<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//NLM//DTD JATS (Z39.96) Journal Publishing DTD v1.0 20120330//EN" "JATS-journalpublishing1.dtd">
<article xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" article-type="article">
  <front>
    <journal-meta>
      <journal-id journal-id-type="publisher-id">AHUK</journal-id>
      <journal-title-group>
        <journal-title>Acta Historica Universitatis Klaipedensis</journal-title>
      </journal-title-group>
      <issn pub-type="epub">2351-6526</issn>
      <issn pub-type="ppub">1392-4095</issn>
      <publisher>
        <publisher-name>KU</publisher-name>
      </publisher>
    </journal-meta>
    <article-meta>
      <article-id pub-id-type="publisher-id">45_129-154_KOPOTIN</article-id>
      <article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.15181/ahuk.v45i0.2651</article-id>
      <article-categories>
        <subj-group subj-group-type="heading">
          <subject>Article</subject>
        </subj-group>
      </article-categories>
      <title-group>
        <article-title>The Baltic Regiment in the Estonian War of Independence, 1918–1920. A Question of Loyalty</article-title>
      </title-group>
      <contrib-group>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <contrib-id contrib-id-type="orcid">https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1975-7471</contrib-id>
          <name>
            <surname>Kopõtin</surname>
            <given-names>Igor</given-names>
          </name>
          <email xlink:href="mailto:igor.kopotin@mil.ee">igor.kopotin@mil.ee</email>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="j_AHUK_aff_000"/>
          <xref ref-type="corresp" rid="cor1">∗</xref>
        </contrib>
        <aff id="j_AHUK_aff_000">Estonian Military Academy</aff>
      </contrib-group>
      <author-notes>
        <corresp id="cor1"><label>∗</label>Corresponding author.</corresp>
      </author-notes>
      <volume>45</volume>
      <fpage>129</fpage>
      <lpage>154</lpage>
      <pub-date pub-type="ppub">
        <day>10</day>
        <month>12</month>
        <year>2024</year>
      </pub-date>
      <pub-date pub-type="epub">
        <day>10</day>
        <month>12</month>
        <year>2024</year>
      </pub-date>
      <permissions>
        <copyright-year>2024</copyright-year>
        <copyright-holder>Klaipėda University</copyright-holder>
        <license license-type="open-access" xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/">
          <license-p>Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs License 3.0</license-p>
        </license>
      </permissions>
      <abstract>
        <p>This article examines the Baltic Regiment, a military unit of Baltic Germans that served under the Estonian army in the Estonian War of Independence, fighting against the Bolshevik Red Army. It focuses on issues of loyalty and the complex relationships between the Baltic Regiment, the Estonian military leadership and Estonian society. Before Estonia declared independence in 1918, the Baltic Germans were the ruling class in Estonian society, and centuries of tension between them and the Estonian population created challenges for cooperation during the war. These strained relations led the Estonian military leadership to assign the Baltic Regiment to the Russian White Army, keeping the unit at a distance from Estonia. Despite this, the Baltic Regiment fought courageously as part of the Estonian forces and earned recognition, both locally and internationally, as an elite and highly effective combat unit. After the war, the Estonian commander-in-chief General Laidoner highlighted the Baltic Regiment as an example of successful cooperation between Estonia’s diverse ethnic groups.</p>
      </abstract>
      <kwd-group>
        <label>Keywords</label>
        <kwd>Estonian War of Independence</kwd>
        <kwd>Russian Civil War</kwd>
        <kwd>ethnic minorities</kwd>
        <kwd>ethnically based military formations</kwd>
      </kwd-group>
    </article-meta>
  </front>
</article>
