The 17th Century was fateful in the history of the Russian Orthodox Church. On the initiative of Tsar Alexey Mikhailovich and the Patriarch Nikon a reform of the church was begun, which essentially brought about a revision of prayer-books and rites based on Byzantine models, which was supposed to promote the unification of the Orthodox world. It was now necessary to make the sign of the cross with three fingers instead of two, religious processions started to be made towards the sun and not away from it, the spelling of the name Christ was changed, etc. Part of the clergy and the congregation, however, did not support the reforms. >>

The end of the 17th Century was marked by a strengthening of the struggle for domination of the Baltic region. Denmark, Saxony and Russia formed a coalition against Sweden. At first the war was working in the Swedes’ favour. Denmark and the Rzeczpospo-lita left the war. However, the energetic Russian Tsar Peter I had quickly managed to modernise his army. A crucial event in the progress of the Northern War was the Battle of Poltava (1709), which ended in the utter defeat of the Swedish army. Russian troops besieged Riga as soon as November 1709. >>

The abolition of serfdom (1861), the introduction of reforms in Russia and the celebration of the millennium of the Russian State launched the awakening of national consciousness among the Russians in the Baltic provinces, most of all in Riga.  >>

At the end of the 18th and in the first half of the 19th Centuries the lands of present-day Latvia and Estonia were known as the Ostsee area. The origin of this term is German. The ruling powers there were German nobles and merchants. Despite the Ostsee being part of the Russian Empire, Russian legislation was not in force in these Baltic provinces. The official language in the region was German. It was possible to achieve a full education in German only. The Russian Orthodox minority chiefly made up of small tradesmen and workers were not engaged in any independent social activities. It was not uncommon for a few wealthy Orthodox merchants to adopt German culture and send their children to German schools. >>

In 1812 the war between Russia and Napoleon and his allies broke out. >>

At the beginning of the 20th Century Riga finally obtained the appearance of a European industrial city.  >>

At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th Centuries Riga became one of the major industrial centres of Russia.  >>

The First World War was a serious ordeal for many countries in Europe. Latvia found itself in the thick of warfare from the very first days.  >>

The First World War led to the emergence of a number of new states in Europe. The Republic of Latvia proclaimed its independence on 18 November 1918.

The young state was multi-national. Alongside the Latvian majority were several noticeable national minorities – German, Jewish, Polish, Byelorussian and Russian.  >>