Ihanteita ja reaalipolitiikkaa : Rudolf Holstin toiminta Baltian maiden kansainvälisen de jure -tunnustamisen ja reunavaltioyhteistyön puolesta 1918-1922

Abstract

The Supreme Council of Entente recognized de jure the independence of Estonia and Latvia on 26 January 1921. The Latvian Foreign Minister Zigfrids Meierovics expressed his gratitude also to the Finnish Foreign Minister Rudolf Holsti in the Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat: "After the Supreme Council of the Great Powers have recognized ae jure the independence of Latvia I want to send my greetings and thanks to You, my dear colleague, for the help You have given in the fight for the recognition of independence of Latvia". What did the Latvian Foreign Minister mean with these words and what part had Holsti played in the struggle for Latvian and the Baltic States independence in the years from 1918 to 1921? In what way had the Finnish Foreign Minister helped to attain the national goals of Baltic States and what had been his motives? The answers to the questions have been searched from the Rudolf Holsti Collection in National Archives, from the archives of foreign ministry, from the archives of British Foreign Office and from the archives of Estonia and Latvia. The official material has been complemented by newspaper articles. The basis of Rudolf Holsti's activities was the belief that nations on the borderline of former Russian Empire should have a right of self-determination. Holsti's interpretation of the declaration of the United States' president Wilson was that every nation, which fulfilled the distinctive signs of a state was justified to gain independence. On the other hand, the Finnish Foreign Minister wanted to co-operate with Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians for reasons of practical Eolitics. Finland and Baltic countries could exist only if Germany's power in the Baltic countries was reduced and the spreading of Bolshevism was prevented. One of the main themes in Holsti' s foreign policy was to enforce the establishment of the international status of Baltic Countries. Holsti worked hard behind the scenes to convince Entente politicians of the necessity to establish the international status of Baltic States. He appealed to the right of self-determination of every nation and to the strategic interests the Great Powers had in Baltic: independent Baltic states would be buffer states between the Bolshevist Russia and Germany. From the Foreign Minister Holsti's point of view de jure recognition of Estonia and Latvia was a necessary precondition for border states politics. This explains Holsti's active role in de jure recognition of Baltic States. The establishing of Estonia's, Lithuania's and Latvia's international status was the minimum goal of.co-operation. The realization of this goal made it possible to aim at military and political defence union against the threat of Russia and Germany.