavian countries to admit Finland to their ‘club’  for historical reasons (Finland was a Swedish colonial country for most of the Middle Ages and later a vassal of the Russian Empire, and Estonia a Danish, German-Roman (Terra Mariana), Swedish and later Russian Empire’s colonial country). On the other hand, Finnish diplomats tried to maintain normal relations with the USSR. In reality, this meant that Finland had to obey all the orders given to them by its eastern neighbor. This also included, in principle, the silence of Estonia's existence, because the Soviet Union did not want Finns and Estonians to have strong post-war ties. They saw (and probably still see) the restoration of strong ties between two Finnic nations as a geopolitical danger to their agenda. This policy began to be used by the USSR especially strictly after the 1960s. Estonia disappeared from Finnish textbooks and maps as if it had never existed. Finnish-Estonian writer Sofi Oksanen has written about it in one of her opinion pieces few years ago:

“Clear boundaries were drawn on the maps of Finland that hung on the walls of my school classrooms. Finland and the USSR were marked out but Estonia was nowhere to be seen. The invisible country may as well not have existed, for whatever reason. There was uncertainty about this land. It was difficult to talk about the country and injustices and dangers endured by its people. The existence of such land is hard to affirm when it does not appear on wall map, in school textbook or newspaper and when it has no visible flag. Maps however, retain a strong visual memory for a long time. Our (Finnish) maps and school textbooks were dominated by Soviet narrative. Finnish school books … repeated Soviet stories about how the Red Army ‘liberated’ the Baltic states and how a peace-loving USSR has been at peace since the WWII. Some Finnish libarians compiled secret home libraries of forbidden books destined for destruction… Western imperialism was discussed in schools. The word ‘imperialism’ has never been linked with the USSR … Colonies were portrayed as something overseas, populated by non-white skinned people. Soviet propaganda was effective: a scenario that showed a voluntary union of peoples in a cradle of friendship lingered. After the collapse of the USSR and times and the political situation changed in Estonia a timely clear out of Soviet propaganda followed ... People started to talk about the occupation, deportations and mass murders - things not allowed under Soviet propaganda. The same correction of the Soviet narrative did not take place in the west … Estonia and Finland must stand up for themselves and no longer look at the history of Europe through a Soviet lens.”

A strong propaganda machine was also put into operation on the other side of the Gulf of Finland in Estonia. The Soviet Union tried to erase historical memory of the close relations between Estonians and Finns by trying to replace it with the concept of 'brother nations', claiming that Latvians and Lithuanians were the closest nations to Estonians, which is not culturally,  linguistically or even genetically true. It was implemented through the education system, media and cultural events. Unfortunately, this propaganda and geopolitics of the USSR have somewhat persisted to this day for several reasons, especially internationally. One reason is that most of the teachers during the occupation of the USSR, including in universities, remained in their seats and a large-scale decolonization of foreigners and foreign ideas (desovetization) didn’t really occur after regaining independence. Only recently have the younger generations, either through a new generation of teachers or independently, started to come out of this false propaganda of the USSR. This is shown, for example, by a study of the University of Tartu which was carried out in Estonian schools. It was discovered that ethnic-Estonian students identify Estonia the most together with Finland and also with other Nordic countries. That is not the case with most people who went to school during the Soviet occupation or even a decade after the regaining of independence. In some ways, the differences between the younger generation and the older generation are divisive. In the last decade of the occupation of the USSR, however, the mentioning of close kinship between the Finnish and Estonian nations was less taboo than in previous decades.

Let's go back in time to the years and a few decades after World War II. The Scandinavian countries were not particularly interested in Finland joining their 'club', as Finland was not considered an equal partner, but a compromise was reached by naming the Scandinavian countries and Finland ‘Nordic’, which is a politically correct term simply meaning ‘The North’(Norden in most North Germanic languages, Pohjoismaat in Finnish and Põhjamaad in Estonian). When exactly such a compromise was reached and when Finland officially became a Nordic country is somewhat unclear. I unfortunately did not find a single answer to these questions, although I searched thoroughly, but it is estimated that it took place sometime between 1955 and 1970. In some way, the initial reluctance of the Scandinavian countries is even justified, because the Scandinavian countries have some similarities that Finland (and also Estonia) do not have, such as being kingdoms and belonging to the North Germanic cultural space. But since Finland belongs to the Lutheran cultural sphere and likewise Estonia, and also both Finnic nations have a historical Swedish minority, the two Finnic nations and the Scandinavian nations have quite similar cultural and world perceptions. Finland also added Swedish as a second official language to please Sweden, which is still somewhat frowned upon, especially by older Finns, as Finland was for a long time a Swedish colonial land with mostly Swedish landlords. This would be almost the same if Danish, German, Swedish or Russian (or all of them) would be the second official language(s) ​​of Estonia, for the same reasons. And, of course, it would also cause great resentment here, perhaps even more than in Finland.

Thus, during the Second World War, Finland and Estonia were forcibly separated from each other, and historical injustice has not yet been remedied - Finland and Estonia are still located in different regions of Northern Europe, although Estonia officially regained its independence about 30 years ago.

A change in official regional affiliation does not come overnight, but it will happen at some point in the future. I don’t believe that Estonia will remain as one of the Baltic states, because a new generation is growing up that sees things differently than the older generations. It is more a matter of time. Ethnic Estonians who were active during the process of regaining Estonia's independence are more likely to consider Estonia as a Baltic country instead of a Nordic country because of the events that were undertaken together with two neighboring Baltic nations, that were also annexed by Soviet Union, to gain greater world attention, for example the Baltic Way. It also has to do with previously mentioned Soviet propaganda. Younger ethnic Estonians don’t have an emotional connection with the Baltic nations like the older generation might have, nor do they have it linguistically or culturally. The second question is, to which region will Estonia belong to at some point in the future? It is unlikely that Finland and Estonia would form a separate region from the Baltic- and Scandinavian nations and thus implement the Greater Finland plan. Estonia's move to the Nordic region is more likely. That is logical and natural, since nationally-minded Estonians have already long maintained their belonging to the Nordic region and their Northern European identity. It also has to do with the Lutheran cultural sphere that is ruling in Estonia and commonly shared in most of Northern Europe. At the same time, there are Estonians who are very passionate about the Baltic and Eastern European identities, since they themselves identify with them. Having volunteered for two years as a family history consultant, I can make some assumptions about these perceptions precisely through a person's lineage. Namely, I noticed that numerous Estonians from Northern and Western Estonia have, in addition to Estonian ancestors, some ancestors who were Swedish and/or Finnish. This may lead to a greater sense of belonging to the same region and cultural sphere with the Nordic countries. On the other hand, in addition to Estonian ancestors, many Estonians from Southern and South-Eastern Estonia also have some ancestors, who were Latvians and/or Russians. Hence the greater sense of belonging to the Baltic and Eastern European cultural sphere. Culturally the majority of ethnic Estonians belong to the Finnic- and Lutheran culture sphere which is the same with Finns. Younger Estonians' sense of belonging to the same region with other Nordic countries is in any case greater, regardless of their origin (the above-mentioned student survey was conducted in Southern Estonia). The terms Scandinavian and Baltic (without Estonia) are in fact more similar to each other because they show similar ethnic groups, languages ​​and traditional cultures. There are indeed three main ethnic, linguistic and cultural regions in Northern Europe - Scandinavian (Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden), Finnic (Estonia, Finland) and Baltic (Latvia, Lithuania). Estonia should fit into the Nordic region just fine, especially since it’s just a politically correct term.

New regional affiliation of Northern Europe

Some Estonians and foreigners make excuses why they do not think that Estonia should be one of the Nordic countries. For example, lately some people seriously believe that Estonia does not fit into the Nordic region because Estonians are too conservative, more precisely, support “right-wing populists”. This line of reasoning is short-sighted and wrong. Firstly, some things should be explained. All Estonian governments have been formed by politically left-wing or liberal parties, which means that conservatism has never been the leading view (after the regaining of independence). Let us now look at the statistics of the last Nordic parliamentary elections vs Estonian, and how many people chose the so-called right-wing. In the Swedish elections of 2018, the Conservatives (Swedish Democrats) were supported by 17.5% of voters. In the 2019 elections in Finland, 17.5% of voters supported the Conservatives (Finns Party). In the Danish elections of 2019, the Conservatives (Danish People's Party) got supported by 21.1% of voters. In the 2017 Norwegian elections, the Conservatives (Progress Party) was supported by 15.2% of voters. In the elections held in Estonia in 2019, 17.8% of voters supported the Conservatives (Conservative People’s Party of Estonia). Percentages show well that the argument that Estonia cannot be a Nordic country due to the large number of conservatives is not valid, on the contrary - Estonians seem to think similarly to other Nordic people, especially Swedes and Finns.

Another popular statement by some people why Estonia isn’t suitable for the Nordic countries is our history. Namely, the historical events that took place in Estonia which are said to be more similar with our southern neighbor Latvia than with Finland and other Nordic countries, and therefore we are better suited culturally to a common area with the Baltic nations. There is an error of logic, also in this statement because shared events in history are not equal to a common culture. After all, these events took place and were decided over the heads of local peoples and thus were not a result of the choices of indigenous peoples. The culture and language of Estonians as a whole nation are undoubtedly the closest to the Finns, not to the Baltic nations, although of course some influence has come from there. Neighbors influence each other to some extent, after all.

The third most popular claim is the Russian question. Namely, some people think that because a large Russian community lives in Estonia, the country can’t be a Nordic country. This statement is problematic in so many ways. Firstly, Sweden, the largest country in the Nordic region, is known as a country that supports immigration. The share of people born abroad in Estonia and Sweden is more or less the same, and looking at the total number of non-Estonians (30%), Estonia is one step ahead of Sweden (24%). People who are liberal in this issue should not have any complaints against Estonia in this regard. From another point of view, it must also be understood that the formation of a large Russian-speaking community on Estonian soil was not once again the choice of the ethnic Estonians, since it was decided by someone higher during the occupation of the USSR. As a very tolerant nation (perhaps even too tolerant in some regards), Estonians allowed Russian-speakers to stay in Estonia, despite the gloomy history and many problems that are caused by this mass immigration and repopulation that can even be regarded as a genocide of ethnic Estonians.

I have often heard from the other Nordic people in particular that Estonia is in fact a Nordic country, but in order to make it official, it would be necessary to exchange a tricolor flag for a Nordic cross flag. Personally, I have nothing against the current Estonian flag or the Estonian version of the Nordic cross flag, because both look aesthetically beautiful and, of course, the Estonian national colors of blue, black and white would remain in any case. In my opinion, both of these should be allowed as national flags. Many people associate the tricolor with gaining independence from the Russian Empire and later regaining it from the Soviet Union. The Nordic cross flag is actually  no stranger to today's Estonia either - the national flag of the Seto people living in South-Eastern Estonia is also a Nordic cross flag. 

Some Estonians claim that the cross flag is not suitable for the Estonian flag, because Estonians are not (Sunday) Christians, but that is not true historically speaking. In fact, forced dechristianization took place only during the Soviet occupation, and this snag has remained until this day. Historians have also begun to seriously doubt that Christianity did not reach Estonians until after the Crusades, because the discovered evidence, for example from the Scandinavian sagas, suggests that it had spread voluntarily among Estonians much earlier. Also, it should not be forgotten that the violent "spreading" of Christianity through the Crusades was in fact simply an excuse for economic dismantling and taking control over the Estonian territories, which means that it had very little to do with actual Christianity. Evil and power-hungry people used the name of Christianity to do the exact opposite of what the gospel teaches. Considering all these things, using the cross flag as the Estonian national flag would not be a bad idea. Christianity (Lutheranism) is a big part of our cultural heritage, even though some people would rather hide it under the carpet, since it isn't fashionable today. For their information, our current tricolor flag also represents an important Christian symbol - the Holy Trinity. But to be honest, it’s not the flag that makes a country Nordic. 

The last and perhaps most compelling argument, usually made last when all the other arguments are crushed, is wealth. Some think that at the moment Estonia is simply too poor to be one of the Nordic countries, which is known in the world as a ‘club of rich welfare states’. The emphasis is on the words “at the moment”. To be fair, Estonia as a country does not need to be ashamed economically. A good example is that 30 years ago, when Estonia regained its independence from the USSRs occupation, the average salary in 1992 was only 549 kroons (Estonian currency before euro, similar to Swedish kronor), or approximately 35 euros, and in 2019, 1407 euros. The increase in the average salary has thus been more than 40 times! The average salary in Finland in the first quarter of 2020 was 3380 euros and in Estonia 1486. ​​The difference is about 2 times, even when considering net income. Looking at the average salary in both countries, which also takes into account the cost of living (PPP), the average salary in terms of value was 2787 euros in Finland and 2061 euros in Estonia. Compared to Finland and other Nordic countries, Estonia's average wage is quite a lot smaller mostly because of the USSR’s occupation and its economic unsustainability, but the average wage is growing fast, and economic experts have estimated that it will only take another 10 to 20 years to reach exactly the same wage level as Finland, depending on the state of the world economy of course. According to Estonian economic experts, the same standard of living will definitely reach the same level in the next 10 years. Before World War II, Estonia and Finland had roughly the same standard of living.

Why is it important for Estonia and Finland to be able to be together in the same region? There is a very simple answer to this - we need each other to survive as the Finnic nations. We two are the only free Finnic republics in the world. Most other Finnic nations have either already disappeared into the darkness of time or are about to do so because of larger militant nations. This happened, for example, to Livonians, who died out due to cooperation of the Baltic tribes and the Crusaders. Although it’s true that the very end of this Finnic nation came directly because of the occupation of the USSR - the last person with Livonian as her mother tongue died in 2013 in Canada. This also happened to the Votians - Russians conquered their ancient territories, they started to mix with Russians after centuries of Russification and eventually lost their language and culture as a result. Now there are only four people alive who speak Votian as a mother tongue. Extinction has been the rule rather than the exception for the Finnic nations.

Less than a million ethnic Estonians live in Estonia, a maximum of 910,000, and the share considering the total population is 68-69%, which is one of the lowest compared to other European nation states. These are people who speak Estonian as their mother tongue and identify themselves as Estonians. Today, a large part of ethnic Estonians living elsewhere in the world live in Finland. The exact number is unknown, but it is estimated that it is up to 100,000. Do we even realize how few of us Estonians actually exist? There are more than 5 million ethnic Finns in Finland, and they make up about 87-88% of the total population of their country. This means that there are fewer indigenous people living in two Finnic nation states combined than in the world's major cities - New York, London, Moscow, etc. We are both very small nations, and Estonians are especially small and quite vulnerable. In an increasingly globalized world, it is almost impossible for Estonians to remain linguistically and culturally Estonians without getting closer to the Finns again, also region wise. The mostly shared culture of our nations, linguistically close languages ​​and genetic kinship help to preserve both peoples as Finnic. Staying in the same region with the Baltic nations seems to accelerate the extinction of Estonians and globalization, because we are essentially left alone, somewhat like Finland, which was left alone for some time after the Second World War. Of course, this does not mean that we should neglect our contacts with our southern neighbor, we respect them, and they are our good friends, but it does mean that Estonia's main priority should be very close relations with Finland instead. I sincerely hope that the speakers of the smaller Estonian dialects and Finnic languages ​​living in Estonia also understand that this is the only way they can also preserve their beloved languages so that they would ​​survive over time. Being in the same region is also crucial to Estonia and Finland from a security point of view and to end the confusion, which I wrote already about earlier.