ABSTRACT
The small Baltic states today pursue very similar foreign policies, and they are often perceived as a unified group by the international society. This is due, among other things, to a very similar historical past. This chapter presents the problems faced by the Baltic states during the inter-war period (1918–1939). The starting point is a description of the geopolitical situation of Baltic Europe as part of Central and Eastern Europe. The post-imperial past of Baltic Europe, which until the end of World War I formed part of the Russian and German spheres of influence, is noteworthy. The Baltic states never existed as sovereign international entities in the past, so efforts to maintain stable borders were fundamental to their governance during the inter-war period. The chapter demonstrates that systemic problems and relations with neighbouring countries hindered the achievement of this goal. Furthermore, the state-building aspirations of the Livonians, Latvians and Estonians were not always understood by the Western powers: the United States, France and Great Britain. Regional structures of cooperation, the Baltic Union and the Baltic Entente, were a rational response to the challenges posed by the proximity of imperial powers: the Soviet Union and Germany.
