Latvian War of Independence explained

Partof:Russian Civil War, Polish–Soviet War and Estonian War of Independence
Conflict:Latvian War of Independence
Date:5 December 1918 – 11 August 1920
Place:Latvia
Casus:Proclamation of Republic of Latvia (18 November 1918)
Result:Latvian victory[1]
Combatant1:1918–April 1919
Combatant1a:April–July 1919
Combatant1b:July 1919–1920
Combatant2a:April–July 1919
Combatant2b:October–December 1919
Combatant3:1918–April 1919
Combatant3a:April–July 1919
Combatant3b:July 1919–1920
Commander1: Kārlis Ulmanis
Oskars Kalpaks
Jānis Balodis
Dāvids Sīmansons
Jorģis Zemitāns
Roberts Dambītis
Ernst Põdder
Viktor Puskar
Martin Ekström
Iver de Hemmer Gudme
Richard Gustav Borgelin
Edward Rydz-Śmigły
Harold Alexander
Hubert Gough
Commander2: Rüdiger von der Goltz
Alfred Fletcher
Josef Bischoff

Walter von Eberhardt
Commander3:
Sergei Kamenev

Vladimir Gittis
Pēteris Slavens
Strength1:
    Strength2:
      Strength3:
        Casualties1:
          Casualties2:
            Casualties3:
              Territory:Latvia gains land and independence back from Russia and Germany

              The Latvian War of Independence (Latvian: Latvijas Neatkarības karš), sometimes called Latvia's freedom battles (Latvian: Latvijas brīvības cīņas) or the Latvian War of Liberation (Latvian: Latvijas atbrīvošanas karš), was a series of military conflicts in Latvia between 5 December 1918, after the newly proclaimed Republic of Latvia was invaded by Soviet Russia, and the signing of the Latvian-Soviet Riga Peace Treaty on 11 August 1920.[2]

              The war can be divided into a few stages: Soviet offensive, German-Latvian liberation of Kurzeme and Riga, Estonian-Latvian liberation of Vidzeme, Bermontian offensive, Latvian-Polish liberation of Latgale.

              The war involved Latvia (its provisional government supported by Estonia, Poland and the Western Allies—particularly the navy of United Kingdom) against the Russian SFSR and the Bolsheviks' short-lived Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic. Germany and the Baltic nobility added another level of intrigue, initially being nominally allied to the Nationalist/Allied force but attempting to jockey for German domination of Latvia. Eventually, tensions flared up after a German coup against the Latvian government, leading to open war.

              Following a cease-fire, a ploy was developed by the Germans, nominally dissolving into the West Russian Volunteer Army led by Gen. Pavel Bermont-Avalov. This West Russian Volunteer Army included Germans and former Russian prisoners of war nominally allied with the White Army in the Russian Civil War, but both Bermondt-Avalov and von der Goltz were more interested in eliminating the nationalists than fighting the Bolsheviks.

              Certain episodes of the Latvian Independence War were also part of the Polish-Soviet War, particularly the Battle of Daugavpils.

              Soviet offensive

              On 18 November 1918 the People's Council of Latvia proclaimed the Independence of the Republic of Latvia and created the Latvian Provisional Government headed by Kārlis Ulmanis.

              On 1 December 1918, the newly proclaimed republic was invaded by Soviet Russia. Much of the invading army in Latvia consisted of Red Latvian Riflemen, which made the invasion easier. The Soviet offensive met little resistance.

              In the north Alūksne was taken on 7 December, Valka on 18 December, and Cēsis on 23 December, in the south Daugavpils was taken on 9 December, and finally Pļaviņas on 17 December.

              Riga was captured by the Red Army on 3 January 1919. By the end of January, the Latvian Provisional Government and remaining German units had retreated all the way to Liepāja, but then the Red offensive stalled along the Venta river.

              The Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic was officially proclaimed on 13 January with the political, economic, and military backing of Soviet Russia and on 17 January, a constitution was made for the newly made puppet state.

              During this period, on 15 January, occurred the battle of Lielauce, where the Latvian independent battalion, headed by Oskars Kalpaks managed to stop the Soviet offensive. This battle was crucial for the morale of the Latvian soldiers. The German forces on whom the Latvian temporarily relied, however, had lost a battle at Auce, so an order was received to retreat to the river Venta.

              14 days later, on 29 January, the Latvian independent battalion was once again fighting a battle, this time near Skrunda. This time, however, Latvian troops were on the offensive. The Soviet forces had managed to establish a bridgehead over the river Venta, capturing the town of Skrunda on 22 January. The Venta defensive line had to be reestablished, so a counter-offensive maneuver was ordered to be overtaken. The Latvian independent battalion managed to retake the town in 3 hours. After the battle was won, the Soviet offensives ceased.

              Liberation of Kurzeme and the coup d'etat

              On 18 February, an agreement was signed between Latvia and Estonia, starting formation of the North Latvian Brigade led by Jorģis Zemitāns on Estonian territory.

              On 3 March, the German and Latvian forces commenced a counterattack against the Red Latvian Riflemen. Tukums was recaptured from the Bolsheviks on 15 March, and Jelgava on 18 March.

              On 16 April, the Baltic nobility organised a coup d'etat in Liepāja and a puppet government headed by Andrievs Niedra was established. The provisional national government took refuge aboard the steamship Saratov under British protection in Liepaja harbour.[3]

              On 22 May, Riga was recaptured by the Iron Division and organised persecution of suspected Bolshevik supporters began, with an estimated 174 (according to the head of Rīga's Gendarmerie) to 4,000–5,000 people (according to local social democrats and communists) being shot.[4] At the same time the Estonian Army including the North Latvian Brigade loyal to the Ulmanis government started a major offensive against the Soviets in north Latvia. By the middle of June, the Soviet rule was reduced to the area surrounding Latgale.

              German–Estonian conflict

              After the capture of Riga the Baltische Landeswehr and Iron Division advanced north towards Cēsis. The objective of the Landeswehr and Iron Division had now clearly become the establishment of German supremacy in the Baltic by eliminating the Estonian military and Latvian national units, not the defeat of the Bolsheviks. The Estonian commander General Johan Laidoner insisted the Landeswehr withdraw to a line south of the Gauja River. He also ordered the Estonian 3rd Division to seize the Gulbene railroad station.

              On June 19, 1919, the Landeswehr and the Iron Division launched an attack to capture Cēsis. Initially, the Freikorps formation captured the town of Straupe and continued their advance toward the town of Limbaži. The Estonian division launched a counterattack and drove the Landeswehr out of the town. On June 21, the Estonians received reinforcements and immediately attacked the Landeswehr, who withdrew from an area to the northeast of Cēsis. The Iron Division attacked from Straupe towards Stalbe in an effort to relieve pressure on the Landeswehr. On the morning of June 23, the Landeswehr began a general retreat toward Riga.[5]

              The Allies again insisted that the Landeswehr and Iron Division withdraw their remaining troops from Latvia, and on July 3 intervened to impose an armistice between Estonia, Latvia, and the Landeswehr and Iron Division when the Latvians were about to march into Riga.By its terms the legitimate government of Ulmanis was to be restored, the Baltic German Landeswehr be placed under the command of the British officer Harold Alexander and the Iron Division to leave Latvia. The government of Ulmanis returned to Riga on 8 July 1919 and the Landeswehr became a component of the Latvian National Army.

              Bermondt offensive

              The Iron Division, however, did not leave Latvia. Instead Major Bischoff created a German and Russian united Legion from over a dozen Freikorps units and Russian volunteers, then he turned the units over to the West Russian Volunteer Army which was commanded by Pavel Bermondt-Avalov. In total, the Iron Division transferred over 14,000 men, 64 aircraft, 56 artillery pieces, and 156 machine guns. Six cavalry units and a field hospital were also transferred. Together with the other German units Bermondt had 30 000 men strong army only 6000 of whom were Russians.

              On October 8 the West Russian Volunteer Army started offensive against Riga. The offensive in the beginning saw huge potential, the Latvian government evacuated from Riga, and the left bank of Daugava river in Riga got captured by the Bermondt forces. However, on October 15 Latvians crossed Daugava river north of Riga and captured Bolderāja and Daugavgrīva fortress. On November 10–11, 1919, the Latvian Armed Forces started a day long counter-offensive, the outnumbered Latvians managed to push the Bermondt forces out of Riga, after which the Latvian government returned to Riga. Jelgava was also captured by the Latvians in loss-making fights and by early December the entire West Russian Volunteer Army got pushed out of Latvia.

              Liberation of Latgale

              In January 1920 the joint forces of Latvia and Poland launched an attack on the Bolsheviks in Latgale and took Daugavpils. The Soviet Latvian government escaped to Velikiye Luki where it announced its dissolution on January 13. Units from the Estonian and Lithuanian armies also saw action alongside the Latvians, as well as Latvian partisans. The push continued until Latvian forces took hold of Zilupe on February 1 with some skirmishes continuing a few days afterwards, since a secret truce had been agreed on by the Latvians and Soviet Russia on January 30.

              Peace talks began on 16 April 1920 with the Latvian–Soviet Peace Treaty being signed on 11 August 1920, officially ending the war.

              Timeline

              1918

              1919

              1920

              In fiction

              Literature

              Film

              See also

              Bibliography

              Notes and References

              1. Encyclopedia: Letland §5. Geschiedenis . Encarta Encyclopedie Winkler Prins . 2002 . Microsoft Corporation/Het Spectrum . nl.
              2. Freibergs J. (1998, 2001) Jaunāko laiku vēsture 20. gadsimts Zvaigzne ABC
              3. The Baltic States from 1914 to 1923: The First World War and the Wars of Independence. Lt Col Andrew Parrott. Baltic Defence Review. 2/2002. https://web.archive.org/web/20090319083729/http://www.bdcol.ee/fileadmin/docs/bdreview/bdr-2002-8-11.pdf. 2009-03-19.
              4. News: Šiliņš . Jānis . Shooting the Bolsheviks: White terror after freeing Rīga . 26 May 2019 . . 24 May 2019.
              5. Estonian War of Independence 1918 - 1920. Jyri Kork (Ed.). Esto, Baltimore, 1988 (Reprint from Estonian War of Independence 1918 - 1920. Historical Committee for the War of Independence, Tallinn, 1938)
              6. News: Šiliņš . Jānis . The republic on the sea: The 1919 coup that exiled the Latvian government to a steamboat . 21 April 2019 . . 18 April 2019.
              7. Web site: Lāčplēsis (1930) . 2023-07-21 . Filmas.lv . lv-LV.