The Historic Proclamation of Latvian Independence: Forging a Sovereign Nation from the Ashes of Empire on November 18, 1918
On a cold, grey November day in 1918, as the smoke of the Great War began to settle over a shattered Europe, a profound and audacious act of political will was unfolding in the heart of Riga. The world’s attention was fixed on the collapse of empires—the German, the Austro-Hungarian, the Russian, and the Ottoman—and the tumultuous birth of new nations from their ruins. It was within this maelstrom of history that a group of Latvian patriots, representing the broadest possible consensus of their people, convened to perform a miracle: the declaration of an independent, sovereign, and democratic Latvian state. This moment, crystallized on November 18, 1918, is what the Latvian nation now venerates as Proclamation Day, the foundational stone upon which the modern Republic of Latvia is built. The story of this day, however, is not one of a single, isolated event, but rather the culmination of centuries of cultural preservation, decades of national awakening, years of brutal warfare, and a fierce, unyielding belief in the right of a people to determine their own destiny on their ancestral soil.
To fully comprehend the monumental significance of Proclamation Day, one must first journey back through the long twilight of Latvian sovereignty. For over 700 years, the territory known today as Latvia was not an independent state. Since the 13th century, it had been under the dominion of various foreign powers, beginning with the German Teutonic and Livonian Orders, which imposed a feudal system and a ruling class that would shape Latvian society for centuries. This period of German hegemony was followed by successive rules by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Swedish Empire, and ultimately, the Russian Empire, which absorbed the territory in the 18th century following the Great Northern War. Throughout this long subjugation, the Latvian language, folklore, and traditions were kept alive not in palaces or chancelleries, but in the farmsteads, songs, and hearts of the peasantry. It was this enduring cultural substrate that provided the raw material for the Latvian National Awakening in the 19th century. A movement paralleling similar romantic nationalist movements across Europe, the Awakening saw the emergence of an intelligentsia dedicated to celebrating and standardizing the Latvian language, collecting its vast treasury of folk songs, or dainas, and articulating a vision of the Latvians as a distinct nation with a right to self-expression. This cultural ferment was the essential precondition for political action, transforming a population of subjects into a nation of citizens-in-waiting.
The cataclysm of World War I and the subsequent Russian Revolutions of 1917 provided the chaotic, yet opportune, backdrop against which the Latvian independence project accelerated from a cultural dream into a political imperative. The war front swept through Latvian territory, bringing immense destruction, displacement, and suffering. The Russian Empire's authority crumbled with the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, and the subsequent Bolshevik seizure of power in October 1917 created a power vacuum. Latvian political forces, which had been growing in sophistication and organization, saw their chance. The most representative of these was the Latvian Provisional National Council, formed in 1917, which brought together a wide spectrum of Latvian political parties, from the center-right to the moderate left. There was a shared understanding that the collapsing Russian Empire and the expansionist ambitions of a weakened but still dangerous Germany presented an existential threat. The window for declaring statehood was narrow and closing fast. Throughout 1918, as Germany occupied much of Latvia following the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with the Bolsheviks, Latvian diplomats and politicians worked tirelessly, both at home and abroad, to lobby for international recognition. The idea was to be ready to proclaim independence the very moment the German war effort collapsed, which, by the autumn of 1918, was an inevitability.
The stage was thus set for the dramatic events of November 18, 1918. The venue for this historic act was the now-iconic building at 1 Castle Square in Riga, which housed the newly established Latvian National Theater. The choice of a theater was symbolically potent; it was a place dedicated to the Latvian word and spirit, a fitting cradle for a nation state. The assembly that gathered there was the People's Council of Latvia, or Tautas Padome, a 40-member body that succeeded the Provisional National Council. It was a remarkably broad coalition, encompassing representatives from Latvia’s diverse political landscape, including farmers, social democrats, liberals, and national conservatives. This unity was critical, for it demonstrated that the will for independence transcended partisan lines. The atmosphere in the room was thick with tension and anticipation. Outside, German troops, whose government had just abdicated and whose Kaiser had fled, were still present but leaderless. To the east, the Red Army was gathering strength, eager to reclaim the Baltic territories for the nascent Soviet Union. The delegates knew that their declaration was an act of immense courage and profound risk; they were, in effect, staking a claim against two formidable, albeit temporarily weakened, empires.
It was in this charged environment that the chairman of the People's Council, the esteemed writer and politician Jānis Čakste, along with other prominent leaders like Kārlis Ulmanis, Jānis Zālītis, and Zigfrīds Anna Meierovics, presided over the historic session. The central item on the agenda was the formal adoption of the "Resolution on the State of Latvia." This document was not merely a statement of intent; it was the birth certificate of a nation. Its text, read aloud to the assembled delegates and the world, was unequivocal and profound. It proclaimed that Latvia, based on the Latvian nation's inviolable right to self-determination, was an independent, sovereign, and democratic republic. The resolution outlined the fundamental principles of the new state: it was to be a democratic republic where sovereign power belonged to the people of Latvia. It guaranteed full cultural autonomy and rights for all ethnic minorities living within its borders—a progressive and inclusive gesture for its time. The state's territory was defined as a unified whole, comprising the historical regions of Vidzeme, Latgale, Kurzeme, and Zemgale. With the unanimous approval of the People's Council, the Republic of Latvia was legally and politically brought into existence at that very moment. A provisional government, led by Kārlis Ulmanis as the first Prime Minister, was immediately formed to guide the nation through the perilous times ahead.
The proclamation, however, was not the end of the struggle, but rather its true beginning. Declaring a state and securing its existence are two very different things. What followed November 18, 1918, was a grueling and bloody two-year period known as the Latvian War of Independence. The newborn state found itself fighting for its life on multiple fronts simultaneously. From the east, the Bolshevik Red Army invaded, capturing Riga and establishing a brutal Soviet puppet government for several months in 1919. From the west, the German Landwehr, consisting of Baltic German forces and the infamous Freikorps, advanced with the aim of creating a German-dominated puppet state in the Baltic. The Latvian government, under Ulmanis, was forced to flee into exile for a time, operating from a steamship, the "Saratov," in Liepāja's harbor—a powerful symbol of the state's precarious foothold. The tide began to turn with the formation of a professional Latvian national army and with crucial assistance from allies. Estonia provided vital military support, and a British and French naval squadron intervened in the Gulf of Riga. A decisive moment came when the Latvian army, alongside Polish and Estonian forces, and with the tacit approval of the Entente, managed to defeat both the German forces and push back the Bolsheviks. By the spring of 1920, Latvian forces had liberated the entire territory, and in August 1920, the Soviet Union formally and permanently renounced all claims to Latvian sovereignty in the Peace Treaty of Riga. The war had cemented with blood what the proclamation had declared with ink. The state born in a theater had now proven its mettle on the battlefield.
The legacy of Proclamation Day and the successful War of Independence was the establishment of a vibrant, if young, democracy. The 1920s and early 1930s in Latvia were a period of remarkable cultural flourishing, economic development, and political experimentation. Often referred to as the "Golden Age" of the first republic, this era saw Latvia recognized internationally, becoming a member of the League of Nations. A constituent assembly was elected, and a liberal, democratic constitution—the Satversme—was adopted in 1922, establishing a parliamentary republic. Riga became a bustling, cosmopolitan European capital, and Latvian literature, art, and music thrived. This period represented the full realization of the ideals proclaimed on that November day: a free, democratic, and sovereign Latvia taking its place among the nations of the world. However, this golden age was tragically cut short. In 1934, Prime Minister Kārlis Ulmanis, one of the founding fathers of 1918, staged a bloodless coup, establishing an authoritarian regime. While not violently oppressive, this move suspended democracy and centralized power, fundamentally undermining the democratic principles of the proclamation. This internal weakening made the nation more vulnerable to the external storms that were gathering.
The ultimate test of the Proclamation Day ideal came with the outbreak of World War II and the subsequent half-century of Soviet occupation. In 1940, in accordance with the secret protocols of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the Soviet Union illegally invaded and annexed Latvia, followed by a brutal Nazi German occupation from 1941 to 1944, and then a return of the Soviet regime that would last until 1991. The Soviet occupation sought to systematically erase the memory and reality of the independent Latvian state. The flag, the anthem, and the very mention of the republic of 1918-1940 were banned. November 18 became a forbidden date, its commemoration a subversive act that could lead to imprisonment, deportation, or worse. Tens of thousands of Latvians were executed or deported to Siberian gulags in an attempt to crush national resistance. Yet, despite this relentless campaign of Russification and terror, the flame of independence, lit on November 18, 1918, was never fully extinguished. It was kept alive in the secret memories of families, in the hidden pages of books, and in the defiant hearts of the Latvian diaspora in the West, who continued to recognize the pre-war republic as the only legitimate government of Latvia. Within Latvia itself, a persistent national resistance movement, and later, dissident groups, continued to reference the 1918 proclamation as the legal and moral basis for their cause.
The power of November 18 as a unifying national symbol reached its zenith during the "Third Awakening" of the late 1980s. As Mikhail Gorbachev's policies of glasnost and perestroika loosened the Soviet grip, Latvians began to openly commemorate their forbidden history. The first public, unofficial observance of Proclamation Day in decades took place in 1987, a brave and emotional gathering that signaled the beginning of the end for Soviet rule. The Popular Front of Latvia, the mass movement that led the struggle for independence, explicitly grounded its legitimacy in the continuity of the Republic proclaimed in 1918. This was not a call to create a new state, but to restore the old one. On May 4, 1990, the Supreme Council of the Latvian SSR passed the declaration "On the Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia," which explicitly declared the Soviet occupation illegal and annulled the 1940 incorporation, affirming the continuity of the statehood established on November 18, 1918. This legalistic approach, based on the principle of state continuity, was a masterstroke that distinguished the Baltic restoration from the dissolution of other Soviet republics. When the Soviet Union finally collapsed in 1991, Latvia regained its de facto independence not as a new entity, but as the resurrection of the state whose birth had been so courageously declared 73 years earlier.
Today, the celebration of Proclamation Day in a free and sovereign Latvia is the most sacred and solemn event in the national calendar. It is a day imbued with deep historical resonance, collective memory, and patriotic fervor. The commemoration is a multifaceted tapestry of official ceremonies and heartfelt public participation. The day begins with a solemn speech by the President of Latvia from the very balcony of the Latvian National Theater in Riga, the hallowed ground where the proclamation was first read. This is followed by a grand military parade through the streets of the capital, a powerful display of the state's ability to defend the independence that was so hard-won. Soldiers, cadets, and national guardsmen march with pride, their presence a stark contrast to the decades when such a display of national sovereignty was unthinkable. In the afternoon, a ceremony of laying flowers at the base of the Freedom Monument in Riga becomes a massive public pilgrimage. The Freedom Monument, crowned with the figure of Milda holding three stars aloft, symbolizing the unified regions of Latvia, is the nation's most cherished symbol. For hours, a continuous river of citizens, from the elderly who lived through the Soviet era to young children born into freedom, file past to lay flowers, creating a mountain of floral tribute that stands as a silent, powerful testament to the nation's gratitude and remembrance.
Beyond the official pomp in Riga, the entire country engages in celebration. Towns and villages across Latvia hold their own local ceremonies, concerts, and public gatherings. Churches hold special services to pray for the nation and its fallen heroes. In schools, children learn the history of 1918, sing the national anthem, and participate in educational activities designed to instill an understanding of the day's profound importance. A beautiful and poignant tradition is the lighting of candles in windowsills during the evening. This custom, which began during the Soviet era as a silent, safe form of protest, has now become a powerful national ritual. As darkness falls on November 18, countless windows across the Latvian landscape glow with the soft light of candles, each flame representing a personal commitment to freedom and a connection to the generations that fought to preserve it. It is a visually stunning act of national unity, a quiet but firm declaration that the light of independence, first kindled in 1918, will never be allowed to go out again.
Proclamation Day on November 18 is far more than a simple national holiday marking a historical declaration. It is the foundational myth, the legal cornerstone, and the emotional heart of the Latvian nation. It represents the triumphant culmination of a long national awakening, the moment when a people, seizing a fleeting opportunity amidst the chaos of collapsing empires, dared to claim their rightful place on the world map. The declaration itself was an act of supreme political courage, but the subsequent War of Independence proved the nation's willingness to sacrifice everything for that ideal. The decades of Soviet occupation tested the resilience of this ideal to its absolute limit, yet the memory of 1918 provided the legal and moral compass that guided the nation back to freedom in 1991. Every year, as Latvians gather at the Freedom Monument, listen to their President's address, and light candles in their windows, they are not merely remembering a date in a history book. They are actively reaffirming their commitment to the democratic, sovereign, and independent Republic of Latvia. They are honoring the sacrifices of their forebears and accepting the responsibility to safeguard this hard-won freedom for future generations. Proclamation Day is, therefore, a living covenant between the past, the present, and the future—a perpetual reminder that the state of Latvia exists because, on a grey November day in 1918, a group of determined people declared that it must, and a nation rose to make that declaration a reality.
Photo from: Freepik
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