* 1918 - Independence proclaimed.
1920 - Peace treaty with Russia signed.
1934 - Prime Minister Konstantin Pats leads bloodless coup and establishes authoritarian rule.
1938 - Pats becomes president under new constitution.
1939 - The Soviet Union compels Estonia to accept Soviet military bases.
1940 June - Soviet troops march in.
1940 August - Estonia incorporated into Soviet Union.
1941 - German troops invade.
1944 - Estonia reannexed by the Soviet Union. Tens of thousands of Estonians deported to Siberia and Central Asia.
1988 - Popular Front campaigns for democracy. "Singing revolution" brings a third of the population together in a bid for national unity and self-determination.
Independence
1991 - Communist rule collapses. Soviet government recognizes the independence of the Baltic republics.
1992 - Lennart Meri becomes president.
1994 - Russian troops leave. Estonia joins Partnership for Peace, allowing limited military cooperation with Nato.
1996 - President Meri re-elected.
1997 - Estonia invited to begin European Union membership negotiations.
1999- New centre-right government under Prime Minister Mart Laar, who led a previous government in 1992.
2000 - Estonia and Russia expel diplomats in tit-for-tat moves over spying claims.
2001 October - Former member of the Central Committee of the Soviet-era Communist Party Arnold Ruutel sworn in as president.
2001 December - President Ruutel signs into law a bill scrapping the requirement for candidates for public office to be proficient in the Estonian language.
2002 January - Mart Laar resigns as prime minister after squabbling within ruling coalition.
Siim Kallas becomes prime minister in a new coalition government in which his Reform Party shares power with Centre Party.
2002 November - Nato summit in Prague includes Estonia on list of countries formally invited to join the alliance.
2002 December - EU summit in Copenhagen formally invites Estonia to join.
2003 April - President Ruutel invites Res Publica leader Juhan Parts to be premier in coalition government with Reform Party and People's Union following elections the previous month.
2003 September - Estonians vote overwhelmingly to join the European Union in a referendum.
2004 March - Estonia admitted to Nato.
2004 May - Estonia is one of 10 new states to join the EU.
2004 November - Defence Minister Margus Hanson resigns after classified documents, which under Estonian law must not be removed from government premises, are stolen from his home.
2005 February - Foreign Minister Kristiina Ojuland sacked after classified documents are found to be missing from ministry.
2005 March - President Ruutel declines invitation to attend Moscow celebrations in May marking the anniversary of the end of World War II.
Prime Minister Parts submits government's resignation after vote of no confidence in Justice Minister Ken-Marti Vaher over tough anticorruption programme.
2005 April - Reform Party's Andrus Ansip confirmed as new prime minister.
2005 May - Estonia and Russia sign treaty delimiting border.
2005 June - Parliament ratifies border treaty with Russia but defies warnings from Moscow by introducing amendment referring to Soviet occupation. Russia reacts by withdrawing from treaty.
2005 August - All 14 passengers and crew on board Finnish-operated Sikorsky helicopter killed when it crashes into Baltic Sea shortly after take-off from Tallinn.
2005 September - Defence Minister Jaak Joeruut resigns and is replaced by Jurgen Ligi.
2006 January - President Ruutel's head of security resigns and the president apologises after media reports on parties thrown in his absence by his teenage grandchildren at the presidential palace.
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