Apart from Poland and Finland, the three Baltic States were the only Imperial Russian territories to win their independence after the Great War.

This despite a Red Army effort to reclaim them in 1919, which was opposed by an uneasy coalition: the Allies, the Germans, Poland, anti-Bolshevik Russian, and of course, Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian nationalists.

• Listen now:

• Download.

• Transcript.

---

Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

Peer Gynt Suite No. 1
Composed in 1876 by Edvard Grieg. Public domain.
Performed by the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing Theme 

---

Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Map created by Wikipedia User Renata3 and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY-SA 4.0 license. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

Finland was fortunate enough to win its independence from Russia peacefully, following the October Revolution.

Unfortunately, though, political tensions within Finland led to a bloody civil war.

• Listen now:

• Download.

• Transcript.

---

Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

Finlandia
Composed in 1899 by Jean Sibelius. Public domain.

Closing Theme 

---

Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.