A Concise History of the Baltic States

An integrated history of three Baltic peoples - Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians - from their origins as tribal societies to separate nations.

Andrejs Plakans (Author)

9780521541558, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 24 February 2011

492 pages, 45 b/w illus. 1 map
21.6 x 13.8 x 2.2 cm, 0.67 kg

'A tour de force of concise and yet comprehensive history - probably the most complete and nuanced in any language. Plakans traces the footsteps of hunter-gatherers and farmers moving north with retreating glaciers to the struggles of contemporary Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians as they labor to maintain their national identities amid globalized interdependence. He discerns no simple patterns and notes the distinct trajectories of each people. The author underscores what is not known, particularly about earlier times, but weaves abundant factual information into the narrative.' Walter C. Clemens, Jr, Boston University

The Baltic region is frequently neglected in broader histories of Europe and its international significance can be obscured by separate treatments of the various Baltic states. With this wide-ranging survey, Andrejs Plakans presents an integrated history of three Baltic peoples - Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians - and draws out the common threads to show how it has been shaped by their location in a strategically desirable corner of Europe. Subordinated in turn by Baltic German landholders, the Polish nobility and gentry, and then by Russian and Soviet administrators, the three nations have nevertheless kept their distinctive identities - significantly retaining three separate languages in an ethnically diverse region. The book traces the countries' evolution from their ninth-century tribal beginnings to their present status as three thriving and separate nation states, focusing particularly on the region's complex twentieth-century history, which culminated in the eventual re-establishment of national sovereignty after 1991.

1. The peoples of the Eastern Baltic Littoral
2. The new order, 1200–1500
3. The new order reconfigured, 1500–1710
4. Installing hegemony: the Littoral and Tsarist Russia, 1710–1800
5. Reforming and controlling the Baltic Littoral, 1800–55
6. Five decades of transformations, 1855–1905
7. Statehood in troubled times, 1905–40
8. The return of empires, 1940–91
9. Reentering Europe: 1991
Suggested readings.

Subject Areas: European history [HBJD]