Commander-in-chief of Estonia's war of independence
Launching the counteroffensive on 3 January 1919, he drove the 1st Division 200 kilometres east within eleven days, retaking Tartu and Narva.
Commander-in-chief of the Estonian army from December 1918, he led the counteroffensive of January 1919 and the battle of Cēsis in June. He propped up Päts's emergency regime in 1934 and, deported by the Soviets in 1940, died in Vladimir prison in 1953.
Activities and affiliations
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1918–1920
Estonia state institutionsCommander-in-ChiefMain
Military command
Career Timeline
- 1901Joined the Imperial Russian Army
- 1917–1918Commander of the 1st Estonian Division
- 1918Appointed commander-in-chief of the Estonian Armed Forces
- 1918–1920Led victory in the War of Independence
- 1920–1929Member of parliament (Riigikogu)
- 1934–1940Commander-in-chief of the armed forces
- 1939Promoted to general
Related historical events
- 1914–1918First World WarRussian Imperial Army staff officerHe served in the First World War as a staff officer in the Russian Imperial Army.
- 1918–1922The Civil War and Foreign InterventionEstonian commander-in-chief in the independence warAppointed commander-in-chief on 23 December 1918, he directed the counteroffensive of January 1919 and the battle of Cēsis in June, cooperating conditionally with Yudenich but taking no part in the attack on Petrograd.
- 1918.11–1920.10Baltic wars of independence and border settlementsEstonian commander-in-chief in the independence warAppointed commander-in-chief on 23 December 1918, he directed the counteroffensive of January 1919 and the battle of Cēsis in June, cooperating conditionally with Yudenich but taking no part in the attack on Petrograd.
- 1939.09–1941.06The annexation of the Baltic states and the June 1941 deportationCommander-in-chief of the Estonian armed forcesWas deported to Penza with his wife in July 1940 and re-arrested in June 1941.
Revolution and independence wars
A general staff officer of the Russian imperial army in the First World War, he helped form Estonian national units in 1917. Appointed commander-in-chief on 23 December 1918, he built mobile forces from armoured trains and volunteer battalions, enforced conscription and led the counteroffensive of January 1919; in June he commanded the Estonian troops and the Northern Latvian brigade that defeated the German Landeswehr at Cēsis. He cooperated conditionally with Yudenich's Northwestern Army but took no part in the attack on Petrograd, and resigned his command in March 1920 after the Treaty of Tartu. He sat in parliament and served as the League of Nations' investigator on the Mosul frontier, and returned as commander-in-chief to put down the communist rising of 1924. In 1934 he declared the state of emergency with Päts and became the military pillar of the authoritarian regime. Deported to the Soviet Union in 1940, he died in Vladimir prison in 1953.