The Baltic states fear a Russian invasion. They faced the same threat a century ago and failed to stop it. Historian Alexey Uvarov explains why the region could not defend itself against Stalin.

As Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine enters its fifth year, experts and Western intelligence sources are increasingly warning that Russia also poses a growing threat to countries in the Baltic region. So far, the confrontation has produced only isolated incidents, such as drone incursions into these countries’ territory — but tensions are rising. Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, and Finland increasingly need to consider how they would collectively defend themselves against a full-scale invasion from the east. The problem is not new to the region: 100 years ago, the Baltic countries al