Bolshevik sympathies spread among these troops and large sections of the people, while on the other hand national aspira- tions united the Farmers' Political League (40,000 members), headed by K. Ulmanis, with numerous Letts abroad and in Russia. Even after the fall of Riga (Aug. 20 and the supple- mentary treaty Aug. 27 1917) this action was continued as opposed to the policy of the leading Baits (Sievers, Oettingen, Baron Pilar, Stryck), who were alarmed by the Bolshevik up- heaval, the congress of the landless workers at Wolmar (Dec. 16-19 I 9 I 7)i the outrages of the Russian soldiery, the impotence of the more moderate Letts, the universal anti-German feeling, the danger to life and property, and obtained the occupation of the whole region up to Narva by German troops, thus aiding and abetting the Germans in their plans of domination. The Bolsheviks, on their retiring from Wenden and Walk (Feb. 1918), carried away hundreds of hostages, chiefly Baits, to Siberia, some of whom were shot, whilst others were repatriated later. The German occupation did not prevent the Lettish National Council, on June 26-29 JQ 1 ^, from claiming the reunion of all Lettish territories in accordance with the protest addressed to the German Chancellor on April 4. On Nov. 1 1 Z. A. Meiero- vich received from the British Cabinet a favourable reply to his appeal of Oct. 30 on behalf of Lettish independence. Imme- diately after the collapse of Germany, on Nov. 23, independence was declared, and K. Ulmanis was elected president.
Wars for the Liberation of Latvia. The German retreat could not be prevented by the provisions of the Armistice (Nov. n, Art. XIII.); and Ulmanis, under the pressure of a Bolshevik invasion and Bolshevik influence among the Letts, did not suc- ceed in forming an anti-Bolshevik Lettish defence force, but on Dec. 7 consented to the creation of a Baltic Landeswehr. Lettish units were shelled on Dec. 30 from a British mine-layer in the harbour of the new capital Riga. The Baltic volunteers were defeated by the Bolsheviks on Dec. 29 at Hintzenberg; and since the agreement made on Dec. 29 by Ulmanis with the Ger- man representative, the Socialist Winnig, did not attract a sufficient number of volunteers from Germany for the formation of an Iron Div., Riga fell on Jan. 3, the British squadron leaving with 500 refugees on board, including members of the new Lat- vian Government. A Bolshevik Government headed by Shtuchka was installed in Riga. The Baltic Landeswehr retired behind the Windau river, and, reenforced by German volunteers, a Russian (Private A. Lieven) and a Lett (Col. Bailed) unit took in Feb. Goldingen and Windau, in March Kandau, Zabeln, Kabillen and Tukkum. By March 18 the Bolsheviks were thrown back over the Aa river. Libau formed the base; Ger- many furnished the supplies; the Baits (Baron Pilar, Baron Rahden) undertook the leadership. The liberation was thus made dependent on the goodwill of Germany. Ulmanis, con- fined on the steamer " Saratov " at Libau, had no fighting force at his disposal, and his attempts to call the population to arms were opposed as pro-Bolshevik manoeuvres. The murder of three men of the Baltic Landeswehr led to the coup of April 16 1919, by the proclamation of the Government of a Lettish clergyman, Needra. Parleys, in which the United States and England took part, did not prevent the advance on Riga and the liberation of this city on May 22, where Baron H. Man- teuffel made an entry with a small detachment, and died leading his men. The Bolsheviks, having killed a number of imprisoned " bourgeois," abandoned the city and the whole region after heavy losses. It now appeared necessary to the Entente Powers to avert Baltic and German preponderance in Latvia as a con- sequence of the military situation, and the policy of non-inter- vention was abandoned in favour of Ulmanis' Government. The Baltic Landeswehr, unsupported by the other units, were engaged with Esthonian and Lettish forces near Wenden, and were defeated. The Esthonians were hailed as liberators of Riga by the Lettish Assembly. The German volunteers, forming about 15%, had to evacuate according to the armistice of July 3, losing the advantages of the Dec. agreement. The Landes- wehr, under an English officer, Col. A. R. Alexander, became a unit of the Lettish army (Olai agreement on July 15 1919) to be
formed by Gen. Bailed, and had now to own allegiance to the Ulmanis Government, while the Russian volunteers were trans- ferred to the Narva front. But the Ulmanis Cabinet was not as yet the sole ruler of Latvia, the Bolsheviks holding Latgalia, and a Russo-German force under Bermondt-Avalov preparing an advance against the Bolsheviks across Latvian territory, a plan adopted at a Riga conference on Aug. 26 presided over by Gen. March, but later abandoned. Bermondt's army in Aug. numbered 10,000 men. The Lettish Government decided to stop the advance on Dvinsk and Rezhitsa at any cost, as a danger to Latvia's independence, and succeeded in obtaining British and Esthonian support. Bermondt, having refused to join Gen. Yudenich's army on the Narva front, decided to advance and to occupy the Duna line, after small skirmishes with the Letts. On Oct. 9 the fighting began; Riga was shelled for five weeks. By Dec. 1919 what had been regarded as a Russo-German danger was averted, the Russian volunteers on the left flank having suffered heavily from the English gunfire. The German mercenaries evacuated Courland by Jan. 1920 and vented their disappointment at the non-fulfilment of the prom- ises made them by devastations. On the eastern front the Bol- shevik danger was also overcome. Dvinsk was taken by the Poles, and Rezhitsa (the main town of Latgalia) by the Landes- wehr, who advanced to Rozhanova. One-quarter of the opposing Bolshevik army were Letts; Gen. Ballod's Lettish troops played a minor part on this front.
The New Government. The result of the operations consoli- dated the Latvian Government. On Feb. 18 the Bolsheviks made peace overtures, and Latvia was prepared to negotiate The Landeswehr, having been the chief instrument of freeing Latvia from the Reds, was reorganized (March 10 1920), and Col. Alexander departed. The elections for the Constituent Assembly took place on April 18, and negotiations with Germany for reparation were opened. On Aug. n 1920 the Russo-Latvian peace treaty was signed, following the agreement of June 20
1920 regarding the reevacuation of war refugees, of whom about 100,000 were supposed to be in Russia. Riga and the other towns were provided with foodstuffs by the United States.
The Russo-Latvian treaty granted to Latvia: (a) an ethno- graphic frontier; (6) the restoration of confiscated property; (c) an advance payment of 4,000,000 gold rubles ( = 1,200,000) on account of the returnable securities; (d) a timber concession of 260,000 ac., in order to assist the peasantry to reconstruct their buildings; (e) amnesty for Latvian citizens; and (f) non- liability for Russian state debts. Soviet Russia, represented by A. Joffe and J. Ganetsky, obtained: (a) the disarmament of anti-Bolshevik forces in the territory of Latvia; and (6) favour- able transit conditions. The amnesty was net to be extended to the participators in the coup of April 16 1919 and the Ber- mondt campaign. The security offered by this treaty was fur- ther guaranteed by the formation of a regional league of the Baltic states against external aggression.
The Constituent Assembly convened in 1920 was still at work in 1921. The question of the rights of the national minorities and the enforcement of the Land Act were among the problems of the day that led on June 3 1921 to the fall of the Cabinet of Ulmanis. The recognition of Latvia by the Supreme Council at Paris on Jan. 21
1921 was one of the numerous achievements of Latvian diplomacy; but an attempt against the life of the ex-Premier Ulmanis and the opposition of the Social Democrats and Communists showed that the pacification necessary for a work of reconstruction had not yet been accomplished.
By the Land Act of Sept. 1920 (passed in order to curtail the power of Baltic landowners) a State fund was created with a view to form- ing new holdings and increasing the size of the minute holdings, and " in order to satisfy the requirements of economic enterprises, social and cultural institutions and to enlarge the areas of towns and villages." With the State fund are incorporated all large estates, small farms not yet purchased by the occupants and lands acquired by colonization companies, foreign banks and similar bodies. Along with the land are expropriated all claims and rights appended to the land and all instruments of husbandry, live stock included, with the exception of such industrial establishments as are not working to satisfy the local rural demand only. A portion of the estate, equal in size to the average holdings, is left to the owner, without, however, the proviso that this portion must necessarily coincide with the
