Description

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania will issue a common circulating commemorative €2 coin celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Latvian and Estonian states and the 100th anniversary of the re-establishment of Lithuanian statehood.

In November 1917, upon the disintegration of the Russian Empire, a diet of the Autonomous Governorate of Estonia, the Estonian Provincial Assembly, which had been elected in the spring of that year, proclaimed itself the highest authority in Estonia. A few months later the Salvation Committee of the Estonian National Council Maapäev issued the Estonian Declaration of Independence in Tallinn on 24 February 1918 and formed the Estonian Provisional Government. This first period of independence was extremely short-lived, as the German troops entered Tallinn the following day.

The country was occupied by German troops, and the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed, whereby the Russian government waived all claims to Estonia. The Germans stayed until November 1918 when, with the end of the war in the west, the soldiers returned to Germany, leaving a vacuum which allowed the Bolshevik troops to move into Estonia. This caused the Estonian War of Independence, which lasted 14 months.

The coins were minted by the Lithuanian Mint and the coin cards were made by Kurowski Group Sp. z o.o. of Poland.