The Singing Revolution

A nonviolent movement in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania that restored their independence from the Soviet Union.

Background

The three Baltic states had been annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940 after the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. Under glasnost in the late 1980s, people began to talk openly about this history and the suppression of national culture.

Course of events

Mass song festivals and demonstrations became a form of protest, with huge crowds singing banned national songs. On 23 August 1989, about two million people formed a human chain from Tallinn to Vilnius in the Baltic Way. The three republics declared independence in 1990 and 1991 and survived Soviet crackdowns, including in Vilnius and Riga in January 1991.

Legacy

After the failed coup in Moscow in August 1991 their independence was widely recognised. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania later joined NATO and the European Union in 2004.