The Ministry of Defence will commemorate the cessation of hostilities 87 years ago in the Estonian War of Independence with a one-minute silence, in remembrance of all the combatants of the conflict. At 10.30 am, on 3rd January 1920, Estonia and Bolshevik Russia called a ceasefire.
According to the ceasefire, hostilities were to be halted until 10th of January 1920, after which both sides could resume armed hostilities by giving the other side 24 hours’ advance notice.
Hostilities were not resumed, and on 2nd February 1920, the Treaty of Tartu was signed: Estonia had won the War of Independence.
This is a revival of an old tradition dating back to the 1920s, which the Ministry of Defence is now staging for the fourth time to commemorate the soldiers who fought and gave their lives in the war.