Tallinn benefited from its strategic position as a major crossroads for trade between Western and Northern Europe and Russia.
Estonia soon became a major battleground as Russia, Sweden, Poland and Denmark all duked it out for superiority in the Baltic Sea during the Linovian War (1558 - 1583). Fearing Russian troops, Tallinn surrendered to the seemingly more amiable Swedish crown in 1561, and remained under Swedish rule for the next 150 years, despite two Russian seiges.
During the Great Northern War, the Swedes indulged Imperial Russia, wrapping Tallinn with a bow and presenting it to the tsar in 1710; Tallinn's German rulers, however, remained culturally and economically autonomous. The 19th century brought industrialization to Tallinn and the port continued to play an important role, but the pressures of Russification were mounting by the end of the century.
On February 24, 1918, the Independence Manifesto was proclaimed in Tallinn, with the unforeseen side effects of immediate German occupation and a war with Russia (Oops). On February 2, 1920, a peace treaty with Russia was signed, whereby Russia acknowledged their momentary boredom with the whole pursuit and patted the back of the new Estonian Republic. Tallinn became the capital of independent Estonia (Huzzah!). However, with the outbreak of World War Two, a coup overseen by the Red Army led to Estonia being annexed by the USSR before the invasion by Nazi Germany in 1941. Despite being bombed extensively by Soviet forces during the final stages of World War Two, Tallinn's medieval Old Town largely retained its charm. After the retreat of the Nazis in 1944, the Soviets moved in to make sure everything was okay and just happened to reoccupy Estonia for the next 47 years. Tallin was then capital of the Estonian SSR. Despite resistance, Estonia was smothered beneath the Iron Curtain until the unprecedented Estonian Singing Revolution united the country, the Soviet Union eventually fell, an independent democratic Estonian state was re-established (August 20, 1991) and Tallinn quickly became a modern European capital. In 1997, UNESCO crowned the Old Town a World Heritage Site, and in 2004 Estonia joined the EU with its Baltic neighbors.
Today Tallinn is the face that Estonia turns toward a surging tourist industry enamored with the narrow, steep cobbled streets of the Old Town and its flair for design and the arts. Old Town Days, a festival celebrating Tallinn's medieval past, takes place in summer and for four days in mid-summer the town hall square is turned into a large medieval market where ancient traditions are brought back to life by musicians, artisans and madcaps alike. Few cities have been so successful in preserving the integrity of their past and today Estonia's economy is stronger than ever, making Tallinn the model for the former Soviet territories. After many different periods of conflict, the thing that threatens Tallinn most today are the adverse commercial effects of a booming market economy.
