Goswinus
12-02-2008, 10:46 AM
Latvia in the Wars of the 20th Century
Visvaldis Mangulis
Full text:
http://www.historia.lv/publikacijas/gramat/mangulis/magulis_saturs.htm
From the introdution to this book:
Preceding the United Nations there was between World War I and World War II another similar organization called the League of Nations. All of the states which were members of the League of Nations later became members of the United Nations except three: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania (the Baltic States). Those three have lost their freedom. They are not just governed by a communist government subservient to Moscow such as Poland or Czechoslovakia; they have been actually incorporated into the Soviet Union itself by force. This is the story of one of them, of Latvia.
It is not a pretty story. Latvia was among the most devastated countries of Europe in both World Wars. Caught between two powerful neighbors and ancient enemies, Germany and Russia, the less than two million Latvians had to wage bloody wars against one or the other or both of them to defend themselves. This is a story of struggle, victory, defeat, and defiance. It should not be called a history; history is written and rewritten by victors to glorify their deeds and hide their faults. This is written by a survivor.
The population of the Czar’s Russian empire before World War I was only half Russian. The other half consisted of various other nationalities, including Latvians (the same proportions exist in the Soviet Union today). The non-Russians were oppressed by the Czar (Lenin, the leader of the Bolsheviks, called Czarist Russia a “prison of nations”; the same term should be applied to the Soviet Union today). After the overthrow of the Czar the head of the new government, Kerensky, ignored non-Russian demands for autonomy or independence. The anger of the non-Russians against the Czar’s oppression and against Kerensky’s arrogance was channeled by the Bolsheviks into a force which they used to put themselves in power. Deceived by Lenin’s promises of self-determination for all [page xii] nationalities, Latvian Rifle regiments became Lenin’s Praetorian Guard and the avant-garde of the revolution. Once in power, the Bolsheviks oppressed the non-Russians just as much as they had been oppressed before. When the Latvian Rifle regiments recognized the enormous disparity between Bolshevik theory and practice, they abandoned the Bolshevik cause, but by then it was too late. Lenin had become the new “Czar” of the Russian empire (now called the Soviet Union).
While the Latvian Rifles in Russia were being deceived by Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin, the Latvian nationalists in Latvia took advantage of the disorder in Russia and of the defeat of Germany in World War I and wrested Latvia’s independence from Russia and Germany in a two-front War of Liberation.
That war was the training ground for some of the future German Nazis. Frustrated by their defeat by the Latvians, they blamed everything on treason at home and turned to Hitler for leadership. After that war devastated Latvia was quickly rebuilt.
Freed from centuries of oppression, Latvian culture flourished.
Visvaldis Mangulis
Full text:
http://www.historia.lv/publikacijas/gramat/mangulis/magulis_saturs.htm
From the introdution to this book:
Preceding the United Nations there was between World War I and World War II another similar organization called the League of Nations. All of the states which were members of the League of Nations later became members of the United Nations except three: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania (the Baltic States). Those three have lost their freedom. They are not just governed by a communist government subservient to Moscow such as Poland or Czechoslovakia; they have been actually incorporated into the Soviet Union itself by force. This is the story of one of them, of Latvia.
It is not a pretty story. Latvia was among the most devastated countries of Europe in both World Wars. Caught between two powerful neighbors and ancient enemies, Germany and Russia, the less than two million Latvians had to wage bloody wars against one or the other or both of them to defend themselves. This is a story of struggle, victory, defeat, and defiance. It should not be called a history; history is written and rewritten by victors to glorify their deeds and hide their faults. This is written by a survivor.
The population of the Czar’s Russian empire before World War I was only half Russian. The other half consisted of various other nationalities, including Latvians (the same proportions exist in the Soviet Union today). The non-Russians were oppressed by the Czar (Lenin, the leader of the Bolsheviks, called Czarist Russia a “prison of nations”; the same term should be applied to the Soviet Union today). After the overthrow of the Czar the head of the new government, Kerensky, ignored non-Russian demands for autonomy or independence. The anger of the non-Russians against the Czar’s oppression and against Kerensky’s arrogance was channeled by the Bolsheviks into a force which they used to put themselves in power. Deceived by Lenin’s promises of self-determination for all [page xii] nationalities, Latvian Rifle regiments became Lenin’s Praetorian Guard and the avant-garde of the revolution. Once in power, the Bolsheviks oppressed the non-Russians just as much as they had been oppressed before. When the Latvian Rifle regiments recognized the enormous disparity between Bolshevik theory and practice, they abandoned the Bolshevik cause, but by then it was too late. Lenin had become the new “Czar” of the Russian empire (now called the Soviet Union).
While the Latvian Rifles in Russia were being deceived by Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin, the Latvian nationalists in Latvia took advantage of the disorder in Russia and of the defeat of Germany in World War I and wrested Latvia’s independence from Russia and Germany in a two-front War of Liberation.
That war was the training ground for some of the future German Nazis. Frustrated by their defeat by the Latvians, they blamed everything on treason at home and turned to Hitler for leadership. After that war devastated Latvia was quickly rebuilt.
Freed from centuries of oppression, Latvian culture flourished.