Estonia

A Modern History

Neil Taylor

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English

C Hurst & Co
03 October 2025

History; European history

As Russia rattles its sabres in the Baltic, Neil Taylor reconsiders the history of Estonia and its struggle to achieve statehood.

With only 1.3 million inhabitants, Estonia is one of Europe's least populous nations

yet it boasts one of the continent's fastest growing economies. In the first serious English-language history of this small Baltic state, Neil Taylor charts Estonia's long, arduous journey to its present-day prosperity, through a thousand years of occupation by Danes, Swedes, Germans and Russians.

In the wake of the First World War, out of the heat of a national awakening and the collapse of the Russian and German empires, Estonia was recognised as an independent nation in 1920. This was not to last

the country was tossed between the Soviets and Nazis during the Second World War, then fully integrated into the USSR, bringing on more than half a century of renewed occupation and misery. But hopes of true independence never dimmed and, in 1991, the Republic of Estonia was restored.

This unflinching history includes charming moments of colour and levity, from ambassadorial reports on nude bathing and a presidential press conference deliberately held beside a dirty toilet, to the story of a blind pianist, the first foreigner allowed to visit the city of Tartu in the Soviet era.

By: Neil Taylor
Imprint: C Hurst & Co
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Edition: 3rd Revised edition
Dimensions: Height: 216mm, Width: 138mm,
ISBN: 9781805263159
ISBN 10: 1805263153
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 03 October 2025
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Neil Taylor's Bradt Travel Guide to Estonia (eighth edition) remains the definitive guidebook to the country. After a lifetime in the travel industry, having pioneered tourism to Estonia in 1992, he received an MBE in 2021 for contributions to UK-Estonia relations. He divides his time between London and Tallinn.