Soviet Republic of Naissaar

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Soviet Republic of Naissaar

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Flag	Coat of arms

National motto: None

Location of Naissaar (near Tallinn)

Language

Russian (de facto official), Swedish, Estonian

Capital

N/A

Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars

Stepan Petrichenko

Area

18.56 km²

Population

ca 300

Navigation

From WP1 – 59°33.2’N; 24°33.5’E proceed to WP2 – 59°33.2’N; 24°33.3’E

Independence

From Russia December 1917 - 26 February 1918

Currency

Ruble of Russian Provisional Government, 1917

National anthem

N/A

The Soviet Republic of Naissaar (longer name: Soviet Republic of Soldiers and Fortress-Builders of Naissaar) was a revolutionary state that during the First World War controlled the Estonian island of Naissaar (Swedish: Nargö; German: Nargen) in 1917-1918 for a brief period after the October Revolution and prior to the German occupation.

[edit] History

In November 1917, the October Revolution spread to Estonia from Russia. 28 November (15 November) 1917 the Maapäev (Provincial Diet) refused to recognize the new Bolshevik rule and proclaimed itself the supreme legal authority in Estonia.

At the time, the most important fortification system in the area, called Peter the Great’s Naval Fortress, was located at the narrowest point of Gulf of Finland. It included heavy coastal batteries in the area of Estonia's capital Tallinn (Reval) and the nearby island of Naissaar. At the time, the Russian revolutionary activist Stepan Petrichenko was transferred to Tallinn. In December 1917 the revolutionary sailors of the Russian Navy took power on the small island of Naissaar and proclaimed an independent "socialist republic" there. The Russian sailors, numbering about 80-90, formed a self-styled government and levied taxies on the local population.

The Republic of Estonia formally declared independence on 24 February 1918, only to be forcibly occupied and annexed by the German Empire. Between February and November 1918 the Germans - who had already occupied the Estonian islands (Hiiumaa, Muhu and Saaremaa) in 1917 - also occupied Tallinn and the rest of Estonia, for the time being putting an end to both the Republican and the Soviet regimes. On 26 February 1918 the government of Naissaar evacuated from the island.