Estonia · Estonia's path to independence

Issue date26 Jun 2017

Total mintage1,500,000

EU maximum1,500,000

Editions2

Edge letteringEESTI × 2, alternating upright/inverted, separated by dots

InscriptionMAAPÄEV / 1917 / EESTI / 2017

DesignerJaan Meristo

mintUAB Lietuvos monetų kalykla, Vilnius (Lithuania)

Issue occasion

The commemorative coin commemorates the independence of Estonia and the “MAAPÄEV”, the Provisional Provincial Assembly of the Governorate of Estonia, in 1917. The design depicts the curved trunk of an oak, with branches shown on one side and leaves on the other. The branches symbolise the period of revolutions and hardship on Estonia’s path to independence, while the leaves symbolise Estonia’s strength, achievements and longevity.

The design

The coin depicts the curved trunk of an oak; the branches of the tree are shown on one side of the trunk and its leaves on the other. The branches symbolise the period of revolutions and hardship that preceded Estonia’s path to independence. The leaves are a symbol of Estonia’s strength, achievements and longevity. At the bottom left of the trunk, the inscription “MAAPÄEV” (Provisional Landtag of the Governorate of Estonia) can be read, with the year “1917” above it. At the bottom right, the name of the issuing country, “EESTI”, and below it the year of issue, “2017”, are engraved.

The twelve stars of the European flag are depicted on the coin’s outer ring.

Background on the topic

After the February Revolution of 1917, tsarist rule in the Russian Empire came to an end. The new Provisional Government permitted the Estonians to reorganize their territory: the predominantly Estonian-speaking areas that had previously been divided between the Governorates of Estonia and Livonia were combined into an autonomous administrative unit. This gave political demands for self-government an institutional framework for the first time.

Maapäev, officially the provisional Land Council, emerged from elections and served as the Estonian representative body. It dealt with regional administration and established a government. The political situation, however, remained unstable. Alongside Estonian parties, Russian authorities, soldiers’ councils and revolutionary forces competed for power. At the same time, Russia continued to wage war against the German Empire.

After the Bolsheviks seized power in Petrograd, the Land Council did not recognize the new government as Estonia’s legitimate supreme authority. At the end of November 1917, it declared itself the highest authority in the country until the convocation of a constituent assembly. The Bolsheviks then forcibly dissolved it; some of its representatives continued their work underground. A body authorized by the Land Council ultimately prepared the country’s secession from Russia.

When Russian troops withdrew in February 1918 and German units advanced, Estonian politicians used the brief power vacuum to proclaim an independent state. German troops occupied the territory immediately afterward. Only after the end of the First World War could an Estonian government resume its activities. In the subsequent War of Independence, Estonia asserted its state independence; the Treaty of Tartu (Friedensvertrag von Tartu) regulated relations with Soviet Russia in 1920.

The coin issue marked the hundredth year since the establishment of the Estonian representative body. The Land Council was presented as the institutional starting point of the parliamentary and state self-determination process that led to the founding of the state in 1918.