Coup d'état in Estonia

Date: March 12, 1934 • Location: Moscow, Russia

Supported by the Estonian army, Konstantin Päts staged a coup d'état, beginning the Era of Silence.

Konstantin Päts was an Estonian statesman and the country's president from 1938 to 1940. Päts was one of the most influential politicians of the independent democratic Republic of Estonia, and during the two decades prior to World War II he also served five times as the country's State Elder. After the 16–17 June 1940 Soviet invasion and occupation of Estonia, Päts remained formally in office for over a month, until he was forced to resign, imprisoned by the new Stalinist regime, and deported to the USSR, where he died in 1956.