Below is a list of military conflicts in which Estonians participated on a larger scale or took place on Estonian territory. Items in bold are the wars most often considered to be major conflicts by Estonian historians and the general public.
1032, according to one hypothesis, battle at Iron Gate mentioned in Russian chronicles and usually placed in northern Russia, may have been naval battle, where Novgorod fleet was defeated near Aegna;[3]
Estonia remained one of the last corners of medieval Europe to be Christianized. In 1193 Pope Celestine III called for a crusade against pagans in Northern Europe. The Northern Crusades from Northern Germany established the stronghold of Riga. With the help of the newly converted local tribes of Livs and Letts, the crusaders initiated raids into part of what is present-day Estonia from 1197.
By the late 1550s, the Reformation and Counter-Reformation had caused internal conflicts in Livonian Confederation, while its Eastern neighbour Russia had grown stronger after defeating the khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan. The conflict between Russia and the Western powers was exacerbated by Russia's isolation from sea trade. Neither could the tsar hire qualified labour in Europe.
After the Great Northern War, the territory of Estonia was officially handed over to the Russian Empire in 1721.
Conflicts that occurred in Estonia during that era:
Estonia declared independence on 24 February 1918. After a brief German occupation in World War I, Estonia regained independence and was subsequently invaded by the Red Army. A series of conflicts followed:
Estonians also took part of the Estonian War of independence on the Soviet Russian side. They formed the puppet state Commune of the Working People of Estonia (1918–1919) in an effort to show the conflict as an Estonian civil war.
Other conflicts with Estonian volunteers:
1918, the Finnish Civil War, mostly on the side of whites against the reds and Soviet Russia.
1917–1922, the Russian Civil War, mostly on the side of the Bolsheviks, and mostly following their defeat in the Estonian War of Independence.
1936, Estonian forces open fire on three Soviet airplanes above Narva;
1938, a firefight with Soviet Border Guards on Lake Peipus;
1938, a firefight with Soviet Border Guards on Lake Peipus.
World War II (1940–1944)
Estonia declared its neutrality in 1938, but was forced to allow Soviet military bases on its territory in 1939 and was occupied and annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940. World War II brought a number of sub-conflicts:
Estonians fought on both the German and the Soviet side in the war, in all major battles involving Estonia. Other sub-conflicts of World War II with Estonian volunteers:
1939–1940, the Winter War on the Finnish side and against the Soviet Union.
1941–1944, the Continuation War on the Finnish side and against the Soviet Union.
Soviet occupation (1944–1991)
After the Soviet recapture of Estonia, many Estonians went into hiding and waged a low intensity resistance to the Soviet regime:
