In 2018, the three Baltic States – the Republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - celebrated the 100th anniversary of their existence and in 2021 the 30th anniversary of the restoration of their independence. This book is about how before, during and after 1991 international law shaped the restoration of independence of these three States and how, in turn, the case of Soviet illegal annexation and yet successful restoration of the Baltic States reflects important 20th century developments in international law, and what would be the precedent value of this case in the future. Thus, it is also a book about the importance of international law and international legal arguments, and about the tremendous impact that international law can sometimes have on the fate of smaller nations. International law does its work sometimes (too) slowly; but the Soviet annexation case demonstrates that it eventually does. May this give hope for smaller States should they become victims of aggression now and in the future!
This book was defended as a doctoral dissertation at the Faculty of Law of the Humboldt University Berlin in July 2002 and published in its first edition at Martinus Nijhoff/Brill in 2003. Thus, it was written before 2004, when Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania became members of both the EU and NATO. Both the Estonian and Russian language translations of the book were published by Tartu University Press in 2005 and the Lithuanian translation in 2021.
Beside its continued relevance in the Baltic-Russian historical and legal-political contexts, the most surprising element of the reception of this book for me was that individuals were looking for inspiration in the Baltic precedent in places that I was initially not even able to foresee. For example, I was contacted by scholars from Hawaii who had noticed my book and were eager to discuss what the similarities and differences between these annexations may have been. However, the US annexation of Hawai happened in 1898 and it was a central argument in my book that the important legal developments concerning the Baltic case happened in international law in 1928–1945, not covering previous annexations in the legal positivist sense.
When Brill’s international law editor Lindy Melman raised the perspective of the second edition of this book, I saw it as an opportunity to update the information in some aspects, for example regarding new developments on the Baltic-Russian border treaties. Also, I have tried to include more Russian perspectives and sources for the second edition. At the same, I have deleted several passages which seemed much less relevant to me now than when working on the dissertation.
Finally, in retrospect, I am most grateful that this book started a life-long conversation with two extraordinary international lawyers; both have remained great role models for me - Christian Tomuschat and Martti Koskenniemi.