<p><b>Gravestones at Barclay de Tolly Mausoleum in Jõgeveste, Valga County, Estonia</b>
</p><p><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Estonia" class="extiw" title="w:en:Estonia">Estonia</a></b>, officially the <i>Republic of Estonia</i>, is a country on the eastern coast of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Baltic_Sea" class="extiw" title="w:en:Baltic Sea">Baltic Sea</a> in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Finland" class="extiw" title="w:en:Finland">Finland</a> on the other side, to the west by the Baltic Sea with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Sweden" class="extiw" title="w:en:Sweden">Sweden</a> on the other side, to the south by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Latvia" class="extiw" title="w:en:Latvia">Latvia</a>, and to the east by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:_Lake_Peipus" class="extiw" title="w:en: Lake Peipus">Lake Peipus</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Russia" class="extiw" title="w:en:Russia">Russia</a>.  The territory of Estonia consists of the mainland and of 2,222 islands in the Baltic Sea - it has been inhabited since at least 9,000 BC. The people of Ancient Estonia became some of the last European pagans to adopt - following the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Livonian_Crusade" class="extiw" title="w:en:Livonian Crusade">Livonian Crusade</a> in the 13th century.  After centuries of successive rule by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Teutonic_Order" class="extiw" title="w:en:Teutonic Order">Teutonic Order (Germans)</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Duchy_of_Estonia_(1219%E2%80%931346)" class="extiw" title="w:en:Duchy of Estonia (1219–1346)">Danes</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Estonia_under_Swedish_rule" class="extiw" title="w:en:Estonia under Swedish rule">Swedes</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Duchy_of_Livonia" class="extiw" title="w:en:Duchy of Livonia">Duchy of Livonia  (Poles)</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Russian_Estonia" class="extiw" title="w:en:Russian Estonia">Russians</a>, a distinct <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Estonian_national_awakening" class="extiw" title="w:en:Estonian national awakening">Estonian national identity</a> began to emerge in the 19th and early 20th centuries. This culminated in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Treaty_of_Tartu_(Russian%E2%80%93Estonian)" class="extiw" title="w:en:Treaty of Tartu (Russian–Estonian)">independence from Russia</a> in 1920 after a brief <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Estonian_War_of_Independence" class="extiw" title="w:en:Estonian War of Independence">War of Independence</a> at the end of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:WWI" class="extiw" title="w:en:WWI">World War I</a>. Initially democratic prior to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Great_Depression" class="extiw" title="w:en:Great Depression">Great Depression</a>, Estonia experienced authoritarian rule from 1934 during the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Era_of_Silence" class="extiw" title="w:en:Era of Silence">Era of Silence</a>. During <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:WWII" class="extiw" title="w:en:WWII">World War II</a> (1939–1945), Estonia was repeatedly contested and occupied by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Soviet_Union" class="extiw" title="w:en:Soviet Union">Soviet Union</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Nazi_Germany" class="extiw" title="w:en:Nazi Germany">Germany</a>, ultimately being incorporated into the former. After the loss of its <i>de facto</i> independence, Estonia's <i>de jure</i> state continuity was preserved by diplomatic representatives and the Estonian government-in-exile. In 1987 the peaceful <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Singing_Revolution" class="extiw" title="w:en:Singing Revolution">Singing Revolution</a> began against Soviet rule, resulting in the restoration of <i>de facto</i> independence on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:1991_Soviet_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat_attempt" class="extiw" title="w:en:1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt">20 August 1991</a>.
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<b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Michael_Andreas_Barclay_de_Tolly" class="extiw" title="w:en:Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly">Barclay de Tolly</a></b> (1761-1818), a descendant of the Scottish <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Clan_Barclay" class="extiw" title="w:en:Clan Barclay">Clan Barclay</a>, was born in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Livonia" class="extiw" title="w:en:Livonia">Livonia</a> and rose to be a famous general in the Russian Army during the period of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Napoleonic_Wars" class="extiw" title="w:en:Napoleonic Wars">Napoleonic Wars</a>.
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