SECURITY POLICY OF THE BALTIC STATES AND ITS DETERMINING FACTORS

The history of the nations living in today’s Baltic States is marked by fighting against stronger neighbours: Russia, Poland, Sweden, Denmark and the German settlers in their territories. Unlike Lithuanians, Estonians and Latvians failed to create their own statehood before the 20 th century. The Li...

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Main Author: Sławomir PIOTROWSKI
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wydawnictwo Akademii Sztuki Wojennej 2018-12-01
Series:Security and Defence Quarterly
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.journalssystem.com/sdq/SECURITY-POLICY-OF-THE-BALTIC-STATES-nAND-ITS-DETERMINING-FACTORS,103315,0,2.html
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author Sławomir PIOTROWSKI
author_facet Sławomir PIOTROWSKI
author_sort Sławomir PIOTROWSKI
collection DOAJ
description The history of the nations living in today’s Baltic States is marked by fighting against stronger neighbours: Russia, Poland, Sweden, Denmark and the German settlers in their territories. Unlike Lithuanians, Estonians and Latvians failed to create their own statehood before the 20 th century. The Lithuanians created their own state, a powerful one, which then became a part of an even wider state organism – the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. As a result, the security policy of Lithuania was identical to that of the First Republic of Poland. Although there were tribes living within the area of current Estonia and Latvia for many centuries up to the outbreak of World War I, the lands of Latvia and Estonia had been changing owners and had been under the rule of almost all neighbouring countries. As a result of the positive outcome of the First World War, but also thanks to their efforts, the Baltic States regained independence in order to lose it after only 20 years, as a consequence of another war. After restoring independence with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Baltic States realised that even acting together they were unable to defend themselves against a potential aggressor. As a result, they decided to follow in the footsteps of other countries of the former Eastern Bloc (e.g. Poland and Slovakia) and to integrate with Western European structures such as NATO and the EU. Following NATO inclusion, the security strategies of the Baltic States have been revised in line with the changes in their surrounding geopolitical environment.
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spelling doaj.art-adaab758030b4cc6aaf1ed0e43046f202022-12-22T00:20:20ZengWydawnictwo Akademii Sztuki WojennejSecurity and Defence Quarterly2300-87412544-994X2018-12-01225467010.5604/01.3001.0012.7586103315SECURITY POLICY OF THE BALTIC STATES AND ITS DETERMINING FACTORSSławomir PIOTROWSKI0War Studies UniversityThe history of the nations living in today’s Baltic States is marked by fighting against stronger neighbours: Russia, Poland, Sweden, Denmark and the German settlers in their territories. Unlike Lithuanians, Estonians and Latvians failed to create their own statehood before the 20 th century. The Lithuanians created their own state, a powerful one, which then became a part of an even wider state organism – the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. As a result, the security policy of Lithuania was identical to that of the First Republic of Poland. Although there were tribes living within the area of current Estonia and Latvia for many centuries up to the outbreak of World War I, the lands of Latvia and Estonia had been changing owners and had been under the rule of almost all neighbouring countries. As a result of the positive outcome of the First World War, but also thanks to their efforts, the Baltic States regained independence in order to lose it after only 20 years, as a consequence of another war. After restoring independence with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Baltic States realised that even acting together they were unable to defend themselves against a potential aggressor. As a result, they decided to follow in the footsteps of other countries of the former Eastern Bloc (e.g. Poland and Slovakia) and to integrate with Western European structures such as NATO and the EU. Following NATO inclusion, the security strategies of the Baltic States have been revised in line with the changes in their surrounding geopolitical environment.http://www.journalssystem.com/sdq/SECURITY-POLICY-OF-THE-BALTIC-STATES-nAND-ITS-DETERMINING-FACTORS,103315,0,2.htmlsecurity policyEuropean securityBaltic States
spellingShingle Sławomir PIOTROWSKI
SECURITY POLICY OF THE BALTIC STATES AND ITS DETERMINING FACTORS
Security and Defence Quarterly
security policy
European security
Baltic States
title SECURITY POLICY OF THE BALTIC STATES AND ITS DETERMINING FACTORS
title_full SECURITY POLICY OF THE BALTIC STATES AND ITS DETERMINING FACTORS
title_fullStr SECURITY POLICY OF THE BALTIC STATES AND ITS DETERMINING FACTORS
title_full_unstemmed SECURITY POLICY OF THE BALTIC STATES AND ITS DETERMINING FACTORS
title_short SECURITY POLICY OF THE BALTIC STATES AND ITS DETERMINING FACTORS
title_sort security policy of the baltic states and its determining factors
topic security policy
European security
Baltic States
url http://www.journalssystem.com/sdq/SECURITY-POLICY-OF-THE-BALTIC-STATES-nAND-ITS-DETERMINING-FACTORS,103315,0,2.html
work_keys_str_mv AT sławomirpiotrowski securitypolicyofthebalticstatesanditsdeterminingfactors