Estonian Defence League

Defense League membership as an active member is open to Estonian citizens 18 years and over. Non-citizens may be supporting members and honorary members. The 2013 to 2022 defense development plans calls for the voluntary forces' membership to double to 30,000. As of 2012 there were 13,000 members in the Estonian Defence League. Together with affiliated organisations Women’s Home Defence (Naiskodukaitse), Young Eagles (Noored Kotkad) and Home Daughters (Kodutütred), the Estonian Defence League has more than 21,000 volunteers in action.

The Defense League is a private organization, which complicates MoD and Headquarters Estonian Defense Force management and control. However, from a bureaucratic perspective, many professional officers and enlisted personnel in the Estonian Army began and are still affiliated with or serve in the Defense League. The Estonian Defence League is a voluntary, militarily organized, armed, national defence organisation that acts within the area of government of the Ministry of Defence. The Estonian Defence League possesses arms and engages in military exercises.

The 1990 reestablishment of the Keitselite (Defense League, or national guard) traces its creation back to the war of Estonian independence, 1918-1920. This organization enjoys a special and important place in the Estonian national defense policy that is based upon the Nordic concept of total defense.

The principle of total defence is important for maintaining the unity of Estonia’s military defence. Total defence is the permanent readiness of the mental, physical, economic, and other capabilities of the nation’s civilian structures, local governments, the Defence Forces (Kaitsevägi) and Defence League (Kaitseliit), as well as the whole population for solving crises, for carrying out coordinated and united action to prevent and repulse aggression, and for ensuring the survival of the nation. Estonia ensures the necessary training,. and maintaining of the perpetual readiness to defend the nation, of the Defence Forces and Defence League, together with their supporting agencies and organisations, as well as the rational utilization of all resources. The two basic purposes of military conscription are: to establish the necessary pool from which to recruit professional personnel for priority units, and to ensure the formation of reserve units.

The Estonian Defence League is a part of the Defence Forces, a voluntary militarily organised national defence organisation operating in the area of government of the Ministry of Defence. The Estonian Defence League possesses arms, engages in military exercises and fulfils the tasks prescribed by the National Defence League Act.

The Estonian Defence League is a nationwide organisation. Its task is to enhance the readiness and knowledge of the population in order to aid in the defence of Estonia’s independence, constitutional order and territorial integrity in a crisis situation. The units of the Estonian Defence League are structured on a territorial basis following Estonia’s administrative subdivisions, which allows for quick responses to security risks emerging in any part of the country and supports the implementation of other national defence efforts.

The main task of the Estonian Defence League in organising military defence is to enhance the population’s will to defend its country and ensure readiness for national defence by planning military defence activities, including guerrilla activities and resistance movements, and participating in such activities. A stable proportion of the military defence budget will be allocated to the Estonian Defence League.

The Estonian Defence League prepares units with defined wartime duties that shall be deployed as part of the Defence Forces’ structure following a declaration of mobilisation. Defence League members not appointed to positions with mobilisation restrictions or non-territorial reserve units of the Defence Forces will be assigned to Defence League units that fulfil wartime duties.

The Estonian Defence League is the legal successor of the Estonian Defence League established on 11 November 1918 as a self-defence organisation. The Estonian Defence League is a legal entity governed by public law. The Estonian Defence League is an organisation outlying of any political party. All political activities of political parties and other political associations and their representatives are prohibited in the Estonian Defence League.

The task of the Estonian Defence League is to enhance, by relying on free will and self-initiative, the nation’s readiness to defend the independence of Estonia and its constitutional order. The Estonian Defence League is comprised of 15 district units, the sphere of responsibility of which coincides with the borders of Estonian counties, with a few exceptions.

The activities of the Estonian Defence League are provided by the Estonian Defence League Act, the Statutes, which prescribe internal organisation of the Estonian Defence League more precisely, and the rules of procedure, which prescribe relations of active members of the Estonian Defence League to the codes of conduct of the Defence Forces, rules of conduct and internal administration procedure. The Statutes and rules of procedure of the Estonian Defence League are approved by the Government of the Republic.

Several armed services, the border guard, Prison Board, not to mention single military units, grew out of the voluntary national defence organisation established during the confusing times in November 1918, primarily for maintaining public order. A majority of the distinguished officers from the War of Independence and present day Estonia began their service in the Estonian Defence League. In the pre-World War II Republic of Estonia, the Estonian Defence League played a significant role in terms of military training, national defence education, social life and sporting events. It is not said in vain that the Estonian Defence League is the security of Estonian statehood.

There have been two attempts to liquidate the Estonian Defence League: in 1924, it led to the Bolshevik rebellion and when the Estonian Defence League was truly liquidated in 1940, the Estonian state was also finished, with the occupation lasting for half a century.

The Estonian Defence League was re-established in February 1990, a full 18 months before Estonia re-gained its independence, and although the Estonian Defence League was still developing, it is once again becoming a cornerstone of statehood. On 17 February 1990, the Estonian Defence League was re-established in Järvakandi, by the initiative of the people and under the continuing conditions of Soviet occupation. Especially independent minded was the Defense League, the patriotic volunteer group from the interwar years that was revived in early 1990. The league staged several attention-grabbing maneuvers in 1990 (including an attempt to place border posts along Estonia's prewar frontier, now in Russia), which often drew criticism as being provocative. After independence the Defense League refused to merge with Estonia's budding army, preferring to remain a separate auxiliary force.

A statement by "Kaitseliit," the Council forDefense, appeared in the Estonian press in September 1990. Its staff announced that registration had begun for volunteers "who wish to defend the freedom of the country of Kuwait." K. Eller, the head of "Kaitseliit" explained the unexpected initiative in the following way: "The reason is the solidarity of the citizens of the Estonian Republic, former member of the League of Nations, with the Kuwaiti people who became victims of aggression. The fate of the Kuwaiti people is similar to that of the Estonian people beginning with 1940. We believe that this appeal will impart a belief in the peoples of the world, who have adopted a waiting position, that they must resolutely bring an end to this aggression." According to a number of observers, the negative reaction resulting from the border guard episode forced "Kaitseliit" to do something to enhance its prestige. This is what provoked the call for a military campaign to liberate Kuwait.

On 28 April 1992, the Estonian Defence League was included into the staff of the Estonian Defence Forces. The Estonian Defence League unites loyal citizens who wish and are able to work voluntarily and without receiving any remuneration for protecting the internal order of the state and improving the sense of security. According to the Estonian Defence League Act they co-operate with the police, local governments, border guard, rescue board and fire-fighters. Members of the Estonian Defence League have participated as a show of support in police operations, maintained order in mass events, taken part in liquidating natural disasters, such as forest fires, have helped to look for people, etc.

In addition to direct military training, the Estonian Defence League gives its members many other skills and experiences necessary in life. People have thus acquired paramedic skills in the training groups, which they have used on several occasions while saving fellow citizens from life-threatening situations. Reserve officers and reserve non-commissioned officers are offered to the opportunity, during free time from their jobs, to apply and improve the leadership skills they have already acquired as commanders of units or as specialists in narrower areas of specialisation.

As the training of platoon and section commanders and functional specialists was, until recently, rather scattered within the Estonian Defence League, then the Estonian Defence League School, launched in 2012, carries out training courses and further training for volunteer members of the organisation in a more centralised manner and under a common standard for the staff.

The Estonian Defence League co-operates with many sister organisations in neighboring countries, such as ground forces units in Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway. The Estonian Defence League also cooperates very closely with the Maryland National Guard in the United States.

Under the Estonian Long Term Defence Development Plan 2009–2018, approved by the Government of the Republic of Estonia on 22 January 2009, the funding and equipping of the Defence League will improve, which aims to increase active membership of the Defence League. While previously the Defence League has not been a first priority, then the Plan 2018 foresees equipping the Defence League with assets similar to those of the EDF. The aim is to move from the formation of big and cumbersome territorial battalions to formation of smaller, companysized units manned according to the territoriality principle of the Defence League – combatants from one area form the same units. The Defence League will be the basis for training of better equipped and prepared company size combat capable infantry units and internal defence companies for the defence of specific objects.