History of Estonia (1920–39) prospect of Vaps movement achieving electoral victory, Konstantin Päts and Johan Laidoner conducted a military coup d’état on 12 March 1934, arresting hundreds of Vaps members. A six-month state of emergency was declared, postponing the elections and political meetings were banned. During the interwar period Estonia had pursued a policy of neutrality, but the fate of Estonia in World War II was decided by the German–Soviet Nonaggression Pact and its of August 1939. In the agreement, the two great powers agreed to divide up the countries situated between them (Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland) with Estonia falling in the
Latvia states of Northern and Eastern Europe were divided into German and Soviet "spheres of influence". In the north, Latvia, Finland and Estonia were assigned to the Soviet sphere. A week later, on 1 September 1939, Germany and on 17 September, the Soviet Union invaded Poland. After the conclusion of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, most of the Baltic Germans left Latvia by agreement between Ulmanis' government and Nazi Germany under the Heim ins Reich programme. In total 50,000 Baltic Germans left by the deadline of December 1939, with 1,600 remaining to conclude business and 13,000 choosing to remain in Latvia. Most of