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Concept
Estonian Declaration of Independence
Summary
NOTOC
The Estonian Declaration of Independence, also known as the Manifesto to the Peoples of Estonia (Manifest Eestimaa rahvastele), is the founding act which established the independent democratic Republic of Estonia on 24 February 1918. Since then the 24 February has been celebrated as the Estonian Independence Day, the national day of Estonia.
The declaration was drafted by the Salvation Committee elected by the elders of the Estonian Provincial Assembly and consisting of Konstantin Päts, Jüri Vilms and Konstantin Konik. Originally intended to be proclaimed on 21 February 1918, the proclamation was delayed until the evening of 23 February, when the manifesto was printed and read out aloud publicly in Pärnu. On the next day, 24 February, the manifesto was printed and distributed in the capital, Tallinn.
During World War I, on 24 February 1918, in the Estonian capital Tallinn (Reval), between retreating Russian and advancing German troops (and the nearing occupation by the German Empire), the Estonian Salvation Committee — the executive body of the democratically elected Estonian Provincial Assembly (Maapäev) — declared the independence of Estonia. The declaration was made in the main hall of the local branch of the State Bank of Russia, part of the head office complex of the Bank of Estonia since 1992 and subsequently known as Independence Hall. The event was commemorated in 1921 by a monumental painting by Russian artist Nicholas Kalmakoff, which was rediscovered and restored in the 1990s following the Estonian Restoration of Independence and put on display in Independence Hall.
The German Empire did not recognise the newly declared Republic of Estonia. However, after the defeat of the Central Powers in World War I in November 1918, Germany withdrew its troops from Estonia, and formally handed power in Estonia over to the Estonian Provisional Government on 19 November. The Russian Bolshevik invasion and the Estonian War of Independence followed. On 2 February 1920, the Tartu Peace Treaty was signed by the Republic of Estonia and Bolshevik Russia.
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