History of Estonia Podcast

In this period of Estonia's development Estonians become increasingly more educated than their peers within the Empire and Estonians work at making a unique culture based on their own language and history.

In this episode we follow Estonia's path into the First World War, which set the preconditions for eventual statehood.

In this episode, we learn how the first political parties formed in Estonia and how these parties tried to influence Russia's rule of Estonia during the Revolution of 1905.

In this episode we cover the period of Russification. This is a period in which the Russian language was forced upon the Estonian people through education and government. We also go on to learn how the Russian railway system brought positive results to Estonia's economy.

In this episode we cover the National Awakening. The National Awakening is a period of time after serfdom, in which Estonians were allowed to better themselves through education and hard work. With this a realization of pride for Estonian culture arose. Many began to question the dominance  of the Baltic German overlords and pressed their own fundamental rights as Estonians as equals to the German...

I am back and looking forward to another winter of learning and retelling Estonian history. There is more house cleaning in this episode than usual, but we do get into to talking about the Mahtra War and the Kreenholm factory in Narva. We go on to cover Spiritual Life and Education in Estonia in the 19'th Century.

In this episode we follow the lives of a young Estonian family caught up in the destruction and chaos of World War II. 

We continue to follow Heiki's life. His mother struggles without being able to depend on her husband and she is forced to make some tough decisions.

We follow the Diary of Eduard Soova. We learn of his struggles in the far east and the difficulties he faced in his mission to get back home to his family.

Forced to flee the Soviet army, a large scale exodus begins. Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians and Poles leave their homelands for fear of Russian reprisals.

In this episode we wrap up the loose ends of the story and find out what became of the little boy that lost his father and left his country.

In this episode we look into a really interesting period of Estonian History that isn't really discussed much today. I am referring to a period of time that Estonians sought out a better life in desperate ways. Many fled to Russia looking for the promised land and others converted to the Russian Orthodox religion in hope that the Tsar would look more favorably on the Estonians.  This will be...

In this Episode we look at the legal changes and how Estonian were able to final free themselves from serfdom. 

In this episode we cover Spiritual and Cultural Life in the 18'th Century

It Catherine the Great's chance to rule Estonia. We find out what changes in Estonia under her reign.

We begin to learn what Estonia looked like after the Great Northern War and how Russian rule changed the lives of Estonians.

Peter the Great and young King Karl XII square off in a vie to see who can dominate the region, and more importantly for us Estonia.

In this episode we wrap up the Swedish Era in Estonia. We start off with the fight against heresy and witchcraft before getting into Education, and Culture.

In this episode we look into agricultural and trade changes during the Swedish administration.

In this episode we discuss the Swedish style of government in Estonia and how they administered justice.

Everyone has their hand in the cookie jar that is Estonia/Livonia and no clear front runner has emerged. We will wrap up the Livonian War, and at least, a more politically stable era is ahead.

Old Livonia is falling apart and a multitude of newly developed nation states are vying for control. 

The Estonian word gets published and some Estonians have access to education. For the development of the cities, especially Tallinn, this era puts some beautiful architecture out. This is a German era however.

In this episode we take a look at the early Catholic Church and the systemic problems it faced and how the Reformation was embraced in Estonia.

Development of Cities, Towns and Trade in the 14’th to 16’th Centuries