Baltic Way: Two Million Hold Hands for Freedom
Two million people from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania linked hands on August 23, 1989, forming an unbroken human chain stretching 675 kilometers from Tallinn through Riga to Vilnius. The date was the 50th anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the secret Nazi-Soviet agreement that had assigned the Baltic states to the Soviet sphere of influence. The Baltic Way was organized in just weeks through informal networks, radio broadcasts, and word of mouth. Moscow initially threatened military intervention, then backed down when the scale of the protest made suppression impractical. Within eighteen months, all three nations had declared independence. The Baltic Way remains the longest unbroken human chain in history.
August 23, 1989
37 years ago
Key Figures & Places
Latvia
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Lithuania
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Vilnius
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Estonia
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Tallinn
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Singing Revolution
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Baltic Way
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Singing Revolution
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Estonia
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Latvia
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Lithuania
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Vilnius
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Tallinn
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Baltic Way
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Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact
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Menschenkette
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Soviet Union
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