Dated events associated with this case. Each event is a shared record: the same event appears identically wherever it is relevant.
· Declaration
The Estonian Salvation Committee proclaimed an independent and democratic Republic of Estonia in the Manifesto to the Peoples of Estonia, published 24 February 1918, amid the withdrawal of Russian and advance of German forces during the First World War.
Significance here: The founding declaration of the Republic of Estonia, though full independence was secured only after the subsequent War of Independence.
· Administrative change
Following the secret protocols of the August 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and a forced September 1939 mutual-assistance agreement, the Soviet Union militarily occupied and forcibly annexed Estonia in the summer of 1940, overthrowing its lawful government.
Significance here: The event Estonia's own legal position treats as an unlawful occupation rather than a lawful transfer of sovereignty, underpinning the 1991 restoration (rather than founding) of independence.
· Protest
A wave of mass public singing gatherings from June 1988, and the 23 August 1989 Baltic Way human chain of over two million people across Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, became the defining nonviolent movement for restoring Baltic independence.
Significance here: The mass nonviolent movement that built the political conditions for the 1991 restoration of independence.
· Declaration
The Supreme Council of the Republic of Estonia resolved on 20 August 1991 to confirm Estonia's national independence and seek the restoration of diplomatic relations, ending the Soviet occupation that had begun in 1940.
Significance here: The resolution restoring Estonian independence after decades of Soviet annexation and occupation.
· Recognition
The Security Council recommended Estonia's admission to the United Nations on 12 September 1991, and the General Assembly admitted it on 17 September 1991.
Significance here: Formal international recognition of the restored Estonian state.
Dates show their real precision. Approximate or uncertain dates are labelled and never converted into an exact day.