Latvian riflemen (, ) were originally a military formation of the Imperial Russian Army assembled starting 1915 in Latvia in order to defend Baltic territories against Germans in World War I.

In December 1916 and January 1917, the Latvian riflemen suffered heavy casualties in the month-long Christmas Battles, which began with a surprise attack on German positions during Christmas.

Suffering heavy casualties, Latvian riflemen managed to break the German line of defence but the effort was wasted as the attack was not followed through.

The casualties included 9, 000 Latvian riflemen, about a third of the total number at that time.

Stradiņš based his view of the national revival in the 1980s on Blanks, considering the Second Awakening similarly: he viewed the organization of the Latvian riflemen, the activities of the Latvian émigrés in Switzerland, the Latvian refugees ' relief committee in Russia, the proclamation of independence and the battles for independence as coming under the heading of the Second Awakening.

Bolshoi Theatre, where session of Congress took place, was surrounded by chekists and Latvian riflemen.

By the early morning of 7 July, the Bolsheviks had gathered enough forces, mainly Latvian riflemen under the command of Vācietis, to start an attack.

This root and its basic meaning were retained in both Lithuanian ( as baltas ) and in Latvian ( as balts ).

* In Latvia, communist organizations were officially banned and a major part of the party there had broken away in 1990 and formed the Latvian Social Democratic Party.

By 1992 the problem had become so serious that Latvian forestry officials were given the right to carry firearms.

Those who settled in Latvia during Soviet occupation, with exception of those who did so subsequent to retirement from Soviet Army, or were employees, informers, agents or safehouse keepers of the KGB, or of the security services, intelligence services or other special services of some other foreign state, can obtain Latvian citizenship via naturalization.

As a transitional clause, the Latvian law allows dual citizenship for those who were forced to leave Latvia during the Soviet or Nazi occupation and adopted another citizenship while away from Latvia.

The first Lithuanians were a branch of an ancient Indo-European group known as the Balts, whose tribes also included the original Prussian and Latvian people.

In 2006, LGBT people in Latvia attempted a Parade but were assaulted by " No Pride " protesters, an incident sparking a storm of international media pressure and protests from the European Parliament at the failure of the Latvian authorities to adequately protect the Parade so that it could proceed.

Seventy-five novels and twenty-eight short stories about Maigret were published between 1931 and 1972, starting with Pietr-le-Leton ( Latvian Pete ) and concluding with Maigret et Monsieur Charles ( Maigret and Monsieur Charles ).

During the 50-year-long occupation of the Baltic states, Soviet occupation authorities governing the Estonian SSR and the Latvian SSR, politically empowered by their victory in World War II, were keen to erase any traces of ethnic German rule in past centuries.

Their form seriously dipped in 1998 – 99 as they were rooted to the bottom of the table for much of the first half of the season, but they again avoided relegation on the last day of the season after a late run of good results, helped by the intervention of Latvian Marian Pahars and old hero Le Tissier ( The so-called " Great Escape ").

In the Latvian mythology, Laima and her sisters, Kārta and Dēkla, were a trinity of fate deities, similar to the Norse Norns or the Greek Moirai.

These reports are considered secondary sources by researchers because since the authors were not Latvian, they did not speak the local languages and often were biased.

Besides the assumption that deities of other Baltic peoples must be Latvian as well but were simply lost over time, many new deities were modeled after Greek and Roman deities.

The Old Prussians were an ethnic group related to the Latvian and Lithuanian Baltic peoples.

Most of the buildings were built by Baltic German and Latvian architects, but there also are works of Russian, Finnish and other architects.

During the first period of Latvian independence, besides those employed by the railways, small business, trades and crafts were the most important economic activities in the town.

While there were scores of Red Army divisions on the ground formed from specific Soviet republics, there appears to have been very few aviation regiments formed from nationalities, among them being the 1st Latvian Night Aviation Regiment.

The music and lyrics were written in 1873 by Kārlis Baumanis, a teacher, who was part of the Young Latvian nationalist movement.

On June 1 and 2, 1988, the Writers ' Union held a congress during which the democratisation of society, Latvia's economic sovereignty, the cessation of immigration from the USSR, the transformation of industry and the protection of Latvian language rights were discussed by delegates.

were Latvian band in the beginning created with purpose to participate in Eurovision Song Contest.

During the Soviet occupation corporations were prohibited but they continued to work abroad, among the Latvian refugees in countries like USA, Canada, Australia, Sweden and Germany.

In addition to the Latvian Jews, another 1, 000 Jews from Germany were also murdered.

Polish negotiators made better progress with the Latvian Provisional Government, and in late 1919 and early 1920 Polish and Latvian forces were conducting joint operations including the Battle of Daugavpils, against Soviet Russia.

Raunas Street, leading from the railway station to the Old Town, was developed as a wide, presentable street with the Latvian Society House at 10 Raunas Street ( architect A. Malvess ), the Building of the Regional Court at 14 Raunas Street ( architect P. Mengelis ), and other important buildings.

In the summer of 1988, two of the most important organisations of the revival period began to assemble themselves-the Latvian People's Front ( LPF ) and the Latvian National Independence Movement ( LNIM ).

The most important were the elections to the Supreme Soviet, the parliament of the Latvian SSR, on March 18, 1990.

The " Cosmic tree " also was one of the most important beliefs in Latvian mythology.

Pērkons () was one of the most important and scandalous Latvian rock bands of the 1980s and is still performing in concerts.

Imants Kalniņš ( born 26 May 1941 in Riga, Latvia ) is one of the most important composers in the history of Latvian music.

During the third awakening of the Latvian people, when Latvia regained independence, Kalniņš took part actively in Tautas Fronte ( Popular Front ) political organization, which played the most important part in ending Latvia's occupation by the USSR.

Latvian rock has been an important part of Latvia's music scene since the 1980s, when it was a part of the discontents of Soviet rule.

Their destiny drastically changed for the better when their song “ If you are alone ” became the song number 1 in one of the most important and influential Latvian radio tops-Radio SWH Top 40.

They are an important Latvian export.

Latvian nationalist Viktors Arājs and his supporters " heated up " the Riga pogrom with a campaign of arson against synagogues.

Most of the party's supporters are ethnically Latvian but it does not attempt to appeal to Latvian nationalism and has a number of ethnic minorities among its voters.

" Ethnic Latvian supporters of the Baltic Germans came to be known as " Old Latvians "; partly because many of the Young Latvians ' opponents were associated with the Lutheran church, the movement also had a pronounced anti-clerical character.