Qualla: Latvian War of Independence

Latvian War of Independence: Introduction

Sat, 25 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Tapazi, CC BY-SA 4.0. On 18 November 1918, in a Riga theater, the People's Council of Latvia proclaimed independence. Latvia had no army, no money, no foreign recognition that mattered. Two weeks later, on 1 December, the Red Army crossed the border. By 3 January 1919 the Bolsheviks held Riga. The Latvian provisional government, what was left of it, retreated all the way to the Baltic coast and ran the country from a steamboat. Twenty months later, on 11 August 1920, Soviet Russia signed the Riga Peace Treaty and recognized Latvia as a sovereign state. In between, Latvian volunteers had fought three different enemies, on multiple fronts, with Estonian and Polish help and a great deal of stubbornness. The war was Latvia's improbable proof that it had the right to exist.

Image: Tapazi | CC BY-SA 4.0

Latvian War of Independence: Kalpaks and the First Battalion

Sat, 25 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Peter Fitzgerald, CC BY-SA 4.0. The first Latvian military unit, the 1st Latvian Independent Battalion, was formed on 5 January 1919 under the command of Oskars Kalpaks. The provisional government had retreated from Jelgava to Liepāja, with most of Latvia under Bolshevik control. On 15 January, near the village...

Image: Peter Fitzgerald | CC BY-SA 4.0

Latvian War of Independence: The Allies Who Were Not Allies

Sat, 25 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. The German forces that fought alongside the Latvians were never really fighting for Latvian independence. The Iron Division and the Baltische Landeswehr were composed of German Freikorps and Baltic German nobility, men who saw the Bolshevik retreat as an opportunity to reestablis...

Image: Unknown author | Public domain

Latvian War of Independence: Cēsis: Estonia Saves Latvia

Sat, 25 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. By June 1919 the German plan was clear: eliminate the Estonian army and the Latvian national units, then establish German supremacy in the Baltic. The Estonian commander, General Johan Laidoner, refused to let it happen. He ordered the German Landeswehr to withdraw south of the G...

Image: Unknown author | Public domain

Latvian War of Independence: Bermondt Tries Again

Sat, 25 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Daarznieks, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Iron Division was supposed to leave Latvia after the July 1919 armistice. It didn't. Instead Major Josef Bischoff transferred over 14,000 men, 64 aircraft, 56 artillery pieces and 156 machine guns into the West Russian Volunteer Army commanded by Pavel Bermondt-Avalov. Of Ber...

Image: Daarznieks | CC BY-SA 3.0

Latvian War of Independence: Latgale and Peace

Sat, 25 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. By December 1919 the West Russian Volunteer Army had been driven from Latvia entirely. Only Latgale, the eastern region, remained under Bolshevik control. In January 1920 a joint Latvian-Polish operation took Daugavpils, and the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic, the puppet state...

Image: Unknown author | Public domain

Latvian War of Independence: Riflemen Against Their Own

Sat, 25 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Andreja Pumpura Lielvārdes muzejs, CC BY-SA 4.0. One of the strangest threads of the war is the story of the Red Latvian Riflemen. During World War I, Russia had organized Latvian-language regiments to fight the Germans. Many of these soldiers became radicalized in 1917 and joined the Bolsheviks; the Latvian Riflemen became amo...

Image: Andreja Pumpura Lielvārdes muzejs | CC BY-SA 4.0