Copenhagen, 1800, and after seven years of cruel war against France, Britain's long-standing ally, Denmark, suddenly poses a threat. The scene of battle shifts abruptly from Europe to the Baltic where Rear-Admiral Richard Bolitho is thrown immediately into a fierce struggle with the enemy.
Posed on the eastern edge of Russia, the Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are among the smallest republics of the 15 countries of the former Soviet Union. Collectively, however, they are the greatest success story of these once satellite states. They were the first Soviet states to break away and have achieved a successful transition from communism to democracy.
Located on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, Latvia has had a turbulent past. Its larger neighbors -- Russia, Germany, Poland, Sweden -- all occupied this area of the Baltic littoral at different times in the past, but it was not until the twentieth century that Latvia emerged as an independent country. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Latvia, together with the other two Baltic states, Estonia and Lithuania, regained independence that they had already had between the two World Wars. Plakans' intention here is to offer a stepping stone towards the eventual creation of a work presenting the "significant core" of Latvian history in English.
