At the start of Mikhail Gorbachev's tenure as general secretary few could have predicted that, in the space of a few years, Baltic nationalism would emerge as a key centrifugal force in the disintegration of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). By the mid-1980s there had been small pockets of dissent across the three Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. However, the feeling among the Soviet elite was that nationalism was largely (although perhaps not totally) under control. Things changed dramatically soon after Gorbachev came to power. Although never his aim, Gorbachev's ill-fated policies of restructuring (perestroika), openness (glasnost’), and democratisation provided the freedom, opportunities, and impetus needed for Baltic nationalism to thrive once more.

The National Awakening (Atmoda), as this period has come to be known in Latvia, developed at such speed that it took everyone by surprise. The Baltic Popular Fronts, initially backed by Gorbachev, soon spearheaded a nationalist revival that was able to generate a genuinely mass movement. The sheer degree of mass mobilisation was evident on 23 August 1989, when approximately two million Baltic inhabitants (out of a total population of around eight million) linked arms and formed the Baltic Way, an almost continuous human chain linking the republics’ three capitals– Tallinn, Riga, and Vilnius– and spanning over 600 kilometres. For many people, the fervour of the time, which culminated in the successful (re)acquisition of independence, signified a rebirth of Baltic national identities, freedom from Soviet occupation, and a long-awaited ‘return to Europe’. It was in this period that the hitherto outlawed, national symbols of pre-Soviet independence were rehabilitated and consumed with gusto. In Latvia the maroon, white, maroon flag was proudly displayed throughout the country, underpinning a popular revitalisation of Latvian nationalism and national identity.

For some, however, the fall of the Soviet Union was far more problematic. What, for example, should the Baltic states’ ethnic Russian populations make of these seismic societal and political changes? Could Russians be part of this extraordinary National Awakening or would their status be under threat from the new political order?