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Estonia has emerged under Kallas as one of Ukraine's staunchest backers, pledging last month to allocate โฌ1.2 billion ($1.3 billion) in aid to Kiev through 2027.
The Estonian economy declined 3.9% year-on-year in Q3 of 2023, following a 2.9% drop in Q2, pointing to the fifth straight quarter of contraction. Government spending shrank after growing in Q2 (-0.6% vs 1.8% in Q2 of 2023), while private consumption declined for the fifth straight quarter (-2.4% vs -3.0%), primarily due to lower spending on miscellaneous goods and services, and clothing and footwear. At the same time, net trade contributed negatively to the GDP, with imports (-6.0% vs -8.4%) and exports (-12.1 vs -5.4%) shrinking further.
The Estonian national awakening began in the 1850s as several leading figures started promoting an Estonian national identity among the general populace. Widespread farm buyouts by Estonians and the resulting rapidly growing class of land-owning farmers provided the economic basis for the formation of this new "Estonian identity".
The Livonian crusade consists of the various military Christianisation campaigns in medieval Livonia โ modern Latvia and Estonia โ during the Papal-sanctioned Northern Crusades in the 12โ13th century. The Livonian crusade was conducted mostly by the Holy Roman Empire and the Kingdom of Denmark. It ended with the creation of Terra Mariana and the Danish duchy of Estonia. The lands on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea were one of the last parts of Europe to be Christianised.
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