Estonia in World War II When Soviet troops marched into Estonia the guns of both nations gave mutual salutes, and bands played both the Estonian anthem and the Internationale, the anthem of the USSR, at the time. Similar demands were forwarded to Finland, Latvia and Lithuania. Finland resisted, and was attacked by the Soviet Union on November 30. Because the attack was judged as illegal, the Soviet Union was expelled from the League of Nations on December 14. Finland held out in the Winter War until March 1940, when the Moscow Peace Treaty was signed. The first population loss for Estonia was the repatriation of
Latvia groves and wooded clusters, which afford a habitat for numerous plants and animals. Latvia has hundreds of kilometres of undeveloped seashore—lined by pine forests, dunes, and continuous white sand beaches. Latvia has the 5th highest proportion of land covered by forests in the European Union, after Sweden, Finland, Estonia and Slovenia. Forests account for or 56% of the total land area. Latvia has over 12,500 rivers, which stretch for . Major rivers include the Daugava River, Lielupe, Gauja, Venta, and Salaca, the largest spawning ground for salmon in the eastern Baltics. There are 2,256 lakes that are bigger than ,