After the Soviet Union invaded and occupied Estonia and the other Baltic states in June 1940, Strandman committed suicide in February 1941, after being called to appear at the local headquarters of the NKVD.

[3] After graduation, Strandman served as an official at the Tallinn Office of the State Bank of the Russian Empire until he went on to study law at the University of Tartu in 1899.

[3] In March 1917, Strandman and some other known politicians, who were known supporters of autonomy,[2] were chosen to compose the draft of self-government reform, that eventually created the Autonomous Governorate of Estonia.

His diplomatic career started in December 1918, when he was part of the delegation to Sweden as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, asking for support in the Estonian War of Independence.

The Estonian People's Party left the coalition in September, and Strandman's cabinet resigned on 18 November 1919, being in office for half a year.

The Estonian Labour Party remained in the coalition, headed by State Elder Konstantin Päts of Farmers' Assemblies.

On 7 and 19 December 1923, he accused long-term inflationist Minister of Finance Georg Vestel in the parliament for incorrect spending of the state treasury.

It was Strandman's criticism that eventually led to the fall of Konstantin Päts's cabinet and caused him to stay away from power from 1924 to 1931.

[14] After the Estonian War of Independence, a large number of new businesses were started in a short time period and the industry was developed on loans, something which eventually led to financial difficulties.

As Minister of Finance, Strandman proposed a plan for economic redevelopment that was supposed to reduce loans, lower the state budget and achieve a trade surplus by raising customs duties.

In May 1924, Strandman didn't blame his predecessor Georg Vestel for deliberately creating hyperinflation, only for sheer optimism about his policies.

As leader of the centre-left, his work continued to have a great effect on the economy, since he achieved for same kind of policies as he had implemented during his term as Minister of Finance.

Economic historian Jaak Valge has argued that it was thanks to Strandman's rapid and decisive work that Estonia was able to avoid hyperinflation in the early 1920s.

[3] As the Estonian Labour Party slowly turned from leftist to centrist, its popularity fell, leaving its highlights to the 1919 Constituent Assembly and 1920 Riigikogu elections.

During a governmental crisis in July 1926, the speaker of the Riigikogu Karl August Einbund gave Strandman the task to form a cabinet.

His economic programme still consisted of lowering the budget and reducing loans, something which was unacceptable to the right-wing Settlers' Party and Farmers' Assemblies.

[16] From 1927 to 1929, Strandman served as Estonian envoy to Poland, with additional accreditation to Czechoslovakia and Romania, residing in Warsaw.

[3] It is however ironic, that the Great Depression reached Estonia when the head of government was Strandman, who had always supported cautious economic and financial policies.

[14] During his time in office, he made a state visit to Poland in February 1930, where he met both President Ignacy Mościcki and Marshal Józef Piłsudski to propose the formation of a Baltic Entente, something which however didn't find Polish support.