Latvian War of Independence

Latvian War of Independence
	Part of Russian Civil War, Polish–Soviet War and Estonian War of Independence
	; The North Latvian Brigade entering Riga in 1919
Date	1 December 1918 – 11 August 1920; (1 year, 8 months, 1 week and 3 days)
Location	Latvia
Result	Latvian victory; Latvian–Soviet Peace Treaty; West Russian Volunteer Army evacuate to East Prussia;
Territorial; changes	Independence of Latvia
Belligerents
1918 – April 1919 Latvia; VI Reserve Corps Baltische Landeswehr Latvian Independent Brigade; Lieven detachment; ; Eiserne Division; ; Estonia Finnish volunteers; North Latvian Brigade; ;	1918 – April 1919 Soviet Russia; Soviet Latvia;
Commanders and leaders
Strength
Casualties and losses
	1 2 All Latvian national units with formal allegiance to Latvian Provisional Government were under German and Estonian military commands at this period.; 1 2 Fought only against Soviets.; ↑ Formed from merger of (South) Latvian Independent Brigade and North Latvian Brigade.; 1 2 Naval support.; ↑ Fought only against Latvia and its allies.;

The Latvian War of Independence (Latvian: Latvijas Neatkarības karš), sometimes called Latvia's freedom battles (Latvijas brīvības cīņas) or the Latvian War of Liberation (Latvijas atbrīvošanas karš), was a series of military conflicts in Latvia between 5 December 1918, after the newly proclaimed Republic of Latvia was invaded by Soviet Russia, and the signing of the Latvian-Soviet Riga Peace Treaty on 11 August 1920.

The war can be divided into several stages: Soviet offensive, German-Latvian liberation of Kurzeme and Riga, Estonian-Latvian liberation of Vidzeme, Bermontian offensive, and Latvian-Polish liberation of Latgale.

The war involved Latvia (its provisional government supported by Estonia, Poland and the Western Allies—particularly the navy of United Kingdom) against the Russian SFSR and the Bolsheviks' short-lived Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic. Germany and the Baltic nobility added another level of intrigue, initially being nominally allied to the Nationalist/Allied force but attempting to jockey for German domination of Latvia. Eventually, tensions flared up after a German coup against the Latvian government, leading to open war.

Following a cease-fire, a ploy was developed by the Germans, nominally dissolving into the West Russian Volunteer Army led by Gen. Pavel Bermont-Avalov. This West Russian Volunteer Army included Germans and former Russian prisoners of war nominally allied with the White Army in the Russian Civil War, but both Bermondt-Avalov and von der Goltz were more interested in eliminating the nationalists than fighting the Bolsheviks.

Certain episodes of the Latvian Independence War were also part of the Polish-Soviet War, particularly the Battle of Daugavpils.

[one-2] 1 2 All Latvian national units with formal allegiance to Latvian Provisional Government were under German and Estonian military commands at this period.

[three-3] 1 2 Fought only against Soviets.

[4] Formed from merger of (South) Latvian Independent Brigade and North Latvian Brigade.

[two-5] 1 2 Naval support.

[6] Fought only against Latvia and its allies.