Estonian Red Riflemen

Estonian Riflemen, Estonian Red Riflemen, Estonian Red Army, Estonian Red Guards (Estonian: Eesti Kütiväed, Eesti Punased Kütid, Eestimaa Punaarmee, Eesti Punakaart) were military formations assembled starting 1917 in the Soviet Russia.

Formation

Initially the battalions were formed by volunteers, and by conscription among the Estonian population. A total of about 5,000 men were drafted into the Estonian Riflemen Division. As late as November 1918 the fate of the country was still up for grabs, and the Bolshevik alternative was attractive to all those for whom a social revolution promised a new life.

Russian Civil War and Estonian War of Independence

The Estonian Riflemen actively participated in the Russian Civil War and the Estonian War of Independence. The Riflemen took an active part in the suppression of anti-Bolshevik uprisings in Moscow and Yaroslavl in 1918. The Estonian Riflemen were instrumental in the attempt to establish the Commune of the Working People of Estonia while the elections to the Estonian Constituent Assembly in April 1919 demonstrated the victory of the independent nation state alternative. Simultaneously, the success of the Estonian Social Democratic Workers' Party served to demonstrate the lingering attractiveness of a social revolution within the national framework. Although the Estonian Army had attained control over the territory of Estonia by May 1919, its Estonian Red Army counterpart still active and the High Command of the Estonian Army decided to push their defence lines across the border into the Pskov region. The offensive of the Petseri Battle Group began on May 13.