On August 23, 1989, two million peaceful demonstrators joined hands across Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to protest the occupation of the Baltic states by the Soviet Union. The chain, 675 kilometers long (that’s about 420 miles), connected the capitals of Vilnius, Riga, and Tallinn. The whole thing was coordinated via hand-held portable radio! The protesters peacefully joined hands for 15 minutes at 7 p.m. local time, saying they wanted to demonstrate solidarity among the three nations in their desire for independence.
Moscow responded with heated rhetoric but backed down when the activists appealed to the United Nations. Within seven months, Lithuania had declared its independence. By the end of 1991, just two years later, all three Baltic states were free.
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