Editing History of Estonia (section)

==Soviet Estonia (1944–1991)==
{{Main|Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic|Occupation and annexation of the Baltic states by the Soviet Union (1944)|Baltic states under Soviet rule (1944–91)}}

=== Stalinism ===
{{See also|Stalinism}}
In [[World War II]] Estonia had suffered huge losses. Ports had been destroyed, and 45% of industry and 40% of the railways had become damaged. Estonia's population had decreased by one-fifth, about 200,000 people.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hiio |first1=Toomas |title=The Red Army invasion of Estonia in 1944 |url=http://www.estonica.org/en/History/1939-1945_Estonia_and_World_War_II/The_Red_Army_invasion_of_Estonia_in_1944/ |website=Estonica Encyclopedia About Estonia |publisher=Eesti Instituut |access-date=3 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191022141918/http://www.estonica.org/en/History/1939-1945_Estonia_and_World_War_II/The_Red_Army_invasion_of_Estonia_in_1944/ |archive-date=22 October 2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Some 10% of the population (over 80,000 people) had fled to the West between 1940 and 1944, first to countries such as Sweden and Finland and then to other western countries, often by refugee ships such as the {{SS|Walnut}}. More than 30,000 soldiers had been killed in action. In 1944 Russian [[airstrike|air raids]] had [[Bombing of Narva in World War II|destroyed]] [[Narva]] and [[Bombing of Tallinn in World War II|one-third]] of the residential area in [[Tallinn]]. By the late autumn of 1944, Soviet forces had ushered in a second phase of Soviet rule on the heels of the German troops withdrawing from Estonia, and followed it up by a new wave of arrests and executions of people considered disloyal to the Soviets.{{citation needed|date=May 2013}}

[[File:SovietPrisonDoorsTallinn.JPG|thumb|Soviet prison doors on display in the Museum of Occupations, Tallinn]]
An anti-Soviet [[guerrilla warfare|guerrilla]] movement known as the [[Forest Brothers|''Metsavennad'' ("Forest Brothers")]] developed in the countryside, reaching its zenith in 1946–48. It is hard to tell how many people were in the ranks of the ''Metsavennad''; however, it is estimated that at different times there could have been about 30,000–35,000 people. Probably [[August Sabbe|the last Forest Brother]] was caught in September 1978, and killed himself during his apprehension.

In March 1949, 20,722 people (2.5% of the population) were deported to Siberia. By the beginning of the 1950s, the occupying regime had suppressed the resistance movement.

After the war the Communist Party of the [[Estonian SSR|Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic]] (ECP) became the pre-eminent organization in the republic. The ethnic Estonian share in the total ECP membership decreased from 90% in 1941 to 48% in 1952.

[[File:Flag of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic.svg|thumb|[[Flag of the Estonian SSR]]]]
[[File:A. H. Tammsaare monumendi avamine 78 (16) Johannes Käbin.jpg|thumb|Estonian Soviet politician [[Johannes Käbin]] led the [[Estonian Communist Party]] from 1950 to 1978]]

=== Khrushchev era ===
{{See also|Khrushchev Thaw}}
After [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]]'s death, Communist Party membership vastly expanded its social base to include more ethnic Estonians. By the mid-1960s, the percentage of ethnic Estonian membership stabilized near 50%. On the eve of [[perestroika]] the ECP claimed about 100,000 members; less than half were ethnic Estonians and they totalled less than 7% of the country's population.

One positive aspect of the post-Stalin era in Estonia was the regranting of permission in the late 1950s for citizens to make contact with foreign countries. In the 1960s, Estonians were thus able to start watching [[Finland|Finnish]] television. This electronic "window to the West" afforded Estonians more information on current world affairs and more access to contemporary Western culture and thought than any other group in the Soviet Union. <!--This heightened media environment was important in preparing Estonians for their vanguard role in extending perestroika during the [[Mikhail Gorbachev|Gorbachev]] era.
==== Capital investments ====
In 1955 the TV Centre was built in Tallinn; it began TV broadcasts on 29 June of that year.<ref>{{Cite web| url=http://www.rustrana.ru/print.php?nid=515| script-title=ru:История Телевидения| date=11 October 2007| work=www.rustrana.ru| language=ru| access-date=2009-09-20| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090110101628/http://www.rustrana.ru/print.php?nid=515| archive-date=10 January 2009| url-status=dead| df=dmy-all}}</ref> The [[Tallinn Song Festival Grounds]], the venue for the song festivals, were built in 1960.<ref>{{Cite web| url=http://www.utlib.ee/fonoteek/IAML2003/laulu.htm| title=Tallinn Song Grounds| work=www.utlib.ee| access-date=2009-09-20| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080117214936/http://www.utlib.ee/fonoteek/IAML2003/laulu.htm| archive-date=17 January 2008| url-status=dead| df=dmy-all}}</ref>

==== Health care ====
Only after the [[Khrushchev Thaw]] period of 1956 did healthcare networks start to stabilise. Due to natural development, science and technology advanced and popular welfare increased. All demographic indicators improved; birth rates increased, mortality decreased. Healthcare became freely available to everybody during the Soviet era.<ref>{{Cite web| url=http://www.mongabay.com/reference/country_studies/estonia/SOCIETY.html| title=Estonia – Society| work=mongabay.com| publisher=[[Mongabay]]| access-date=2009-09-20| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081013160723/http://www.mongabay.com/reference/country_studies/estonia/SOCIETY.html| archive-date=13 October 2008| url-status=dead}}</ref> -->

=== Brezhnev era ===
{{See also|Brezhnev stagnation}}
In the late 1970s, Estonian society grew increasingly concerned about the threat of cultural Russification to the Estonian language and national identity. By 1981, Russian was taught in the first grade of Estonian-language schools and was also introduced into Estonian pre-school teaching.

==== Moscow Olympic Games of 1980 ====
{{Main|Sailing at the 1980 Summer Olympics}}
[[Tallinn]] was selected to host the [[Sailing at the 1980 Summer Olympics|sailing events at the 1980 Summer Olympics]], which led to controversy<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://news.err.ee/116345/35-years-since-tallinn-olympic-regatta|title=35 years since Tallinn Olympic regatta|last=ERR|date=2015-07-20|work=ERR|access-date=2017-12-29|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171229171801/https://news.err.ee/116345/35-years-since-tallinn-olympic-regatta|archive-date=29 December 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> since many governments had not ''de jure'' recognized ESSR as part of the USSR. During the preparations to the [[1980 Summer Olympics|Olympics]], sports buildings were built in Tallinn, along with other general infrastructure and broadcasting facilities. This wave of investment included Tallinn Airport, Hotell Olümpia, [[Tallinn TV Tower]], [[Sailing at the 1980 Summer Olympics|Pirita Yachting Centre]] and [[Linnahall]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.tallinn.ee/g3280s23834 |title=History of Tallinn. |access-date=18 May 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091027023036/http://www.tallinn.ee/g3280s23834 |archive-date=27 October 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Andropov and Chernenko era ===
{{See also|Yuri Andropov|Konstantin Chernenko}}
On 10 November 1982, [[Leonid Brezhnev]] died and was succeeded by [[Yuri Andropov]], the former head of the [[KGB]]. Andropov introduced limited economic reforms and established an anti-corruption program. On 9 February 1984, Andropov died and was succeeded by [[Konstantin Chernenko]] who in turn died on 10 March 1985.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.studyrussian.com/history/history.html |title=A short overview of the Russian history |access-date=18 May 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090527082727/http://www.studyrussian.com/history/history.html |archive-date=27 May 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Gorbachev era ===
{{See also|Perestroika|Glasnost}}
By the beginning of the Gorbachev era, concern over the cultural survival of the Estonian people had reached a critical point. The ECP remained stable in the early perestroika years but waned in the late 1980s. Other political movements, groupings and parties moved to fill the power vacuum. The first and most important was the [[Estonian Popular Front]], established in April 1988 with its own platform, leadership and broad constituency. The [[Estonian Greens|Greens]] and the dissident-led [[Estonian National Independence Party]] soon followed.