Harju County
Harju County is one of the fifteen counties of Estonia. It is located in northern Estonia, on the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland, and it borders Lääne-Viru County to the east, Järva County to the southeast, Rapla County to the south, and Lääne County to the southwest. The capital and largest city of Estonia, Tallinn, is located in Harju County. Harju is the largest county in Estonia in terms of population, as almost half of Estonia's population lives in Harju County.
History
Ancient history
The territory of modern Harju County consists mostly of two ancient Estonian counties: Revala, around what is now Tallinn, and partly Harjumaa, which was located south of Revala and is presently mostly in Rapla County. Lindanise, then a small trading post at the Gulf of Finland, served as the capital of Revala. It eventually grew into the mostly German-populated Hanseatic town of Reval and later into the Estonian capital, Tallinn.Conquest
In 1219, the Danish King, Valdemar II, landed in Lindanise and conquered both Revala and Harju counties, while the inhabitants were forced into Christianity. At the end of the Livonian Crusade, both counties were captured by the Order of the Sword Brothers until given back to Denmark with the Treaty of Stensby in 1238.The Danes built the Toompea Castle on Toompea Hill in Tallinn, which quickly became the biggest settlement in Estonia. In 1248, it was the first settlement in Estonia to receive its town rights, and in 1285 it became the northernmost member of the Hanseatic League.
German dominance led to the St. George's Night Uprising, which broke out in 1343 with the burning of Padise Abbey in modern Padise Parish. The uprising led Denmark to sell its possessions in Northern Estonia to the Livonian Order. In 1561, after the outbreak of the Livonian War, the nobility of North Estonia and the Tallinn Town Council declared loyalty to Sweden. Tallinn and other Swedish-occupied territories gained during warfare were secured by the Treaty of Plyussa.
During the Great Northern War, Harju was one of the few regions in Estonia untouched by warfare for a long time. Nonetheless, Harju County was greatly affected by the 1710-1713 Plague that killed more than eighty percent of the county's population. Russian forces finally arrived in 1710 and laid siege to Tallinn for a month until the Swedish garrison surrendered, thus ending the Great Northern War in Estonia. Russian rule was secured with the Treaty of Nystad in 1721. The plague raged on for several years, eventually leaving several parts of the county completely empty of human habitation.
Russian rule
rule started with the construction of naval harbours in Tallinn and Paldiski. Russian Tsar Peter I visited Tallinn at least nine times between 1711 and 1723. He personally opened the construction for Tallinn Naval Harbour in 1714 and Paldiski Naval Harbour in 1718.In 1870, the Paldiski-Tallinn-St. Petersburg Railway was opened, after which several smaller settlements along the line - Paldiski, Keila, Saue, Nõmme, Aruküla, Raasiku, Kehra and Aegviidu - started to grow. Several elements of Peter the Great's Naval Fortress were built in Harju County and its headquarters were in Tallinn.
During World War I in 1914, the native population of Naissaar island was expelled from the island and it was turned into a military base. A narrow-gauge railway network was built on the island. Tallinn was the site for the very beginning of the October Revolution when the Estonian Bolshevik Jaan Anvelt took power in Tallinn on 5 November 1917, two days before the Revolution started in Petrograd. On 9 November 1917, the Bolsheviks took power from Governor Jaan Poska. After the coup, refusing to cooperate with the Estonian Soviet Executive Committee, the Estonian Provincial Assembly in Tallinn declared sovereignty from the Russian Empire on 28 November 1917. In December 1917, Russian sailors under the leadership of Stepan Maximovich Petrichenko declared the "Soviet Republic of Soldiers and Fortress-Builders of Naissaar". They were ousted by German forces on 26 February 1918.
Republic of Estonia
The Republic of Estonia was proclaimed in Tallinn on 24 February 1918 while German occupation followed on the next day. German rule ended with the November Revolution in Germany. During the Estonian War of Independence, Soviet troops were halted only 40 km east of Tallinn by the end of 1918. Tallinn was the site of a failed Communist coup d'état attempt of 1924.Occupation era
Soviet rule
On 18 September 1939, after both Germany and the Soviet Union had invaded Poland, the Polish submarine ORP Orzeł escaped from internment in Tallinn Harbor during the Orzeł incident. The submarine eventually made her way to the United Kingdom, which led both the Soviet Union and Germany to question Estonia's neutrality. On 24 September 1939, Soviet Navy warships appeared in North Estonian waters and Soviet Air Force bombers patrolled above Tallinn and the nearby countryside.The Soviet Union demanded that Estonia allow the Soviet military bases and stationed 25,000 troops on Estonian soil for the duration of the European war. On 28 September 1939, the government of Estonia accepted the ultimatum and signed the mutual assistance treaty. Paldiski was made a Soviet Naval Base and its population was expelled from the town. With its new military bases in Northern Estonia, the Soviet Union invaded Finland on 30 November 1939, starting the Winter War. During 1939–1940, most of the Baltic German population from Tallinn and the Harju County countryside fled to Germany.
On 14 June 1940, the Soviet Navy set up a naval blockade in the Gulf of Finland and the Baltic Sea and stationed a navy squadron west of Naissaar island near Tallinn. Soviet bombers shot down the passenger airplane "Kaleva" near Keri island, killing all nine on board, which had included foreign diplomats.
On 16 June 1940, the Red Army invaded Estonia and organised a Soviet coup d'état in Tallinn. On 21 June 1940, the Independent Signal Battalion in Tallinn showed resistance to the Red Army, until it surrendered and was disarmed on the same day. The Soviet powers organised rigged parliamentary elections and the new parliament declared the Estonian SSR on 21 July 1940, which was annexed by the Soviet Union on 6 August 1940. Most county and municipal leaders were replaced and local assemblies were replaced with Soviets. The native population of Naissaar island was expelled from the island as the island was turned into a military base. During the 1940–41 Soviet Occupation, thousands were executed, imprisoned, mobilised into the Red Army labour battalions or deported to Siberia on 14 June 1941.
Summer War
Germany invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 and Finland declared the Continuation War with the Soviet Union on 25 June 1941. As the Soviet Union retreated, its destruction battalions carried out the scorched-earth tactics. The Erna long-range reconnaissance group was sent from Finland to Northern Estonia on 10 July 1941 to perform reconnaissance of the retreating Red Army, but it eventually engaged the destruction battalions near Kautla forest on 31 July to 1 August 1941, allowing 2,000 civilians to flee.German forces started its Tallinn Offensive on 19 August 1941, capturing Rapla on 21 August 1941. They reached Tallinn outskirts in Pirita on 24 August 1941 and Harku and Lasnamäe on 26 August 1941. Ordinary citizens were ordered to build defenses around Tallinn. Soviet forces started evacuating by sea on 24 August 1941. Of the 195 ships, that left Tallinn and Paldiski, 55 were sunk by mines near Juminda Peninsula, killing around 15,000 evacuees. Evacuating Soviet forces destroyed much of the infrastructure and industry around Tallinn. German forces captured Paldiski and Tallinn on 28 August 1941, shooting down the Soviet Flag on Tallinn Pikk Hermann Tower. Estonians replaced it with the Flag of Estonia, but it was replaced with the Flag of Germany the next day. German forces were greeted as liberators in Tallinn. It was also the first time since 1219 that Tallinn had been captured following a military engagement.
German occupation
Northern Estonia was the site of several concentration camps and massacres. In September 1942, up to three thousand foreign Jews and Gypsies were executed at Kalevi-Liiva in Jõelähtme Parish, while the rest were sent to the small Jägala concentration camp nearby, that never had more than 200 prisoners as their lifespan was short. Klooga concentration camp in Keila Parish was mostly evacuated before the Soviet takeover, however, 2,000 prisoners were executed before the German retreat. The Red Army liberated the few survivors on 22 September 1944.Tallinn was bombed by the Soviet Air Force on 9 and 10 March 1944, killing 757 people and destroying 8,000 buildings. Among others, Harju Street, St. Nicholas' Church, and Estonia Theatre were hit. 36-38 Soviet bombers were shot down during the bombardment.
After the Red Army broke through the Tannenberg Line in Eastern Estonia and crossed the Emajõgi river near Tartu, it launched the Tallinn Offensive on 17 September 1944 when Adolf Hitler had agreed to start abandoning Estonia on 16 September 1944. The National Committee of the Republic of Estonia was formed in Tallinn in March 1944 and the last Prime Minister of Estonia Jüri Uluots organized a new government under Otto Tief on 18 September 1944, captured government offices in Tallinn on 20 September 1944, and put the Estonian flag on top of the Pikk Hermann Tower.
German forces started Operation Aster to evacuate its 50,000 soldiers and 20,000 civilians through Tallinn and Paldiski. On the way, the hospital ship "Moero" was attacked and sunk by the Soviet Air Force, killing 637 of its passengers. The retreating German forces avoided conflict with the Red Army in Tallinn and the invading army saw only little resistance by Estonian units led by Rear Admiral Johan Pitka. The Red Army entered Tallinn on 22 September and Paldiski on 24 September 1944.
Before the Soviet reoccupation in 1944, thousands fled to Sweden across the Baltic Sea, including the entire Estonian Swedish population, who had been settling also on Pakri islands in Harju County.