The Estonian SSR was nominally established to replace the until then independent Republic of Estonia on 21 July 1940, a month after the 16–17 June 1940 Soviet military invasion and occupation of the country during World War II.

[9][10] This policy of non-recognition gave rise to the principle of legal continuity, which held that de jure, Estonia remained an independent state under occupation throughout the period 1940–1991.

[12] On 30 March 1990, the newly elected parliament declared that the Republic of Estonia had been illegally occupied since 1940, and formally announced a transitional period for the restoration of the country's full independence.

The Nazi-Soviet Pact which was signed on 23 August 1939, a week before the outbreak of World War II, secretly assigned Estonia to the Soviet "sphere of influence".

[20][21] Soviet leader Joseph Stalin claimed that the 1939 mutual assistance treaties had been violated, and gave six-hour ultimatums for new governments to be formed in each country, including lists of persons for cabinet posts provided by the Kremlin.

As the Soviet troops brought in additional reinforcements supported by six armoured fighting vehicles, the battle at Raua Street lasted for several hours until sundown.

[20] Time magazine reported on 24 June, that "Half a million men and countless tanks" of the Red Army "moved to safeguard [Russia's] frontier against conquest-drunk Germany," one week before the Fall of France.

On 14–15 July 1940, rigged extraordinary parliamentary elections were held by the occupation authorities, in which voters were presented with a single list of pro-Stalinist candidates.

[32] This election is considered illegal, since the amended electoral law—along with hundreds of other laws passed by the Vares government—had not been approved by the upper house of parliament, as required by the Estonian constitution.

[38] Before retreating in 1941, the Red Army, following the scorched earth policies, burnt most industrial constructions, destroying power plants, vehicles and cattle.

On 28 September 1939 the Pact of Mutual Assistance was signed[54] which allowed the USSR to station a limited number of Soviet Army units in Estonia.

Although the United States and the United Kingdom, the major allies of the USSR against Nazi Germany during the later stages of World War II, both implicitly acknowledged (de facto) the occupation of Estonia by USSR at the Yalta Conference in 1945, both governments, and most of the other western democracies did not recognise it de jure according to the Sumner Welles' declaration of 23 July 1940[62][63] Some of these countries recognised Estonian diplomats who still functioned in many countries in the name of their former governments.

One positive aspect of the post-Stalin era in Estonia was the regranting of permission in the late 1950s for citizens to make contact with foreign countries.

[68][69][70] This electronic "window on the West" afforded Estonians more information on current affairs and more access to Western culture and thought than any other group in the Soviet Union.

The Soviet travel agency Inturist contracted Finnish construction company Repo to build Hotel Viru in central Tallinn.

[76] The Russian Federation officially ended its military presence in Estonia after it relinquished control of the nuclear reactor facilities in Paldiski in September 1995.

In the aftermath of the Estonian War of Independence, Estonia established control also over Ivangorod, in January 1919, a move which was recognised by Soviet Russia in the 1920 Treaty of Tartu.

Officially, Estonia has no territorial claims in the area,[79][80] which is also reflected in the new Estonian-Russian border treaty, according to which Ivangorod remains part of Russia.

The figures for those investments were made available to the public, thus promoting a positive impression of the Soviet Federal Centre's contributions to the periphery, the Baltic states included.

[82] Soviet planners expanded oil shale mining and processing in the late 1940s, taking over that industry in northeast section of Estonia.

[84] Official Estonian sources maintain that Soviet rule had significantly slowed Estonia's economic growth, resulting in a wide wealth gap in comparison with its neighboring countries (e.g. Finland and Sweden).

[86] Despite Soviet and Russian claims of improvements in standards, even three decades after World War II Estonia was rife with housing and food shortages and fell far behind Finland not only in levels of income, but in average life span.

[87][88] Eastern Bloc economies experienced an inefficiency of systems without competition or market-clearing prices that became costly and unsustainable and they lagged significantly behind their Western European counterparts in terms of per capita Gross Domestic Product.

[89] Estonian sources estimate the economic damage directly attributable to the second Soviet occupation (from 1945 to 1991) to lie in the range of hundreds of billions of dollars.

[95] A number of large-volume capital investments were undertaken by the Soviet central power to exploit resources on Estonian territory of oil shale, lumber and, later, uranium ore, as part of the postwar reconstruction program.

[107] The Soviet 1940 occupation of Estonia decimated the local economy, as Moscow began nationalizing private industries and collectivizing smallholding farms.

Tallinn was selected as host of the sailing events of the 1980 Olympics which led to controversy[citation needed] since Western countries had not de jure recognised ESSR as part of USSR.

This wave of investment included Tallinn TV Tower, Pirita Yachting Centre, Linnahall, hotel "Olümpia" and the new Main Post Office building.

While views diverge on history of Estonia, the core of the controversy lies in the varying interpretation of historical events and agreements during and after World War II.

An article in The Wall Street Journal claims that Russian reconsideration of the Soviet annexation of the Baltic states raised concerns among "some historians" that "Kremlin is—quite literally—trying to rewrite history in a way that risks breeding ultranationalism and whitewashing the darkest chapters of Russia's past.