The radical right in interwar Estonia /

Following WW I, European veterans' organizations tended to support dictators and fascist governments. The Estonian strongman, P"ats, in fact, accused the Estonian veterans of plotting a coup to justify his seizure of power in 1934. Kasekamp's argument is that P"ats's propaganda and Soviet efforts to portray the veterans as Nazi allies have given an inaccurate picture of their political program. The veterans who organized in 1929 at the anniversary of their victory over the German Freikorps favored a strong president, and their method of overcoming the ineffective unicameral legislature was the public referendum. Although they lacked a charismatic leader and an ideological program, the veterans' organization grew strong enough to strike fear into the other parties, especially the Socialists. The veterans, unable to believe that P"ats would blatantly violate the law, were unready for his coup and incapable of detecting his police spies when they plotted a countercoup in 1935. Kasekamp argues that the veterans were far from fascists. Their models were in Finland and Latvia, not Italy or Germany. To complete the veterans' political eclipse, the Soviets used their membership lists to eliminate potential enemies. Interested general and academic readers at any level. W. L. Urban; Monmouth College (IL)