Europe 1991: Baltic Independence
6 September 1991
											
												6 Sep 1991
											
										
										
									
										
										
										
									
										
										
										
									
										
										
										
									
										
										
										
									
										
										
										
									
										
										
										
									
										
											Post-Cold War Europe
									
										
											
												-27–68 Julio-Claudian Dynasty
											
										
									
										
											
												68–96 Flavian Dynasty
											
										
									
										
											
												96–192 Nerva–Antonine Dynasty
											
										
									
										
											
												192–235 Severan Dynasty
											
										
									
										
											
												235–268 Crisis of the Third Century: Turmoil
											
										
									
										
											
												268–284 Crisis of the Third Century: Restoration
											
										
									
										
											
												284–311 Diocletian and the Tetrarchy
											
										
									
										
											
												311–363 Constantinian Dynasty
											
										
									
										
											
												363–383 Valentinianic Dynasty
											
										
									
										
											
												383–408 Theodosian Dynasty: Divided Empire
											
										
									
										
											
												408–425 Theodosian Dynasty: The West Besieged
											
										
									
										
											
												425–441 Theodosian Dynasty: Fall of Africa
											
										
									
										
											
												441–455 Theodosian Dynasty: Hunnic Wars
											
										
									
										
											
												455–461 Last Hope of the Western Empire
											
										
									
										
											
												461–476 Fall of the Western Empire
											
										
									
										
											
												476–1803 NO MAPS FOR THIS PERIOD YET
											
										
									
										
											
												1803–1814 Napoleonic Wars
											
										
									
										
											
												1814–1815 Vienna and Waterloo
											
										
									
										
											
												1815–1848 Congress Europe
											
										
									
										
											
												1848–1850 Springtime of Peoples
											
										
									
										
											
												1850–1859 Crimean War
											
										
									
										
											
												1859–1862 Italian Unification
											
										
									
										
											
												1862–1871 German Unification
											
										
									
										
											
												1871–1914 Imperial Europe
											
										
									
										
											
												1914–1918 Great War
											
										
									
										
											
												1918–1922 Armistice Europe
											
										
									
										
											
												1922–1939 Rise of Fascism
											
										
									
										
											
												1939–1942 World War II: Blitzkrieg
											
										
									
										
											
												1942–1945 World War II: Fall of the Third Reich
											
										
									
										
											
												1945–1990 Cold War
											
										
									
										
											
												1990–2010 Post-Cold War Europe
											
										
									
										
											
												2010–pres Crisis of Europe
											
										
									
								
							Baltic Independence
						
							
								3 Oct 1990 Reunification of Germany
							
						
							
								28 Feb 1991 Gulf War
							
						
							
								27 Jun 1991 Breakup of Yugoslavia
							
						
							
								19 Aug 1991 Soviet Coup Attempt
							
						
							
								6 Sep 1991 Baltic Independence
							
						
							
								9 Dec 1991 Croatian War of Independence
							
						
							
								25 Dec 1991 Collapse of the Soviet Union
							
						
							
								22 Jun 1992 Bosnian War
							
						
							
								1 Nov 1993 European Union
							
						
							
								12 Jun 1999 Kosovo War
							
						
							
								13 Apr 2003 War on Terror
							
						
							
								16 Aug 2008 South Ossetia War
							
						
					
				The first Soviet republics to break away were the Baltic states, whose 1940 annexation by the Soviet Union had never been recognized by the West. Lithuania had declared independence in 1990, with international pressure seeing off a Soviet attempt at reconquest. In the aftermath of the failed coup attempt, the Soviet Union recognized the independence of all three Baltic states: Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.
