War of Independence, peacetime (1919–1940) The Latvian armed forces were first formed soon after the new state was
proclaimed in November 1918 after
World War I, with the official founding of the '''''' () on 10 July 1919, when the and , which were loyal to the
Latvian Provisional Government, were merged. Seasoned general
Dāvids Sīmansons was appointed as the first Commander-in-Chief. At the end of the
Latvian War of Independence, the Latvian Army consisted of 69,232 men. In terms of equipment, the Latvian military during its first independence period (1919–1940) was armed mostly with British weapons and gear. The average Latvian infantry soldier in the 1930s is believed to have carried 31,4
kg of equipment in the winter months, and around 29,1 kg in the summer. The main service rifle was the British
Pattern 1914 Enfield, and the amount of standard issue ammunition for an infantry soldier was 45 rounds of
.303 (7,7mm) caliber. In addition, troops had access to three different types of hand grenades (defense, attack and rifle grenades). The Latvian Army had acquired a wide variety of machine guns in different calibers, through various means: trophies acquired from hostile forces during the War of Independence,
allied donations and subsequent official state purchases. Light machine guns included the French
Chauchat, Danish
Madsen, and British
Lewis gun (which became the main light machine gun of the Latvian Army). The main heavy machine gun was the British
Vickers machine gun in the .303 (7,7mm) caliber, although the army also kept Russian
PM M1910 machine guns in reserve. In general, the Latvian Army lacked automatic weapons of all calibers, and the ones it did have were becoming increasingly outdated towards the start of
World War II (most of the weapons in service were from World War I). In terms of heavy weapons, the Latvian military had acquired a rather large number of different artillery systems in different calibers, around 400 artillery pieces in total (although most of these were outdated and worn out due to heavy use and age). The main artillery gun for infantry support was the British
Ordnance QF 18-pounder field gun and British
QF 4.5-inch howitzer, although there were also several types of French, German and Russian artillery guns in reserve. For anti-tank weapons, in 1938 the army received the Austrian 47 mm
Cannone da 47/32 anti-tank cannons, which were reasonably effective against early World War II tanks. For infantry mortars, a number of
81mm mortars were acquired from
Finland some time around the late 1930s, but it is unclear how many were delivered and in service at the start of World War II. In terms of individual equipment, the standard helmet were surplus M1916/18
Stahlhelms or
Adrian helmets. in November 1920 In terms of vehicles, the Latvian military was seriously lacking in motorized transport, and thus had to rely mostly on railroads and horse-drawn carriages for most of its logistics needs. The military leadership did make an effort to solve this problem at the end of the 1930s by purchasing a small number of cars, trucks, artillery tractors and motorbikes, but at the start of World War II, only a small portion of the Latvian military had access to motorized vehicles. In terms of armoured vehicles, the Latvian military had six
armoured trains, a
Carden Loyd tankette, seven
armoured cars and 24 tanks of various designs and combat abilities. In terms of air power, at the start of World War II the
Latvian Air Force had around 30 fighter planes and 24
scout planes, of which only some were the relatively modern
Gloster Gladiator fighters, 24 training and 6 seaplanes. Thus, the Latvian military during the interwar era was more or less comparable both in equipment and size to its other Baltic neighbours, such as
Estonia,
Lithuania and Finland. The Armed Forces were also supported by the volunteer
Aizsargi Organization.
World War II and the occupation of the Baltic states (1939–1991) armored car "Kurzemnieks", 1920s However, the most crucial problem and flaw for both the Latvian military and other militaries of the
Baltic states on the eve of World War II had to do with the failure to organize effective military cooperation between all the Baltic states in case of a new war in the region. The Latvian command in the interwar period had given very little attention towards any possible coordination of forces with either the Estonian or Lithuanian armies against a possible enemy, and so the Latvian military planned its actions and doctrine in almost complete isolation, oblivious to whatever its neighbours to the north (Estonia) or south (Lithuania) did. This ultimately led to flawed and questionable choices in creating defense plans against both
Nazi Germany and the
Soviet Union (there were separate plans towards both of these possible aggressors), since the Latvian higher command was unsure as to how Latvia's neighbours would react in the event such a conflict started. During and after World War II, many former veterans were a part of the fighters of the
anti-Soviet National Partisan resistance movement opposing the continued Soviet occupation.
After restoration of independence (1991–present) The origin of the current Latvian armed forces can be traced to the establishment of the Latvian National Guard or
Zemessardze on 23 August 1991, which served as the first organized defence force after the restoration of the independence of Latvia. Unlike other Soviet republics, it is one of the military forces in the Baltic states that were not formed from the
Baltic Military District. From the beginning, the reconstituted defense forces were modeled according to NATO standards with assistance from the
United States, the
United Kingdom,
Sweden etc. A notable moment in the history of the armed forces is the accession to the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization on 29 March 2004, after Latvia received a
Membership Action Plan in 1999 and, ultimately, an invite was extended to it and six other countries during the
2002 Prague summit. Previously, Latvia co-founded the
North Atlantic Cooperation Council in 1991 and joined the
Partnership for Peace program in 1994. Since the 1990s, personnel of the NBS has been deployed to a number of peacekeeping, training and support missions – the NATO Stabilisation Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina (
SFOR) from 1996 to 2004; the Kosovo Force (KFOR) from 2000 to 2009; the NATO training mission in Iraq (
NTM-I) from 2005 to 2006, the NATO International Security Assistance Force (
ISAF) from 2003 to 2015, the
Resolute Support Mission from 2015 to 2021 and others. In 2007, Latvia abolished conscription, switching to a professional, volunteer-based service model. However, after the start of the
Russo-Ukrainian War in 2014, calls for reintroducing mandatory military service reappeared, with the
full invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2022 being a decisive boost to this momentum, despite initial skepticism from the top leadership in the NBS and the Ministry of Defence. In July 2022, Defence Minister
Artis Pabriks announced a plan for the reintroduction of military service – officially called the National Defense Service (, VAD) – first on a voluntary basis and then in compulsory form at a later date for physically and mentally capable males aged 18–27, starting from January 2023. The
Government of Latvia supported the plan in September, with the next required step being the approval of the
Saeima. The Cabinet also supported the proposed transitional period from 2023 to 2028, that the length of the service would be 10 months and that service can be postponed until 26 years of age. Alternative service options would involve serving in a National Guard unit on a part-time basis for 5 years; civil service or special military courses for students. == Organization ==