Latvian Independence Day--November 18

Riga, Latvia's Old City

Mrs. Marathon Pundit is in the other room listening to radio coverage of the Independence Day celebrations from Latvia--where she was born.

On this day in 1918--Latvia declared its independence from Russia. Nationhood was secured--until the Soviet takeover in 1940--in 1920 after a bizarre three-way war between Latvians, Bolsheviks, and remnants of the German Imperial Army. The Estonian army was allied the Latvians.

Related Latvian posts:

• Kuldīga, Latvia's brick bridge
• Venta Rapid in Kuldīga, Latvia
• Twenty years ago today: Latvia's independence restored
• Rumbula: Latvia's Holocaust
• Salaspils concentration camp in Latvia
• Sece, Latvia's World War I German cemetery
• Two Russian army World War I pics
• Lutheran church in Sece, Latvia
• Twenty years ago: Latvia's Barricade Days
• Riga Doms and Latvia's Barricade Days
• Latvia 20 years after independence: Tearing down a Stučka statue
• 1990 bread line in Riga, Latvia
• Potato harvesting in Latvia in the early 1970s
• From the other side of the Iron Curtain: Gas mask drill in Latvia
• Vintage photo: Janis Ancīts of Latvia
• Latvian President Valdis Zatlers visits Chicago--with exclusive photo
• Riga's House of Blackheads