Latvia
The behavior of most Latvians reflects the strong cultural and
religious influences of centuries-long Germanic and Scandinavian
colonization and settlement. They are viewed as self-reliant,
independent, persistent, and reserved. Eastern Latvia (Latgale),
however, retains a strong Polish and Russian cultural and linguistic
influence. This highly literate society places strong emphasis upon
education, which is free and compulsory until age 16. The majority
of Latvians belong to the Evangelical Lutheran Church; a sizable
minority is Russian Orthodox, and Eastern Latvia is predominantly
Roman Catholic.
Historically, Latvia has always had fairly large Russian, Jewish,
German, and Polish minorities, but traumatic wartime events, postwar
emigration, deportations, and Soviet Russification policies from
1939 to 1989 reduced the percentage of ethnic Latvians in Latvia
from 73% to 52%. In an attempt to preserve the Latvian language and
prevent ethnic Latvians from becoming a minority in their own
country, Latvia enacted language, education, and citizenship laws
which require a working proficiency in the Latvian language in order
to become a citizen. Such legislation has caused concern among many
non-citizen resident Russians, despite Latvian legal guarantees of
universal human and civil rights regardless of citizenship.
Written with the Latin alphabet, Latvian is the language of the
Latvian people and the official language of the country. It is an
inflective language with several analytical forms, three dialects,
and German syntactical influence. The oldest known examples of
written Latvian are from a 1585 catechism. Latvians and Lithuanians
are the only surviving direct descendents of the Baltic peoples who
speak languages of the Indo-European family. While Latvia was a
member of the U.S.S.R, Russian was the official language, so many
Latvians also speak Russian, and the resident Slavic populace
generally speaks Russian as a first language. |
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By the 10th century, the area that is today Latvia was inhabited by
several Baltic tribes who had formed their own local governments. In
1054, German sailors who shipwrecked on the Daugava River inhabited
the area, which initiated a period of increasing Germanic influence.
The Germans named the territory Livonia. In 1201, Riga, the current
capital of Latvia, was founded by the Germanic Bishop Alberth of
Livonia; the city joined the Hanseatic League in 1285 and began to
form important cultural and economic relationships with the rest of
Europe. However, the new German nobility enserfed the indigenous
people and accorded them only limited trading and property rights.
Subsequent wars and treaties led to Livonia's partition and
colonization for centuries. In 1721 Russia took control over the
Latvian territories as a result of its victory over Sweden in the
Great Northern War. During this time there was little sense of a
Latvian national identity, as both serfdom and institutional
controls to migration and social mobility limited the boundaries of
the indigenous people's intellectual and social geography. However,
in the 1860's, the Young Latvian Movement was formed in order to
promote the indigenous language against Russification policies and
to publicize and counteract the socioeconomic oppression of
Latvians, 60% of whom belonged to the landless, urban class. This
growing proletariat became fertile ground for the ideas of western
European socialism and supported the creation in 1903 of the Latvian
Social Democratic Union (LSDU), which continued to champion national
interests and Latvia's national self-determination, especially
during the failed 1905 Revolution in Russia.
The onset of World War I brought German occupation of the western
coastal province of Kurzeme, which Latvians heroically countered
with several regiments of riflemen commanded by Czarist generals.
The military campaign generally increased Latvian and LSDU support
for the Bolsheviks' successful October Revolution in 1917, in the
hopes of a "free Latvia within free Russia." These circumstances led
to the formation of the Soviet "Iskolat Republic" in the unoccupied
section of Latvia. In opposition to this government and to the
landed barons' German sympathies stood the Latvian Provisional
National Council and the Riga Democratic Bloc. These and other
political parties formed the Latvian People's Council, which on
November 18, 1918 declared Latvia's independence and formed an army.
The new Latvian Army won a decisive battle over the combined
German-Red Army forces and consolidated that success on the eastern
Latgale front. These developments led to the dissolution of the
Soviet Latvian government on January 13, 1920 and to a peace treaty
between Latvia and Soviet Russia on August 11 later that year. On
September 22, 1921, an independent Latvia was admitted to the League
of Nations.
The government, headed by Prime Minister Ulmanis, declared a
democratic, parliamentary republic. It recognized Latvian as the
official language, granted cultural autonomy to the country's
sizeable minorities, and introduced an electoral system into the
Latvian constitution, which was adopted in 1922. The ensuing decade
witnessed sweeping economic reform, as the war had devastated
Latvian agriculture, and most Russian factories had been evacuated
to Russia. However, economic depression heightened political
turmoil, and, on May 15, 1934, the Prime Minister dismissed the
Parliament, banned outspoken and left-wing political parties, and
tightened authoritarian state control over Latvian social life and
the economy.
The German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact of 1939 steadily forced Latvia
under Soviet influence, culminating in Latvia's annexation by the
Soviet Union on August 5, 1940. On June 14 of the following year,
15,000 Latvian citizens were forcibly deported and a large number of
army officers shot. The subsequent German occupation witnessed the
mobilization of many Latvians into Waffen SS legions, while some
Latvians joined the Red Army and formed resistance groups, and
others fled to the West and East.
An estimated 70,000, or 89.5%, of Latvian Jews were killed in Latvia
under Nazi occupation. Up to one-third of Latvia's pre-war
population (approximately 630,000 residents) was lost between 1940
and 1954 due to the Holocaust and the Soviet and Nazi occupations.
After World War II, the U.S.S.R. subjected the Latvian republic to a
social and economic reorganization which rapidly changed the rural
economy to one based on heavy industry, transformed the
predominantly Latvian population into a more multiethnic populace,
and converted the peasant class into a fully urbanized industrial
worker class. As part of the goal to more fully integrate Latvia
into the Soviet Union, Stalin deported another 42,000 Latvians and
continued to promote the policy of encouraging Soviet immigration to
Latvia.
In July 1989, following the dramatic events in East Germany, the
Latvian Supreme Soviet adopted a "Declaration of Sovereignty" and
amended the Constitution to assert the supremacy of its laws over
those of the U.S.S.R. Candidates from the pro-independence party
Latvian Popular Front gained a two-thirds majority in the Supreme
Council in the March 1990 democratic elections. On May 4, the
Council declared its intention to restore full Latvian independence
after a "transitional" period; three days later, a Latvian was
chosen Prime Minister. Soviet political and military forces tried
unsuccessfully to overthrow the Latvian Government. On August 21,
1991, Latvia claimed de facto independence. International
recognition, including that of the U.S.S.R., followed. The United
States, which had never recognized Latvia's forcible annexation by
the U.S.S.R. and continued to accredit a Latvian Ambassador in
Washington, recognized Latvia's renewed independence on September 2.
In 2007, the United States and Latvia celebrated 85 years of
continuous diplomatic relations. Since regaining its independence,
Latvia has rapidly moved away from the political-economic structures
and socio-cultural patterns which underlay the Soviet Union. Through
a U.S. initiative, on April 30, 1994, Latvia and Russia signed a
troop withdrawal agreement; Russia withdrew the bulk of its troops
by August 31 of that year. Except for some large state-owned
utilities, Latvia has privatized most sectors of its economy, which
enjoyed years of rapid development before slowing down in 2007. By
the end of 2008, Latvian economy was facing the risk of recession.
Latvia has also maintained and strengthened the democratic,
parliamentary republic that it revived in 1990.
Internationally, Latvia has accomplished a great deal. It became a
member of the United Nations (UN) on September 18, 1991, and is a
signatory to a number of UN organizations and other international
agreements, including the International Civil Aviation Organization
(ICAO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Bank.
It is also a member of the Organization on Security and Cooperation
in Europe (OSCE) and officially became a member of the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on March 29, 2004. On May 1,
2004 Latvia joined the European Union (EU).
Since 2004, Latvia has emerged as a significant player in foreign
affairs, standing out as a successful post-Soviet transition
society. Strong memories of occupation and oppression motivate
Latvia to reach out to countries struggling to move beyond
authoritarian politics and state-controlled economies. It has worked
closely with the U.S. and the EU to promote democracy in Ukraine,
Belarus, Moldova, and Georgia. Latvia also supports pro-market,
pro-free-trade policies in European and international organizations.
It was the European Union's fastest-growing economy in 2004 through
2006.
Latvia has developed a policy of international security cooperation
through participation in crisis management and peacekeeping
operations. In 2006, Latvia deployed over 10% of its active duty
military to support UN, NATO, and coalition military operations.
That percentage is well above the European average in terms of per
capita contributions. In 2008, Latvia increased its participation in
the NATO International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in
Afghanistan to 155 soldiers and plans to maintain the number in
2009. Closer to home, Latvia has been active in the Balkans: it
supports the NATO mission in Kosovo with peacekeepers, and the
European Union Force (EUFOR) mission in Bosnia with liaison
officers. Latvia also contributes to the OSCE mission to Georgia. In
November 2006, Latvia hosted a NATO Summit in its capital, Riga. |
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