Independence Day in Estonia is celebrated every February 24th.
The day in 1918 when independence was declared from the Russian Empire.
It was also on February 24th, in 1989, that the flag replacement of a free Estonia for that of a flag of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic on the historically significant Toompea Hill in Tallinn, Estonia’s capital city.
On April 8th, 1917, over 40,000 Estonians, including military members, demonstrated in St. Petersburg, Russia, demanding an independent Estonian Republic.
Only four days later, on April 12th, Russia acquiesced to the degree that they established an Estonian “autonomous region” with an ethnic Estonian leader over it.
On February 3rd and 4th, 1918, elections were held, and two-thirds of the people supported independence.
On February 24th, full independence was declared.
Both Prussia and Russia were defeated in World War I, and Russia recognised Estonian statehood in the Tartu Peace Treaty of 1920.
